Asura in Arknights

However... for some reason, Shuiyue did not allow her limbs to regenerate, but instead remained in this state of having a severed arm.

Destreet's condition was much worse; her face was blue from the cold, and her thin pajamas were stained with blood and emitted a foul odor.

Given her current state, Li Ang certainly couldn't ask what had happened, but fortunately, Destreet had already arrived, so Li Ang didn't need to rush.

“Miss Destreet, the bathroom is in that direction. Why don’t you… take a hot shower to warm yourself up first?”

Otherwise, Li Ang always felt that she might suddenly die at any moment.

Desty nodded listlessly and limped toward the bathroom.

Looking at Destreet's retreating figure, Li Ang couldn't help but worry about her condition.

After hesitating for a while, Li Ang still woke Adele up and asked her to help take care of Destle. After all, there were differences between men and women, and there were many things that he couldn't do.

After the sound of running water came from the bathroom, the three of them gathered in the living room, ready to ask Shuiyue what had happened.

"Alright, now tell me what happened. Shuiyue, what happened to you?" Li Ang asked.

"Simply put, someone else, like me, broke into the lawyer's house at the same time, and I successfully rescued her before she was killed," Shuiyue said casually.

However, judging from the miserable state they were in when they returned, things were definitely not as easy as Shuiyue described.

Hai Si's regenerative ability is indeed very strong, but I don't think anyone would be so foolish as to cut off an arm and suffer the pain, right?

"Who attacked Destreet? Do you remember any of their features?"

Rhine Labs acted so quickly? But Leon felt something was off. If Rhine Labs wanted to eliminate Destle, what was their purpose? But if it wasn't Rhine Labs... then who was it?

The deeper Li Ang investigated, the more confused he became. He felt that those people were doing contradictory things and couldn't understand their purpose at all.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't explain it clearly."

Mizuki scratched her head apologetically and said, "What I encountered wasn't the enemy itself, but some kind of strange magical construct... I guess it was a magical construct? I don't know much about Originium Arts..."

As she spoke, Shuiyue became somewhat less confident, and even her tone weakened.

In short, Shuiyue recounted her entire experience, and it was up to Li Ang and the others to determine what exactly it was.

“That thing’s attack method is really bizarre. Look, these are the wounds it caused.”

Shuiyue raised his right arm, which was now only half intact. "To be honest, I can't figure out what kind of attack could cause such a wound."

There might be useful clues to be found in the wound, which is why Shuiyue did not allow her right arm to regenerate. She simply performed a simple hemostasis treatment and brought the wound back intact.

Although Li Ang really wanted to criticize Shuiyue's actions, he didn't know what to say, since Shuiyue had indeed done a good job of preserving firsthand evidence.

Putting aside the jumbled thoughts in his head, Li Ang began to examine Shuiyue's wounds with Adele.

"Tear?"

The cotton-like wound was quite distinctive, as if something had used tremendous force to tear Shuiyue's arm off.

It's not surprising that the muscles are injured like this, but it's a bit outrageous that the bones are in a similar state. Li Ang did a simple calculation in his mind and found that this completely violated the laws of mechanics. Even with Shuiyue's description, Li Ang couldn't understand what had happened to him.

"Did you notice anything?" Li Ang asked.

Adele shook her head with some difficulty. "It doesn't seem to be Originium Arts. I haven't heard of any spells with similar effects."

"I also found no remnants of Originium energy reaction."

Although, based on their discussion, the attack on Suigetsu was likely not some kind of Originium Arts, this possibility cannot be ruled out.

Otherwise, if it's not Originium Arts, what could it be? Authority?

Finally, they took a picture of Shuiyue's wound to record it, and then let Shuiyue's arm grow back, since the wound looked quite gruesome.

"By the way, do you have paper and a pen?"

Moving her newly grown right arm, Shuiyue suddenly asked.

"What do you need that for?"

