Jackal

Meanwhile, having saved enough for travel expenses, Kiana also boarded a ship leaving Sicily.

After sweeping her gaze across the docks several times without finding the person she wanted to see, the girl slowly looked away.

Sure enough, her encounter with that youth had merely been a coincidence.

The world was so vast. How could two people meet again so easily?

Still, that was not necessarily a bad thing.

By the time they met again, she would surely have gathered a whole shipload of interesting stories to tell him.

What was unfortunate was that she could not tell him about what had happened in Raymond. It had clearly been something very interesting as well.

Not bringing the youth into the world of Honkai was her bottom line.

Thinking of that silver moon, even more dazzling than the sun, Kiana still could not help feeling her heart surge.

One day, she would become that powerful too!

Standing on the ship's deck, Kiana silently made her vow.

Jackal

Riding a cruise ship as it slowly drifted across the sea, occasionally disembarking to wander around on land, Shi Hen and Raven took nearly a month to reach India from Sicily.

Well, in the end, it was only because Jackal called to urge them along that the two took a plane and crossed half the distance in a few hours.

In the southwestern territorial waters of India, World Serpent's base was hidden on an uninhabited island not marked on any map.

Following a guide, Shi Hen and Raven boarded a small boat and traveled deeper along a concealed waterway hidden within a sea cave. After many twists and turns, they finally entered the base.

It had to be said that even the way this base was built gave off the feeling of a villain organization.

What respectable organization hid its base this deeply?

Walking through the dim, cyberpunk-styled base, Shi Hen suddenly felt like he had become some heinous supervillain—the kind who would run into several superheroes on the street, all jumping out with blades to chop him down.

No wonder there were hardly any good people in World Serpent when they spent every day in a place with this sort of aesthetic.

Even if they locked a white-haired girl in here for long enough, her personality would probably become twisted and depressed.

After heading deeper into the base, Shi Hen and Raven soon met Jackal.

In the spacious, brightly lit reception room, a woman in white with waist-length brown curls and deep brown skin was waiting anxiously.

Upon seeing them—or rather, upon seeing Shi Hen—the woman's eyes immediately lit up. She could not help complaining, "You two took far too long!"

She had already set up the entire experimental environment, yet these two had not even made it halfway there!?

If she had not urged them on, the opportunity would probably have passed by now.

"Don't you have plenty of tasks? Couldn't you just do something else to pass the time?"

Stepping half a pace forward to shield the youth behind her, Raven spoke in an unconcerned tone.

She did not like mad scientists like Jackal, whose minds were filled with nothing but science.

"I can't be bothered explaining it to you. You wouldn't understand even if I did." Equally displeased with Raven, Jackal stared directly at Shi Hen. "That thing is on you, right?"

Shi Hen nodded and raised a hand. A silver metal ring emerged from the void, radiating a faint white glow.

"Good, very good!" Jackal carefully examined the Moonlight Throne, even reaching out to touch it and feel the texture of the special Soul Steel. Her face immediately filled with delight. "As long as we uncover the secrets of this sacred relic, we'll learn how the Previous Civilization understood Honkai and Imaginary Space.

"Go a step further, and even controlling the occurrence of Honkai will be effortless!"

As she spoke, Jackal's expression gradually turned frenzied.

"..."

Looking at Jackal in this state, Shi Hen's expression could not help becoming strange.

Having personally experienced the power of this sacred relic, he really wanted to tell her that she was dreaming too much. This thing was actually just a toy.

But seeing Jackal trapped in a fantasy she could not pull herself out of, Shi Hen hesitated for a few seconds before ultimately saying nothing.

Forget it. Let the kid be happy a little longer.

"Alright, there's nothing more for you two to do. Find somewhere to stay on your own. Just don't disturb me."

After packing the Moonlight Throne into a box, Jackal waved them away and left first.

From beginning to end, she neither introduced herself nor asked Shi Hen's name.

"Was she always like that?"

Shi Hen turned and asked Raven.

"Huh? In what sense?"

Raven paused, then asked.

"Just... that... the way she talks. It's really exaggerated."

Shi Hen carefully chose his words.

Controlling the occurrence of Honkai was something even Moth to Fire would never dare imagine.

"You'll get used to it." Raven waved a hand, wearing the expression of someone who had seen it all. "Don't let Jackal fool you. She's still one of the world's top geniuses. Her annual patent fees alone are worth several times your bounty."

Given the massive bounty on Shi Hen's head, he had already become a unit for measuring large sums of money.

"She can still collect patent fees?"

Shi Hen looked rather pained.

