Lucian didn't actually dislike Crownslayer.
She was pretty, and like Exusiai, she had bright red hair. Her mouth was sharp and she loved to snark, but she was reasonable, and she treated kids surprisingly well.
Sure, she was a bit ruthless—opening with a sneak attack the moment they met—but given she was with the Reunion Movement, that wasn't strange at all.
This world wasn't peaceful.
Infected died miserably every minute of every day. If they wanted to resist such unreasonable discrimination, force and violence were sometimes the only options.
Lucian didn't think the Reunion Movement was "wrong."
In a world like this, even if the Reunion Movement didn't exist, something like the "Reunion Activity" or "Fusion Movement" or some other messy organization would pop up. Turmoil breeds revolt.
But Lucian had no intention of getting involved.
He could appreciate the softer side hidden behind Crownslayer's violent Mask only because she posed no threat to him.
Even when she held a blade to his throat in the Alley, it felt more like a light scratch—not something that could actually hurt him.
So he could stay calm and observe them objectively, like a bystander.
Once you take away the labels of Terrorist or extremist organization, Crownslayer and her operatives were basically just young people not too different from him.
They had their own lives, their own ideals, and all of them had suffered in the past.
The fact that they chose Resistance instead of giving up on thinking—that alone was worthy of praise.
The only real debate was whether they should use indiscriminate violence.
But that wasn't something an outsider could judge.
Lucian was just someone who occasionally checked the news. He didn't know much about the chaos happening in Chernobog or across the entire Ursus Empire—and he wasn't interested.
He didn't think he was God.
Even back in Laterano, he'd been nothing but a decorative Holy Son who rarely left home—far from someone who'd lead a rebellion against a third of the stars.
So after having that strangely intimate encounter with Crownslayer—and still carrying the faint scent she left on him—Lucian didn't go home right away.
He sent Exusiai and the others a message saying he'd be home late, then wandered around to kill a few hours.
After the clock on his phone passed midnight, Lucian stretched lazily and sat up from the abandoned, broken couch he'd been lounging on.
He knocked on the metal shutter of the closed shop next door.
Without waiting for a response, he said, "I want to see Mr. Lin."
A little later, Lucian arrived at an ordinary old apartment building in the Slums.
There were thousands of identical buildings here, lined up like stacks of mahjong tiles. Outsiders could get lost in minutes.
But the resident of this particular room was anything but ordinary.
Sitting inside the plain, unremarkable home was an elderly man with the head of a rat.
Just like Lungmen's leader, Wei Yenwu, his animal traits were prominent—his head and limbs were fully that of a rat. It meant his Ancients bloodline was extremely pure.
Lucian bowed his head more seriously than usual. "Sorry to disturb you so late, Mr. Lin. Thank you for agreeing to see me."
"No need for that, no need. But Lucian…"
The old man, white eyebrows and whiskers, had a kind face—but he shook his head sadly. "I know you're doing well. You made money with Penguin Logistics, your business is booming, and your relationship with that Guard Department girl is going well. You come to the Slums often, yet you never visit my home. And now that you finally do, you call me 'Mr. Lin.' You won't even call me Uncle Lin!"
Lucian made a pained face. "Uncle Lin… You watched too many Siracusa movies, didn't you?"
The old rat burst into hearty laughter. "I did! My daughter and I saw one at the Movie Theater together. Siracusa's Mafia is quite entertaining."
Mr. Lin—also known as the Rat King, Gray Lin, and several other cryptic titles—was the true ruler of the Lungmen Slums.
On the surface, Lungmen was governed by Wei Yenwu. In the shadows, it was this old gray rat who kept everything running.
As a commercial city dominated by Capitalists, Lungmen didn't need a Slums.
The unfit were meant to be expelled—it was the most efficient, if brutally cold, approach. The wealthy city center shouldn't logically coexist with such sprawling poverty.
But because of this old man, the Slums still stood.
Lucian didn't know what deal Wei and Lin had struck or what bound them together, but their balance kept Lungmen prosperous.
The Slums were Lungmen's buffer zone. Any threat—open or hidden—would crash into the Slums first, easing the impact on the city proper.
But that was the business of giants.
To Lucian, Mr. Lin was simply the kind elder who had helped him when he first came to Lungmen—someone he respected deeply.
After a bit of small talk, Lucian said, "How is Miss Yuxia? I heard she's managing several shops now. They're doing well."
Mr. Lin's rat face scrunched deeply. "'Miss'? Since when are you calling her 'Miss'? Call her Yuxia! You're close with that yellow-haired little cat from the Guard Department—why are you so distant with my daughter?!"
Lucian held his teacup stiffly. "…Let me think about that."
Yuxia—full name Lin Yuxia—was Mr. Lin's beloved daughter.
And the "yellow-haired little cat" was Swire.
Lin Yuxia and Swire were childhood friends of the same age and even classmates until high school. Their relationship had grown distant, but they still kept in touch occasionally.
One was the Yuxia of the Capitalists.
The other was the Rat King's princess.
They should've been mortal enemies—but as little girls, Lin Yuxia and Swire were inseparable. They shared everything—even a single pair of stockings between them.
Lucian hadn't asked for this gossip. Mr. Lin had spilled every embarrassing detail to him years ago, and Lucian had been forced to listen.
Lucian knew Swire well—and Yuxia, too… though whether Yuxia wanted to know him was another matter.
She didn't seem to be home tonight. As a girl her age, it wasn't strange for her to be distant from her father.
Lucian had only been making polite conversation, but Mr. Lin wasn't having it.
He tapped his claw-like fingers on the table. "Lucian. My Yuxia isn't young anymore. A girl can't be running around outside all day. Back when she was a student, you said she was too young. But now she's grown up… so when are you two having kids?"
"Kids my ass!"
Lucian slammed the teacup onto the table, stiff from head to toe.