Shaking her head, Adele snapped out of her strange reverie and focused on finding the evil god. Honestly, until Teacher Victoria’s safety was ensured, although Adele wasn’t losing sleep over it, there was a nagging worry and guilt in her heart. Victoria had saved her, and now...it was her turn to save Victoria!

The girl’s mental power surged, radiating outwards. The normally invisible elemental magic power filled the library. Adele began her patrol, starting from the first floor, not missing any corner of any bookshelf, any person’s face. She believed that Teacher Victoria couldn’t just vanish into thin air. And besides angels, Adele hadn’t seen anyone who could exist in a separate, invisible space. Perhaps the evil god possessing Teacher Victoria did have the ability to create a domain and hide within it like True Ancestor Ron, but as long as an Enforcement Bureau agent entered a certain range of this domain, they would definitely detect its presence. That’s why the Bureau dispatched so many senior agents, having them personally execute the arrest warrant.

Of course, there was another possibility: the evil god completely concealed her magic power and blended into the crowd as an ordinary person. This would make her harder to find. But to heal her injuries and devour knowledge to grow stronger, she had to go to places where humans stored vast amounts of knowledge, like libraries. Otherwise, she couldn’t maintain her current state for long. So the situation was a dead end for the evil god. She couldn’t not devour knowledge to recover, and devouring knowledge meant the risk of encountering Enforcement Bureau agents. It was a gamble. If she chose to endure, then this hunt for the evil god would become a battle of attrition, a test of patience. If she chose to “feed” at all costs to strengthen herself...Adele hoped she would choose this path. Because compared to fighting and getting injured, Adele cared more about saving Victoria’s trapped soul.

The girl’s search continued.

East Continent Library, first floor: nothing unusual.

East Continent Library, second floor: nothing unusual.

East Continent Library, third floor... By now, half of the library had been searched. Adele became increasingly anxious, but also more focused and meticulous in her search. And it was at this moment that a commotion not far ahead caught her attention. It sounded like a hushed argument, but because everyone in the library was observing the rule of quiet reading, this argument became conspicuous.

Adele, maintaining her vigilance and ready to cast elemental magic, walked towards the source of the commotion. It was an argument between a librarian and a little girl. The librarian was speaking, and the little girl was sobbing softly, not daring to retort.

After listening for a while, Adele understood what had happened. The small, thin, white-haired girl was a thief! And she stole books from the library! Although the only things you could steal from a library...were usually just books, in this day and age, stealing books was rare. If Adele remembered correctly, she had seen a news report about looting in a certain country, where most shops were ransacked, but only one type of shop was left untouched: bookstores.

So although Adele usually abhorred thieves, hearing that the thing this frail little girl stole was the book she was clutching tightly...Adele couldn’t help but feel a pang of sympathy. Of course, stealing was wrong, definitely wrong. But the girl thought, A girl who steals books, such worthless and cumbersome things, must have the potential to change for the better, right?

So just as the librarian was about to take the little girl away for a lesson and to contact her parents, Adele suddenly stepped forward from the small crowd of onlookers and said, “E-Excuse me, what did my little sister do wrong?” She thought that in this situation, it was best to pretend to be the girl’s older sister and “rescue” her from the librarian.

But what Adele didn’t expect was that upon seeing her, the little white-haired girl’s face was instantly filled with terror. She desperately tried to break free from the librarian’s grip, but a child’s strength couldn’t compare to an adult’s. In the end, she even tried to bite the librarian’s arm.

“Look what your sister is trying to do!” The librarian, of course, wouldn’t let her do that, but she also threw the girl away like a plague. The girl almost fell, but Adele caught her in time. The softness and frailty in her arms were pitiful, Adele could almost feel the girl’s ribs. (To be clear, Adele was just holding the girl, without any other intentions.)

And after being embraced by Adele, the little girl froze, not even daring to tremble. Even the book she had been holding tightly fell to the ground with a thud. Adele picked up the book, handed it to the ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) librarian, and apologized profusely, “I’m so sorry!”

“It’s my fault for not properly disciplining my little sister.”

“She didn’t mean any harm, she just wanted to take the book home to read, but she doesn’t know how to borrow books.” The excuse Adele came up with in a hurry was quite convincing.

Seeing this, the librarian sighed helplessly, told Adele to properly discipline her sister, and then left.

After the commotion subsided, Adele finally had time to pay attention to the little girl. She intended to act as a kind-hearted big sister and guide the lost little girl, correcting her wrong thoughts and letting her know that stealing was absolutely not allowed! This way, she could prevent the little girl from experiencing the most likely childhood trauma: having her parents called.

