Hee hee, woo woo, yummy! Thanks a lot, for your grandma’s leg... Hahaha, WAAAH...

Wei’en: "..."

He had already given up trying to make sense of this bizarre pair.

Based on his speculation, the danger posed by the Taboo Item, the Demon Clown, should be controllable. And the one controlling it... could only be the white-haired girl, Tina.

As a much stranger and more powerful Calamity-grade entity, it was obvious that the Demon Clown, equivalent to only a level-three calamity, was nothing in front of Tina.

It was a classic case of fighting fire with fire.

With this in mind, Wei’en took out a sheet of parchment and wrote a report on the afternoon’s events, planning to give it to Lisi when she returned.

But by the end of the workday, he still hadn’t seen Lisi or the others return.

Left with no other choice, Wei’en took Tina with him and knocked on the door of Minister Yegor’s office.

"Minister, this is today’s report."

Yegor looked at him blankly, as if he still wasn’t fully awake. It wasn’t until he glanced at the report’s contents that he seemed to clear his head a bit. "Oh? You ran into that bunch of lunatics from the Combat Department?"

"Yes."

’Lunatics? Other than that guy named Santiago, the others didn’t really seem to fit the description.’

"I didn’t expect your skills to improve so quickly. You even managed to kill that guy... Hmm, I see. Leave the report with me. I’ll pass it on to Albert and the others."

"What about Tina?" Wei’en gestured to the white-haired girl beside him, asking what he should do with her.

"Lisi and the others probably aren’t done with their business yet. Just help look after Tina for the day."

’Looks like that’s the only option...’

"Remember to take good care of her. She’s just a kid, after all. Don’t you go bullying her."

Wei’en: "..."

’Bullying?’

’Is he talking about *that* kind of bullying?’

"Understood, Minister Yegor..."

’Damn it, why is he just like Marco? What a pervert.’

...

...

"Tina, home."

After returning to his residence on Golden Street, Tina looked at the somewhat familiar attic bedroom and pointed to the bed.

’Home?’

A smile appeared on Wei’en’s face. "If you’d like, you’re always welcome here. But you can’t do what you did last time."

He still remembered the scene when the white-haired girl had suddenly appeared here... ’Yep, just a kid.’

"Tina, know."

With that, Tina tossed the clown doll aside and flopped onto the bed.

"...What are you doing?"

"Tina, Marco, like this."

Wei’en’s mouth fell open. He suddenly felt that Lisi hadn’t beaten Marco hard enough yesterday. ’What kind of nonsense has he been teaching her?’

"Don’t listen to his nonsense. You... Never mind. I’ll find a room for you in a bit. You can stay there tonight."

"Tina, not here?"

"Mm, it’s not time yet. You still have to grow up," Wei’en said with a smile, patting her head.

’Both physically and mentally,’ he sighed internally.

The white-haired girl gazed at him and gave a slight nod. "Tina, know."

"Let me make you something to eat. You get a good night’s rest, okay?"

"Tina, know."

Soon, Wei’en had prepared a meal similar to breakfast, and the two of them ate while talking and laughing.

’Well, Wei’en did the talking and laughing. Tina...’ 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

DONG, DONG DONG...

’Six o’clock. They’re still not back?’

Wei’en settled Tina into another bedroom in the attic to rest, then stood by the window, keeping an eye on the Morris Clinic next door.

But he waited until the red moon had risen, and Kali still hadn’t returned.

’Did she run into some kind of trouble?’

But then he remembered the Guardian Knight accompanying Kali and felt he was probably overthinking it.

Considering how important Kali was to Melbel, there was no way she would let anyone harm her. Besides, the incredibly powerful Lisi was there too...

Also, that Thousand-faced Kreya had said she’d be back tonight to bring him food, but she was nowhere to be seen either.

’Really...’

Wei’en shook his head and went to the second floor. ’Hm?’

He noticed that Miss Zombie hadn’t shown her face since he got back. After a moment’s thought, he went over and knocked on her door. "Shawa?"

CREAK.

The bedroom door opened a crack, and Shawa revealed half her face, her deathly pale eyes looking at him.

"Are you all right?" Wei’en hesitated for a moment before saying, "Sorry, I shouldn’t have asked that question this morning."

"No, I... just can’t remember."

"It’s okay if you can’t remember..."

Wei’en said with sudden understanding, "That was a long time ago. It’s good to forget about it. After all..."

SLAM.

The door shut.

"..."

Wei’en scratched his head. ’...after all, those are just memories of being alive, of having warmth and flesh, of being able to taste delicious food... Good thing I didn’t get to say all that.’

’It looks like Miss Zombie won’t be coming out of her bedroom for a while.’

With that thought, he turned and plunged into his workshop. It was time to create his first Mechanical Puppet!