"...You shouldn't know this much."
Raven caught the Cola thrown at her. Listening to Irene's words, her gaze gradually became somewhat dangerous.
"Even..."
"Even Pardofelis isn't clear on this, right?" Irene pulled out a nearby stool and sat down. "Come on, sit down and let's have a good chat. I've been waiting for you guys for quite a long time."
Raven looked at Irene with a face full of vigilance. The situation seemed to have exceeded their imagination a bit; this fellow didn't seem as ignorant as they had thought.
The unknown is always dangerous. Raven couldn't figure out why this Irene appeared to understand them so well. Even Lord Reverie shouldn't know about World Serpent, and she certainly shouldn't know about her.
Just as Raven was hesitating, Gray Serpent's voice came through her earpiece: "Listen to her. Sit down and chat."
Hearing the voice in her ear, Raven no longer hesitated. She walked to the table, pulled out a stool, and sat down as well.
"Alright. It seems Miss Irene knows quite a bit about us."
"I am very curious, how exactly did Miss Irene find out?"
"You are curious?" Irene tilted her head slightly, as if trying to get a look at Raven's ear. "Are you sure it isn't Mr. Gray Serpent who is curious?"
"..." Raven frowned at Irene's words. There were no further instructions from Gray Serpent in her ear, so she looked at Irene and spoke with a hint of malice in her eyes.
"Miss Irene, if you want our conversation to proceed normally, speak properly. If you keep using this tone, I can't guarantee I won't use some coercive measures."
She wasn't a real intelligence agent; she was an assassin. Anyway, Gray Serpent didn't say she couldn't beat her up. If Irene kept talking like this, she would inevitably want to make a move.
Irene smiled, seemingly completely unconcerned by the ill will Raven was displaying toward her. After all, the current Irene could hardly be considered an ordinary person.
Possessing Taixuan Sword Qi, Irene had already reached the realm of Condensing Ice. Furthermore, she was currently a Herrscher of Death. She had also roughly scanned Raven and saw that she was only wearing that combat suit and hadn't brought the weapon that looked like the Seven Thunders of Retribution.
Although Irene's eyesight wasn't as good as Pardo's, she could basically tell what someone was carrying with a single glance, getting it right nine times out of ten.
However, the other party hadn't come to fight her either. They were here to gather intelligence and confirm what exactly was going on with her transformation into Pardo.
Otherwise, a killer like Raven wouldn't have blatantly stood in the corridor and even turned on the lights to announce her presence.
"Alright, alright, I was being arrogant." Irene raised one hand in a gesture of surrender. "The reason I know is also very simple: I know why you have come."
Irene flicked her finger, and Pardo's card appeared in her hand. Light covered Irene's entire body, and under Raven's somewhat surprised gaze, Irene's figure was replaced by Pardo.
"Perhaps Miss Irene needs to explain further." Raven crossed her arms, looking at Irene who had transformed into Pardo before her eyes. "Simply transforming in front of me doesn't explain anything."
"Hmm, to be honest, we are indeed quite troublesome." Irene rubbed her chin. If she had some ability like soul manifestation and could just throw those two sisters out, it would explain a lot of things.
But unfortunately, she didn't, so she could only throw out information.
"To be honest, I'd rather talk to Mr. Gray Serpent." Irene opened the Cola bottle in her hand and took a sip. "I think I might have more topics to discuss with Mr. Gray Serpent."
"You should talk to me first." Raven tossed the Cola in her hand; she didn't plan to drink a beverage that had passed through someone else's hands.
"If you can't even pass my test, you won't be able to get through to Gray Serpent either, Miss Irene."
"Fine, I estimate Mr. Gray Serpent should be listening anyway." Irene nodded, then raised her head and pointed at her own head. "The reason I know is that Miss Pardo is currently living inside my mind."
"Hah???" Raven looked at Irene with a bewildered expression. Honestly, if the situation weren't so inappropriate, Raven would have wanted to reach out and touch Irene's head to check if she had a fever.
"Mm, if you want proof, I don't have Fenghuang Down or anything like that on hand." Irene spread her hands. "And not only that, are you aware of Dr. Danzhu and Dr. Cangxuan?"
