When Scott said that name, not only Yukong but even Mebius herself froze for a second.
Who did you just say your boss was?
Was he trying to claim credit by association?
Now Mebius was even less interested in leaving.
Originally, this was supposed to be part of the story anyway, so she hadn't intended to interfere. But now things were different.
Her blood pressure rose on the spot.
No wonder everyone said the Market Development Department was a department full of bastards—it turned out it was because it kept breeding tumors like this!
Damn it. When was the reputation of the Market Development Department ever going to recover?
Scott, however, seemed to have found new confidence and immediately puffed up again in front of Yukong.
"Lady Yukong, I'll be honest with you. You might think I, Scott, still haven't made it to headquarters, but that's old news!"
"You've heard of Director Wenliang, haven't you? After our former director, Oswaldo, died gloriously in the line of duty, it was he who took over as the new head of the Market Development Department!"
"And as for me—Linden Scott, humble though I may be—I once met Boss Wenliang down at the grassroots level, and we hit it off so well that we became sworn brothers! We didn't ask to be born on the same day, same month, and same year, but we did vow to发财 on the same day, same month, and same year!"
"If you humiliate me here on the Luofu today, my boss is absolutely going to back me up!"
With that, Scott once more wore that infuriatingly smug expression. "Well? Scared yet?"
At last, Yukong's expression changed slightly.
Wenliang… of course she knew that name.
After all, their own Master Diviner, Fu Xuan, had dealt with him more than once in trade matters.
And at the very start, it had also been Wenliang who introduced the Abundance Emanator, Cecilia, to the Luofu.
Though the Luofu had not initially managed to uncover much of Wenliang's history, the fact that he had directly replaced Oswaldo as head of the Market Development Department was proof enough that he was no ordinary man.
If Wenliang himself had been standing here, then provided he did not mean harm to the Luofu, Yukong really might have shown him a measure of courtesy.
But if it was only Scott standing before her…
She finally said, "You mean the Wenliang who was recently promoted?"
"Exactly!" Scott puffed out his chest. "That Wenliang! Lady Yukong must have heard of him, right? Under his leadership, the Market Development Department's performance is soaring—"
"I know who Wenliang is," Yukong cut him off. "But as far as I know, Director Wenliang does not have any sworn brother by the name of Scott."
Scott's expression stiffened for an instant, but he quickly forced it back into that slippery smile.
"Well, you see… sworn brotherhood is the sort of thing we naturally keep low-key. Our people in the Market Development Department have always hated drawing attention."
Hearing that, even Yukong looked a little speechless.
She turned her head and quietly said something to the clerk beside her.
The clerk nodded and left at once, no doubt to verify something.
"Mr. Scott," Yukong said, turning back to him, "regardless of which important figure you claim to have behind you, the Luofu's trade regulations apply equally to everyone. The discrepancy between your cargo manifest and your actual shipment is a fact."
"If you cooperate with the inspection, this can be resolved quickly. If you continue to obstruct us…"
She did not finish the sentence, but the meaning was plain enough.
Then Yukong stepped forward.
Instantly, the aura of a high-level pathstrider pressed down on Scott.
Sweat began to bead on his forehead.
Scott knew well enough that the Mistress of the Sky-Faring Commission wasn't just some paper-pushing bureaucrat. She was a formidable pathstrider too.
That made things troublesome.
Scott knew full well that there was a problem with this shipment.
Medical equipment was only a cover story. Mixed into the cargo were all sorts of contraband, meant to be smuggled into the Luofu during the Wardance, when the crowds would make it easier to slip past notice.
He'd done this sort of thing before, and never once had it gone wrong.
But who would've thought the Sky-Faring Commission would suddenly start taking this so seriously this time?
"Lady Yukong," Scott said, wiping at his sweat, softening his tone, "how about this? I'll take the shipment back for now, reorganize the paperwork, and come back tomorrow—"
"No."
Yukong's refusal was immediate and clean.
She took the manifest from a nearby clerk and raised an eyebrow slightly.
"Medical equipment?"
Then she looked up at Scott again.
"Since when does the company pack medical supplies in military-grade alloy containers, Mr. Scott?"
Scott's face changed at once.
