章節 45: Clues
Inside the Dominance Space, there was still only silence, broken occasionally by the sounds of the wooden puppets colliding, each producing a distinct tone.
"Are you awake?"
The voice of the young man reached her ears. The red-haired puppet trembled slightly, then slowly opened her eyes. However, when she met the golden gaze, even Himeko couldn't help but feel a sense of fear, although she hid it well.
"Although I don't know what you were planning that triggered the backlash of the Dominance threads, I hope it won't happen again." There was no excessive interrogation or anger, Ren was merely stating his position calmly.
Murata Himeko did not speak, instead, she was carefully sensing her new body. Her original body had been severely injured by the puppet backlash, essentially rendering it incapable of movement. After switching to the puppet body, although she felt somewhat stiff, it was also a sense of incredible lightness. She didn't have to worry about the backlash of the Stigmata or the erosion of the Gem of Haste.
Aside from the lack of a God-Killer Armour boost, she almost felt like she had returned to her peak form. The only issue was that the threads controlled her more strongly than before. Ren could even overwrite her will with a single thought.
Although the new body was great, Himeko also understood what this meant.
"Do you need me to fight?"
"Yes. Your two students and headmistress have arrived in the city. Ever since the Herrscher of the Void awakened, they have been branded as traitors by Schicksal. Now, Schicksal's S-rank Valkyrie, Rita, is after them…"
Himeko felt a sense of dread. She hadn't expected that the worst possible scenario would still occur after her death. Schicksal, being a top-tier organization, could easily capture a few young girls. However, since Ren was informing her of this, it definitely wasn't that simple.
"They will come across a tool called a 'Modified Body'. It's a trap set by World Serpent, and Rita is also after it, planning to capture your adorable students in one fell swoop. I don't care about their objectives, but I need that tool."
"I may need you to join the fight, either against Rita or your students. But I don't want a dead person appearing in front of them… do you understand my meaning?"
That soul-piercing pain still lingered. Of course Himeko understood Ren's meaning. He was a Herrscher in the shadows, and any thought of revealing his location was considered betrayal. She firmly suppressed her desire to help Theresa and the others, and no longer entertained the naive notion of defying Ren.
After he finished, the golden light in the Herrscher's eyes faded, and he turned back into the cold, but still somewhat human, Ren she knew. Noticing this, Murata Himeko breathed a sigh of relief, feeling that she had discovered some new information.
…
"Overseer, I have made contact with Gray Serpent as instructed, but he refused to provide any valuable information." In an unknown corner of the city, Rita, who had just finished killing, was alone, connected to Otto through her communicator.
"Then he is of no use."
"Yes, I have taken care of them, but before his death, he seemed to mention some strange words—being targeted by a snake…"
"…" After hearing this unexpected information, Otto pondered for a moment, before explaining, "It seems that this fellow was the agent World Serpent planted in ARC City."
"So, this information was a bait laid out by World Serpent? Then…"
"Don't worry. I'll personally deal with World Serpent. You continue with your plans—I believe you've prepared the trap, haven't you?"
"Of course, Overseer."
The communication ended, and Rita looked up at the neon lights flashing on the high-rise buildings, before disappearing from the spot with a flash.
On the other side, after finally obtaining the chip, Theresa and her group would naturally not give up so easily. Although they were constantly facing the risk of being discovered, in order to find their companions, they resolutely decided to head to Gray Serpent's territory.
However, unlike the hideout of an information broker they had imagined, Gray Serpent's base was not only heavily guarded but was also heavily patrolled by ARC City's security forces. Their movements were quickly delayed. Fortunately, they had a top-tier hacker, Bronya, with them. Using the authentication privileges of the biological chip and her hacking skills, she finally managed to reach the core area.
But blocking their way was a thick metal door, almost completely separating the space. Everywhere, there were dense circuits and complex electronic locks.
"This is unusual. As an information broker, Gray Serpent couldn't possibly afford so many mecha," Theresa, who was in charge of St. Freya's finances, keenly noticed the financial issues. "Also, this setup doesn't seem like a base. Rather, it feels like it's protecting something valuable."
"Either way, the biological authentication chip does work, we need to hurry up and break through this." Controlling Project Bunny and connecting to the base's control system, Bronya started to hack in with her authentication privileges. "I'll leave the guarding to you."
"Okay." Theresa nodded, but as she looked at the heavily guarded building, Raiden Mei frowned deeply, as if deep in thought.
For some reason, as soon as she arrived here, Mei felt a sense of unease, as if she was being targeted by something dangerous.
Come to think of it, Gray Serpent's death was far too suspicious. If they followed their normal protocol, they should have withdrawn immediately after the contact died. But the culprit, after taking all the authentication chips, deliberately left the last one behind—was that truly just a slip-up on their part?
"Headmistress, do you still have the camera that we found at the scene?" Mei asked. At Gray Serpent's death scene, in addition to Gray Serpent's subordinates and himself, they had also unexpectedly found a camera.
The camera had fallen into a pool of blood, and the spot where the body should have been was now empty. The camera itself was a civilian model, like that of some innocent bystander who had been caught up in the slaughter. Because it might contain some information, they had brought it along. However, the photos were mostly ordinary snapshots.
"Yes, did you remember something?" Theresa handed the camera to Mei, who quickly began flipping through the photos. Suddenly, a random selfie caught her attention.
"This is a photo from the murder scene. The shadow in the glass behind this man taking a selfie… is that a maid outfit and a scythe?"
「Excellent, the clues have been given to you, go and let our S-rank Valkyrie feel the power of the main characters. I will take over from here.」
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