Miss Wang Weina, even your cousin won't do!

Therefore, we must never forget our original aspirations, and treat each other not as pawns, but as wives!

"Thank you, Kal'tsit."

Wayne expressed his heartfelt gratitude. If she hadn't been there to warn him before his condition worsened, who knows what horrifying things Wayne, with his resources far exceeding those of the evil spirits of Babel, might have done.

Beware of "evil spirit disease"!

Wayne reminded himself.

Kal'tsit simply nodded slightly, just as she had done countless times before, without a trace of joy, relief, or even prejudice or anger towards Wayne who was exhibiting these symptoms.

She knew this was human nature, and a common flaw among rulers like Wayne. Rather, the fact that Wayne actually listened to her was already surprising enough.

Most people suffering from "evil spirit disease" are completely unable to listen to any advice.

At least someone like Wayne is still salvageable?

Kal'tsit thought to herself.

[Evil Spirit Disease] is, in a sense, a mental form of Oripathy. Once contracted, it's very difficult to eradicate; the most reliable method is constant suppression. And the only person around Wayne who can help him suppress this symptom is probably himself?

Vina wouldn't do; she's too young. As the Queen, a symbol of light amidst darkness in Victoria, she doesn't fully understand the burdens carried by the Shadow Emperor, Wayne. Hoping she can detect and stop Wayne's episodes in time is less helpful than hoping she won't follow Wayne's bad habits during her rebellious phase.

Theresa wouldn't work either; she's too gentle. If she were even a little more assertive, that guy Theresis wouldn't dare to act so recklessly as to openly establish a separate central government and try to sideline Theresa by expanding the power of the Kazdel Military Council.

So, when you think about it this way, I really am all alone.

The burden on her shoulders seemed to grow heavier, but Kal'tsit's face showed no sign of fatigue. This burden was worthwhile, she told herself. If it could truly help Prince Wayne and Theresa, sacrificing some time and energy was nothing to her.

After all, this was the closest she had ever come to the light of hope on this vast, dark earth in thousands of years.

She looked at Wayne, who was slumped on the edge of the bed, and secretly made up her mind.

From today onwards, you are yet another patient of mine, Your Highness Wayne.

Sitting on the edge of the bed with his head down, Wayne realized that Saria's illogical actions meant that the good impression he had painstakingly made on her had probably vanished.

This was undoubtedly a terrible move. Although it did successfully arouse suspicion from the Colombian Federal Congress about Rhine Life, what Wayne wanted was not Rhine Life itself, but the top scientific research talents within Rhine Life!

Now, he had offended both Saria and the Commander-in-Chief in one fell swoop. This was no longer just a bad start; it was a strategic blunder, a case of losing more than he gained by trying to gain something small.

We need to find a way to salvage this situation.

But contacting Saria or the commander-in-chief now would be a foolish move, like trying to hide something obvious...

Wayne covered his forehead in frustration. It seemed that he could only pin his hopes on tomorrow's Rhine Life shareholders' meeting.

With a helpless sigh, Wayne repeatedly warned himself that he must never make the same mistake again and be influenced by this damned chuunibyou state. He lay back on the bed and took out his phone, which had been switched off since he got off the plane.

He had intended to send a message to Theresa and Vina to let them know he was safe, but as soon as he turned on his phone, Wayne saw the reply from the mysterious client.

"A coffee shop? Tomorrow afternoon?"

After hesitating for a moment, Wayne replied:

"OK."

It seems like tomorrow will still be a tight schedule.

Chapter Seven: An Old Married Couple

Columbia, Silicon Valley, July 3. 7:00 am.

Every ray of sunlight breaking through the night and illuminating the earth was so warm. As the floor in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows on the top floor of the hotel was gilded with a layer of pale gold by the morning light, the alarm clock on Wayne's bedside phone rang on time.

"Brother, wake up!"

Yes, it was Vina's voice. Her deep, slightly heroic voice was always so distinctive, instantly conjuring up images of a moonlit night, a warehouse, a boy, and a master in Wayne's mind. He suddenly snapped out of it and realized that there was no Holy Grail War here, no Saber, and he was not a certain sword skeleton.

"Your alarm clock has a really unique sound."

Kal'tsit, who slept in the guest room next door, woke up early. As Wayne finished dressing and came out of the master bedroom, she turned her head and made a nonchalant remark. Pointing to the dining table next to her, she said:

"Please sit down, breakfast is ready."

