Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

She saw her visitor nod, not surprised by her choice. Clearly, the other person had done their homework before speaking, ensuring their approach wouldn't trigger any particular negative emotions.

"There's another thing, which is that according to the new regulations, all special personnel will have an additional work assistant. Your assistant will start work tomorrow. She will be by your side most of the time, taking care of your daily needs and handling some work-related issues for you."

"Who is this assistant?" Alice asked.

“She’s an Arctic native born in Central America, educated in East America, and lived there for a long time,” the visitor replied casually. She then took an identification document from her entourage and handed it to Alice. “She’s an excellent psychologist and management expert. And her name is…”

When the visitor pronounced her name, he clearly saw Alice's eyebrow twitch slightly.

"...Lin Xi".

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

Lin Xi.

Lin Xi has unusual purple eyes and long, pale white hair. This makes her look like a poor child suffering from some kind of special genetic disease. And in fact, that is indeed the case.

She suffers from a variant of albinism, a congenital condition that only affects her appearance and not her lifespan or immune system. She experiences occasional pain, but it's never severe. However, this rare disease doesn't bring her care or pity in East America. East Americans despise the weak, regardless of whether it's congenital or acquired. To overcome the burden this illness places on her, she has to work many times harder than her peers.

Sometimes, she felt she shouldn't work so hard. She felt she should face the present and future of the world with more ease and comfort. However, these thoughts came and went quickly, because she soon realized she had a childhood friend with even more severe albinism who needed her care. And this became the source of her motivation to work hard and strive for excellence.

This caught the eye of the upper class in East America. Interestingly, her high regard stemmed more from the unusual beauty of her albino appearance than from her talents. Her employers, too, consciously nurtured her from an early age, ready to utilize her at the most opportune moment.

She has weaknesses. And East Americans like young talents with weaknesses. When the psychological model and corresponding analysis report of Alice Margot Lloyd came into the hands of some high-ranking East Americans, they immediately thought of Lin Xi as a suitable option.

Her lineage is an advantage, her gender is an advantage, her appearance is an advantage, and her interpersonal skills are also an advantage. This position is perfect for her. Even if she hadn't come to Alice's side, the Eastern Americans would have arranged a similar position for her—she had a clear understanding of her place before Qi Chen arrived. And she knew even better what responsibilities she needed to fulfill.

She had prepared ten plans for this first meeting and had six prepared statements for different scenarios. She was confident she would do her best on the first encounter. However, when she arrived at Alice's detached house the next morning, dressed formally, she found that this lady named Alice had already prepared tea for her.

This didn't align with her previously established mental model. According to the logistics team's assessment, the nostalgic Alice Margotrovid shouldn't have shown any particular favor to the new visitor. She wasn't a woman who craved power or held it in awe. She should have approached the meeting with a more aloof demeanor.

"Hello, Ms. Alice." Lin Xi's thoughts flashed through her mind, but she didn't show any surprise and calmly performed her duties. "I am Lin Xi, your new assistant. I sincerely hope that we can work together smoothly in the days to come."

She smiled professionally and extended her hand to Alice in invitation.

According to her mental model, the girl named Alice shouldn't have taken the initiative to shake hands with a stranger like herself—that was the thought that crossed her mind. But the next moment, she felt the warmth coming from her fingertips.

“Our collaboration has always been pleasant.” She saw a smile appear on the girl's lips. The smile was meaningful, and she couldn't quite grasp it for a moment. “That's how it is now, and that's how it will be in the future.”

Her words were somewhat difficult to understand.

Was it a joke, a prank, a slip of the tongue, or did this sentence really have some special meaning behind it?

Ah...it's not important.

Regardless of the answer, it was an unexpected and interesting development. As the person at the center of the incident, Lin Xi couldn't tell whether the girl's words were a slip of the tongue or something else entirely. She could only be certain that all the information she had gathered before coming could be thrown into the trash can and marked as non-recyclable—but before that, she gently shook Alice's outstretched fingertip.

"I will assist you as much as I can in the days to come." — Only after she finished speaking did she realize that she had forgotten to use honorifics.

Alice, however, seemed unconcerned about such minor details.

As a result, she gained recognition and subsequently completed the handover of intelligence with her former team.

She knew she wasn't a spy—the East Americans wouldn't expect someone without special training and whose background was easily verifiable to be a source of important intelligence. She was here to openly influence Alice's (a 'special agent') actions as a derivative of the East American will. At the very least, she wanted to prevent her from becoming an enemy of the East American camp.

After all, times have changed. And they've changed very quickly. Even with a treasure trove right in front of them, it's not a simple or quick process for the rulers of the myriad nations on Earth to digest and utilize the knowledge and information obtained from the light sphere—the people of Zhongzhou obtained the complete blueprints for the fusion reactor and even some finished parts of its core structure two months ago. Yet, even now, the first fusion reactor designed by scholars is not yet ready to be put into operation.

