Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

The girl's expression was indifferent, and an even more biting cold current surrounded her!

Chapter Sixteen: The Overlord, Part Four

Just as Alice had planned, she easily gained Talulah's trust, convincing the young lady, who, in her everyday clothes, possessed the air of a Western noblewoman, that she was a genuine expert in Originium. During the conversation, she naturally took the lead, emphasizing her own abilities while downplaying Sirin's presence.

Ah, that's how it is. Ultimately, such an ordinary event wouldn't require both of them to send avatars to handle it. Sirin's presence here is less about providing assistance and more about arranging a logically sound alibi for herself—she concluded the necessity of an 'alibi' after analyzing Hu Hai's actions. This is because she discovered many overlaps between Hu Hai's behavior and that of the main god.

The Lord God keeps His word.

The Lord God always acts based on evidence.

Given that the 'First God' is the prototype of the main god—and this premise holds true—then the First God, who has already become Hu Hai, is very likely to follow the action logic of the main god.

He did what he said he would do.

He always relies on evidence when doing things.

As Celine's presence diminished due to Alice's constant presence in the spotlight, her will silently departed from the physical body that had been constructed as a facade before her departure. She left Alice, Talulah, and Talulah's sister, Chen Huijie, to discuss academic matters.

This is normal. If two scholars in the same field can coexist peacefully without any conflict of interest, then a hierarchy must have already been established between them. The one who speaks eloquently will be seen as having the advantage, while the one who is silent will be seen as lagging behind—people always trust the stronger and more confident one. And the inferior one is always ignored.

Thus, Sirin was treated as Alice's assistant. She would still be properly cared for, but wouldn't receive any special attention.

Thus, Alice, or rather Loe, easily became friends with the Talulah sisters. And inadvertently, the conversation drifted to the treatment of Oripathy.

Alice knew what she was about to do. She was going to announce soon that she possessed the ability to cure Oripathy and tame natural disasters. Such an action would undoubtedly attract the attention of the Overlord and his past life.

This is good. The only two powerful beings in the entire world who pose a threat to her will focus their attention on the interior of this city. Their fighting spirit is ignited, and their anger is directed at this area. So, in other words…

...they'll be distracted by the trivialities here.

Meanwhile...

Inside the 'Yesterday's Ship, Xilin silently opened her eyes.

She kept her physical body inside the ship, while she herself detached from the body in a specially concealed soul form.

[Hu Hai's surveillance of the Qin people was at an atomic level. In other words, it didn't, or wouldn't, expend so many resources to focus its attention on targets that didn't require deliberate attention. With the two layers of cover provided by 'Lin Xi' and the tachyon game, the likelihood of it focusing its attention on this aspect on top of that is very low.]

[The soul's dimensions can be lower than an atom. After all, my essence is the light of the mind. Using my power, I exercise the authority of 'connection.' I can synchronize my form with the dimensions of 'neutrinos' outside of combat. This basically confirms that Hu Hai here cannot detect me in my current state...]

[...as long as I don't do things in a big-name way, it's fine.]

She thought in a soul-like state, and after suppressing the size to the level of a neutrino, the entire universe seemed like a colossal, riddled-with-holes entity to her. Yet, her will operated with ease, passing through the hull of a life-giving ship made of highly interdependent materials to reach the vast and ancient universe.

She touched a light.

【coupling.】

The power began to operate covertly once more, without energy fluctuations or spatial-temporal reactions. Sirin formed a 'connection' with this ray of light and became a part of it. Furthermore, while reading the hidden messages within this ray of light, she arrived near the Winterwind!

The emperor's mark is found within this beam of light.

The Emperor's will exists in this star field in the form of matter waves, scanning and monitoring every atomic-sized material entity.

It's very detailed, but not enough.

Because the size of a neutrino can be easily reduced to one millionth the size of an electron, it is equivalent to being invisible in the universe.

【coupling.】

Old connections were discarded, and new ones were born. Sirin detached from the beam of light and became part of the 'Winterwind'. Operating as a neutrino, she first became a particle on the hull's surface, then an atom on the hull's interior. Soon she detached from the inner hull and merged with an oxygen molecule inside the ship's cabin.

The Emperor's gaze echoed within the Dongfeng's hull. It swept over the molecule where Sirin resided, but ignored Sirin herself, comfortably resting on the molecular bonds. Sirin's will flowed among these numerous gas molecules, reading the many messages within the Dongfeng.

She witnessed the birth of this ship, and the synthetic factory operating under the Emperor's will. She saw the man bearing the name 'Robo' born from the incubation chamber, his genes adjusted, knowledge instilled, and then placed in a virtual world to enjoy his childhood. And after his childhood ended, he embarked on a new career.

