To Punish Without Warning is Tyranny

Meanwhile.

Amidst the roar of a high-displacement engine, a fully armed Jell, focused intently, piloted her powerful motorcycle, carrying her temporary partner – "Yuno" – at high speed through the quiet and empty city streets before dawn.

The tranquility of the city before it awakened made the roar of the motorcycle even more deafening. The unobstructed, wide roads allowed for more unrestrained driving.

If it were normal times, Jell might have cheered a couple of times, and then let her steel steed completely transform into a roaring beast. But at this moment, it was somewhat different.

The beast had indeed already begun to roar, but its master, at this moment, did not show any joy, but instead frowned, gritted her teeth, and just silently, single-mindedly, pushed the throttle to the maximum, rushing to the next target location at the fastest speed.

Prior to this, she and "Yuno" had already completed investigations at two marked locations.

The investigation process was extremely smooth, without any hindrance. But the results of the investigation were only two bodies lying in pools of blood, already becoming somewhat cold and stiff.

It seemed like suicide, because there were no signs of fighting or struggling at the scene.

But it also seemed like homicide, because a cold pistol was thrown carelessly at a distance from the bodies.

It was like covering up their tracks, and yet like deliberately exposing them without any concealment, like the most silent contempt, stimulating Jell's nerves. But he didn't say a word, turned around and left, only rushing to the next location at an even faster speed.

"Jell-senpai, your current speed is very dangerous."

In the headset, the intelligence analyst, Alvitr, kindly reminded her.

"Judging from the current situation, that mysterious organization's method of killing people is not limited to car accidents. The other several unconfirmed target locations have likely also been dealt with by them…"

As she spoke, she couldn't help but shiver, feeling incredulous at the ruthlessness and cold-bloodedness of the enemy.

"No, you're wrong, Alvitr."

Jell's stern voice was still clearly audible even amidst the roar of the engine and the howling of the wind.

"They can't have killed everyone! Otherwise, at the university, in the very beginning, they only needed to kill all the informed people at the university, instead of retreating from there while causing so many bloodsheds throughout the city!"

"So, this can only be a cover-up, or intimidation!"

"That… seems to be true…"

Alvitr scratched her head and smiled somewhat foolishly.

"As expected of senpai!"

Jell, at this moment, had no mood to chat with her, and just continued to say sternly,

"Since those guys are willing to use so many lives, at such a great cost, to cover up for the guy who escaped from under the noses of our Snow Lotus Squad, then I can't let them succeed! Hold on tight!!"

Jell suddenly shouted loudly, then pushed the throttle to the absolute limit. In the roar of the engine, as if a seal had been broken, the motorcycle shot out from the overpass like an arrow, drawing a long arc in the air, and then landed heavily on the main road below.

"Boom!"

The moment it landed, Jell suddenly turned the motorcycle, ignoring the huge forward inertia, forcibly turning the entire motorcycle 180 degrees. But the inertia was so great that the two tires scraped two long marks on the road.

Before the motorcycle even came to a complete stop, Jell, having successfully "taken a shortcut" and saved herself a lot of time, slammed the throttle to the bottom again, rushing to the next location at lightning speed.

In the depths of "Yuno's" consciousness, Otto, who had taken in this scene, couldn't help but marvel, wondering when such a crazy guy had appeared in his team.

"Huh?"

Jell, who had been driving diligently, suddenly froze.

She inadvertently saw a stream of light flashing across the distant sky, but it was not very clear against the gradually brightening sky. When she looked closely again, it had disappeared.

Jell, who had seen a similar stream of light in the night sky before, couldn't help but feel a sense of loss.

"I probably saw it wrong…"

If Durandal herself came to support, how easy would things be now? Jell thought with some regret.

......

Jell, alone outside, couldn't see clearly, but someone could.

"Master, detected abnormal energy fluctuations in the high altitude."

Somewhere, a humanoid machine that had been silent all along suddenly moved, raised its head, and reported to Jackal, who was busy at the other end of the room.

"According to the comparative analysis with past intelligence, the target is confirmed to be Schicksal S-rank Valkyrie, Bianka 'Durandal' Ataegina."

