This question was soon answered when Elorie appeared before her carrying a bag of food, with another person beside her.
The moment Honglian saw that person, her eyes widened.
The other woman looked equally shocked.
"Team Leader! Long time no see!" Elorie immediately set down the bag and happily stepped forward to hug Honglian. "Ah, right. I'm not an Organization agent anymore, so I should call you Miss Honglian now."
Honglian continued staring at the woman. Both of them were filled with confusion, though the source of that confusion was somewhat different.
"May I ask who you are...?" Honglian was the first to speak.
"My name is Lin Qing." Lin Qing studied her brows, eyes, and the curve of her lips before slowly saying, "You're Honglian?"
"Yes." Honglian was certain this was the first time she had heard that name. "Are you a real person... or a projection imagined by Elorie?"
It was undoubtedly rude to ask that, but she truly could not help herself.
Otherwise, she could not understand why this woman looked so much like her.
Lin Qing was equally shaken. She had long heard of the Resistance leader and had often wondered what she had looked like in her youth. Yet no matter what, Lin Qing had never expected Honglian's facial proportions to be so close to hers—or rather... to the version of herself before her prosthetic modifications.
But surprise was surprise. The act still had to continue... According to Chen Xuan's plan, she was also an ability user summoned by the World Ability Center, and the key person who had saved Elorie.
"Of course I'm alive." Lin Qing withdrew her gaze. "I'm just not at the Northern Heaven Institute. I'm somewhere farther away, connected to this consciousness domain in the same way you are."
"You two