Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

Alice knew that Chu Xuan had always been wary of Altair—or perhaps not wary, but undeniably he had spent a great deal of resources and time dealing with Altair. He had long suspected that Altair had multiple individuals or avatars, so he had laid down several baits in an attempt to lure out Altair's power.

Not only were they themselves bait, but Zhao Zhuikong and Patchouli, who were undergoing the Taishan Fujun ceremony, were also bait. Xilin, who had broken away from the group and was secretly taking care of the veterans like Xiao Honglu, was also bait. And aside from these, the characters placed in the Tower of Babel world—a world deliberately left open by Chu Xuan and disguised as an ordinary alternate dimension—the Nan Yanzhou team, and those newcomers who knew nothing about it… they were all bait as well.

If Zhao Zhuikong's ritual is disrupted, depending on how the ritual progresses, the possibility of him dying directly will fluctuate between high and very high. Regardless of the outcome, the alliance with the East American team will immediately end, and an irreparable and severe rift will be created within the Central Continent team.

If Xilin is attacked, she will be at a great disadvantage from the start of the war due to the restriction of her spatial abilities, as she is responsible for taking care of the veterans of the Central Continent Team. The best-case scenario is that she will be forced back to the Main God Space, but the worst-case scenario—who knows if that unlucky and foolish guy will stubbornly return to this story world after triggering the resurrection item instead of returning to the Main God Space? In that case, the most likely outcome would be that she and the veterans like Xiao Honglu die together. And even if Zhao Zhuikong doesn't immediately turn against her after the ceremony, he can forget about any future cooperation.

As for the characters in the storyline and the reincarnators from the Southern Flame Continent team, they were simply bait to lure people in with their own interests.

Chu Xuan had laid out five layers of bait, and Chu Xuan himself, alone in Isengard, having sent Zheng Zha to study cultivation manuals that were practically incomprehensible to that muscle-bound gorilla, might very well be the sixth layer of bait. These six layers of bait, ranked according to the severity of their potential consequences, make it easy to deduce Altair's approximate abilities, goals, and whether she has connections to the Celestials, the plot forces, or even the Vera who serve as background characters. But now…

[Handling Chu Xuan means she has strong intelligence-gathering abilities, but her thinking is actually quite simple; at best, she's a fool with a bit of cleverness. She'll most likely die in Isengard along with her main body.]

[Her actions against the reincarnators and newcomers of the Southern Flame Continent team indicate that she doesn't actually possess much combat power or have any real ambitions. She's merely lying in wait as a weakling, hoping to gain something at her own expense.]

[Her actions towards characters in the story, whether killing them or rescuing them, indicate a connection between her and the characters. Based on her attitude and methods, we can determine whether she belongs to the Valar or Sauron faction.]

[Handling Zhao Zhuikong's ritual indicates she doesn't expect an alliance between the two teams—she wants to fish in troubled waters and gain as much benefit as possible from the chaos. If this is the case, then she has most likely already touched the boundary of the fourth tier and wants to complete her advancement in this horror movie… or defeat all of us reincarnators to obtain the greatest benefit.]

[Taking action against Sirin suggests that she has very likely joined forces with the Celestial Team—judging from Sirin's data, her ability to survive is even greater than her control over space. Without joining forces with the Celestial Team, it's absolutely impossible to subdue her in a short time, and after joining forces with the Celestial Team, Sirin becomes a better target than Zhao Zhuikong.]

[But her target is me...tsk, I'm the hardest one to mess with. She knows my strength perfectly well, yet she's just testing the waters. And I've been here thinking and waiting, and she hasn't made any further moves...tsk, I see, I think I understand what's going on with her. Should I say she's incredibly bold...or has my courage dwindled since meeting that cheapskate mother of mine?]

[Tsk, the younger generation always surpasses the older. If I, the older generation, don't work harder, I might just die on the beach.]

She pulled out a screen displaying complex data from the space beside her, compiled all the information she had gathered in the recent battle into a packaged file, and sent it to Isengard. A short while later, she received a notification from Chu Xuan: 'Mission complete, free to move.'

