Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

—She noticed a faint blush creeping onto Patchouli's earlobe.

"You... cunning bastard," Patchouli gritted her teeth, speaking with resentment. "Do you think making yourself so isolated will make me happy? Someone like you would probably brazenly declare 'I'm a lesbian' the moment you see a pretty girl, right? By deliberately distancing yourself from others, aren't you afraid of running into other people like you? You pervert!"

“Oh, you really know me, Patchouli. I don’t deny your assessment…” Alice chuckled softly, moving closer to her. “But, you know, the clever, beautiful, and lovely Miss Margot Lloyd is an excellent psychologist, how could she not define her own relationships with others? For girls with more ambiguous orientations, I’m quite keen to play matchmaker and find them their true home. So you…” One of her fingers moved down lightly, tracing Patchouli’s well-defined collarbone.

She reached out with her other hand and pressed the automatic operation button on the control panel. At the same time, she leaned down slightly and whispered in Patchouli's ear, "...Want to try it?"

"Just a con artist." Patchouli turned her head slightly to avoid her touch. "A clumsy con artist who can't even string together sweet words well. Who would believe a scoundrel like you who has neither reputation nor integrity? Alright, move aside, we're still doing a mission, we don't have time to mess around with you!"

"How heartless, Patchouli. Have you completely forgotten all the good old days?" Alice pouted, feigning displeasure. "How easy is this interlude world? The others are too scared by Chu Xuan to know, but do you and I not know?"

[This world holds the secret treasure of a yellow-skinned saint, and wherever extraordinary beings exist, it must be the guardian bearing a heavy responsibility. While it's unclear why Anubis, the dog-headed man, is the guardian of this yellow-skinned treasure, since he is the only one in this world to have displayed divine power, he must be the sole guardian of this world.]

[He will guard this place, testing the reincarnation teams of the past. And naturally, any unexpected factors that might affect the reincarnation teams' assessments will be swiftly eliminated by him. Let alone time-space hounds or the invisible children, even the ancient alien species behind them, if they were to crash into this world, they would all meet their demise—don't you and I already know the truth about the saints? Those residing in this world, even if not Anubis's true saintly body, are still important incarnations of Him, and if any alien species from another realm were to covet the saint's secret treasures, the Nine Glory God would not be trifled with.]

Therefore, it's clear that both O'Connor and Imhotep are merely pawns used by Anubis to orchestrate the selection trials. Of course, if the Middle-earth team hadn't arrived in this era, they would have acted as the white gloves, eliminating any alien species that threatened the balance of the trials for Anubis. And now that we're here, the extraordinary observers behind the scenes will naturally go along with it.

Even in a timeline where we don't exist, the difficulty of the trial wouldn't be that great. Especially now that Zheng Zha has encountered the fourth level, successfully transformed into the Human Emperor, and even touched upon the Pangu level. How difficult could this trial, essentially designed to obtain treasures from the saints and involve causality, possibly be?

Relax, Patty. This world isn't going to be smooth sailing for us.

Her cheek gently brushed against Patchouli's hair, her thoughts subtly conveying themselves through this tiny movement. And just as she had anticipated, the beauty before her slowly softened. Though it was only a minute change, as subtle as a hair's breadth, in her vision, this tiny shift was as clear as a cataclysmic upheaval.

Her fingers gently slipped inside Patchouli's collar.

"Hmph." Patchouli suddenly raised her head and gave her a cold glare. "Anyway, someone like you would never do anything unless you were 90% sure, right? — Do you really think I'd be happy about your annoying behavior of deliberately publicizing your perverted fetishes and keeping your relationships with other people?"

"Let me tell you, not at all, absolutely not. Go back to your pipe dreams, you perverted freak who only thinks about how to bully others!" She spat lightly, a blush slowly spreading across her neck. "Alright, get out of my way. Both my hands are busy operating the gyroplane right now; I don't have time for anything else. Don't even think about satisfying your perverted fetishes! Don't even think about it!"

"Hmm, I won't think about it." Alice chuckled, nibbling at her earlobe. She felt the girl's trembling body and her delicate hands, veins bulging, trembling slightly but seemingly glued to the control panel, refusing to move an inch.

"I will only do it myself."

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

Even if I pay in cash, one day's worth isn't enough for me to finish one episode... I'll just put it off until tomorrow _(:з」∠)_

Chapter 18 - Writing this kind of chapter is giving me a headache.