"Not aware." Raven shook her head. She didn't know everything. That sounded like something from the Previous Era; how would she know?
"You see." Irene spread her hands, signaling that it wasn't that she didn't want to say, but that Raven didn't know, so it would be better to let someone who knew discuss this matter.
Raven looked at Irene, realizing that there was indeed a significant intelligence gap between them. The problem was that she couldn't distinguish truth from falsehood. If they continued chatting, she wouldn't even know if she was being led into a pit.
So Raven tapped her earpiece: "Hey, Gray Serpent, the situation seems a bit off. I think it would be better for you to come over and handle this yourself."
"No need." Just as Raven's voice fell, her phone suddenly rang. It automatically connected, and Gray Serpent's voice came out from it.
"Leave the rest to me."
"Mm." Raven nodded, taking out the phone directly and placing it on the table. Halfway through listening, she realized this wasn't an investigation that could be solved just by chatting.
Irene's understanding of them wasn't something a Flame-Chaser from the Previous Era could know, because World Serpent didn't even exist back then.
As for Raven, let alone her, even her ancestors hadn't been born yet. Where would Pardo go to know this?
Since Gray Serpent was taking over, it was no longer her business. Being able to collect an extra sum of money just for passing a message was pretty good.
After all, Raven had other places where she needed to spend money, so naturally, the more the better. Jobs where she could get a lot of money so easily didn't come around often.
Ignoring Raven, who had gone to cool off on the side, Gray Serpent's slightly inorganic voice came from the mobile phone placed on the table: "Miss Irene, this should count as our first meeting."
"Hello, Mr. Gray Serpent." Irene nodded with a smile. She believed the other party should be able to see her, even if Gray Serpent hadn't turned on a video call or anything similar.
"Hello. However, I think neither of us has much time. Miss Irene's understanding of us makes me somewhat afraid." Gray Serpent's voice remained calm, without even a trace of fear audible.
"And the names of those two Doctors that Miss Irene just revealed are also very important to us. So, could Miss Irene tell me the details or... provide proof?"
"Of course." Irene nodded. "This was one of my objectives anyway. As for proof... why don't we talk about how Mr. Gray Serpent got out of the Disposal Pool?"
"Disposal Pool?" Raven, who was cooling off on the side, raised an eyebrow. She felt like she shouldn't be here, right? It felt like if she heard too much dark history or something, she would be disposed of.
On the other end of the phone, Gray Serpent fell into silence. The term 'Disposal Pool' was indeed not a pleasant memory for him. After all, he was not a perfect experimental subject.
He was merely a relatively successful failure accidentally discovered by Mobius. Subsequently, he was fished out by Dr. Mobius, and thereafter, he became Gray Serpent.
Of course, Danzhu and Cangxuan also knew about this matter. After all, how could the two who worked in the laboratory at that time not be clear about a robot suddenly appearing beside Dr. Mobius?
However, others did not know his identity. Naturally, Dr. Mobius had no necessity to publicize a failure like him everywhere.
The only ones who knew were the few people in Mobius's laboratory at that time.
Thinking of this, Gray Serpent's vigilance toward Irene dropped slightly, but this could only be considered corroborating evidence. He still needed decisive proof.
[Miss Irene, leave it to me.] Cangxuan's voice appeared in Irene's mind. [You can read this string of characters to him. I think he should believe it then.]
After speaking, Cangxuan immediately recited a string of characters.
Although Irene had doubts in her heart, she looked at the phone and spoke: "If you want decisive evidence, Dr. Cangxuan just told me a string of characters."
Subsequently, Irene reported the characters Cangxuan had just given her to Gray Serpent, word for word. After finishing, she added, "Is that enough?"
Gray Serpent's side fell into silence for a period. Irene used this gap to ask Cangxuan: [What did that string of characters mean just now?]
Danzhu hadn't spoken yet when Cangxuan beat her to the explanation: [That was our identity code back then, used to identify ourselves when entering and exiting the base. Though I only vaguely remember there was such a thing; after all, it's been so long.]
[I didn't expect Big Sis to actually remember this.]