But when Adele glanced at the little girl, her eyes widened. Without time to explain, she immediately took off her coat and wrapped it around the little girl’s head, covering her face. This looked like an older sister protecting her younger sister’s privacy, after all, the little sister had just stolen something, it was better not to let others see her face. After doing this, Adele took the girl’s hand and led her to a quiet, opaque study room.

Only then did the girl release the little girl, who immediately collapsed to her knees, her upturned face pale, panting and drooling slightly.

“Whispering Tree Shadow!” Adele, still worried, cast an illusion spell. This way, even if a staff member entered, they wouldn’t see the real scene. Adele wasn’t being overly cautious. The key was that the little girl’s appearance couldn’t be seen! The girl never thought that while searching for the evil god, she would discover a foreign race hidden among humans! To be precise, she was a beast-eared girl. And judging by the shape of her ears...she was more like a...hamster? A hamster girl? But Adele didn’t know what kind.

It was because the girl suddenly revealed her true form in front of everyone, her fluffy, round ears popping out like First Snow’s, that Adele suddenly covered her with her coat and acted like this.

Adele had once raised a golden hamster, also known as a Syrian hamster. But the one she raised was a special “pure silver Syrian hamster,” with silver fur, which was slightly more expensive. But the ending...Adele could only say that it was stupidly killed by her! Putting aside that story, the problem was the hamster girl before her! How did she appear in human territory and even steal things!? Even if you wanted to steal, stealing nuts or something from a snack shop would be normal! Why steal books!? Adele couldn’t understand, but she instinctively sensed something unusual.

Now, only she and the little hamster girl with long white hair were left in the study room. To be precise, Adele was standing, and the little hamster girl was still kneeling on the ground, her eyes unfocused, not having recovered yet. She looked like a legendary “fainting goat.” “Fainting goats” were a breed of goats that were very timid. They would freeze and collapse upon hearing loud noises or encountering something unfamiliar. Did this little hamster girl faint after seeing me? Adele couldn’t understand. Am I that scary...? If so, she would cry!

Or perhaps it wasn’t just Adele being “scary,” but also because the little hamster girl was too weak. Adele barely sensed any magic power from her. But to the hamster girl, Adele felt like a “monster,” a “monster” with immense power, a being she couldn’t possibly resist! So playing dead became her instinct, thinking that this way, she could escape the powerful predator.

Adele quietly waited for the hamster girl to recover. It wouldn’t take long and wouldn’t delay her search for the evil god. Or rather, her intuition told her that the clue to finding the evil god might be right here on this little hamster girl!

Five seconds passed, ten seconds passed. The little hamster girl finally moved, shrugging her shoulders and hugging her knees.

“Don’t...don’t eat me, please...”

Adele suppressed her aura as much as possible, squatted down beside the little girl, and said helplessly, “What...are you talking about? I would never do such a thing.”

“Don’t be afraid, tell me what happened.”

“And why you stole the book.” Adele’s tone wasn’t aggressive, but her gaze was sincere.

Although the little hamster girl was still scared, the pressure from the girl before her was much less than before, when Adele hadn’t suppressed her aura yet. This proved one thing: the other party had restrained her magic power for her sake, a weak little girl. A truly powerful being could do whatever they wanted, even kill her without any consequences. But she chose to be considerate of her feelings... This was unbelievable to the little hamster girl. A flicker of hesitation appeared in her eyes.

But this didn’t mean she completely trusted Adele. It wasn’t that easy. She was still like a frightened little animal, or rather, a little mouse, her gaze always avoiding Adele, trying to find an escape route, perhaps a ventilation duct, or even worse, a sewer pipe. In short, her eyes were filled with the desire to survive, and her small, childish face, with a few scratches, showed no desire to confide in Adele.

“Squeak...squeak...” She was so anxious that she even reverted to her original voice.

“...” Adele felt helpless, but she had anticipated this. After all, the pure silver Syrian hamster she raised was just like this, seemingly only having the instincts to eat and survive, otherwise looking foolish.

Now Adele began to suspect that different foreign races had different levels of intelligence. For example, cats were relatively smart, but hamsters were a bit...stupid. If you put this little hamster girl and First Snow together, it would be easy to see who was smarter and who was more timid and cowardly.

“Don’t even think about it, I won’t let you escape.”

“Even if there are no clues on you, as an Enforcement Bureau agent, I have the duty to send you, an unregistered foreign race, to the Bureau.”

