Shhh… Quiet!

It has to be said, World Serpent's execution is truly strong.

Before nightfall, Jackal selected a few of her subordinates, ordering them to infiltrate the central hospital in advance and wait for their "prey" to arrive. Thus, these low-level operatives quickly gathered there.

And then, they saw the excessive number of Valkyries inside and outside the hospital…

This situation was far beyond the expectations of these low-level operatives, leaving them staring at each other, at a loss for what to do.

Didn't the intel say that only an A-rank Valkyrie was staying here?

But judging by the security they were seeing, it was clearly overkill. It felt like the whole damn nest had been stirred up!

If it weren't for the fact that this place was so far from Schicksal HQ, they would have even suspected that the person lying inside wasn't some A-rank Valkyrie, but an S-rank Valkyrie, or maybe even the Overseer of Schicksal!

"Jackal-sama, something's not quite right…"

These operatives exchanged quiet glances, then hid themselves even more carefully, while also taking the time to report the situation to Jackal.

"Schicksal has heavy security here. It's very difficult for us to find an opportunity to strike!"

It has to be said, although it was far from Jell's original intention, her arrangement was still extremely effective – after scaring Lin Wei, she also managed to trip up World Serpent,

killing two birds with one stone, so to speak…

Therefore, in a sense, Captain Jell could be considered the MVP of the Schicksal team in this match.

(ノへ￣,)

Back to the main story.

On the other side, Jackal was closely monitoring "Yuno's" movements in her "new home."

Seeing her prey move exactly according to her predicted route, Jackal was overjoyed and began to race against time, meticulously setting up her trap. She made up her mind to show this overly impulsive and naive little girl what it meant to be treacherous!

And then, her mood was mostly ruined by the communication from her subordinates…

"A bunch of useless trash, can't even complete such a small task?"

At the mention of Lin Wei's name, Jackal felt like she had been slapped in the face. She was instantly enraged, and gave new orders, as if gritting her teeth.

"Since those Schicksal Valkyries are already on guard, you'd better be careful and don't add unnecessary trouble to the operation on the other side!"

At this moment, regarding the issue of dealing with Otto (Yuno), Jackal and Lin Wei had a rare understanding. Neither of them wanted to distract him (her) from their current course.

Jackal struggled for a long time, thinking of the soon-to-be-captured "Yuno," and finally managed to make a relatively wise decision, gritting her teeth and saying,

"…Use your judgment. If the situation really doesn't allow it, you are permitted to withdraw from there."

Two prey, catch the most troublesome one first!

As for Lin Wei… there will always be opportunities, Jackal consoled herself bitterly.

"Yes!"

The subordinate on the other end of the communication was relieved, and then hung up.

"Hmph, what a cunning guy!"

After hanging up the communication, the more Jackal thought about it, the angrier and more unwilling she became, cursing without reservation.

"Because he's afraid of my revenge, he used some ridiculous reason to lure those Valkyries to that hospital to protect him?"

"What a despicable and shameless guy! Trash! Coward!"

Jackal looked down on Lin Wei, she did in the past, and she still did now.

In her opinion, Lin Wei had always been a villain who only knew how to use others' power. He was despicable, weak, and unambitious. Handing over the precious Divine Key and Stigmata to such a person was a complete waste!

Such a person was worthless except to be put on the experimental table, for her to cut open his body and study him thoroughly!

It was precisely because of this that she felt dissatisfied with Gray Serpent's repeated obstruction of her.

In Jackal's eyes, Lin Wei's trajectory over the past year was as follows:

He learned some truths about the Previous Era and the Honkai from somewhere, and then abandoned everything before the doomsday to escape from his doghouse.

Then, he used Hua to suppress the Herrscher of Corruption, used the Herrscher of Corruption to suppress Gray Serpent, and even dared to offend the supreme lord – this was something he especially couldn't tolerate – and then used Gray Serpent to suppress her…

In her opinion, in this whole process, Lin Wei hadn't done anything except jump back and forth and use others' power, and instead, he himself had gained the greatest benefits!

