She reached out and waved her hand in front of March 7th: "March? Snap out of it! Does it still hurt so much you can't speak? Should I go ask Danheng for some medicine?"
Himeko was brought back to reality by Xing's action. Looking at the gray-haired girl's golden eyes filled with concern, the heavy thoughts in her heart about conspiracies, attacks, and aftereffects were temporarily diluted by a feeling of helpless warmth.
She sighed softly and shook her head.
"No need, Xing."
She paused, then added, trying to match March 7th's usual playful tone, though the underlying stability remained, "I... just need a little rest. Maybe... I really did bump into something last night by accident."
Xing nodded skeptically but insisted, "Then you must tell me if anything is wrong! Don't try to tough it out! I'm actually very reliable!"
Himeko looked at her earnest expression, and the corners of her mouth finally curved up in a gratified smile.
"Mhm, I know."
She said softly, "Thank you, Xing."
Inside a certain World Serpent safe house.
Raven leaned against the cold wall, arms crossed, her rose-red serpentine pupils beneath her gray hair clearly spelling out "life is meaningless."
A mission briefing was spread out on the small table in front of her, the most conspicuous line mercilessly mocking her:
[Target Location: Schicksal Headquarters - Core Vault Area]
"Floating islands... above the Mediterranean Sea... a massive defensive group formed by nine main islands..."
Raven muttered these incredibly basic pieces of intelligence retrieved from the database, feeling her proud mercenary career was facing an unprecedented challenge.
(How exactly did I nod and agree to this?)
She questioned herself for the thousandth and first time.
(Just because I saw a 'Galactic Baseballer' face in the conference room, my brain completely shut down, daring to take on a mission that clearly asks an ant to chew through a Titan Armored Vehicle?)
Infiltrate Schicksal Headquarters? That's Schicksal!
One of the world's most tightly organized powers, its headquarters is built directly on floating islands above the Mediterranean Sea, representing the pinnacle of technology and defensive fortresses of this era.
Conventional methods? Non-existent.
Direct assault? That's equivalent to announcing to the world, "All World Serpent members are here, come and surround us."
Smuggling in? Not even an unauthorized drone could fly inside.
Just as Raven's mind was trapped in the dead loop of "how to go up to heaven," and she was about to consider the feasibility of hijacking a Hyperion, a rhythmic "slurp—slurp—" sound stubbornly drilled into her ears.
A vein throbbed on her forehead, and she slowly turned her head.
The culprit was sitting in the chair opposite her.
Jack was holding a steaming cup of instant noodles, eating with intense concentration.
She lowered her head slightly, her golden eyes focused on the noodles without much highlight, her movements standard, but the sound... was particularly clear in the silent safe house.
"...I said,"
Raven finally couldn't help but speak, her voice suppressing annoyance, "Why don't you think of a solution? The job we took is about 'Going Up to Heaven.'"
She deliberately emphasized the words "Going Up to Heaven."
Jack heard this and paused her slurping action.
She looked up at Raven, her face still lacking expression.
Then, just as Raven anticipated her saying, "Let's eat first," Jack made an even more baffling move.
She picked up another unopened tub of instant noodles on the table, flicked her wrist, and the tub slid steadily right in front of Raven.
The movement was precise, the force moderate, and she even thoughtfully faced the flavor label toward Raven.
"Here. It's still hot."
Jack said, her tone flat, making it impossible to tell if it was concern or just a statement of fact.
Raven: "..."
(A provocation! This is definitely provoking me!)
She stared at the instant noodles emitting a cheap aroma, feeling her string of sanity buzzing again.
An "Xing," supposedly from another world, faced with an S-rank problem concerning the organization's survival, offered her first substantive suggestion: eat instant noodles?
Just as Raven took a deep breath, preparing to push the offensive noodles away and properly "educate" her new colleague about mission urgency, Jack moved again.
She pulled a folded piece of paper from her jacket pocket, held it between two fingers, and smoothly pushed it across to Raven, resting it right on the edge of the tub of instant noodles.
Raven raised an eyebrow, picked up the paper with extreme reluctance and a hint of piqued curiosity.
After just a few glances, Raven's face, originally full of impatience, was instantly replaced by astonishment.
It was too detailed.
Detailed to the point of exceeding her understanding of the word "intelligence."
First was Li Sushang's precise coordinates, not the vague "Schicksal Headquarters," but detailed down to the "Helheim" Experimental Zone within the floating island group, even marking the specific floor, room number, and a simplified 3D structural diagram of the room's interior.
Second was the model of the "Sleep Pod" she was using: RT-7C "Sleeper" Custom Life Support Unit.
Attached were not only the full technical parameters, energy circuit diagrams, and emergency unlock protocols (three different security levels) for this model, but also a note in small red print stating, "This device previously experienced periodic noise abnormalities during the ███-██ batch production."
(...They know even this? This isn't just intelligence; they must have brought the Schicksal Laboratory's quality inspection reports and maintenance logs!)
What made Raven's pupils contract was the "Operation Plan" listed below in concise bullet points.
The core strategy was not a direct assault or complex disguise, but utilizing a routine logistics resupply transfer.
The plan showed that next Wednesday, a transport squad belonging to Schicksal's internal "Materials Management and Circulation Department" would take a dedicated transport vessel from a hidden ground transfer station to the Headquarters Floating Island Group for routine resupply.
The composition of this squad, exchange codes, vessel identification signals, route map, and even the squad members' recent duty rosters and health examination reports... were all listed.
The draft plan suggested that during the window when the transport vessel arrives at the ground transfer station for final preparations, Raven should utilize her World Serpent cadre intelligence network and disguise technology to neutralize and replace a key member of the squad.
Simultaneously, Jack would disguise herself as a "Special Experiment Subject Containment Unit" being transported on the vessel and infiltrate the cargo hold.
By leveraging the internal personnel's identity and the "reasonableness" of cargo transport, they would circumvent the most stringent external defense scans.
"The difficulties lie in the secondary identity verification inside the Helheim Experimental Zone, and the path selection and timing control during target transfer."
The plan concluded with a calm assessment, "It is recommended to prepare Plan B: Create a minor localized malfunction to distract the guards. Recommended malfunction types are as follows..."
Raven gripped the edge of the paper, her knuckles slightly white from the force.
She looked up, gazing once more at Jack opposite her, who had resumed slurping her instant noodles.
(Thorough... terrifyingly thorough.)
This was absolutely not something the person in front of her, who seemed to only think about "eating instant noodles," could have devised independently.
There must be a higher-level entity behind this, one frighteningly familiar with the internal operations of Schicksal, doing the planning.
Was it Gray Serpent?
Or was it a power deep within the World Serpent that even she, a cadre, had never encountered?
It couldn't possibly be Hare, could it?
Countless questions swirled in Raven's mind, but as a top mercenary, she knew better what to do now.
The authenticity of the intelligence needed verification, and the plan's feasibility required further deduction and preparation, but at least, the situation was no longer a desperate black void; a clear path had appeared.
She glanced at the tub of instant noodles in front of her, which was no longer scalding hot, and then looked at Jack opposite her, who was eating with an expression of "selflessness."
"...Tsk."
Finally, she made an ambiguous sound and tore open the instant noodle packaging.
Boiling hot water poured into the noodle cake, steaming up white mist scented with artificial flavorings.
(Anyway, let's eat first.)
She took a big, loud slurp, imitating Jack.
(And then, turn this damned plan... into reality.)
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