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Men often sought some comfort in the dark when facing criticism and ridicule from all sides, and as the lady Emilia had chosen to use as the 'bait' happened to be the prettiest of her target's 'lovers', she obviously didn't have to wait long.
Of course, ideally, Emilia would have preferred if her target had been more diligent and arrived the moment her shapeshift skill's cooldown was up, but him being a little late was better than being too early, so she wasn't complaining.
"Okay darling, I'll wait for you tonight, then~!"
The way she spoke and even giggled matched the woman she had knocked out, and the man on the other side of the phone never even suspected that he wasn't talking to his 'lover', but someone else entirely.
After placing the phone down, the smile on Emilia's face turned into a smirk. "Looks like I won't have to waste another dose of that sleeping drug on her, after all."
Since the woman was more or less 'innocent', and the success of her plan also depended on causing the least amount of disturbance and damage, Emilia felt no need to truly 'silence' the woman she was currently impersonating.
Anyway, when she woke up, her target's lover would have no clue what actually happened. And as long as she acted 'as usual'… it would only help Emilia cover up.
This wasn't the only man she needed to kill, after all. And the crimson-haired girl knew that she couldn't let the others figure out what was going on before she was done with all of them.
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The poor, unsuspecting prey walked right into the hunter's net, and before he realized it, he was already being strangled to death.
He couldn't even make a loud enough noise to attract his men waiting outside the door, not knowing that the real threat was already waiting for their employer inside the house.
As someone who had directly or indirectly caused the death of hundreds of thousands of people, for the first time in his life, the man tasted the despair of death.
"W-Why… wha—?!" The man's eyes bulged and almost looked as if they might pop out of his skull as he struggled desperately against the slender woman crushing his neck, but to his horror, he realized that not only could he not break free, but now he couldn't even get a single word out.
How come he never figured out she was so freakishly strong…? Was this still the same woman who moaned and cried coquettishly whenever he pounded her from behind?
No, he really couldn't believe it. It was like the delicate lover he was familiar with had been completely switched with some vicious ghost who wanted him dead, and the more he felt like he was destined to die under this woman's palm, the more unreconciled the man felt.
After so much success in his life… was he really going to die so disgracefully?
It would have been better to be shot dead at a parade or something instead! At least he would have been immortalized in people's memories.
Unfortunately, Emilia wasn't very interested in fulfilling the last wishes of the man who was part of the decision that made so many of her children miserable. If anything, she felt a little regretful that she hadn't given him a more painful death.
The crimson-haired girl sighed. "Oh well, I'll just have to be more careful next time."
It was a pity that she couldn't extract much information out of her target, but being so deep in the enemy territory, Emilia knew that she didn't have the luxury of being able to 'interrogate' anyone.
It was simply too risky, and she simply couldn't afford being exposed now, lest the rest of her targets burrow deeply underground and become almost impossible to find.
? "How wonderful would it be if my 'Predator's Mark' worked on anyone in the world without them having to be in my line of sight first?" Emilia sighed.
Had that been the case, she would have been able to track and kill anyone she wanted around the world, and get rid of all these annoying bugs one by one with ease. But Emilia knew that was just wishful thinking, at least for now.
Dragging the dead body to the bathroom, the crimson-haired girl quickly changed into the form she had used to once take out the tiles from Blue Lotus Villa's bathroom. She'd had to get rid of 'little Emi' to be able to store this form in advance, but it was definitely much more useful now than the little girl.
Her control over both her body and energy was on an entirely new level now, though, and moving her blade-like 'strands' of hair to her will was definitely much easier for Emilia than it had ever been before.
It made her a little nostalgic thinking about it again, and the crimson-haired beauty couldn't help but smile as she finished re-tiling the floor after burying the man she had killed.
"I miss going to school with Dixie and Koko every day. Being able to tease Crystal, and watching Penny annoy Dixie… hehe…" Emilia giggled. "It was so fun."
Unfortunately, they'd all grown up now, and Dixie had even learned to somewhat tolerate Penny… or at least it looked like it.
Even Koko had changed from her hyperactive self to a somewhat disciplined soldier.
Of course, she was only allowed to be a support under Penny's strict surveillance due to the risks of the war, but Emilia still felt it was a bit of a pity that they lost their childhood so quickly.
Emilia knew that part of it was her fault, since she had to do what she had to in order to complete her missions, but she could only take her anger out on these remaining enemies now, and hopefully take out some future threats for her children at the same time.
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Fooling everyone around her target after 'returning' was definitely a much more demanding task compared to fooling just one or two people.
Even after having done her due research on the man, Emilia felt a little nervous in her heart whenever she interacted with any of them under her new disguise.
Of course, the fact that she had to 'dress up' as a man with a big belly also made her a little uncomfortable, and it would be no exaggeration to say that Emilia wanted this to be over as soon as possible.
Luckily, even if her acting might not be perfect, no one really expected their boss — who looked exactly the same as before — to have suddenly become someone else. The thought was simply too unscientific and ridiculous in this world, and never even crossed their minds.
A man nervously walked into 'his' office at this time, and bowed his head in fear before speaking. "S-Sir… unfortunately, your request… i-it has been rejected."
Slamming the uncomfortably thick fist on the table, Emilia pretended to be furious as she waved him out, and then took the document he had left behind curiously.
'Ahh… as expected, the ex-president who declared a war that cost so much and had no returns wouldn't be allowed to have a vacation so easily…' She smiled. 'But that's even better!'
Having had access to everything that the man owned for a while, Emilia already knew what steps she needed to take next.
Scrolling through the contact list, she easily found the one she was looking for before making a call.
How wonderful it was that everything was locked with a fingerprint… such an easily replicable thing. She felt like even if she had been able to interrogate her target, it would have just been an unnecessary waste of energy.
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Two days later, an urgent report arrived at the president's office, who couldn't help but frown as he went through it.
"Sneaking out at such a sensitive time… does he really not care about our image at all?!"
Of course, given that the man had already been impeached and had almost no hope of ever getting into a position of power again, and would only continue losing his 'momentum' the longer he stayed still, the president could more or less understand his rival's thoughts.
It was better to take what he could with him and flee now, before it was all snatched away from him by force.
"Tell that stupid bank that holds all his embellished funds that it is our country's money, and if they decide to hand it over to him… don't blame us for being rude!" The president frowned. "And also… I want to know where he is now, and what he's up to. Quickly!"
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Updated from fr𝒆ewebnov𝒆l.(c)om