"Meow~"
"No, nothing."
Noticing Little Black looking over, Stelle averted its gaze, feeling slightly guilty.
This scene left Little Black speechless, and it flicked its Tail impatiently.
"No, seriously, what are you doing?"
At this moment, Little Black inexplicably missed its former owner.
That shut-in girl who stayed home every day, hugging her game console whenever she had nothing to do—even though she always forgot to feed it cat food, even though she always stayed up late playing games and kept it from sleeping, and even though she always treated it like a body pillow, kneading it back and forth...(Silver Wolf)
Little Black flicked its Tail, feeling indignant: "Even if you wanted to leave, you could have at least taken me with you! This Muyun City is no place for a cat!"
"Meow~"
"Ahem, that's right, I've already thought of a solution!"
Stelle cleared its throat, deliberately putting on an air of confidence and proudly patting its chest.
Who knows what kind of mentality it had, actually putting on an act in front of a cat.
"Meow~"
"Need you ask? Of course, it's—"
Stelle intentionally dragged out its tone, a mysterious smile appearing on its face, and then it suddenly whipped out its phone.
"When I, a Stelle, walk the world, besides relying on strength, what do I rely on? Of course, it's friends everywhere! Calling for backup! If I can gang up on someone, I never fight one-on-one!"
Little Black (ノ_＜.): "Meow~"
"Don't be surprised, let me summon someone first!"
Stelle had a look of certainty on its face as it spoke, skillfully dialing Silver Wolf's number.
However, before the call could go through, a strange red light flashed, and its figure vanished mysteriously right before Little Black's eyes.
"Meow?"
Little Black tilted its head, staring at the empty ground, its round eyes filled with confusion.
After a long while, it finally reacted, its Tail instantly puffing up, and all the fur on its body standing on end.
It could clearly feel an evil presence, which was getting closer than before.
"Meow~"
Looking at the place where Stelle had vanished, Little Black's little eyes were complex, and it remained motionless on the spot.
After a long while, it decisively chose to turn and leave.
As the saying goes, when disaster strikes, everyone flies on their own.
Presumably, its wise and courageous pooper-scooper would be able to turn danger into safety, and as a weak little cat, it was better to slip away first.
Immediately after, Little Black left the place at high speed without a shred of attachment.
...
Meanwhile, on the other side.
Stelle looked confused, its golden eyes filled with clear stupidity, clearly not yet understanding the situation.
The phone in its hand was pressed against its ear, and the "cannot connect" prompt from the earpiece echoed repeatedly in the empty space, carrying a touch of absurdity.
"Could it be... have I transmigrated again?"
Stelle's voice carried a hint of uncertainty, and it looked around its surroundings with a blank expression.
The abandoned warehouse was still the same warehouse, but...
"I just feel like something is wrong." Stelle lightly touched its chin with its fingertips, its eyes full of vigilance.
A faint smell of rust permeated the air, and the shadows in the warehouse seemed to be swaying slightly, exuding an indescribable eeriness.
It clearly felt the weightlessness of that moment, as if it had suddenly detached from the world, its body feeling light and unreal.
And the abandoned warehouse before it, although not much different from a few seconds ago, had a strange sense of dissonance.
Perhaps because the environment was already dark, Stelle couldn't pinpoint the problem, only feeling a creeping sensation in its heart, as if something bad was about to happen.
Just then, Stelle suddenly realized a problem, immediately clutching its head in its hands and squatting on the ground in distress.
"Little Black! How did you disappear! Why am I the only protagonist who gets unlucky! It's so dangerous outside, without my care, where will a cat like you go?"
Things had reached this point.
It didn't mourn for Little Black for even a second.
Next, Stelle didn't rush to leave; instead, it suppressed the unease in its heart and cautiously wandered around the abandoned warehouse again.
Miraculously, the layout inside the warehouse seemed to have no major differences; the room structure and sense of space were exactly the same as a few seconds ago.
A moment later, Stelle finally made a discovery in a room in the corner of the warehouse.
Under the dim light, a Blood Array glowing with an eerie red light was clearly visible; it was the very target it had been looking for on this trip.
"Strange, I was certain there was no Blood Array found in the abandoned warehouse originally. But why now..."
Besides the mysteriously appearing Blood Array, Stelle also discovered that the current Blood Array was different from the ones it had encountered in the past.
Now, this eerie Blood Array seemed to be completely lit up, and a mysterious pattern had appeared in the center of the Blood Array, looking like a crimson pupil, exuding an eerie aura.
The cold and evil aura radiating all around made Stelle break out in goosebumps; it could feel that this Blood Array seemed to be brewing something terrible.
Surveying the situation before it, Stelle's gaze was heavy, and it instinctively pulled out its metal baseball bat, gripping it tightly in its hand.
"I shouldn't have accidentally intervened in some main plot, should I?"
After hesitating repeatedly, Stelle finally decided to destroy the Blood Array.
Fortunately, it wasn't a big issue, and it didn't trigger any special plot or anything.
After preparing itself mentally, Stelle walked slowly toward the gate of the abandoned warehouse.
A moment later, Stelle walked out of the warehouse without any hindrance and arrived on a street.
But strangely, the street was completely deserted. The downtown area, which had been bustling not long ago, now seemed to have had a mute button pressed; even the rustling of wind blowing through leaves had disappeared, and it was eerily quiet.
The drizzle from not long ago had also stopped, and the air was left with only dead silence.
Stelle stood in the middle of the empty street, observing its surroundings with a look of astonishment, a trace of unease rising in its heart—all of this was just too abnormal.
The streets and buildings were all still there, but there wasn't a single light, nor any sign of life; the whole city was like a dead city.
Stelle took a deep breath and slowly looked up at the sky.
Under this eerie Muyun City, the sky had also gone completely dark.
Unlike a short while ago, the dark clouds that had covered the sky were gone, leaving only a bright moon hanging in the clear, clean dark curtain of the sky, casting silver light onto the street so it wouldn't be pitch black.
Stelle's gaze became increasingly heavy, its brows tightly furrowed.
It gripped the baseball bat tightly; only the heavy metallic texture in its hand could bring it a shred of security.
The full moon overhead was brighter and clearer than at any time before, its spotless white surface glowing with a bright, pure light.
But Stelle keenly noticed that the glow cast by this seemingly spotless full moon carried a hint of an elusive, eerie red.
It just wasn't obvious at the moment; ordinary people wouldn't be able to tell at all.
"It seems I have indeed entered some special plot scene."
At this moment, Stelle was almost completely certain—this was definitely not the original Muyun City.
The deserted city, the eerie and bizarre moon—didn't all of this reveal this conclusion?
Combined with the mysterious disappearance of the previous few Blood Arrays.
"If it really wasn't Little Black acting up on purpose, it means that all the Blood Arrays have entered this world."
But what exactly does this eerie situation represent...