I, Yuhaka, am hungry!

After Riko asked Nanachi, Nanachi stroked her furry chin and said:

"Hmm... If I'm not mistaken, it's probably because of the influence of Youyou's hunting?"

"The...effects of hunting?"

Riko looked at Nanachi with a puzzled expression, seemingly not understanding what Nanachi was saying. Seeing the bewildered looks on Riko and Regu's faces, Nanachi spread her hands, looking somewhat helpless, and explained to them:

"Those giant freshwater squid were scared by Youyou, although it's still a bit hard to believe that they were scared by a girl..."

Hearing Nanachi's words, Riko and Reg broke out in a cold sweat, as what Nanachi said was rather awkward...

..............................................................

After several attempts by Riko and her friends, they still hadn't caught a single squid tentacle. Meanwhile, Yuhaka was scratching his little belly, drooling, and looking like he was fast asleep. Clearly, Riko and her friends' noisy antics hadn't woken the sleeping Yuhaka.

Rico scratched her long blonde hair, feeling very troubled. After trying several methods, she still hadn't caught a single freshwater squid.

Then Riko noticed that Reig seemed to have thought of something, and Reig, noticing Riko's strange gaze, asked with a puzzled look:

"Rico, what's wrong?"

Rico gave Regu a kind smile and said:

"Regu-chan, I need your help with something really important~"

Upon hearing Riko's words, a big question mark appeared on Reig's little head. Then Reig understood the meaning behind Riko's kind smile just now...

At the pool where Riko and the others were, Regu herself was standing on the edge of the pool with a look on her face. A rope was tied around Regu's waist, and Riko and Nanachi were pulling on the other end of the rope.

"Please, Regu!"

"Yeah, dry it off~"

Seeing Nanachi and Riko's expressions, Regu sighed with a helpless look and said:

"Absolutely hopeless..."

Riko's mission this time was to send Regu into the water to find the giant freshwater squid and use her mechanical arm to capture it. Once she caught the squid, Riko and Nanachi would pull her up.

But... no matter what Regu thought, she felt like she was being used as bait!

Finally, Regu sighed again, said "hopeless," and jumped into the water to search for the freshwater giant squid.

Regu was swimming around in the water, searching for traces of the freshwater giant squid. Because the water in the pool was relatively clean, Regu could see quite a bit underwater. The only obstacles were the seaweed and rocks at the bottom.

Regu, swimming in the water, looked around at her surroundings. Although the water was very clear, Regu did not see any trace of the giant freshwater squid. Regu found this very strange. Before, when she and Nanachi came here to catch fish, Regu had seen the giant freshwater squid, and it was exactly the same as the one recorded in the booklet that Riko always carried.

But now that it has disappeared without a trace, Regu is very worried. Could it be that the giant freshwater squid has gone into hiding?

With this question in mind, Regu swam while searching for traces of the giant freshwater squid. Just as Regu passed by a patch of seaweed, a pair of large eyes appeared out of the seaweed. The owner of these large eyes was none other than the giant freshwater squid that Riko and her friends were looking for.

The giant freshwater squid watched the little girl floating above its head. Earlier, after hearing the tremor of something falling into the water, the giant freshwater squid immediately hid, as it still remembered very clearly the little girl who had appeared last time, like a natural enemy.

Chapter 480 [Ecological Destroyer: Youyou-chan]

A few weeks ago (to be precise, time in the Abyss world), it was one of the giant freshwater squids living in a small pool. One day, a demon descended from the sky and kidnapped its kind one by one. As for where they were taken, it didn't know, but all it knew was that its kind would never return.

Although it saw a creature that resembled the demon, the giant freshwater squid did not notice that the figure had a tail, so it did not seem to be the same creature as the demon.

Moreover, because that creature invaded its territory, the giant freshwater squid had the idea of ​​attacking that figure.

Regu, who was being targeted by the giant freshwater squid, seemed oblivious, as her attention was focused on what was in front of her and she was completely unaware of what was behind her.

