The girl with white hair and red eyes is serious about revenge

Pushing open the door of the "Steam Pipe" Inn, the steam from the pavement accompanied by the heat came towards her, making Perlis squint her eyes slightly.

Even at this time, the lobby of the hostel was still very lively. Countless people gathered here, some of them were going to participate in tomorrow's competition, and some were spectators who came to watch the competition. In this steamy hall, everyone's face was illusory and unclear.

"..."

With a slight turn of her bloodshot eyes, Perlis locked onto the two people who were still sitting in the corner: Pace and Carly seemed to be discussing something, the former had a serious expression, while the latter looked very relaxed.

Perlis didn't rush to find the two. She first walked through the crowd, walked to the counter, gently knocked the bell on it, then took out her residence ticket and showed it to the waiter:

"Two iced coffees, one without sugar and one and a half with sugar."

After Perlis finished speaking, she raised her head, put her fingertips on her chin, thought for a while, and then said:

"Hmm...are there any alcoholic beverages from Thebes that you would recommend?"

"Canoli, maybe it will be suitable," the waiter picked up the menu and showed Perlis a pink cocktail decorated with cherry blossoms from Dila. "In Dila language, it means [a beautiful girl under the cherry blossom tree]. For a lovely lady like you, this glass of wine with both color and taste is perfect."

"Huh?" Perlis was a little overwhelmed for a moment, but quickly calmed down, "Well...Okay, I'll take this one."

"As you wish, young lady."

The waiter moved quickly. Within five minutes, Perlis was carrying a tray and three drinks towards the seats of Pace and Carly. Her expression was still indifferent, but there was a slight smile at the corner of her mouth.

I'm so happy to be praised for being cute.

"..."

Perlis walked through the crowd lightly and soon came to the two of them. She placed the drinks on the tray in front of them and smiled happily at them.

"Huh? What's the matter?" Carly turned her head and responded to Perlis's smile with a smile, "Why is the little white flower so happy?"

"Nothing," Perlis said briskly, sitting down next to the two of them, "You guys continue talking."

"Okay, let's share the joy later!" Carly cleared her throat and turned to Pace, "...So, this is how we divide our responsibilities, do you understand?"

"Let me recall it briefly..." Pace said, taking a sip of the cannoli brought by Perlis, "Hmm! This tastes good!"

"Let's get down to business!"

"Know, know."

Pace frowned slightly, thought about it carefully, and then nodded as if he understood:

"That is to say, when the actual battle comes, I need to use the giant armor to withstand the frontal pressure, while Miss Carly will be responsible for providing long-range support... one of us is a shield and the other is a spear, right?"

"To be precise, I'm an archer, and you're a shield soldier," Carly naturally followed up on Pace's slightly classical metaphor, "and then, Little White Flower is the dagger. She will serve as an assassin and deal with all those who may pose a threat to the formation."

Carly nodded with a smile towards Perlis who had just sat down. She picked up the half-empty cup of coffee, took a sip, smiled knowingly at Perlis, and then continued:

"This is also the most traditional formation in the competition over the years, so we just need to assume that most enemies will use a similar distribution and then respond accordingly."

"But it feels like it would be easy if the little princess was here," Pess glanced at Perlis beside him, thoughtfully, "If she can deal with all the enemies by herself, then what would be left for us?"

"Of course it's okay," Carly said with a smile, "What else?"

"Eh...I suddenly feel a lot less stressed."

"Don't let your guard down," Perlis said suddenly, "I will focus on searching for Ivar and may not be able to take care of you for a while. By then..."

"Don't get carried away," Carly patted Perlis's head gently, causing her to groan, "Have you forgotten the loss you suffered before? If everything goes well, we can intercept Ivar in the Weird Mist Forest."

Carly said, and gently unfolded the map made up of nano drones on the table. Under the gaze of Pace and Perlis, Carly clicked a point between the border and the strange fog forest, and then clicked an area not far away.

