Chapter 110: The Imposter’s Identity

After being woken up, Nanaya had actually been awake for a while, but she just kept lazing in bed.

The main reason was that she felt troubled thinking about what she had done last night. Sneaking into Miss Trash’s room because she couldn’t sleep in the middle of the night? That was practically the behavior of a madwoman.

Though she had managed to fool Menglinna with that wild beast explanation earlier, she couldn’t get past her own conscience.

So Nanaya continued to writhe in bed… not because the bed smelled of Menglinna.

It wasn’t until the aroma of frying eggs drifted from the kitchen that Nanaya reluctantly got up.

As a saint candidate, she couldn’t afford to be too lazy.

After hastily washing up, she arrived at the dining room just as Menglinna was placing breakfast on the table.

Today’s breakfast was sandwiches—simple yet not austere, quite decent.

As soon as Nanaya sat down, Menglinna suddenly spoke: “I need to go out later. The hospital notified me—the treatment will probably take at least half a day.”

Pem had found traces of the impostor and had just informed Menglinna via carrier pigeon; she wanted to resolve this as soon as possible.

“Oh,” Nanaya nodded, then replied a beat late, “Do you need me to come along?”

“No need,” Menglinna grabbed her sandwich and hurried out. “The doctor’s schedule is tight, so I’ll head off now.”

“Take care.”

Nanaya watched her leave, holding her sandwich, but she clearly noticed the tactical belt around Menglinna’s waist.

Bringing that for treatment? Though Nanaya understood that some occasions might require divine arts, so she usually carried a holy bell, but a tactical belt was unnecessary?

From what Nanaya knew, Menglinna’s tactical belt held at least a dagger, several throwing knives, healing potions, and a holy bell.

Something felt off.

Once the door closed, Nanaya returned to her room and put on her own tactical belt. Though Menglinna hadn’t asked her to come, Nanaya felt an inexplicable worry and decided to secretly follow.

Who knew what might turn up.

This morning’s latest news: the impostor seemed to be hiding near the sewage treatment plant north of the city. The plant had been abandoned for a long time and was under renovation, but the construction crew had recently run into funding issues, so no one was there.

Sitting in the car, Inspector Pem briefed the two on the basic situation as the initiator of this operation.

Menglinna listened intently, then nodded and asked, “So how should we deal with her? Just arrest her inside the plant?”

Pem looked at Menglinna with a gaze reserved for mentally challenged children. “Arresting her is too conservative.”

At that, Yushi patted her backpack. “I brought a full set of surgical equipment. If necessary, I can remove her heart on the spot. After all, Little Meng, you’re joining this operation for the heart, right?”

Though it was true, when those words came out of Yushi’s mouth, it felt like they were a group hunting wild beasts.

Even vampires were intelligent beings recognized by the Human Alliance, weren’t they?

This kind of behavior, like hunting animals, seemed a bit…

Menglinna stopped her train of thought in time. After all, she was the beneficiary of this operation.

Sorry, unknown miss vampire. Blame your kin.

Apologizing silently to the unfortunate vampire lady, Menglinna turned to the two.

“We’re here,” Pem opened the car door. “Everyone, be careful.”

Yushi was the first to jump out. As Menglinna prepared to follow, Pem pulled her back and whispered, “Teacher Meng, that one looks exactly like me.”

The sudden reminder confused Menglinna, but she nodded. “I understand.”

“Don’t believe a word she says. She’s a pure liar.”

“Alright.”

The three arrived at the outskirts of the sewage treatment plant. Due to funding issues, the once bustling construction site was now desolate; all equipment had been removed, leaving only scattered trash.

The outer walls were tall, but the gate was crude. A thick iron chain hung on the door, but a closer look revealed the lock was just for show—it wasn’t actually closed.

“This is her territory. We must be cautious.” At the last moment before action, Pem stopped to emphasize, “Attack her on sight, aim for the head, and don’t hesitate. Even if you hit the heart, as a vampire, she can regenerate!”

The two nodded and drew their weapons.

Menglinna naturally used her standard dagger and holy bell, while Yushi had exchanged her weapon for a huge hammer. The refined chief physician using a heavy hammer to smash heads—an utterly unexpected combination.

Under Menglinna’s puzzled gaze, Pem pulled a warhammer from her storage ring.

Perhaps sensing Menglinna’s stare, Pem asked, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Menglinna shook her head. “Let’s go.”

Carefully removing the iron chain from the gate, the three entered the water plant.

Was it her imagination? The moment she entered, she felt as if someone was watching her.

And it seemed like more than one person.

Menglinna didn’t dwell on it and followed the others forward.

They took a side door, entering directly into the V-shaped filter tank. The structure was only half-built; one side of the tank was empty.

Without a word, Pem headed straight for the stairs above the V-shaped filter tank, with the two following behind.

A thick layer of green sludge coated the inside of the tank, suggesting it was old equipment that hadn’t been replaced.

At first, she thought it was half-built, but it turned out to be only half-demolished.

Menglinna stayed close behind Pem. For some reason, she kept feeling a cold draft at her back. Habit made her follow her former magic swordsman teammate.

Wait, had she forgotten to ask about the target’s strength? And Pem had only been a D-ranked warrior like her before, right?

A sudden unease stirred in Menglinna’s heart.

“Ah!”

A startled cry came from Yushi at the rear. Both turned around quickly.

It turned out a figure was hanging on the edge of the filter tank. After Menglinna and Pem passed, the figure climbed up from the edge and stabbed at Yushi with a short sword.

