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ArabicArknights: The Scarlet Devil of Terra — Chapter 27
Chapter 27: Forcing the Hand of Wei Yenwu
Flandre didn’t show a single ounce of disgust. Instead, she floated curiously in the sterile, chilled air of the morgue, her delicate shoes hovering inches above the linoleum floor. She accepted a heavy pair of stainless steel forceps from the trembling Forensic Doctor. After playfully clicking the metal tips together a few times, she turned her bright crimson eyes toward the nervous man.
“Could Flandre trouble you, Uncle, to rearrange these pieces exactly how Flandre tells you?”
Hearing her polite but bizarre request, the Forensic Doctor cast a helpless look toward Ch’en Hui-chieh.
“Do as she says,” Ch’en ordered, her arms crossed over her chest. A flash of inspiration sparked in the Senior Superintendent’s mind, though she couldn’t quite grasp the exact shape of the missing puzzle piece just yet.
With Ch’en’s authorization, the Forensic Doctor swallowed his apprehension and began shifting the mangled, bloodied segments of the corpses across the metal autopsy tables. But the longer he worked, following the little vampire’s exact spatial directions, the more a chilling realization crept up his spine.
Ten minutes later, the gruesome jigsaw puzzle was complete. The scattered remains of five mangled corpses had perfectly formed into four complete bodies.
“How is that possible?”
Ch’en’s stoic expression cracked, and the Forensic Doctor stood entirely stunned, his gloved hands hovering over the tables. Because the victims were five quintuplet sisters sharing the exact same blood type and genetic markers, the investigative team simply hadn’t considered that one entire person might be missing from the pile of gore.
“The missing person is the second sister of the Xia family!” the Forensic Doctor declared, his voice tight with disbelief.
Ch’en naturally understood the grim implication. The logic was horrifyingly simple: the second sister was the one whose head had been severed at the scene. Only she would have had the opportunity to “piece” a fake version of herself together using the mutilated remains of her own sisters, faking her death to escape the massacre.
“No problems now, right?” Having finished her grisly arts and crafts project, Flandre clapped her small hands together in absolute satisfaction.
Ch’en looked at the cheerful girl, her tone laced with genuine disbelief. “How did you find out?”
“The scent of the blood is different,” Flandre explained, tilting her head innocently. “Every scene has the exact same scent, which is almost identical to the victims’, but with a tiny, tiny difference. So she must have been injured too, and not lightly at all.”
After Flandre finished her cheerful deduction, Ch’en offered a sincere nod of thanks. The Senior Superintendent then turned her attention to the pale, swaying figure of Beatrix Swire, who was stubbornly leaning against the doorframe, fighting a losing battle against nausea.
“I need to follow this lead immediately,” Ch’en said, adjusting her sword belt. “I’ll leave it to you to take Flandre back.”
Beatrix nodded weakly, eager to escape the suffocating smell of copper and antiseptic. Flandre floated over, landing gracefully beside the blonde Feline with a sweet, sugary smile.
“Are we going back now?”
“No. Remember what I promised earlier? I’m taking you to buy dolls!” Stepping out of the morgue and into the fresh air of the precinct hallways, Beatrix shook her head vigorously, forcing the gruesome imagery out of her mind.
Flandre raised both hands in the air, cheering as if praising the sun itself.
The two girls climbed into Beatrix’s luxury sedan, the engine purring smoothly as they handled the bustling streets of Lungmen. They soon arrived at a massive, high-end shopping mall. After Beatrix carefully draped a stylish little shawl over Flandre’s crystalline bat wings to avoid unwanted stares, she took the girl’s hand, and they strolled into the brightly lit atrium.
Arriving at a premium toy boutique, Flandre pressed her hands against the glass, staring intently at the exquisite, handcrafted dolls lining the shelves.
“Is there anything you don’t like?” Beatrix asked, leaning against the counter.
Flandre shook her head, her blonde pigtails bouncing. “These dolls are all so pretty. Flandre likes them all!”
“Then we’ll buy them all!” With a dismissive wave of her hand, Beatrix bought out the entire display wall of dolls and imported plush toys.
When the aristocratic Feline casually slid a premium Swire Family bank card across the counter, the shop owner’s smile stretched so wide it threatened to split his face in half.
“Arrange a secure vehicle to deliver all of this to this exact address,” Beatrix instructed, scribbling on a piece of premium stationery and sliding it over.
Upon reading the address, the owner’s expression shifted from ecstatic to downright reverent. It was the most exclusive luxury villa district in all of Lungmen—a place where the housing prices were so astronomical that selling toys for three lifetimes might only afford a person the smallest guest house on the property.
