Chapter 84

"I said..." MEI pushed up her glasses, casually dumped all the leftover side dishes into a trash bag, and then handed it to Ai-chan, asking, "Why did this Raiden Ryoma run up to the Hyperion?"

"This... um..." Ai-chan thought for a moment and said, "Maybe... it's for refuge?"

"Isn't there something called 'political asylum' internationally?"

"I have a feeling that the Raiden Ryoma came here to seek refuge, right?"

"Refuge?" MEI asked, somewhat puzzled. "I remember Raiden Ryoma was the president of that... what kind of company? Why would someone of his status need to seek refuge?"

But as soon as I put it that way, MEI suddenly thought of something.

If it's about political asylum, then someone at the level of Raiden Ryoma probably really needs it, right?

It's only big businessmen like him who are subject to political persecution.

Ordinary people.

Who is persecuting you?

Aren't they all about bronze peanuts and joint burial tombs? You're not even qualified to hang streetlights.

"Why?" MEI asked hurriedly, "Does this guy mean he's going to stay on the Hyperion forever?"

That would be terrible!

One Siegfried is bad enough, but adding another Raiden Ryoma would be too much!

Is she destined to never have a peaceful day again?

"I don't know about that." Ai-chan shook her head and said, "It seems like Anti-Entropy isn't very united internally, and there are quite a few people in his position who want to get rid of him."

"I just want to know one thing." MEI didn't want to deal with that; she wanted to know something else.

"Is this guy not going to stay here permanently?"

"Of course not." Ai-chan shook her head and said, "He's from Anti-Entropy. It's already difficult enough for him to be on the Hyperion. He wants to be stationed there permanently."

"Even if someone applies for asylum, they won't be assigned here!"

"Oh..." Mei finally relaxed and said, "That's good..."

"Well... what about me..."

Mei casually grabbed the two bottles of wine, intending to hand them over to Ai-chan so she could sell them.

But when he reached out to grab it, he found nothing.

'Huh?!' MEI looked at her desktop with a puzzled expression.

'Where's my wine? Two bottles this big!'

'Right here!'

'What happened?'

Chapter 112 Cheers, Brother!

"What is this thing? Was it obtained through bribery?"

The World Serpent has started another meeting.

The Gray Serpent seemed a little tired.

I'm mentally exhausted.

Holding meetings is no easy task, especially when discussions drag on for ages without any results. Repeatedly explaining issues that are already known is an incredibly tedious and frustrating experience.

"This packaging looks like something from Area 11 bar?"

The Gray Serpent put down what it was holding.

Some items from Area 11 have very distinctive packaging—simple, miniature, and exquisite. The things placed before Gray Serpent now seem to be a testament to the national character of Area 11.

"Sake," Gray Serpent said coldly. "You should know I don't need that."

"Aren't you going to tell me something today...?"

If anything comes out, you're in luck today! You can be put on the tiger bench if you want, or drink chili water if you want!

Gray Serpent didn't intend to say everything. After all, they were colleagues, working towards the same goal. Saying everything at once felt like it would ruin things, and that wouldn't be good for anyone.

"This is Kuchikamizake)," Raven said, crossing his legs and playing with his butterfly knife. "It comes from our target this time."

"Raiden Ryoma?" Gray Serpent's voice grew even more sinister. "Where did you get it?"

"It's that doctor." Jackal shook his head.

She could clearly sense that Gray Serpent was getting anxious. No! This guy wasn't just a little anxious, he was starting to get agitated and was beginning to lose his basic judgment.

The Jackal wouldn't be angry about this.

Now, the Gray Serpent has placed its hopes of rescuing the Lord on that woman. The recent series of meetings and actions are all aimed at verifying whether that woman has the qualifications and ability to rescue the Lord.

This may be the closest we've ever come to success.

This was probably the most frustrating and heart-wrenching one yet.

Everyone knows the saying "the higher you climb, the harder you fall," and to be told despair just when you're closest to hope is something no one can bear.

"I don't care about Kuchikamizake or Kuchikamizake!" Gray Serpent grabbed the bottle, wanting to smash it into Raven's face.

But his final rationality prevented him from completely smashing it.

"What I want is a person!" Gray Serpent said coldly, "What I want is the person who can bring the Lord back!"

"After all this time, all you brought back for me was a Kuchikamizake)?"

"Raven! You've disappointed me greatly!"

"No! Let me explain," Raven said anxiously. "These two Kuchikamizake) might be very important. If it's really like that, we can make a direct judgment!"

"Is that so?" Gray Serpent put down the wine bottle and said, "I'm listening, you speak!"

"Have you seen it?" Jackal explained for Gray Serpent, "The animated film from Area 11 called 'Who Are You?'"

"I don't have the time or the leisure," Gray Serpent said, arms crossed. "Get to the point!"

"The important thing is, watch the movie first." Raven pushed his tablet in front of Gray Serpent and said, "You should understand after watching it."

Gray Serpent was a little confused by the back-and-forth conversation between the two people.

What are these two up to?

See a movie?

