Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

"It smells of a fox." A slight wariness flickered in those dark red eyes. "It's a troublesome fellow."

Then, she turned her gaze toward Lin Xi.

“It’s coming this way, Lin Xi. What are you going to do?” she asked.

Lin Xi did not answer Skadi's question.

—Because it's too late.

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

Two minutes later, Lin Xi stopped the car. Under Skadi's protection, she stepped onto the wasteland and saw the fox-eared Volper girl blocking her path. She was a messenger, wearing a loose dust coat, with various strange items secured to her chest and abdomen with many straps. She held an exquisite staff easily in her hand, and a friendly yet subtly subtle smile played on her lips.

There were remnants of Originium Arts around her, like some kind of force field that caused small wisps of dust to rise from the ground. Traces of wind and sand left marks on her windproof coat, and a faint warmth still lingered around her staff.

“I am Angelina, Angelina of the Heart Institute. As you can see, I am just an ordinary messenger of natural disasters.”

Her fox ears twitched slightly as she spoke. Although she was smiling and her tone was gentle and kind, she always gave off a malicious vibe.

Lin Xi noticed that Skadi's hand was always on the spine of the sword, and Angelina knew this, but pretended not to notice.

This woman… is dangerous. Skadi’s actions and expression clearly conveyed this information to Lin Xi. But when Lin Xi tried to look at her with her 'connected' vision, she only saw a thick, dreamlike cloud.

She felt a faint tap between her eyebrows. Even though there were no lighting effects, it felt like someone had flicked her forehead with their finger.

“Even among women, it’s not a lady’s thing to pry into someone’s secrets.” She saw Miss Walper raise a finger and wag it. “As payment for this offense, how about telling me your name?”

Skadi instinctively took a step forward, about to draw the sword she was holding.

However, Lin Xi pressed down on her shoulder.

“My name is Lin Xi, and this is Skadi.” She looked at Angelina before her. “I don’t remember ever knowing you before. Miss Angelina… what are you planning to do, blocking our path?”

"I'm just stopping you from going to your deaths."

These startling words caused Lin Xi's gaze to sharpen.

However, Lin Xi did not do anything rash. She simply opened her eyes wide and carefully examined the Walber girl in front of her from head to toe.

The attire of a messenger of natural disasters.

Traces of continuous surgical procedures.

A dusty, travel-worn coat.

It has the ability to not fear 'connections' and even counter them.

Lin Xi almost categorized this girl who called herself Angelina into the same category as Alice, Andromeda, Ceylon, and other beings who were definitely not ordinary. However, she quickly regained control of her heart and reason and swiftly arrived at another answer.

"Is there a natural disaster... about to attack Lungmen?" she asked uncertainly.

“Yes,” the messenger replied readily. “And your destination should be Lungmen, right? After all, there are no other cities to go to besides Lungmen in this direction.”

"I suggest you turn around and head west or north. Although it's a bit of a detour, if you drive fast, you should be able to encounter the mobile city-states passing through the surrounding area in two days. And in my observation, this is the only natural disaster in the vicinity in the near future."

She smiled as she looked at Lin Xi and Skadi standing in front of the car.

“Longmen cannot escape this natural disaster, and the people of Longmen will not give up. This means that Longmen will suffer heavy losses in this disaster. And if the two of you go there, there will be a considerable chance of death.”

“I will protect Lin Xi.” Miss Skadi, whose shoulders were being pressed by Lin Xi, gave a soft hum. The fingers that had been resting on the spine of the sword quietly slid down and hung limply. Her crimson eyes were fixed on Angelina, her pupils brimming with seriousness and confidence.

"Wherever she wants to go, I will protect her. And I am able to protect her."

However, Angelina's gaze did not linger on Miss Skadi for long... She merely glanced at her briefly before shifting her gaze away. Then, she focused her attention back on Lin Xi's face and neck.

“But going to Lungmen is still not a good idea.” Angelina’s smile remained unchanged. “It would be a massive storm. It would be a test of the old era against the new, and the hostility of heaven and earth towards mortals. Once you’re caught up in it, it’s hard to escape, whether you do it willingly or unwillingly. And this matter has nothing to do with you in the first place.”

