Miss Raven was very unhappy. Her recent missions had always gone sideways. Though she had completed them in the end, she was still furious. Just as she wanted to return to the bar she ran and have a drink to soothe her mood, that damned Jackal sent her an overtime notice.
"Siola, abnormal Honkai Energy fluctuations have occurred on Taixu Mountain. Your location shows that you're nearby, so go investigate it for me." The heartless exploitation of a capitalist.
"Huh? No way. Do you take me for your servant?" Raven snapped back indignantly.
"Oh, all right. I respect your will. Gray Serpent, deduct Siola's salary for this month."
"Ahem. As fellow World Serpent executives, I am more than willing to help a colleague." The humble submission of Raven, a working stiff.
"Hehe, don't be so reluctant. If you bring back valuable research material, there'll be no shortage of bonuses for you. If you can bring back someone with a natural Stigma, there'll be a huge reward~ Oh, right. Schicksal has noticed it too, so you'd better get moving."
Dressed in a black cloak, Raven searched Taixu Mountain unhappily. "If it weren't for my private island villa, I wouldn't be working for that dog-headed bastard." The black dodo was brimming with resentment when a deafening boom suddenly sounded in the distance.
Raven dug at her ears, which had been numbed by the blast, then took out her bow and headed toward the source. There, she found the huge crater Xing had blasted out and a broken crate. "Interesting." Seeing the fresh footprints, Raven became energized. But why did those footprints look like a child's?
Half an hour later—
Xing held the Crimson Kite Bird he had caught and inexplicably felt that someone was watching him. Yet when he looked around, there was no one in sight, so he continued onward. Raven, hidden in the shadows, stared at Xing. "He really is a child. He looks pretty good. Why does that chicken in his arms look so much like the immortal beast Crimson Kite from Shenzhou legends? Wait, that pattern on his hand... could it be a Stigma? Impossible. The pattern is too intricate. It should just be a tattoo, right?"
"Da-da, da-da-da~" Xing hummed cheerfully as he skipped all the way back to the village. The village secretary looked at the Crimson Kite Bird in his arms with mixed emotions. "Uh, Little Xing, the one in your arms..." The secretary hesitated. "What is it? Is it a protected animal?" Xing was a little worried about his Kung Pao chicken. "No, it's not..." Hardly anyone had ever seen Crimson Kite. Most people still believed she existed only in historical records, so there was no way she would be on any protected species list.
Meanwhile, Raven sneaked into the village secretary's office and searched through Xing's records. "Hmm, he was found at Fuyun Temple at seven in the morning. He was asleep at the time. The timing is quite close to the abnormal Honkai Energy fluctuations. The suspicious pattern on the back of his hand... Wait, male?!" Raven became inexplicably excited. Had she really encountered a natural Stigma bearer? Handing him over to Jackal would mean a huge bonus!
"Wait, they actually reported this to Schicksal? Someone's coming to pick him up at three in the afternoon?" Raven checked the time. "It's two thirty now. As long as I act first, it'll be fine. Wait, what's going on outside?!"
"Commander Himeko, we have arrived at the mission area." Rank-and-File Armor, a B-rank Valkyrie, was reporting on the mission. (Shenzhou should fall under the Far East Branch's jurisdiction, right? This should be fine.)
"Mm. Immediately assess the residents' situation and eliminate any Honkai threat. If you find Honkai Beasts or zombies, eliminate them at once!" Though Murata Himeko, the Far East Branch's blade and an older unmarried woman, had not arrived in person, she remotely commanded the operation from the Hyperion battleship. Schicksal took this matter very seriously, because Honkai Energy concentration on Taixu Mountain had always been low. Something unusual was clearly afoot.
"Yes, sir!"
Miss Raven had a headache. They had said they would come at three, so why had they arrived half an hour early? And they had even sent a fully armed Valkyrie squad. Were they sure they were not here to exterminate Honkai Beasts? She looked conflicted as she watched Xing. This seemed to be her first time abducting—ah, damn it—making a move against a child. Why did that sound even stranger?
Xing suddenly felt a chill down his spine. Meanwhile, the village secretary kept talking nonstop to the Valkyries who had come to learn about the situation. The squad leader looked utterly confused. Since when had they received a mission to pick up a child? After reporting to Himeko, they received an additional assignment. "The villagers on Taixu Mountain found an amnesiac child this morning and reported him to Destiny Orphanage. Something came up on their end and they can't make it, so have your logistics department temporarily look after him."
Raven immediately panicked. "Schicksal is making the first move. If they take him away and he really has a natural Stigma, Jackal will definitely find out. Then it won't just be one month's salary. Whatever, I'm doing it!"
