Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

[Psychological Intervention...]

She instinctively raised her compound bow and looked around warily.

—A profound silence.

A small screen projected onto the lower right corner of her field of vision; it was a simplified map drawn by the armor's built-in radar after scanning the surrounding terrain. Her own dot was in the very center of the screen, surrounded by hills drawn with contour lines. Undoubtedly, this was a new function the witch Alice had added to the armor, a function she had been unaware of before.

This isn't a hallucination, at least not one based on my memories or dreams, because I couldn't possibly acquire equipment and abilities I'm unfamiliar with within a hallucination. And considering the enemies that might appear in the current world, it's simply impossible for such advanced technology to appear in a hallucination created by them.

The divine prompt rang in her ears, which she didn't pay much attention to, but she still accurately captured the key words contained within it. At least, she remembered the line 'Difficulty increased to the current worldview limit'.

She put away her composite bow and switched her primary weapon from bow and arrows to a small firearm mounted on her arm, which Alice had labeled as a 'light machine gun' in the fire control system. While carefully observing her surroundings, she slid down the hill and moved along the rocks and wooden stakes for cover, all the while rapidly assessing her current situation.

[Since it's not a hallucination, then this must be the result of external interference. Assuming I don't have any memory loss, the only possibility is the existence of an alternate dimension in the no-man's-land… And if my guess is true, then it means Miss Alice likely knew about my situation beforehand… because her previous actions were indeed quite unusual.]

However, it is still too early to draw a definitive conclusion.

She slid smoothly down the hillside, and upon hitting the bottom, she quickly performed a strategic roll to take cover behind a large rock. Her light machine gun was warily pointed around her, carefully scanning her surroundings, including the rock she was using as cover and the ground beneath her feet, as she cautiously guarded against everything in her line of sight.

She had studied psychology and knew that all the shelters appearing in dreams and hallucinations could be protective mechanisms built from her subconscious defenses. They were her mental barriers, the last line of defense for her self-awareness. She was self-aware enough to know that her psychological defenses were not strong. And precisely because of this, if this was a dream, then those shelters might actually conceal deadly dangers.

—She did not experience the predicted attack.

Does this confirm my point of view? Or is the other party still waiting?

She frowned slightly, her mind racing as she tried to verify the completeness of her memory while searching for other clues. And sure enough, she easily obtained what she wanted.

Yes, Miss Alice deliberately created an illusion beforehand, and within that illusion, she pointed out two key points: unwavering faith and attention to detail. Undoubtedly, this was a clear enough warning; Miss Alice had foreseen that I would fall into an illusion or another dimension, yet she didn't choose to stop or prevent it. Instead, she alerted me beforehand and arranged new equipment and lessons for my preparation.

【So……】

Ming Yanwei blinked, a sudden realization dawning on her.

[So, I'm to be the decoy? I understand. It seems Miss Alice and her group are stronger than the monsters in this no-man's-land. And their target is too well hidden, so we need a decoy to lure them out. Then… I must have some kind of decoy on me. Is it inside the armor…? No, it could be somewhere else.]

【I see……】

She took a deep breath, but the act of inhaling reminded her of something. She clearly recalled that in her dream just minutes earlier, she had eaten a dish of the "Unsettled Stargazing Fish," which was practically a creation of an evil god. And after eating that food, she had been gagging.

—Yes, it was just 'dry heaving'. I didn't actually vomit anything. However, I do have memories of vomiting in the past, and I've had similar dreams before. But I didn't recreate the act of 'vomiting' in that hallucination—so the answer is obvious.

"I'm so stupid." She gently tapped her closed helmet.

She finally understood what the witches had done, and why she had felt a warning sign when she tried to remove her mask. It was the bait, and she was waiting to trigger it.

[One final test is needed...]

She emerged from her bunker, lowering her guard while remaining alert. Activating the thrusters on her armored legs, she sprinted towards the city that night. Each step she took slammed her feet into the ground, closing the distance to the city by tens of meters. However, according to her visual detection and radar feedback, the distance between her and the city remained unchanged.

There were no enemies, no obstacles. It was as if she were being ignored, as if the whole world treated her as something insignificant, like air.

