A ghost, a pink ghost, hung over the entirety of Larnington County.
Within a few months, the underworld was turned upside down; countless gangs fell and were absorbed into a nascent gang.
Even more astonishing was that the leader of this gang was actually a pink-haired little girl.
Was it due to her extraordinary combat prowess?
Far from it.
This pink-haired girl would gently get to know every one of her subordinates, helping them solve their problems.
She set up tutoring classes to teach them the skills best suited to them.
The hoodlums who passed through her hands became professional chefs, pastry chefs, social media workers, hardware store masters…
They gained legitimate livelihoods.
The only prerequisite for all of this was returning all the protection money they had previously collected, and handing over a portion of their income as membership dues.
To thank her, the gang members even gave her an affectionate nickname: “Little Mom.” “Pfft, cough, cough,” Elysia spat out the tea she had just taken a sip of.
“Did you learn your naming taste from another pink-haired person?” “Absolutely not,” the subordinates swore in unison.
“There are no two suns in the sky; in our hearts, there is only you, our pink-haired leader!” To tell the truth, it was mainly because she saw that these people hadn’t committed any major crimes other than collecting protection money, and still had a chance at rehabilitation, so she tried to persuade them to return to the right path.
If they had been killing and looting, causing harm to the people, she would have long since dragged them all to the police station.
Obviously, the gangs here were very abnormal.
However, after reaching a high enough level, she finally understood why the gangs in this city were so well-behaved.
The current Godfather of the entire city was once a hotshot rising star in the police force.
It was rumored that he was ostracized, resolutely quit, and entered the underworld.
With his unparalleled professional ability, he was highly valued by the previous Godfather and entrusted with important responsibilities.
After taking over, he promulgated a series of rules to strictly restrain his subordinates.
A bunch of those with too much blood on their hands were directly sunk into the river in the name of “cleaning house,” and subsequent violators were punished with either a beating at best or encased in cement at worst.
The key point was that he paid everyone a salary and had ways to lead all the gangs to grow bigger and stronger, even acquiring a large number of properties right under the nose of the Larnington County government, so everyone was convinced.
I get it, he went undercover for three years, and then another three years, and finally became the boss, right?
Originally, Elysia’s impression of this Godfather stopped there, until a subordinate told her a piece of news: “Before, I saw a convoy parked at the Godfather’s place for a long time, and the vehicles were stamped with the Fire MOTHS’ emblem.” The Godfather has a connection with the Fire MOTHS?
Hmm, reasonable.
In fact, the Fire MOTHS had long confirmed the landing site of Origin, which was why they arrived so precisely.
But it was absolutely impossible for them to have only searched Vostok-51; who knew if that infant would stay in the orphanage or be adopted by an outsider?
Moreover, coming up empty-handed during the first search would only reinforce their suspicions about the latter.
Therefore, she reasonably suspected that the Fire MOTHS had made arrangements around Vostok-51, and that Godfather might just be a sleeper agent planted by the Fire MOTHS.
She recalled her experiences over the past few months: a girl in her early teens fighting her way to become the undefeated champion of Larnington County, starting from scratch and pulling together an entire gang.
According to the Fire MOTHS’ intelligence network, they should have noticed her long ago, but now she was still securely acting as her gang leader.
What does that mean?
The Fire MOTHS are evaluating her, and this Godfather is most likely the evaluator.
The Fire MOTHS are still chasing me, Elysia felt a bit ashamed.
As for the possibility that these two just happened to meet by chance, can’t they hit it off immediately upon meeting?
After all, wherever the Fire MOTHS’ reach extended, the local forces would surrender one after another.
However, Elysia later discovered that she had severely overestimated the power of the Fire MOTHS at that time.
Before the first Honkai, the Fire MOTHS were just a relatively large countermeasure organization, far from the level of being able to mobilize the world’s resources later on; it was completely normal for intelligence to be lacking.
But this didn’t stop the current Elysia from overthinking.
Things have come to this, let’s eat first.
Elysia chose to slack off.
— Today was another ordinary day.
Elysia lifted the blanket, got up, and went out, letting out a long yawn.
Because she had to manage the gang, she had no free time at night, and her evening lessons could only be done outside the city at midnight.
With one thing leading to another, getting a full three hours of sleep a day was a luxury for her.
She had to be a Herrscher to manage it; otherwise, she would have died of exhaustion long ago.
Quite a few people had gathered by the porch, mostly those preparing to head to work.
When they saw Elysia come out, they all stood up to greet her, and Elysia also smiled and responded to each of them.
After going downstairs, she was greeted by the toasted aroma of bread.
This was some of her subordinates who had found jobs at the bakery preparing breakfast.
The equipment and material costs were all paid from the membership dues.
They had only just found work, so it was too much pressure to make them pay for it themselves, and besides, they had volunteered to help.
Come to think of it, she said she was going to rely on this to make money, but in the end, she barely saved any membership dues.
Forget it, just consider it a reasonable redistribution.
Elysia casually grabbed a piece of bread and ate it as she walked.
The local specialty bread of the European Union could only be eaten while hot; once it cooled down, it would become as hard as a brick, which reminded her of the baguettes from her past life.
The hall on the first floor was packed; a group of people dressed in simple, even shabby, clothing were crowded together, chatting.
“Ahem.” Elysia clapped her hands after entering the room.
The venue quieted down, and everyone hurriedly straightened their posture.
She didn’t know when it had grown from a whim to this scale, Elysia sighed with emotion.
Facing the eager or expectant gazes from the audience, she smiled: “Hmm, very energetic~ Before the lesson starts, I have one more thing to say.
Here, I hope that what you gain is not just a skill for how to work, but also the courage to face life~” She began another day of teaching.
— A few days later.
“Elysia, the Godfather requests your presence.” A man stood at attention to report, then handed over an invitation, interrupting her deep thoughts.
It was the leader of the duo she had first encountered; because of his positive attitude towards rehabilitation, he had now been promoted to messenger.
So that’s it, are the Fire MOTHS finally coming to test her?
Using the Godfather’s invitation as a pretext, she really couldn’t refuse.
However, they really underestimated her.
Let her, then, put an end to this test!
Elysia revealed a determined look in her eyes.
A few hours earlier.
Falco, the Godfather of Larnington County, had dark green, medium-short hair and intimidating red eyes.
At this moment, he was resting his head on his clasped hands, his elbows propped on a wide, long table, his glasses reflecting a knowing white light.
The table was covered with investigation files on “Elysia.” “Grew up in Vostok Orphanage, a local commoner?
Heh, I don’t believe it.” As a Godfather, he had mixed in both the underworld and the legitimate world, coming into contact with many unknown secrets, such as the existence known as the Fire MOTHS.
He knew that this tight-knit organization possessed a large amount of technology that transcended the era and held high priority in the decision-making of various countries; creating a mere fake identity was as easy as pie for them.
Furthermore, just a few months ago, personnel related to the Fire MOTHS stopped here, and the destination they headed to afterward was Vostok-51, and then shortly after, Elysia from Vostok-51 arrived.
Who would believe that the two sides have no connection?
Therefore, he strongly suspected that Vostok-51 housed a research institute of the Fire MOTHS, and that Elysia was the new generation of super-soldiers from the Fire MOTHS.
The Fire MOTHS had used his jurisdiction as a testing ground without his consent, which made him very unhappy, but the person they sent had greatly improved the ecosystem of the underworld, which made him very happy.
“However, her rise is a bit too fast; it affects the balance of power.
It seems I must give her a hint, and by the way, ask for the opinion of the forces behind her.” Thus, he sent out the invitation.