But the attacker was unlucky. The sword tip struck the strap of Yushi’s backpack, and though she wasn’t seriously hurt, the strap broke, sending the backpack full of medical equipment falling.

Seeing the attack fail, the small figure didn’t linger; she immediately retreated, jumping from the V-shaped filter tank to the horizontal sedimentation tank beside it.

Menglinna quickly turned back and grabbed Yushi. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. I’m wearing soft armor underneath,” Yushi smiled, showing the armor under her clothes.

But the victor doesn’t smile. Pem pursued the fleeing figure. “This is no time for sentimentality. Chase!”

“You go ahead. I need to retrieve my backpack first,” Yushi pointed at the backpack fallen into the V-shaped filter tank. “All the medical equipment is inside. Without it, coming here is pointless.”

“Then good luck,” Menglinna glanced at Pem running ahead. “I’ll go help Inspector Pem.”

“Of course.”

Leaving Yushi behind, Menglinna imitated the others and jumped toward the horizontal sedimentation tank.

Unfortunately, she was a priest, not a warrior like Pem. Her physical condition was lacking. She didn’t even touch the edge of the tank and fell straight to the ground.

Dizzy from the fall, Menglinna had to give up the chase for now and started casting healing divine arts on herself.

As the only hope of the team, Pem directly pursued onto the sedimentation tank.

Unlike the previous filter tank, this sedimentation tank was nearly complete. Perhaps the construction crew couldn’t read the blueprints; the rectangular tank, which shouldn’t have a width-to-length ratio exceeding 1:4, was overly long, making the bottom like a long runway.

Standing on the walkway, Pem immediately spotted a white figure running at the bottom of the tank.

“Found you!”

Pem didn’t hesitate and jumped down.

But as soon as she landed, she heard a mocking laugh from above. “Fool, you fell for it!”

Pem looked closely—the running white figure was just an illusion. The real target was standing right on the walkway where she had been.

“Bye-bye!”

The figure, with a face identical to Pem’s, turned and left. Pem tried to climb back up to continue the chase, but then the entire tank began to tremble.

“What did you do?”

The other didn’t answer. Instead, the water-collecting channel beside the tank replied.

Something—sewage suddenly overflowed from the channel. Before Pem could react, a wave of filthy water struck her head, leaving her dazed.

Menglinna had just healed her leg when she heard their conversation and saw the figure jump down from the tank edge.

The snow-white hair and familiar face—judging by looks alone, she was indistinguishable from Pem. But the slightly dirty clothes on the other clearly marked her identity.

Menglinna shouted, “Hey, stop!”

The other naturally ignored her and only sped up.

Menglinna decided to pursue.

The figure seemed to deliberately match Menglinna’s speed and stamina—she didn’t run very fast, but whenever Menglinna got close, she would suddenly accelerate.

Thus, Menglinna followed her into the secondary pump house.

As soon as she rushed into the pump house, a short sword pressed against her waist.

“I surrender!”

Feeling the cold touch at her side, Menglinna chose to be wise.

“Long time no see, Little Meng,” the other walked in front of her, the short sword still in hand. “I didn’t expect that after a short while, you’d be helping others deal with me.”

“Peiji? Is it you?”

Hearing that familiar tone, Menglinna was momentarily confused.

“Of course it’s me,” Peiji slowly approached Menglinna, but didn’t lower her short sword.

“That can’t be. She also said she was Peiji. One of you must be fake.”

At this moment, Menglinna recalled Inspector Pem’s earlier warning.

“By appearance alone, it’s indeed hard to tell you apart.”

“She’s undoubtedly the fake,” Peiji sighed. “Or rather, she is indeed Inspector Pem, but she is not Peiji. She’s just my foolish sister.”

“Sister?”

Recalling how the inspector had addressed herself earlier, Menglinna leaned toward believing the Peiji before her.

“Like I told you before, I went back to take over the family business,” Peiji sighed. “But recently, my sister went too far with women and offended some powerful people. So she tried to use me as a scapegoat.”

“Really?” Menglinna’s eyes widened. “You mean no one impersonated her to seduce innocent girls? She did it herself?”

“Of course,” Peiji nodded. “And as I said, those weren’t innocent girls. They came with family missions.”

“…”

Menglinna lowered her head, then slowly raised it. “I really don’t want to be involved in this.”

“Alright,” Peiji didn’t continue. “What do you want to do now? For the sake of our past as teammates, I can let you off.”

Menglinna wanted to agree, but then thought of something and suddenly asked, “You said Pem is your sister?”

“Yes.”

“So she’s also a vampire?”

Peiji gave her a ‘what kind of nonsense are you talking about’ look, but still nodded. “What are you planning?”

Menglinna smiled. “Listen, I need a vampire heart right now. I don’t care which vampire!”

Peiji raised an eyebrow, then smiled. “I guess I have no choice with you.”

…

Climbing out of the sedimentation tank, Pem’s eyes were red.

“You imposter! I’ll tear you to pieces!”

Pem stood on the walkway and looked around. Doctor Yushi was still fishing for her backpack in the filter tank. As for Menglinna and Peiji, they had vanished.

But at that moment, a flash of light appeared from the distant pump house.

As an experienced inspector, Pem recognized it as the yellow light of the offensive divine art ‘Lightning Spear.’

The only person around who could cast that was likely Menglinna.

Pem felt she had found her target.

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