She stretched out her finger and gently traced a line in the air. An invisible gravitational field immediately unfolded, removing the dust from her clothes and giving the all-terrain vehicle behind Lin Xi and the other person a brand-new look, while also turning it around to face the area they had come from.

“Leave here, away from the crisis. You just need to quietly wait for the outcome to be published in the newspapers in a few days,” Angelina continued. “This disaster had nothing to do with you in the first place. You didn’t need to get involved or contribute anything. You were an outsider; you didn’t need to do anything and shouldn’t do anything. Just watch professionals like me handle it.”

Lin Xi always felt that the messenger, Miss Fox, had a hidden meaning in her words.

But for a moment she couldn't understand the meaning behind those words.

She glanced at Skadi instinctively. But she found that Miss Agor, whose prototype was likely an orca, was simply giving her a questioning look. Without a doubt, Skadi would stay by her side, wherever her destiny led her.

She felt as if she were standing at a crossroads of fate. And whichever direction she took, it meant she had chosen the destiny she would face.

fate.

The fate bestowed upon it by others.

Lin Xi was well aware that she had not encountered the messenger girl in front of her by chance.

Although she couldn't find any reason or basis, she just knew that there was a driving force behind all these changes. It was as if a gentle voice was floating in her ear, whispering to her.

"—She's always like this. She can't stand failure, yet she craves unexpected twists and turns in her planning and preparation. She's always like this, always trying to control every variable, yet deliberately letting her own blind spots cause chaos."

—'She hates monotony; she's a contradiction.'

The sound faded away silently. The girl before her continued to gaze at her, waiting for her response.

She knew that no matter what choice she made, she would ultimately fall into a trap set by someone.

So……

She suddenly looked up at the female messenger in front of her.

“Anxinyuan, Anxinyuan Angelina,” she whispered.

"Is that so?" A subtle sense of anticipation flickered in the messenger's eyes.

—So Lin Xi took a soft breath.

"This isn't your real name, is it?" Lin Xi exhaled, staring at the messenger girl before her. "I know you're Alice's companion. Whatever you have to say... let her come and tell me herself!"

Section 51 Props

Lin Xi had expected a storm to break out, that the self-proclaimed messenger from Walber would react in an outrageous and exaggerated way. He thought his actions would be a blatant betrayal, that he would be sealing his own fate.

She regretted it the instant the words left her mouth, or rather, she believed she should regret it.

But she didn't expect... she was thinking too much.

Because when she uttered that irreversible question, the girl from Walpole standing opposite her did not react unusually.

It didn't seem like the embarrassment of a secret being exposed, nor the shame of having one's status denied. The messenger with fox ears simply continued to smile and watch her, her gaze as if she were observing a playful, mischievous young girl.

"Why would you have such an idea?" The messenger, who called herself Angelina Anshinin, tilted her head slightly to look at her. "What's your basis for suggesting this name and linking me to her?"

"I……"

Lin Xi was speechless.

There is no basis for this...

If we had to find a reason, could it be that the messenger's advice about Lungmen was too profound and unfathomable, thus touching a nerve? Could it be that she couldn't use 'connection' to observe the messenger's heart, and coupled with the vague words that suddenly appeared in her mind, it led her to make such a decision?

Ha, what kind of evidence is this? What kind of basis is this?

This thing couldn't even convince her own conscience.

Her heart was torn with inner turmoil and distress, an indescribable sense of unease lingering within her. However, just before she was about to apologize and admit her mistake—

The messenger suddenly changed the subject.

“But you guessed right. I am indeed Alice, Alice Margotrovid’s companion.” Her fox ears twitched mischievously. “But your guess only goes as far as that. Because of my arrival—”

"—It has nothing to do with her."

The moment the messenger finished speaking, a glimmer of light flashed in Skadi's eyes, who had been standing quietly beside Lin Xi! The next moment, the greatsword was drawn, facing forward, and she slashed fiercely from left to right!

Heaven and earth separated at that moment. Below was white, above was black, and in between lay a boundary—and as the black and white colors merged into a kaleidoscope of colors, a fan-shaped area of ​​the ground, starting from where Skadi swung her sword, erupted and boiled! Vast swathes of earth were ripped up by this violent force and thrown into the air, while a raging storm swept outwards!

