Chapter 205: Can't Afford to Provoke, Can't Afford to Provoke

Gurgle...

Hua tucked half her head under the water, making the surface of the water bubble. After soaking for a while, her fair skin turned slightly pink.

Everything was going smoothly, and she had gained the right to call her senior brother by name.

The girl lightly clenched her fist. She had just messaged Carol, and after some deliberation, Carol had sent her a thumbs-up emoji.

"Right, I'm great at subtly influencing things. Ah, why can't I just apply what I've learned? I'm the one who's been watching more than that girl, so why can't I use it?" Hua thought to herself, feeling a bit troubled. Sometimes she thought too little, and sometimes she thought too much. She pricked her ears, listening for sounds outside.

Senior brother's call should be over by now.

She double-checked, then subconsciously furrowed her brows. Every day at this time, Ryan would talk to Mobius on the phone. Luckily, she had stealthily eavesdropped on the conversation, and it was mostly about work. Occasionally, the two of them would exchange some sarcastic remarks.

"How nice, this kind of relationship I haven't experienced before. No wonder Carol suggested a rebellious tactic, but I can't act. It's just not my personality."

Hua caused the water to bubble again, her emerald eyes filled with distress. She thought back to her childhood. Once, when she was cleaning Ryan room, she found a book under his bed. The pictures in it still burned in her memory.

Now, many years later, the only thing clear in her blurry memory was the word "big."

Lost in thought, Hua adjusted her internal calculations from a 50/50 split to a 60/40 split. There was no way to fix this fatal flaw, no matter how hard she tried. She absentmindedly remembered Carol, her playful attitude.

"Charm, charm is the most important thing! Your fashion has changed, but it's still not fully there!"

"What kind of fashion magazines are you reading? Do you have the body and maturity of others? I'm impressed with your stubbornness. If you can't keep up, find another path," Carol had said.

"Use your advantages! Yes, go with the pure route, the 'girl next door' vibe. Don't you understand? Look at your face, your long legs—why are you fighting with your chest? They'll cry if they see this!"

While it made some sense, Carol's attitude was so arrogant Hua nearly wanted to pinch her face.

Hua bit her teeth lightly, scrolling through the pictures Carol sent and landing on the last line of text. She pressed her lips together, hesitating.

Knock knock knock.

Suddenly, the sound of a knock on the door startled her, making her jump.

"Hua, how come you've been in there for two hours? Did you faint from soaking?" Ryan voice came from outside the door. He was joking, knowing that with enough Honkai energy, he could throw anyone into lava without any problem.

Splash—

The door was instantly pushed open. Hua, head down, looked like a child who had been caught doing something wrong. "Sorry, I got carried away talking to Carol."

Talking in the shower and dropping your phone into the tub—how wasteful!

Ryan was about to scold her, but then saw that Hua was wrapped in a white bath towel, her gray-blue hair dripping water that fell onto her collarbone and trickled down her delicate skin.

She was pale, her skin smooth and soft, with the unique vitality of a young girl. Her figure wasn't overly full, but she wasn't too thin either. Except for her flat chest, she was shaped as she should be—well-rounded where it counted, her curves in all the right places.

Especially her face. Thanks to her fusion surgery, it remained in the youthful 16-17-year-old stage, with some lingering innocence. With her not-yet-fully-formed body, she resembled a perfect JK (Japanese schoolgirl) model—the type that calls you to wake up in anime.

But due to her profession, the innocence was mixed with a sharp, heroic aura. She had no trace of fragility. And her slightly awkward personality added purity to the mix.

The two stared at each other in silence. Hua didn't know that Ryan eyes scanned her body, much like a scanner, seeing through her inside and out.

Her face suddenly turned red. She buried her head and pushed past him, rushing back to her room.

"Still so reckless. Ah, but that's youth for you." Ryan sighed deeply, his mind already aged by his soul's accumulated years—almost fifty years, not counting his time adrift. He was probably a thousand-year-old spirit in human terms.

Just as he was about to go into the shower, he heard a click. Turning around, he saw Hua sticking half her head out from the room.

"Senior, senior brother, I heard Carol say there's a summer festival tomorrow. Do you want to go together?"

Her wet hair spilled down, covering her face. Ryan couldn't see her, but he heard her voice trembling with uncertainty.

