Hearing that extra work was being added, Raven didn't get annoyed. She simply spat out a few words faintly:
"Fine. Add money."
"This was the previous target. Isn't it bad to ask for more money?" Gray Serpent looked at Raven, feeling somewhat helpless. Raven was good at everything, but when it came to money, he really had no way to deal with her.
"That's different. The previous mission was the previous mission. Aren't I already executing a mission right now?" Raven stroked her chin. "One thing is one thing. If you want to add an extra task within this mission, you have to add money."
"Miss Irene... Monitor her when you are free and don't need to take action. Ideally, figure out why she can assume the appearance of a Sovereign. Make contact if necessary."
"Hmm?" Raven raised an eyebrow, looking at Gray Serpent. "Why is she here? You aren't going to tell me it's a coincidence, are you?"
"There is a high probability that it is a coincidence." Gray Serpent shook his head. "I haven't found a reason for her to come specifically. Moreover, judging by her luggage, she seems to be just here for tourism."
"Hah, then that really is a coincidence."
*
Mist City - Airport
[Oh, so this is the Mist City.]
Just as Irene dragged her suitcase out of the airport, [Irene]'s voice appeared in Irene's mind.
[It feels a bit different from what's on TV. Shouldn't it be foggy?]
"It's not the days of smog anymore." Irene stretched her back, then turned to look in a mirror, observing her left eye which had currently turned a shade of crimson.
As long as [Irene] didn't come out, her eyes would return to their original blue pupils. As for the pupils themselves, they wouldn't change unless she used her Authority.
However, this look gave Irene a strong sense of déjà vu. Was this really not W?
"If possible, don't come out blindly. If you pull a stunt like this during the security check, I won't be able to pass."
[My Dear, that won't happen. At worst, you can just say you're wearing colored contacts, then lower your head.] [Irene]'s voice carried a smile. [I will definitely cooperate with you.]
"Forget it, as long as no accidents happen." Irene dragged her luggage and walked towards the outside of the airport. "But I estimate this trip won't be that smooth."
[Otto?] Kallen's voice rang in Irene's ear. [You said before that Otto is looking for something here—the Cosmic Juggernaut. That is also what you need to find. Is there a possibility Otto will exclude you as an unexpected factor?]
Kallen understood Otto very well. Otto would very likely exclude unexpected factors. At the very least, he shouldn't let unrelated personnel be present, minimizing the potential influence of unexpected factors.
In Kallen's envisioning, Irene should have gone to a neighboring or nearby city first, then sneaked over secretly. That might have been safer.
With something so blatant, wouldn't it actually lead to accidents?
[Otto's personality wouldn't do that. After all, I'm just here for tourism. I just happened to come to the Mist City.] Irene walked on the street; she wasn't worried about this issue at all.
[Why?]
[Because this is a secret mission. And what does this secret mission have to do with me, a tourist?] Irene fished a travel brochure out of her pocket. [So right now, Otto definitely won't bother with me.]
Otto knew one problem very clearly: the more you do, the more mistakes you make; the less you do, the fewer mistakes. This was originally a secret mission. So, wouldn't driving her away or transferring her elsewhere imply that something was going on?
After all, Irene was just here for tourism. What did the secret mission here have to do with her? She was just a tourist who happened to arrive, an ordinary Valkyrie who had just completed a mission and gone through the formal vacation process.
Otto was very smart. After all, a person who could reverse hundreds of years of time to save that one person... she definitely couldn't outplay him. But...
An intelligence gap is just that—intelligence. It's not something that can be solved just by having brains. Otto wouldn't know what on earth she came to do, so how could he specifically guard against her?
So, rather than worrying about Otto—who might not even know she was here right now—it was better to worry about a certain World Serpent that was definitely here too and had certainly set its sights on her.
Regarding her transforming into Pardofelis, Otto would at most harbor curiosity and a desire to research.
World Serpent's side was absolutely not like that. Originally in Schicksal, they wouldn't do much. After all, a direct clash with Schicksal required sufficient profit.
This time, they were taking direct action because Otto wanted to pack up the Cosmic Juggernaut and take it away. After all, the Cosmic Juggernaut contained Su, and Su was related to Kevin's whereabouts.