Rob was an explorer, a pioneer who answered the will of Hu Hai. After a not-so-long adventure, he successfully discovered a planet inhabited by an alien civilization in the outer reaches of the Empire. He named this planet 'Terra'.

The Qin people had very long lifespans; theoretically, "if a person is killed, they will die," which, in other words, meant "if a person isn't killed, they won't die." During this long period, after completing his sixth century of exploration, Rob abandoned his ambitions to continue expanding and instead focused his energy on the tachyon game "Yesterday's Wrecked Ship." In reality, the world of "Yesterday's Wrecked Ship" had already been operating for more than one cycle.

[So that's how it is. This 'Yesterday's Broken Ship' scenario wasn't like this from the beginning. It was originally just an ordinary world of beast-eared girls, without any natural disasters or man-made calamities. It was 'Robo' who brought change through cycle after cycle—he brought the Originium, he created the natural disasters, and he single-handedly created this mobile city and class-based tachyon game world. And he himself enjoyed it.]

[No delays or unexpected events occurred along the way... As expected, this 'Robo' is indeed the Overlord. And not only him, but did his past life also accept this world? Or was this world a trap set by his past life from the very beginning? After all, both he and it knew that the Central Continent Team's assistants would inevitably arrive in this world.]

[This means we can't rule out the possibility that this 'Quick Game World' itself is a trap. Hmm... is there a hidden trap somewhere, or is the whole scheme actually a troublesome trap? The possibility of it posing a threat to us is low, but if we're just looking for a way to expose our true identities and attract Hu Hai's attention, it's not impossible.]

The neutrino-sized Sirin pondered, then severed her 'connection' with the air and arrived at the operator's control room in the central area of ​​the ship.

Rob, a relatively unremarkable middle-aged man in this interstellar era where everyone is handsome or beautiful, lay peacefully asleep inside his hibernation pod. Sirin could clearly sense the powerful energy and familiar aura hidden deep within his soul.

He is a tyrant, without a doubt.

Although Sirin and Alice had analyzed the voiceprint changes in the communication messages from the beginning and identified Chelsea's traces, thus confirming that 'Robo' was the Overlord's true form, the inability to witness the true form firsthand inevitably left some doubts.

Now, at least on this point of view, there is no longer any disagreement.

【Openly repairing the plank road while secretly crossing the Chencang...tsk, after being in the Central Continent team for so long, I've gotten used to using idioms.】

Sirin's thoughts raced as her neutrino-like embodiment gently landed on 'Robo's' forehead. She knew what she was doing and what she needed to do. For her, there were other ways to defeat the Overlord's past life besides destroying his obsession. She could also use her powers to forcibly establish a 'connection' with one of his entities. And if the action was discreet enough, she could even disguise herself as his internal distractions while remaining undetected, acting as a behind-the-scenes manipulator to cause his path to crumble.

Of course, this is the kind of good thing that only happens when you're playing Pokémon in broad daylight. She doesn't believe that those past lives of those who start as Super Saiyans, are usually Quasi-Saints, and occasionally Saints, wouldn't see through her plan. After all, she had already revealed the general content of her powers in the previous Luna World battlefield. And in this trial, if a teammate knows a piece of information, it can be considered that their past life had already grasped and thoroughly understood everything related to it.

The possibility of a trap is so high that she doesn't want to take any risks at all.

but……

No matter how ingenious, no matter how seemingly harmless the trap, its impact is extremely limited as long as I don't take that crucial step. What I need to do is simply uncover your secret, to understand the true nature of your hidden obsession.

Her gaze shifted, her form piercing through the skin and tissue fluid, penetrating the abode of that powerful soul. And through layers of protective traps, she approached the very core of that light. Her fingers then touched the surface of that light.

Reveal your obsessions and your secrets to me.

At the same time, photochemical phenomena appeared on her body, transforming her from a neutrino into an internal structure that theoretically does not exist within a ray of spiritual light.

then……

【coupling.】

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

Meanwhile, at another point in the plot, events were unfolding exactly as Ming Yanwei had previously predicted.

She successfully met Yelena, the Catherine rabbit-eared girl codenamed Froststar. She fought with the abilities and fighting spirit befitting 'Black,' and achieved a draw.

This is normal, as Black is a swordsman who primarily uses a bow and crossbow, while Frostnova is a sorcerer with a wide attack range. For both of them, melee combat is a mandatory skill they must learn, not an elective they pursue out of interest. This also means that Black and Frostnova are not particularly adept at close-quarters combat. Although they are still superior to others, they are relatively weak in offense but strong in defense compared to each other.

No one could kill anyone, and no one could hurt anyone. Furthermore, the very presence of the incapacitated Yeti squad on the battlefield greatly hampered Frostnova's ability to unleash her full potential. And because Black… or rather, Ming Yanwei had deliberately avoided them, Frostnova's combat power and fighting spirit were further diminished.