"Tomorrow night?" Ryan paused for a moment, and Hua could hear his heartbeat clearly.

"Sure, I don't have anything else to do."

Her hand clenched into a fist for a moment, squeezing so tightly that the doorframe seemed to break off a large chunk like tofu. But Hua didn't care about that.

"Then I'll wait for you after work tomorrow!"

She quickly pulled her head back inside, and Ryan looked at the splintered wood on the floor. He smiled at how careless Hua was, thinking of her as just like an ordinary girl—innocent, yet with that familiar, youthful clumsiness.

He stopped smiling, though. Innocence was fine, but when she was shy, she could turn anyone into a puddle of mush.

Can't afford to provoke, can't afford to provoke.

...

"What is Dr. Ryan doing?"

"I don't know, but he's been in contact with Dr. Mobius constantly. The encryption level is too high; even our best hackers can't decrypt it."

"No need to worry. He's definitely looking for a way to break the deadlock."

"Good thing we made preparations in advance, destroyed the evidence, and used interests to recruit a large number of people. Even he won't easily find any flaws."

"Yes, personal power and authority are always balanced."

If the Japanese-style apartment was filled with youthful energy, then in the dark room, each "tombstone" was involved in a power play.

It was silent and oppressive, like a religious ritual. Only red lights illuminated the black tombstones, making it impossible to tell who was who. The only thing that could be seen was that two new tombstones had been added.

Despite trying to cover it up, the sounds in the room weren't too fervent. It seemed not much different from Fire Moth's meetings.

No one shouted useless slogans. They were all discussing practical matters.

"We can't let that doctor stay too long. Wherever he goes, big trouble always follows."

"Can the headquarters transfer him?"

"It's difficult from a procedural standpoint, because he doesn't even have a superior. Who can give the order? Even the commander can't do anything about him."

"We can't leave him in Neon, destroying the entire plan and finding the clues."

"How do we find him? I actually hope he causes some trouble. That way, we can use all of Fire Moth's strength to suppress him, and not all the people around him are willing to betray."

Another silence followed. Ryan waiting was very undignified, a bit like throwing a tantrum. They simply didn't have enough power to kill him unless—

"Can the Herrscher take action? We could make the Eastern District temporarily malfunction."

All the tombstones waited for an answer. After a few seconds, an old voice finally spoke.

"You're underestimating him. True, he only has two people who are useful to him, but that Edwin isn't easy to control. And once a Herrscher appears, it's the enemy of the entire Fire Moth. He'll have the moral high ground and be able to mobilize all the power."

"Even if we gather the power of two Herrscher-level individuals to kill him, the gaps left behind will be unfillable. Dr. Mobius will retaliate and gather the remaining forces."

No one dared to say that everything could be solved by eliminating him. After all, Fire Moth wasn't a toy. Most of its warriors hadn't reached this level.

"Then just watch?"

"No. We can force him to act and completely break Fire Moth's bottom line. Power isn't about killing openly. That's neither elegant nor dignified." The old voice paused, then brought up another matter.

"And his strange actions now—he's hiding something. He might be interested in something else."

"Something else?"

"Sundown Alley. Don't rush to argue. I've already learned that he has the ability to cross the entire Earth in a short time. This method fits his style."

Ryan always concealed his movements, but how could he be so bold in Neon? They had grasped his trump card and quietly found the clues through the data terminals.

The situation became clear. He was trying to mislead them, no wonder there had been no activity. And with this trump card, he had the initiative.

"Within Fire Moth's territory, we can't do anything to him. But outside of it, we have a chance. Everyone knows that the Herrscher will determine his fate."

"Understood, I'll arrange for people to go to Sundown Alley."

This was the best outcome, and no one would feel guilty. The 'eyes' were placed on the two tombstones in the corner.

These two tombstones had never lit up the call button, as if they were silently observing. One had no information, while the other was engraved with "IX."

After a few seconds of silence, the "IX" tombstone finally lit up the call button, and the conversation started with an irrelevant topic.

"I wonder, can that person really bring someone back to life?"

"Of course. Just like how no matter how much humanity struggles, it's all in vain. You must remember—"

All the tombstones lit up the call buttons, and various voices mixed together, causing the room to hum.

"Honkai, nothing is impossible!"