Deviant: No Longer Human

"Done!" Freya announced, hitting the enter key with a beaming smile.

Beep!

The sudden, sharp sound abruptly echoed, catching Wang Xiao off-guard.

His phone, a silent companion till now, buzzed with an urgency that was both unexpected and alarming.

Curiosity piqued, he snatched it up, his eyes narrowing as they darted across the screen.

A message blinked back at him, a digital cry for help that included their precise location, a candid snapshot, and a frantic plea: [Help me someone! Some child molestor disguising as a magician has trapped me!]

"You?" Disbelief tinged his voice as he swiveled towards Freya, whose smile was a concoction of triumph and mischief.

"Broadcasted to the entire nation, no less. My saviors should be en route as we speak," she declared, her grin stretching wider.

The room hummed with the soft flicker of screens, as if mimicking her satisfaction.

_____

Meanwhile, nestled in the shadowy depths of the Atlantic, Sakura found herself roused from a serene slumber by a barrage of insistent alerts.

Blinking away the remnants of sleep, she was greeted by the image of Wang Xiao, a figure loomed ominously behind a bound girl, accompanied by the same message that had invaded the tranquility of Norhaven\'s inhabitants.

"How peculiar... Who is this adept soul?" Sakura mused aloud, a hint of admiration lacing her words as she stifled a yawn and lazily began to navigate through her own labyrinth of commands and scripts.

Her mission was crystal clear—protect the anonymity at all costs.

With the efficiency of a shadow erasing its own silhouette, she obliterated every trace of the message, leaving no stone unturned.

As the digital footprints vanished into the ether, Sakura surrendered once more to the embrace of sleep, the ocean\'s depths reclaiming its tranquil dominion.

_______

"Huh?"

Freya, previously exuding a smug smile, was suddenly taken aback as the laptop screen behind her froze.

"What? Did it crash?" She turned around, puzzled, and Wang Xiao couldn\'t help but share in her bewilderment.

Pop!

Out of nowhere, a \'Gekko\' figure appeared on her screen, giving her a mini heart attack.

Boom!

Freya slammed her fist onto the keyboard. "This bitch!"

While she seethed in frustration, Wang Xiao\'s eyes blinked, reassessing the threat level of this girl. "You really didn\'t take my warning seriously, did you?" he said.

"What do you mean...?" Freya, still preoccupied with the \'Gekko\', didn\'t give much thought to his words until a few moments later—

"Ah!?"

"What are you doing, you beast!"

"Put me down!"

With a swift motion, Wang Xiao lifted Freya upside down and stripped away her clothes, shocking even Freya herself.

!!

As Freya dangled helplessly, her mind raced with confusion and panic. "What the hell are you doing?!" she demanded, her voice tinged with a mixture of fear and anger, as she hugged her body with her hands.

Wang Xiao\'s expression remained impassive as he gazed at her. "I warned you, now if you still have time to scream, might as well put that energy to use in proper places," he replied, his tone grave.

As for the message being recalled, well as long as his name in under the list of ghosts, the last thing he should be worried about was his identity getting exposed.

As Wang Xiao continued to hold her suspended in the air, Freya\'s anger grew. "Let me go, you creep!" she shouted, her face flushing with humiliation.

"This time, you have fifteen minutes, but one more slip-up and you\'ll find yourself flying out that window," Wang Xiao declared, a calm smile playing on his lips, instantly soothing the wiggling Freya.

With deliberate care, Wang Xiao slowly lowered her back into the chair, and this time, the loli complied without a single grumble.

Ten minutes later.

"Finished," Freya declared, presenting the unlocked devices to Wang Xiao with a mix of pride and relief.

Taking them, Wang Xiao dove into the sea of information, his fingers swiping with a fervor. Yet, the deeper he delved, the thicker the fog of confusion grew around him.

"Why does it all lead back to Gabriel?" he pondered, his brow furrowing in perplexity.

The phones he had intercepted were a direct line to Gabriel, a revelation that twisted the narrative in unexpected ways.

Gabriel, it seemed, was the puppeteer who had fooled the monks.

More shockingly, he was intertwined with Anran\'s life in ways Wang Xiao hadn\'t anticipated, aware not only of her pregnancy but also of his paternity.

But the puzzle remained - if Gabriel had previously pursued Anran, why shift his focus to him now?

________

As Wang Xiao was maneuvering his situation with Freya to his benefit, her mother, Ericka, found herself locked in a heated exchange with Seraphine.

The scene played out in the hidden depths of Ericka\'s personal laboratory, a space secluded beneath the palace\'s grandeur, where the quest for knowledge was sanctified amidst beakers and burners.

Seraphine paced the lab, her frustration echoing through the quick tap of her heels against the cool, tiled floor.

In contrast, Ericka, a striking figure in her pristine lab coat, moved through the lab with an air of serene focus. Her rich auburn hair, a vibrant cascade of curls, tumbled past her shoulders, defying the sterility of the lab with its fiery hue. Red-rimmed glasses perched on her nose, framing eyes that were a clear, penetrating blue—a stark contrast to the warmth of her tresses.

"Ericka! Are you even listening to me?" Seraphine\'s voice, strained and cracking with emotion, struck against the hum of equipment and the clinking of glass.

"Yes, go on," Ericka replied, her gaze fixed intently on the swirling contents of the test tube she expertly manipulated, her tone even but distant.

"..."

Met with Ericka\'s brief acknowledgment, Seraphine fell momentarily silent, her grievances hanging in the air between them.

Ericka\'s mouth tipped into a sly smile, her demeanor composed. "I understand what you\'re seeking, Sera, but that girl has long since slipped from my sphere of influence. If there\'s someone you need to confront, it\'s Freya herself, not me."

Seraphine exhaled a weary sigh, the weight of her concerns pressing down. "How do I even begin to explain this to her?"

"There\'s no need for grand narratives. Magnus and I have already laid bare the truth to her, as well as to her sister, who\'s currently abroad in country M for her university studies. These girls have grown; they\'re more than capable of navigating their own storms," Ericka responded, her voice a mix of dismissal and assurance.