“But don’t worry too much. Unregistered foreign races like you will be sent to a foreign race protection and self-governance zone after registration.”

“I haven’t been there, but I imagine the environment is quite good.” Humanity had ample resources, possessing most of the land on this planet. Setting aside some uninhabited areas for foreign races to live in, providing them with food, drink, and entertainment, and preventing them from causing trouble, was a cost-effective solution. Otherwise, if a single ability user went rogue and demolished a building in the city, the resulting losses could reach tens of millions, even hundreds of millions. How many foreign races could that money support?

But after hearing Adele’s words, the little hamster girl, instead of showing gratitude, looked even more panicked.

“No...no, please...”

“Please, big sister!”

“Let me go...big sister.” Now she could speak, no longer just squeaking like a little mouse, which gave Adele goosebumps. And it was fortunate that she encountered a hamster girl, not a mouse girl. There was a clear difference between their ears. Otherwise, Adele would probably have to “judge a book by its cover.” Just like the topic mentioned before, if she saw a cockroach, she would still want to squash it, regardless of whether it was a good cockroach or a bad cockroach.

“I’m not going to do anything to you, just fulfilling my duty...”

“P-Please...do something to me!”

“Just let me go...” Saying this, the seemingly cute, but with dull and prematurely aged eyes, little white-haired hamster girl struggled to stand up before Adele. The next moment, she started unbuttoning her shirt.

The girl was so fast that Adele couldn’t stop her in time. With a soft snap, the buttons came undone, revealing the girl’s small, undeveloped chest... Adele immediately screamed and closed her eyes.

And the little hamster girl, taking advantage of this opportunity, used her agility...no! It should be her ability! It could be seen that the hamster girl’s speed was at least three or four times faster than an ordinary person’s. She thought she could escape from Adele with this speed, but she was too naive.

Adele spread her fingers, then twisted and clenched them. Elemental magic chains appeared out of thin air in the study room, wrapping around the little hamster girl’s wrists and ankles with incredible precision and speed, even her slender, white neck wasn’t spared, tightening until she was almost choking, but not quite, only gasping for air.

If the little one hadn’t been disobedient, Adele wouldn’t have gone this far. After all, she was an unexpected “harvest” during her mission. But the little hamster girl was really pushing her luck. So a little punishment was only natural.

At the same time, Adele also skillfully buttoned the hamster girl’s shirt. Although that scene lingered in Adele’s mind, she was still considerate of the little hamster girl’s privacy.

“Behave~ Don’t try any tricks under my watch.”

The hamster girl desperately tried to break free, but she couldn’t, bound by the elemental magic. She was already in despair, knowing that she had lost any chance of escape. And this meant that...her mother would be killed by that woman, or rather, that “monster,” who controlled shadow tentacles, because she couldn’t steal enough books.

The girl’s helpless cries were heartbreaking, even Adele couldn’t help but feel sympathy.

“Stop, stop! Although I won’t let you go, I can guarantee your safety and future treatment, okay?”

“After I finish patrolling this library, I’ll take you back to the Enforcement Bureau and apply for better conditions for you in the foreign race self-governance zone.” Specifically, a bigger house, a better job, and a higher salary. Of course, for the currently young hamster girl, the first thing she should do was to be sent to a foreign race school and receive nine years of compulsory education.

But surprisingly, when Adele mentioned this, the little hamster girl, instead of being grateful, cried even harder, her cries heart-wrenching. Although the woman who controlled the tentacles demanded secrecy from them, the hamster people living in the sewers, threatening to kill their mothers otherwise, if the little hamster girl couldn’t bring back enough books within the given time, her mother’s fate was also sealed, she would die at the woman’s hands. In this case, the crying little hamster girl no longer cared about anything else. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

“Waaah, I don’t want those...I don’t want to leave Mama!”

“Mama, don’t die...don’t!”

“Squeak...squeak...” In the end, the little girl’s incoherent words turned into mournful squeaks. And Adele extracted the key information from her chaotic words: the girl’s mother...might die?

Adele’s heart stirred, and she let the magic chains release the little girl with fluffy hamster ears. Of course, she didn’t let her fall directly to the ground, that would hurt the little one. Adele considerately supported her before giving her freedom, then said firmly, “I don’t know your name yet, but I can tell you mine.”

“My name is Adele, and I’m here to help you!”

“Not just you, but also your mother.”

“But only if you tell me everything you know without hiding anything!”

“I think you wouldn’t want your mother to be in danger, right?”

“Whether to grasp this lifeline or have nothing at all...”

“It’s your choice.”