"This is a probability data model established based on previous years' competitions. The landing point of the supply depot closest to the forest is here," Carly explained to Perlis and Pace, "We will directly choose this as the landing point, obtain the dog tags, and then calculate Ivar's possible route—"

Carly waved her hand, and a blue light flashed. Countless routes were planned out, and finally, three were determined -

"If Ivar also has similar model data, he will choose these three. In this way, we can roughly use the process of elimination to find his traces one by one."

"You are worthy of me, Miss Carly," Pace praised sincerely, "This way, our efficiency will be much higher."

"But the problem is, we don't know what Ivar is thinking," Perlis frowned slightly and thought, "If he... doesn't even think about entering the circle quickly."

While thinking, Perlis recalled the message Ivar left for her: on that morning in Wilkin, she saw the note the man sent her:

"I'll wait for you at the Tower of Babel."

Why, on the Tower of Babel? Why did Ivar show her that look in the iron prison? And why did Ivar use that bullet that pierced through the wind and snow to save her life?

If Perlis died at the hands of the executioner and turned into a pile of dry bones on the Wanren Mountain, wouldn't that be the best outcome Ivar could get?

And why did he return the butterfly knife to Perlis and guide her to the kingdom under the Tower of Babel?

Perlis was completely unable to see into Ivar's heart. The man's face was like a mask, and no one knew what would be revealed when it was removed.

She only knew that he was very strong, and that there was a fateful entanglement between them that needed to be resolved.

"Maybe... we still need to climb the Tower of Babel."

Perlis blurted out the words, as if she was sure of it.

"Ivar seemed... ready to end it right there."

"That's too dangerous," Carly shook her head and looked at Perlis with a worried look on her face. "Today is different from the past. The intensity of the upcoming [competition] is more than an order of magnitude higher than the one you participated in that year."

Carly said, making a list with a slight wave of her hand.

"This time, there are many strong contestants: [Scavenger] Ivar Sekepas, [Golden Sand Snake] Aloy Aziz and his fangs... and a mercenary team called [North Star]."

"[North Star]?" Pace glanced slightly, "What is that? I don't think I've heard of it."

"Probably the most competitive mercenary team this year," Carly muttered softly, "Itrisna Lanstar, the eldest daughter of the federal arms dealer [Lanstar Industries]. As for the reason why she participated in the competition..."

"What is it?" Pace wondered.

"It's because..."

Before he finished speaking, there was a loud noise at the door of the hostel, attracting everyone's attention.

"Sir, please be gentle, if..."

"roll!"

A high-pitched female voice was accompanied by the crack of a whip. The steam that filled the hall split in two, and a pair of sharp eyes appeared in the crack.

“Squeak, squeak, squeak—click—”

With the sound of bones, the mechanical whip was put back on her wrist. The tall woman looked around the hall fiercely with a grim expression on her face. She was wearing long boots, a leather jacket that fit her plump curves tightly, and her long gray hair was tied into a high ponytail.

Behind her, two guards followed. They were tall, wrapped tightly in black suits, and had masks on their faces. They looked very fierce.

"Don't you know me?" After scanning the hall, the woman glanced at the waiter who had been trembling beside her for a long time, "Where's the room?"

"It's ready for you... Miss Lansta..." The waiter, dressed in an artistic youth outfit, lowered his head slightly like a coward, trembling, "I... I'm sorry for the offense just now, please... please follow me."

"Oh, it's really not easy to find a quiet place."

Itrisna Lanstar walked into the hall in a high-profile manner, and walked through the hall with the waiter, heading upstairs. The two servants following her scanned the crowd closely, as if an assassin would break out of them at any time.

When Perlis met the servant's eyes, she was a little surprised:

Those eyes were shining blue, obviously not human eyes.

"Mechanical servant...?" Perlis was a little incredulous.

"It's a cyborg from Lanstar Industries," Carly said coldly. "After prosthetic technology breaks through a certain limit, someone will naturally study this kind of half-human, half-ghost thing."

"How scary..." Pace looked at the servant's two-meter-tall body and clicked his tongue. "I definitely don't want to fight with that kind of thing."

"It's just a superficial effort." Carly curled her lips in disdain, as if she didn't think highly of that thing at all. "It's a crooked way."

