Honkai, why do you only throw me into high-level battles?

Sakura couldn't describe how she felt leaving Jackal's lab. In short, even after returning to Lin Wei's side, she was still in a daze, finding it hard to believe.

It wasn't until she roughly recounted the information to Lin Wei, that the act of recounting helped her sort through her complicated feelings.

This time, it was Lin Wei's turn to lose his composure—

"What? She's gone mad?!"

Lin Wei, who had been waiting and waiting for Gray Serpent to appear, was lounging comfortably in his seat. But upon hearing this shocking news, he instantly jolted upright.

If he didn't remember he was in a library and needed to be quiet, Lin Wei would have likely shouted out those words.

No way, huh?

"What was she thinking?"

Gray Serpent's continued absence had made Lin Wei somewhat disappointed, but at this moment, he couldn't care less about Gray Serpent.

Lin Wei was completely baffled, unable to figure out where she got the courage from.

Could there be a Fish Leong in this world too?

Seeing Lin Wei's equally shocked expression after hearing the news, Sakura couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

So, it wasn't just me who thought this was crazy...

"...Let's go, we can talk more back at the hotel."

Lin Wei calmly returned the book to its place, then turned to leave, not forgetting to smile and nod to the students he passed.

But in reality, he really wanted to find a place to vent his "WTF" feelings. He was afraid that if he stayed here any longer, he might accidentally damage public property.

That would be too embarrassing, and Gray Serpent and the others would laugh at him.

Noticing Lin Wei's little thoughts, Sakura couldn't help but cover her mouth and secretly smile, with a hint of schadenfreude. After all, she had also had a hard time keeping a straight face in front of Jackal.

......

"Jackal, you've lost it..."

Sakura's sincere exclamation made Jackal, who was basking in self-satisfaction and already popping the champagne in her mind, feel a wave of disappointment.

"What, you think I'll fail?"

...Does she even know that if I hadn't held back just now, she would have already failed - depending on the angle of my blade, she might not even know what hit her.

Sakura thought to herself, trying to use this way to divert her attention, so that at least her expression wouldn't look too messed up.

Of course, thanks to the hood concealing her face, Jackal didn't see her mouth twitching and then tightening into a thin line.

"...Gray Serpent agreed?"

Sakura asked again to confirm, after all, she found it hard to believe that someone as rational as Gray Serpent would also go along with her madness.

"Of course he agreed, otherwise why would I be here? That guy, every time I planned to make a move on that Lin Wei, he would jump out and interfere, three times in a row! Hmph... We're being bullied at our doorstep, and he's still being so hesitant!"

"This time, he finally stopped stopping me. And I can finally properly vent my anger..."

"..."

Sakura couldn't help but lower her head and raise both hands to cover her face.

Gray Serpent, I wronged you. So you were already trying your best, I'm sorry...

At this moment, she felt that Gray Serpent's absence seemed to convey a clear signal:

"Jackal's actions are personal, please do not implicate the organization."

Is this the world 500 years in the future?

Are these the elite humans of World Serpent?

Sakura felt that this trip was truly worthwhile, it had opened her eyes.

"Gray Serpent still knew to call you over to lend a hand, at least he still remembers our camaraderie. Thanks for coming all this way, Raven."

Even when Jackal expressed gratitude, her tone was still so condescending. But Sakura didn't feel insulted, only found her even more ridiculous.

How could there be such an arrogant, conceited, and self-important idiot in this world?

"...No need, I just came to take a look. Since you don't need any help here, I'll head back first. The kids have a lot of things waiting for me."

Taking a deep breath, Sakura felt it was time for her to leave. If she continued to linger, "Raven" might have trouble getting away.

Imagining how the real Raven would speak and act in this situation, Sakura waved her hand in the way she imagined, and turned to leave.

"Hold it!"

As expected, Jackal stopped her.

"What else?"

"Raven" turned around somewhat helplessly, thinking to herself, "Trouble, just as I thought."

"I heard from Gray Serpent that you and that Lin Wei are quite close."

Jackal's voice was somewhat expectant, and somewhat exasperated.

"My plan was just approved, and that guy's trace suddenly disappeared, as if they had planned it! Hmph, what a coincidence? I even suspect Gray Serpent might be interfering again!"

"...So, you want me to tell you his whereabouts?"

All of Sakura's emotions, whether strong or subtle, vanished at this moment, leaving only the urge to laugh - after talking so grandly for so long,

she doesn't even know where her target is?

And the other prey she's locked onto, so sure of catching, is just bait carefully prepared by someone else.

