Abyssal Wanderer.

This person is extremely dangerous...

Almost the instant he saw the other party, Jiang Zhou felt an urge to self-destruct and restart.

Even without sensor scanning, just by looking at the various weapon systems on his body and the abnormal heat emanating from his chest, which is clearly from a reactor, it is clear that this person's level of adjustment is definitely not low.

After all, to install a reactor inside a prosthetic body, whether it's a fission reactor, a thermal fusion reactor, a cold fusion reactor, or even the legendary antimatter reactor, it must have a feature level of at least 6. Although humanity has now mastered the technology of stable commercial fusion reactions, to shrink a reactor to a size that can be safely and stably placed inside a humanoid prosthetic body, even the most technologically advanced small fission reactor requires the use of dark web technology.

Of course, the humanoid cybernetic bodies mentioned here do not include those mobile suits that are over ten meters tall.

In short, the person in front of you is at least a Depth 6 Adjuster.

Jiang Zhou had no idea that there was such a powerful expert inside this Titan-level behemoth?

What's wrong with Theseus Cargo? How could they not notify us beforehand about such important intelligence?

As Jiang Zhou thought about it, he forced a harmless smile and said:

"Just... just browsing around?"

What kind of bizarre claim is this?
The man nodded, and then the humanoid face emerged from the sides of his head and closed in front of the head armor, making him look like a normal-sized human wearing a tall exoskeleton power armor.

But in reality, this face is the disguise covering the outside, or rather, a youth version of a humanoid interactive interface.

In short, judging from his appearance, he seems to be a weathered man in his forties, with a bright burn scar deliberately left on his bionic face.

What was the purpose of this commemoration?
"It's like a lone boat adrift on the sea, letting the waves carry me to an unknown destination."

The man said, and then his cheap, bionic face pulled out a stiff smile that instantly triggered the uncanny valley effect.

"It is so that I came to this Titan, and it is so that I met you here... It is all fate's arrangement."

"Ah... um..."

Jiang Zhou was speechless for a moment, not knowing how to answer.

The mental index of highly adjusted individuals is somewhat problematic, but this is the first time Jiang Zhou has seen someone like him who doesn't speak like a human being—does he think he's the chuunibyou protagonist of some old-fashioned visual novel?
However, according to him, this person seems to have climbed up this Titan-class behemoth on his own and has not been detected by the defense system.

Terrifying...

As he sighed, the man continued to look at Jiang Zhou with that fake humanoid face, seemingly waiting for him to continue the conversation.

Dude, don't do that, it's scary...

For a moment, Jiang Zhou felt like crying but had no tears.

"Um...did you buy a ticket to go up this giant structure?"

After another ten seconds or so, Jiang Zhou, who really didn't know what to say, finally managed to utter this sentence.

The air was still for a few seconds, and the expression on the man's face turned strange—it didn't seem so scary anymore.

"Buy tickets?"

The man repeated in confusion.

"Riding on a ride on a Titan-sized behemoth is an exclusive service of Theseus Freight. The journey is safe and fast, and it is currently only open to a limited number of premium customers for testing... You didn't get on board without a ticket, did you?"

Jiang Zhou said.

"I really didn't buy a ticket..."

The man lowered his head and pondered for a moment, then looked at Jiang Zhou and asked very seriously:

"Does Thesius Freight accept supplementary tickets? Money is not a problem."

Jiang Zhou nodded and said:
"You've come to the right person. I happen to be an employee of Theseus Freight, and I can help you with the ticket replacement process on the spot. Here, fill out this form first, then sign this waiver, and select the Nord Resettlement Area postmark as the transfer account..."

After going back and forth like this, Jiang Zhou actually started instructing the other party on how to buy a ticket.

This wasn't entirely Jiang Zhou making conversation, nor was it because he was after the ticket price—the "ridesharing service" provided by Theseus Freight was essentially issuing temporary visas to humans boarding this Titan-class behemoth, preventing the artificial intelligence operating it from activating its "immune system."

The giant structure contains many extremely powerful constructs. If he were to actually fight this guy, Jiang Zhou couldn't guarantee that he wouldn't be caught in the crossfire.

During this time, Jiang Zhou took advantage of his position to glance at this guy's personal information on the registration form.

And this person was honest enough to fill in all the required information:

Name: Yun Xiao

Biological sex: Male
Psychological gender: Male
Actual age: 67 years old

Active age: 41 years old

Adjust the path: Aeneas path

Adjust depth: Depth 6
Wait a minute...

