At the dining hours of Westlake Restaurant, Nemo, rare in his casual clothes, sat in a corner listening to the diners gossip. Someone recognized him as the quiet, veteran chef and the internet celebrity who recently saved the world’s richest man (the one who coined the famous line "I have to go to work"). He casually rolled up his sleeve to reveal his bandaged wrist, smiling to indicate that his usual hand had been severely sprained and was unable to work.

Tolya had just undergone surgery to remove bullet fragments, and with the anesthesia still wearing off, when Nemo went to visit him at the hospital, the Russian was still asleep.

Nemo had left a bag of apples by his bed along with a note: “You can't run away, rest up.” He also sent a text message letting him know that he would be working as a bodyguard for the former billionaire’s girlfriend and wouldn’t be home for the next few days.

There was more than one swamp factory in New Orleans. Later, several other mosquito-breeding sites were discovered, though none were as large-scale or horrifyingly complete in their experiments as the first one.

Some victims even had time for surgery and survived, at least in the breeding sites that were set up later, which hadn’t yet bred the second generation of giant mosquitoes.

A popular urban legend from a neighboring state about people being kidnapped and fed to maggots quickly spread to Lone Star City. Citizens became paranoid, and the former billionaire’s Taiwanese supermodel girlfriend seemed to have developed a panic disorder from the giant mosquitoes and Beelzebub files and needed to rest in seclusion.

As Nemo was a native of Taiwan and had previously escorted her, he was once again selected to be her companion. Naturally, a more professional armed bodyguard was designated to manage the perimeter defense.

At least Sunny Jie and boss Liu were satisfied with this explanation. Nemo didn’t have to face any real danger, and he received a commission equal to three months’ salary. The bandages on his wrists were merely a public excuse for his temporary leave from Westlake Restaurant. He certainly couldn’t openly disclose his whereabouts when working as a supermodel’s bodyguard. In fact, thanks to the advanced medical technology at Grimm Group’s headquarters, his wrist injury was already almost fully healed.

Since Angie had a lot of luggage to pack for her private base, Nemo decided to kill time at the restaurant, gathering information and conversation material. At least, it wouldn’t be hard to find something to talk about with Angie in the coming days. After all, the private base didn’t offer internet access, so aside from the high-tech security phone provided by the billionaire, they could only communicate via radio.

When Nemo entered the restaurant, Beelzebub's Files, which had been rocking for three days straight, had just been pushed down to second place by an even bigger headline from China.

The Chinese regulars at Westlake Restaurant, united by a shared interest, were packed inside. Some were watching TV, others were on laptops or phones, while a few engaged in animated conversations about the latest shocking news from their homeland. Fresh stories had just slipped through VPNs, and everyone was going all out, swapping info from different places, way more hyped than they ever got for the World Cup.

It had only been two months since the East Coast Kaiju incident, which had severely damaged New York City and partially destroyed Manhattan. But it felt like it had happened a long time ago, at least for the citizens of Lone Star City, whose minds were preoccupied with mosquitoes and maggots. They had to revisit disaster footage and outdated news to even remember the initial shock of the attack.

At first, the conversation at Westlake Restaurant had been focused on the explosive news that the Taiwan Strait was about to be blocked by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

In the peace agreement, the CCP had promised that the Taiwan Strait would remain unnamed and maintain its status as an international waterway, with all countries enjoying the right to free navigation. This was the key factor in ending the Taiwan Strait War and allowing the peace agreement to be signed successfully.

In other words, the rumors that the CCP intended to block the Taiwan Strait and make it internal waters—imposing fees and inspections on passing ships—would likely render the peace agreement void and reignite disputes over Taiwan’s sovereignty.

"Is the peace agreement really going to become a historical document after just six months?" someone sighed.

"Do they dare to actually block it? Japan and Korea will be furious! Besides, does China even have enough warships and coast guard vessels, plus fishing boats? They’re probably just trying to pressure the international community to lift sanctions!" another person speculated.

"I heard something big happened inside. They’re planning to use Taiwan’s labor retirement funds to plug the hole, with the first wave targeting retired military and civil servants. After all, they don’t have strike issues, and what can they do if they protest? They don’t even need their votes anymore. Luckily, I noticed things were starting to feel off before the war and told my mom to cash out her whole pension in one go."