It was impossible for World Serpent not to care. And as for her, a Sovereign of unknown authenticity, there was no need to conflict directly with Schicksal. Moreover, she still remembered that invading clone.
Besides looking for Mei, they were also looking for her. Although there might be factors regarding Quantization involved, it was unlikely that there wasn't Gray Serpent's shadow behind it.
And now that she had come here, rather than worrying about Otto who probably wouldn't care about her at all, she should worry about Gray Serpent—or World Serpent—who would absolutely come over to make active contact.
As for not attracting attention, that was unlikely. Given Gray Serpent's technical capabilities, he had probably already noticed her boarding information.
She just didn't know who would come to contact her. It probably wouldn't be Gray Serpent; Gray Serpent shouldn't show his face directly. And here... it shouldn't be Jackal either; Jackal was a researcher.
Then it could only possibly be Raven. When the time came, she would have to have a good talk. She took this one-month leave not just to come find Su.
She had wanted to go to the Elysian Realm since a long, long time ago, to let the two cats meet. What's more, now that there was Rin and the two sisters, she had to go even more.
However, she could only achieve that much. Irene was very clear that no matter how much she said, she could only make World Serpent not harbor hostility and let her enter the Realm.
As for Project Stigma... convincing them was impossible. Because World Serpent wasn't some evil faction; they were the necessary final resort, the final justice after having no other choice.
Project Stigma was their final guarantee, and also the last guarantee. There was no plan worse than this, but the worst plan was still better than no plan or a failed plan.
But no matter what, this plan could ultimately succeed, and it could indeed guarantee that humanity would survive crossing the high wall named Honkai.
So even if you pulled out a plan that looked better and more beautiful, you couldn't convince them, because a guaranteed plan was always needed.
[When the time comes, if we encounter problems, we might still have to rely on you, Pardo.] Irene communicated with Pardo in her heart. [It would be best if you had some killer move that could convince Gray Serpent in one go.]
[Uh, Sister Irene, could you have some misunderstanding about me?] Pardo's voice responded with a hint of helplessness. [I'm not close with Gray Serpent.]
[How would I know how to convince him?]
[Then we can only try our best when the time comes.] Irene didn't have any method either. The intelligence she knew in this regard wasn't much. As for Gray Serpent, he was actually half a failed product fished out of the waste paper bin—it was unlikely Pardo would know about this matter either.
[Then we can only take it one step at a time.]
[That's what I mean too.]
Irene dragged her luggage and found a car near the airport. With great difficulty communicating, she got the driver to take Irene to the hotel she had booked.
After completing the check-in with similar difficulty, Irene got into the elevator. After opening the room door... unfortunately, inside her room, she didn't see a certain friend who wanted to find her. It seemed the other party was busy and didn't have time to pay attention to her.
Tossing her luggage aside, Irene threw herself onto the bed. After rolling once, Irene kicked off the shoes on her feet.
"I forgot I don't know French. Sigh, thankfully the translator was reliable enough."
[Do you need me to learn it for you? I think I still have plenty of time.] [Irene] reached out and patted the head of Irene's mental projection. [I can still squeeze out some time.]
"No need, I just don't know French." Irene turned over on the bed and sat up. "No need to waste time; the number of times I'll use it is pitifully few."
"Regarding the Authority of the Herrscher of Death, how is your research going? Can you do what I want?"
[I should probably be able to do what you want.] [Irene]'s tone carried a hint of uncertainty. [But I need more experiments, preferably in reality.]
[In addition, I also need some very professional biology books. The more professional, the better.]
"Regarding that aspect, I probably have an idea."
Irene reached out and opened the suitcase, fishing out an eyepatch from inside.
It was just a pity that this eyepatch didn't feature the 'Wisdom Gaze'; it was just an ordinary care eyepatch.
Irene did have the heart to get a 'Theresa Wisdom Expression', but afraid of being chased and hammered by Theresa wielding Judah, she could only give up.
"Let's rest a bit and disguise ourselves to show we really are here for a vacation." Irene put on the eyepatch properly. "Then we'll go dig for treasure."
*
Irene, having taken a short nap, followed the travel guide's instructions and slipped all the way to the banks of the River Thames.
[Is it here?] Danzhu looked outside using Irene's eyes. [It's hidden in the river... No, if it were hidden in the river, it would have been discovered long ago.]
