Chapter 1: My Master Annie

“Ugh, this place is fun, but I’m hungry~!”

As night fell, Annie, wearing a red princess dress and a little red hood, sat alone on a swing in the park, swaying back and forth.

At just eight years old, she had been perfectly fine wandering the wilds of the Voodoo Lands earlier that morning, carefree and happy, occasionally bullying the local monsters when she was in a bad mood. Things like trolls, giant snakes, crocodiles, and that old dragon! Oh, wait—that old dragon had been burned to a crisp by her a long, long time ago. It didn’t exist anymore!

The entire Voodoo Lands were Annie’s backyard. It had become a habit for her to go out for a stroll every few days. Even though the Voodoo Lands were already very familiar to her, she could still find some fun little trinkets from time to time—perhaps a pretty gemstone, or maybe a cute little animal? Er, although sometimes those animals were a bit large and their appearance was a bit... cute? (Ferocious?) But to Annie, that was absolutely not a problem!

What? You say the Voodoo Lands are dangerous?

To Annie, who could capture a ferocious Shadow Bear at age two (My master, could you please stop picking at my scars?), burn a rampaging old dragon to death at age three, break through to the Hero tier at age five, and approach demigod status at age eight—a girl for whom playing with fire was easier than breathing—are the Voodoo Lands dangerous?

I’m afraid you must be joking, right?

Perhaps the mysterious warlock Gregory Hastur and his wife, the Shadow Witch Amoline, were more worried about little Annie accidentally burning some poor soul into charcoal again.

Therefore, for the wild creatures of the Voodoo Lands, there was one more rule to add to their daily routine of foraging and avoiding predators: Never appear within the line of sight of the Great Demon King Annie!

If you were unlucky enough to be spotted by Annie, then quickly lower your head, lie on the ground, and never, ever attract her attention! Always remember: Little Annie is the greatest danger and the most terrifying demon in the Voodoo Lands! There is no exception!

Of course, that was all earlier this morning.

Earlier, while wandering around the Voodoo Lands, Annie had curiously stepped through a portal that had suddenly appeared—something like a barrier of mist—and arrived here.

And this place was Central Park.

By now, it was dinnertime, and New York’s Central Park seemed a bit deserted. Although all the streetlights were on, the stingy politicians hadn’t installed many of them in the park.

According to the official line: "We cannot waste taxpayers' money!" So, it was no surprise that with the insufficient number of streetlights and the dense trees, the park appeared quite dim once night fell.

Now, Annie noticed that the number of visitors in the park was dwindling. Even those pretty ladies who liked to lie on the grass reading books and sunbathing in their tops had slowly left after the sun dipped low. And just a moment ago, the kind-hearted black auntie who sold burgers and drinks by the lawn had driven her food truck away!

Hmm... thinking of that thing called a burger, little Annie couldn't help but swallow her saliva. That thing was truly delicious; she was still savoring the memory!

It was just a pity that the black auntie wouldn't accept her gold coins or gemstones. That was truly annoying!

Gold coins and gemstones couldn't buy things? But those colorful pieces of paper could? What kind of logic was that?

Her teddy bear, Tibbers, had wanted to egg her on to just snatch it, but Annie was a good girl. How could she openly snatch other people's things? It would be so embarrassing if she were seen!

Besides, her mother, Amoline, had said that she shouldn't use magic to bully the weak, and definitely shouldn't snatch things from others! That black auntie was definitely a human, not some animal, so little Annie hadn't dared to snatch it at the time.

Annie still remembered that at noon, when she had run up to that strange auntie's cart and grabbed a handful of gold coins to buy a burger, she had really given the woman a fright!

The black auntie, whose name was Jenny, had stared at her for a long time but ultimately hadn't taken her gold coins.

However, in the end, she had kindly given little Annie a triple-decker burger for free. After all, a cute little girl always has some privileges, right?

Thinking about it, this was the first time Annie had used her face to get free food. It made her feel a bit embarrassed.

You see, back in the Voodoo Lands, she always relied on her strength—either openly or covertly, through various threats, or by conjuring fireballs to coerce others into giving her what she liked for free.

That’s right, it was a "gift"! Definitely not robbery! You all better not go around spreading rumors.

Little Annie looked at the mountain of gemstones and gold coins piled up in her spatial pocket and sighed helplessly.

Some of these gold coins and gemstones were picked up in the wilds of the Voodoo Lands—Annie could always find interesting little things in the wild—some were given by her mom and dad, and some she had just grabbed from the vaults of the Gray Order because they looked pretty. However, a large portion of them had been found in the nest of that hateful old dragon after she burned it.

"Who told it not to let Annie fly?! It’s a bad thing!"