Looking at her arrogant and conceited face, completely unaware that in everyone else's eyes she's just a clown performing a farce, and still acting so self-satisfied, Sakura just felt that this woman was simply incomprehensible!

"Come on, selling out client information is not the professional ethics of a mercenary."

Sakura, who no longer wanted to waste time here, spoke in Raven's tone,

"Besides, if you're talking about 'personal relationship,' we only spent a few days together in Nagazora City, and haven't contacted each other since separating. Where he is now, what he's doing, I probably know even less than you... I thought you and Gray Serpent would be constantly monitoring his whereabouts!"

"Hmph, if it were really that easy, how could we have suffered such a big loss on Coral Island?"

Speaking of this, Jackal couldn't help but feel another wave of dissatisfaction. Those personnel and assets were all direct losses under her name.

"It's all that Lin Wei and some random Valkyrie's fault!"

Sakura didn't comment on her anger.

As the third party involved, she was very clear about the cause and effect of this matter. She hadn't expected that incident to make Jackal so angry.

After that, the conversation gradually lost substance.

Jackal suggested wanting "Raven" to help lure Lin Wei out, but was immediately refused, for the same reasons as before.

Seeing "Raven" refuse so decisively, Jackal gradually lost interest in continuing the conversation and rudely announced that she was dismissing her guest.

Sakura left as if she had received amnesty, and before leaving, couldn't help but look back at Jackal.

"Is there anything else?"

Jackal felt uneasy about that emotionally complex gaze.

"...Nothing, take care."

"Raven" said in a strange tone, and then, in the instant she turned to leave, caught a glimpse of the other person waving her hand impatiently.

......

In the taxi returning to the hotel, Lin Wei leaned steadily against the back seat, quietly listening to Sakura recounting the entire process to him in his mind.

After the initial shock, Lin Wei showed no further emotion to the subsequent information, which made Sakura faintly feel a touch of disappointment.

Really, Lin Wei's expression earlier was quite amusing...

Sakura thought with a hint of regret.

"Thanks for your hard work, Sakura."

Lin Wei thanked her sincerely.

Although Sakura's trip was absurd, it successfully helped him verify the incorrectness of his assumptions and, more importantly, brought back real information, giving him a solid grasp on how to change his action plan next.

"It's okay. If possible, I don't want to be separated from you for so long again."

After completing the mission, Sakura, returning to Lin Wei's body as a Stigmata once again, reverted back to that gentle and quiet girl, who occasionally had a little mischievousness.

She liked seeing him deep in thought, liked seeing him being mischievous, and even more liked seeing him being serious and particular about trivial matters in everyday life.

As an independent entity, she had experienced the feeling of walking alone in the world, and it wasn't what she wanted.

That world was too big, too unfamiliar, so big that it made her feel lost, so unfamiliar that it made her feel lonely.

It was still this familiar little world around her that made her feel peaceful and comfortable.

"Yeah, I know, I'll discuss things with you in the future..."

Lin Wei felt a slight regret.

He had always hoped that Sakura could be curious about the outside world and then find a longer-term goal, but she always dismissed the distant future.

Not wanting to force it, Lin Wei had no choice but to accept this intention and will.

"Let's not talk about this anymore, let's think about the important stuff first..."

Lin Wei composed himself and sorted through the information Sakura had obtained from Jackal—

"First of all, Manila is not a large-scale test site for World Serpent's Stigmata experiments. Heh, it seems we really wrongly accused them this time..."

Lin Wei couldn't help but chuckle to himself, but he didn't interrupt his train of thought,

"Since it's not World Serpent's doing... then who could it be? Anti-Entropy? Schicksal?"

Lin Wei carefully considered the information he had, suspected each one in turn, and then eliminated them one by one,

"No, Anti-Entropy is not interested in this place, that's for sure. The two Doctors wouldn't do it, and Cocolia... tch, although she does have a past record, I used the Feather of the Dawn to read her memories before, and she really has no ambition here..."

"Schicksal is even more unlikely. Otto's purpose in coming here is to dig out World Serpent and quickly obtain the Second Divine Key; rashly causing a Honkai eruption would only interfere with his plan, he wouldn't do it."

"And since all three major organizations are ruled out..."

Lin Wei's fingers lightly tapped on his leg, the rhythm calm and gentle, and then slowly stopped,

"Then this Honkai eruption in Manila is most likely just a natural disaster..."

Even though he had previously tried to monitor energy data and found no anomalies, at this moment he could only say that his method was too simplistic.

"Sigh..."