He couldn't figure out what the mystery was in the movie, but seeing how confident the two men were, he decided to go see the film first and then listen to their explanation.

Gray Serpent in the movie...

Gray Serpent has finished watching the movie.

The movie was good, but he wasn't interested in the specific plot.

I only focused on one detail, which is also a key detail that drives the film towards its final climax: the male protagonist drinks the female protagonist's Kuchikamizake, which creates a connection between them.

This seems quite interesting.

"You mean that Kuchikamizake has this function?" Gray Serpent said, somewhat unconvinced, "If that's the case."

"This kind of wine has been selling like hotcakes for ages, hasn't it?"

"Regular Kuchikamizake doesn't have this function." Jackal pulled out a small bottle containing a light blue, seemingly luminescent liquid and said, "If we add something to this, it will have this function."

"What's that?" Gray Serpent asked, observing the small bottle the Jackal had taken out.

"It's something I got from Otto," the Jackal said. "Otto's research on souls is deeper than ours; this is the special potion he used to trace back to his past lives."

"It is also one of the core components of the device that unlocks his past life memories."

"I've made a few adjustments," Jackal said confidently. "We can use some media to see those things."

"Past lives?" Gray Serpent asked doubtfully, "Can you see our past lives?"

"What's the use of this!"

"It's not ours," the Jackal shook his head and said, "It's hers, it's the Doctor's memory!"

"If she really is Doctor Mei," Jackal explained, "Otto has done us a huge favor, saving us the trouble of searching for and unlocking the doctor's past life memories."

"That Li Pu has already regained his memories of his life as Doctor Mei, and he can now transform into Doctor Mei."

"So we can use this medium to directly peer into this part of the memory."

"I see..." Gray Serpent thought for a moment and felt that it made a lot of sense. In other words, if a little something was added and the drink was consumed, it would allow him to see the Doctor's memories.

If it really is her, then we can see scenes of her working with the Lord.

If it weren't for her, we should be able to see a scene where she interacts with Raiden Ryoma.

In short, all that work could actually be solved with just a bottle of wine.

"I have one last question," Gray Serpent said. "I've never quite understood it. Cecilia and Mei's mother died not long apart. If reincarnation is the thing, how could he be both Cecilia's reincarnation and Mei's mother's reincarnation at the same time?"

"And that guy is a man, right? According to the information, he's a real man, isn't he?"

"That's the most unpredictable thing about the soul," Jackal said, spreading his hands. "The soul can be reincarnated intact, or it can be broken and intertwined with other souls to be reincarnated together."

"It may even enter other bodies and merge into one under some extremely special circumstances."

"Take Theresa, created by Otto, as an example."

Jackal explained, "Theresa has her own independent soul, so Theresa cannot be Kallen. No matter how hard Otto tries, he cannot resurrect Kallen based on Theresa."

"Otto stopped pursuing this goal after he finally discovered this."

"But!"

"Although Theresa is not Kallen's reincarnation," the Jackal said with a half-smile, his words full of amusement, "But! Ah! Theresa possesses a tiny bit of Kallen's soul. You can consider it a fragment of her soul."

"Incompleteness is rare and doesn't bring many advantages."

"This slight advantage is the Oath of Judah."

"This is Kallen's weapon," the Jackal said. "It was a weapon that Otto specially made for Kallen. Although Theresa is not Kallen, the little bit of Kallen's soul fragment that she possesses makes Theresa qualified to use the Oath of Judah, and she can use it very well."

"And, well, Theresa doesn't just have fragments of Kallen's soul."

"She may also have something that originally belonged to a Simulated Herrscher."

"Oh? Simulated Herrscher?" Gray Serpent's voice changed, becoming somewhat playful. "You mean that Yae Sakura? Are you sure? It hasn't shown any signs of that at all!"

"It's only been suppressed temporarily," the Jackal explained. "As long as there's an opportunity."

"It can then be fully displayed."

"Oh..." Gray Serpent thought about it carefully and seemed to have figured something out.

"Yes, that's exactly what you think." Jackal's eyes had become clear when he saw Gray Serpent. "Under certain special circumstances, Li Pu may have absorbed a portion of Mei's mother's soul fragments."

"Furthermore, we investigated Li Pu's records, and they were completely blank three years ago!"

"All the information only came out in the last three years."

"There's no past data!"

"You mean...?" Gray Serpent found it even more amusing.

"He might have been deliberately created," Jackal said. "He might have been created by some organization we don't know or are unfamiliar with, but who may be very powerful and have a deep understanding of the soul."

"We cannot confirm the specifics, so the leader thinks this might be a bug."

"It's impossible for her to be both Cecilia's reincarnation and Mei's mother at the same time—that's a bug."

"It is actually true."

"So you mean," the Gray Serpent said, "That he was deliberately created, and that his so-called past life was a mixture of several different souls stuffed into this body?"

"This guy's a Chilamay?!"

"A Chimera in spirit, maybe even a chimera," the Jackal said. "I can't give a definite answer to that."

"It could happen under very special circumstances, or it could be deliberately created."

"None of us can give a correct answer until his own organization comes into play."