5. Xia Ling: "Is Theresa Trying to Beat Rita for the Most Epic Crashes?"

Flame Willow's voice was full of disdain.

"Let me put it this way, I'll give you an example, and you'll get the gist of it."

"There's a little girl on her side who's half-human and half- Honkai Beast grafted together, and she calls me 'big sister' through the incubation chamber."

"If this part of the story in Changkong City wasn't so important, I would have wanted to tear down Kamisato Pharmaceuticals on the spot."

"I see... That's good, then I can kill her without any guilt when I set up the trap."

Xia Ling revealed a dangerous smile.

"You were right not to intervene. If you had, things would have become very complicated later."

"So, leave this to me. If I find a way to get rid of her, Kevin shouldn't say anything."

"Are you sure everything's okay on your end? When do you plan to make your move?"

"When Theresa goes to Abyssal City, I will scout ahead first, and then make my move when the plot officially begins."

"I reckon we'll need you and me to work together a bit more then."

"Don't worry, she won't live much longer."

After a period of time.

Good evening, little girl.

Gray Serpent, still holding his ever-present black umbrella, stood opposite Rita.

"She took down so many of the mechs and bodyguards I hired the moment we met... This girl has such a strong killing intent."

"Sorry, it's just about having good negotiation habits. After all, it's always better to keep things clean at the negotiating table."

Rita wore her usual polite smile, but her words carried a strong sense of threat.

"However, to compensate you for your losses, I can offer you a deal."

"Looks like I have no choice but to accept it?"

You have no reason to refuse.

Rita smiled and continued:

"Two months ago, you witnessed the presence of the Herrscher of the Void."

"You should understand the value of this intelligence, otherwise you wouldn't have released it, right?"

"Give me the intelligence, and you will receive a substantial reward, a powerful ally, and..."

"Leave here safely."

"Hehe, of course I have reasons to refuse."

Gray Serpent chuckled, "Schicksal... is indeed a powerful ally, but handing over intelligence like this goes against the spirit of my contract."

"It seems you don't understand the preciousness of life?"

Rita tilted her head.

"The same words apply to you, little girl."

"You dare to attack me without knowing how much intelligence I have."

"Then I can only wish you good luck, after all..."

"Who told you I only have information about Kiana?"

As he spoke, the Gray Serpent's head tilted to the side, and its body had completely lost its vital signs.

"...?"

Almost instantly, Rita remembered the information Otto had given her.

The Gray Serpent means... Xia Ling?

No, it's not entirely certain yet, but we must be more cautious with our next actions...

Rita didn't realize that even after the Gray Serpent "died," his eyes continued to faithfully perform their mission of recording and transmitting data.

Gray Serpent also noticed Rita's struggles and worries.

"I didn't expect... it would be so easy to elicit the reaction I wanted."

"It seems that Schicksal knew all along that Xia Ling was truly not dead..."

Having obtained the answer he wanted, and before Rita could notice, Gray Serpent silently disconnected the connection to his prosthetic eye.

Chapter 5 Xia Ling: Is Theresa trying to outdo Rita in who can make more mistakes?

"Headmistress, Mei, we've arrived. This is the place where Gray Serpent proposed the deal."

"But..."

Mei's voice betrayed a hint of confusion.

"It looks like... someone has already gotten there first."

"That's right, with so much mech wreckage, Gray Serpent couldn't be dead..., could it...?"

Theresa bent down and picked up a fragment of the mecha. "Is the underground trading environment in Changkong City really this bad?"

"Logically speaking, a metropolis under official control shouldn't be in such a chaotic state."

"With so many standard-issue mechs, yet still killed, the identity of the murderer is pretty obvious."

Bronya had by then found the remains of the Gray Serpent.

"Is it... Schicksal again?"

"Yes, and judging from the marks on this wound... it was probably Rita who did it."

Theresa also came to a conclusion regarding her analysis of the mech wreckage.

"But the good news is that it should only be Rita who came, not the entire Immortal Blade squad, because the cuts on these mechs are all the same size and clean and neat, which shows that it was done by one person."

"I never expected the headmistress to have such judgment. Bronya, I'm impressed."

"I suddenly really want to know what kind of image I have in your heart..."

"In short, Bronya scanned the remains of the Gray Serpent."

