Rita's Keen Sense of Smell

A few minutes earlier, when Lin Wei had just entered the door, he noticed the unusually clean and tidy room and immediately sensed something was amiss – having been away from home for so many days, it was impossible for it to be this spotless.

The unfamiliar fragrance in the air only amplified the sense of abnormality.

It was a rose-like perfume scent, different from the faint, pleasant cherry blossom aroma that Yae Sakura left behind when she passed by; this overly deliberate fragrance, although not pungent, still made Lin Wei frown – Who the hell sprayed this?

Didn't a certain lobster-headed scientist have a breakdown because of this...?

Almost instantly, Lin Wei had guessed the identity of this uninvited guest, and this terrible answer gave him a series of headaches – well, the work in Manila was basically for nothing...

"Who's screwing with me, who leaked my information?"

(╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻

Although Lin Wei's face showed no expression, he was already fuming inside.

"I've received the message left by the original."

Almost at the same time, in the depths of his consciousness, a pink feather, floating and sinking, suddenly emitted a warm glow and transformed into Fu Hua's appearance. She gently pushed up her glasses and concisely said,

"The original came here twice and left two messages, both for you."

"...Okay, thank you for your concern, Miss Fu Hua."

Lin Wei said something that sounded awkward to Fu Hua's split consciousness, then added somewhat speechlessly,

"Let me guess, is it to remind me that Schicksal's Rita has her eyes on me?"

While communicating with Fu Hua's split consciousness, Lin Wei began to open the windows on both sides of the room for ventilation; this way, he could buy himself some time to communicate and prepare.

After all, the more caught off guard he was, the more he needed to calm down and be composed.

As for Yae Sakura? She wouldn't interrupt at this time to add to his troubles, she would just silently prepare to draw her sword at any moment.

"That's only one of them."

Seemingly seeing through Lin Wei's thoughts, Fu Hua's split consciousness looked at Lin Wei with a strange expression, and said in an odd tone,

"Otto discovered that Bronya has been accessing the Schicksal database unusually frequently recently and assigned the investigation to the original; the original discovered that this matter seems to be related to you again. She wants to ask you, what exactly are you planning to do? You need to give the original an answer."

"Okay, your original is really worrying too much... But what have I done? As a feather split consciousness residing in me, don't you know everything clearly?"

Lin Wei said expressionlessly and concisely,

"Next time I see her, I'll return you to her, and won't she know everything? Next message."

With an uninvited guest causing trouble, he didn't want to waste too much time when facing a major enemy.

"The second message is a warning..."

Fu Hua's split consciousness said seriously,

"The original encountered Rita, who was in Singapore investigating Anti-Entropy, while preparing to leave. She reminds you not to do anything rash during this time, to be careful and hide, so as not to be targeted."

"..."

After listening, Lin Wei felt that something was wrong. After thinking it over and weighing it repeatedly, he asked somewhat uncertainly,

"Don't do anything rash, be careful and hide, so as not to be targeted?"

Then tell me, what's the situation now?

Fu Hua's eyes were strange, but her expression was still serious as usual.

"Obviously, the original's warning message is probably too late..."

"I guess it's more than that... Is it possible that she was led here by you?!"

After probably figuring out the cause and effect of the matter, Lin Wei felt his blood pressure rise a little.

"What's wrong with you, Fu Hua? Aren't you usually quite shrewd? How could you be tricked like this?"

After connecting this information, the answer behind it was too easy to guess – Rita encountered Fu Hua, who should have been carrying out a mission in the Far East Branch, in Singapore, and began to talk to her with suspicion; in a few words, she detected Fu Hua's abnormality, and secretly provoked her a few words, causing her to worry; finally, she followed Fu Hua's footsteps and found his place.

It had to be said that this kind of operation was very consistent with Rita's style and character, so it was not difficult to guess.

But Fu Hua, how could you be led by the nose by Rita? Lin Wei found this a bit difficult to understand –

Weren't you someone who could even trick Otto? How could you stumble here?

