There's Actually No Warmth at All (Continued)

This is a very obvious hint.

Miss Surtr nodded, raising her left hand, which had been completing its concept with Persephone's awakening—her right hand, still in its transformed state, was somewhat lacking in dexterity. But such trivial matters were unimportant at the moment; what mattered was the lingering scent of a young girl clinging to her fingertips.

After all, her hand, which was in the realm of reality, was now resting on something extraordinary.

She took a light breath.

"I need a carriage, the driver of which is a bond between Skadi and me. It will carry Persephone and me to the direction where Skadi is."

Flames flowed from her body, transforming into a burning open-top four-wheeled carriage—this was her power, transformed according to her will. For this was an empire of consciousness, where the power of the mind was no less than that of the body.

The essence of her breath dissipated from her fingertips, settling on the upper part of the carriage, spreading, shaping, and transforming into a blurred silhouette of a driver seated upon it—this was a part of Skadi, her essence, and the bond she had formed with Surtr. And it would guide the way, transporting the rider to the place where Skadi resided.

Surtr extended an inviting hand to her companion, and Persephone, like a Princess, naturally and delicately placed her fingertips on her hand—with a gentle pull, the Princess boarded the burning carriage. The driver then cracked the whip, propelling this imaginary vehicle across the roadless wasteland.

The wasteland was vast, expansive, and endless. The sky was filled with thin, dark yellow clouds and a cold, white sun. As the carriage turned, the stone city where people lived was quickly left behind. As the carriage climbed over the outer walls of the stone city, many residents who looked much like normal people but seemed to lack intelligence wandered around. As the carriage passed by, they cast empty, listless glances at it.

They neither attack nor pursue. They appear like stage scenery, devoid of any interactive function. And once they leave the city, they are met with storms and flying sand.

It's not thick, so even if the flying sand hits you, it won't hurt you. But it does blur your vision, making the journey through the Imperial Consciousness ignore the obstacles of distance.

The first thing I saw after passing through the sandstorm was a steel structure that seemed to tear through the earth from the other side of the wasteland, moving towards the stone city. It resembled a giant whale, with countless indistinct figures walking on its back amidst its long, mournful roars.

It seemed a short little girl sat atop the whale, holding a drawing board and splashing ink—she had waved in this direction when she saw the burning carriage. Before Miss Surtr could react, Persephone beside her greeted the girl in the same way.

A horse-drawn carriage and a giant whale passed each other by.

"That is..."

"It's Rhodes Island," Persephone explained with a smile. "It seems that in Skadi's mind, Rhodes Island is the true creation of civilization, while the current Mobile City are just piles of stones. And you should recognize that person in a few hours, because she's an operator from Rhodes Island. Her codename is Deepcolor, and she's quite a talented artist."

Deepcolor — Miss Surtr had to strain to recall the name. In the game's lore from her previous life, she seemed to be a low-rarity operator with virtually no presence. Aside from a few veteran players who enjoyed using fancy tricks, almost no one used her or knew anything about her.

Miss Surtr is a seasoned player, but she doesn't enjoy playing fancy tricks or challenging herself. Therefore, Miss Surtr's knowledge of Deepcolor is limited to—'I have such a person in my inventory'.

"... You've almost never praised anyone as 'quite skilled' in the past." — Her impression of the Deepcolor operator was changed by Persephone's words.

"But she does paint very well." But Persephone was unimpressed. "Her exquisite painting skills allow her perception to transcend the layer of reality and enter the layer of consciousness without the aid of rituals."

"This is a unique talent." She clapped her hands, casting the shadows of Rhodes Island into the rising sandstorm. "There are very few people on Rhodes Island who can freely travel between the reality layer and the consciousness layer, or rather, very few people like this in the entire Terra. She is one of them... I visited Rhodes Island once when I was researching the exploration techniques of the Imperial Consciousness. I chatted with her for a while, and the process and the result were quite pleasant."

Very good, it seems this girl is indeed not to be underestimated.

"So those shadows are the other Rhodes Island operators who failed to penetrate the consciousness layer?"

"That's one way to understand it," Persephone nodded. "After all, you can conceal your shadow without harming your body. Just like those empty shells you saw in Chernobog. And if an operator can infiltrate the consciousness layer, then this illusory container will transform into a real body... Don't you think this is somewhat similar to your dream world journey?"

Miss Surtr did not respond to that sentence.