"What a pity, I didn't see her face. Now the workload will increase again." Alice reached out, and the small ball that held the souls of all the people in the White City appeared at her fingertips. She thought for a moment, then instead of throwing the ball away, she put it away again. She pressed her forehead and re-established her mental communication with Patchouli.

Patchouli: [Busy, speak.]

Alice: Is there a possibility that the ritual could be accelerated? We might get even busier afterwards.

Patchouli: [Difficult, at least three days, don't bother me.]

Alice: [I'll go deal with Sirin. The East Sea Team's infiltrators have been confirmed to have no alliance with the Celestial Team. But there's still a possibility she could be attacked by the Celestial Team.]

Patchouli cut off the communication.

“Looks like Patchouli’s really busy,” Alice shrugged. The next moment, her figure blurred and quickly vanished completely from the airspace. From beginning to end, the entire White City, manufactured less than three minutes ago, and its 'dummy' figures indistinguishable from real people, lived their lives as if she and the remnants of the cloud mirror above her had never existed. The soldiers preparing for war continued their military preparations, and the upper echelons continued their decadent lifestyle. The ordinary civilians, as always, showed no discernible abnormalities.

Everything here was as if it had never happened.

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

Alice still had a question in her mind: why did Altair risk exposure by launching a surprise attack on the Nan Yan Zhou team when Xiao Honglu's squad raided the Nan Yan Zhou team? Why did she kill that seemingly insignificant newcomer and then choose to back down afterward? And more importantly, why did the Nan Yan Zhou team's reincarnators hear the Dong Hai team's point deduction notification?

There would be a notification if a member of the East Sea team killed a member of the South Flame Continent team. Unless it was someone from the same team who did it, or someone from the same team who was killed, but how could that be possible?

Team transfer contracts are no ordinary commodity. Even the one held by Team Central was a trophy they obtained from X after defeating her in the Starship Troopers universe. For Altair to possess such a treasure and then wastefully hand it over to an ordinary rookie... such a thing seems utterly impossible.

It was hard to understand, but there must be a reason behind it. However, no matter how many doubts she had, Alice could not draw an accurate conclusion with such insufficient information—therefore, she had to put her questions aside for the time being.

Now that her question was put aside, she wouldn't need to waste much time on her journey. The total time from when she finished observing Sirin until she dealt with Altair's avatar wouldn't exceed fifteen minutes. So even including travel time, she wouldn't need more than half an hour to reach Lake-town.

Half an hour...

Xiao Honglu's crimson-eyed black dragon was still slowly flying in the clouds. Meanwhile, the efforts of the Overlord and the others to appease the townspeople of Long Lake Town were only just beginning—their actions were far too slow compared to Alice's, so much so that Xiao Honglu's carefully orchestrated charade of the hero and the demon king had already lost its momentum after only a brief start. Perhaps his only consolation was that Alice didn't intend to dampen the spirits of this ambitious young boy right now. But regardless, time was always fleeting.

She had arrived in Lake-town and found a suitable window seat in a tavern where the owner and waiters had all fled under the dragonfire of the Red-Eyes Black Dragon. From here, she could see the entire town of Dale, which, though gradually improving, was still filled with chaos and panic. The veterans' valiant efforts to gain popularity were clearly visible in her view, but she didn't intend to meet them right now.

This land is simply too small, so small that even fourth-tier powerhouses of similar strength cannot unleash their full power in a full-scale war. The celestial phenomena caused by the Zhao siblings in Rohan's territory, as well as news of the spatial rift Zheng Zha created in the wasteland and the falling meteorite, have not yet reached Gondor. And the valleys, even more distant than Gondor... needless to say, are in an even worse situation.

She conjured a wine jug and two wine glasses out of thin air. With a casual glance, many gas molecules in the air instantly decomposed and reconstructed, becoming what she considered the finest wine. She then poured a glass for herself and the person opposite her. Finally, she brought her own glass to her lips.

Perhaps I have indeed become timid.

