CHAPTER 528: CHAPTER 327: ALIEN GAME, COUNTDOWN, BLOODY STORM

July 13th, Japan time 19:00, Osaka Port.

The night was deep, and Osaka Bay was shrouded in a peaceful twilight. In the distance, the Tenpo Mountain Ferris wheel lit up the night sky. Countless LED lights flowed and changed between the steel framework, transforming this massive 112-meter-high structure into a halo of light.

At this moment, by the fence of the port, Fan Dongqing, Ke Qingzheng, Gu Qiye, Urushibara Ryuri, Garfield, Jiushijiu, Father of Puppets, Kalina, Alexandra, Oda Ehgo, You Ruirui, and Esther, the twelve members of Rainbow Wings, gathered here.

Beside them stood four camouflaged blue and white fighter jets, ready for action.

The "Light-Eating Bee Extermination Operation" was set to start in five hours, and by then, most members would board the fighter jets created by Garfield’s superpower and head to the island at full speed.

In the task delegation, some were responsible for exterminating the worker bees, some for raiding the hive, confronting the Four Great Bee Lords, and capturing the Queen Bee’s head. Of course, some would remain in Osaka.

Esther Doolittle, the black-haired, red-eyed girl, was quietly lying in an open coffin, the lace of her Gothic Lolita dress spreading out like a flower.

Before falling asleep, she had instructed Oda Ehgo to wake her up before the operation started.

She chose Oda Ehgo probably because he was the only one in the organization who would knock on the coffin respectfully and gently wake her up.

Other people’s methods were either rather crude, or, like Kalina and the Father of Puppets, were eccentric in their thinking. Esther would never entrust them with the task of waking her for fear of waking up in a bad mood and accidentally flipping all of Garfield’s four fighter jets.

In fact, Esther would not be participating in the raid on the Nameless Island; she would stay in Osaka as a precaution against an attack from the Bee Race—even though everyone thought it was nonsense, and she just wanted to sleep, believing the probability of the Bee Race suddenly attacking Osaka was slim to none.

The tide had already come in. Under the night, the sea was turbulent, with black waves crashing against the lighthouse, shattering into white spray, splashing high into the sky.

A dense raincloud was also drifting over from afar, and it might rain after a while. Judging from the cloud’s size, the rain would not be small.

At this moment, except for Esther who was resting in the coffin, the remaining eleven members of Rainbow Wings had opened their tablets, listening to a long discussion from Commander Chen Xi.

Gu Qiye didn’t have a tablet, so he had to fold his arms and lean in with You Ruirui.

The two leaned against the fence in the night breeze, watching silently as the elegant woman on the screen, with their heads almost touching.

If the background on the screen wasn’t a meeting room, anyone would assume they had tuned into a news broadcast on CCTV, given the commander’s exceedingly proper appearance and demeanor.

"Lastly, let’s confirm again, do you all know the tasks assigned to each of you?" Commander Chen Xi asked. "Especially you, Fan Dongqing."

"What is it this time?" Fan Dongqing asked indignantly, as he was singled out yet again. He was dressed in a pure white Tang suit, sitting cross-legged on a public wooden bench with one hand holding his shoulder and the other holding his cellphone.

"Just don’t forget your task once we reach the island," Chen Xi said.

"Understood, I’m supposed to fight that second-tier Bee Prince with Garfield, the one that can gigantify. His name’s ’Guli’, right?" Fan Dongqing asked with a tilt of his head, not at all amused.

"Correct," Chen Xi said. "Garfield’s drones are still monitoring the island’s situation. Currently, neither the hive nor the worker bees on the island have acted out of the ordinary; they haven’t realized we’re about to launch a surprise attack yet."

Garfield sat on the fence, raising his sweater collar against the night wind, looking at the drone surveillance feed on his phone, his blue eyes showing no emotion.

The surveillance scenes switched rapidly on his phone: sometimes the hive entrance, sometimes the island’s east, west, south, and north sides, the island’s beaches, and even the surrounding rippling sea.

His drones patrolled every corner—not daring to fly into the hive itself, as it was pointless: merely approaching would alert the Four Great Bee Lords, who would crush them instantly.

"What’s the point of waiting here for five hours?" Fan Dongqing yawned.

"If the Bee Race makes a sudden move before midnight, the plan may change."

"You’re not making us hang around the port for five hours, are you?" Fan Dongqing pressed.

"Fine, I permit you to wander nearby, but don’t go too far," Chen Xi sighed. "Even though I know that even if I hadn’t said so, you all would roam anyhow... You always do this, not taking the tasks seriously."

"That will be helpful."

With that, Fan Dongqing shoved his hands into his pockets and walked straight toward Urushibara Ryuri.

Urushibara Ryuri turned her face, silently gazing into the distance at the giant Ferris wheel of Tenpo Mountain, its brightness reflected in her glass-clear pupils.

"What do you want?" she smirked, slowly turning back to Fan Dongqing.

"Inviting you for a stroll," Fan Dongqing replied. "What else? Don’t play dumb."