She was self-aware enough to know that she was far from being feared by the world—whether it was the illusory world or the alternate dimension. And since it wasn't fear, it could only be that she hadn't realized it yet.

[There's no mistake, this is an alternate dimension, or rather, a spatial rift.]

The reason I haven't been attacked yet is that the native inhabitants of this alternate dimension simply haven't noticed me. Or rather... they haven't been able to notice me yet.

She finally understood the witches' will. The course of events naturally came into her mind. The answer was actually quite simple: the reason she was here without being attacked was that the witches had given her a choice.

First, she could choose to escape… or rather, adopt a moderate strategy. All she needed to do was remain still, adopting a passive approach, which meant refusing to become bait. She only needed to wait a short while, at most a few minutes, for the witches to find her and pull her out of this outer space. The rest, of course, would be none of her concern.

Secondly, she opened the visor on her helmet, breathing in the air while releasing the decoy's scent sealed within her body. If her guess was correct, she had landed in this alternate dimension after detaching from the gyroplane and entering the no-man's-land airspace. The moment she arrived, her armor activated, locking down all her scent, making it impossible for the inhabitants of the space to determine or even identify her location.

The witches must be waiting for her decision on the gyroplane, and then deciding on their next course of action based on her choice—although they don't know the true nature of the bait disguised as the stargazing fish that died with its eyes wide open, they'll likely face an unprecedented and devastating interception if it's exposed in this space. Even the alien entity that created this no-man's-land might directly attack.

My chances of surviving... are very low.

The time left for oneself to think and make judgments is not much.

【………………】

A faint smile appeared on her lips.

Ah, what am I hesitating about? This kind of development—being needed by others, having a reason to continue living even without finding a man to rely on… isn't this exactly what I've been hoping for?

[That's incredibly stupid.]

"Tsk, I thought it was something serious..." She shook her head and then lowered the visor from her helmet. "Isn't it just enjoying the protagonist treatment from a game or movie? Do you think I'm afraid of you?"

She made up her mind, and her determination gave her strength and fighting spirit.

The next moment, with each breath, everything in her vision blurred. The blockade… or rather, the mere spatial barrier that had prevented her from reaching the city at night, vanished completely in an instant. When her surroundings cleared, she had already traversed that long journey in one step, arriving before the city!

The coordinates in space are thus transformed.

In an instant, her sight and hearing caught countless figures and breaths filled with greed and malice. Countless humanoid and non-humanoid creatures, exuding a putrid stench, surged out of the shadows, their desire to tear her to pieces blatantly obvious!

Alien, alien species, or something else.

When she saw them, a burning disgust and hatred erupted from within her, like a tangible fire. The flames seared her heart and soul, urging her to slaughter the alien creatures before her with all her might. This was the innate hatred of creatures born of the earth and sea for visitors from afar. If she were weak, this hatred would transform into fear, driving her to desperately protect herself. But now, she was on the side of power.

Kill them all, exterminate their descendants.

The genetic lock suddenly activated, and within its operation, even the flame erupting from the very depths of her being was firmly suppressed—it couldn't rob her of her sanity. However, her actions were indeed affected to some extent. And at that moment, she actually did only one thing.

She simply raised the 'light machine gun' in her hand and pointed the muzzle randomly in one direction.

Then, pull the trigger.

Light and destruction instantly painted the curtain of night. She seemed to see overwhelming, surging waves crashing towards her, only to recede instantly across the vast beach. Just as the tides can never resist gravity, the moment she pulled the trigger, the alien creature rushing towards her was destined for defeat.

A roar, destruction, and white lines moved from the left to the right of the field of vision.

What was actually being fired from the machine gun's muzzle wasn't shrapnel, but white light—white light emitted from a high-energy pulse as ammunition. She watched as the barrel changed from dark gray to bright red in seconds, then from bright red to incandescent white. And when the incandescent white reached its peak, which even she found dazzling, the 'muzzle overheating' warning sounded quietly in her ear.

With a click, accompanied by the sound of mechanical locking, the city, battered by the tide of destruction, finally fell silent. She then switched weapons, and while waiting for the cannon to cool down and recharge, picked up the composite bow loaded with new, enhanced arrows, ready to hurl them at her desired target.