The depth of the Aeneas path is 6?

This guy... is he going to participate in the War of Dionysus?

"Can I just scan the payment code here?"

At this moment, Yun Xiao asked from the side.

"Ah, that's right, that's right. The total visa fee is 4232 Aures, plus a 12% deuterium fusion operation surcharge."

Jiang Zhou nodded quickly.

At this moment, Xita, who had received Jiang Zhou's warning earlier, also arrived in his combat cybernetic body.

She had prepared for a fierce battle, but as soon as she arrived, she saw Jiang Zhou showing his payment code to the tall, fully armed cybernetic body.

Thank you for your support of our company's services.

As the "payment successful" notification sounded, the mortician smiled and thanked the client.

She didn't understand it, but she was deeply shocked.

…………

So... not only did they not kill you on the spot, but they also obediently paid for the boat ticket?

AR, who was watching the tense conversation between Xita and Yunxiao from the sidelines, asked in the encrypted channel.

[How could I have known it would be such a coincidence to run into a contestant from the Dionysian Wars here...]

Jiang Zhou said with a hint of helplessness.

No, no, no, that's not what I'm curious about... How did you come up with the idea of ​​having a Level 6 adjuster pay the fare? Does your company usually conduct similar service awareness training?

AR spoke in the channel, his voice tinged with barely suppressed laughter.

Before he filled out the form, I didn't even know he was at depth 6 on the Aeneas path, but I didn't expect him to be so honest as to write down his real information... It just goes to show that he's an old thing who's been sleeping in Paradise for over twenty years, his thinking is still stuck in the last era, and he has no sense of information protection whatsoever.

Jiang Zhou said this.

[Huh? So what if you've been asleep for over twenty years? In this day and age, mental age is a better indicator of true age than physical age, okay?!]

For some reason, AR suddenly became agitated as if his tail had been stepped on by Jiang Zhou's teasing words.

Ah... I was just commenting on how honest this person was; I didn't mean to attack their age, after all...

Jiang Zhou didn't continue with the "after all" part.

Although he didn't know why the other party was reacting so strongly, he figured that after sleeping for a hundred years, he really had no right to say such a thing. However, AR seemed to be genuinely angry; before Jiang Zhou could try to explain and appease her in a different way, she simply left the chat channel.

In reality, when Jiang Zhou turned to look at her, she immediately looked away.

Hmm... Could it be that AR also spent a long time in the amusement park before?

Jiang Zhou thought to himself, feeling a bit of a toothache.

Calling someone "old thing" does seem to have a negative impact on others; no, to be precise, it also negatively affects yourself...

Thinking this, Jiang Zhou sighed inwardly.

After Xita finishes talking with Yunxiao, she should privately explain things to AR.

Meanwhile, Xita was looking at Yunxiao with a serious expression.

"So, you knew our itinerary before boarding the ship?"

She didn't use the Nyx Factor to read minds directly, because that would be tantamount to a direct signal to start a war.

However, by simply observing the other party's topological representation, she was able to glean enough crucial information.

"I didn't even know you needed to buy tickets to board the ship, how could I possibly know your whereabouts in advance... You can ask that guy if you don't believe me."

Xita turned her head and glared fiercely at Jiang Zhou, who immediately raised his hands in surrender.

If I had known beforehand that the other person was the adjuster of the Aeneas path, I wouldn't have given him the extra ticket.

Jiang Zhou's meaning was accurately conveyed to Xita through his body language and expressions. The latter could only sigh helplessly inwardly.

If they hadn't paid the fare, they might have been able to easily take down this guy using the "immune system" within the Titan-class megastructure.

"So... are you planning to participate in the War of Dionysus?"

But such plans are a thing of the past, Sita asked directly.

The man answered very calmly:
"To be honest, I didn't plan to do this at first, but reality, or rather fate, kept pushing me in that direction."

This answer can be simplified to "yes".

Sita frowned at this and said:
"What do you mean?"

“The virtual reality service I originally purchased from ‘Paradise’ was enough to last until my brain decayed. But the Bacchus Order’s closure notice brought me back to this world… If they had continued to provide services, I probably wouldn’t have participated in this new war.”

Yun Xiao said.

Jiang Zhou seemed to realize something and asked,
"Didn't they say that virtual reality services could be seamlessly transferred to Venus Digital Media's 'Mirage'?"