"The other party removed most of the biological components from the Gray Serpent. It seems they want to pack these things up and take them away first, and then slowly distinguish which ones are valuable."

"However, she overlooked one thing."

As she spoke, Bronya turned the Gray Serpent's body over and removed a chip from the inside of his wrist.

"Rita 'forgot' about the biochip implanted in the other person's arm."

"With this, we can quickly locate the Gray Serpent's stronghold."

"Important intelligence like this is often backed up. Bronya can try to find these backups within the enemy's base."

Bronya inserted the chip into her portable terminal, a hint of surprise flashing in her eyes, before she continued as if nothing had happened.

"Deciphering the chip will take some time, but Bronya has basically pinpointed the location of the Gray Serpent's lair. Next, let's head there."

Bronya opened the navigation and locked onto a location.

"Yi Ming Yao Qi (5) Jiu Jiu Ba Ling. Meng Rita, how is the situation?"

"Your Lord Bishop, Gray Serpent refused to provide information, so I killed him."

"The cleanup is complete. I used his body to set a trap."

On a high-rise building in Changkong City, Rita was reporting on the progress of her work.

"Gray Serpent has encrypted all its intelligence, and we don't have time to decipher it all."

"So, I removed all the biochips that could perform device authentication from the Gray Serpent, but I left one thing behind."

"I left a piece of the biochip from the Gray Serpent to the Far East Branch."

"You're thinking of... using Bronya from the Far East Branch to help you find the Gray Serpent's base, then gathering intelligence along the way, and finally reaping the benefits?"

"Exactly, and that's the simplest method right now."

"Very good, then I wish you success."

Seeing that Otto was about to end the call, Rita quickly said:

"Wait, Your Lord Bishop, I have something else to report."

"Oh?"

"At the end of his life, Gray Serpent said something that made me think."

"From what he said... he not only has Kiana's information, but also... Xia Ling's."

"Heh, that's interesting."

Otto's image sat up straight.

"Tell me more?"

"I'm sorry, Your Lord Bishop, Gray Serpent did not leave any further information. However, if what he said is true, there should be a backup of this information in his base."

Do you need support?

"It's not necessary for now. After all, Xia Ling hasn't shown up yet, so calling for support now would be a bit too cautious."

Rita slowly shook her head. "So, let me continue to observe before making any plans."

Rita decisively rejected Otto's offer of support, clearly demonstrating her confidence in herself.

After all... if Xia Ling's death was indeed confirmed by Yae Sakura, as the Far East Branch's intelligence indicated, then she would no longer be able to summon Yae Sakura at this point.

With her Shadow Iron Assault Suit for combat against people, plus the Carbon-based Hunter, she would have no chance of losing even if she faced Xia Ling head-on.

What's more... it's her who's currently hiding in the shadows.

Meanwhile, at the Gray Serpent's base.

"The sheer number of mechs here is truly breathtaking..."

"Yeah, if you didn't know better, you'd think this was the Anti-Entropy Headquarters." Theresa sighed. "I didn't see this many mechs when I went to ME Company last time."

Theresa's words successfully silenced the two of them. After all, the last time she went to ME Company, Xia Ling was by her side.

For a moment, neither of them dared to continue the conversation, afraid of touching on Theresa's sore spot.

"Bronya has successfully hacked into the control systems of these mechs, and they will no longer attack us."

After a moment of silence, Bronya spoke.

"Next, we can go in and find out what's going on."

"Oh, by the way, Headmaster, there's one more thing I'd like to ask you..."

Upon entering the Gray Serpent's base, Bronya, relying on the map she had acquired earlier, easily found the place where Gray Serpent stored data.

"Something's not right here."

Bronya's voice carried a hint of doubt. "Why would Gray Serpent store all the data of Changkong City here... and without any categorization or tags? To access this data, we have to search for it one by one."

"Even with Heavy Armor Rabbit, it would probably take several days and nights to find Kiana's information here."

"Then... what if we take this intelligence back with us?"

"Transferring this intelligence would take even longer... which is also impractical."

"Therefore, there must be some kind of device here that allows Gray Serpent to quickly and freely locate the information he wants..."

Meanwhile, in a corner outside the stronghold.

"That voice... it sounds like Bronya's."

"There are humanoid robots too? It seems they've already found them?"

Xia Ling sat cross-legged on the ground, with a laptop on her lap.