True Stealth

In horror movies around the world, there's a very classic scene:

A group of people, after anxiously surviving a dangerous period or cautiously passing through a perilous area, arrives at a relatively safe place.

Then, just as this group breathes a sigh of relief, they suddenly discover in horror – that at some point, without anyone noticing, an extra person has unknowingly joined the group.

The current situation, for these poor World Serpent tools, was pretty much like that –

Damn it, there were only three of us, where did this fourth guy come from?

"Shhh… Quiet!"

Seeing these World Serpent guys suddenly become agitated like a stirred-up pot, Lin Wei couldn't help but sigh: Why were Jackal's subordinates just as impatient as she was?

He didn't reflect at all on how excessive his chosen method of appearance was. He simply raised a finger unhurriedly, while smiling, politely, and kindly signaling them to calm down.

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

"It's you?! Why are you here?"

Even shocked by the sudden appearance of the uninvited guest, the leader didn't completely lose his mind. After a moment of surprise, he immediately recognized Lin Wei's identity and pounced at him, shouting angrily,

"Give me back the relic!"

Almost simultaneously, the other two also launched attacks at Lin Wei – snakes don't yield to threats!

Since they had already been exposed, and with the Schicksal Valkyries watching like tigers outside, they had no possibility of retreat. They even risked affecting Jackal-sama's plan on the other side!

Realizing that they had caused a major disaster, the low-level operatives almost instantly made the same decision – subdue Lin Wei, retrieve the relic, and go down fighting!

Therefore, they ignored Lin Wei's "kind reminder" and attacked him simultaneously.

Only by eliminating everyone here could they prevent the information from leaking in a short period of time. This was the only remedy they could think of at the moment.

The morgue was small, and they were already close together, so the probability of success was high!

Their decisive and resolute appearance made Lin Wei give a thumbs-up to the quality of World Serpent's employees, and he also counterattacked without hesitation.

Having been beaten by Hua for so long in the Elysian Realm, the results of these painful training sessions had been continuously redeveloped and consolidated under Yae Sakura's supervision during the period after leaving the Elysian Realm. It was this year-long hard work that made Lin Wei appear so at ease at this moment.

He took a small step back – the environment here was really cramped, with almost no space for him to maneuver. Half a step was the limit, but it was enough.

Stepping back half a step, he raised his leg and kicked, sending the guy coming from the left flying, crashing hard into the huge freezer that could hold dozens of corpses.

Lin Wei didn't have time to apologize for this, because the person on the right had already pounced at the same time. So, he suddenly covered his hands with a layer of black gauntlets – "Projection: 10th Divine Key."

With his left hand, he turned and punched, knocking the guy staggering. With his right hand, he seized the opportunity to tightly grip his throat. Then, he bent his leg, his Stigmata on his back glowing slightly, and slammed his elbow, covered by the gauntlet, into his chest with "Inch Force!" sending the man flying like a cannonball.

Also knocked flying was the third person who had pounced from the front, pulled back by this half-step. The two of them rolled together in a heap, covered in dust.

"Bang!"

The guy who had been kicked to the left pulled out a gun and was about to shoot, but a flying cane knocked it away, nailing it to the wall like a javelin.

"Shhh, don't move!"

Lin Wei's smile was still so gentle, but his hands, no longer covered by gauntlets, each held a black pistol, the muzzles pointing directly at the three, gently chiding.

"This is a place to rest the deceased. Be quiet, be respectful, understand?"

......

Outside the door, separated by a wall.

"Huh? I thought I heard something just now?"

A Valkyrie not far from here suddenly turned her head, looking at the closed, heavy door at the far end, and asked doubtfully,

"What's in there?"

After all, this wasn't their base. In their haste, these Valkyries couldn't fully understand the design and layout of the hospital.

"I don't know, I heard it too."

Another Valkyrie accompanying her shook her head and said,

"Shall we go take a look?"