Turning his head, Yun Xiao once again revealed a fake smile.

"With my current level of modification, apart from the Bacchus Order's paradise, including the Mirage, all virtual reality appears to me as just pixels."

Then, he looked at Sita again and said:

"Of course, I didn't originally plan to participate in the Dionysian War. I was planning to go back to Africa... But the escort that came to escort me back after receiving the signal was the Mars War Guard. Although I had some grudges with the Ministry of War many years ago, I had let them go over the years. I never expected that as soon as they arrived, they would decide to sink me to the bottom of the Indian Ocean without saying a word."

He paused for a moment, a mocking smile appearing on his face.

"I had no choice but to kill them all..."

Yun Xiao calmly stated the extraordinary matter, and then continued:
"Of course, I paid a heavy price for this. Half of the weapon system was taken offline, and the power system lost 80 percent of its capacity. In order to avoid subsequent space-based weapon attacks, I have been hiding in the sea and dare not surface."

Hearing this, Jiang Zhou finally understood what he meant by fate.

"And you all know what happened next. I drifted around following the ocean currents and happened to come across this Titan-sized behemoth, and happened to come across you all... So when you ask me if I plan to participate in the Dionysian War, I can only answer that it is not out of my own will, but rather the arrangement of fate."

Since this Titan-sized behemoth happens to be heading to the third New Thebes in South America, it is destined to go to Thebes.

Mars War Company still likes to do unnecessary things...

Jiang Zhou thought to himself.

You said that the person originally planned to return to their hometown and retire, but you insisted on going all out to eliminate any future troubles, forcing them to go to Thebes.

After hearing Yun Xiao's words, Xi Ta's expression flickered.

Then, she created a private chat channel and added Jiang Zhou and AR to it.

What do you think should be done with Yun Xiao?

After several days, they finally convened another operational meeting.

Although Xita used a questioning tone, Jiang Zhou could tell that she already had the answer in her heart.

Although the war has already begun, I don't think we have any reason to start a war with him at present.

Jiang Zhou followed Xita's lead.

First, he didn't summon any Servants, so defeating him wouldn't be beneficial; in fact, we might suffer losses. Second, due to the previous battle with the Mars Guard, his combat strength has decreased significantly, making him less of a threat as an enemy. Finally, and most importantly, a fierce battle inside the megastructure would cause the AI ​​here to revoke our visas, potentially preventing us from arriving in Thebes on time.

Jiang Zhou summarized very professionally.

Theta's virtual avatar in the channel nodded, but at that moment AR spoke up:

But this Yun Xiao is very dangerous. I seem to see the shadow of his destined death lurking in him.

Sita swallowed the "okay" that was already on the tip of her tongue, then looked at AR and said:
【are you sure?】

Sita's tone was very serious, as if AR's opinion was of great value to her.

AR nodded.

Sita continued to ask:
Was this confirmed through your abilities?

AR nodded again.

Abilities? What are AR's capabilities?
Jiang Zhou couldn't help but be curious.

AR continued:
However, it's hard to say. I can't tell if it's intuition or a feeling when my ability is activated, since I haven't experienced a near-death experience... and I also felt that staying in Damascus might be dangerous. Although Mars and Pluto did launch a surprise attack, they ultimately didn't cause us any harm.

This might not be a sign that my ability is about to be activated.

Upon hearing this, Jiang Zhou immediately became alert.

No... you guys definitely had an accident back then!

I only escaped disaster because of a "coincidence" because I retraced my steps multiple times!
In other words, AR's danger perception is likely correct.

But Jiang Zhou couldn't say that, so he could only ask in confusion:

Can you reveal what AR's capabilities are?

He always thought AR was just a very skilled hacker.

AR looked at Jiang Zhou, opened her mouth to explain, but suddenly closed her mouth as if she remembered something, her face full of "guess what" expressions.

Fortunately, Sita spoke up directly:

[AR is the adjuster of the Oedipus path depth 5, a path specializing in decryption and encryption capabilities; in addition, it is the only adjuster path besides the three major oracle paths that is related to oracle.]

Although she cannot make predictions, she has an extremely keen intuition about danger and the level of threat; and in some records, based on some unknown principle, when in a near-death state, the path adjuster may see a fleeting, clear glimpse of the future.

[The Inevitable Future] (End of Chapter)