"Th-that… that's a new company regulation, for the sake of ensuring the safety of medical supplies during transport. That's why we specifically purchased this upgraded packaging."
"Is that so?" Yukong lowered the manifest and fixed him with a steady gaze. "Then are you saying that what's inside those boxes truly is medical equipment?"
Scott opened his mouth, but no words came out.
Yukong did not rush him. She merely looked at him in silence.
Her gaze did not feel oppressive, and yet Scott felt like prey under the eye of a hunting bird.
"…Yes," he forced out at last, gritting his teeth. "Of course it is. I, Scott, do business with utmost integrity. If I say it's medical equipment, then it's medical equipment!"
Yukong did not respond immediately.
Instead, she drew a jade plaque from her sleeve and tapped it lightly.
The plaque glowed, projecting a holographic image—the scanned contents of the cargo.
"Medical equipment," Yukong repeated, her voice still calm. "Then perhaps Mr. Scott would care to explain why the scan shows that over thirty percent of this 'medical equipment' is made up of heavy metal components?"
Scott's face went white.
And not only his. The onlookers around them erupted.
"So the Sky-Faring Commission was right to stop him—Scott really was up to something!"
Scott's face alternated between red and white. Clutching the contract, he finally began to panic.
"Th-this is a misunderstanding!" he blurted.
"The manifest was drafted by headquarters! I'm only in charge of transport—I don't know the exact contents myself…"
"You don't know?" Yukong's expression changed at last. "Mr. Scott, this is hardly your first time conducting business on the Luofu. You should know Alliance trade law well enough. When the manifest does not match the actual cargo, the transporter bears primary responsibility."
"You do understand that, don't you?"
Scott was finally speechless.
Of course he understood.
He just hadn't expected the Sky-Faring Commission to check this thoroughly, nor Yukong to appear in person.
"Lady Yukong…" Scott's voice softened further, now carrying a pleading edge. "You see, this was indeed my oversight. But the goods have already reached the Luofu, so perhaps we could discuss some kind of… mutually beneficial solution?"
"A mutually beneficial solution?" Yukong's voice remained flat. "Mr. Scott, do you truly believe there is still room for negotiation here?"
Scott's expression froze.
Yukong no longer looked at him. She turned to the two clerks behind her and gave a slight nod.
"Open the containers."
They stepped forward at once.
As the alloy doors slowly opened with a mechanical hiss, the neatly stacked metal contents were finally revealed.
But that wasn't all.
The instant the doors parted, a strange current of air spilled out—part metal tang, part some oddly sweet, rotten smell.
The two clerks instinctively retreated a step. Even for officials accustomed to contraband, their faces changed drastically.
Because behind those heavy metal components, several Borisin were hiding.
"Damn it, why are these foxians so damned nosy!" one of the Borisin snarled.
Yukong's pupils contracted sharply. "You people are colluding with the Borisin?!"
Scott's face went deathly pale.
This wasn't right at all!!!
Heavens bear witness—while he had indeed smuggled in a number of forbidden goods, he absolutely would not have dared to bring Borisin onto the Luofu!
When had these Borisin snuck in? And how had the detection systems failed to pick them up?
Scott finally lost it. He looked at Yukong in desperate panic. "Lady Yukong, I swear I'm innocent!"
"I-I admit it! We did bring in some contraband before, but these Borisin really have nothing to do with us!"
At that point, Yukong no longer had any interest in Scott.
A longbow appeared in her hands.
"All Cloud Knights—be on guard. With me, capture those Borisin!"
The moment Yukong's voice fell, the Borisin poured from the containers.
One of the first things they did was laugh at how badly Scott had just sold himself.
Yanqing had once been unlucky enough to get caught up in his nonsense—who would've guessed Scott would still be this much of a disaster?
But more ominously, the Borisin did not stop there.
Several more containers shook violently.
Then, with a series of crashes, more of them burst open.
The plaza was suddenly flooded with Borisin.
And one of them, clearly their leader, swelled to nearly five meters in height, four arms sprouting from its sides, each one gripping a bone blade slick with some dark-red fluid.
"Bone-Eroding Borisin!" the male Sky-Faring Commission clerk cried out.
