The crowd on the ground had initially started to flee again when they saw the giant fall and the monster advancing toward them.
Unexpectedly, the giant rose once more, and the people immediately stopped in their tracks.
"Wouldn't it be better to just run?" Yu Zhou muttered, exasperated. Geed was holding back the monster—why not take this chance to escape? If Geed lost, everyone here would be in serious trouble.
Skull Gomora's horns glowed red again, and with an earth-shattering force, it charged at Geed.
Geed stood his ground. His arms stretched wide, hands clawed, eyes blazing blue. Dark red energy coursed along his body. He crossed his hands in a precise stance, releasing a beam at Skull Gomora.
Blue light mixed with dark red energy hit the monster, halting its charge.
A massive explosion followed, fire blazing and smoke billowing everywhere. When the dust settled, Skull Gomora had vanished—it seemed utterly destroyed.
Geed's color timer on his chest flashed red, and he seemed to weaken, finally dissolving into light particles and disappearing into the sky.
Yu Zhou, seeing Geed vanish, joined the fleeing crowd. As a newcomer to this world with no safe place, adopting the guise of a refugee worked perfectly.
As for Geed's human form, Asakura Riku—Riku—Yu Zhou had no way of finding him yet. He knew Riku must have acquaintances among the refugees, which could be a way to make his acquaintance later.
At the Kamitono Hall disaster shelter, a man placed firewood into a burning barrel, then realized he hadn't brought a lighter.
A little girl beside him stood up, smiling. "I can light it!"
The surrounding people stared in disbelief. A child could light a fire with her hands?
The girl, innocent and calm, extended her hands toward the wood. Flames burst forth, igniting the firewood instantly.
Everyone gasped—her hands were literally producing fire! It wasn't some magic trick.
"What's happening?"
"Why is it suddenly burning?"
"What's going on?"
The crowd crowded around. The man panicked; the girl was his niece. If others discovered her ability, it could bring serious trouble.
"It's nothing, really nothing!" he forced a smile. "The lighter did it!"
"But why did it ignite so fast?"
The crowd didn't believe him. If their eyes weren't deceiving them, the girl's hands had emitted the flames.
"It's because I poured gasoline on the wood first!" the man improvised.
"But where's the lighter? Where's the gasoline?"
The man had neither. Sweat formed on his forehead.
"I've got it."
A young man stepped forward, carrying a bucket of gasoline in one hand and a lighter in the other. It was Yu Zhou, who had followed the refugees to the shelter.
"You all saw things wrong—the fire started because of gasoline," he explained, placing the bucket and lighter before the crowd.
"Oh, I see. Must have been an optical illusion."
"Ah, it's a gasoline trick! You scared me!"
"Yeah, I thought she could really shoot fire from her hands!"
The crowd dispersed, relieved. The man and the girl's mother sighed. If her power had been exposed, it would have caused trouble.
"Thanks for your help," the man said quietly to Yu Zhou.
"No problem," Yu Zhou smiled. "It was nothing."
"Really, thank you!" the girl's mother added. Without Yu Zhou, her daughter might have been seen as a monster.
The man was Riku's store manager—the owner of Galaxy Supermarket. The little girl, Ellie, had the ability to breathe fire because she carried the Little Star within her.
This was why the monster had targeted the crowd—the Little Star inside Ellie, or the Ultra Capsule.
"No need to thank me," Yu Zhou said, signaling it wasn't necessary.
The three began talking. When asked where he was from, Yu Zhou said he was Chinese, but now a refugee due to the monster attack.
"Since you're a refugee too, Yu Zhou, are you homeless?" the store owner asked.
"Yes, my house was destroyed by the monster," Yu Zhou replied matter-of-factly.
"Because of Ellie, we need to leave the shelter soon," the girl's mother said, gathering Ellie. "Her special abilities could attract trouble."
"Better not let anyone see powers like that," Yu Zhou agreed.
"So, Yu Zhou, since you're without a home, want to stay with us temporarily?" the store owner offered.
"Yes, Ellie's grandfather has a warehouse in the suburbs we can use," her mother added.
Yu Zhou paused, pretending to think, then replied, "In that case, I won't refuse."
He knew that as long as he stayed with Ellie, whose Little Star would attract aliens and monsters, he could follow the main story and meet Riku.
He also provided the group with gasoline and a lighter from his spatial bracelet, easing their immediate danger.
Soon, Yu Zhou and the three arrived at the suburban warehouse. After some tidying, they made room for temporary shelter.
"Here we are."
"Ellie's grandfather has a warehouse out here."
Outside, the store owner smiled as he made a phone call. Yu Zhou admired his optimism—even with his supermarket destroyed and home lost, he could still smile.
If Yu Zhou wasn't mistaken, the person on the other end was Riku, Geed's human form, who was probably living in Belial's abandoned lab—a spaceship serving as a secret base, accessible from anywhere on Earth if one knew the coordinates.