At least three square kilometers of ground were destroyed and overturned, and the collapsed area continued to spread outwards—Lin Xi couldn't even comprehend what was happening before her eyes for a moment. However, just as she was about to instinctively utter words of dissuasion and questioning, Skadi's body, which had just finished swinging her sword, had already turned into afterimages, and her true form had already appeared at the edge of the area affected by the sword collapse!

She stood 1.4 kilometers away from where she had swung her sword. The messenger, who had been unharmed after being struck, was 1,403 meters away. And just as the swordsman from the deep sea raised her greatsword for the second time, just as the accumulated power was about to erupt, she saw her target slightly lift her eyelids.

"Why did you take action?"—the messenger, who identified herself as Angelina, asked in bewilderment.

The next moment, a vertical slash crashed down. But just before it struck her head, it was firmly bound by an invisible, intangible force, like mud or colloid. It could no longer move forward an inch!

"Because what you just said gave me a very dangerous feeling. You... are doing something dangerous." — Skadi's voice was flat and devoid of emotion. She released the sword that had been frozen in mid-air. Her sudden impact shattered the invisible shield blocking her path like a speeding train—

—With a sound like a bubble bursting, an invisible yet instantly powerful chaotic force shattered and tore apart the surrounding earth and air. She casually caught the sword, no longer suspended in mid-air but instead falling due to gravity. Power erupted once more, and the third strike reached the messenger!

The messenger's form was split in two.

However, what shattered were merely fragments of light distorted by the force field—while an indescribably vast vortex of energy converged and gathered along with the disintegration of the fragments, presenting itself to the swordsman in a spherical shape!

This is gravity.

Gravity converges to form a sphere, compressing over ten thousand cubic meters of air into a single cubic meter.

And when this cubic meter of compressed atmosphere bursts apart in a directional manner, releasing its mass in a designated direction, that is a cataclysmic event comparable to a single soldier's cloud burst.

'Boom—boom boom boom boom—'

The storm stirred up by the first sword strike instantly swirled. The ground, shattered by the sword's blow, was instantly flattened and smoothed back down by the spreading wave of gravity. The sword-wielding girl, struck by the one-way gravity, spun back in the direction she had come from, like a ping-pong ball hit by a racket. And the moment she finally regained her footing, she was astonished to find herself back on the very ground where she had started!

Lin Xi remained standing behind her, still stunned, even with the ability to 'connect'. Lin Xi's physical abilities and reaction speed were still only comparable to a trained mortal—and just as she gripped her sword again, preparing to lunge forward and slash once more, a staff bearing immense weight was already pressed against her shoulder!

She can't move!

Angelina's form unfolded before her eyes as folds of light. Her slender, pale hand gripped the other end of the staff tightly!

Everything returned to how it all started.

Only now did the two raging winds, stirred up by the battle, finally begin to spread out in a proper manner, whipping at the three people's clothes and stirring up the dust and shards scattered on the ground. And only at this moment did Lin Xi truly understand what was happening before his eyes.

"You..." She opened her mouth instinctively, about to say something—though she herself didn't know whether she should rebuke or roar. Because, strictly speaking, she still didn't understand what the situation was.

however……

“I’m sorry, it was my mistake.” The messenger standing opposite her gave her a slight bow, her gaze fixed on Skadi’s side. “It was indeed my error to interfere so casually. Will it not happen again? Can you forgive me?”

Lin Xi saw Skadi loosen her grip on the sword.

At the same instant, Angelina also lowered her grip on her staff.

The hostility between the two sides, which had been surging like a tidal wave, seemed to completely collapse and vanish without a trace in that instant. And just a few seconds later, on this makeshift battlefield, all that remained was Lin Xi's bewildered and stunned face.

"Um... you two." She tried hard to control her expression as she looked at the two guys in front of her who couldn't use 'link'. "Excuse me, could you explain why you suddenly started fighting and then suddenly stopped? I'm... having a bit of a headache right now."

She first looked at Skadi, who simply hummed softly.

“When she said that, I felt a sense of danger—she did something very bad. And that bad thing had some negative impact on you.” Skadi replied calmly, “I don’t know exactly what that negative impact is. But I judged it to be hostile, so I retaliated.”