40. When You Wake Up, You'll Be in for It (Wagging a Finger)

In the final battle at headquarters, most of these members did not fight directly, but instead took charge of logistical matters, such as blocking communications, isolating the site, reconnaissance and sealing off the surrounding area, and negotiating with the official government.

Rita, on the other hand, secretly stayed in Changkong City. Although she couldn't find any information about the Stigmata Project, she still needed to complete the task Otto had given her as soon as possible.

Rita's idea was simple: if the other party was human, it was impossible for them not to leave any traces. And within the controlled area of Immortal Blade, with the help of the government, it would be very easy to find these traces.

However, outside the controlled area... Rita can reuse the vast amount of records from Kamisato Pharmaceuticals and the underground intelligence network established by Gray Serpent, all of which were not taken away in time.

She began to search for the guy whose actions closely matched the course of events and who had killed the Jackal, following her own train of thought.

However, although the conflict in Changkong City has come to an end, neither the World Serpent nor Anti-Entropy has returned to peace.

"Your Honored Master."

The Gray Serpent approached the throne and bowed in respect.

"The matter in Changkong City has come to an end."

"How is the situation?"

Kevin's words were as brief as ever.

"The plan suffered a devastating failure. Jackal was killed, and the layout of Changkong City was basically destroyed. Among the cadres involved, only Raven and her external support Reed managed to escape."

"So, what were the results of this version of the Stigmata Project?"

"This..."

Gray Serpent hesitated, then said, "Only Jackal, the one in charge of the plan, knows the specifics. However, based on my assessment, this version of the Stigmata Project is not very valuable."

"As well as..."

"Don't worry, you can speak directly if there's anything you need to say."

Kevin suddenly spoke up.

"... yes."

"My Honored Master, Xia Ling's whereabouts have been discovered during the operation in Changkong City."

"Oh?"

Kevin seemed interested.

"Based on your report, it seems you failed to defeat her this time."

"Yes, Your Honored Master."

"To put it bluntly, she single-handedly sabotaged Changkong City's plans, but..."

"She seems to have been hurt very badly once again."

"To be more specific?"

"Her injuries are likely related to Jackal. The specifics are still unclear, but the injuries must be quite serious."

"We observed that the Hyperion rushed to Changkong City at an insane speed, possibly to save Xia Ling."

The Gray Serpent's expression was somewhat strange, carrying a hint of caution:

"However, at the scene of the Jackal's death, I found a large number of pink crystal fragments."

"..."

Kevin fell silent.

"Your Honored Master?"

"Okay, I understand."

For some reason, Gray Serpent felt that the Honored Master was not as calm as he appeared on the surface.

"That's all for Changkong City. This version of the Stigmata Project doesn't need to be tested again."

"As for the cadre who returned, there's no need to investigate any responsibility. If she were in Changkong City... then their failure would be understandable."

"Yes, Your Honored Master."

"In addition, I have completed the task that Your Honored Master previously assigned to me."

"Otto Apocalypse, the bishop of Schicksal, is currently at the Vimur Laboratory in North Africa, and it seems that the Thousand Worlds Layered is also there."

"Durandal also departed from there when she was supporting Changkong City. It is expected that she will return to the Void Laboratory with the Herrscher of the Void and reunite with Otto."

"Understood."

Kevin replied calmly, "Get ready. I'll go meet with Otto in a while."

Liu Ling Er Er Shan Ba Ba Si Gong...

On the other side, on the outskirts of Changkong City, in the Hyperion.

Xia Ling was completely naked, with various electrode pads and tubes attached to her body, and was quietly asleep in the semi-transparent medical pod.

Outside the cabin, Tesla gently closed the door, his expression serious.

Because the matter in North America was not yet resolved, Ain took over Tesla's original mission and Tesla led the team to Changkong City.

Just as she arrived in Changkong City and returned to her ship, Theresa told her both good news and bad news.

The good news is that Xia Ling has been found, but the bad news is that she didn't return completely.

After immediate surgery and treatment, Tesla reached a less than favorable conclusion.

"Theresa, you... be prepared."

"It's alright, go ahead and say it, Tesla."

Surrounding Tesla were not only Theresa, but also Bronya, Seele, Mei. As some of Xia Ling's closest friends (Herrscher) in the academy, they waited outside the operating room with Theresa for a long time.

"Let's leave aside the minor injuries for now, let's start with the first one..."

"The penetrating wound on her hand is healing well. During this time, you should prevent her from using her left hand for any stress. With some rest, it should be fine."

"The injury on her thigh is quite serious... because the leg bone was injured, the repair fluid didn't do much good, but she seems to be able to slowly repair it on her own."

"My suggestion is to prepare a wheelchair for her first, and be prepared for the possibility that she will not be able to walk for a short period of time."

After explaining the two relatively minor injuries, Tesla glanced at the expressions of the patients' family members out of the corner of his eye.

Theresa's expression remained relatively calm, after all, she was the one who brought Xia Ling back, so she should have had some idea of what was going on.

But then...

"The rest..." Tesla's expression turned somewhat grim. "Based on Theresa's guess, I conducted a detailed examination of Xia Ling's senses."

