“Even if you’re short-handed, you can’t just send no backup at all,” I said worriedly. “If you can’t handle this, then what’s the Holy See supposed to do?”

She’s S-rank, at least. I trusted that letter, the one that always stood for top-tier, wouldn’t be that simple.

An Li fell silent for a long moment, then said, “If even I can’t complete this mission, the Holy See will abandon it. Because of how infectious it is, they’ll abandon the entire urban district.”

I caught the implication right away and got excited. “I get it now. You’re the Holy See’s number one expert!”

An Li frowned. She clearly didn’t like that way of putting it.

“Pack your things. We’re leaving. Bring your blood packs.”

There wasn’t really anything to pack anyway. Most of my old stuff was basically useless now. An Li bought me a few extra changes of clothes, and we set out light, boarding the high-speed rail to Wuzhou City.

“What happens without support from those non-combat personnel?” I was really curious about that.

An Li lifted two suitcases onto the rack. “Without that support, things won’t be this convenient. You don’t have an ID, but we still didn’t need to buy a ticket or go through inspection to get on the train. So after we get off in Wuzhou City, we’ll have to drive ourselves to Lianyun District.”

“Huh? So someone actually arranged for us to get on?”

I rarely took trains, let alone high-speed rail, so I had no idea how any of this worked.

An Li didn’t want to explain that much to me. “Sit down. Be quiet.”

Actually, there was still a lot I wanted to ask. But An Li clearly didn’t want to waste her breath. In her eyes, I was just dead weight. She had to keep me with her because I was important, and as long as I stayed obediently in the safe zone during the mission, that was enough.

But I had my own little thoughts.

I’m a brave manly guy, okay? How could I hide behind a pretty young lady? Wouldn’t that make me some kept pretty boy?

One day, I wouldn’t need An Li’s protection anymore. I’d face the Queen of Night head-on with my own strength.

I’d prove what I could do!

And then I fell asleep on the train.

Wuzhou City was still pretty far away. Even by high-speed rail, the trip took most of the day. By the time we arrived, I got off the train yawning, barely able to hold onto my luggage.

An Li glanced at me. “Did you pull an all-nighter last night?”

“No, no way I stayed up all night. I just got up a little early,” I said, pinching the air with my fingers. “Just this tiny little bit early.”

“What time?”

“Three-thirty.”

“...”

An Li stopped wanting to talk to me. She left me at the station entrance and went off to rent a car herself. Luckily, this was a big city, and a busy area too. Patrol officers were everywhere, so no traffickers would dare try anything here.

I waited there in a sleepy haze until An Li drove over and hauled me into the car.

“You can sleep now. But if you can’t sleep tonight, don’t make noise and bother me.”

So while An Li drove toward Lianyun District, I tilted my head and took a nap in the back seat.

I slept really well. I even had a dream. In the dream, several little girls were around me. Hua Hua was there, and so was Guo Guo.

“Little big brother, drink my blood!”

I had no idea how they saw through my tiny appearance and recognized the manly essence within me, but either way, I liked it a lot.

But just as I was about to hug one of the little girls and drink deeply, someone suddenly appeared out of the darkness and yanked me away.

“Ohohohohohoho~”

The figure, impossible to make out clearly, let out a queenly laugh and said, “Don’t resist. Be a good boy and become material for my evolution.”

Then she started taking off my clothes, even my panties, and I—

“Eekyaaah!”

Beep beep! Screeech!!

The sharp sound of tires scraping jolted me awake. The moment I opened my eyes, I saw the car hanging at a near-tilted angle by the roadside. In the front seat, the driver stretched out one long pale leg and pulled a massive-barreled revolver from the holster strapped to her thigh, aiming it straight at my head.

“N-no, no, no,” I said, my little face going deathly pale. “It’s me, it’s me! Don’t shoot by mistake!”

An Li was expressionless. “Do you remember what I said last time you screamed?”

“Sorry, I know I was wrong, but this time I really didn’t mean to,” I said, still shaken. “I just had a nightmare. I think I dreamed about the Queen of Night.”

An Li’s expression froze slightly. She set the revolver back against her thigh, opened the car door first, then went outside and pushed the tilted car back upright.

Clunk!

Then she got back into the car, shut the door tightly, and demanded, “What exactly did you dream?”

I answered honestly. “I dreamed she caught me, then tore off my clothes. Even my panties got taken off, and then...”

As I spoke, my little face turned red.

“Stop. I’m not interested in that. I’m asking what traits she had in the dream.”

“Oh.” I nodded and started recalling it carefully. “She had a queenly laugh.”

An Li’s eyelid twitched.

“And her voice sounded kind of like yours too...”

“Stop. That’s enough,” An Li said, speechless, turning back around and putting her hand on the steering wheel again. “I thought she might’ve reached you through your dream. Turns out you just had a normal dream. One of those daytime thoughts turning into nighttime dreams.”

She’d actually asked me seriously, like an idiot. Had she started getting assimilated by this loli or something?

An Li silently added today to her collection of black history.

I blinked, seeming to realize something. “So that Queen... she doesn’t do the queen laugh?”

“She does not!”