Chapter 65 – What Kind of Monster Has Such Heavy Tastes?

“Xi, are you still in the restroom? You’ve been gone so long. Are you feeling sick?”

After waiting in the screening room for ages without seeing Lin Xi return, Zhao Xinning could no longer pay attention to the movie. She came out of the theater to contact her.

“No, I’m not feeling sick-” Lin Xi emerged from around the corner of the hallway.

She waved at Zhao Xinning, who was standing outside the screening room.

She had hurried down from the rooftop, then detoured toward the restrooms and deliberately came out from that direction so she wouldn’t have to explain herself.

“If you’re not feeling sick, then why did you take so long?”

Lin Xi explained, “There was a bit of a line, so I got held up.”

“Let’s go back in and keep watching the movie.”

“Wait!” Zhao Xinning leaned in and sniffed Lin Xi. “I knew it. That sharp smell is coming from you, Xi!”

“Sharp?” Lin Xi tilted her head.

Shouldn’t it smell like grilled meat?

Lin Xi also felt that a bit of the aroma from the “Grilled Bird” barbecue had gotten on her.

She pretended not to know. “Really? I don’t smell anything.”

“Yes!” Zhao Xinning said. “The hygiene conditions in this theater’s restroom are seriously worrying.”

Lin Xi went with the flow and shifted the blame onto the theater.

The theater would like to state: I’m not taking the blame for this!

But Lin Xi didn’t understand. What she smelled was clearly the aroma of grilled meat, so why did Zhao Xinning smell something sharp and unpleasant?

Xinning… didn’t like barbecue???

It was possible. A beautiful girl like Xinning was definitely strict about managing her figure…

“Good thing I brought perfume.” Zhao Xinning took a perfume spray from her handbag.

After spraying the perfume, Zhao Xinning sniffed Lin Xi again. “Mm. I can barely smell that sharp odor anymore.”

“Thank you, Xinning. Let’s go in.”

“Mm.”

…

“This thing smells so awful, it must taste awful too, right? What kind of monster has such heavy tastes?”

The man squatting beside Misaka Shirai was named Feng Yuanwei. He was the Captain of the Countermeasures Bureau’s field team, Second Squad, in District 2 of Z City.

After hearing Misaka Shirai’s report on the unusual situation, Feng Yuanwei had rushed over at top speed.

He and Misaka Shirai were now squatting in front of the leftover “Grilled Bird,” wearing medical gloves as they examined it carefully.

“This adult member of the Mingwing Clan had wings that could stop bullets and even withstand bombs. With defensive power on that level, he was still roasted straight through,” Misaka Shirai judged. “This ‘grill master’ must be a Special-Grade Disaster.”

Feng Yuanwei nodded in agreement. “And this one is in human form.”

He had noticed the bite marks on the “Grilled Bird.” Without a doubt, they were human bite marks.

The two slowly stood, their expressions grave.

A Special-Grade Disaster had suddenly appeared in District 2, and a human-shaped Special-Grade Disaster at that. This was definitely going to be a huge problem.

“Right,” Feng Yuanwei said, suddenly remembering something. “When I went to headquarters for a meeting last week, Zhao Xing, Captain of District 3’s field team, Third Squad, reported something important.”

“He said that a suspected Special-Grade Disaster had recently appeared in District 3.”

“That Special-Grade Disaster burned straight through a building.”

“According to Zhao Xing and Xia Xun’s analysis, that Special-Grade Disaster was probably trying to deal with the Level-Three Disaster that had appeared inside the building, the Lava Explosion Bear.”

“It burned through the Lava Explosion Bear and the building together.”

The same fire ability. The same Special-Grade level. Feng Yuanwei immediately wondered whether that Special-Grade Disaster from District 3 had wandered into District 2.

He told Misaka Shirai his theory, and she nodded in agreement. “That’s possible.”

“It’s just strange. This Special-Grade Disaster hasn’t actually harmed any humans?”

Feng Yuanwei said, “Special-Grade Disasters are usually highly intelligent, independent entities. Not every Special-Grade Disaster is going to stir up a bloody storm like the Calamity Witch who destroyed S City.”

“Maybe this one is wary because Z City has you, Xia Xun, and Su Tang.”

S City had been destroyed by the Calamity Witch precisely because it lacked powerful combatants like a Magical Girl.

Still, the Calamity Witch hadn’t gotten away either. The Countermeasures Bureau forces sent to reinforce S City had captured her alive and locked her up in the Undersea Prison.

“Captain,” Misaka Shirai said, “hurry and call Yuan Yue over. Have him follow the scent and find the person!”

Yuan Yue was a member of their Second Squad. He was a superpower user with an extraordinarily sharp sense of smell.

Yuan Yue’s nose was genuinely keener than a dog’s.

“For tracking and locating enemies, we can’t do without Yuan Yue,” Feng Yuanwei said. “I already notified him on my way here.”

Before long, a young man in the Countermeasures Bureau’s gray-black uniform, his hair cropped short, arrived on the rooftop.

“Captain, Shirai, sorry. Traffic was jammed on the way, so I’m late.” Yuan Yue walked toward them, then suddenly stopped in his tracks.

“What is that smell?!”

“Is it a chemical weapon?!”

“It stinks so bad. I’m going to suffocate!”

“Urgh!-“

With his overly sensitive nose, Yuan Yue was directly nauseated into throwing up by the pungent stench of the “Grilled Bird.”

Feng Yuanwei: “…”

Misaka Shirai: “…”

Apparently, having a good nose wasn’t always a good thing…

“Xiao Yuan, get to it,” Feng Yuanwei said, beckoning him over. “When Heaven is about to place a great responsibility upon-“

Yuan Yue asked with a miserable expression, “Captain, can this count as a workplace injury?”

“It can,” Feng Yuanwei agreed at once.

Yuan Yue moved a little closer, fought down his nausea, and took a deep breath.

“Get closer,” Feng Yuanwei said. “You need to memorize this scent properly.”

Yuan Yue waved his hands again and again. “This is more than enough. I’m afraid I won’t be able to forget this smell for the rest of the week.”

Yuan Yue really had it rough.

But when he saw the three comrades lying in pools of blood nearby, righteous fury filled him.

“I swear I’ll find the bastard who killed Zhao Xuan and the others!”

Misaka Shirai pointed at the “Grilled Bird” on the ground. “That is the culprit who killed Zhao Xuan and the other two.”

“Huh?!” Yuan Yue’s mouth fell open, and he accidentally inhaled another breath.

Feng Yuanwei said, “I’ll explain while we move.”

Before heading downstairs, Feng Yuanwei contacted the Logistics Team and had them come over to collect the bodies of Zhao Xuan and the others-as well as take away the half-eaten “Grilled Bird.”

…

“Xi, the movie was really exciting.”

Zhao Xinning actually didn’t like watching movies very much, nor did she like playing games.

But Lin Xi liked movies and games. Since Lin Xi liked them, she liked them too.

Sitting in the theater, half of Zhao Xinning’s attention had been on the movie, and the other half had been on Lin Xi.

Holding Lin Xi’s hand the whole time while watching the movie made it feel as if they were a couple. She was so happy…

“I’m so hungry,” Zhao Xinning said, hugging Lin Xi’s arm. “Xi, you’re hungry too, right?”

Lin Xi: “…”

She wasn’t hungry. If anything, she was still a little full…

“Mm, yeah, pretty hungry.”

“Then let’s go have lunch,” Zhao Xinning said. “How about hot pot?”

“Sure.”

The two of them left the theater and merged into the bustling crowd.