Were You a Woman All Along!?

So fast! Yaxiu drew in a sharp breath. Harvey's flick of the cigarette butt had been sudden, taking less than a second to fall, yet Banjie had not only reacted in time, the ice spike he shot was so fast it was barely visible, and its accuracy was astonishing—after all, that was a burned-out cigarette butt mid-fall! It was smaller than a finger! If Banjie used that move in a close-quarters ambush, Yaxiu was certain he wouldn't be able to react, having to rely purely on Feral Intuition to evade. He could vaguely guess Harvey's train of thought now. Harvey flying into a rage early in the morning couldn't possibly be just for corpses—or at least, not only for that. After all, he had stayed in Shattered Lake for over a year without tasting any fresh meat, and they had only arrived in Gospel Country a few days ago; how could he be unable to hold it in? He was merely a pervert, not a Veela; his desires weren't that overpowering. Harvey's real goal was to tear away Annan's hypocritical mask. Annan claimed to respect and care for them, but in practice she kept them confined, severing all their communications and barring them from setting foot outside. Yaxiu and the others saw it clearly. They could understand it, but that didn't mean they accepted it. The Swindler hadn't thrown a fit simply because he wanted to gather more intelligence. In daily life, he would even maintain a polite facade with Annan, waiting until she let her guard down before making a move. And the cult leader hadn't thrown a fit purely because he hadn't gotten sick of the food here yet. Still, having the exact same menu for two breakfasts in a row was starting to test the patience of this former death-row inmate, who hadn't eaten the same meal twice in half a month back at Shattered Lake Prison. Harvey had brought their conflict out into the open, effectively forcing Annan's hand. Annan had only two paths forward. The first was to tear off her benevolent boss mask right then and there, revealing her true colors as a slave master. *No more pretending. Cards on the table: all three of you, become my dogs!* And the second path... "Mr. Harvey wants to pick out fresh corpse materials. What about the rest of you? Do you have any requests?" Igola didn't hold back in the slightest. "This country also has a Curtain for exchanging knowledge. I want access to the Curtain, preferably with a large-screen multimedia Curtain login terminal." "I want money." Yaxiu was even less polite. "Yesterday, while playing virtual games, I found that without spending real money, you get no EXP boosts, no increased drop rates, no starter packs, no daily login rewards—none of those perks. I need to put at least some money in to get a decent gaming experience." "I want lots of clothes, plushies, candies, and—and, and—" Lisi counted on her fingers, making wishes. "I hear all your requests," Annan said. "While some are reasonable and others are ridiculous, as your boss, I can grant every single one of them—" "As long as you can beat me in a game." "A game? What game?" Igola immediately assumed the worst of Annan's intentions. "Some intricate local game unique to Gospel Country?" "No, no, no. This game isn't complicated at all, and it heavily favors the side with more people." The Purple Moth lightly flicked her earring, producing a crisp chime. "As long as you know your companions well enough." *Then we're doomed,* everyone thought. ...... ... Kaimeng University Affiliated Hospital. As the operating room light switched from red to green, a slight crow healer emerged from inside. An assistant who had been waiting outside for a long time immediately stepped forward to greet her. "Doctor Xifulin, how did the surgery go?" "The surgery was a great success." Xifulin took off her crow mask and hood, pulling out the long hair tucked into her trench coat. "His failed life has come to an end." "I've already preserved the vital organs using miracles. Notify the Cadaver Disposal Department to come up and take the corpse. Speaking of which, there really are a lot of these people who have zero social value while alive. I've only been here a few days, and I've already performed three 'Life Reset' surgeries." "Doctor Xifulin, you're still young, so it's natural you find it surprising," the assistant said with a smile. "There are far too many people like this. They're unwilling to undergo biological modification to work, nor are they willing to risk their lives on adventures to earn money. They don't even have a single acquaintance they could borrow money from. All day long, they wander aimlessly around the overpass parks, wasting away time, digging through trash cans to lick candy wrappers for flavor... Only a small fraction ever get sent to the hospital. Those bums are quite cunning; the volunteers can't clear them all out." After the Financier Incident occurred, Xifulin decided to conclude her Blood Embrace ritual and leave Shattered Lake Prison. However, she didn't intend to return to the research institute right away. Instead, she found an internship at a hospital, hoping to advance her water sorcery faction and blood sorcery faction to the Gold rank before heading back. This time, she didn't hide her identity. She openly presented her scholar certificate from the Four Great Research Institutes. Naturally, the hospital was eager to pamper the princess, assigning her to the most popular position in the hospital—the Fourth Emergency Medical Department. Every hospital had four emergency departments, categorized by patient types. Setting aside the first three, the Fourth Emergency Medical Department specifically took in marginalized individuals who had poor social credit, past criminal records, or couldn't even cover the low emergency medical fees from their bank accounts. Just like the Cadaver Disposal Department, the Fourth Emergency Department was a privileged