She took a deep breath. Raising her hand, she unleashed three or four arrows marked with flames at the remaining aliens. With a massive explosion and shockwave, this last wave of enemies was shattered, turning into fragments and dust that fell to the ground.

The barrage of artillery fire reduced the alien tide by five-sixths, while her arrows dealt with the remaining one-sixth. It was clear these enemies weren't particularly formidable to her. They might easily take down a well-trained soldier individually, but they were no match for a super-soldier like her, clad in power armor and equipped with heavy firepower.

They were merely a welcoming curtain, a first greeting akin to fireworks. She probably had a little time to assess the enemy's type and characteristics before the real adversary arrived—she noticed the shattered limbs still wriggling.

“Resident Evil?” She frowned, then shook her head. “No, not the kind of low-level enemies like zombies that you can take out with a headshot. These guys look more like the corpses from Siren… but not quite.”

She let out a soft breath, exited the gene-lock state, and injected herself with a painkiller. As she struggled to recover and contemplate her next move, a red hem of clothing fluttered silently atop a tall building about three kilometers away.

—Thunder rumbled from the sky.

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

What should I say?

...I forgot to say something.

...Oh, I remember now, the bounty is over. All the bonus chapters are finished now... I was hoping to finish this volume this month. I'm just not motivated..._(:з」∠)_

Chapter Twenty-Three: The Operation That Suffocated the Witch.jpg

Alice's resolve immediately crumbled—when she realized that even if she razed the entire ruined city to the ground with a thunderstorm, she would not be able to obtain any valuable information, she decided to execute the strategy she had planned in advance.

Mingyanwei is the bait, and bait only has value if it is linked to a trap.

She then temporarily separated a wisp of her spirit from her main body, relying on the connection she and Ming Yanwei had established in that day to follow her through the chaotic spatial rift, observing Ming Yanwei's actions and providing guidance when appropriate.

Her arrival was accompanied by thunder.

'Boom—'

The lightning, its coordinates deliberately adjusted by Patchouli, accurately pierced this weak spatial barrier. Undoubtedly, spacetime rifts are ultimately just spacetime rifts. They are unstable spacetime membranes, unable to maintain stability in a solid, empty space. They require the accumulation of energy and mass, they need a vessel, and it is precisely for this reason that deliberately modified lightning can penetrate their defenses!

This wasn't the first lightning strike. Before this, Alice had Patchouli set up numerous disguised lightning strikes to bombard the targets corresponding to this rift space in the outermost world. In fact, there were more than a few lightning strikes that successfully tore through space, but apart from this one, the others were merely cover-ups.

Alice knew very well that Ming Yanwei had undergone at least one instinctive detection by the dimensional rift the moment she was swallowed into this alternate dimension. It was like a cell membrane, effectively preventing the invasion of any foreign substance. The second targeted detection occurred the instant Ming Yanwei revealed the aura of the decoy within her; the hidden alien, whether or not it was in a state of normal mobility, would inevitably cast its gaze upon her directly or indirectly. Since she was still within this space, it meant that Ming Yanwei had passed the detection.

The fish has been lured by the aroma of the bait, and its tentative touch has proven that the bait poses no danger. So, before it bites, it will make one more attempt—it will send its messengers to investigate, and the first wave of strange attacks will be nothing more than a welcoming ceremony of fireworks.

The battle has only just begun; I must remain as concealed as possible.

[The messenger from the extraterrestrial beings will soon find Ming Yanwei, and I need her to seize the opportunity to severely damage them while proving the existence of the bait, thus prompting the extraterrestrial invaders to send out even more powerful units with closer ties to the mother entity—it's not advisable to capture them directly now, as the possibility of them sacrificing their own survival is far too high.]

[Well then, I'll give her a hint. But before dealing with this messenger, I need to keep myself well hidden.]

