Gu Ning stumbled forward a few steps. When she noticed Cook hadn’t followed, she looked back to see he was already brawling with several Beastmen.

"Cook! Get back here!" Gu Ning cried in alarm.

Cook tackled a Beastman with a double-blade tattoo to the ground and began tearing into him viciously.

He recognized him as one of the Beastmen who had grabbed Gu Ning before.

Just then, the tattooed Beastman’s accomplice grabbed Cook by the neck and slammed him to the ground.

"It really is you, you stinking dog! You got several of our brothers thrown in jail and seriously injured. See if I don’t kill you this time!"

"You run!" Seeing Cook pinned to the ground and getting beaten, Barto shoved Gu Ning toward the stairwell entrance.

The two Beastman brokers froze, stunned by the scene.

Ruth cursed, "Fuck’s sake, don’t start shit here. If you’re gonna fight, take it outside..."

Before he could finish his sentence, Sate slugged him with a heavy punch.

Ruth staggered from the blow. "Are you insane? What’d you hit me for? We should be breaking them up..."

Sate shot back angrily, "Is your head full of shit? You’ll rent a place in the Central District to just *anyone*?"

Ruth retorted, "And why not? You’re the one who brought three goddamn Mixed Breeds here all at once."

In an instant, the two were brawling with each other.

Gu Ning surveyed the chaotic scene and took a deep breath. Pulling out her Anti-Beast Spray in one hand and the electric shock gun in the other, she gritted her teeth and charged toward them.

A moment later, blue sparks began to sizzle and flash in the hallway.

The commotion from their fight attracted the attention of the other tenants in the building.

Several Beastman tenants opened their doors one after another, but the next second, the overpowering fumes sent them reeling, and they quickly slammed their doors shut.

"COUGH! COUGH! COUGH! What’s that smell? It reeks!"

"That’s cop gear. For fuck’s sake, you move to the Central District and still can’t get any peace."

"Someone call the cops and get them out of here."

"..."

"You again."

Patrol Captain Leiton landed a vicious kick on the only conscious one—the Beastman with the double-blade tattoo.

Then he kicked each of the two brokers. "And you two. Quite the pair, aren’t you? Bringing these two groups together. A real credit to your title as Zone 19’s ’gold-medal brokers’."

Looking thoroughly dejected, Sate and Ruth climbed into the police car without a fuss.

After kicking them, Leiton looked over at the three Mixed Breeds squatting on the side, who were being detained by his officers.

Spotting the familiar red-furred fox and the Dog Clan Mixed Breed, he clicked his tongue and walked over to them. "How many times has it been now? I can’t play the good guy and let you off the hook this time."

Barto retorted defiantly, "We didn’t start it!"

The Beastman, whose face was now a bloody mess from Barto’s claws, glared at him and snarled, "You damn red-furred fox, you started it!" 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"You tore my face to shreds! Just you wait, I’m going to kill..."

"Shut up!"

An officer pushed his head down and shoved him into the police car.

Leiton said to Barto and the others, "Get your asses in the car."

Barto replied, "My car is out front. I’ll drive myself to the station."

Leiton smirked. "How about you drive the police car, then?"

Barto: "I wouldn’t say no..."

Gu Ning smacked Barto on the back. ’Why is he mouthing off to a cop! Is he asking for a beating?’

Barto scoffed. He just didn’t want to have to make another trip back for his car.

Leiton’s smile vanished. "You’re really pushing your luck. Get in the damn car."

Barto reluctantly hopped into one of the police cars, and Gu Ning followed close behind, head down, pulling Cook with her.

"You."

Leiton placed a large hand on Gu Ning’s shoulder, squinting as he sized her up. "You look awful familiar."

Gu Ning glanced at him. ’No kidding,’ she thought. ’We just saw each other a couple of days ago.’

The thick, curved horns on the officer’s head had left a deep impression on her.

She chanted inwardly, ’Don’t recognize me, don’t recognize me, don’t recognize me...’

Seeing how completely she had covered her face, Leiton reached out to pull down her mask.

"GRRR-WOOF!!!"

The moment he touched Gu Ning’s mask, Cook, who was right beside her, immediately lunged forward and bit his hand.

Gu Ning: "!"

Barto: "...?"

"Stupid dog!" he yelled, jumping down from the police car. He and Gu Ning together pulled Cook off.

Seeing that Leiton’s hand was bleeding from the bite, both of them had the same thought: ’We’re screwed.’

...

「By the time Alex and Kloer arrived at the police station, it was already ten at night.」

"This is what you call ’well-behaved’?"

Leiton, leaning against the edge of a desk, pushed the electric shock gun and the Anti-Beast Spray across to Alex. "Your ’well-behaved’ little Mixed Breed used a police department-issue electric shock gun to zap several Beastmen half to death, and the Anti-Beast Spray smoked out half a building’s worth of people. Everyone is filing complaints against us. So, you tell me, what should we do with him?"

When Kloer saw the electric shock gun, he blurted out, "Holy shit, isn’t that the one from..."

Alex jabbed him with an elbow.

Kloer immediately shut his mouth. ’No wonder it’s so powerful,’ he thought. ’It’s actually police-issue.’

’That makes things tricky. Even if Cook didn’t steal them from the police station, just being found in possession of them is illegal.’

"This is Zone 19," Alex said, glancing at the items on the desk before looking at Leiton. "He has to be able to protect himself."

Leiton scoffed at his words. "I already let him go once."

Alex said, "He wasn’t the one who shot those three Beastmen last time. He doesn’t have a gun."

Leiton picked up the electric shock gun. "Then what about this? Do you take me for a fool? Did you think we wouldn’t find the shock marks on them?"

Alex replied, "My apologies, Officer Leiton. I didn’t mean anything by that. Whether it was last time or this time, I believe he acted in self-defense. As for this electric shock gun and the Anti-Beast Spray, he probably bought them on the black market. This is Zone 19, after all. You can buy anything here."

Kloer chimed in, "Yes, yes, Officer! This Mixed Breed of ours is really good-tempered and very smart. Other than not being able to speak, his mind has barely degenerated. He doesn’t know how to fight, which is why he uses these little gadgets to protect himself."

"Little gadgets?" Leiton pressed the electric shock gun against Kloer’s chest. "Did you not get enough of a thrill from this ’little gadget’ last time?"

Kloer: "..."

Alex said, "Officer Leiton, could you let me see Cook first?"

Hearing that he wanted to see Cook, Leiton asked, "He’s one of yours too?"

"What?" Something in Leiton’s tone sounded off to Alex.

Leiton held up his bandaged right wrist. "Trying to get him out? He’s going to have to cool his heels in here for a few days first."

"He’s really come a long way," Kloer whispered in Alex’s ear. "He actually bites people? I wouldn’t have pegged him for a biter."

Alex said, "Officer Leiton, please take me to see Cook."

Leiton straightened up and started walking toward the detention cells. "Come with me. He’s not in a stable state of mind—very aggressive. See if you can calm him down."

Upon hearing this, Alex’s expression tightened.

Leiton added, "By the way, his degeneration is pretty severe. Get some Purification Crystal Stones for him within the next couple of days."

Alex’s expression grew even more grim.

"His degeneration is severe?" Kloer asked in surprise. "He seemed very stable before."

Leiton stopped in front of an iron door and scanned his finger on the fingerprint lock. "It’s normal for a Mixed Breed to degenerate when they’re provoked. We have separate isolation rooms here. Keeping him away from outside stimuli for a few days will do him good."