Regardless of what happened in the pilot's cockpit, shifting the perspective slightly back, the archer in the rear cockpit genuinely felt a touch of sadness. She opened the rear cockpit door used for emergency descent operations, sitting sideways and letting the morning breeze caress her face.

She felt a little cold.

When she opened the second cabinet Alice mentioned, she found the box of newly made special operations arrows, along with a neatly arranged plate of breakfast and morning tea next to the box. The food was plentiful and varied, probably to keep her occupied until lunchtime.

—It smells quite nice, but it got a little cold after the wind blew in after the door was opened.

However, it was only a little cold; if left out, it would probably be icy cold in a while. So she could only sigh softly, sit down on the edge of the threshold, and, while stuffing cookies from her plate into her mouth, look down at the Mediterranean Sea that the gyroplane was crossing in the morning sunlight—because the witches had decided to take a straight route, the gyroplane would pass directly through the airspace of the two great powers of Italy and France, and then directly arrive in Britain.

The witches' power is rising.

She could clearly sense that once the gyroplane left the land called Egypt, the constraints imposed on Alice and Patchouli rapidly dissipated—though they were already powerful, they became even stronger after being freed from those constraints. To put it in concrete terms, if their combat strength in Egypt was considered 100, it jumped to at least 300 after leaving Egypt, and it continued to increase.

Perhaps this is why they left Egypt and headed to England, a place seemingly unrelated to the main storyline. Ah… it seems their power system indeed has a major flaw. Does leaving a specific civilization cause them to weaken significantly?

[No, perhaps my view is wrong. The correct assessment should be, 'It will be greatly enhanced after entering a specific civilization'. After all, it's an enhancement certified as double A-level by the main god; the nature of its power is certainly not as simple as I see it.]

She stood in the cold wind, her mind wandering aimlessly. While Zheng Zha was teaching her the basics of unlocking her genetic lock, he also gave her a general overview of the enhancements of the rest of the team. It was because of this that she discovered how bizarre the power levels were in the reincarnation world.

Leaving aside the newcomers who haven't received any enhancements, Zheng Zha, who appears to be the most powerful and is indeed the most powerful, is only a C-level vampire with C-level internal energy enhancement. Apart from him, the lowest enhancement level possessed by the other veterans is AA-level.

The two witches, one an Information Mage specializing in Poisonous Curses, the other an Information Mage specializing in Astrology, are both at the AA level of enhancement. It is said that their powers were once stripped away by the main god, but they later managed to regain them. Besides them, the resurrected Zhang Jie also possesses AA-level telekinesis and countless complex enhancements to his mental power.

Having never returned to the Main God Space, he was unaware of the differences between the various enhancement levels. However, even based solely on the logic of the symbols, C and AA differed by a full five levels—since he could complete the Main God's C-level mission with some effort while wearing that set of equipment, he undoubtedly possessed C-level enhanced combat power. Theoretically, he should not be far behind Zheng Zha, who had CC enhancement.

Well, to give you an idea, it's about the level of threat he'd feel if someone drew a bow and pointed an arrow at his head from a distance. However…

[Are you kidding me? I'd probably get my head smashed before I even nocked an arrow. You're overthinking it, completely overthinking it.]

She let out a soft breath and continued stuffing cookies into her mouth.

Judging from the last glimmer of white light in the Scorpion King's tomb, there was no way he could survive a single magic cannon shot from Alice. However, both the two witches and Zhang Jie, the psychic, unequivocally acknowledged that Zheng Zha's combat prowess surpassed theirs.

It's really strange, so strange that it's hard to understand.

She gently touched her chin, deep in thought.

"Perhaps in this cycle of reincarnation, only the genetic lock and the power acquired through one's own talent and intelligence truly represent strength. And the enhancements and exchanges provided by the main gods are merely icing on the cake?" she muttered to herself with a hint of uncertainty.

Naturally, she didn't expect anyone to answer her. And in fact, this lonely morning, which instilled a deep sense of melancholy, didn't change into a horror movie setting due to some strange factor. Her words went unanswered, all she heard was the unsettling sound of the wind, and loneliness filled her senses.

The cookies are all gone.

She sighed softly and placed the empty box beside her. A sudden surge of rage within her urged her to throw the cookie box and the empty bottles out of the open rear hatch. And not just this trash; she wanted to throw away every bottle, crate, box, and jar in her sight. Even herself!

She held back.

Although she wasn't really willing, she held back.

She raised her head, slightly bewildered, and looked around. Then, an undeniable truth, one that even a fool could understand, was confirmed in her mind—she was all alone here, and there was no one else.

