CHAPTER 594: CHAPTER 355: THE BRIGADE’S NEXT MOVE / RETURN OF THE LITTLE NIAN BEAST

August 18th, 8:00 AM China time, Li Jing, inside an empty underground bar.

"So... did you really kill Swallowing Silver?"

"Do you care?"

A black-haired girl in a Japanese school uniform sat on the bar, sitting sideways, and took out a fruit knife. She lowered her eyes, quietly peeling an apple, the peel intertwining in circles, drooping down.

Xia Pingzhou lifted his eyes from his phone, quietly staring at Jack the Ripper.

"I’m his fan," he said.

"Elementary school student?"

"What do you mean?"

"Only elementary school students become fans of such dim-witted types. Are you going to say you aren’t?" Jack the Ripper said as she peeled the apple, the black and white school uniform skirt spreading across the bar.

"Elementary school cat." Ayase Origami, seated not far away, looked at a haiku book and said softly.

"Let’s leave whether I’m an elementary school student aside; is he dead?" Xia Pingzhou took a sip of ice water and continued to ask.

"Not dead, satisfied?" Yanmo Lin asked.

"Not dead?"

"I took one of his hearts, but he has another metallic artificial heart," Jack the Ripper said coldly. "I was careless... If I knew you were his fan, I should have stabbed him twice more, then pulled out his intestines and left them for you as a souvenir."

"Let’s just forget about that souvenir." Xia Pingzhou put down the glass on the bar.

The Hacker came out of the restroom, tugged a strap on the romper, "Uh... Jack the Ripper originally intended to go to the hospital to give another stab; she doesn’t like leaving enemies behind, but I told her you were a Swallowing Silver fan, so she stopped."

"Electronic Pet, want to die?" Jack the Ripper suddenly glanced sideways, pressing the tip of the fruit knife to the Hacker’s neck. The peeled apple slid down the knife towards the Hacker’s mouth; Xia Pingzhou felt this scene was strangely familiar.

"Thanks for the feed." The Hacker bit into the apple, took a bite, and then began to speak.

"Death penalty is too much. I support cyber punishment." A blonde-haired woman in a red dress suddenly opened the door and walked in, curling her lips teasingly, "Punish him to become a data stream locked inside a mobile phone for a month."

"Then I’ll have to be locked inside the young lady’s phone, seeing her sweet messages with the love saint cat every day." As soon as the Hacker finished talking, he realized that the apple he bit into was wrapped with paper.

His face turned green, and he almost vomited from being choked, crouching on the ground, dry heaving.

"So what are we doing next? Weren’t we going to take down Lake Hunting? Lake Hunting isn’t in Li Jing." Xia Pingzhou glanced at the Bloodline, expressionless, asking.

"I don’t know; ask the Electronic Pet." The Bloodline picked up the glass and took a sip of red wine.

"Bai Tanlang has already returned to Hai Fan Mountain; it will meet the Year Beast Monarch today." The Hacker crawled up from the ground and said, coughing, "They said the situation over there is complicated. We should stay in Li Jing and wait for their word."

"So what date do we start the action?" Xia Pingzhou asked.

"Around the 25th, that’s the day Lake Hunting and the Nian Beast have their decisive battle. We’ll go play the spoiler." The Hacker said, "Catch the entire Lake Hunting at once."

.....

.....

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, by the Spirit Heart Lake.

A thirty-meter-long violet-red lion stood by the lake, eyes lowered, quietly gazing at the lotus leaves on the lake, a wisp of fierce fire rising from the lion’s head.

"Nian... Nian Beast Sir, there’s no way such a large creature could stand on my head; could you see if you can fly over yourself?" The Lotus Leaf Demon blinked its eyes, trembling, tentatively saying.

It stared blankly at this huge Nian Beast; how big of a lotus leaf would it take to hold this huge lion?

The Lotus Leaf Demon suddenly lowered its eyes, silently lamenting in its heart, the Little Nian Beast really has grown over the years.

On this day last year, Little Nian Beast was only a meter long, wandering back and forth in the forest, looking just like a mischievous little dog, where was there any Demon King dignity?

No one truly believed it was the Great Monarch’s son, destined to command the next generation of demons in Hai Fan Mountain.

Yet it was indeed the Crown Prince among the demons, everyone had to respect it, fearing accidentally angering the Great Monarch. The Great Monarch’s wife had already passed away, so it placed its love for her onto the Little Nian Beast, exceptionally doting on this child.

But the Great Monarch didn’t expect that at the age of nine, Little Nian Beast suddenly left home without saying a word.

This incident alarmed everyone in Hai Fan Mountain, making the Year Beast Monarch furious. It charged into Hai Fan City with the Zodiac Team’s twelve demons, demanding an explanation from the Exorcist Association, or it would purge Hai Fan City by blood.

At this time, an exorcist named "Su Ying" stood out, claiming to be the Invisible Executor of Lake Hunting, responsible for managing Hai Fan City’s affairs, calming the Year Beast Monarch’s anger.

He said if both sides were to battle, at least first confirm Little Nian Beast’s status, otherwise, it would only make the scene more chaotic.

The Year Beast Monarch negotiated a few times with Su Ying, finally waiting for the Exorcist Association’s support and the previous generation of four Lake Hunting members to arrive.

They communicated for a long time before finding the whereabouts of Little Nian, many who had taken photos on their phones saw a violet-red little lion, others had seen a ragged little boy with a strand of violet-red hair on his forehead.

After a thorough investigation, they learned that Little Nian Beast had long silently left the city aboard a Human-Snake Ship used by stowaways.

And coincidentally, "Lin Xingshi", the designated heir of the Lake Hunting "Lin Family", boarded that ship the same day.