"Wait a minute, the big thing you’re talking about just broke on the internet. It seems like a Chinese version of the East Coast Kaiju, the same day New York was attacked. Another kaiju invaded the Bohai Sea, and it was as big as a 200,000-ton cargo ship!"

"How big is that?"

"About two aircraft carriers!"

" Wait, did I just hear that correctly? Beijing and Tianjin are literally right next to where the kaiju landed?!"

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"That day, there was a military exercise in the Bohai Sea, and then it suddenly stopped. My friend told me," the curly-haired chef added coolly.

A middle-aged man who frequented military forums nodded. "What Nemo said is true. It was a joint China-Russia naval exercise! There were twelve warships in total, with Russia sending two."

"Then it must’ve been two countries’ navies working together to kill the kaiju before it could land, right?" a Chinese person said optimistically.

"Are you kidding?! Look at the East Coast Kaiju—why didn’t the U.S. military just send in a bunch of unmanned bombers and missiles to take it out quicker? They could’ve even dropped underwater mines from the air! The military had already said that the kaiju had some kind of stealth underwater radar-jamming ability. By the time it surfaced, it was too late. Otherwise, how do you think a kaiju bigger than a submarine wasn’t caught by the U.S. military near the East Coast?" someone retorted.

"There’s only one TV here. Aren’t you guys crowded watching this?" Nemo asked curiously.

"You young people don’t get it. Talking about military affairs is best paired with the free iced tea here!" someone joked.

More new customers arrived and ordered their meals, while those who had already eaten ordered fries as snacks. Recently, everyone had gotten used to the idea that eating together made them feel safer.

People crowded around their phones and laptops, sharing videos and discussions, watching exciting highlights and commentary, and occasionally erupting in exclamations and curses.

"Did you see? The two countries' warships actually launched missiles and torpedoes at the kaiju, trying to force it out of Bohai Sea, but they even drove it toward North Korea—so dirty!"

"Tianjin, Dalian, and Pyongyang seem to form a straight line on the map, and Pyongyang is pretty close to the coast!" someone remarked, noticing something interesting on the map.

The video displayed a dotted line and large arrows showing the kaiju 's position, now only 200 kilometers from Pyongyang. At the same time, close-up shots of the kaiju in the sea appeared. The Chinese and Russian warships were trailing it from a distance, while North Korea had dispatched fighter jets to intercept and warned China and Russia to stop.

Three J-20 fighter jets continued circling the kaiju, attacking its head and launching firebombs. The kaiju, angered by the attack to its eyes, suddenly extended another head from the water and bit one of the J-20s, violently shaking it. The two other accompanying jets were unable to avoid in time and were also shot down.

At this point, more missiles hit the kaiju. The Bohai Sea Kaiju, unlike the East Coast Kaiju in America, was less resistant to damage but had a more agile attack pattern. At that moment, it only had two heads above the water, connected by long necks, but it was unclear how many more heads might be hidden beneath the surface or even within its body.

The missiles seemed to be working, though the effect was more like hammering a stick with iron nails into someone's back—still a long way from being fatal. The multi-headed kaiju seemed to fear pain, emitting high-pitched wails of agony.

Inside the Chinese warship's cockpit, there were loud cheers, thinking that the kaiju 's cries were its death throes and victory was within reach. This confidential footage was recorded and included in the video, almost like a movie storyboard—unbelievable. However, military forum users had identified the ship’s captain and political commissar as real officers from the Chinese Navy, not actors in a simulated scene.

But after the Bohai Sea Kaiju 's cries subsided, it accelerated toward Pyongyang, seemingly in a frantic panic, moving erratically and without direction. The people in the restaurant fell silent, feeling awkward for the celebratory scenes on the screen.

"Wait a minute, where are the Russian planes? Why don’t we see them?" someone asked.

"Don’t ask, it’s terrifying," came the response.

Suddenly, all of North Korea's fighter jets turned around and returned to base. The viewers had an ominous feeling at this point. About five minutes later, South Korea’s THAAD system detected two cruise missiles launched by North Korea toward the kaiju, suspected to be carrying nuclear warheads.

The U.S. reconnaissance aircraft immediately issued a public call for all planes and ships to evacuate the area at full speed, while also sending warplanes from Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force to escort them out of the danger zone. Only drones were left to continue monitoring.