She was the only one; there was no one else.

She remained silent for several seconds.

A few seconds later, she stood up and tidied up the bottles and jars that the men had thrown around.

She knew what was going on. She also knew how she should deal with this mess.

She knew that at this moment she could choose to entrust her longing to someone, a man, a betrayer who had once captivated her but also brought her despair on that crucial day, thus gaining a moment of peace. But her heart refused to allow her to do so.

That man. The man she once loved.

To say she didn't hate him, didn't miss him, would be self-deception. But these feelings faded with time. Ah, yes, she still remembered him, still remembered the man named Zhang Heng. And just a day before, in the instant she was resurrected from the altar, her heart did indeed still stir with longing for that man—but only for that very instant of resurrection.

She hated him, hated his weakness and betrayal.

In that world of grudges, her death was, in fact, entirely her own fault. Yes, unambiguously, literally her own fault—from the very beginning, she saw just how unreliable Lu Renjia, Xiao Bingyi, and Jun Zhongding, those three college students, were. Their restlessness, their greed, the colors born from the darkness of human nature, were as clear to her as bold arrows—and it was precisely because she saw these colors clearly that she willingly let herself be dragged into the fire when those people tried to betray the veterans, and thus, she achieved the death she had longed for.

Tsk, it's really just a self-destructive tendency triggered by psychological trauma. Because she was betrayed by a man, she then actively drives her actions, seducing others and deliberately displaying her weakness and vulnerability. This makes a second betrayal seem natural—and she derives a strange sense of satisfaction from the pain of betrayal, using this specific case to prove her distorted belief at the time: that twisted idea that 'men will always betray you'.

...Disgusting.

[I bear some responsibility for the deaths of those three. While I wasn't the primary reason they stole the Buddhist scriptures targeting Kayako and committed their betrayal, my act of deliberately appearing in their line of sight and becoming a hostage acted as a catalyst. However…]

She shook her head, trying to pull herself out of this pointless guilt.

Because... everything is different now.

If her resurrection is a continuation of that death experience, then her heart will naturally remain unchanged. She will still be that pathetic, neurotic woman, hopelessly intoxicated by the pain of betrayal and the indulgence of self-destruction. This new life of hers will still be bound to that man named Zhang Heng; she will yearn for his resurrection, and then, when he does, try to kill him. And after that, there will only be two possible outcomes.

First, by killing him, I have given him a second, true death. Then, I will simultaneously suffer a moral decay, and even if I am not killed, I will self-destruct and meet that man in a final, shared end.

Secondly, she failed to kill him—whether she was stopped, under an illusion, or for some other reason. If she didn't kill him immediately, she would inevitably soften her heart and be slowly subdued by his sweet words or some kind of "proof of manhood." What would follow would likely be a romantic comedy that could be written in hundreds of thousands of words, where she would eventually forgive the man and become a docile little bird again, conquered by his charm.

That's terrifying.

Such an ending is suffocating to even think about. Because whichever future unfolds, it means the complete loss of one's independence, becoming someone's appendage—even though one previously didn't think there was anything wrong with that. However, upon awakening from the resurrection ritual, the memory the witch implanted into her brain gave her a new choice.

Indeed, time heals all wounds. If one year isn't enough, try two; if two years aren't enough, try three. Pain will eventually fade, and emotions will eventually cool.

"I think... I don't hate you as much anymore, Zhang Heng."

She didn't hate him much, so naturally she didn't love him much either. Although that long-lost sweet feeling still existed, it would become blurred with the passage of time. And although she was unlikely to come into contact with other men, after witnessing how the witches interacted, she found that her horizons seemed to have broadened.

Ming Yanwei didn't deny that she felt a mixture of gratitude and reverence for the witch who had helped her so much and even saved her life. She wasn't sure if this complex emotion had any tendency to change; perhaps it had in the past, or perhaps it was just a misperception. But now, she knew that her feelings for Alice had been purified, becoming pure, unadulterated, and unchanging admiration. At the same time, the years she had spent in her memory world slowly surfaced from the depths of her mind, recreating those past scenes in her thoughts.

She recalled her experiences as a shrine maiden in her memory world, guarding a region and managing a village. She remembered her battles, the fierce struggles she fought against those terrifying demons for the safety of her village. The feeling of being relied upon, needed, and trusted filled her heart. And at the end of her memories, she remembered the Japanese girl she had taken in, the one she had originally intended to raise as her successor.