They were a villain organization. Could they really sell patents openly like that?

"She also owns more than a dozen publicly listed companies."

Raven looked down at him with an expression that said, Kid, you're still too young.

Everyone out in the world had a few alternate identities. Who did not?

"...Alright."

Shi Hen nodded reluctantly.

Sure enough, everyone was playing the behind-the-scenes game.

No wonder the main quest in his system, which did not even deserve a name, was to become the Behind-the-Scenes Boss of this world.

"Still, even though Jackal is a genius, you'd better stay away from her." Raven curled her lip and warned him, "If she tries to make you eat anything, refuse immediately—unless you want to end up lying on an operating table."

For now, Jackal merely had the sacred relic to distract her for a while. Once she came to her senses, she would definitely turn her attention to a Stigmata awakener like Shi Hen.

Having worked with Jackal many times, Raven understood her nature better than anyone.

Jackal had never cared about ethics or morality.

"Okay."

Naturally, Shi Hen nodded in agreement.

If someone stuffed all sorts of strange things into his body, like giving him a few extra arms, he had no desire to find out whether Revival Armor could reset that kind of condition.

What if the system thought he was stronger that way?

Theoretically, Gray Serpent should not allow something like that to happen, but if Jackal invoked the Stigmata Project, things would become hard to predict.

In short, it was never wrong to be careful. He would not entrust his safety to World Serpent's moral standards.

"So what do we do now?"

Shi Hen asked.

It had to be said that Jackal was indeed efficient. After taking the sacred relic, she completely stopped caring about them. She had not even arranged someone to receive them.

The guide had stopped at the entrance to the reception room and did not have the authority to enter.

"Of course, we'll do something fun~"

Raven licked her lips, her wine-red eyes filled with excitement.

Boom—

Amid a violent explosion, Shi Hen felt his vision go dark, and his body involuntarily toppled forward.

Ah, I died again...

That was the final thought that flashed through Shi Hen's mind.

Hiss~

The glass pod door opened. His consciousness returned to his body, and an unfamiliar ceiling entered Shi Hen's view.

Who am I? Where am I? What am I supposed to do?

While that string of doubts was still going through the motions, a pleasant female voice full of smugness sounded beside the youth's ear. "Heh heh, now you know how amazing your big sister is, right?"

Coming back to his senses, Shi Hen looked at the smiling Raven and curled his lip. "You're just relying on your experience to bully—"

"Hm?"

Raven's brows rose slightly.

"Sister Natasha is mighty!"

Shi Hen immediately changed his tune.

Only then did Raven nod in satisfaction and extend a hand toward the youth.

Shi Hen paused slightly, but did not refuse. Grasping her hand, he rose from the Consciousness Immersion Pod.

As one of World Serpent's advanced technologies, the Consciousness Immersion Pod could already achieve nearly one hundred percent realism. It was a high-end training facility in the base that required reservations and waiting in line to use.

However, as an organization executive on the same level as Jackal, the owner of the base—and as one of Jackal's guests—Raven naturally had privileges.

Thus, she brought Shi Hen to this training room, where the two used the Consciousness Immersion Pods to do something countless game enthusiasts could only dream of—play fully immersive holographic games.

Considering the difference in strength between them, Raven decisively chose the mech piloting training mode. After that, Shi Hen was beaten over and over again.

No matter how capable Shi Hen himself was, Tactical Mechs were still fragile. Could he really jump out of the cockpit and challenge her to a real fight?

After he blew Raven up once by abandoning his mech, she unreasonably banned that tactic.

Heh, what a petty woman.

Shi Hen glanced at Raven's delighted face and quietly complained in his heart.

"Come on. Are you hungry?"

Still immersed in the pleasant feeling of being stronger than the youth, Raven led Shi Hen out of the training room.

Now that they were done using the equipment, there was no reason to keep occupying it. A whole group of people was waiting in line behind them.

"Yeah."

Following beside Raven, Shi Hen nodded lightly.

Although all one had to do in the Consciousness Immersion Pod was lie down, mental activity consumed plenty of stamina too.

"Is there anything you want to eat?"

Raven asked.

"Will Sister Natasha cook herself?"

Shi Hen looked at the mercenary with some surprise.

After spending so much time with Raven, he had never seen her cook.

"I can have a chef make something especially for you."

Raven answered calmly.

In World Serpent, the privileges of high-ranking members were written directly into the rules. There was no need to hide them.

"...Sister Natasha is amazing."

Shi Hen gave her a thumbs-up.

As an ordinary member of the organization, he naturally chose to cling tightly to Executive Raven's long, fair leg.