Before the words had even finished leaving his mouth, that four-armed Borisin had already rushed him.
Its bone blades slashed downward with a shriek of tearing air.
A Cloud Knight leapt in at the last instant and blocked the blow.
But the disturbance had only grown too loud to contain.
All across the docks, more and more cargo containers were starting to move.
In the blink of an eye, the entire plaza was surrounded by Borisin.
"Damn it!" Yukong's voice cut across the chaos.
An arrow flew from the side and embedded itself neatly into the crack in the four-armed Borisin's shoulder armor.
The Borisin howled in pain, staggering one step—yet instead of falling, it simply swung its bone blades and charged at Yukong.
Yukong frowned.
The strength of these Borisin was wrong. A normal Bone-Eroding Borisin would have been pierced straight through by one of her arrows, but this one had only suffered a wound.
She slipped sideways past one slash and loosed another arrow in the same motion, this time aiming for its eye.
The shaft sank in deep.
Only then did the Borisin crash to the ground.
But more were already surging in.
Exalting Sanctum descended into utter chaos.
The crowd screamed and fled. Stalls overturned, goods spilled everywhere. The Cloud Knights who had rushed in were fighting desperately, but they were too few, and were forced steadily backward.
"Lady Yukong, I'll help!"
A clear young voice rang out from above.
Then a small figure dropped from the air, cleanly slicing off the arm of a Borisin lunging at Yukong.
The newcomer landed, greatsword humming in her hands.
Though she looked barely twelve or thirteen, the way she held her sword was astonishingly steady.
"Yunli? What are you doing here?" Yukong asked, brows tightening.
"Grandpa told me to come buy pastries in Exalting Sanctum!" Yunli answered as she lunged at another Borisin. "Then I just happened to run into this!"
Yukong had no time to say more.
Three more Borisin came at her from different directions.
She sprang into the air and drew her bow mid-leap. Three arrows flew at once, striking three separate Borisin.
But there were simply too many of them.
And as more containers continued to open, the Borisin kept pouring out—among them several more four-armed Bone-Eroding types, and even larger variants with jagged bone spines across their backs.
"This isn't right," Yukong muttered, landing atop a rooftop and sweeping the entire plaza with a sharp gaze.
"These Borisin didn't just happen to slip in. This was organized. Premeditated. Scott was used—but the planner is someone else."
Her eyes narrowed as they fixed on the still-opening containers, and a grim suspicion took shape in her mind.
If this wasn't merely smuggling…
If it was an infiltration.
Then Exalting Sanctum—perhaps even the entire Luofu—might already be exposed to far greater danger.
"All personnel, contract the line!" Yukong's voice rang out over the plaza. "Protect the civilians first! Do not split up!"
At her command, the Cloud Knights immediately adjusted formation.
Yukong moved swiftly across the rooftops, her arrows raining down with deadly accuracy, each shot taking a Borisin in the throat, eye, or joint.
But even her archery could not cover the whole plaza alone.
Then one especially massive Borisin burst out from the side.
It wasn't aiming at Yukong.
It was charging straight at the small figure fighting in the front lines.
"Yunli!" Yukong shouted.
But Yunli had no time to turn.
The creature was already in front of her, bone spikes driving forward like spears.
Bang!
A wall of water appeared out of nowhere.
The bone spikes sank into it as though into thick resin, their speed dropping to nearly nothing.
The Borisin gave a bewildered snarl and tried to wrench them free, only to find them firmly trapped.
"What is th—"
Its voice cut off.
A pale hand emerged from the water curtain.
The hand was small, delicate—clearly a young girl's hand. It settled lightly against one of the bone spikes, and then squeezed.
Crack.
The spike shattered.
Before the Borisin could even scream, its entire massive body was dragged into the water curtain.
The water churned violently a few times, then stilled.
A moment later, a shriveled Borisin corpse slid out and hit the ground with a wet thud.
Everyone froze.
Then the water dispersed, and Mebius stepped out from within it.
"…Miss Mebius?" Yukong blurted from not far away.
Yunli, too, stood stunned in place.
Her greatsword was still raised in a guarding stance, but the girl's attention had clearly been stolen by the figure in front of her.