That was Annie’s original quote from back then. After Gregory Hastur and his wife learned the reason, they could only express deep condolences to the ignorant old dragon and enthusiastically helped Annie confiscate its inheritance.

However, the mysterious warlock Gregory Hastur didn't misappropriate his daughter Annie's spoils. The Gray Order was quite wealthy. As the saying goes: No matter how poor you are, you can't be poor as a mage! Especially not the Gray Order, which was composed of a bunch of mages!

For this reason, Annie’s mother, the Shadow Witch Amoline, had specifically enchanted a dimensional space into the pocket of Annie’s dress so that Annie could store her toys, interesting little things, shiny rocks, or spoils of war.

"Tibbers, I’m hungry now! Are you hungry?"

(Tibbers did not answer its master with telepathy, because no one understood its master’s dark heart and power better than Tibbers! Having stayed under her thumb for a full six years, it would no longer be fooled by her acting cute or playing the victim. Back in the day, she had acted cute and played dumb to trick it into letting her eat it, but in the end... sigh, forget it, let’s not talk about those things! Back then, she was only two years old! And the wise and mighty future King of Shadow Bears had somehow fallen for her tricks!)

Annie swayed on the swing, pulling the toy Shadow Bear in front of her and fiddling with its two furry arms.

Although this place called a park was fun—much more fun than the Voodoo Lands—it had swings, a carousel, many children to play with, and delicious cotton candy, fried chicken, burgers... Alright, the moment she thought of burgers, Annie felt even hungrier!

"Why hasn't Mommy found us yet? Tibbers... I clearly activated the coordinates! I think Mommy must have forgotten! How annoying!"

Annie was starting to get a little homesick.

In the past, whenever Annie got lost in the Voodoo Lands, she would activate the necklace her mother gave her, and within ten breaths, her mother, Amoline, or her father, Gregory Hastur, would always arrive by her side.

It was said that this necklace was also enchanted with many interesting protective spells.

However, little Annie had never tested them, and she had never needed to use those protective spells; she was a very powerful mage herself!

The one she activated the most was a spatial spell that anchored her coordinates. Once activated, the Hasturs would always lock onto Annie’s coordinates immediately and teleport to her side.

Originally, this spell was to protect Annie just in case, but Annie used it often when she got lost. So, over time, Annie preferred to call this spell: The Great Summoning! Summoning Daddy or Mommy?

But unfortunately, today, Annie’s summoning spell had failed for the first time. She hadn't received any response.

(Tibbers actually knew why there was no response to Master Annie’s magic. It knew that this place was no longer the main material world of Valoran, but a different world entirely. However, Tibbers didn't give Master Annie any warning. Having finally come out and left the safe Voodoo Lands, Tibbers hoped this world would be as dangerous as possible! That way, it might get to come out and get some air more often!

You have to know, back in the Voodoo Lands, besides beating up that old dragon, it had been trapped in a toy bear for a full six years! Tibbers had once thought about ending its bear life, but after thinking about human lifespans and then thinking about its own bear life of at least several thousand years, it decided it was better to just endure it! Anyway, it was only a matter of decades or a century, just endure it, right?)

By now, the sky was gradually darkening.

As the saying goes: "In a big forest, there are all kinds of birds." The gold coins that Auntie Jenny hadn't dared to take at noon had already been spotted by a gang of good-for-nothing thugs. When there were many people around, they hadn't dared to act, but now...

"Hey~! Little girl, come here, look at this? A lollipop, do you want it?"

From the dense woods of the park, three scruffy-looking young black men suddenly emerged. They first looked around vigilantly, then simultaneously pulled their baseball caps lower. After confirming that the surveillance cameras couldn't see their faces in these conditions, they surrounded little Annie, who was still swaying alone on the swing.

One of them, a black guy named Bruce, held a large lollipop and extended it toward Annie. His accomplices, Andy and Mike, stared greedily at Annie’s pockets.

These three had once worked at a jewelry store to steal gold, but they were unfortunately discovered by the owner and reported to the police during the act. Thus, the three of them had the honor of spending a few years in prison. They had only recently been paroled and were currently unemployed.

At noon, with their experience working at the jewelry store, they had seen at a glance that the gold coins in Annie’s hand were the real deal! However, they hadn't dared to make a scene at the time, only exchanging glances and keeping it in mind.

Originally, they had wanted to find an opportunity to steal them, but there were too many people in the park at the time. Plus, they weren't professional pickpockets, and without the right skills, they weren't confident they could steal the gold coins from little Annie’s pocket without her noticing.

So, they had kept an eye on Annie and waited until now.

At this hour, this part of the park had become very deserted, and in the dim environment, the effectiveness of the surveillance cameras was reduced to a minimum!

