Chapter 165

[You... you haven't already made a move, have you?]

It is Yiqi Ba VIIIlingVII Liu 1.

A button silenced the team channel. Although there was no sound in the headphones, based on Number Three's understanding of his 'master,' he was probably in a terrible frenzy right now, and might have spilled coffee and stained his new suit black.

After a while, an order came through the headset.

[You are allowed to use special agent equipment to finish the battle quickly.]

As the highest authorization was granted, under the cover of night, a man with short black hair, named Feline, slowly rose. His Security Bureau's spellcasting Terminal, maintained by Optical Camouflage on his shoulder, began operating at full power, while his azure eyes were filled with a cacophony of innocence and murderous intent.

Meanwhile, in the bushes on the other side, Typhon, who had witnessed everything, let out a very faint gasp at that moment... This was not a mistake that a young hunter should make, but the appearance of the enemy in front of him, whether it was the familiar black hair or the blue eyes, was too much like the person Typhon knew so well.

"Master?"

The response from Typhon was a rapid barrage of pistol rounds; the high-performance Osprey silencer, combined with the latest Columbia military 9mm pistol rounds, silently wove together a barrage that swept towards the bushes.

Despite Typhon's attempts to dodge, he only managed to deflect the bullet aimed at his chest and heart, causing it to hit his shoulder and arm instead.

This time, the opponent didn't continue playing hide-and-seek with Typhon. Accompanied by a magical fluctuation that sent chills down the Sarkaz's spines, the opponent suddenly leaped up with a pistol and dagger in hand... Clearly, the spell had locked onto Typhon, who was trying to hide again.

Three attempts to dodge by changing direction were thwarted by three shots. Facing the 'enemy Kitty Teacher's who was now right up to his face, Typhon bit his lip and swung the crossbow fiercely with his bleeding arms:

Don't underestimate me...

The massive equipment, the immense weight... while the crossbow blocked the line of fire, the Sarkaz's immense strength slammed into the opponent, sending him flying.

If it were an ordinary... no, even a strong unicorn... such as Snowfield deer that is four or five meters tall and weighs several tons, it should have been sent flying and nearly killed by this attack. But the creature landed on the ground as if nothing had happened...

She even effortlessly dodged Typhon's giant arrow, which he had just launched!

"Useless resistance... but it seems you don't like a quiet death."

Amidst the accidental explosion of what appeared to be a 'Citybreaker Bolt,' and watching his opponent pull out a 'pistol' with a caliber large enough to fit into his fist, Typhon, enduring the convulsing pain and blood loss, managed a smirk:

"Useless? Don't you... hate making a sound?"

"Yes, I was supposed to complete the mission without leaving a trace..."

As he spoke, he raised the launcher to the hunter who was not far away. The spell and ammunition were already ready... As long as he pulled the trigger, the opponent would be reduced to ashes in the three thousand degrees of flame... He had only exposed his presence for now. As long as he dealt with the opponent and left, the mission could still be completed.

But just as he raised his hand a little, a sudden force on his wrist startled 'Number Three'.

As if appearing out of thin air, without any prior presence, like Ghost, it suddenly appeared, grabbed my wrist, and attacked my neck... Before I could even react, my vision went completely dark.

Only then did Number Three realize... that he was dead...

Finally, what appeared next to Number Three was the indifferent reaction of his own Terminal:(

[Rogue Agent Detected] Part 5

Ah, so this is... 'Ghost'.

... one

"Teacher!"

Seeing Typhon's tearful, pitiful cries for her, Nana put down the creature that looked exactly like her, removed the Security Bureau's magical Terminal that had been executing the 'final procedure' from its shoulder, put it away, and then took out hemostatic agents and bandages from her emergency kit before walking towards Typhon.

"Thanks for your hard work... but the matter isn't over yet, we need to leave." — Ba

"Huh?" Lin

Although Typhon seemed to relax, Nana wasn't. Typhon only saw the ground around him suddenly explode, and then Nana hoisted him up... As the smoke bombs Nana dropped clattered on the ground, Typhon, carried on Nana's shoulder, vaguely saw two figures rushing towards them in the distance.