It shouldn't be!

"Rita is Otto's capable assistant, and she has mastered his essence in some aspects, even faintly surpassing him. Her thoughts are always elusive to me; and her style of doing things always makes me feel unable to cope."

Fu Hua's split consciousness admitted frankly. In her eyes, Rita had always been a very difficult and dangerous woman, and it would be very troublesome to be entangled by her.

Then she glanced at Lin Wei, her eyes were a little unnatural, but her face was still calm,

"As for the specific relationship between the original and Rita, don't you know it very well? Why ask me? It's almost time, take care of yourself."

After speaking, her figure retracted, turning back into a pink feather, sinking into the depths of his consciousness, and quieting down.

Lin Wei was so angry that his nose was crooked. You're just going to leave?

Of course, he also knew that this was just a split consciousness carrying a piece of Fu Hua's memory, not the real Fu Hua, and he shouldn't ask for too much; but he still couldn't help but feel annoyed.

You know, Lin Wei didn't want to meet with Schicksal now, especially with people closely related to Otto; he had spent so much effort before, trying to avoid this situation, because it would represent endless trouble.

But now, it seemed that he couldn't avoid it...

Forget it, if he couldn't avoid it, then he couldn't. He'd just have to deal with it as it came, what's the big deal?

Thinking of this, Lin Wei looked at the vast world outside the window and couldn't help but stretch comfortably.

As if he felt that an invisible restriction on him had been removed, in addition to the deep annoyance, he even felt an indescribable sense of relief and joy.

It was also when Lin Wei was looking at the scenery outside the window, with his back to the living room, that Rita felt the timing was right.

She appeared silently in the room, sat on the sofa in an elegant, even slightly provocative posture, and looked at the man in front of her who seemed unaware, and said softly,

"So, this gentleman prefers the scent of nature. That's quite surprising, isn't it?"

Appearing behind the prey at an unexpected time, in an unexpected place, in an unexpected way; this was one of Rita's bad habits. She liked to appreciate the prey's flustered appearance when frightened by this unexpected "greeting gift".

As a result, Lin Wei was only stunned for a moment, then turned around, glanced at her, and immediately started calling the police...

This kind of thing actually threw Rita off.

Honestly, she had been a Valkyrie for so many years, and she had carried out countless missions targeting humans; she had seen resistance, escape, and kneeling and begging for mercy more than once; but this was the first time she had seen someone call the police on the spot. It was an eye-opener.

After all, whether it was Schicksal, Anti-Entropy, or those dangerous organizations that tried to use Honkai energy and were listed as enemies by Schicksal; when it came to the point of needing to use force, which one of them would care about the police?

Lin Wei's move really disgusted Rita – because she could also see that he was deliberately disgusting her.

What kind of person is this?

"Tsk, I knew you'd do this..."

Seeing Rita's unnatural expression for a moment, Lin Wei pursed his lips slightly and thought disdainfully,

"Who are you trying to scare?"

Every time Rita appeared as an enemy, she would have an illustration with a pose; he was too familiar with this kind of thing!

Compared to the "always fails on debut" label, which almost became her personal trademark, but on closer inspection seemed more like media persecution, striking a pose and getting an illustration seemed more like Rita's exclusive personal characteristic.

Being awarded the nickname "Herrscher of Lewdness", in addition to her own character design, those lewd illustrations, so numerous that they could even be listed on a separate wall, were indispensable!

"It seems that this gentleman has misunderstood my unexpected appearance. This is truly regrettable..."

Seeing that Lin Wei didn't fall for it, but instead disgusted her; Rita was not angry, but her smile became even brighter, and she said softly and politely,

"But wouldn't it be a bit rude to cause unnecessary trouble for public officials? Let me explain the misunderstanding for you."

Whether he was really calling the police or a secret signal to contact the outside world, Rita didn't want any complications.