Just a mere ant, what right did he have?!

Jackal thought jealously and resentfully.

Perhaps it was her long-term research on the Stigmata Project that made her understanding of the concept of "human" become increasingly abstract.

Also, in the various cruel experiments she conducted day after day to advance the Stigmata Project, after personally cutting open the chests and throats of countless people, dismantling and manipulating their bodies like building blocks and toys…

Perhaps she had once been a gentle woman.

But after countless times, while listening to the terrifying and miserable screams of men and women, old and young, while cutting them until they were covered in blood…

Over time, she began to become desensitized to it. She even began to slowly enjoy this feeling, to be excited about getting new prey, to tremble at the prospect of having new things to study…

Slowly, Jackal began to become increasingly indifferent and contemptuous of "individual people," considering herself to be unequal to the vast majority of humans.

She became arrogant because of her contempt.

And because of her arrogance, those beautiful golden eyes of hers only looked up at the sky, no longer knowing how to lower her self-proclaimed noble gaze to see the infinite possibilities of humanity itself.

She would never think: Since Lin Wei could make so many people work for him, there must be something extremely valuable about him that was worth exploring.

She only saw a cunning little person, relying on his cleverness, constantly playing the trick of "borrowing someone else's authority," stealing things that he was not worthy of touching!

And since he had already touched them, she could generously grant him the honor of becoming her experimental subject.

At this point, Jackal began to become stupid because of her arrogance…

The sudden change at the university did not make her reflect on her own rashness and mistakes, but rather, because Lin Wei led Schicksal to destroy her hidden base, she became even more stubbornly convinced – he was just a villain who relied on others' power!

Therefore, she would guess that after "successfully humiliating her," Lin Wei would definitely go to the hospital to visit Anna, and beg for her favor like a dog – and she would not realize at all that this was a clue deliberately exposed by Lin Wei.

She would only think that she could easily capture him when Lin Wei was "proud of himself," and take away all the things that should not belong to him…

But now, she wouldn't even consider that the unexpected event at the central hospital was a decision made by the Valkyries' own will, and had nothing to do with Lin Wei. She never thought that the biological weapons called "Valkyries" were anything worthy of respect.

She would only think that it was Lin Wei, relying on his pitiful cleverness, playing another boring trick of "borrowing someone else's authority" on her.

Although she was still very angry, in order to ensure that she could successfully capture the other prey that was about to fall into her net, Jackal could only make a painful choice.

"Hmph, I'll see how long you can play your little tricks!"

With a sense of all-around superiority, Jackal muttered to herself in a slightly pitying tone, as if Lin Wei's fate had already been pronounced by her.

Jackal considered herself generous and complacent.

But she didn't know that it wasn't a question of whether she would let Lin Wei go or not.

It was that Lin Wei didn't want to let her go yet.

.........

Meanwhile, at the central hospital.

It has to be said that human nature is really a very subtle and interesting thing:

When your superior gives you a lot of unreasonable work, you will instinctively feel resistant, and then you will inevitably feel resentment and slack off.

But when your superior understands your difficulties and tells you to do your best, you will often, out of a momentary feeling of gratitude, or the more utilitarian idea of wanting to perform better, become more motivated and start thinking of ways to accomplish the tasks assigned by your superior.

For example, those low-level operatives who were struggling to play a real-life version of a "stealth game" under the tight guard of the Schicksal Valkyries.

Originally in a dilemma, after learning of Jackal's extremely lenient order, they were relieved, but also felt that their mission could still be pushed a little further.

Of course, this was just a coincidence of various factors colliding.

Because Jackal, who regarded her subordinates as disposable tools, would probably never understand or care about these things – of course, these low-level operatives would never know these things either.

At this moment, they just wanted to try again, to see if they could complete the order given by Jackal-sama.