Times change rapidly. A nation is like a giant with feet of clay trying to cross a river in the tides of time. It must take each step firmly to remain stable amidst the waves. If it tries to hasten its pace, the tide will carry it downstream before it reaches the other side.

The larger the ship, the slower it is to turn around. The people of Zhongzhou will not give up on the research and development of core technologies. The same applies to major world powers such as the Arctic, East America, and the Western Seas.

Therefore, while the technological level on this land is indeed developing by leaps and bounds, compared to the 'special personnel' who only need to consider themselves, the progress of a nation that needs to consider the interests of hundreds of millions of citizens when taking action is relatively slow. This has led to the ultimate military force wielded by this still-formed World Government gradually becoming inadequate to deal with special personnel possessing A-level enhancements and whose strength is constantly increasing.

A new class is emerging. And all those in power worldwide know that 'the weak must never be superior to the strong.' All ideals, doctrines, beliefs, and laws are pale and powerless in the face of pure, absolute violence. Because even the most reasonable person, when faced with an unreasonable adversary and utterly outmatched, can only seek a sense of spiritual superiority.

But the old rulers didn't need a sense of superiority. What they wanted was continued power and tangible benefits. That's why they limited the number of these 'special personnel' before the talks ended. That's why they allocated resources to every 'special person,' whether they were conspicuous or insignificant, in order to make them as ideologically aligned as possible with their own side.

If you can't defeat them, join them.

If you don't want to join the other party, then find a way to get them to join you.

This was a consensus among the old rulers. However, the question of which side the new class should join was another matter open to discussion.

Lin Xi came for this very reason. Accompanying her were thousands of young men and women who would soon serve as assistants to other 'special personnel'. Their arrival and takeover were under constant scrutiny by the people of Zhongzhou—the people of Zhongzhou approved of this operation by the myriad kingdoms on Earth. Because, apart from these thousands of foreign 'special personnel,' the remaining 90,000-plus 'special personnel' were all surrounded by native-born people of Zhongzhou!

Therefore, Lin Xi has a heavy task.

It's not dangerous, but it's very heavy.

She found Alice to be very kind to her, but it seemed that this kindness was only directed at her. She discovered that she had been granted the freedom to move around the house, which gave her the opportunity to observe more details—and after spending several days with her, she reported her small discoveries to her superiors.

She was reprimanded.

Section 39: Connection

"You should focus your time and energy on more important things. You're not going there to be a spy. This is the last time. If there's a next time, you're no longer suited for this job."

Even half an hour after the call ended, the blunt and unvarnished reprimand from her direct superior continued to echo in Lin Xi's mind. She had to go to the restroom and wash her face thoroughly with cold water before she could finally calm down. Then she shoved that lesson deep into her memory.

I did something wrong.

Indeed, this is a mistake.

As a 'foreign affairs personnel' whose identity is basically public, all her words and actions are certainly under the close surveillance of the Zhongzhou people. And as her superiors said, she was not assigned to this position to become a spy for intelligence gathering or defection.

What information could she possibly gather through spying? How many secrets could a CC-level enhanced user possibly possess?

Turn them away... but where to turn them away to? What price would it take to make a being who has come into contact with and mastered supernatural powers abandon their current relative independence and abundant resources for growth, and instead become a hunting dog for a foreign land thousands or tens of thousands of kilometers away from the planet of light?

Are you kidding me? This kind of price isn't something you can just throw around. Even if it were, it wouldn't be wasted on a mere CC-level enhancement holder.

"You should become her friend, her right-hand man. You need to occupy a position where you can influence her, and then become a factor in her decisions about the future."

"You need to help her, not control her. You need to influence her, not seduce or coerce her. You need to make her willing to think about you herself, not go up to her and say you want to make a deal with her."

The warnings she had received before taking on this responsibility echoed in her mind. They pricked Lin Xi's thoughts like scattered needles, causing her repeated throbbing pains amidst the chaos. And the pain was like a key, unlocking door after door, releasing countless complex images, none of which could be clearly discerned.

I made a mistake. I... but why did I make such a mistake?

Her fingers rested on the marble countertop in front of the sink, gazing at her reflection in the half-length mirror. For a fleeting moment, she seemed to see a familiar silhouette with purple hair and golden eyes in her reflection. But the next instant, everything faded away, leaving only a face filled with frustration and confusion.

"I... am wary of the changes in her." — A thought suddenly arose in my mind. Then it took root and wouldn't go away.

I... have an extraordinary fondness for her.

But why?

Why did it turn out this way? Why did I make such a mistake? Why did she say those things to me?

"Our cooperation has always been very pleasant, and it will continue to be so in the future."

This statement may be the root of everything. However, she lacks sufficient understanding of it.

She didn't understand what was happening. She couldn't figure it out. She felt something vague yet enormous rising in her mind. But that unknown thing was blocked by the thick ice before it could touch the sea; it was just one step away, but it stopped there.

Let's leave it at that for now.