Lin Wei couldn't help but sigh, listening to the traffic outside the car window,

Another few million people again...

How many sets of millions of people are there in this world?

How many times can we bear losses on the scale of millions of people?

Man-made disasters he could still prevent, but natural disasters, those were truly beyond his power...

"Lin Wei, this isn't something you can stop alone..."

Sakura gently comforted him, she knew that beneath Lin Wei's joking and scolding exterior, there was an extremely soft and easily touched heart.

"I know, I'll do my best and leave the rest to fate. Don't worry, I won't get discouraged because of this."

Lin Wei smiled gently, throwing the things he couldn't prevent to the back of his mind, no longer wasting energy on them,

"Since that's the case, then it's time to change direction and consider other matters..."

"Are you talking about Schicksal's Otto, or World Serpent's Jackal?"

Sakura asked.

She found that the relationship between these three people was somewhat subtle—

Archbishop Otto wanted to dig out Jackal, Jackal wanted to capture Lin Wei, while Lin Wei's spearhead was always vaguely pointing at Otto.

If it weren't for this disguised infiltration and investigation, she wouldn't have gained such a clear perspective.

At least, neither Otto nor Jackal knew at this moment that on this chessboard, besides themselves and their prey, there was another player.

Otto knows about World Serpent, but doesn't know about Lin Wei;

Jackal knows about Lin Wei, but doesn't know about Otto;

She doesn't even know that Lin Wei was once right in front of her.

Only she and Lin Wei's side simultaneously knew about the existence of the other two sides, and coincidentally learned about the goals of both of them.

At least in terms of intelligence and information, Lin Wei has a complete advantage!

Should we give the World Serpent guys a little lesson?

Sakura thought to herself. She was inclined to strike at World Serpent first, she couldn't forgive Jackal for daring to covet Lin Wei.

However, Lin Wei just gently shook his head. He was thinking about something else,

"Since the Honkai eruption can't be stopped... then what about Anna? She's seriously injured and unconscious right now. Once the Honkai erupts, she'll be doomed."

Sakura: "..."

Whether it was Yuno's appearance or Otto's appearance, in the final analysis, it was all because of his butterfly effect. He didn't want that kind and enthusiastic girl to be buried with this doomed city because of his reasons, all confused and unaware.

"What kind of transmigrator am I, making things worse than they already were?"

Lin Wei smiled wryly. He had clearly been very restrained since coming out of Elysium, just wanting to avoid things like what was happening today.

But in the end, it still happened, which was really frustrating.

And when this kind of thing happened to his few friends, it forced Lin Wei to think of a way to make amends.

"The Honkai eruption in Manila can't be stopped, so there are only two ways to save Anna."

Lin Wei said to himself,

"Either, before everything happens, get her back to Schicksal Headquarters' hospital, or somewhere else, in short, get her out of this doomed city..."

"Or, get her to recover as quickly as possible so she can escape after the Honkai eruption..."

Lin Wei pondered for a moment, being transferred away was basically impossible, at least not something he could interfere with,

"Therefore, he could only choose the latter option, get her to recover as soon as possible, the sooner the better, to avoid any unforeseen complications."

"And right now, in this city, there happen to be three people who have the ability to do this, namely Otto disguised as Yuno, Durandal who's secretly hiding..."

Abyss Flower, which can heal any injury in a completely unreasonable way. And the people who can use this power, "And, me!"

Whether it's Otto's Void Archives, or his own Pandora, both can "borrow" the power of other Divine Keys in their own way—the kind you don't have to return.

"So, Sakura..."

Lin Wei called out softly.

I really owe you one...

Sakura smiled helplessly. Although she was somewhat dissatisfied with Lin Wei's undisguised concern for other girls, she was also helpless about it.

Just as she was about to respond, she was completely stunned by Lin Wei's next words—

"So, Sakura... let's kill Otto!"

His voice was calm, composed, and firm, not sounding even slightly like he was joking.

Wait, hold on a minute...

Weren't we just discussing how to save Anna? How did the topic suddenly switch to shouting about killing someone?

This turn was a bit too sharp, Sakura felt like her train of thought couldn't keep up, like she had pulled a muscle in her back.

Also, kill who?

Sakura turned her head somewhat stiffly, looking at Lin Wei who was also in the consciousness space, wanting to see a hint of something on his face.

But she only saw seriousness, firmness, and even a hint of anticipation and eagerness to try!

"..."

Sakura raised her hand to cover her face, with only one thought in her mind—

"Crap, Lin Wei's gone mad too..."