Just as Regu was pondering where to find the giant freshwater squid, a figure attacked from behind her.

...................................................

On the bank of the small pond, Riko and Nanachi, who were tied to Regu by ropes, looked at the calm water. Nanachi looked at Riko with a slightly worried expression and said:

"Um, Riko, is it alright to let Regu go down alone?"

Hearing Nanachi's words, Riko was also taken aback for a moment, then she put on a relieved expression and said:

"Don't worry, Regu's body is incredibly tough! I've even tested it with knives, fire, and poison before, and it didn't leave a single mark!"

Riko's words made Nanachi's inner voice explode with, "What the hell did Riko do to Reg?!" Of course, Nanachi was only thinking this to herself when she heard Riko's words.

Just then, Riko and Nanachi suddenly felt the rope in their hands become heavier, which startled them. However, neither of them seemed to let go, and they pulled hard on the rope.

"Pull harder!"

"Yeah, I know, but it's so heavy—"

After the two of them seemed unable to pull it any further, Nanachi called out to Yuhaka, who was sleeping nearby:

"Youyou! Come help! A big fish has taken the bait!"

Upon hearing Nanachi's words, Yuhaka, who had been fast asleep, suddenly opened his eyes, which emitted a burst of golden light and made a "ding" sound.

Then, in Riko and Nanachi's eyes, they saw Yuhaka appear beside them as if by teleportation, grab the rope, and pull it up with a whoosh. At the same time, Regu, who was entangled with the giant freshwater squid, also came up.

Regu was gripping the giant freshwater squid's large, parrot-like beak with both hands, and had a tentacle firmly biting into her mouth. The giant freshwater squid was using its tentacles to bind Regu and wouldn't let go. Seeing this scene, Nanachi was completely stunned!

Riko and the others quickly tried to untangle the tentacles wrapped around Regu, but unfortunately, the giant squid's tentacles were as hard to pull off as if they were glued on. Just as Riko and Nanachi were about to call Yuhaka for help, they suddenly noticed that the giant squid that had been tightly wrapped around Regu's body was fleeing as if it had seen a ghost. However, before the giant squid could escape, Yuhaka, who was standing nearby, took a Xuanyuan Sword and chopped off the giant squid's hat-like head.

As Riko and Nanachi watched the giant freshwater squid, now stripped of its "hat" and attempting to escape, being trampled underfoot by the drooling Yuhaka, they couldn't help but feel a sense of fear. After all, Yuhaka now looked like a top predator.

However, Riko and Nanachi thought differently the next moment.

.................................................. ...

By the pool, Regu chewed on the grilled squid tentacle in her hand and said:

"Mmm, this freshwater squid tastes really good. No wonder Yu-Yu has eaten so many of them that their numbers have dwindled..."

Riko, who was standing nearby, was also chewing on the tentacles of a freshwater giant squid and said:

"Hmm~ It looks very chewy, and it tastes really chewy!"

Then Riko looked at the outer skin of the giant freshwater squid standing to the side and said:

"Moreover, the problem of the freshwater giant squid's outer shell has been solved. Now it's time to find other materials!"

Hearing Riko's words, Nanachi, who was chewing on a roasted tentacle, waved her hand and said to Riko:

"Well, I don't want to spoil your fun, but those other materials that Rico mentioned aren't easy to get either."

Hearing Nanachi's words, Riko looked surprised and said:

"Huh? Are those materials hard to get?"

Nanachi explained to Riko about her confusion:

"No, it's not so much that it's hard to get, but rather that it's hard to find. Lico, you should know that a lot of creatures here have been eaten by that guy Yuu. Those material creatures you mentioned are very rare."

Hearing Nanachi's words, Riko looked at Yuhaka, who was gnawing on squid tentacles, with a shocked expression. Riko hadn't expected that this seemingly harmless little girl in front of her would almost cause problems with the ecology of the fourth layer of the Abyss.

Yoyo-chan, you horrible child!