"Damn it, we can't drag this out!" one of the Borisin suddenly roared. "Brothers, all of us together—let's finish these people!"
Then, all at once, the Borisin pulled out little red spheres from somewhere on their persons.
They smashed them against the ground.
Black smoke exploded everywhere.
And when the smoke cleared, countless True Stings had appeared, completely surrounding Exalting Sanctum.
Even Mebius looked surprised.
In her memory, the Borisin weren't supposed to reveal themselves this early if they were trying to rescue Hoolay.
And what was this now—there was Propagation mixed into this too?
"All personnel, fall back immediately!" Yukong's voice rang with unprecedented severity.
The threat posed by the swarm was far worse than that posed by these worn-out Borisin.
This was Exalting Sanctum, the most densely populated place on the Luofu.
If the swarm were allowed to reproduce here, the consequences would be catastrophic.
Yukong's response was already fast.
The True Stings were faster.
The black tide poured out from the broken red spheres, carpeting half the plaza in an instant.
One True Sting alone wasn't terrifying—Yukong could kill one in a single strike.
But when their numbers reached into the thousands, they began to operate with something close to a hive mind, coordinating with terrifying efficiency, hunting any living thing they found.
"Lady Yukong!" one of the clerks shouted. "This is too dangerous—you should withdraw first—"
"Withdraw?" Yukong barked, loosing another arrow. "Withdraw to where? This is Exalting Sanctum. The civilians haven't even been evacuated yet!"
Her eyes swept over the plaza as she rapidly assessed the situation.
There were too few Cloud Knights. They could not stop the swarm. Yukong herself could hold the line for a time, but not forever—and certainly not alone. Not against the countless True Stings.
And the Borisin were still there as well. Hidden by the smoke, they had spread out across the plaza and were now fighting in strange coordination with the swarm.
"This lady!" Yunli suddenly turned toward Mebius and called out, "Could you please help?"
Her expression was utterly earnest.
Though she was young, Yunli had trained in arms since childhood and had seen her fair share of the world through her grandfather.
And though Mebius had only acted for a brief instant, without saying or doing anything flashy, Yunli had recognized it at once:
This shorter-than-her girl was an absolute top-tier expert.
As for why Yunli called her big sister even though Mebius was so small—
Come on. Yunli might be young, but this woman was clearly terrifyingly strong. What else could she possibly call her—little sister?
Mebius pulled back her hood, revealing the dragon horns beneath.
"Fine," she said. "Watch how your big sister handles this."
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 165)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter220)
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I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter250)
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Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 77
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 220
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
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The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 248
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
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The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 125
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 67
Uma Musume: From Beginner 145
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 85
Uma Musume: I Want All 120
I Can Copy Unique Skills 115
Summoning an Evil God, but the 75
Supernatural Multiverse 110
My Harem Is Indescribable 100
Jujutsu Kaisen: Heroic Spirit 105
"I'm just a Valkyrie passing through." 67
Uma Musume: Today Is Another Romantic Battlefield 105
Still playing traditional Honk 80
The Most Filial Son Under Heav 85
What Should I Do After Switchi - Volume2/3
Reincarnated as a Demon, Skill 78
Hell-Difficulty Dungeon? 55
Transmigrated as Sukuna 80
Checking In in Demon Slayer 85
The Reincarnating Trainer of Tracen Academy 100
I Refuse to Become a Heroic 85
My Best Friend Into a Slime? 80
A Saiyan Stands Above Marvel 90
What Do You Mean by Using a Lab Mod to Be the Hero? 75
Tanya Starts from Re:Zero 80
Why did they assign me to Uma 75
MYGO Beauties 70
DanMachi: Emiya the Giant Hero 70
The Gacha Merchant Who Started 80
Honkai's Otherworld? Wait—Who Are You People?! 80
Emiya Shirou, Determined to Slay Every Curse and Evil Spirit 57
The Uma Musume Who Became 55
I'm Definitely Not the King of 60
After Maxing Out Every Class 45
Naruto: I'm Konoha's Local Men 35
Honkai: World Modulation Mode 34
I, the Elden Sword Saint 27
Dio Brando Is Challenging FGO 24
No One Knows Pokémon Better 18
I, Sakazuki, Won't Go Down Tha 20
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