At 4 a.m., Zhenxi woke from a dream to the sound of someone banging on her door. The knocking was filled with anxiety, impatient.

Opening the door, she saw a Miss Huaizhi completely different from her expectations. Still a stunning beauty, but now exuding a disturbingly threatening aura. Her eyes were bloodshot, laced with crimson veins. Her long hair danced subtly, like flames.

"Miss Huaizhi?" Zhenxi froze, a sudden fear creeping in.

Huai Shi raised her hand, typing on her phone screen:

[I need to vent.]

"Eh?!"

The teenage girl cried out, stepping back. She stood frozen, disbelieving.

"I… I understand."

After a long moment, as if she had steeled her resolve, her expression finally firmed. She seemed to have made a decision, straightening her neck and closing her eyes. "Please… please go ahead… I don't have any experience, so please be gentle!"

Eh!!!! Huai Shi's eyes widened, almost screaming in fright. What the hell! I just meant to say I'm going out and wanted to let you know! What on earth are you thinking?

Zhenxi, eyes still closed, trembled like a little quail.

Soon, she felt something hard placed in her arms. It was heavy, huge, and searingly hot… like a small coal stove, cawing softly.

Opening her eyes, she saw a Raven looking up at her.

Then a second, a third, a fourth, until dozens, even hundreds, of Ravens filled the entire independent courtyard.

[I'm going out. They'll protect you.]

"Eh!!!!"

Zhenxi was stunned for a long time, her eyes wide with shock as she cried out again.

Panicked, she reached out and grabbed Miss Huaizhi's wrist, her expression tense. "A girl shouldn't be so casual, Miss Huaizhi! The most… most precious thing should be given to the one you love at marriage! If you really, really have to… to do *that*… then… then take it out on me!"

¿¿¿ Huai Shi felt as if her world had turned upside down. Little sister, there's something wrong with you! What's going on in that head of yours? With your build, if I threw a punch, you'd probably cry until the Chef Demon contest ends!

She rolled her eyes, sighed, and typed again: [I'm just going to find someone to fight…]

"…"

A dead, awkward, palpable silence fell.

Visibly, Zhenxi's usually pale face flushed crimson. A strange whimpering sound escaped her throat, as if she were about to faint.

"I… I… I'm not… I didn't… I…"

She desperately wanted to say she wasn't that kind of shameless woman with a mind full of filth, but she didn't know how to explain. All she wanted was to shrink down and bury her head in a sand dune, praying for a bolt of thunder to strike her dead…

"Just pretend I stepped out to buy an orange."

Amidst the chaos, she felt a hand on her hair, ruffling it roughly twice. "You stay in the bedroom. Don't move around."

The sudden impact left her stunned.

"Miss Huaizhi, you… you spoke to me?"

It was indeed the voice she had imagined—mature with a hint of husky gentleness. But it was too faint, too indistinct, as if coming from a great distance, unclear.

Yes, that was the voice of Huaizhi Sushi. After devouring so many Disasters, the reflection of Soloist has grown somewhat, hasn't it… though this growth seems a bit off. Could that wretched Tong Ji be up to her tricks again? That voice sounds suspiciously like hers.

Huai Shi sighed, stepped back, and waved goodbye to the teenage girl.

Turning, she vanished into the darkness.

In the silence, surrounded by wide-eyed Ravens, Zhenxi remained frozen, staring blankly at Miss Huaizhi's retreating figure. She touched her hair where it had just been ruffled. For some reason, her face burned, flushing red. But she still didn't understand what had just happened.

A vague sense of regret even surfaced.

Miss Huaizhi was agitated. Miss Huaizhi needed to vent. And then Miss Huaizhi knocked on her door in the middle of the night… So, shouldn't the next part of the story involve Miss Huaizhi violently pinning her down and doing all sorts of unspeakable things to her?

As she thought about it, she couldn't help but giggle foolishly. Suddenly, she felt a warmth at the tip of her nose—a nosebleed.

Too stimulating…

「Three minutes later, on the other side of the Satomi Clan Manor, within the empty and quiet tea room.」

The old man, who had been sitting cross-legged sipping tea beside the tea stove, suddenly raised his eyebrows. He glanced northward, a strange smile playing on his lips. "She's gone."

"She's on the move already?" Amber raised an eyebrow. "That's not her style. I thought she'd lurk until the very end, too lazy to get involved in this mess."

"She has indeed left." Guo ShouQue picked up his teacup, took a shallow sip of the pitch-black tea, and inhaled its sweet aroma contentedly. "Though my sense of smell is dull and my taste impaired, my hearing is still as sharp as ever… There are two fewer heartbeats in the manor. They've flown up into the sky, likely from the direction of Miss Zhenxi's courtyard."

"Two?" Amber was incredulous. "Are you sure it's two? Did she take Zhenxi with her?"

"No, Miss Zhenxi's heartbeat is still where it was." Guo ShouQue drained his cup in one gulp and chuckled strangely. "She has another heart within her, you see. Another heart that doesn't belong to her…"

"A parasite? Or a Curse?"

"Neither." Guo ShouQue shook his head. "That is a blessing the likes of which even I have never witnessed. From the Abyss… No, it should be called a 'blessing' comparable to that of a God. Though I don't know what colossal Disaster such a weighty blessing will attract, for Miss Huaizhi, it surely won't be an issue."

