At the airport, a black-haired woman was warily scanning her surroundings, clutching a card tightly in her hand, her body trembling slightly.
After passing through security and sitting down in the seat inside the advanced aircraft, she let out a relieved breath.
[The flight to Area 3, lasting 20 hours, will begin in 10 minutes. Passengers, please remain seated.]
Hearing the announcement over the loudspeaker, the girl let out another breath of relief.
She leaned back against the seat, exhaled comfortably, and looked outside through the plane window.
"Sorry… I… I didn't mean to. I really needed the money… I'm truly sorry."
She murmured, then closed her eyes. The tension in her nerves finally began to loosen, and she didn't know when she had fallen asleep.
[The flight to Area 3 has been temporarily delayed due to force majeure. Passengers, please remain seated and wait a little longer.]
"What the hell? Another delay?"
"Damn it! I paid to use a plane, not to use this place as a waiting room."
"Refund us!"
"What the hell are these bastards doing?"
"Uhm!" The girl frowned, awakened by the mechanical announcement and the angry shouts that followed.
She slowly opened her eyes and saw the chaotic scene. Annoyed voices mixed with a red notice board declaring the flight delayed, making her feel uneasy.
"What? Why is this flight delayed?" She pressed her lips together and asked the person beside her.
The woman next to her sighed and said, "It's normal. Probably bad weather, or an Aberrant causing interference."
Seeing how calm that woman was, she felt a bit more at ease. But… the sense of unease was still like a keg of gunpowder inside her mind, ready to explode at any moment.
Krit!
The aircraft door suddenly opened, and a group of people wearing cyber-style combat gear marched into the passenger cabin.
Seeing them, panic surged even stronger in the girl's heart.
'No way!' she thought. 'In just two hours, how could it be discovered that fast? No, maybe it's just an administrative check.'
She comforted herself. After all, she had checked Negut's information and felt he wasn't anything special.
Besides, the one who gave her the job was Nedaric. He definitely wouldn't let anyone know what she had done.
Otherwise, not only her, but even Nedaric would face an extremely terrifying PR crisis.
She stayed still, not daring to speak, not daring to breathe too loudly either. She lowered her head slightly, avoiding the gaze of those people.
Suddenly…
A large, heavy hand landed on her shoulder, making her jolt.
"Kya!" She screamed and looked up, wanting to say something, but a metal collar had already been fastened around her neck, with a small red LED light blinking on it.
After putting the collar on her, the man frowned and said, "If you resist, I'll activate that collar. It will explode."
The girl took a deep breath, gritted her teeth, and tears poured out. She knew… her hell was about to arrive.
…
In less than 15 minutes, the office door opened again. Lilith frowned as she watched two men drag a skinny girl into the room.
"Master! This is the person you're looking for." The man lowered his head and said respectfully.
The girl lifted her head to look at Lilith, her eyes filled with disbelief. Right in front of her was Blood Dragon Lilith, the leader of Area 7, the terrifying nightmare of countless others, and also the dream goddess of countless men.
She trembled, feeling as if the sky was collapsing. She still remembered what Nedaric had said… that Negut was just someone abandoned by his family, just a stray dog, and that was why she agreed to do that horrifying thing.
But when she saw Lilith, she knew clearly… Nedaric had lied to her.
Lilith frowned at the woman in front of her, her icy voice ringing out, "Annie, 25 years old, an ordinary person living in Area 7. Your father is xxx, a gambling addict. Your mother and younger sister are seriously ill and need a lot of money for treatment. Annie, do you want me to keep reading?"
Annie shuddered, pressed her lips together, tears pouring down like twin streams. She stammered, "Please… I… this… what I did has nothing to do with my mother and my sister."
Lilith frowned. "Raise your head and look at me!"
Annie trembled, but still forced herself to lift her head, her pitiful face looking at Lilith. In that instant, she felt as if her heart was being gripped by an invisible hand, hurting so badly she couldn't breathe.
Lilith crossed her legs and said softly, "Who told you to swap Negut's gate card?"
Annie spoke while trembling, "No one, I… I did it."
"Hm?!" Lilith frowned and asked, "Did Negut pick a fight with you? Or… did he do something that made you hate him?"
Annie gritted her teeth and shook her head. "No, it's just… I was jealous of him, so I wanted to do it to satisfy my own narrow-mindedness."
"Hahahaha…" Lilith suddenly laughed. That laughter carried no joy. Instead, it was madness and an extreme coldness.
Naomi, kneeling beside her, also shuddered, feeling as if the sky was about to collapse.
"Annie, you should think carefully before you speak, because I know everything about you. Even things you don't know, I know. You don't want your mother and sister to die in despair and pain, right?"
Annie shuddered. She cried, cried like rain, cried until her body trembled violently. "Please, I… everything was done by me, don't hurt them."
"Then you only need to tell me who ordered you to do it. I can have your mother and sister treated at the best hospital, pay all treatment costs, and even give you a good job." Lilith smiled. "Otherwise, I can let you feel that death is liberation for you."
Annie clenched her teeth. Her hands tightened until they turned white, then loosened. She said softly, "It was… Nedaric."
…
"Hahahaha…" Nedaric sat in his room. His face was wrapped in bandages like a mummy as he stared at the screen and laughed loudly. "That bastard… hahaha… he's finally dead. Huh! If he doesn't die after going into that Chaos area, I'll walk on my hands while eating shit."
This room was an intensive care room. Because he had been slapped so hard by Welhime and Lilith earlier that his face was seriously deformed, he had no choice but to come to the hospital.
Of course, only he knew about this. No one else knew. Otherwise, his reputation would be trampled, and he would become the joke of all Area 7 for a year.
Could he tell his parents that the one who beat him was Blood Dragon Lilith and his second sister, Welhime?
Of course not.
Although his family was powerful, it was formed from countless people. Naturally, quite a few people in the family wanted them dead to remove a competitor.
Lilith was different. She used her own strength to build a massive guild that covered all of Area 7, even many neighboring areas.
Opposing her was no different from suicide. If he spoke of this, his parents would probably drag him to Lilith to be tortured. They might even not mind abandoning him and having another child.
As for his second sister, Welhime… fine, he didn't need to mention her. Professor Welhime was the Government's treasure. Picking a fight with her was picking a fight with the Government itself, and the consequences were even more terrifying than picking a fight with Blood Dragon Lilith.
In the end, he could only come to the hospital alone, letting no one know about this.
But when he received Annie's message, he was overjoyed. At last… the thorn in his eye had been removed.
"Huh!" Nedaric sneered. "Hahahaha… Negut, you dared go against me? You dared steal Sister Lilith's affection? I'll…"
BAM!
The door was suddenly kicked open with brutal force. Standing there were four women dressed in tight leather, each holding a high-tech dagger that radiated a cold light.
Nedaric jolted and shouted, "Who are you? I…"
"Blood Dragon wants to invite you to see her for a bit. Don't worry, just having some tea."
Nedaric: "…"