That was merely a memory, a record. And precisely because of this, the girl's personality data must have been completely preserved in the witch's database. So…

Perhaps, I can...

A vague idea flashed through her mind, and as she tried to transform it into a more practical solution, she felt a slight stinging sensation on her fingertips.

"Well."

She instinctively raised her hand, only then noticing that her finger had been cut by a sharp arrow. Although it was just a shallow wound, and it began to heal the moment she noticed it, when she looked over, she still saw a drop of blood rolling down her fingertip.

The color of blood, the color of red.

Ah... speaking of red...

I remember there was a little girl in a red dress in that memory world. What was her name again? Something like…Shinozaki…?

She pursed her lips, quickly banishing the random thought that suddenly popped into her mind. The stinging pain in her fingertips made her realize what she really needed to do at that moment, and she wasn't one to procrastinate—she quickly adjusted her thoughts, tidied up the miscellaneous things, and spent the remaining time preparing the box of special bows and arrows.

The morning passed quickly and unnoticed.

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

I can't even add an extra chapter today, so painful _(:з」∠)_

Let's combine the two...

Section 19 - I told you not to eat random things!

Although the witches regained their ritual magic abilities after entering the Mediterranean, they only had time to add a speed-enhancing gravitational field to the gyroplane after it crossed the ocean and entered the airspace on the edge of Italy. This allowed the flying device carrying the three reincarnators to quickly leap over the land and leave the Papal capital behind as quickly as possible.

Witches are such an awkward bunch—although the Church in this world also has a penchant for tying up witches and roasting them or hanging them on poles to dry, they also clearly distinguish between two different worlds, and the concepts of the Church and magicians differ between the two worlds—they certainly hate these humanoid creatures with cross emblems, to the point that they don't even want to mention them. But that doesn't mean they would start a massacre in this world without reason.

Materialist mages are rational mages; they won't easily let their emotions interfere with their pre-prepared plans. The fastest way from Egypt to Britain is by traveling in a straight line, so they will choose that route. Even if they aren't particularly eager to reach that island nation, they won't deliberately take a long detour, bypassing it from the other side of the ocean, just because they dislike the Papacy.

—At most, they just make the gyroplane fly a little faster.

It was precisely for this reason that, when the midday sun was shining directly over foggy London, the three people in the gyroplane were able to sit at the dining table in the middle cabin, facing a plate of fresh, rare, authentic early 20th-century British cuisine that had been on the kitchen table in Wilminster Palace just five minutes earlier.

—Some people would rather the gyroplane fly slower.

"Ah... how should I put it? Although I've heard of this 'delicacy' for a long time, this is truly my first time actually experiencing it." Ming Yanwei's lips twitched, revealing a subtle smile as she gazed at the group of staring, lifeless fish heads staring at the sky on the plate about thirty centimeters in front of her. Her fingers holding the fork were incredibly steady, but she didn't seem to have any intention of moving the utensils.

Gazing at the stars... she understood that. After all, she entered the reincarnation world around 2006 or 2007. While the internet wasn't as vast as the information ocean of later generations, it had still developed considerably. There were plenty of people willing to share their strange and unusual knowledge on the cloud. But understanding didn't mean she was willing to engage with it, and engaging with it didn't mean she was willing to let it have any physical connection with her tongue!

She didn't want to touch any of these things, absolutely not. Whether it was those fish that died with their eyes wide open, the bananas or apples fried in chocolate, the Gannan stuffed with bits of pig offal, the pigeon pie with feathers still clearly visible, or even the only thing that looked somewhat normal—the fried egg and bacon… she didn't want to touch any of them at all!

That's not food for humans at all! She didn't know about other places, but at least in China, even feeding pigs this kind of thing would be considered animal cruelty!

However unwilling she was, some things had to be faced. The two witches across from her were eating with great relish, and she herself was extremely hungry—she needed to replenish her nutrition after recovering from her serious injuries; the God-brand lunchbox had only provided a basic meal, and her breakfast that morning had consisted of just a box of cookies!

Ah, yes, the witches did indeed prepare a very substantial and high-quality breakfast for her that morning. But so what? It's not her fault that she was in a bad mood and had no appetite in the morning! Although I don't understand whether witches still possess female physiological characteristics, every female creature has a day or two each month when she's not feeling energetic, right?

Although I did it for other reasons...

She couldn't help but think bitterly, and unconsciously tightened her grip on the fork, even bending the not-so-slender metal structure into a noticeable curve.