"That woman…" Amber sighed in annoyance, her tone a mix of displeasure, jealousy, or perhaps… resignation. Shaking her head, she glanced at the time on her phone. "By now, Ye Xueya should have arrived in Kyoto, right?"

"Miss Ye always enjoys doing the unexpected. Perhaps she's in Osaka or Edo by now… However, she probably won't interfere with matters here in Nara."

"I always feel like Ye Xueya is the type who enjoys meddling in other people's business."

"That's true, but how to put it…" Guo ShouQue mused for a moment before speaking. "To use an analogy, that child isn't one to accept dinner invitations. She'd much rather save up and host her own. Her willingness to even be present this time is already a considerable show of respect for Xuan Niao, I'd say."

"...Is it really alright for you to tell me this?"

"And why shouldn't I?" Guo ShouQue countered, perplexed. "As the one in charge here in Nara, you certainly ought to know these things. Plans must be laid out clearly, and those carrying them out must also understand everything thoroughly. Even if, in the worst case, they must go to their deaths, they deserve to know for what Sacrificial purpose they do so. That fellow Xuan Niao, though a notorious skinflint, has always been generous with the younger generation."

"Such a friendly corporate atmosphere," Amber shrugged, unsure whether to feel honored or resentful.

"The benefits aren't bad either." Guo ShouQue grinned, revealing a mouthful of loose teeth, and laughed heartily. "The dried cutlass fish I prepare each year—it's quite tasty, isn't it?"

A deathly silence. Amber's eyes nearly bulged from their sockets.

"...You?"

"Yes, the dried cutlass fish from the Dongxia Genealogy all come from me. Is that so strange? I even specifically told them to give you the widest piece… Don't tell me Chu HongChen skimmed it off?"

"…" After a long silence, Amber averted her gaze. "The seaweed is quite good."

"Haha, I'll get you some more next time." Guo ShouQue laughed merrily, set down his teacup, and rose to leave. When you're old, you have to take care of your health. Can't stay up all night like in the old days. Wash up, and by five, it's time for bed. This old man had always been good at maintaining his well-being.

But before leaving, he turned back. "Staying up late is hard on the stomach. Shall I make you some porridge?"

Amber had wanted to refuse, but… his porridge was simply too fragrant. She could only nod.

Watching the old man depart, she sighed, picked up her phone, and dialed the direct line to the Tomorrow News editorial department. Soon, a female voice answered.

"Hello? Who is this?"

"It's me… Li Jian Amber." She shook her head, resigned. "I'm up in the mountains. There are no vending machines around… Are phones really that bad?"

The woman's voice instantly turned stern. "Miss Amber, phones have radiation!"

Amber was speechless. Good heavens, I'm never getting out of this… Goddamn radiation! You're Tomorrow News! You still believe that kind of ridiculous old-wives'-tale pseudoscience? To guard against brain control by the Astronomical Society, these people probably wear tinfoil hats every day.

"Let me see… According to the specialized news service you subscribed to, hmm, the first draft of intelligence on key figures in Nara City has been compiled." A flurry of keystrokes came from the other end, followed by a click of the tongue in amazement. "Things are intense. Nara City is a veritable powder keg right now. At this critical juncture, over four hundred Sublimators are roaming in and around Nara City. Not just Yingzhou People, but quite a few foreigners too. And wanted criminals? They're crawling out of the woodwork… What are you people doing? Holding a Holy Grail War?"

"What's a Holy Grail War?"

"…" The woman on the phone was stunned for a long moment. "You don't know? Seriously? Don't all you Yingzhou People watch anime? Never mind. Back to the point, there are over eighty individuals with a threat level of B-level or higher."

"Any connected to my relatives?"

"Quite a few of those too." More keystrokes. "The Edo Outlaw Group 'Thermal Power Party's' Brothers of Night Dew Needy; the Impure Monk Guo Ying from Izumo; Africa's Million Gold Bruce; also Iron Hammer Dustin; Ice Stone Nafin; the sixth-generation Zaotou Shi; and Shinano's Beauty Yaksha, Takeuchi Shiro… I mean, is Nara really alright? Is it okay for things to be this chaotic?"

"By dawn, it will be even more chaotic." Amber sighed softly. After a moment of silence, she suddenly said, "I have a piece of news to sell you."

"Hmm? Exclusive? I like the sound of that." The woman's keyboard clattered. "Name? Age? Gender… The more details, the bigger the discount I can offer."

"Let me think, hmm…" Amber couldn't hide her mischievous delight, finally settling on a moniker. "Information concerning the 'Beheading Witch, Huaizhi Sushi'."

After a brief exchange, a regretful voice came from the other end. "This piece of news… it's D-level."

"No problem. Just remember to make up the difference when it becomes A-level tomorrow."

Ignoring the other party's confusion, Amber hung up, pleased.

In the silence, the kneeling samurai teenage girl narrowed her eyes, gazing into the night outside her window. It was as if, through the high walls, the woods, and the vast distance, she could see Nara, submerged in the deep darkness. The bloody contest hidden beneath the turbulent waters, a depth charge about to descend from the heavens, was poised to unleash terrifying waves…

When that time comes, the looks on everyone's faces will probably be quite a sight, won't they?