Courage is certainly commendable, but the difficulties in reality are extremely complex, and it is absolutely impossible to be invincible by shouting "courage" and "bonds" along with moving background music.

This kind of thing requires the protagonist's halo and the spotlight called "camera" to be effective. Both are indispensable – otherwise, why do the previous protagonists of the series always encounter various accidents?

And these low-level operatives of World Serpent obviously wouldn't have this.

Therefore, they could only exchange glances from a distance, and then rely on their long-standing tacit understanding to tell their companions that they needed to find a suitable place to re-discuss the action plan.

Then, they dispersed again, using separate actions to make themselves appear less conspicuous.

Otherwise, there were already few people at night, and suddenly several people sneaking around together would look suspicious!

And those seemingly delicate and seemingly easy-to-bully Valkyries, at that time, would have already taken out their knives and surrounded them, using physical means to tell you who was the easier one to bully…

Therefore, these several low-level operatives who were currently "addicted" to playing a real-life version of a "stealth game," after searching for a long time, finally found a relatively safe "safe house" – the morgue.

The morgue, also known as the mortuary. Using this place as a safe house was, to say the least, a bit of dark humor.

But Valkyries are also girls, and they will instinctively feel resistant to places like the morgue. So, this place naturally became one of the few blind spots for the Valkyries of the Snow Lotus Squad.

Therefore, these uninvited guests of World Serpent didn't really have many choices besides this place – of course, the people of World Serpent were all those who had walked the line of death, and had seen countless mountains of corpses and seas of blood, so they naturally wouldn't avoid this.

"Hurry up, make it short…"

The leader cleared his throat and said straight to the point.

"The target Jackal-sama ordered us to capture may appear at any time! But there are too many Schicksal Valkyries outside. If we continue with the original plan and carry out the capture here, it is very likely to alarm those Valkyries. Jackal-sama does not want to see such an accident, so we must find another way! What do you think, do you have any suggestions?"

He looked expectantly at his companions, but they also looked at each other in difficulty, unable to find a good solution.

Directly forcing it was definitely not an option.

Blocking him on the road outside?

But this area was so large, with roads extending in all directions. With just a few of them, they simply couldn't monitor it all!

There really was someone who didn't play along and raised this suggestion – a young man squatting in a relatively marginal position raised his hand, hesitated slightly, and said,

"We split up and guard the key intersections. As soon as that guy appears, we take him down on the spot, wouldn't that be fine?"

"No!"

The others said in unison, shaking their heads repeatedly. The young man obediently shut up and squatted back down.

The leader explained,

"Jackal-sama instructed us that although this target is weak, he carries a Divine Key. Therefore, we must set up a trap in advance and use the sacred relic specially bestowed by Jackal-sama to restrict the Divine Key! Only by stripping him of his reliance can we capture him!"

The other people also nodded in agreement, obviously knowing this very well.

"I see…"

The young man who asked the question suddenly realized, and then asked curiously,

"Then what kind of sacred relic is it? It can actually restrict a Divine Key?"

"That, of course, is…"

The leader stood up proudly, carefully took out a box about a dozen centimeters long, black and gold, from his arms, and was about to say its name loudly, but suddenly became alert.

If he made too much noise, it might attract the attention of the Valkyries, so he quickly lowered his voice. But this alertness also made him notice something abnormal, and he immediately woke up and questioned,

"Wait, each of us was informed in detail about the mission details. How come you don't know anything?"

"Oh, so it's this thing!"

Since he had been discovered, Lin Wei stopped pretending. He directly and casually took the box from his hand while he was still stunned, and was about to examine it carefully, but found that the others around him were getting restless.

"Shhh… Quiet!"

Lin Wei unceremoniously put the small box in his arms with one hand, put the other hand in front of his mouth, smiled slightly, and said in a low voice,

"You don't want to alarm the Valkyries outside, do you?"