Cangxuan also looked outside and proposed her own hypothesis: [It should be using the ability of the 2nd Divine Key to hide itself in the gaps of space.]
The ability of the 2nd Divine Key wasn't a particularly classified matter to them; they all knew it. But the problem lay in: how to get in?
If they didn't have external authorization, they couldn't get the 2nd Divine Key out from the inside. And to get in, they would need to detect the exact location or have spatial abilities.
[How about it, Pardo?] Irene looked at Pardo. She had asked Pardo; before Su, there was a period where Pardo was using the 2nd Divine Key.
As for the reason, it involved collecting data and sometimes the necessity of opening doors, so Pardo also had permissions for the 2nd Divine Key. She just didn't know if the permissions from a parallel world could be used in the present.
[Mm, Sister Irene, in this state, even if my permissions were still there, there's no way.] Pardo scratched her head. This situation was clearly that the 2nd Divine Key had already hidden inside the spatial gap.
Without an external authorized user to get it out via a controller or something similar, just having permissions was useless. And the controller had long ceased to be in her hands.
At most, she still had a bit of permission now. If she could go in and touch the 2nd Divine Key, perhaps Pardo would have a way. But from the outside, there was obviously no way.
And this was also built on whether Brother Su or Sister Vill-V hadn't deleted her permissions. At the same time, whether this Pardo from a parallel world would be acknowledged by the Cosmic Juggernaut.
[...I understand.] Irene looked at the air in front of her. [Then let's change methods. Right now, the Cosmic Juggernaut is likely hidden in the gap between the Proper World and the Sea of Quanta. Do you have a way to enter?]
[Mm...] Pardo listened to Irene's inquiry. After pondering for quite a long time, she spoke as if a sudden inspiration had flashed. [It should be possible.]
[As long as I can enter Quantization and gradually pass through, I should be able to pass exactly through the gap and enter that small space. Mm, there should be no problem.]
"Mm, I understand." Irene nodded slightly. Then there was no need to do this matter now. After all, there were tourists all around; it wasn't suitable to act now.
Moreover, a young girl suddenly turning into a catgirl in broad daylight obviously wasn't too suitable either. Even if it could be explained as cosplay...
However, the act of climbing over the guardrail and suspiciously jumping into the river in order to access that gap space later... that definitely couldn't be explained by cosplay.
[Let's go back first.] Irene turned around and continued to wander the streets as if pretending to travel. She had to wait until night to act. It would be best to wait until late at night when there should be many fewer people, or even no one.
At that time, she would turn into Pardo and gamble on her luck. As for if she couldn't do it, it didn't matter. This was also within Irene's expectations. This was also the reason why she wanted to wait until now.
She didn't have a card for space on hand, nor spatial abilities. But she didn't need to do it herself. Otto would find the Cosmic Juggernaut in the original plot.
She just needed to find a way to get in when Durandal and Rita were fighting the Key of Destruction puppet and everyone's attention was drawn away.
Infiltration and sneaking into something right under the enemy's eyelids—that was also Pardo's specialty.
Irene carried bags large and small of souvenirs and returned to the hotel room door. She fished the room card out of her pocket, swiped it open casually, and placed the souvenirs in her hand onto the table.
Just as she was preparing to reach out and turn on the light, the light turned on by itself. Irene's movement paused slightly. She said in her heart, It finally came, and turned her head to look at Raven standing at the door.
"Good evening, friend. If you are here to chat, I welcome you very much. But I don't seem to have given you the room key, nor did I issue an invitation to you. Arbitrarily entering someone's room isn't a good habit~"
"..." Raven looked at Irene, who had a friendly face and seemed to have no vigilance against her whatsoever, and felt somewhat speechless. "Are all Schicksal Valkyries this lacking in vigilance?"
"A stranger entered the hotel room you are staying in, yet you don't have a sense of vigilance at all."
"It's very simple. Because I don't think you guys will do anything to me—at least, you won't hurt me right now." Irene casually twisted open a bottle of Cola, then took another bottle of Cola from the fridge and threw it to Raven.
"Am I right? Miss Raven. Or perhaps, Miss Raven, you would prefer I say World Serpent or something similar."
________________________________________
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