[Because this is your identity code.] Cangxuan's voice sounded leisurely. [Sometimes when I made a mistake, I would say I didn't bring my ID card, and then report your identity code.]
[Although I later realized doing that was actually useless, I really did memorize it just like that. I didn't expect to use it here.]
[What?!!] Although Cangxuan spoke lightly, Danzhu's reaction was much more intense. What followed was likely a cordial exchange between the two sisters.
Irene listened to the noisy voices in her mind and shook her head helplessly. This Palace of Consciousness was good in every way, but why didn't it have a mute function?
On the other side, after a moment of silence, Gray Serpent seemed to hang up the call directly. At the same time, a knock sounded on Irene's door.
After Irene and Raven exchanged a glance, Raven shrugged, got up, walked to the door, and opened it. The person walking in from outside was none other than Gray Serpent.
"Yo~" Irene looked at the entering Gray Serpent and waved her hand. "Since you have appeared, Mr. Gray Serpent, can I assume you believe me?"
"You could say that, Miss Irene." Gray Serpent nodded politely to Irene before speaking. "The identity code indeed belongs to Dr. Cangxuan."
Hearing Gray Serpent's words, Irene raised an eyebrow. "Wow, a dagger hidden in a smile. If I had nodded and agreed, Mr. Gray Serpent probably would have turned hostile, right?"
"That identity code isn't Dr. Cangxuan's; it's Danzhu's. Dr. Cangxuan said she memorized it specifically to avoid getting caught when she made mistakes. She didn't expect to use it here."
"It seems that is indeed the case." Gray Serpent nodded, finally bowing as if apologetically. "I apologize, Miss Irene. Please forgive my vigilance. You must know that this matter is no small thing for us."
Although he wasn't too clear about the so-called 'Cangxuan using Danzhu's identity code to take the blame' business, it at least seemed reasonable.
And Irene knowing it represented a lot of things.
"Sigh, Gray Serpent, you believe it just like that?" Raven, watching from the side, was also somewhat surprised to see Gray Serpent reveal such an attitude. "Even those two Doctors wouldn't know this much stuff, right?"
"And this guy knows about me."
"Such small matters are irrelevant. Miss Irene has already proven that her previous words were not false." Gray Serpent looked at Raven. Irene was able to recite that code and perfectly avoid the trap he had set.
These facts could roughly confirm that Irene's previous words were likely not false. Since that was the case, they could indeed accord her a certain degree of trust.
As for why she knew about Raven...
That kind of thing could only count as a trivial matter. The important thing had to be the current situation of those two Doctors.
"Tch, alright, you're the boss." Raven waved her hand. Since Gray Serpent said there was no problem, she would treat it as no problem. She couldn't control it anyway.
And it looked like Irene was basically being viewed as a friendly party, so it wasn't convenient to continue causing trouble. Besides, fewer troubles were naturally better; this was Raven's code of conduct to begin with.
"Alright, Miss Irene, let us continue to discuss matters regarding you." Gray Serpent turned his head to look at Irene. "Regarding those two Doctors, our data indicates that the two Doctors died 5,000 years ago while engaging the Honkai Beast named Chiyou."
"I wish to know what exactly you found?"
Although the records didn't show bodies, disappearing for 5,000 years under those circumstances was basically equivalent to death. Furthermore, the records showed that the two Doctors were not MANTISes, nor had they undergone metamorphic factor surgery.
As humans, their lifespans could not have lasted over 5,000 years no matter what. Gray Serpent couldn't find the answer to this in the data; it could only be told by Irene herself.
Irene didn't hold back either. She directly told Gray Serpent about the discussion she had with Cangxuan and the others earlier, and also added the detail that they had performed simple metamorphic factor surgery on themselves to execute Project Ember.
Gray Serpent calculated the feasibility of what Irene said in his heart as he listened. After she finished, Gray Serpent nodded. This largely fit logic; he hadn't expected such a coincidence.
Seeing that Gray Serpent largely understood and raised no objections, Irene spoke again: "Since Mr. Gray Serpent has believed my situation, then I also have a request."
"Please speak, Miss Irene. If it can be done, World Serpent will naturally help Miss Irene."
"I want to go to the Elysian Realm."
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