Then, thick black smoke swallowed up all the light; this was a smoke bomb infused with Nenesarkaz sorcery.

Both magical and technological detection methods were rendered ineffective at this moment. By the time the pursuers arrived, all they found was a corpse that, while seemingly intact, had had its cervical vertebrae and brainstem completely destroyed by magic.

As the men of Atlas tried to shout into the smoke from afar, the pursuers, wielding large shields, silently hoisted the corpses.

"Number Three confirmed dead. Requesting retrieval..."

[... It's better to just evacuate. Atlas's forces and police are rapidly surrounding you... and besides, the Ghost was behind it, so even if you read memories, you won't see anything.]

"... But perhaps there is something?"

Seeing that her 'master' did not continue speaking, Number One gently carried the corpse of her companion, Number Two, in a princess carry, while she herself retrieved the agent's watch from the corpse's wrist.

Then, the shield-wielding Number One pushed open the visor of his helmet, took one last look at the corpse, and used his hand to close its upturned eyes... If Typhon were here, she would surely gasp again, because this Number One looked exactly like the corpse.

Let's go.

After retrieving the valuable sulfide briefcase left behind by Typhon from under the billboard, two black-haired Feline girls dressed as SHD agents, taking their companion's body with them, made their escape before the smoke completely dissipated.

Let's leave aside Atlas, who ultimately found nothing but a scene of devastation due to fear of the smoke, and the police, who were overwhelmed by the attack on the wealthy area and the death of a government employee.

As things began to escalate, Nana had already driven Typhon away from the danger zone. However, they had no intention of returning to the coffee shop. Nana's destination was the location where the Human Resources Department team, Frostleaf, and Mary were—the headquarters of Lycoris, the ICA Church Girls' School.

Typhon, his school uniform stained with blood, was immediately surrounded by Lycoris and her friends as soon as he arrived at school and taken to the infirmary. Instead of chattering with the younger girls, Little Raiden, also dressed in red, went straight to Nana.

"You actually let a junior get injured during a mission? Didn't you say you were just going to conduct an investigation? Why is the news all about fighting in the wealthy area and people dying? Is Atlas really that difficult to deal with? Even the Ghost..."

Helplessly interrupting Little Raiden's wild guesses, Nana tossed him the external hard drive full of copied files:

"Atlas isn't capable of injuring Typhon yet, and the organization targeting the agent is definitely not some Mercenaries group... This encounter was probably just a coincidence. Although Typhon was slightly injured, I'll consider it a warning to them... Lycoris is now in the open, so if they want to communicate, now's the time... Once the evidence is complete, whether he lives or dies will be beyond their control."

Nodding with the hard drive in hand, Little Raiden quickly left with her team and began organizing the data.

Nana, however, did not immediately go to meet the Human Resources Department team she had called. Weighing the captured SHD spellcasting Terminal, Nana frowned as she looked at the 'light equipment' she carried for assassin work and dialed Nagisa's number.

"Lycoris should have an equipment workshop here... could I borrow it for a moment?"

[Of course, no problem... However, the fact that 'Ghost' is seeking more equipment support beyond Firearms Arts... that's really bad news.]

"No, actually the investigation went quite smoothly... it's just..."

Looking at the bustling infirmary in the distance, Nana's usual 'Alice' smile became slightly distorted.

"After learning the identity of the enemy who was opposing my agent, I was slightly..."

I'm a little angry.

PS: Waaaaaaah!

5th Laytonson's Ghost Assassin: 180 Enhancement Preparation

Because Typhon dodged in time, and thanks to the Sarkaz's own strong physique, the 9mm pistol bullets, which were mainly enhanced with silencers... even the hollow-point bullets, which are designed to kill flesh, hit him repeatedly, only barely leaving Typhon injuries that barely reached the threshold of 'minor injury'.

With the help of Lycoris's school nurse and Su Sulo's magic, who arrived after discovering the situation, Typhon quickly regained his mobility.

Although he is still some distance from fully recovering, Typhon did not miss the subsequent meeting at the Equipment Workshop.

Now, Typhon, with one hand draped over his chest by a triangular scarf, looked around, while the workshop's protagonist, a black-haired girl with heterochromatic eyes who had returned to her original appearance, was writing and drawing on a spell printer used to create equipment.