Although he found it a bit strange, Li Ang still rummaged through the table and found a ballpoint pen and a stack of white paper.

"Thanks, please wait a few minutes."

Taking the paper and pen, Shuiyue lowered her head and began to scribble on it.

The room fell silent immediately, except for the sound of running water in the bathroom and the scratching of paper and pen.

After waiting patiently for a while, about five or six minutes, Shuiyue finally stopped what she was doing.

"Alright, all done." Looking at her masterpiece, Shuiyue nodded in satisfaction. "That thing looks about like this."

As she spoke, Shuiyue handed the sketch he had drawn to Li Ang.

Neither Li Ang nor Adele expected Shuiyue to have such a trick up her sleeve, and they were somewhat taken aback.

This sketch is much more vivid than Shuiyue's previous abstract description; at least now they know what the magical creation looks like.

However, as she looked around, Adele seemed to remember something and suddenly frowned.

"...Don't you guys think this looks a bit like something we encountered back in Tianyue Mountain?"

"Is there?"

Li Ang was stunned for a moment. He compared the sketch drawn by Shuiyue with his memory and found no similarity between the two.

However, Shuiyue nodded thoughtfully upon hearing this, "Really... Now that you mention it, these two things do seem somewhat similar."

“But apart from the design, there’s nothing else similar,” Shuiyue complained. “And the one I met today seemed even more formidable… at least that’s what I think.”

Those stars that fell from the sky in the Tianyue Mountains were indeed quite hard, but Hai Si's toxins could still have some effect.

Unlike previous magical creations, which only possessed the attribute of physical attack immunity, this completely countered all of Shuiyue's combat styles.

"So how exactly do they look alike...?"

Seeing that Adele and Mizuki had inexplicably reached a consensus, Li Ang said with a hint of helplessness.

“Leo, you were probably using your senses the whole time,” Adele said after thinking for a moment. “But we all observe with our eyes. It’s because of the difference in perspective that our perceptions are different.”

In the heat of battle, Li Ang still preferred to use his senses to detect the enemy's movements.

Thinking about it carefully, it seems that he only glanced at those constructs a few times, leaving the most basic impression in his mind. He didn't observe them as carefully as others, so it's understandable that he missed some details.

But Li Ang still wanted to know why they thought the two were similar.

"Hmm... how should I explain this..."

Adele seemed extremely conflicted. "It must be their design style, right? Their designs all give off the same feeling, that kind of... unique style that doesn't belong to the current era."

Unable to find a more accurate adjective, Adele hesitated for a long time before stammering out these words.

"You mean the ancients created things?" Li Ang frowned.

"Yes, that's roughly the idea." Adele nodded slightly.

Shuiyue chimed in, "I don't really understand what 'creations of the ancients' means, but those two things give me the feeling that they were made by the same people."

This is hardly good news.

First and foremost, it must be made clear that the artifacts created by our ancestors are very precious, extremely precious, especially those that are still functioning properly.

It wouldn't be surprising if a small-scale war involving several countries broke out in the struggle for such creations. For example, there were rumors that the war between Bolívar and Colombia was about the two countries fighting over the ownership of an ancient artifact.

Although such rumors are unfounded, they do illustrate just how precious the creations of our ancestors truly were.

"...I hope it's just a fake," Li Ang said, somewhat troubled.

If it were an original creation of the ancients, and the news were to leak out by accident, the local businesses of the Great Knight Territory would probably beat the dogs senseless.

If not, it means that someone possessed an artifact created by the ancients and successfully made a replica, and it may even be related to the 'stars' above their heads.

Li Ang couldn't say for sure which situation was worse.

At this moment, the sound of running water in the bathroom finally stopped, and a short while later, Destreet, who had changed into a bathrobe, pushed open the door and came out.

Compared to when she first entered, Descartes' complexion had improved significantly, but she still looked somewhat pale.