She watched as the carriage passed through the sand and mist for the second time, revealing another bustling stone city. And after that, there was a third, and a fourth.

Time hadn't been spent much, but the journey might have already covered thousands of kilometers. It wasn't until the carriage slowed down and a village, its air thick with the smell of fish, and the vast black ocean came into view that she gave her additional reply.

"A long time ago, I did consider them the same thing."

Memento: Resident Evil 1

Cold, shivering.

"That's right, I'm the most well-mannered person among those who came this time."

The red-haired girl rose from the cold train carriage floor, her gaze sweeping over the beautiful woman in the red dress before her, a handsome man who was handcuffed and another who wasn't, and five fully armed mercenaries who raised their guns as she stood. She looked at her own hands—smooth, slender, and without a fancy wristwatch.

Very good.

A young man of Asian descent without a scarred face.

There are no large-breasted Asian women wearing glasses.

There are no ordinary, high-quality office workers passing by.

There were no white coats that suddenly appeared, no delinquents, no mentally ill people, no military instructors, and no exotic beauties who looked like Sephiroth or Ryougi Shiki.

Excellent, very good. It's the original Resident Evil movie opening, not a chaotic secondary creation.

The girl sighed with a mixture of helplessness and relief.

"Hey! Girl—" The mercenary captain, of African descent, became alert. He sensed something unusual about the girl, which made him instinctively raise his gun.

He couldn't lift it up.

The next moment, the girl floated in front of him like a shadow and punched him right in the waist—he collapsed, and his companions were all shocked!

The medic was the second to fall, her vision obstructed the mercenary captain's path as he collapsed to his knees in agony. This slight delay created an opening that allowed the girl to spun around behind her and deliver a blow to the back of the neck. The captain was immediately stunned. The third soldier, barely managing to raise his gun, had his weapon blocked by his comrade, and the girl's elbow struck him in the temple.

The fourth mercenary roared, abandoning close-quarters combat and lunging at her, attempting to win by grappling. However, the moment he conceived this idea, the girl suddenly became incredibly slippery—with a mere crouch, the burly man's attack was evaded. Then, a heavy blow struck his side, the nerve reaction originating from his kidneys causing unbearable pain for a man—he fell to his knees like a mercenary captain. And the pistol from his belt was snatched away in the process.

Then, the gun was pointed at the forehead of the last soldier, the unfortunate technician who also worked part-time.

With a crisp, jarring click, the safety was released—the technician instinctively raised his hands in surrender. But in that instant, the girl clenched her gun into a fist. A single blow struck the poor wretch in the neck.

Her Adam's apple wasn't broken, and the girl only displayed the power that an ordinary girl could use from beginning to end.

Even though it wasn't shattered, the excruciating pain stripped the guy of his mobility—the red-haired girl suddenly slid back a step, without turning her head, and with a backward elbow, struck the mercenary captain in the abdomen as he quietly got up, wanting to launch a sneak attack and counterattack.

And so everything fell silent.

The red-haired girl tilted her head, looking at the three ordinary citizens behind her who were just beginning to react—the handcuffed ones aside. The men and women who weren't handcuffed instinctively raised their hands.

"You'll thank me," the girl said calmly, glancing at the group of guys who, except for the protagonist Alice, would all be dead within the next few hours. She shoved her heel backward, and another guy who tried to resist rolled his eyes and passed out.

The female lead's throat trembled slightly.

"Who are you?"

"Surtr, you can call me that," the girl replied calmly, gesturing with her eyes to the sealed container beside her. "By the way, that box contains the T-Virus stock solution and vaccine, and the man next to you is actually a corporate spy. He's the one who shattered the virus sample, which is why the Hive is now a dead zone."

The handcuffed man next to the female protagonist suddenly roared, while the unhandled guy's expression changed drastically—ah, there was no other way. After all, the keyword could break the temporary amnesia caused by the nerve gas. And the unhandled guy had an older sister who worked in the Hive.

This caused chaos—and the chaos ultimately resulted in those who were not initially handcuffed being handcuffed and left bruised and battered. The handcuffed youth, on the other hand, was freed.

The female protagonist opened the sealed box, which indeed contained a bunch of medicines. Even the mercenaries who were incapacitated but still conscious remained silent after witnessing the fact.

The train stopped at the entrance of the Hive. The girl got off, took a welding torch, a gun, and several magazines, and then set up the return route for the train.

"Aren't you coming with me?" the female protagonist asked loudly.