Alice thought to herself, knowing that a part of her way of thinking had changed after encountering both Shinki and the projection of the clone—the former filled her with fear and anger, while the latter evoked sympathy and sorrow. She was well aware that the autonomy she now possessed was the result of the clone paying a huge price. And while she intended to use this autonomy wisely, a part of her subconscious judgment had already shifted towards conservatism.

[As expected... I'm just an ordinary person after all. Tsk, now that there's no Altair stirring my emotions in the shadows, does that mean this is my true feeling? No, it doesn't quite seem like it. I do lack confidence at times, but definitely not now. So, it really is...]

She snapped out of her daze, and a figure with purple hair and golden eyes suddenly appeared opposite her. The guy with the crooked cross-shaped pupils unceremoniously picked up the drink on her seat and drank it all in one gulp... then stuck out his tongue from the spiciness.

"What the hell did you put in there?! This isn't alcohol at all!"

"Just because you haven't seen it doesn't mean it isn't?" Alice took a small sip, a smile playing on her lips. "Sorry, my brewing skills are rather poor. There's nothing I can do about it turning out like this."

“My name is Alice, Alice Margotrovid. It’s nice to meet you, Celine from the East America team.”

"Soon I won't be on the East America team anymore." The purple-toned idiot glared at her fiercely, then picked up the wine jug on the table and poured himself another glass.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Alice."

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

If I draw Brunhilde from the lucky bag, I'll add an extra chapter...

And it's only nine o'clock now, should I go write a chapter on the Witch Wars...? _(:з」∠)_

Chapter 41 - On the Verge of Explosion

“You’re in danger.” Alice poured herself a second drink, this time pouring coffee from the jug, and the serving vessel was now a coffee pot and cup. The rich aroma of coffee filled the air—clearly, this trendy new beverage was superior to the previous wine.

"Me? In danger?" Celine pointed to herself, then to the cup. "And why did you pour me that awful liquor when there was coffee?"

"Is that what you noticed first... I'm sorry, I apologize, it was just a personality test I did on a whim. After all, we'll be spending a long time together, and I think it's necessary for me to get to know my future companion a little better." Alice's lips curled up slightly as she stretched out her hand on the table.

A mysterious scroll, covered with numerous unrecognizable arcane runes and shrouded in an eerie aura, appeared on the table with her gesture.

"Let's put the matter of 'danger' aside for now. This is Constantine's soul contract, or you could say a transfer contract. If you don't mind..."

She placed a matching quill pen next to the parchment scroll. The nib was filled with ink, the scroll was already open, and now all that was missing was a hand to sign it.

Xilin glanced at the scroll; the intricate, mysterious runes made her dizzy. She took a deep breath, focusing her gaze on the bottom, and slowly exhaled as she saw Zhao Zhuikong's signature—she readily signed her name. Then, the voice of the Supreme God resounded in her mind.

—'Settlement before team replacement begins... East America Team's reincarnator, Sirin, currently possesses 8,714 reward points, one D-rank side quest, and one B-rank side quest. The East America Team's current team battle score is -4 points. After resetting team battle points, the reward points will be 714, one D-rank side quest, and one B-rank side quest.'

—'Reincarnator Sirin's identity has changed from an East America Team reincarnator to a Central Continent Team reincarnator. All previous God evaluations have been cancelled, and the ability to return to all previous horror movie worlds has been revoked. Her personal real-world and return permissions are retained.'

--'above. '

Almost visibly, Alice could see a sense of relief on the face of the purple-clad figure before her. It was as if a heavy burden had been abruptly removed from her, and she felt instantly lighter.

It seems she still values ​​her real world quite a bit.

Alice witnessed this scene, and a simple thought immediately crossed her mind—[Let's postpone the plan to go to Sirin's real world for now. Even if we did go, it would only be to briefly study the technology and culture of her world and take a short vacation. But given our history of worlds exploding wherever we go… it's better not to do something that could easily alienate our new members.]

Alice made that decision.