As expected of a humanoid machine, it was rigorous, even saying the full name.

At this time, the buzzing of various machines running at the same time made the place quite noisy. The humanoid machine's calm and somewhat quiet voice was almost drowned out by the background noise, but it had indeed been received by Jackal.

Jackal straightened up, couldn't help but frown, somewhat dissatisfied and annoyed.

"Durandal? What is she doing?"

She quickly walked to the large screen, her hands quickly tapping and sliding on the keyboard.

With her movements, dozens of pitch-black photos filled the entire screen in a very short time. Then, zoom in, zoom in, refresh clarity, and then zoom in again…

After several rounds of such operations, the dozens of originally pitch-black photos on the screen had become portraits of people from different angles –

A beautiful blonde girl, holding a majestic knight's lance, wearing blue and white armor, surrounded by brilliant streams of light, like a high and mighty angel of judgment, looking down on the filthy human world.

"…It seems she has discovered something. This is not good news!"

Jackal muttered to herself in annoyance.

At this time, she had just "reluctantly" "abandoned" Lin Wei, thinking that she had made great concessions and sacrifices, just to ensure that another target could fall into the net smoothly.

She had even sacrificed several chess pieces for this!

Although those chess pieces were not important, it didn't mean that they could be sacrificed at will.

In the eyes of the Serpent, life is just a bargaining chip. Different chips have different weights, and different weights represent their respective values – and no matter how small the value is, it is still value, and should not be wasted.

Extreme rationality, extreme cold-bloodedness, and extreme pragmatism, this is the foundation of World Serpent. It is a principle that even Jackal must abide by.

Therefore, at this juncture, Jackal absolutely did not want anyone to come and stir things up, making all her efforts go to waste!

After thinking for a moment, she picked up the communicator and began to contact her only "partner."

Soon, the communication was connected.

"Hello, Jackal?"

The voice on the other end of the communicator was still Raven's, but the tone sounded a little strange at the moment.

"It's so early in the morning, what do you want?"

Jackal didn't have time to think about why Raven's voice and tone were a little strange. She directly and bluntly questioned her.

"Weren't you monitoring Durandal? Why did she suddenly make such a big move? Why didn't you notify me immediately?"

Three questions in a row, without a pause, aggressive, without concealing her anger and annoyance at the moment.

"Huh?"

The Raven on the other side seemed to be a little confused by her "Jackal's Three Questions," and was stunned for a while before counterattacking.

"Didn't you cause this yourself? I thought you had a plan, but you suddenly came out and questioned me?"

"I caused it?"

Jackal was really confused now, and she didn't bother to pursue the matter any further, and hurriedly asked,

"What do you mean?"

"Didn't you send people to capture Lin Wei? It's not strange to alert Durandal, who is connected to him, is it?"

Raven's tone sounded increasingly strange, as if she was desperately suppressing many complicated emotions.

"I even saw them shopping together? Tsk, what a… cough, I can't say that… By the way, do you want me to send you the photos I took at that time?"

"No need."

The arrogant Jackal naturally had no interest in such gossip, and just said with a frown.

"Didn't I tell those guys to use their judgment? Did those useless idiots fail? Not only did they expose themselves, but they also completely alarmed that S-rank Valkyrie?"

"How would I know about such things?"

The voice on the other side said quite casually.

"…"

Jackal hesitated for a while, gritted her teeth, and said,

"Use the bullet I gave you, take advantage of now and kill her!"

"Huh? Me? Now? Here?"

Raven's voice suddenly became high-pitched, seeming extremely incredulous at Jackal's whimsical idea, and then, as if worried about being discovered, she suddenly lowered her voice and said exasperatedly.

"Are you crazy?! You only gave me one bullet, and you want me to hit such a moving target? Do you know how fast that Durandal flies? If I miss, I'll be in trouble, and I'll be done for!"

Jackal was extremely dissatisfied with Raven's attitude and snorted coldly.

"Hmph, a mere S-rank Valkyrie, and you're so scared?"

"It's easy for you to say!"

The Raven on the other side didn't give in at all.

"You didn't discuss it with me beforehand, and now that there's a problem, you blame me? I mean, isn't that a bit too much?"