The two exchanged glances, each took out their weapons, and cautiously approached the morgue.

"Creak…"

The door of the morgue was carefully pushed open.

The fight in the morgue had already ended. Facing the intruding Valkyries, Lin Wei was calm, while the other three guys who couldn't get up from the ground were devastated.

"It's over…"

Schicksal's Valkyries had already arrived, there was no chance left, they thought.

"Huh? There's nothing here?"

But unexpectedly, the two Valkyries peeked in at the door, muttering constantly.

"Strange place, not even a light on…"

"Is that a freezer? No wonder it feels a little cold?"

The other Valkyrie touched the goosebumps that had inexplicably appeared on her arm, looked up and around again, and then said,

"Looks like we really heard wrong. Let's go, back to our posts. When the captain returns, we can go off duty."

Her companion nodded in agreement.

Then the two politely closed the door gently. Only then did they notice the sign hanging on the door, the three big words – "Morgue."

One Valkyrie felt the goosebumps she had just smoothed down rise again, and even shivered a little, thinking of various urban legends and horror stories.

Could it be…

The other Valkyrie was more straightforward and exclaimed directly,

"Oh my god, could it be haunted?"

The two exchanged glances and fled in panic…

The moment they turned to run, a black feather fell from the edge of the door frame and disappeared.

"Okay, the uninvited guests have left. Now let's continue our previous topic."

Lin Wei took out the black and gold box from his arms again, examined it briefly. The pattern and style were quite ancient Egyptian, clearly the work of Jackal. He asked the question he had asked before again.

"What exactly is this 'relic' you're talking about?"

You're the uninvited guest!

The poor World Serpent employees couldn't help but roll their eyes, grumbling internally. They couldn't understand how Lin Wei had gotten among them.

Of course, Lin Wei wouldn't explain.

At the same time, he was also sighing inwardly: Unexpectedly, the Key of Erosion plus the Key of Sentience– even if only pirated versions – could actually allow him to achieve an effect similar to invisibility!

The Key of Erosion deceived all cameras and detection equipment. The Key of Sentience made people who saw Lin Wei ignore his existence – yes, Lin Wei had walked in swaggering, just like taking a stroll.

When he had casually walked past those Valkyries without them noticing, Lin Wei had even considered just walking directly to Anna, healing her, and leaving.

But he couldn't. If he didn't deal with Otto, he would be discovered.

He was almost at the finish line. There was no need to complicate things in these last few steps. So, Lin Wei suppressed this small impulse.

Then, just as Lin Wei was worrying about how to find those World Serpent personnel, he bumped into a sneaky guy – he also didn't notice Lin Wei, and even let him overhear the entire conversation with Jackal.

Lin Wei couldn't help but laugh, it was this easy?

So he couldn't resist playing around, calculated the time, and decided to follow them to see what they were up to.

"What is true stealth? Do you think it's taking an axe and eliminating everyone who sees you? No, they'll call the police!"

Lin Wei remembered a "story" that would happen in the future – after the Herrscher of Sentience wreaked havoc at Schicksal HQ, she played around with Rita, who had rushed back urgently, like nothing had happened, walking past her many times without being discovered. He couldn't help but smile.

"True stealth is appearing openly in front of you, but you can't even notice me!"

And then, things developed as described above – Lin Wei not only stealthed past Schicksal's Valkyries, but also stealthed past the World Serpent people…

Back to the main story.

"Don't be complacent, the Serpent will not let you go!"

The leader of this World Serpent squad spat, not intending to answer Lin Wei's question at all, and immediately prepared to commit suicide.

"Tsk, troublesome…"

Lin Wei pursed his lips, snapped his fingers gently, and black feathers fell like snowflakes. The three guys who were about to commit suicide stopped.

"Heh, I knew it. Anti-Fenghuang Down special training is not something everyone can get. Schicksal, with two Fenghuang Downs, can't do it, so World Serpent is even more impossible."

Lin Wei thought calmly.