“Come on, big sister will take you to buy clothes next!” Since they were already out, Beatrix’s competitive shopping spirit had fully ignited. She clearly wasn’t going to be satisfied with emptying just one store.
She pulled Flandre through every high-end floor of the mall. Whenever Flandre’s crimson eyes lingered on a dress, a ribbon, or a pair of shoes for more than two seconds, Beatrix’s wealth immediately followed. The shopping spree was so intense and rapid that even Flandre felt a tiny bit apprehensive as the bags piled up.
“It’s fine, this is just pocket change. As long as you’re happy, Flandre.” Beatrix waved off the concern. To the heiress of the Swire fortune, money was just a number that could always be regenerated; making a rare, genuine friend happy was an investment with infinite returns.
As the afternoon sun began to dip, painting the Lungmen skyline in shades of orange, the two drove back toward the tranquil villa district.
However, just as the sedan approached the grand entrance gates, they found their path blocked. A loud, angry crowd had gathered, led by several aggressive residents who were currently tearing into a group of men in sharp suits. Beatrix immediately recognized the men as the district’s elite Property Management team.
“What do you mean you don’t know? Half the neighborhood saw a literal Vampire wandering around inside, and you stand there saying you don’t know anything! That’s a Sarkaz Blood Fiend! What if it sneaks into our houses at night and drinks our blood? I pay a fortune in management fees every single year, and it’s certainly not for you to act blind and deaf!”
A middle-aged woman, dripping in gaudy jewelry and acting as the mob’s ringleader, pointed a manicured finger directly at the head manager’s nose, screeching at the top of her lungs.
“But Madam, those specific villas belong to Chief Executive Wei…” The head of the Property Management team wore a deeply bitter expression, desperately trying to de-escalate the situation.
“I don’t care about any ‘Wei’ or whatever excuses you have! That monster must move out today! No, it needs to get the hell out of Lungmen entirely, or we are not done here!” Seeing the management staff dare to offer an excuse, the woman jumped up, her voice reaching a shrill crescendo.
“You’re the one who should get out of Lungmen!”
Hearing the sheer audacity of the mob, Beatrix slammed the car door shut and marched forward, unable to hold her tongue a second longer.
The woman spun around, her eyes raking over Beatrix with blatant disdain. “Where did this little girl come from? The adults are talking here. Go stand aside and play.”
That single sentence was all it took to make the Feline’s fur stand entirely on end.
“Who do you think you are, daring to speak to me like that?” Beatrix sneered, her aristocratic aura flaring to life. “And an adult? Aside from looking ancient and plastering on makeup thicker than your own skin, in exactly what way do you resemble a proper adult?”
When it came to sharp-tongued verbal destruction, Beatrix Swire considered herself second to absolutely no one.
Rebuked so viciously by a girl half her age, the woman’s face turned a mottled, furious purple. She pointed a trembling finger at Beatrix. “Fine, fine, fine! Do you dare give your name, you little brat? I’ll make sure your entire family is blacklisted and driven out of Lungmen by tomorrow morning!”
At that exact moment, Beatrix caught sight of a dignified Old Man standing a short distance away, flanked by bodyguards. A strange, highly amused expression crossed her face.
“Oh, sure. Listen very closely. My name is Beatrix. Beatrix Swire. I’m incredibly curious to see if you and whatever pathetic backer you rely on have the ability to make the Swire Family unable to stay in Lungmen.”
The young heiress crossed her arms. While she generally despised using her family’s massive influence to bully commoners, she didn’t mind making an exception for someone begging to see the true weight of that influence.
The moment the name dropped, the shrieking woman froze, completely stunned.
Only then did her eyes focus on the girl’s features. A blonde Feline with an air of absolute, unshakeable wealth—wasn’t that the most iconic, unmistakable trait of the Swire dynasty? The woman realized with a sickening drop in her stomach that she must have been out of her mind not to recognize her immediately.
Capitalizing on the silence, Beatrix turned back to the sedan and opened the rear door, allowing Flandre to step out into the evening light.
“And this is the ‘Vampire’ you were all just screaming about,” Beatrix announced, her voice echoing clearly across the paved driveway. “Now, let me tell you two things. First, she is my personal friend. If you want to cause trouble for her, you will have to go through me first.
“Second, the villa she is currently residing in is legally under Chief Executive Wei’s name, and the person who personally purchased it was Madam Fumizuki. If you want her to leave… I highly suggest you march up to the Chief Executive’s office and demand it from those two directly. Or, to be even more direct… why don’t you gather a few more of your friends and go ‘force the hand’ of Wei Yenwu himself?
“Who knows? Maybe they’ll agree. It would certainly be more productive than throwing a tantrum and taking your anger out on the Property Management.”
