Scattered Mist

"..." Elysia thought there was something wrong with her communication device.

"Strange, why can't I reach Sakura?" She lightly tapped the side of the device, but it didn't improve the communication. All she got in response was static.

"I'll try contacting Eden," she thought, and soon established communication with Eden.

"Eden."

"Mhm, I'm here, Ali," Eden's pleasant voice made her feel a little better.

"Can you reach Sakura?"

To her surprise, Eden exclaimed, "You can't reach her either?"

"I know why now. Goodbye, Eden." Elysia's expression turned grim as she ended the communication. Her anger needed an explanation.

"Sigh..." Eden was about to ask something when the other side hung up.

"Gray Serpent," she said, "where is Sakura?" Elysia deliberately drew out the words "where is."

"I don't know."

Elysia said calmly, "She went to investigate the clue you wanted to investigate, and you're telling me you don't know where she is?"

"That's right, I don't know. Miss Sakura doesn't want me to know certain things. Without supporting clues, I don't know where she is."

"Sigh," Elysia sighed. "You always treat others like gullible fools."

"Why would Sakura go somewhere no one can contact her?"

"That's determined by the clues she holds, not by me sending her. Everyone understands that one cannot know what they don't know."

"If you can't find her, then I can."

Gray Serpent replied unhurriedly, "I advise you not to be so impulsive. Dr. Mei might develop some unnecessary suspicions."

Elysia stared directly into Gray Serpent's emerald, sinister snake eyes. "Are you threatening me?"

"I thought we were in a cooperative relationship," Gray Serpent said in an innocent tone. "This is merely advice."

"Miss Sakura's post is in Central Europe, but she's currently in the Southern Urals. I gave Dr. Mei a reason for her to leave her post – because I am here." Gray Serpent's eyes glinted with cunning. "And a second Fusion Warrior leaving their post won't be so easily explained."

"..." Elysia silently ended the communication, gritting her teeth as she whispered, "Asking for trouble..."

The text on the terminal flashed by rapidly. The Fusion Warrior's exceptional memory allowed Sakura to read thousands of words at a glance, absorbing all the information into her mind. Nearly a thousand words of complex data, never-before-seen addresses, and intricate, disorganized passwords were as if directly imprinted in her memory, without a single error.

After memorizing the information, she used Cold Prison Ice Sky to slice the terminal in half. She then rushed to the address written in the data at the fastest speed she had ever moved.

"No..." For the first time, Gray Serpent realized the trajectory of his scheme was starting to deviate. "She shouldn't be going there."

But he didn't panic. Nothing is perfect. People strive for the perfect form, not perfection itself, because perfection itself only exists in the theoretical world. A plan that encounters an error does not signify failure; failure belongs to the schemer who cannot adapt to endless changes.

Gray Serpent opened the communication device on his arm and proactively contacted her. "Miss Sakura, this is Gray Serpent." He typed character after character on the terminal, wanting to know what kind of information Sakura had obtained.

"Please speak." From the other end of the line came her icy voice, accompanied by the sound of wind whistling past.

"I've discovered an interesting clue."

"..." Only the wind answered Gray Serpent.

"Please tell me the location. After I finish investigating here, I will go."

"I regret that such an approach carries certain risks. Through a series of tracking methods, it was discovered that Niazepi's portable terminal is located at a suburban transport warehouse. The next transport truck will arrive in 21 minutes. If you don't get there in time, we may never uncover Niazepi's secrets."

Sakura stood at the highest point of the building, her clothes fluttering freely in the wind. Cold Prison Ice Sky in her hand emitted wisps of icy light. Her eyes gazed at the horizon, and a breath escaped her crimson lips.

"I'm on my way."

"Mhm..." Gray Serpent said slowly, with his hands behind his back, "The train is running on the second track."

Gray Serpent was not a dull person. He could keenly sense Sakura's growing suspicion and increasingly uncontrollable behavior.

When Sakura didn't report the clues she obtained to Gray Serpent immediately, he understood that she knew her sister was at the center of the vortex. However, he had not yet learned the specific reason for Sakura's investigation. Gray Serpent guessed that Ling was being threatened by a mysterious organization – otherwise, Sakura wouldn't believe the clues Gray Serpent spoke of.

As long as he released a clue related to Ling next, Sakura would follow the direction Gray Serpent pointed.

"Once you grasp someone's weakness, their mind and will are yours."

Sakura watched as the dark gray truck drove into the suburban warehouse and stopped. The driver jumped out of the driver's seat and secured the coupling. She leaped down from the green tin roof, like a falling cherry blossom, without making a sound. Sakura used the hilt of Cold Prison Ice Sky to knock out the on-duty guard and the truck driver.

"Where is the portable terminal located?"

That voice, full of cunning and malice, replied, "Container number A203."

She moved like a shadow of midnight, gliding past row after row of green and red containers. Container A203, a green one, appeared before her. She raised her hand, and Cold Prison Ice Sky lightly grazed the padlock on the container. It split in two as if it were butter, falling to the ground with a clang.

The metal door of the container slowly opened with a piercing screech. Niazepi's portable terminal lay inside an opened wooden box. Sakura picked it up. The terminal's indicator light glowed blue, and the status bar showed it had sufficient battery power.

It was set with a lock screen password, and the numbers she had seen earlier couldn't unlock it.

Sakura pondered for a moment. "A password with this many digits does resemble the year-month-day format." She entered Niazepi's birthday.

<Incorrect Password ×>

She thought again for a moment, then her fingers swiped across the terminal once more.

<Unlocked>

The input is Niazepi's birthday in reverse order.

"Very good." Sakura nodded with a smile.

"Eden."

"Is there a problem?"

Sakura looked at the terminal, unable to figure it out. She wasn't particularly familiar with modern electronic devices. The modern portable terminal was quite advanced, with a fully transparent touchscreen on the upper half and a graphene casing on the lower half, housing a series of electronic components within.

"Yes, I got Niazepi's private terminal. See if you can find anything."

"Of course, just connect the terminal and the communication device, and I'll handle the rest."

"Mhm."

Sakura did as she was told, and the terminal began to operate automatically. She patiently waited for the results. A dialog box suddenly popped up on the terminal's interactive interface.

<Mute mode off?>

Before Sakura could react, the dialog box slid away on its own. Shortly after, another dialog box popped up.

<Vibration mode on?>

This time, the dialog box didn't disappear for a long time. This left her a bit flustered. Sakura hesitantly asked Eden, "Did... did you find any problems?"

Eden's tone was as usual, "No, we haven't found any problems yet."

Sakura turned the terminal 90 degrees, looking at its side. Suddenly, she noticed another terminal was attached to the back of the portable terminal, almost as if they were one. The fully transparent touchscreen made her think the dialog box displayed on the back terminal was from Niazepi's terminal.

The terminal on the back didn't have a password lock, but just to be safe, she turned on vibration mode for both Niazepi's private terminal and the terminal of unknown origin on the back.

Bzzzz bzzzzzz bzzzz bzzzzzz bzzzz bzzzzzz bzzzz bzzzzzz

Sakura didn't need to memorize this strange vibration frequency. Her profound knowledge of cryptography instantly translated the meaning of this sequence of frequencies.

[Go find Ling]

In the past, Sakura often played hide-and-seek with a young Ling. She loved to be the one who sought.

And Sakura realized a fact—she wasn't the seeker, but the one hiding.

P.S.: Happy New Year!