"The result was... she did indeed lose more than just her sight."

"In addition to her vision, her sense of taste and smell also became problematic, and she showed no response to external stimuli."

"It can be basically determined that she has also lost her sense of smell and taste."

"How so..."

Seele covered her mouth in a panic. In her memory, Xia Ling was still the almost omnipotent older sister who went deep into the Sea of Quantum, brought her hope, and could even easily escape from the "snake's" clutches.

Theresa took a deep breath, complex emotions churning within her. After a moment, she slowly asked.

"Tesla, can she regain the senses she has lost?"

"I've tried every possible method. The only thing I'm not going to do is try to snatch the Black Abyss White Flower from the Schicksal Headquarters."

Tesla's expression was one of utter helplessness. "But it's completely useless. Take her vision, for example; this kind of sensory loss is a problem that medicine simply cannot solve..."

"To use a somewhat inappropriate analogy, her injuries are like something that follows rules; even with auditory transduction and brain imaging, I couldn't make her see them."

"So, I estimate that even if there really is Black Abyss White Flower... it won't help."

Chapter 40 When you wake up, you're in for a treat (pointing and gesturing).

Seeing the silent Theresa, Tesla quickly offered words of comfort:

"Don't worry, Theresa. Xia Ling woke up once during the treatment. She told me that her senses will recover one a week, so you don't need to worry too much."

"But..."

"At least until her vision is restored, she needs someone to take care of her closely... Even after her vision is restored, I think she will still need someone to be with her."

Seeing that Theresa didn't speak, Bronya immediately guessed that she might have had a conflict with Sister Xia Ling.

After all, given Sister Xia Ling's personality of pushing herself too hard, it's quite normal for her to anger the headmaster.

However, given the current situation, if someone else were to take care of Sister Xia Ling... that person would probably bear Theresa's deep resentment.

"Bronya needs to undergo Herrscher of Reason training, so she probably won't be able to take care of Sister Xia Ling all day."

Bronya was the first to find a legitimate reason to quit, and she gave Mei and Seele a meaningful look.

If any of the three of them are busy, then this task will inevitably fall to Theresa.

"Seele... Seele also needs to continue the Stigmata development training that Doctor. Ain assigned to Seele."

Seele reacted quickly and immediately understood the situation.

"I..." Mei hesitated for a long time before finally managing to say, "I need to assist Dr. Tesla in testing the Assault series armor..."

"It seems you've all made up your minds." Before Theresa could speak, Tesla crossed his arms and confirmed the matter. "If there are no objections, Theresa, Xia Ling is in your care."

"... rest assured."

Theresa gave a dangerous smile, "I'm sure... I won't let her run around like that anymore."

"By the way, Tesla, when the Hyperion passes the next supply point, remember to stop briefly."

"I need to go downstairs and buy a few things."

"This... should be the last place where the Jackal appeared."

Rita opened the terminal, and the map of Changkong City on it was now filled with countless tiny dots.

Most of these dots have already turned gray.

"Excluding those that are abandoned, those whose usage time doesn't match, and those that are too far away... the only possibility is this place."

The Carbon-based Hunter inserted the probe into the smart lock, and after a moment, the door to the safe house made a soft sound. Rita pushed the door open and walked into the safe house.

Just as she had predicted, the safe house is now only a house in the literal sense.

"Was the World Serpent cleaning up the traces? Or... was it done by that so-called culprit?"

The Carbon-based Hunter circled the room twice, then ran back to Rita's legs and rubbed against her, looking quite dejected.

"Didn't find anything? Hmm... I suppose that's to be expected."

Rita opened the terminal and erased the marker for that point from the map.

"The first verification path is unsuccessful, so let's start working backwards..."

"Let's see if we can use the intelligence network left behind by Gray Serpent to find the person who cleaned the safe house..."

"If we can't find it... then it proves that the subsequent cleanup of this safe house was most likely carried out by the people of World Serpent."

After searching for a moment, Rita closed the terminal.

"No trace was left... It seems that the World Serpent took care of it themselves."

Rita had no doubt about the intelligence system's search capabilities. In fact, such a vast intelligence network would be absolutely impossible to bypass every surveillance point unless World Serpent came on its own.

Rita dared to use the World Serpent's system so recklessly because, on the one hand, the intelligence system was indeed reliable enough, and on the other hand, she had obtained the highest level of access to the system.

On the other hand, considering that the murderer killed the Jackal, the World Serpent should have little motive to betray itself.

"This is interesting... Faced with the Jackal's death, World Serpent actually chose to swallow his pride and accept it? Was it because of the murderer himself, or because of Xia Ling...?"

Rita leaned against the wall, the toes of her boots lightly touching the ground, lost in thought.

"As expected, we still have to start with the brute force approach: investigating by comparing our movements over the past few days with the killer's...?"

Rita sighed in frustration; the sheer volume of work was giving her a headache.

However, due to the clandestine nature of this mission, she couldn't call upon the Immortal Blade squad for support. The enemy's one-on-one combat capabilities were unknown, and she didn't want her team members to take such a pointless risk.

"Never mind, I'll do it myself..."