"…"

Jackal was speechless, unable to refute, and unwilling to admit her mistake. After struggling for a while, she said颓然ly.

"Then what do you say we should do now?"

"Oh, don't worry about that."

Raven's voice was quite casual, without any intention of taking credit.

"I've already helped you lure her away. She shouldn't be able to find you for a while."

"Hmm?"

Jackal was taken aback, and hurriedly refreshed the city surveillance system again – there was indeed no trace of Durandal in the sky. After searching carefully, she saw another surveillance image – the blonde girl in blue and white armor, standing next to a severely deformed car, frowning and saying nothing.

"…"

Jackal was speechless for a moment, and then shouted exasperatedly.

"Why didn't you say so earlier!!!"

"You didn't ask…"

Raven's voice sounded quite natural.

"You!"

Raven's voice was still casual, making Jackal so angry that she couldn't speak.

After all, she was helped by her, so it wasn't appropriate to say anything harsh at the moment. She took several deep breaths before she managed to calm down her anger, and continued the topic quite unnaturally.

"What about those three guys? Were they also dealt with by you?"

In her opinion, killing people to silence them was the best way to eliminate hidden dangers. Therefore, she also assumed that Raven would do the same.

"Three? Isn't it four?"

Raven's voice sounded a little surprised, and she said in a strange tone.

"I thought you were just talking, but I didn't expect you to actually dare to do it?"

"Ah? Captured?"

Jackal was also stunned for a moment, and then realized that this reaction was a bit revealing, so she pretended to be calm and said,

"Hmph, it seems that those three guys aren't completely useless."

"Tsk tsk tsk, it was really your arrangement?"

Raven's voice sounded quite speechless. After hesitating for a while, she kindly advised,

"I mean, that's a troublesome guy, like chewing gum, once he sticks, he can't be pulled off. And you're actively provoking him? How about, while there's still time, we just pretend that nothing happened, okay?"

"Troublesome?"

Jackal was quite dismissive and said disdainfully.

"What's so troublesome? Just sending out three subordinates can easily capture such an ant. Look how scared you are…"

"…Aren't you afraid that he was deliberately captured?"

Raven's voice kindly reminded her.

"Deliberately? Ha, what a joke!"

Jackal seemed to really hear some funny joke, laughed a few times, and then said quite arrogantly and disdainfully.

"Do you know what price I paid to capture this guy? The Staff of Underworld!"

After saying these four words loudly, Jackal didn't explain any further, as if these four words were enough to explain everything.

"…Is that all?"

Raven's voice sounded quite incredulous.

"You have no other arrangements?"

"Hmph, isn't using the precious Staff of Underworld enough?"

Jackal snorted coldly, as if she was quite dissatisfied with Raven's questioning.

"This is a sacred relic that can even be used to capture living Herrschers! A mere Divine Key made of dead material, isn't it easy to capture?"

"…Would you like to reconsider?"

Raven's voice was speechless for a while, and then she kindly advised again.

"No need."

Jackal refused漠然ly.

"I still have a lot of work to do, I'll hang up first."

The loss and recovery of Lin Wei had suddenly increased her workload, but she didn't mind, and instead enjoyed it.

......

Meanwhile, in an early-opening breakfast shop, Lin Wei slowly took the communicator from his ear, took off the Pandora brand voice changer from his throat, and said with a look of compassion.

"Tsk, good words are hard to persuade a damned ghost!"

Yae Sakura in the Stigmata space was quite speechless about his pretentious appearance, and said,

"Rather than persuading, I think you look more like you're playing with her."

"Heh, both."

Lin Wei smiled, picked up a piece of sandwich, glanced at the three people sitting in the distance, and said quite speechlessly.

"I thought Jackal would have some other surprises for me in her base? Heh, disappointing."

Lin Wei had naturally taken this opportunity to indirectly ask Jackal about the possible threats he might encounter. The results disappointed him, but also satisfied him.

"As the saying goes, 'to punish without warning is tyranny.' In any case, I did advise her several times."

He tore a piece of sandwich in half, stuffed one half into his mouth, looked quietly at the other half, and said sarcastically.

"In that case, don't blame me…"