With every icy sentence Beatrix delivered, the angry mob took a collective step backward.
Hearing her publicly suggest they attempt to “force the hand” of Wei Yenwu—the absolute, ruthless ruler of Lungmen—shattered whatever liquid courage the mob had left. Terrified that their faces might be remembered and reported to the authorities, their limbs went weak, and the crowd instantly fractured, scrambling away to their respective homes in total silence.
“Tch.” Beatrix scoffed, watching them run. “They don’t even have an ounce of real courage. Just a bunch of trash who only know how to throw their weight around against ordinary workers. Don’t be afraid, Flandre. With me here, absolutely no one is going to touch you.”
She gently patted Flandre’s head, her fierce demeanor melting back into warmth.
Flandre nodded agreeably.
“Well said. How could a daughter of the Swire Family ever be intimidated by such petty scoundrels?”
An older, thoroughly amused voice rang out from the side.
Beatrix, who had just been acting like the undisputed king of the mountain, instantly stiffened and turned into a docile little kitten.
“Grandfather!”
The Old Man offered a fond nod to his granddaughter before turning his sharp, calculating gaze toward Flandre.
Although he didn’t fully understand why Wei Yenwu was engaging in such a series of mysterious, awkward, and politically absurd actions lately, the patriarch of the Swire family was certain of one thing: this little Vampire girl must have brought the Chief Executive some truly devastating news. It was the only logical reason Wei would take the massive political risk of harboring a Sarkaz within Lungmen’s borders.
, the fact that Wei had arranged for her to stay in the most exclusive, low-traffic villa district—keeping her isolated from the public while explicitly not restricting her personal freedom—made the Old Man deeply curious about Flandre’s true identity.
After his granddaughter had inadvertently become involved with the girl, he had pulled strings and made discreet inquiries. His intelligence network had finally confirmed a terrifying possibility: this girl was likely connected to Wei Yenwu’s other niece—the one who had been violently taken from Lungmen by the Ursus Empire over twenty years ago.
He had immediately halted his investigation there. Digging any deeper into the shadow of Ursus and Wei’s family trauma would be highly impolite, not to mention dangerous.
Today, he had merely been passing through the district. But upon seeing his usually haughty granddaughter defending the little Vampire so fiercely, he couldn’t help but stop and watch. Now that the rabble had dispersed, he approached, genuinely wanting to meet this extraordinary anomaly.
“Good afternoon, Old Man,” Flandre greeted cheerfully.
In Flandre’s long, fragmented memories, she had a specific term for mortal men of his age. Although he likely wasn’t even a fraction of her actual age—since the lifespan of her kind could never be measured by human common sense—she was technically still an underage vampire by her own race’s standards. Calling him “Old Man” felt perfectly appropriate to her.
“Cough, cough, cough… what a polite child,” the Old Man chuckled, leaning slightly on his cane. “My granddaughter is usually so arrogant and headstrong that I was always worried she wouldn’t get along with anyone her own age. It is a very good thing she managed to make a friend like you.”
The Old Man’s teasing words caused Beatrix to flush, her face twisting into a helpless, embarrassed pout.
“Alright, alright, I won’t disturb you two young ladies any longer. You probably haven’t had dinner yet. I’ll have the estate butler bring over two large bowls of hot meat soup for you later.”
The Old Man waved his hand graciously and, supported by his silent bodyguards, continued his walk down the shaded avenue.
A few nosy residents who had been secretly watching the exchange from behind their curtains saw the terrifying Swire patriarch chatting and laughing with the vampire girl. Recalling Beatrix’s earlier threats, any lingering thoughts of causing trouble were instantly and permanently extinguished.
By the time Beatrix finally escorted Flandre to the front door of her villa, the porch was already piled high with massive cardboard boxes.
These were the spoils of their mall conquest, promptly delivered by the toy store’s dedicated freight truck.
“So many things… it looks like it’s going to take us a long time to move all of this inside!” Beatrix sighed, rolling up her expensive sleeves and preparing to act as manual labor for the evening.
Flandre simply shook her head. She pushed open the heavy oak door, turned back to the mountain of boxes, and cheerfully beckoned to them with a wave of her hand.
“Come on in!”
Then, under Beatrix’s utterly astonished gaze, the heavy boxes filled with dolls, clothes, and plush toys smoothly levitated off the ground. One after another, they floated through the air in a perfect, orderly line, following Flandre directly into the house.
“Wow…” Beatrix blinked, her mouth hanging slightly open as she followed the floating parade inside. “Is this some kind of high-level Originium Arts, or is it Sarkaz witchcraft? Because whatever it is, it looks incredibly convenient.”