Urushibara Ryuri tilted her head, "What have I done to make you so persistent?"

"I don’t understand you, so I want to know more about you," Fan Dongqing said.

"There are plenty of people you don’t understand, you don’t need to include me," Urushibara Ryuri said indifferently.

"There are many people I don’t understand, but I don’t want to understand them. I only want to understand you."

Urushibara Ryuri was momentarily taken aback, the corner of her mouth curving into a self-deprecating smile, "Sometimes I feel like I’m a puppet. Even I don’t understand myself, let alone you."

"So, are you going or not?" Fan Dongqing withdrew a hand from his pocket and extended it toward her.

Urushibara Ryuri remained silent for a while, then looked up at Fan Dongqing, her gaze clear.

"Wanna bet she won’t accept it?" Jiushijiu said, her pink twin-tails rising and falling in the sea breeze.

"I don’t think she will either," Garfield said, "Though it seems Urushibara Ryuri doesn’t really dislike narcissistic guys, but I don’t know why she keeps rejecting him."

"Garfield, I thought you didn’t understand romance?" Jiushijiu turned her head, frowning at him.

Garfield pulled up his sweater collar to cover his mouth, too lazy to continue talking.

To their surprise, Urushibara Ryuri uncharacteristically accepted Fan Dongqing’s invitation, and the two of them went out. Jiushijiu was dumbfounded, her jaw almost hitting the floor.

Ke Qingzheng watched the scene silently, adjusted his glasses, and could only stay at the harbor to daydream alone, since he usually went out shopping with Fan Dongqing.

Kalina, Oda Ehgo, and Alexandra somehow produced a bottle of red wine, grabbed a few glasses, and sat sipping it by the shore.

Father of Puppets stood with arms crossed, his oversized trench coat flapping in the sea breeze, staring blankly at the rain clouds drifting from afar. Underneath his bandages, a hoarse mumbling came through, but no one could hear what he was saying.

"Since they’re all doing that, why don’t we go for a walk too?" Gu Qiye turned to look at You Ruirui.

"The operation is about to start; relaxing now..." You Ruirui stopped mid-sentence when she met Gu Qiye’s gaze, paused for a moment, then changed her mind, "Alright."

The two of them walked along the coast of the Harbor District, where rows of lanterns hung above the night market. Smoke curled up between food stalls, mingling with the charred scent of grilled fish. Stall owners wielded spatulas, splattering oil from the griddle almost overlapping with the red glow from the lanterns overhead.

Gu Qiye bought a box of takoyaki and they leaned against the railing, gazing down at the river. Their dim silhouettes cast onto the water. A passing boat stirred the ripples, shattering their tiny reflections and mingling them into a shimmering spread.

The salty sea breeze brushed against their cheeks, accompanied by the melody of a street musician’s guitar and the tireless sound of breaking waves.

"I’ve never been on a Ferris wheel before," Gu Qiye suddenly looked up, gazing at the distant Tenpo Mountain Ferris Wheel.

"I can accompany you for a ride, if you’d like," You Ruirui also looked up.

"Let’s leave it for another time. If something unexpected happens while we’re on the Ferris wheel, we might not be able to get off," Gu Qiye laughed.

"Got it."

You Ruirui shifted her gaze away from the Ferris wheel and returned with Gu Qiye to the brightly lit long street.

Yet at this very moment, directly above the "Tenpo Mountain Ferris Wheel" not far from Osaka港, one of its cabins was filled with a horrific crimson, as if playing out a B-movie scene with blood everywhere.

The Bee Prince "Kamieron" tore open a man’s chest with her claws, and before the man could even scream, he lost consciousness. At this time, an ice-blue crystal suddenly appeared in Kamieron’s right hand.

This was her superpower product.

She embedded the crystal into the man’s still-beating heart with her claws. The man’s heart began to pulsate violently, and an eerie sound echoed in the silent Ferris wheel cabin. In the next moment, the man’s body gradually transformed into a giant cocoon.

Kamieron looked down from the top of the Ferris wheel, with the entire Osaka港 unfolding in her sea-blue eyes.

In the distance, a massive tourist ship approached, adorned with warm yellow string lights. It skims the inky sea, illuminating the surrounding waters;

If observed closely, it could be seen that the tourists aboard the ship were already disemboweled, yet their faces retained a bizarre smile. Inside their hearts, an ocean-blue crystal pulsated, and cocoon-like white threads gradually enveloped their bodies, transforming them into non-human creatures.

"The game... has begun." Kamieron’s lips curled high as she licked her lips.

Through the Ferris wheel cabin’s window, she gazed into the distance, where the cables of the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge linked into a golden harp string across the night sky, stretching towards the silhouettes of rolling mountains.

Further away, the skyscrapers of Umeda and Abeno districts stood like luminous giants side by side against the sky.

The night at Osaka港 was a dance of light and shadow, a breathtaking view. The jubilant and toasting tourists and Kamieron, who watched the city like a hunter, shared a common thought: tonight was destined to be a sleepless night.