Penny trotted all the way in the direction of her home.

Along the way, the more she ran, the more frightened she became. The place where the turret and the "Silver Snitch" had passed before, whether it was the woods or the ram, had been razed to the ground, and the place in front of me was a mess.

And there are many "silver snitches" fluttering their wings in the air, "buzzing" and chirping, and the rainbow light in the compound eyes flickering.

However, when they spotted Penny's figure, they neither rushed up nor flew away, but just went about their own business, and the rainbow light in their compound eyes kept scanning through the houses on both sides of the street, and Penny could hear the screams coming from those houses.

"They ......"

Penny thought to herself that it might be something related to the "Standard Certification" mentioned by the "Silver Snitch", or the "Type 1 Outpost" as "Lucy" called it, but until now, she hadn't asked "Lucy" what "Standard Certification" was.

She doesn't have time for anything else right now, she just wants to get home as soon as possible – the things she wants to ask, just wait until she gets home, when she meets her parents.

With this in mind, Penny hurried past a "Silver Snitch" that flapped its wings and walked indifferently in the opposite direction of her.

By now, Penny doesn't care much about small machines like this floating in the air - what happened this morning has greatly exercised her nerves.

But just when she had just run a few steps away from the "Silver Snitch"—

"Bang bang bang!"

A series of horrific bullets that Penny had only heard on TV came from behind her.

“——！！”

Penny immediately stopped and turned her head.

The red-faced man across the street with a shotgun leaped into her eye sockets, and the man with the shotgun fired wildly at the "Silver Snitch", muttering words and shouting loudly:

"Die! You demons! ”

It was a face that Penny was very familiar with.

"Uncle Steve?!"

Penny's eyes widened.

This man she knew, was Steve, the town's guard.

On weekdays, he has a kind and gentle attitude, often goes to the only church in the town to pray, and his faith is pious, and everyone in the town knows him.

Although Steve is a bachelor, he likes to tease children, often buys candy for them to eat, and never loses his temper even when he is pranked by children, so children including Penny like him very much.

However, at this moment, with a red face and a shotgun shooting wildly, with words in his mouth, he looked excited and crazy, as if he had triggered a special mechanism in his body, and he was like two people in his body, this strange appearance discouraged Penny, and she could only look at him in a daze.

“fuck…… fuck-fuck you devils, hahahaha! ”

In the face of Steve's frantic roar, "Silver Snitch" responded short and unpretentious:

"'Uncertified Citizen' Steve Landau, your actions have crossed the line, please stop your actions as soon as possible, or we will force you to correct - ten, nine, ......"

The "Silver Snitcher" flew nimbly through the bullets, but just as its countdown was about to reach six, a bullet hit its wing, and the latter's voice was forcibly interrupted, and it landed on the ground with a "snap".

"Hahahahaha......"

Seeing that he had finally killed the so-called "devil", Steve laughed maniacally, but did not stop his own shooting.

As he slowly paced towards the downed "Silver Snitch", he emptied his magazine, and the flying bullets shattered the shell of the "Silver Snitch", and the thin and almost transparent metal liquid rolled out of it, making it look like the "Silver Snitch" had drained his own blood.

Confirming the death of the "devil", Steve licked his lips triumphantly, but did not put away his shotgun, and while changing the magazine, he walked towards Penny, who was standing in place because of the scene just now.

He looked at Penny's eyes red, revealing an almost crazy look, pointed a black hole at Penny, and slowly walked towards her:

"You...... You- I saw you, you just walked away from the devil. You're in the same league with it, aren't you? So you're the devil too...... That's right...... The devil deserves to be punished......"

He muttered to himself, the redness in his eyes getting thicker and thicker, and not only that, but in addition to the madness, there was also a taste that Petunia couldn't understand, but vaguely felt very disgusting. He looked Penny up and down, and said in an anxious tone:

"Oh...... Devil...... The Devil ......"

Penny looked at him blankly, staring at her own figure in his pupils, and muttered:

"Uncle Steve...... I'm Penny ......."

“…… Penny? ”

Steve's footsteps walked towards Penny without any stagnation, he shook his head, and said with an exaggerated smile:

"—I remember the name...... Penny...... You're a kid...... Just like the two children, Danley and Sakata—you are the black goats sent by the devil to tempt me...... Oh, I know all ......."

He smiled with a hint of dementia in his madness, but the words that came out of his mouth made Penny's body tense instantly.

Danley?

Sakata?

…… She remembered both names.

Danley is the granddaughter of an old grandmother in town, and the two depend on each other for their lives. But just last year, Danley went missing.

Although the townspeople made an urgent search, Danley was never seen. In the end, it can only be determined that he was taken away by a rogue criminal.

And not long after Danley's disappearance, her grandmother also passed away due to longing.

As for the Sakata...... It was the name of a child member of a circus that had come to tour the town earlier this year.

Although the child was a boy, he had clear eyebrows and played a dancer in the circus. However, on the night of the circus' performance in the town, Sakata also mysteriously disappeared.

However, because he had no relatives, the circus quietly asked the mayor for a large amount of compensation and quit.

- Petunia heard the above things from her parents, which is one of the reasons why they want to move out of this town.

However......

Hearing Steve's words, remembering something dark and dirty like the deepest part of the quagmire, Penny felt the urge to gag.

"Black Goat...... The black goat that lured me astray...... All are going to be punished......"

(End of chapter)