Wearing only thin pajamas, running at speeds exceeding 60 miles per hour for over ten miles, her severely traumatized body won't recover in a short time. Destle is definitely going to suffer a serious illness soon.

"How are you feeling right now?" Li Ang asked.

"I feel... okay, my body has basically recovered," Daisy said somewhat reservedly. "Thank you for saving me."

Destle was unharmed in the previous attack; Mizuki had protected her very well.

The slight discomfort was just from being exposed to cold wind for too long; after taking a hot shower, I was basically fine.

"That's perfect, we have something to discuss with you. Please sit down."

Nodding, Descartes sat down on the single sofa next to the group.

Perhaps because fear still lingered in her heart, even Destle herself probably didn't notice that her body was trembling slightly.

Glancing at Destreet, Li Ang thought it best to give the unfortunate girl some time to process what she was going to do; she looked like she could burst into tears at any moment.

So Li Ang stood up and, as he walked towards the kitchen, asked, "Would you like something to drink? Coffee or black tea?"

Hinterlea prepared a lot of things in her safe house, enough to survive even if she didn't go out for more than half a year, including drinks such as black tea, coffee and alcohol.

However, this place had clearly not been used for a long time, and many things were nearing their expiration date, so Li Ang used them without any hesitation.

"Coffee will do, thank you."

With her arms crossed over her chest, Descartes spoke softly, completely unlike the confident person she had been just a few days ago.

Li Ang shrugged and turned to walk towards the kitchen.

After Li Ang left, perhaps because Adele and Shuiyue both looked younger than Destle, the atmosphere in the living room eased considerably.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Adele spoke to Destreet, "Miss Destreet, I'm so sorry, we don't have any suitable clothes for you here at the moment. Please bear with me a little longer, and I'll go and prepare some clothes that fit you as soon as it's light."

Neither the clothes Adele had spared nor the clothes Hinterlea had left here fit Destle quite well.

She was still wearing a loose bathrobe that Adele had found for her.

"Ah? Um... I'm fine, there's no need to trouble you."

Destreet said in a flustered manner, thinking that buying clothes was a trivial matter that she could easily do herself, so how could she trouble her savior?

“I have memberships at several clothing stores, and I can have them deliver the finished clothes to me.”

That's a good idea, but the only problem is that this lawyer seems to be confused and completely unaware of her situation.

"But Miss Destreet, if you do that, wouldn't you be exposing your location?"

A simple rhetorical question froze Destreet's expression on her face.

That seems to be true... If she used her own identity information, then locating her would be incredibly easy. Destreet hasn't forgotten that she might be being hunted down by some powerful force.

"Then, then I'll trouble you," Descartes said timidly. "Also, you can just call me Descartes."

"no problem."

Seeing that they seemed to have finished talking, Li Ang, who had been waiting on the side, also came over with a tray.

"Your coffee."

A steaming cup of coffee was placed in front of Destreet.

Desmond thanked her and took small sips of her coffee.

"These are yours."

Since it was just a convenient thing to do, Li Ang also made a cup of instant coffee for the others.

After returning to his seat, Li Ang gave Destle a few minutes to prepare himself before speaking to her under her nervous gaze, "Alright, now we should get down to business."

"Miss Destreet, could you show us your investigation results?"

Chapter Forty-Seven: Descartes' Plea

With Li Ang's words, the atmosphere among the group instantly became subtle.

It is certain that the reason Destle was attacked tonight was definitely not because of any problems on Li Ang's side.

Li Ang's actions were extremely secretive. Apart from those currently living in Nearl Manor, only Dr. Kal'tsit of Rhodes Island knew his true identity. Even the higher-ups at Pol Pharmaceuticals were unaware of what he was doing.

The only possibility is that the lawyer herself has a problem; perhaps we can find something from her investigation results.

However, Destreet held her coffee cup tightly, her lips pressed together, her gaze constantly shifting across the floor.

It was clear that Desmond was unwilling to hand over her notebook.

"I……"