A Scientific Urban Detective

Time rewinds to two minutes prior, as Shokuhou Misaki is on a call with Fūki Ginko.

The group of four, immersed in novelty and joy, failed to notice the increasingly quiet environment around them.

Or rather, they were unconsciously heading towards a secluded area.

Finally, in a completely deserted area, the instant they entered the 'barren zone,' the 'dragon' appeared.

In the gap between two commercial office buildings, the legendary creature—a dragon—entered the four girls' vision with heavy steps.

If it were anyone else, they might have hesitated, perhaps thinking it was some kind of holographic projection or some other harmless prank, thereby missing the best opportunity to escape.

Fortunately, Shokuhou Misaki and her companions were no ordinary people.

Completely disregarding so-called 'common sense,' the moment they saw the dragon, Dolly and Tolly immediately realized it was a deadly monster, and promptly grabbed Shokuhou Misaki and started running.

Keitz Pollard tacitly manipulated 'Little Shadow' to cover their retreat.

Unfortunately, this unreasonable monster seemed to possess scales and muscles as tough as those in legends, and the blades formed by the 'Liquefied Shadow' could not pierce the dragon's scales!

Then, the dragon crushed the half-person-sized 'Little Shadow' with a single stomp!

Fortunately, the 'Liquefied Shadow' was also impervious to physical attacks; it splattered like liquid, then quickly gathered again, reforming into a human shape.

Faced with the frequent harassment from this little thing at its feet, the dragon seemed to grow impatient.

So it lowered its head, opened its mouth, and made a "click-clack" sound.

"This is bad, I have a bad feeling!" Keitz Pollard thought, instinctively manipulating the 'Liquefied Shadow' to curl up into a ball of liquid metal.

Immediately afterward, terrifying flames spewed from the dragon's mouth.

As if a celestial river had burst, the flames poured down like liquid; even from dozens of meters away, the girls could clearly feel the scorching heat that could burn skin.

"It can even breathe fire! What kind of reckless person created this kind of existence!" Shokuhou Misaki exclaimed, using a pre-set one-button call function on her phone to contact Lin Wuming.

—At this crucial moment, finding Wuming-senpai is definitely more reassuring.

But before she could speak, Dolly and Tolly grabbed her and pulled her forward.

A second later, a piece of debris that had fallen from somewhere struck the spot where they had just been standing.

"We can't stay in one place, run!" Dolly urged.

"The call hasn't connected yet!" Shokuhou Misaki shouted, holding her phone and remote control in hand, moving awkwardly to keep up with the speed of the two Misakas.

It was embarrassing to admit, but Dolly and Tolly had only just been discharged from the hospital, having recovered from their 'serious illness'; now, they were the ones supporting Shokuhou Misaki, barely escaping the dragon's pursuit.

Once again feeling helpless about her stamina, Shokuhou Misaki turned her head to look back.

She saw the monster, at least three stories high, shaking its head and scattering flames evenly, then ignoring the scorching heat, its four strong legs crushing the flames as it rumbled forward with its massive body.

At the edge of the sea of fire, Keitz Pollard called out to her doll 'Little Shadow' with great distress; that one 'dragon breath' had directly cost her thirty percent of her painstakingly accumulated liquid metal!

—This was thanks to her turning the liquid metal into the most defensive sphere at the last moment; otherwise, the loss would have been even greater.

Fortunately, Keitz Pollard herself was not injured.

Seeing this, Shokuhou Misaki felt slightly relieved.

At this moment, Dolly said again: "Shokuhou-chan, can't you control the dragon?"

"Unfortunately, no! My ability can't affect creatures other than humans..." Shokuhou Misaki responded loudly, but still pressed the remote control, "Besides, the brain of this artificial monster is simply a chaotic soup! Speaking of which, can your electricity do anything...?"

"Unfortunately, we are only Level 3, not as powerful as Onee-sama," Tolly said calmly.

"However, it is said that Onee-sama is always unpopular with small animals because she carries electromagnetic waves, so maybe we can use this..." Dolly proposed a new plan.

So, the two Electromasters began to release electromagnetic waves, and Shokuhou Misaki, who was sandwiched between them, had her golden hair instantly explode.

What also 'exploded' was the dragon behind them, it suddenly spread its wings, roared to the sky, and pounced even more fiercely.

"This is bad, it really hates us, but the reaction of large beasts and small animals to things they hate is obviously different," Tolly commented.

"Run! Run!" Dolly exclaimed, lifting Shokuhou Misaki's arm and working together with Tolly, their movement speed increased again.

"Hello? Shokuhou, what's wrong? It sounds very lively," Lin Wuming's voice came from the phone.

The wait of only a dozen seconds felt particularly long for Shokuhou Misaki and her companions.

"You're so slow!" The three girls complained almost in unison, and then Shokuhou Misaki said quickly, "Anyway, Wuming-senpai, come and save us! A giant dragon is chasing us!"

Time was pressing, and there was no time to explain too much, but perhaps hearing the roar in the background, Lin Wuming replied without hesitation: "Hold on, I'll be right there."

"That's great!" Shokuhou Misaki cheered.

But for now, their crisis has not been resolved.

The girls could almost feel the dragon's hot breath on the back of their necks.

Keitz Pollard regrouped and chased after them with the smaller Liquefied Shadow.

The liquid metal turned into a ribbon and wrapped around the dragon's mouth, trying to bind its bloody maw.

But it was no match for the dragon's brute force and was constantly being broken free.

The dragon's scales were too hard, and even when the liquid metal turned into blades, it couldn't cut through its defenses.

Keitz Pollard was very unwilling.

"Keitz-chan," Dolly shouted from the front, "Never mind, let's run!"

Using the complex terrain of the building complex, they could stall the beast for a while, delaying time and waiting for reinforcements to arrive.

Keitz Pollard refused to give up: "No, I have a way! I'm going to let Little Shadow enter its body and destroy it from the inside!"

She didn't believe that the dragon's internal organs were also protected by scales!

So, Keitz Pollard manipulated the liquid metal to release the restraint, allowing the dragon to open its mouth, and then seized the opportunity to break in...

Click-clack...

Another mouthful of flames spewed out, directly at the Liquefied Shadow.

This time, the liquid metal that could still maintain normal performance was less than thirty percent of its original amount.

Keitz Pollard was greatly shocked.