As the printer continued to produce various parts, Nana would occasionally walk to the other side to check the scanning and retrieval of the captured SHD spell Terminal...

Doing this as Nana's agent is clearly a violation of regulations, but after all, it is the National Security Bureau that launched an attack on her. Judging from the Assassin's perspective, SHD... and even the National Security Bureau where her agent works, as well as the National Laboratory that provides the National Security Bureau with equipment and social cover, have lost all credibility at this moment.

Putting everything else aside, just the moment he uncovered clues about allowing Atlas to act recklessly, the key person behind those clues was silenced...

It's one thing that he was silenced like a copycat of 'Ghost,' but in the midst of the chaos, instead of maintaining order and sealing off the scene, the national agent launched an attack on Typhon, who had no hostile intentions whatsoever.

If Nana only wanted to control the opponent's selective firing, she wouldn't have killed them right away. But after copying the data and bypassing Atlas's people to reach the scene... the magic in the opponent's handheld launcher no longer allowed Nana to show mercy.

The guy who looked exactly like him was there to silence him; the thermite spell grenade, which could be used for anti-armor purposes, made his intentions clear.

"Nana, what are you doing?"

It seemed that because she had removed her makeup, Nana had reverted to her somewhat dull persona. After everyone in the workshop had arrived, they were silent for a while before Huang spoke first.

"I am investigating this spell Terminal and, based on the information within, reproducing the equipment of those 'enemies'."

Turning around, before Nana could even utter a comforting phrase like "You've worked hard," Huang had already moved closer to Nana, taking advantage of his height to pick Nana up and spin her around in one go, before expertly putting her down before Nana puffed out her cheeks.

"Oh, really? Thanks for your hard work!"

"Hmm... Huang, do you take me for Rosemary?"

Even so, Nana's expression did relax a bit. But as the team leader, although she really wanted to chat and laugh with her friends right away, she couldn't be careless about work.

Nana first looked at Su Sulo:

"How is Seia?"

"... The spell backlash is extremely severe, so it's best to avoid letting her perform any 'prophecy' related actions for now... Her Oripathy is mainly caused by overloading her spell usage."

"Her current condition..."

"I've already performed emergency surgery on her. Whether her condition stabilizes depends entirely on the medication she receives, provided she can rest properly..."

"But the medicines here are incomplete, and the equipment is more advanced at Rhodes Island."

The one who said this was naturally Nagisa, who knew her own family's affairs perfectly, and her words basically represented Lycoris's attitude:

"If possible, we hope that Seia can be delivered to Rhodes Island as soon as possible, since we don't know when the city will become a war zone."

Listening to this conversation, Franka, the large fox sitting to the side, played with the ends of her hair and said with a smile:

"In other words, the situation in the city could worsen and lead to a lockdown at any time... In that case, it's definitely better to evacuate as soon as possible... But since you brought up the situation and even had Nana put on Jessica Stand outfit, you must have some extra tasks for us, right? Will that affect the patient's transfer?"

"No, after all, whether from my perspective as a doctor or from Lycoris's perspective, I also hope that Seia can receive professional treatment from Director Kal'tsit as soon as possible... And how to ensure a balance between the mission and subsequent actions is the reason I gathered everyone here to brainstorm."

"So, it's already confirmed that Seia will get to Rhodes Island safely and as soon as possible, right? Nana- senpai, what kind of 'balance' do you mean by ensuring this?"

As Mika, dressed in a white dress, asked a question that seemed out of touch with reality, Nana glanced again at the captured Terminal that was occasionally making strange noises:

"It's about whether everyone can return to Rhodes Island smoothly in the future, not about being purged because of this mission..."

After briefly explaining the enemy's target—namely, the agent—as Rhodes Island's primary supporter in Columbia, and the political implications of the presence of Columbia government agents within the execution team, Nana paused for a moment to allow everyone to process the information before continuing:

"Now that it has been confirmed, the nature of my actions has changed from my personal actions to an internal government conflict with significant political implications... In order to ensure that my actions do not affect Rhodes Island, the place where everyone will live in the future, I need to use this medical operation on Rhodes Island to create a plausible cover for everyone's subsequent arrangements."