These guys were subdued too easily, making Lin Wei even more unable to understand why Jackal, who already knew a lot of his information, was so confident in going against him. And why, after just suffering such a big loss at his hands, would she send such guys to their deaths?

This made Lin Wei rack his brains, wondering what Jackal had to rely on to make her so confident.

Lin Wei looked at the spoils in his hands. This was probably the only answer.

Ever since he knew that Jackal had malicious intentions towards him, Lin Wei had wanted to find this answer – he could tolerate things in the world that could threaten him, such as the Fenghuang Down that could strip Stigmata. But he couldn't tolerate these things not being known to him!

Knowing it meant being able to take precautions in advance. Not knowing it meant sleepless nights.

Since Jackal chose to take action against him, it was also an opportunity for Lin Wei to explore this answer. How could Lin Wei not seize it?

So he shook the black and gold box in his hand and asked the question he was concerned about for the third time.

"What exactly is this 'relic' you're talking about?"

At the same time, he had a faint guess in his heart.

"It's… the Staff of Underworld… Jackal-sama said…"

"Okay, you don't need to say anymore."

Lin Wei had already gotten the answer he wanted, and he didn't bother to listen to his nonsense anymore, so he interrupted directly. Then he lowered his head and examined the box with its rather ornate patterns, sneering.

"How extravagant, huh?"

He remembered that there weren't many of these things left in the entire World Serpent, but she was willing to use one on him?

Of course, he knew about the Staff of Underworld, something that had once made Mei take a heavy fall – oh, things that haven't happened yet can't be called "once."

"Staff of Underworld," a fictional interference device, could use a special electromagnetic field to interfere with the connection between the Herrscher core and fictional space. It was a weapon used by the Previous Era to restrict Herrschers and weaken them.

Since it directly interfered with the Herrscher core, then in theory, it could indeed restrict a Divine Key.

However…

A powerful electromagnetic field strong enough to interfere with the Herrscher core would weaken a Herrscher. Used on an ordinary person like himself, wouldn't he just die on the spot?

"Heh, Dr. Jackal, you really are ruthless…"

Do you really think that such a thing can strip Pandora from me?

Only half of the answer was solved, the other half…

"It's a pity, you successfully captured me."

Lin Wei suppressed Pandora, who was getting restless and wanted to destroy this thing. He carefully put away the Staff of Underworld. Good things shouldn't be wasted. Then he spread his hands, looking as if he was awaiting death, smiled slightly, and said,

"Let's go, take me to Dr. Jackal."

The other half of the answer could only be told to him by Dr. Jackal herself.

The three World Serpent operatives were still in a daze. Hearing Lin Wei's command, they surrounded Lin Wei, one in front and two behind, and left this gloomy morgue. Then they swaggered away from the building, past the tight security of the Valkyries.

Lin Wei looked up at the sky in an open area. The sky was slightly bright, dawn was approaching.

"Let's go, there's one more thing to do before that."

He couldn't let Durandal come to the central hospital anymore. Lin Wei had to choose another location.

After all, dealing with Otto and dealing with Jackal, in this delicate three-way game, were both important matters, and neither could be delayed.

But, where should he go?

Lin Wei thought hard for a long time, and finally found a suitable place.

So, he brought people to the leisure square where Yae Sakura had once encountered Durandal.

He arranged for his "enemies" to deliberately leave some ambiguous traces and misleading information. Then he took out the communicator, sent a location message to Durandal, and then crushed it hard, the fragments scattering like snowflakes. Done.

"Go."

Lin Wei ordered. The group quickly retreated, and the World Serpent operatives successfully took the "spoils of war" to report to their leader.

Only a short time later, Durandal arrived here in a swift and decisive manner. Seeing the mess on the ground, she frowned slightly, followed the clues, and chased after them, while also reporting the matter to Otto –

"Overseer-sama, Mr. He Kun has been captured. I am actively pursuing."