department open only to Blood Saint clan healers. And the work of the Fourth Emergency Department was very simple—determine whether a patient was worth saving. If they were, save them; if not, send them off to the Cadaver Disposal Department. How did they judge a patient's value? Simple: memory retrieval. As you've probably figured out—the Fourth Emergency Department wasn't just a place for Blood Saint sorcerers to hone their medical skills; it was also a study room that helped them rapidly train their mind faction. This was why there were no methods for training the mind faction in Blood Moon Country: Blood Saint sorcerers had no need for those sluggish learning methods. They directly used sorcery spirits to forcibly extract other people's memories. Even if they broke the patient in the process, they gained a massive amount of mental experience, and their mind faction naturally advanced by leaps and bounds. It was just like getting behind the wheel without learning how to drive; once you totaled dozens of cars, you'd basically become a professional road menace. While the Fourth Emergency Department wasn't quite that extreme, after performing memory retrieval just three times, Xifulin's mind faction had already taken a giant stride into the Silver rank. The efficiency of this learning method was obvious. Don't misunderstand, though: the Fourth Emergency Department wasn't an execution ward. Much of the time, they performed normal emergency treatment without killing anyone. Because Blood Saint sorcerers, after retrieving a patient's memories, still needed to review and analyze them. For example, did the patient have working capacity? Could the patient become a burden to someone else, thereby increasing that person's work productivity? Could the patient become an object of contempt for others, thereby boosting those people's sense of superiority in life?... There were quite a few dimensions of analysis. Sometimes, even if a patient was a complete piece of trash, as long as this trash could improve other people's gameplay experience, the Fourth Emergency Department would let them live. Only when their social relationships were an absolute mess, offering zero value to others or society, would the Fourth Emergency Department perform a "Life Reset" surgery on them. Doing so carried zero risk. When no one cared about a person, naturally no one cared whether they lived or died. Evidently, Xifulin's luck was quite good. Three times in a row, she had encountered these rare specimens, allowing her to use memory retrieval with total abandon. Because of all these perks, Blood Saint sorcerers flocked to the Fourth Emergency Department. However, there was a loophole in this efficient waste-disposal mechanism—vagrants didn't just walk into the hospital for no reason. Who was responsible for picking up the trash? The volunteers Xifulin had mentioned earlier were precisely those environmentally conscious civic-minded citizens who voluntarily went out into the streets to pick up trash. Whether the Blood Saint clan nudged them or not, there would always be such a group in society: people who chose to roam at night, specifically hunting down the homeless who refused to take out loans to work, venting their violence on them. Sadly, they usually couldn't overcome that inner hurdle and stopped hastily before actually beating them to death. Thus, the Fourth Emergency Department was born to meet this need. Thanks to the existence of these volunteers, the urban environment was much cleaner. However, the shrewd vagrants had also learned to execute strategic relocations, subjecting the sewer rats to a dimensional strike. Still, the Administrative Hall would soon install iron grates and other restrictions in the sewers. On the battlefield of the city, deserters were not permitted. "Doctor Xifulin, a patient with an appointment for biological implant modification is waiting in your office." "Biological implant modification?" Xifulin found it a little odd. "Doesn't the hospital have better... Oh, I get it." Of course the hospital had doctors whose biological modification skills far surpassed hers. This patient was specifically handed to the Blood Saint princess as a gift for practice. If patients were assigned strictly based on skill level, wouldn't Xifulin be riding the bench for an entire year? If the hospital dared to let Xifulin sit on the cold bench, her senior peers would soon string the hospital executives up like sky lanterns. However, the moment Xifulin entered the office, she immediately overturned her previous guess—how was the hospital flattering her? They had clearly dumped a massive headache in her lap! Inside the office were two people. A tall man wore a hunter trench coat and the Sin Hunting Half-Sleeve on his right arm, sporting white hair and blood-red eyes, his expression weathered and cold. In a wheelchair sat a cute young girl dressed in a gorgeous gown, devoid of hands and feet, like an unfinished doll. "Hello. I'm Gerard Westminster, Hunter No. 307791," the white-haired man said. "This is Serena Bright." "I'm Xifulin Gowen." Xifulin crouched down and looked at Serena. "May I ask why a Bloodmad Hunter is bringing a minor in for medical treatment? Or do you moonlight as a guardian at a rearing institute, Mr. Hunter?" Serena said timidly, "Hello, big sister." "Hello, Serena." Xifulin patted Serena's head, her eyes filled with pity for something so precious. "Your name is as lovely as mine." *This woman is really shameless too,* Serena thought. "She isn't a child from a rearing institute." "Then whose child is she?" "Mine." Xifulin turned her head. Staring blankly at Gerard, she backed up two steps, closed the office door, then leaned against it with a hand to her forehead, her face full of bewilderment. "(☉_☉) Wait, does that mean... were you a woman all along!?" Gerard stood up. "Can I request a different doctor?"