Listening to Nana's somewhat convoluted explanation, Mika still looked confused, but Nagisa seemed to understand what Nana was trying to do:

"You mean, a disguise... is that right...?"

"Yes, everyone in the first batch who entered the city with me had legitimate reasons, so it was fine. To others, it was just Chief Lycoris leading people with different missions into the city... But after realizing that my event might have a significant impact, I still called in the personnel team for the Seia transfer mission, which could have been carried out covertly."

Looking at the Rhodes Island crew members with their "it doesn't really matter, we'll do whatever you say" expressions, Nana wanted to sigh, but seeing how much they trusted her and how they seemed completely unconcerned about the Security Bureau's mission... Nana still smiled gratefully.

"First, I can confirm that the 'Chief' must disappear after this mission... So the key question is, how will I safely return to Rhodes Island then...?"

Seeing Nana's gaze directed at her, Jessica, still wearing her Medic suit, clenched her small fists and stepped forward:

"So... they called me, ⊙Bawulin Jiusan Liu, over..."

"Yes, but just having the news that 'Medic' has entered the city isn't enough... because once the headcount is taken, the unexpected appearance of 'Jessica' will definitely attract attention... At that point, 'Jessica' will need to reappear."

"What... should we do?"

Watching Nana mutter to herself, occasionally throwing in words like 'Raythean Industries,' Jessica's smile unconsciously turned tinged with apprehension... But then Liskarm's words abruptly interrupted Nana's rambling thoughts:

"Why not just have 'Jessica' drive to us openly and honestly... After all, even if we signed a deep cooperation agreement with Rhodes Island, we're still part of the Blacksteel BPRS group..."

"Does this... make sense?"

Seeing Nana's rare expression of hesitation, Franka smiled and put her arm around the other shoulder of Miss Black Cat, saying:

"Humans don't necessarily need to be perfectly logical to act... Or rather, if you insist on having Jessica take on some kind of Raythean Industries test mission to meet up with us, I'd find it rather contrived... After all, compared to ending her vacation to rejoin the team, it's more insane to have a mission on one hand and then deliberately team up with an ally who also has a mission on the other side."

After thinking for a moment, and after glancing at Nagisa for clarification and receiving a "no problem" response from her, Nana finally nodded.

"Well then, secretly escort Jessica away for a bit. Nagisa, I'll leave this to you guys... Jessica can then 'casually' reunite with Liskarm later... At that point, there will be an additional 'non-existent' person in the team."

"Then comes the script: Chief Lycoris disappears after completing her mission, and Medic arrives at her loyal Rhodes Island?"

Nana nodded to Nagisa. Although Nana felt that the last sentence might offend Kal'tsit, it was just a joke, so there was no need to take it too seriously.

"And after that, it's my own task assignments..."

Looking at the captured spell Terminal, as the decoding work neared completion, Nana picked it up after the completion notification and then equipped it to her left shoulder... Almost simultaneously, Jessica also recognized the item:

"Nana, this magic Terminal is..."

"The enemy we captured weren't ordinary Mercenaries... They were professionals in both magic and Firearms Arts. So, for this mission, Rhodes Island only needs to help me disguise my identity. Nagisa and Mika will also go to Rhodes Island as accompanying patients after handing over their work at the school. After all, I already gave the order not to go any further... So, if the relevant personnel from the Lycoris Academy evacuate, the remaining students can continue to exist as an ordinary church school as long as they cooperate with Laterano's arrangements."

At this point, Nana looked at Sister Mary, who was detached from the group and not even a member of Rhodes Island, unlike Frostleaf... She looked dazed, as if she had heard too much and would be killed immediately if she disobeyed orders (0 x 0).

Seeing that Mary didn't react, Nana blinked:

"Afterwards, you'll return to Rhodes Island with everyone. Before you go back, just have that Laterano Notarial Hall take a look at the school... Knowing that the principal and secretary have left for some reason, Laterano shouldn't stand idly by... Afterwards, Rhodes Island or another organization can handle things on their behalf."

"Ah... ah! I understand now!"

After confirming that Mary was not distracted and did indeed know, Nana nodded.