The wind and snow, along with the frigid air, felt like sharp blades constantly irritating the skin of pedestrians.
The thick white snow was like a carpet spread on the ground, completely surrounding the huge airport.
"Ding-dong--"
The airport doors slowly opened from the inside.
Hela, dressed in a white hoodie and casual shorts, emerged from the snow-covered world around her.
"This is Russia. Help me get a taxi."
Hela stood by the roadside, holding a nearly ten-centimeter-thick book titled "The Complete Guide to Rapid Language Learning," attracting the attention of passersby.
"Okay... where are you going...?"
The Bluetooth earpiece on his ear flashed a faint red light, and [X] asked in a deep voice.
"I don't know, let's get in the car first and then we'll talk."
"..." There was a moment of silence on the other end of the earpiece. "Never mind, we happen to have a member of the Light God Society nearby. Let him meet you."
"Oh, that works too."
Hela looked left and right, and finally came to a bench. Without even shoveling the snow, she sat down and began to read the book in her hands.
"Actually, I can translate for you; you don't need to learn these things..."
The headphones flashed red again, alerting Hela.
"Oh, that's good."
Hela casually turned another page to study.
"..."
Just as Hela turned another page, a commotion suddenly broke out in the street.
Hela looked in the direction of the sound and saw an extremely wild scene on the road.
On the road, a motorcycle painted with will-o'-the-wisps and with flames still shooting from its exhaust pipe roared forward like a raging beast.
The thick snow melted as the motorcycle approached, creating a vacuum path.
The evaporated snowmelt formed a thick trail of mist behind him.
Two flashing red and blue lights appeared and disappeared in the fog; upon closer inspection, they turned out to be two police cars with their sirens blaring!
"Сад в машин!" (Stop immediately!)
"Иначемыбудемстрелять!" (Otherwise, we'll have to shoot!)
A Russia policeman leaned out of the car window and shouted into a megaphone.
But what he got in return was a banana peel that flew into his face.
"Hahaha! You stupid cop, come and arrest me if you dare! Hahaha!"
On the motorcycle, the wild, gothic-style teenager kept laughing, his laughter even drowning out the roar of the motorcycle at times.
Suddenly, he caught a glimpse of Hela out of the corner of his eye, and then several threads emerged from his wrist and surged toward her.
"I've come to pick you up!"
An almost transparent thread wrapped around Hela's wrist, and before Hela could react, she was suddenly pulled onto the back seat of the will-o'-the-wisp.
"Goodbye, you useless cops!"
He gave the police officer behind him a polite middle finger.
As soon as the accelerator was floored, the flames on the exhaust pipe burst forth like a propeller.
The motorcycle vanished instantly, leaving behind only swirling snow and mist, and an enraged policeman behind it.
Buzzing! Buzzing! Buzzing!
A piercing buzzing sound and scorching heat rose continuously from beneath me.
The surrounding buildings flashed past Hela's eyes at breakneck speed, and the rising white smoke made it difficult for most people to even see the road ahead.
"Hey, miss! How was that? Wasn't I cool?"
As he spoke, he stuck out his tongue, which had been injected with a tongue tonic, and struck what he thought was a very cool pose.
Hela calmly closed the book. "Find me a man named Tuote."
"Huh?" The punk looked surprised. "Don't come to me with things like finding someone."
"Yes, I wasn't looking for you. I was talking to [X]."
Hela stared intently at him, while he stiffly turned his head away and focused on driving.
"Searching big data..."
"Search failed, no relevant individuals found..."
"Couldn't find it?" Hela tapped the Bluetooth headset. "Is it broken?"
"... No, he might have some programming knowledge and modified his file to hide his identity."
"Because I was previously marked by [Satellite], if I rashly try to delve deeper into the program to search for his previous files, I'm very likely to be detected."
As he spoke, a hint of fear crept into his deep, electronic voice, "That guy can erase me."
"What should we do then?"
"By the way, how did you know he was in Russia? Couldn't you have been more precise?"
[X] asked Hela a question in return.
Hela rubbed her head. "He has my cells, but too much time has passed, and I don't know what he's been doing, so the number of cells in his body is much less than before."
"Right now, I can only roughly sense that it's located in Russia, but I don't know its exact location."
"Tell me what he looks like. Even if he's completely altered, unless he gets plastic surgery, I can still find him."
Hela thought for a moment, and her expression slowly changed.
The punk rocker, who was driving, turned around and looked over.
I saw a slightly overweight face, but one brimming with literary and noble qualities.
But why does she still have the figure of a young girl?!
"This is it." Hela's soft, sweet voice came from the mouth of that face.
Snap!
The punk quickly slapped himself, forcing himself not to think about or see the scene, and tremblingly turned the handle.
There was no sound from the other end of the headphones, but a faint flashing red light indicated that [X] was looking up information.
Less than a second later, [X] responded.
"Found him. He was seen entering and leaving the area near the main headquarters of the Star God Group in the Moscow district, according to surveillance footage."
"He's most likely an employee of this company, and a very important one at that, considering he spends ten days or even months in that building."
"Okay, let's go there now and smash this company up."
Hela changed her face back to normal, but there was silence on the other end of the earpiece.
"That... that's the main base for the International Night Star to research and develop [ Variant Artifact ]. Its importance is no less than that of the Night Star headquarters in various countries."
"I can beat them."
"It will most likely attract the [Godslaying] Squad, or even the entire Night Star, to hunt us down."
"It's alright, we still have the Light God Society."
"Dear partner, while we will not interfere with your will, please do not push us into an abyss."
"Then what do you suggest we do? Besides forcing our way in, what other options are there? Can we sneak in?"
"Uh... I'm afraid it will be even more difficult."
Hela didn't want to listen to [X]'s idiotic nonsense anymore, so she took off her headphones and crushed them in her palm.
"But I think we can stake out the area... He's not always there, so we can just run into him."
The motorcycle's display showed an "X" sound.
"We're in the same group anyway, all we need to do is meet."
"If all else fails, then resort to violence."
"Okay, that's settled then." We should avoid unnecessary trouble if possible.
"To Moscow," Hela said expressionlessly to the Will-o'-the-Wisp Boy in front of her.
The latter stroked his chin, " Moscow... you usually have to take a train to get there."
Then he grinned and said, "It's all about the thrill!"
He floored the accelerator.
Bang!!!
With a loud hum, the motorcycle engine exploded, and a towering flame nearly buried the rider.