Therefore, before she finished speaking, Rita, who was sitting elegantly, suddenly stood up and reached out to grab Lin Wei. Her movements were swift and fierce, preparing to directly restrain him and then snatch his phone; hang up the phone first, and then interrogate him.

It had to be said that even though they were both S-rank Valkyries, unlike Durandal, whose own strength was extremely powerful, Rita's strength was only average when she was not equipped with a Valkyrie battlesuit, especially when she was not wearing the fourth-generation Godsbane battlesuit – especially compared to Yae Sakura and Fu Hua, who were the most attentive to "training" Lin Wei in the Elysian Realm.

Even in the field of "assassin", Rita was not necessarily better than Yae Sakura from 50,000 years ago.

The beatings in the Elysian Realm for more than half a year were not in vain; facing Rita's sudden attack, Lin Wei almost instinctively dodged and counterattacked according to the training results and experience.

After leaving the Elysian Realm for a few months, under Yae Sakura's strict supervision of secondary training and excavation, Lin Wei's physical reactions were gradually catching up with the speed of his consciousness.

"Hmm?"

Rita's sense of smell was keen, and her observation skills were even more amazing. With just a simple dodging movement from Lin Wei, she felt many familiar flavors.

It was something she had felt from Fu Hua herself when she sparred with her when they were working together at headquarters.

And now, although the movements of the man in front of her were immature and full of flaws in her eyes, the details of his movements when dodging and counterattacking were clearly filled with Fu Hua's unique symbols.

Although it was only a moment, it was enough for Rita to capture.

"Could it be..."

Thinking of Fu Hua's previous abnormal behavior, coupled with the information Lin Wei revealed in this instant of exchange, she suddenly became very curious.

If it weren't for the fact that she knew it was absolutely impossible, she would even have thought that Fu Hua had secretly taken another disciple...

Therefore, Rita's interest greatly increased. In order to obtain more information, after the first attack failed, she had an idea and simply acted as if she was training an A-rank or even B-rank Valkyrie subordinate.

She restrained most of her strength, only maintaining her strength at a level slightly suppressing Lin Wei, and then gradually increased it, constantly observing Lin Wei's fighting style in the process; gradually forcing him into a difficult situation, Rita smiled even more brilliantly.

"She's collecting your combat intelligence, Lin Wei, be careful."

Yae Sakura reminded him.

"Heh, of course, I know, but it doesn't matter. I only have this little bit of skill, let her watch if she wants!"

Although Lin Wei was quite embarrassed at the moment, he still endured not using the power of the Stigmata and the Divine Keys. It was not time to expose these two things yet.

"Having an S-rank Valkyrie willing to be a free sparring partner, how can I miss this opportunity?"

Rita wanted to probe his bottom line, and Lin Wei also wanted to probe Rita's bottom line in return!

He needed to know how much information Rita had about him, how much information Schicksal had about him, especially whether Otto had noticed his existence, and noticed the existence of the Key of Erosion...

At present, Lin Wei knew nothing about this. Although Rita's sudden appearance caught him off guard, this was also an excellent opportunity for him to level the information disadvantage!

After all, Rita was much easier to bully than Durandal, wasn't she?

In that case, what's wrong with giving her a little sweetness first?

Therefore, Lin Wei has been restraining his "hidden power", only using his own shallow power to fight the enemy, and Rita probed his bottom line in just over ten rounds.

Satisfied, Rita pressed one hand on Lin Wei's chest, knocking him back and making him stumble back onto the sofa. With the other hand, she snatched Lin Wei's phone, glanced at the screen that was still in a call, and cursed inwardly that this guy actually called the police?

Then she put the phone to her ear, smiled calmly, and said,

"Sorry, police officer, we had a little misunderstanding, but it's basically resolved now. Sorry for the trouble..."

After a few simple words, Rita hung up the phone after successfully reassuring the police, threw it aside casually, and her eyes fell on Lin Wei again. She still maintained a decent smile, but she asked unceremoniously,

"May I ask, what exactly is your relationship with Fu Hua?"