"Huh?!" Wayne let out a surprised hum, looking at the not-so-lavish but nutritious bacon sandwiches and hot hoof milk on the table, and asked, "Kal'tsit, did you make this?"

Kal'tsit turned around, placed a fried egg from the frying pan onto her sandwich, covered it with bread, untied her floral apron, and asked calmly:

Is that incredible?

"It's not that incredible..."

Wayne scratched his head. It wasn't surprising that Kal'tsit could cook; she'd lived for thousands of years, she couldn't possibly live on takeout and freeloading forever. It wasn't unusual for her to have some culinary skills. What surprised Wayne was...

"I just didn't expect you to suddenly make breakfast for me."

"This isn't for you, it's just something I brought along. After all, I need to make sure I have three meals a day."

Kal'tsit pulled out a chair, sat directly opposite Wayne, took a sip of her milk, and explained,

"I'll prepare one for you too."

After all, Theresa wouldn't want you to keep eating that kind of spicy food.

Kal'tsit silently added to herself.

Wayne nodded noncommittally, picked up a sandwich, and took a bite. Kal'tsit's cooking skills were quite good; even with limited ingredients, she had created a delicious flavor. But Wayne was thinking about something else entirely.

Do you think we're starting to look like an old married couple now?

Kal'tsit frowned and stopped chewing her sandwich:

"If you are feeling horny, I can provide that service right now."

"Service?" Wayne asked in surprise.

“Excessive sexual activity leads to disaster; shaving is the only way to cure it permanently.”

Kal'tsit uttered a sentence in Yan language, seemingly thinking that Wayne wouldn't understand, but Wayne did understand. Not only did he understand, but he also knew that she was using a pun, and he should be fined.

However, after thinking about the meaning of those words, Wayne hesitated for a moment, then pretended not to understand, gave an awkward smile, and lowered his head to eat his sandwich.

The beautiful morning began with a little joke I played on an old lynx.

However, Kal'tsit's seemingly nonchalant gaze was fixed on Wayne's reaction to those words. After confirming Wayne's brief moment of understanding, Kal'tsit closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

Although Wayne disguised himself quickly, Kal'tsit could tell that she understood.

Why would a member of the Victoria Aslan royal family who had never been to Yan Kingdom understand such a joke that clearly had a high barrier to entry in Yan Kingdom language? This is not something that can be easily explained by saying "I learned Yan Kingdom language from the King of the North in Hawaii". After all, even many people from Yan Kingdom would not understand its special usage in a specific context if they only heard the sentence without knowing its specific content.

Being able to instantly understand the meaning behind Kal'tsit's words only proves that Wayne had an impression of them. This requires extensive experience and knowledge of the Yan Kingdom, far exceeding the level of an ordinary prince of that age.

Kal'tsit opened her eyes, and her gaze toward Vayne became increasingly complicated.

She increasingly felt that Wayne might truly be one of her kind, burdened with the same destiny, but she dared not be certain, nor did she want to be certain. Because Wayne belonged to Theresa.

"There isn't enough evidence yet; it might just be a simple accident. We need to continue observing and testing."

Kal'tsit silently reminded herself of this. She brought the sandwich to her mouth and took a small bite.

.................

Columbia, Silicon Valley, old industrial area.

Saria slid over the steel beam blocking her way, then immediately got up and dashed out of the alley without pausing for a moment.

Ahead lay a pile of abandoned building materials, massive steel pipes and stacks of rusted iron plates forming a towering hill. Saria's eyes narrowed slightly, and she quickly crouched down, hiding inside the steel pipes. Listening to the hurried footsteps behind her stopping in the ruins and beginning their search, she clenched her fists involuntarily.

The taxi driver who abducted her last night and brought her to this undeveloped area claimed that a "big shot" wanted to see her. But Seria wasn't stupid. Anyone who would use such shady means to meet her, regardless of whether they were important or not, certainly wasn't after any promotion or fortune. If she went with him, it would be like walking into the enemy's lair and walking into a trap. She wouldn't even have a chance to escape and would be completely at their mercy!

To avoid falling into a precarious situation where she was at the mercy of others, Saria quickly made her own response.