Two nuclear warheads exploded in succession. One hit the Bohai Sea Kaiju, and the other landed in nearby waters. The nuclear explosions created electromagnetic pulses that damaged the electronic systems aboard the Chinese and Russian fleets, disabling their navigation systems and causing them to capsize and scatter due to a small tsunami.

Fortunately, before the exercise in the Bohai Sea, China had announced the clearance of the waters, prohibiting all fishing vessels from going out, so there were no civilian activities on the water, and casualties along the coast were not confirmed.

"Luckily, North Korea’s nuclear warheads are all below ten kilotons, and even if they've secretly exceeded that recently, it’s still just a slightly stronger version of Hiroshima’s destructive power. Ten years ago, the key chips and aerospace technologies were heavily sanctioned, which slowed down North Korea’s nuclear miniaturization. It’s been two months since then, and the countries probably did everything they could to avoid being dragged into a world war," someone commented.

"North Korea, in order to prevent retaliation from China and Russia, should threaten to nuke Taiwan and Japan, forcing the Western powers to intervene and mediate, right? Although China and Russia are unlikely to retaliate, their strategic allies are already too few, and the rabid dog has proven that it can actually bite."

Just when everyone thought that the world event, delayed for two months, was about to wrap up with gossip, the screen went black, and a time-lapse number appeared, showing it was now 10:00 PM. A massive creature quietly crawled up onto the coast of Liaodong Bay. Soon after, explosions illuminated the kaiju’s mutilated and grotesque body, which looked like a tangled ball of yarn.

The camera, surprisingly steady, zoomed in on the creature and even switched to night vision mode, clearly recording it being bombarded by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

Along the way, it left a trail of glowing green fluid and flesh fragments. Its crawling, nightmarish posture resembled something out of the Cthulhu mythos, brought to life in the real world.

The viewers saw the highlights and time-lapse footage, while the narrator mentioned that the land battle lasted a full week before the Bohai Sea Kaiju finally stopped moving. Its body was then transported inland and abandoned, causing widespread contamination of water sources and soil. The local government’s response was very slow, only relocating the residents of the contaminated areas and putting up quarantine lines.

"Theoretically, millions of people must have witnessed the kaiju and fled in panic? Shenyang and the surrounding areas have a population of tens of millions. How could they hide that?" someone asked.

"Are you stupid? Haven’t the people who live near the reservoirs been flooded before? When has the Chinese government ever informed civilians to evacuate in advance? According to online responses, local residents revealed that the area was cleared and large-scale power and internet outages were caused beforehand to prevent people from seeing 'inconvenient' footage. Any leaked footage was blamed on foreign forces using AI to generate fake images or movie clips."

"There are some shots, especially after the kaiju landed, that feel like they were filmed by someone with superpowers. It’s too detailed and agile. Our aerial footage of the East Coast Kaiju wasn’t this refined, and ordinary people just don’t have the conditions to get that close to record it."

"Why is this video leaking now? Is it possible that there’s going to be a political shift in Zhongnanhai?"

"Some people analyzed that the kaiju’s dying cries sounded very much like 'MA...MA...'," another person added.

"Stop overthinking it. It’s probably just a recording issue."

"Don’t be like that. The kaiju doesn’t understand human language, and it definitely doesn’t speak!" The conversation shifted into an uneasy atmosphere, and several diners fell silent.

" It was nearly destroyed by a nuclear bomb in North Korean waters, so why would it secretly return to land at Huludao and head toward Shenyang? Could there be something there attracting it—or perhaps other kaiju? Luckily, it didn’t enter the provincial capital. Also, it seems like we haven’t seen any superhumans yet?"

"No one is concerned about the fact that nuclear bombs still can’t kill the kaiju?"

This statement seemed to be an attempt to change the subject quickly.

"This thing might regenerate at super speed," someone else speculated.

Nemo listened to all of this, his eyes hidden under his bangs, dark and unreadable.

As the conversation continued, the curly-haired youth received a phone call and stood up to leave. Several familiar customers called out to him, advising him to rest and take care of his injury. Nemo flashed a gentle smile, expressing his gratitude, and made a gun gesture with his hand, signaling everyone to stay safe. This had become the most popular way of wishing someone well in Lone Star City.