The subsequent process went smoother than imagined.
The Core Experimental Area, originally heavily guarded, now had visibly reduced security by at least two-thirds. Most of the remaining guards looked tense, and the communication channels were filled with noisy information about "Southern Hemisphere Anomaly," "Bishop's Emergency Order," and "Suspected Herrscher-level Threat," clearly indicating their minds were entirely focused on the sudden "Herrscher."
Following the path outlined in the intelligence, the two encountered almost no significant obstacles, breaking through several isolation doors that theoretically required complex authorization or brute-force hacking, finally reaching the target room.
The room was small, and the furnishings were simple, almost clinical.
In the center was a platform raised above the floor, and on the platform rested a streamlined silver hibernation pod.
Faint, deep blue light flowed across the surface of the pod. Through the observation window, one could vaguely see a beautiful young girl lying inside, eyes closed and expression peaceful, as if merely sleeping.
It was Li Sushang.
Jack quickly stepped forward, her fingers rapidly sweeping across the control panel on the side of the hibernation pod. Strings of complex code and data streams appeared and vanished beneath her fingertips.
After a few seconds, she nodded, confirming the target's status.
Raven followed, her brow furrowed as she looked at the hibernation pod before her.
(Alright, we found the person. Now what? How do we move this ton-heavy behemoth? Dismantle it and carry it on our shoulders?)
Just as she was about to ask Jack about the plan again, she saw the other party make a new move.
Jack pulled four palm-sized "gadgets" out of her jacket, which looked like they were irregularly pieced together.
They were all different shapes, inconspicuous, and even resembled defective scraps from a child's haphazard block assembly.
Then, under Raven's confused gaze, Jack squatted down and placed the four gadgets on the four corners of the hibernation pod's base, positioning them seemingly after precise calculation, forming an asymmetrical pattern.
After placing them, Jack stood up and took a step back.
She raised her hands and gently clapped them together in front of her chest.
"Clap."
A soft sound, almost inaudible in the silent room.
Immediately after—
The hibernation pod, along with the platform beneath it, and Li Sushang lying on the platform—
vanished.
Not invisibility, not teleportation.
It was just that clean and decisive... visually gone.
Only the polished floor remained, as if nothing had ever been placed there.
Raven's eyes instantly went wide, her mouth unconsciously dropped open, and she froze in place like an ice-bound statue.
(What—happened?!)
Her brain completely crashed.
Then, extremely stiffly, she turned her head to look at Jack, the perpetrator.
Jack's expression remained unchanged; she merely tilted her head slightly, as if confirming whether the "item" had been "signed for."
Then, without saying anything, she turned and walked out of the room, her steps steady, as if she had just casually tossed away an empty beverage can.
"Wait, wait!!"
Raven finally found her voice, though it was still shaky.
She practically jogged to catch up to Jack, her face filled with the urgency of "I need an explanation." "Just now... what was that?! Where is the person?! Where is the hibernation pod?! How... how did you do that?!"
Jack didn't stop walking, only turning her head to glance at Raven with those golden eyes that lacked highlights, and flatly uttered a few words:
"Don't overthink it."
Raven: "...???"
(Six Hundred Sixty-Six, even the salt isn't salty anymore!!!)
She felt like she wasn't executing a secret mission, but participating in an absurd drama.
But looking at Jack's back, who was about to exit the corridor, she could only forcefully suppress her stomach full of questions and shock, and quickly follow.
(Forget it... as long as the mission is complete... maybe?)
Just as they had arrived, the two quickly disappeared into the complex depths of Schicksal Headquarters along the planned evacuation route, utilizing the chaos that had not yet fully subsided.
A few minutes later.
The room where the "Hibernation Pod Disappearance Case" had just occurred.
The air slightly twisted, and a blurry human silhouette quietly emerged in the center of the room.
The silhouette gradually sharpened, transforming into a puppet—it was precisely the "Black Curtain Puppet" used by Madam Herta for infiltration.
The puppet looked at the empty center of the room, and a sigh of helplessness echoed in the vacant space:
"Truly... troublesome."
Raising its hand, palm facing down.
Complex purple data emerged from the palm, like living vines, rapidly outlining shapes on the floor.
A flash of light.
A silver pod identical to the one that had just vanished, complete with the platform beneath it, reappeared in the exact same spot.
The Black Curtain Puppet confirmed the situation again, nodding slightly.
"Still, gotta give Otto some fun."
She murmured to herself, and her figure rippled like water again, silently merging into the shadows and vanishing completely.
Silence returned to the room.
Perspective shift.
The "Elysian Realm" new district in the System Space.
A hatch slid open silently, and Hua stepped out from within.
She gently let out a breath, a hint of lingering reflection on her usually serene face.
(Xianzhou Luofu...)
The civilization she saw in the simulation options, which was subtly similar yet distinctly different from the scenery of her homeland in her Remembrance, displayed details that were beyond imagination in their realism.
The towering starship docks, the interweaving of ancient-style streets and dazzling holographic signboards, the clamor of the marketplace, the rhythmic storytelling of the teahouse performers... all were so delicate that she almost forgot it was a simulated environment.
She was even still wearing that set of elegant blue and white attire; the fabric was smooth to the touch, the tailoring carried an Oriental charm, and there were flowing cloud patterns on the sleeves. It truly had some of the transcendent feeling from her Remembrance, though it was now slightly more efficient.
(The image change to adapt to local customs was so realistic... it even persisted after returning.)
She looked down at her sleeve, attributing this admiration to the system's powerful technology, and didn't dwell on it.
Just then, the door to another Simulation Training Room next door also opened.
Kevin walked out.
He was still wearing his combat suit, but at the moment, he was holding something in his hand, seemingly examining it closely.
It was a pair of rather peculiar-looking sunglasses.
The lenses were a deep, starry black, but the edges were inlaid with a circle of tiny blue light spots. The frame was made of some matte silver metal, and the overall shape was a slightly flamboyant five-pointed star.
Hua's gaze was drawn to the sunglasses for a moment, and she immediately noticed that Kevin's expression was also slightly different from usual—less of the perpetual chill, and more confusion.
"Kevin?" Hua called out.
Kevin looked up, and when he saw Hua, a hint of surprise flashed in his ice-blue eyes.
"Hua, you..."
His gaze lingered on Hua's attire, which was clearly different from her usual combat gear. "You changed clothes?"
Hua then remembered she was still wearing the "Luofu" clothing, and explained with a slight awkwardness: "Yes... in the simulation room, the system offered attire options that fit the local culture. I thought it would revert when I exited the simulation, but I didn't expect..."
She gestured to her outfit.
Kevin nodded, didn't pry further, and quickly returned his attention to the sunglasses in his hand.
"This,"
He held up the five-pointed star sunglasses. "It appeared in the Combat Simulation Settlement Space just now. It's labeled as 'Environment Adaptation Item: Beach Party Style'."
Kevin repeated the description he saw, but his slightly furrowed brow showed that he didn't fully understand the meaning of the item.
"The description mentioned that wearing it might help... 'alleviate interpersonal relations'."
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