If Sokovia's destruction was like a pebble tossed into a lake, stirring only minor ripples, then those words struck Black Cat like a towering tsunami.
He fell silent, frowning. He no longer had any interest in listening to the rest of the conversation.
The silence in the world chat channel lasted less than a minute, yet it caused an enormous uproar and intense discussion—but only Black Cat knew that the Black Cat the other person had mentioned was almost certainly him.
He opened the other person's profile, but aside from their name, the entire panel contained no information at all.
Ruksinth. He had absolutely no impression of that name. And while her words sounded intimate, they could also be interpreted as a provocation or threat...
Enemy or friend?
Why did she know about him?
He had not entered the Void for long. By all logic, he should not have many enemies—but he should not have any friends, either—
He had a suspicion, but he did not dare pursue it... nor did he dare ask. If he disturbed that Exalted One over such a trivial matter, it would be far too disrespectful. If his guess was right, that was one thing, but if it was not, it would be rather presumptuous.
He wanted to ask who the Exalted One occupying Earth was, but the other party was merely a mid-rank Sequence team captain. Naturally, they had no access to information of that level. In fact, forget about access—even if they did know, this captain would not dare speak of it!
Any spoken word could be known. He did not want to catch the attention of some terrifying existence.
After leaving the bar, Black Cat remained silent for a while before finally making up his mind.
"New York... it looks like I