While Xing gnawed on an apple and fed the Crimson Kite Bird her last meal, he saw a gray-haired, red-eyed older sister dressed in professional O/L attire. "Ahem, hello, little brother. I'm Natasha Siola, director of Destiny Orphanage's Shenzhou branch. Don't worry, you'll receive excellent care. (Jackal really will take 'excellent' care of you.)"
Xing looked up and studied Raven's face, feeling that it was somehow familiar. "Pretty big sister, may I ask you a question?"
"Uh, sure. (He hasn't seen through me, has he? Time is tight. If it comes down to it, I'll just knock him out and take him away.)"
"If someone sank your private island villa, would you roll around on the ground and cry?"
"???" Raven looked slightly surprised on the surface, but inside, raging waves surged. If the private island villa she had worked so hard for were gone, she did not even dare imagine it! You little brat, I'm throwing you into Jackal's laboratory right now! The last trace of hesitation in Raven's heart instantly vanished.
(No reaction. She probably isn't Raven. Besides, why would a World Serpent executive appear in a place like this?)
Raven took out a small device and pressed it against the back of Xing's right hand. "Come on, little brother. Big sister is going to give you an examination. Don't resist, okay~" The boy about to be sold off felt the Stigma on the back of his hand grow hot, but there was no other discomfort.
The examination was complete. Honkai Energy adaptability: exceptional; Honkai Energy control: exceptional; Honkai Energy concentration: extremely low; Stigma possession confirmed. The device produced its results within ten seconds.
"Oh yeah! (^_^)V" Raven was ecstatic inside. She could see her private island villa waving at her. The seasoned mercenary efficiently carried away Xing, who appeared completely incapable of resisting her. In fact, he truly had no ability to resist. He could not even use his Stigma yet. After putting away Mortal Tribulation Difficult to Cross last time, he had discovered that he could no longer summon it. Even if he could summon it, he did not know how to use the Key of Consciousness's abilities. After carefully avoiding every surveillance device and line of sight, Raven successfully got into her beloved car parked near Taixu Mountain—a gray Koenigsegg Gemera.
"Phew~" Raven let out a long breath. Thankfully, nothing had gone wrong this time. It looked like she would get her bonus without trouble. As for Xing, what trouble could a child no older than ten possibly cause?
"Hey, Jackal."
"Oh, Natasha, you found something so quickly? I'm impressed~" Jackal's sickening tone made Raven shudder.
"No, Schicksal's people arrived. Staying any longer could have risked being discovered, so I pulled out early."
"Oh, Gray Serpent, deduct Raven's salary for the next three months..."
"Hey, don't you want to know what I found?" Raven's tone was light and smug.
"What did you find?" Jackal was interested.
"A child. A child with a natural Stigma, and he's male. Well? Satisfied?" Raven looked at Xing in the back seat with his eyes closed in apparent rest—though he was actually trying to summon Mortal Tribulation Difficult to Cross—and curled her lips into a smile.
Barring any accidents, Miss Raven would receive a huge bonus and take a major step toward her private island villa, while poor Xing would die before even accomplishing anything and become Jackal's experiment—provided Jackal did not give Raven another task.
"Well done. Oh, don't rush back yet. I have a new mission for you." Jackal pulled up a file and sent it to Raven.
"Hah, you're assigning me another mission before even paying me? Even black-hearted companies aren't as black-hearted as you, are they?" More than half of Raven's good mood instantly vanished.
"Don't rush. I guarantee that the reward afterward will absolutely satisfy you. Those idiots from Anti-Entropy implanted a Herrscher Core into a girl's body, attempting to create an artificial Herrscher. Heh, they overestimate themselves. Even I only have a sixty percent chance of succeeding. Where did she get that confidence?" Jackal's voice was filled with pride.
"Sure, sure, you're amazing. Wait, you don't intend to send me to recover that Herrscher Core, do you?" Raven sensed that something was wrong.
"No. I want you to bring that girl back as well. She's excellent experimental material too, isn't she? I've already sent you her information. Good luck. I wish you success on your mission~" Jackal ended the call.
"You ****ing—" Raven cursed furiously, but as a working stiff, she had no other choice. Imagining herself skinning and tearing Jackal apart, Raven opened the file. A black-haired, purple-eyed girl came into view.
"Raiden Mei?"
Author's note—Let me explain why Raven used her real name here. She felt the protagonist had no chance of escaping anyway, and she was too lazy to think of a new name, so she used her real one. Besides, probably not many people knew her real name.
Before you continue