The abandoned warehouse district on the outskirts of the city was enormous.
Long ago, it had been used to store machining equipment. Now, most of the buildings stood empty.
A few sections had been renovated into factories.
From time to time, the roaring of machinery and the clang of steel hitting the ground drifted from the factory zone into the abandoned warehouses.
Sooner or later, the entire area would probably be redeveloped.
But for now, the district was filled with the staccato crack of rifle fire and the shrill screams of men.
The chaos came from dinosaurs.
Dozens of them had appeared seemingly out of nowhere.
The larger ones were velociraptors, while the smaller ones resembled swift-running theropods. They burst out from every direction and attacked any mafia members carrying guns.
Most of the dinosaurs weren't very large.
But precisely because they were small, their movements were even harder to deal with.
From the moment they appeared, they targeted anyone holding firearms—as if guns themselves were the trigger for their aggression.
And if someone tried to attack the dinosaurs, they would immediately retaliate.
The mafia members had reacted the moment the creatures appeared.
They opened fire.
But the bullets simply couldn't hit.
Under the influence of Scary Monsters, these dinosaurized creatures possessed extraordinary mobility and terrifying dynamic vision.
Dodging bullets was easy for them.
Meanwhile, their sharp teeth and claws capable of tearing leather apart became the mafia's worst nightmare.
From the very start, the battle had been completely one-sided—even though the gangsters had firearms.
Men scratched and bitten by the dinosaurs desperately tried to shoot their attackers.
But as time passed, their bodies began to transform as well.
One mafia member after another slowly started turning into dinosaurs.
More mafia vehicles kept arriving.
At first, people jumped out of the cars and fired.
Later, the cars simply kept moving in circles while grenades were tossed out of the windows.
It seemed the mafia had finally found a way to fight the dinosaurs.
By the time Yituoku and Sobbin arrived, the situation had become strange.
Convoys of cars circled the warehouse district while dinosaurs chased them.
Explosions echoed now and then.
Sometimes it was a grenade.
Sometimes it was a car that had flipped over after being attacked—followed by screams and a blast.
"This isn't Hinrigh's ability," Yituoku said as he stepped out of the car.
A long blade appeared in his hand.
The weapon had already been inside the vehicle. In fact, the back seat also contained rifles, grenades, and even an RPG launcher.
But he chose the sword.
From the moment he stepped out, aura flowed from his body, forming Ten.
Then more aura burst from his aura nodes, and Ten expanded into Ren, the state better suited for combat.
As soon as he got out of the car, a velociraptor—one of the mafia members already transformed—noticed him.
The creature sprinted toward him and opened its jaws full of teeth, aiming straight for Yituoku's head.
It looked like it intended to bite the man's skull clean off.
Yituoku planted his feet and gripped the sword with one hand.
His gaze sharpened.
The moment the velociraptor entered his attack range, the blade flashed out of its sheath.
Yet even at such close range, the attacking dinosaur managed to dodge.
But just as it evaded the sword—
A gunshot rang out behind Yituoku.
The velociraptor's pupils shrank.
It tried to stop.
Too late.
Yituoku had already stepped backward after the missed slash.
At that instant, a large net exploded open in front of him, enveloping the charging dinosaur.
"Impressive reflexes," Yituoku said, sliding the sword back into its sheath with genuine admiration.
"If every one of them is this troublesome, cleaning this place up is going to take a while," Sobbin said calmly.
"Remote manipulation ability… and it spreads through infection. That's problematic."
"It doesn't feel like a single person's ability," Yituoku replied after a moment of thought.
"More like a cooperative Nen ability."
"One person creates the dinosaurs. Another grants them the infectious effect."
"The only thing missing is precise control. If that were present, this situation would be even worse."
"Same conclusion I came to," Sobbin said, gazing into the distance.
The rose tattoo on his long neck seemed even more vivid now.
"We need to find the source."
Yituoku sighed.
"Not sure if this is the Phantom Troupe's handiwork, but it certainly feels like their style."
"Stop the search for now. Focus on eliminating these dinosaurs."
"If the Phantom Troupe is really involved… then Zalan and Pat probably ran into them already."
Sobbin frowned at him but said nothing.
He turned, returned to the car, grabbed the radio, and began issuing orders methodically.
Meanwhile, a black sedan was driving toward the city.
Ivan listened as the orders came through the radio.
The search had been suspended.
All personnel were being redirected to deal with the dinosaur crisis.
He finally relaxed a little.
At first, the number of dinosaurs had grown rapidly.
But later, the numbers stabilized.
After the new orders came through, the number even began to decline.
Ivan understood immediately.
Experts had arrived.
But that didn't concern him anymore.
The Kasha Family had already given up searching this area.
Otherwise, they could have simply left some men to handle the dinosaurs while the rest expanded the search outward from the outbreak point.
They would have eventually discovered something.
Ivan believed the main reason was their assessment of the ability involved.
Based on the available intelligence, they could almost certainly conclude that this dinosaurization power had nothing to do with Ivan or Judge Lyman.
That left only two possibilities:
Either the Phantom Troupe…
Or Hinrigh of the Xi-Yu Family.
But whichever it was, the Kasha Family likely had no desire to provoke them.
Choosing to back off was therefore the most reasonable decision.
After all—
Why risk your life for information you might never obtain?
Ivan understood the Kasha Family fairly well.
According to his memories, the investigation he had been conducting recently had involved them.
Half a month ago, the Judicial Bureau received intelligence that a transaction involving a new oral narcotic called Drug D-? was taking place at Haiyun Fishing Port.
The drug was extremely addictive and highly dangerous.
In Kakin, it had been strictly banned.
As an investigator for the Judicial Bureau, Ivan had joined the case.
Following the trail eventually revealed that the entire operation was tied to the Kasha Family, one of Kakin's three great mafia families.
The person managing the narcotics trade had already been identified.
His name was Tahao.
Not only was he an assistant to the Kasha Family patriarch—
He was also the military advisor of the Seventh Prince of Kakin.