Yuhaka, on the other hand, looked at Riko with an O~O expression, seemingly quite puzzled.

.................................................. ..

In the world of NieR: Automata, the Herrscher team consisting of Bronya, Sirin, and Rin is in a forest ruin. Bronya is using her tablet to investigate something about a mechanical life form that has been pierced through by the Void Spear.

Bell, who was watching Bronya work on some code, asked Bronya curiously:

"Bronya? What are you doing?"

Hearing Rin's words, Bronya didn't stop what she was doing or turn around to reply to Rin:

"Nothing much, just investigating something."

"thing?"

Bronya's answer puzzled Rin. Although she didn't know what Bronya was doing, Rin felt it must be something important.

With this in mind, Ling continued to observe and watch what code Bronya would write.

Chapter 481 [Bronya Wants to Stealth]

"Well, I found it."

As Bronya spoke, everyone's attention was drawn to her. Sirin looked at Bronya curiously and asked:

"Did you find anything?"

Bronya nodded and said:

"Hmm, I've noticed something's not right. Take a look."

As she spoke, Bronya pulled up a data chart for Sirin and Rin to see. Unfortunately, Sirin and Rin were immediately overwhelmed by the dense data chart displayed on Bronya's tablet. Clearly, both of them were academically challenged and couldn't understand the data charts on Bronya's tablet screen at all.

Seeing the way Sirin and Rin's eyes darted around, Bronya could roughly guess that the two of them didn't understand what she was holding. Then, with a sigh, Bronya explained to them:

"Those things on the data charts record the fluctuations of the network of mechanical lifeforms connected by those mechanical lifeforms."

Upon hearing Bronya's words, Sirin and Rin nodded with an "Oh~", and then asked Bronya what the thing was for.

Seeing Sirin and Rin's puzzled expressions, Bronya was speechless. However, she still explained the fluctuations in the mechanical lifeform network to Sirin and Rin. Based on this data, Bronya speculated that something in the mechanical lifeform network was affecting some mechanical lifeforms.

Over the past few days, Bronya and the others have been wandering around the world of NieR: Automata, trying to find the target indicated by the system. Unfortunately, every time Bronya tries to catch the target, it has already slipped away. She wonders if the target has noticed they're looking for it...

However, the only thing Bronya was certain of was that the Twelfth Herrscher was causing trouble. Bronya heard Pascal say that there were quite a few mechanical lifeforms fighting each other recently, which made Pascal feel very strange.

Although some mechanical life forms do attack their own kind, only a small number of them do so.

But this time the mechanical lifeform seemed a bit strange. Rather than being crazy, it felt like two hostile beings were controlling the mechanical lifeforms to fight. This made Bronya realize that the Twelfth Herrscher was still fighting with the network consciousness of that mechanical lifeform.

Bronya looked very puzzled when she thought about these things. The Twelfth Herrscher was fighting on the mechanical life form's consciousness network, so why did it turn into a battle in the real world?

Is there any need to fight on the side of reality?

All they needed to do was occupy those mechanical lifeforms.

However, according to Pascal, some of the recent mechanical lifeforms have become bizarre and completely different from the mechanical lifeforms of the past.

This caught Bronya and the others' attention. According to Pascal, the mechanical lifeforms hadn't changed for a long time. The current mechanical lifeforms were all using the forms they had used to invade Earth, and they rarely changed their forms.

Most importantly, those mechanical lifeforms that changed shape looked somewhat like the Titans in the Honkai Impact world.

I don't know if it's Bronya's imagination, but it's very suspicious that those mechanical lifeforms look completely different from what's shown in the game's story.

......................................................

After Bronya and the others finished their investigation, they began to investigate why the Twelfth Herrscher had invaded those mechanical lifeforms.

On a dilapidated highway, Bronya was driving the motorcycle that Heavy Bunny had transformed into, heading towards her destination. In the motorcycle form, Sirin and Rin were also riding on Heavy Bunny.