Gradually, Frostnova began to falter. She couldn't possibly unleash her ultra-low-temperature blast, which was impossible to distinguish friend from foe, amidst a group of allies. Meanwhile, Black, wielding melee weapons and crossbows, didn't need to consider this issue at all.

She was forced to retreat, her movement blocked by arrows.

And just as a perfectly timed barrage of arrows blocked all of Frostnova's escape routes, threatening her with a final, imminent blow from the shadowy hand, the script finally reached its climax.

A member of the Yeti squad appeared at the door of the power bay, holding Ceylon.

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

“I’m sorry, Black.” Ceylon, the core of Luo Ye, looked embarrassed. “I tried to resist, but my strength… wasn’t quite enough.”

Mingyan Weixin's dark gaze fell upon Frostnova, who had ceased her attack the moment Ceylon was brought there, refusing to capitalize on the situation. She used the corner of her eye to check on Ceylon's condition.

"Miss." Ming Yanwei was now able to perfectly embody the character of Ceylon. "Are you injured?"

"No……"

Hei nodded slightly, then turned his gaze back to Froststar.

"You're not going to lay down your weapon?" Frostnova seemed to let out a small breath, relaxing slightly. "As a warrior, you've already lost."

“But as an assassin, I haven’t lost yet,” Hei replied calmly, lowering his crossbow and pointing it at the ground. “The best way for an assassin to protect his master is to always keep his weapon firmly in his hand. Because you can’t keep me here, and you should know better than anyone what an assassin who has lost his master is capable of doing, regardless of the cost or the means.”

The best way to protect hostages is to clearly demonstrate the extent of danger and hatred that harming them would incur. When this approach is backed by substantial military strength, it becomes exceptionally persuasive.

This development caused Froststar to frown slightly.

Chapter Seventeen: The Overlord, Part Five

The massive airship trembled slightly, a sign that it had encountered unstable air currents while flying at high altitude. And just as Froststar and Black were locked in a stalemate, the communication bell in the engine room suddenly rang!

'Ring ring ring ring ring ring ring————'

'Ring ring ring ring ring ring ring————'

Two long bangs rang out, and before the people locked in a stalemate could even devise a response, the loudspeaker automatically activated. Immediately following, a booming voice with a distinctly Maoist accent emanated from the other side of the airship!

"Powertrain! What the hell is going on over there? The power supply is unstable, don't you even know that?!"

The voice was filled with anger and urgency.

"You have twenty seconds! You vodka-drunk idiots! If I don't see the power supply return in twenty seconds, you'll be sorry!"

Black glanced at Frostnova, then Frostnova glanced at Black, their gazes simultaneously sweeping over the staff members on the ground who had been knocked down by the Yeti squad. Unsurprisingly, they discovered that they were all burly, powerful men, each capable of lifting a crate full of Originium with one hand!

A burly man like that could never disguise himself with the voice of a young girl or a young lady like Blackie, Frostnova, or Ceylon! Frostnova immediately turned her head and gave her subordinate a wink.

"It'll be ready soon!" the young Yeti, knocked down by Black's acupoint-severing technique, shouted in a muffled voice. He then stared blankly at the numerous instruments and valves in the engine room. He looked at Frostnova for help, and Frostnova's eyes widened dramatically.

—Who knows how to make this thing!?

—Isn't this thing supposed to run automatically if you just leave it alone?

She and her companions exchanged bewildered glances, then were pleasantly surprised to find that none of them knew how to operate the instruments in the engine room. Just as they were staring at each other in disbelief, the entire cabin suddenly shook violently!

The external airflow is getting stronger.

The speaker rang again.

"Sergei! Are you fucking tired of living?! Can't you see the strong air currents outside? Can't you see the barometric pressure warning?! Can't you see the ship shaking?! It's been twenty fucking seconds and you still haven't fixed it? Do you want me to skin you alive?!"

Frostnova continued to glare at her subordinate. The poor fellow, like a wronged quail, frantically waved his arm. He continued to shout, pretending to be the man named 'Sergei,' making drunken nasal sounds from his nose.

"There's a problem... a little problem! It'll be fixed soon!"

"I'm giving you ten last seconds!"—the voice grew increasingly frantic. Along with it came a cacophony of hurried conversation, footsteps, and the howling of the wind. And that guy actually started counting down right then and there!

"ten!"

Froststar pointed at the boiler and, with a stern face, made a tilting motion. However, her companion shook her head repeatedly, made an explosion gesture, and added a soft 'boom!'

"Nine!"

Another Yeti pointed to the staff member who had been placed on the ground, made a shaking gesture, and then cast an inquiring look at Frostnova.

"Eight!"

Frostnova's eyes twitched. She first shook her head instinctively, then hesitated before nodding. With her permission, the yeti immediately began shaking the sleeping creature and patting his face, trying to wake him.