Soon, Itrisna and her two attendants disappeared into the hall. After a brief silence, the inn hall returned to its usual bustle.

"But, it's really what I said," Carly muttered softly, flipping through Etrisna's files, "It's just like the plot of a novel. Fortunately, she didn't come to trouble us, otherwise I would really doubt whether this world is a boring novel written by some 18th-rate writer... or the kind that no one reads..."

“Maybe this world is really fake,” Pace muttered, and sighed, “Wilkin’s guards... the violent elder sister mercenaries... and the Dila War... so many bad things happened at the same time, it doesn’t seem natural no matter how you think about it!”

"Not really. If I'm not mistaken, our chances of fighting against [North Star] are slim." Carly said lightly.

"Oh? Why is that?"

"Because, she is the kind of person I mentioned before."

In an instant, the ice-blue eyes suddenly became extremely sharp, and Carly looked at the stairs where Itrisna disappeared, as if staring at some ominous sign.

"She's the type who enjoys killing. That's why she's in the competition."

......

3) Eve (Part 3)

"As usual?"

"of course."

At the shooting range in Shouma Lane, Kemp loaded a magazine of bullets for Jessica. When he handed the gun to the girl, her hand trembled slightly. The rain had not yet come, so Kemp and Jessica prepared to practice on their own first.

"Miss, you are scared, aren't you?" Kemp said jokingly, looking at the nervous Jessica. "You have never trembled before, right?"

"Shut... Shut up..." Jessica cursed softly, then lowered her head slightly, "After all... This is my first gun..."

After Jessica finished speaking, she began to check the gun in her hand nervously. Seeing her so serious, Kemp recalled the scene when they came to this shooting range before.

It's called a "shooting range," but it's actually an abandoned shed on the edge of Skinny Horse Lane. It was here that Kemp and Jessica first encountered rain, and so they started a weekly target shooting habit. The three of them would take turns shooting at the bottles at the other end of the shed, and the one with the lowest score at the end would buy two skewers of roasted carrots for the other two.

It was originally just entertainment, but unexpectedly, it has become a skill that can be put to use now.

"..."

After briefly examining her weapon, Jessica took a deep breath and aimed at the row of bottles at the other end of the shed.

"Bam—"

Jessica pulled the trigger, and the bullet grazed the side of the bottle and went off target.

"Hmm..." Jessica moved her wrist slightly, closed one eye, and pulled the trigger again——

"Bam—"

"pat-"

The bullet shattered the bottle, and the fragments spread all over the ground.

"That's good," Kemp nodded, "It actually hit the target with the second shot. It's better than before."

"Hey!" Jessica glanced at Kemp in reproach. "Stop making noise. If you want to get beaten, come up and beat me later!"

After saying that, Jessica once again aimed at the row of bottles opposite. She took a deep breath, and then pulled the trigger for the third time.

"Snapped--"

Missed.

"Snapped--"

"pat-"

It hit the bottle right there, sending pieces flying everywhere.

After firing four rounds, Jessica looked at the gun in her hand with some frustration, obviously not satisfied with the result. Seeing this, Kemp hurriedly comforted her:

"Two out of four, not bad. After all, I just got hold of this gun. I'll get familiar with it today and I'll be proficient in it soon."

After saying that, Kemp took out his "Sun Tower" pistol and loaded a lead bullet into it. He turned the gun skillfully, walked to the edge of the shooting range, and took a deep breath.

When Kemp was very young, his father taught him how to use firearms. Kemp's entire childhood was basically a farewell to other types of toys, and he was accompanied by gunpowder and bullets.

But even so, he had almost forgotten those memories. He did not have the information of hitting the target every time in the competition. He could only say that he maintained a basic sense of the gun.

"call...."

Kemp took a deep breath, imagining the way his father held the gun, and tried to focus all his attention on the mechanical sight at the tip of the pistol.

Then, he pulled the trigger.

"boom--"

The gunpowder exploded, the pistol made a loud roar, and the bullet accurately hit the bottle at the other end.

Kemp quickly opened the barrel, ejected the shell, reloaded, and then quickly aimed—

"boom--"