She shook her head vigorously and let out a long breath. She turned on the hairdryer next to her to dry the water off her face. She touched up her makeup a little, straightened her clothes, gave a slight smile, and then left the bathroom as if nothing had happened.

Outside the restroom was a bustling, yet quiet, office building. Beyond that building stood the completed, perpetually fortified fortress.

She entered the building, where special assistants with the same identities as her moved about in various work units. This was their job and mission: when special personnel went out on official business... or traveled to other worlds, these assistants would leave the side of these supernatural beings and arrange various behind-the-scenes support in this service center. And today happened to be the day Alice left the present world to carry out her fifth mission in another realm.

According to the rules of the Sphere of Light, no matter how long these special individuals have been in the other world, their departure and return times will always be separated by only one day. If they haven't returned after one day, it means that the chosen lucky individual has perished in the other world. And now, there are still more than ten hours before Alice Margotrovd returns from the other world.

Ten or more hours. A lot can be done in ten or more hours.

She returned to her workstation with practiced ease. After verification, the enclosed, transparent cubicle belonging to her and her support group opened. Then, it closed again after she stepped inside—she took a deep breath and turned on her personal terminal on her desk. She began reviewing her to-do list for the day.

There weren't many things to do; when Alice Margot Tloyd was on her otherworldly mission, there were only three things her assistant had to handle. Two were official duties: entering some complex data and proofreading mental models. The remaining one was a personal matter. Her benefactor, Miss Alice Margot Tloyd, wanted her to travel to the English Quarter in the West Sea to retrieve some personal items from her old home.

The relevant data has been submitted and reviewed; the first two official tasks only require time. The third private task involves nothing more than a crudely made doll by a young girl. By the time Lin Xi had completed the necessary data entry for the first two tasks, the people in the Western Sea had already located the doll and examined every detail of it without touching it.

It was just an ordinary handmade doll, nothing strange about it. Scholars and astronomical experts among the Western Sea people, along with the temporarily recruited master craftsmen, had even completely calculated the doll's raw materials, their source, the production process, the techniques, the number of mistakes, and a rough estimate of its lifespan. Their final conclusion was that this handmade doll, from its materials to its craftsmanship, belonged entirely to this world. There was nothing special about it.

Therefore, the people of Xihai approved the application. Lin Xi was thus able to bring back a genuine doll, instead of bringing back the unfriendly message, "I'm sorry, Miss Margot Lloyd. The doll you mentioned was lost two years ago."

The next step was for Lin Xi, the designated person, to board a special plane bound for the Western Sea. Then, she would personally bring the small doll from that foreign land to the Central Continent.

This is a task that doesn't present any difficulty. At least, it doesn't seem so.

Then... she glanced at the doll photo on the screen.

'Thump—' She instinctively pressed her hand to her chest.

My heart suddenly started pounding violently.

Like drumbeats, like thunder. Like the eerie patterns on that doll photo in the video call—they are interconnected and intertwined, like banyan trees growing together, or like clusters of bubbles.

Bubbles? Why bubbles? Why do bubbles clump together?

She didn't know; she didn't even know why she thought that way. She abruptly pushed back her seat and stood up, a conscious action that drew the attention of the security cameras and other staff. She looked around blankly, one hand pressed to her chest, the other reaching for her bag containing her medicine bottles.

"Hey! Are you alright?!"—Someone knocked on the door of the transparent cubicle. Footsteps rushed towards her from a distance. She instinctively looked at them, but her gaze couldn't focus!

Has the genetic disease worsened?

She knew she had a genetic condition and that although her immune system was normal, she occasionally experienced delirium and cardiopulmonary arrhythmias. She had had similar episodes before, but never as strange and sudden as today!

Why a banyan tree? Why do banyan trees intertwine with each other and grow together?

Her heart pounded even harder, and her blood flowed like a surging tide. She tried to walk away, but her legs suddenly gave way and she collapsed. Her hands braced herself against the ground, but the ground reflected an eerie light.

【coupling……】

A faint voice sounded in her ear. It sounded like her own voice, but it was stronger and more authoritative than usual. She heard someone banging on the door outside, but the banging quickly became broken and incomplete.

【coupling--】

Another voice rang out, seemingly her own. But it was filled with something strange that she couldn't quite describe.

Something's wrong? What exactly is wrong?

She strained her eyes and pricked up her ears. She could vaguely see opening doors and a howling, cunning wolf. And finally, she saw a pair of wide-open eyes!

Those were her eyes!

Her eyes, reflected in the smooth marble surface, cast eerie light and shadow!

And in those eyes, there was a slanted cross pattern in the position of the pupils!

The next moment, it was as if an invisible switch had been flipped. Everything lost its color. And with a crashing sound as a door broke open, everything in her vision plummeted into utter darkness.

Darkness, darkness. Utter and eternal darkness. She heard the broken door open, she heard footsteps approaching her. It seemed someone came to her side, whispering her name.

That name is...

...Cirin.