"Phew... I thought the real world would also be canceled when I switched teams. That scared me to death." Sirin gently patted her small chest. "Although those annoying people in the real world often annoy me, it's still a place I can occasionally go back to and rest. I would be really bothered if it suddenly disappeared."

“I’ve heard about your past from Patsy, and I’d be happy to listen if I have time later. But before that…” She put away Constantine’s soul contract, ignoring Sirin’s 'can’t you stop making me waste my feelings' look, and said directly, “Let’s talk about the danger you’re facing now, and how we need to deal with it.”

About ten minutes later...

Celine switched to a ceramic cup, now holding a third cup of black tea with plenty of milk and honey. She downed the cup of this distinctly British tea—a cup that was hard to define as black tea—in one gulp. Her brain, now replenished with sugar, then processed the information Alice had given her, arriving at a roughly plausible conclusion.

"...In other words, the East Sea Team isn't finished yet; there's still one troublesome individual left. And although she's not allied with the Celestial Team, there's a high probability she's leaking a lot of information. And I and the veterans in this city have become an easy target. To break the alliance between the Central Continent Team and the East America Team, there's a high chance the Celestial Team will directly attack this place?"

She tried her best to make her description more coherent by gesturing with each hand.

"So you came here to attack the Celestials?"

“That’s certainly one way to understand it,” Alice nodded. She ran her hand across the table, revealing a panoramic view of the entire valley through the smooth wood grain. Within the town of Long Lake, many spots of varying sizes were moving at a relatively slow pace—she pointed to a stationary spot marked in red among them, a spot larger than the others, appearing as if two spots had been joined together.

“We are here.” Alice’s finger traced the grain of the wood that looked like a road, touching several other separate patches of wood. “These are Xiao Honglu, Ba Wang, Zhang Heng, Ming Yanwei, and Cheng Xiao. They share Zhan Lan’s mental link, although Zhan Lan is not here.”

"Patch and I have placed many protective measures on them, some of which they are aware of, and some of which they are unaware of—in their own minds, the amulets, armor, magical runes, and so on they possess should be able to withstand an attack of AA-level enhancement and Tier 3 ultimate gene lock level. Even if they are subjected to mental interference and have their surface consciousness or a portion of their memories read, that's the only conclusion they can reach. But in reality, as long as their lives are in a critical emergency, all the measures within their bodies will be activated in an instant. As long as the attacker's attack pattern is not too abnormal, even a newly entered Tier 4 Reincarnator with S-level enhancement will have to take one or two more hits to kill them."

“…That doesn’t sound very useful.” Sirin tilted her head slightly and made a punching motion. “Even for me, a level four user could easily throw ten thousand punches per second with normal power.”

“But it’s unlikely that the Celestial Team’s fourth-tier members would bother with them. I’m telling you this so you know that Xiao Honglu and his group are unlikely to be defeated by Celestial Team members who haven’t reached the fourth tier.” Alice’s lips twitched, but she still patiently explained to Xilin. “You’ve fought them a few times, so you should know that they have three fourth-tier combatants. First, assuming their target is you, how much combat power do you think they would need to expend to take you down if you don’t run away?”

"I can take down all three of them by myself!" Sirin raised her chin, looking confident. "The only reason I couldn't take them down quickly was because they were coordinating with each other. As long as they dare to drag it out, killing them all will be no problem for me!"

"...Are you sure?"

"I'm sure!"

Alice simply looked at her calmly, but this method, which had always worked on Zheng Mouzha, unexpectedly failed to work on Xilin. Xilin not only didn't feel embarrassed, but also stared back at Alice, her golden, slanted cross-shaped pupils meeting Alice's blue eyes for a full minute without shifting her gaze. This, in turn, made Alice feel frustrated.

"...When you were fighting against the Celestials, did Adam ever go all out?"

"No! But he's definitely not at level four, and he used a lot of items!"

"...Have you ever encountered a situation where spatial abilities were blocked? Have they ever used this type of item?"