Alice thought to herself, and her wisp of spirit detached from the lightning, bypassing the distorted spacetime detection mechanism and quietly attaching itself to the surface of Ming Yanwei's armor—something she couldn't normally do…how could a soul reside in lightning? But after becoming a soul bound by obsession, she discovered that natural lightning no longer posed much of a threat to her spirit. And thus, she was able to deceive everyone, using seemingly accidental lightning strikes to conceal her descent.

According to the information about Eastern cultivation systems, should my current state be a primordial spirit? An external primordial spirit? Or a Yang spirit, a ghost immortal? Ah… I don't understand. There seem to be many Eastern cultivation systems, but none of them match my current state.

[Damn it, I was clearly an Easterner in my past life too.]

A question quietly surfaced in Alice's mind, and this subtle mental fluctuation was her last shift of thought before she went into hiding. In the next instant, she seeped into the core computing engine of the armor and vanished without a trace.

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

All of this happened in a single instant. To Ming Yanwei from the outside, she simply heard a clap of thunder in the sky. But when she looked up, remaining alert and observing, everything quickly returned to normal.

The surroundings became quiet.

She gazed at the alien creature hindered by the fiery arrows in the distance, and her previously somewhat sluggish thoughts became exceptionally clear—the writhing fragments of limbs still bearing human features and clothing, along with the scattered sparks in the silent city, seemed to offer her additional insights. This led to a vague conjecture emerging in her mind.

Memories became clear at this moment, and the brain worked exceptionally smoothly. With just a thought, the city in front of him was quickly compared with the uninhabited terrain map he had obtained when looking down at the earth from the gyroplane.

The vague conjecture quickly turned into a concrete conclusion.

[So that's it. The Starfire City at night and the ruined city at noon outside are actually the same place. They're just on different timelines. Because this is not only an alternate dimension, but also a distorted point of spacetime distortion—no wonder Miss Alice and her companions couldn't handle it and had to use bait... After all, even Miss Alice and her companions aren't quite qualified to manipulate time.]

She mentally made a simple power comparison based on her understanding of the witches. Strangely, she was full of confidence in this unfounded comparison, completely disregarding the possibility of her making a mistake.

With a slight push from her toes, the propulsion devices attached to her legs activated. With a light leap, she glided from the city gate to the top of the city tower, her steps lighter than usual. Her gaze swept across the land before her, then gradually moved upwards, looking at the cold moon in the night sky and the few remaining stars beside it.

The night was deep and dark, with thin clouds lingering in the sky. The moonlight was cold and dim, and the stars were barely visible.

“But I can still see the star chart,” she said softly. “Incorporate the distribution of star orbits and lunar phases into the calculation function, and then…” She stretched out her hand, and the armor on her hand immediately disappeared. The wind under the night sky then swept across her fingertips, accompanied by the faint, eerie roars that came from afar.

"...Using the strength and slight directional deviations of the trade winds as a reference, it's not hard to determine that the current time should be late at night on the day O'Connor and the others escaped... Hmm, Chu Xuan seems to have given an approximate time. So, is it six hours after their escape?"

She let out a soft breath, ending the operation of the equations in her mind.

"I think I understand now. This distorted spacetime uses an onion-like layered structure. One layer is connected to another, and the further out you are, the further back in time you are, and the further in you are, the further back in time you are. If I can reach the very center of this distorted spacetime, then I should also be able to reach the point in time when the main characters in the story escaped."

"The key now is how to get there."

Walking directly there is impossible; spacetime has been layered. Even if she walks from the left to the right of the city, she's only moving from the left to the right of the city six hours after the main characters escaped. And unless she reaches the exact point in time when the main characters escaped, she can't find the alien creature's true form. And naturally, the witches won't be able to locate it or complete their descent.

She wasn't worried about not reaching the deeper parts of time; after all, she carried bait within her, and the other side would eventually let her in. The problem was that the other side might not let her in intact, or even alive. It was more likely that it would send one or more powerful messengers to dismantle her into pieces and smuggle her in bit by bit. If she wanted to avoid that outcome, she had to take the initiative.

Her gaze swept over the monstrous corpses crawling out of the flames—after learning the truth about this world, she understood the reality of those zombie-like monsters and knew exactly what they were. This correct understanding brought a touch of melancholy and a hint of regret to her heart.