Her years of self-defense training paid off, allowing her to easily subdue the seemingly formidable but actually weak driver without killing him or offending his mastermind. Even so, the mastermind hadn't given up on wanting to "meet" Saria. As Saria drove back to Rhine Lab headquarters in the city, an accident occurred.

At first, it was simply about forcing vehicles to stop, then it involved using tools like spikes and chains, and finally even crossbows and cannonballs—weapons that were clearly dangerous—to stop Saria's vehicles.

Saria could withstand the strain, but the car couldn't. Soon, this mode of transportation, which seemed only slightly tougher than a regular taxi, was reduced to a pile of scrap metal, a common sight in undeveloped areas. But when the henchmen of the Black Hand found the vehicle and tried to capture Saria inside, they discovered that she had already vanished without a trace.

When she was initially intercepted, Saria had already contacted an old acquaintance in her database, a Rhine Lab programmer codenamed "White Owl," asking her to use technical means to remotely control the vehicle while she got out and prepared to walk around to leave the undeveloped area.

Originally, Saria thought that having gone this far, the unknown enemy with ill intentions would have difficulty finding her location, so she stopped. However, she clearly underestimated the power of the mastermind behind the scenes. "That person" seemed to be able to access road surveillance footage from the undeveloped area. Nearly five hours after Saria left the vehicle, they still managed to send people to ambush her on the edge of the undeveloped area, forcing her to return to the undeveloped area and engage in a chase with the pursuers.

Saria had, of course, called the police, but they only gave her a simple "We understand, we'll be there soon" and then there was no further response. Normally, even if they were slow, they should have reacted by now, but even now, Saria hadn't seen any police lights or heard any sirens. She could roughly guess that the police were also being held back by some unknown force.

They were isolated and helpless.

As the footsteps outside the pipe grew closer, Saria clenched her fists.

Looks like there's no escaping it?

They were forced to fight back.

Chapter Eight: Wolves and Dragons

The footsteps stopped in front of the concrete pipe, and then more and more footsteps began to approach. Saria knew that she had been discovered.

With a helpless sigh, Saria emerged from the pipe, straightened up, and clenched her fists. Her hands, now wrapped in bandages, cracked and popped.

Just as she said, she doesn't like trouble, but she's not afraid of trouble either.

As the head of the defense department, how can you protect others and handle danger if you don't have some skills?

She calmly glanced at the "pursuers" surrounding her. They were of different races, sizes, ages, and genders, but they all shared the same characteristic: they were all wearing taxi driver uniforms.

The case is solved! The mastermind behind it all is the head of the Colombian taxi industry!

This was, of course, just a joke. Rather than pondering what she had done to offend the taxi driver, Seria preferred to believe that the driver had gone to great lengths to replace all the taxi drivers in Silicon Valley who might be near the Elizabeth Hotel at any given time with his own people.

She gave a cold laugh, and had a rough estimate of the forces behind the enemy.

They were able to access surveillance cameras in undeveloped areas, possess heavy weapons with clearly restricted access, and even replace a large number of staff in the vicinity during the short time they were inside the Elizabeth Hotel.

In Seria's recollection, no more than three people in the entire Silicon Valley possess such power.

First, the owners of Rhine Life, namely the shareholders at the shareholders' meeting who control enormous social resources in various sectors of Colombia.

Secondly, there's Loken Williams, the head of Loken Aquaporin Laboratory. This Colombian genius in the field of OriginSpiritology research controlled Loken Aquaporin Laboratory, which was the largest bioscience research institute in Silicon Valley and even Colombia before Rhine Labs rose to prominence. To some extent, Rhine Labs' rapid rise to become a biotechnology giant on par with Loken Aquaporin was also due to the efforts of Silicon Valley, the Colombian government, and numerous competing or collaborating companies to counterbalance its power.

If it were him, he would indeed be capable of doing all of the above. After all, his power is not as decentralized as that of the Rhine Life shareholders' meeting. The decision on the Loken Water Tank is made by his word, and he has the ability to obtain such a vast amount of social resources.

The third is a new addition to the list for Seraya – Chianti, a state representative from the Federal Parliament.

The states of Colombia have a high degree of autonomy relative to the federal government, but this does not mean that the authority of the federal government is weakened too much. After all, those who control the federal parliament are essentially giant corporations from the states, and as their representatives, the power of state legislators expands rapidly within the sphere of influence of these giant corporations, eventually reaching a level comparable to that of the local nobles of Victoria and Ursus.