This was the best opportunity for them to act!

"Look! This is a lollipop, want it? It’s very sweet! As long as you give us some of those gold coins, it’s yours right away."

Annie tilted her head to look at the lollipop, then at the black guy Bruce holding it. After thinking for a moment, she pulled a handful of gold coins and gemstones out of her pocket.

"Are you looking for these?" Annie blinked her innocent, large eyes and asked adorably.

(Sigh, these idiots! Tibbers, held in Annie’s hand, rolled its eyes. These three pieces of trash with a combat power of less than five dare to be insolent in front of Master Annie? This is simply seeking their own deaths! These three people’s combat power is too low; Tibbers felt it wouldn't even have a chance to be released, so it simply started to doze off.)

Gold coins! And... gemstones?!

Seeing this, the eyes of Bruce and the other two turned blood-red, and hot, rapid breaths puffed from their nostrils. They thought to themselves: We’re rich, we’re really rich this time! Whether it’s fine wine and women at the nightclub, or those lovely little bags of powder! With the gold and gemstones in front of them, the three of them could enjoy themselves for a long time!

Bruce reached out to grab them, but Annie nimbly pulled her hand back and stuffed the gold coins and gemstones back into her pocket. Then, she lightly jumped off the swing, grabbed the toy bear Tibbers by one arm, and skipped toward the park gate.

"I’m not eating candy from a creepy uncle~! Annie is going home, bye-bye!"

Seeing Annie about to walk away, the three of them grew anxious. Mike, who had always been hot-tempered, immediately pulled out his pocket knife and chased after her.

"Don't be stupid, guys, just snatch it!"

They weren't good citizens! Just a few days ago, shortly after they got out, they had stabbed a poor soul to death in an alley just to rob him of a few dozen dollars! Who knows if that poor guy’s body in the sewer had started to stink yet?

Watching the three people blocking her path again, Annie tilted her head and furrowed her cute brows. She hadn't expected these people to dare treat her like this. This really surprised her a bit.

"White-skinned brat, stop talking nonsense! Hurry up and take out all the gold coins in your pocket, or I’ll slash that cute little face of yours!" Mike gestured with his gleaming knife while reaching toward Annie’s left pocket.

"Don't slash her! Mike, don't you think this little girl looks soft and tender, and is very pretty? Why don't we kidnap her too? Maybe those perverted rich people with special hobbies would pay a high price?"

"Right, right! That’s a good idea! But let’s get the gold coins first, and those gemstones!" Andy, on the other side, also reached out a hand to grab Annie’s right arm, reaching toward her right pocket.

And Bruce, who had arrived in front of her, had already dropped the lollipop. He spread his palm and covered Annie’s face, wanting to forcibly seal her mouth so she wouldn't scream out of fear and cause unnecessary trouble.

"White-skinned brat? Hmph! Annie hates you, you must be bad guys!"

Annie nimbly hopped backward, dodging the three of them as they tried to lay hands on her. They actually dared to lay hands on her?

"Mommy said: If you run into bad guys, you can burn them!"

As she spoke, she extended her right hand, which wasn't holding Tibbers. She opened her palm, and her fair, delicate palm faced the three of them.

"Fire..."

————

Officer Rick Grimes was a small-town patrolman. He had just finished his day’s patrol, and his patrol area happened to be the Central Park zone.

Originally, he could have gone home ten minutes ago, but another jerk of an officer had mentioned on the radio before getting off work that there was a little girl playing alone in the park? And it seemed there were no parents accompanying her?

So, the police station’s dispatcher had said in a reply just now that they hoped Rick could confirm it before he clocked out.

In this city, taxpayers were a formidable species. To avoid being complained about for dereliction of duty, and for the sake of his meager bonus, Rick had to grit his teeth and delay his off-duty time just a little bit. He planned to head to the place his colleague mentioned to confirm the situation of that naughty little brat.

What a troublesome little girl. Maybe he’d have to find her mother later? Or take her home? This was really killing him!

Rick was very hungry now; he just wanted to get off work early, go home, take a comfortable hot shower, and then have a nice dinner.

However, thoughts were just thoughts; the orders from above had to be carried out, unless he didn't want to work in this line anymore. So, in the end, he could only complain helplessly to himself while walking slowly toward his destination.

Finally, after wandering for a while, Officer Rick turned a corner.

"Oh~! My God! This, this... how is this possible!"

"Hello? Gentlemen... I think... you wouldn't believe what I just saw!"

Rick pressed the talk button on the radio clipped to his shoulder, staring blankly at the scene in the distance, his face full of shock.

Actually, it was more than just shock. The scene that had just played out not far away simply overturned Rick’s worldview of several decades! He could never have imagined how such a thing could happen!