“No! Even if they did, I wouldn’t feel it!” Sirin became even more smug. “They can’t hit me at all! They can’t even break through the Void Belt around me, and I’ve never felt my abilities weakened. Besides, I’m wearing a talisman with a defense-weakening effect!”

She pointed to her chest, where a string of pearls and jade pendants faintly emitted a strange energy.

"This is an S-rank Arcane Protection Necklace. I even withstood Mephisto's close-range curse with it. I also have Curse Defense Runes, Weakening Defense Runes, Damage Reduction Runes, and Spirit Protection Runes. Each one is an AA-rank, top-tier exchange item in its category! Plus, I have a Spatial Stabilizer and a Spacetime Oscillator—both are one-click, foolproof versions. I can quickly destroy both Dimensional Anchors and Spatial Storms. After all, I've always encountered strange enemies with bizarre abilities who can always counter my abilities, so naturally, I need to prepare in advance!"

"..." Alice examined her savings. She decided to skip the topic. Since this guy was so confident, she would just handle the arrangements herself. Whether Sirin knew or not was actually not very important.

“Alright, it seems you’ve indeed made a great deal of preparation. It seems that the Celestials made a serious mistake by targeting you.” She emphasized the words “greatly.” “In that case, I won’t arrange any elaborate plans for you. Just do what you’ve done before: if members of the Celestials appear in your field of vision, just take care of them. You don’t need to worry about anything else.”

Just then, many disordered lines appeared on the wood-grain map on the table.

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

Meanwhile, somewhere far outside Changhu Town.

"One last confirmation: the main objective is to eliminate Sirin from the East America team. As for the weaker members of the Central Continent team, kill as many as you can. That Reincarnation Team is no weak team; even the weaker Reincarnators among them must have many powerful protective items. Besides, the timing of their appearance here was incredibly stupid."

Adam from the Celestials team is a handsome, sunny, blond young man.

"It's obvious this is bait, just like Zhao Zhuikong, who's tinkering with some kind of ritual in the Dead City, and like that spellcaster who went to Milistilis alone. The only difference is that some baits are too much for us to handle, while others can be used." His voice was clear and his tone was convincing.

"I don't think that's a good idea." Luo Yinglong had been quite aloof ever since he met up with the rest of the Celestial Team. Although this aloofness didn't last long due to his foreign girlfriend's playful pinching of his waist, it was still a real presence, and only a deep emotion that was temporarily suppressed. "I've fought that time-traveling woman a few times. Even if she doesn't actively trigger the various protective items on her, I can still smell the aura of those magical artifacts—I, Song Tian, ​​and Adam, if we all ganged up on her, might be able to suppress her, but killing her in a short time is absolutely impossible. Unless you have some other plan."

“No planning, because there’s no need.” Adam smiled. “They’re using an open strategy; they’re openly dispersing their forces to create opportunities for us to pick them off one by one. If we can’t seize this opportunity, we can only watch helplessly as the Middle Continent Team’s strength expands to a point where we have absolutely no chance to resist—the Fellowship of the Ring in the original story can no longer happen before we Reincarnators have a victor. So even if there are bound to be traps here, we have to take the initiative.”

"What we can be sure of now is that Zhao Zhuikong will definitely be tied up, so if a fight breaks out, the worst-case scenario we face is dealing with an incomplete combination of the Central Continent Team and the East America Team. Moreover, I will block off the space in that area to ensure that their reinforcements do not arrive immediately."

“Sirin definitely has an anti-space suppression item on her,” Song Tian, ​​holding a long sword, interjected casually. “Adam, with what we have, it will be very difficult to seal off her spatial abilities.”

“I know, so just make sure she doesn’t have time to break through the blockade,” Adam replied. “The only way to deal with an open conspiracy is to overwhelm it with overwhelming force through local advantages. Our Celestials alone are obviously not enough, and even with Sauron’s Ringwraiths, those undead who have fully unleashed their power are still lacking. But that doesn’t mean we can’t get more help.”

A radiant light appeared in his palm, the light vaguely resembling a warhammer.

"Sauron does not represent the deepest darkness in the world."

Section 42 - Determination