First Password Input: I can't do...

"You despicable villain, let them go!" Seeing Mei and Bronya captured, Theresa became anxious. She wanted to keep attacking with Judah but was afraid Ren would hurt them. For a moment, she was so worried she was stomping her feet.

Unfortunately, Ren wasn't interested in children. Facing Theresa's anger, he felt nothing, and even wanted to laugh. "It seems you haven't figured out the situation. The hostages are currently in my hands. And, I don't have the interest to waste time with you. If I weren't concerned about your identity, I would have just taken the item."

This was a lie. In reality, he simply couldn't beat the three of them working together.

"Bastard!" Realizing that Ren's attitude was very tough, the helpless Theresa could only sneak a look at the Humanoid Machine. Unfortunately, the Humanoid Machine wore a huge mask, and it was impossible to see any expression on her face.

As if analyzing the current situation, the Humanoid Machine said calmly, "The two of you don't need to worry about my feelings. I am just a machine. I belong to my master. Now that my master is dead, you won't be able to use me even if you obtain me."

The Humanoid Machine wouldn't have said anything had she not said she was just a machine. Theresa's empathetic heart made it even harder for her to make a decision, and she was thrown into indecision.

While the situation was in a stalemate, Ren suddenly frowned. He sensed the Herrscher core energy on Himeko's side suddenly spiking. The Gem of Haste energy that he placed in the Dominance Theater had also become active, as if it was about to explode at any moment.

However, a gem that fell into the hands of a Herrscher of Dominance would not be easily used. As his puppet, if Himeko wanted to use the power, she would need Ren's permission.

Is she losing it?

He had only ordered Himeko to stall, but now, it seemed they were both fighting with a burning passion. However, if his own people were being bullied, Ren wouldn't be ambiguous. After disguising the gem's energy signature, he granted Himeko the permission.

The energy signature he disguised wouldn't exhibit the characteristics of the Gem of Haste. Of course, its performance would be greatly reduced, but the benefit was that Himeko could use the power of fire.

After dealing with Himeko's situation, Ren switched his consciousness to Griseo.

As the protagonist of this incident, the Herrscher of the Void was naturally the biggest variable. To prevent her from interfering, Ren had sent Griseo ahead to stall Kiana. However, it seemed that there were no results.

Of course, it was also possible that Kiana, to hide herself, had chosen to ignore Griseo's pleas for help. However, the probability of this happening was extremely low—no one understood better than Ren how kind this girl was.

Even if her consciousness had been seriously eroded by Sirin, she would still choose to sacrifice herself for others. How could such a person choose to remain indifferent when others needed help?

Unless there were other interfering factors.

In the short second when Ren switched his perspective, he suddenly felt a pain in the Kalpas puppet's arm. He frowned, and looked down, discovering that Mei, who had previously been disoriented, had, at some point, bitten his arm tightly. Her light purple eyes were filled with intense anger.

Blood flowed down his arm. Unfortunately, no matter how painful it was, Ren didn't intend to let go. He grabbed Mei by her collar and lifted her up. Looking at the struggling Mei, the grey eyes hidden behind the black mask were like a dead pool, completely still.

"You're already this injured, and you still dare to provoke me?" His voice was low, seemingly suppressing his anger. But Mei, at this moment, didn't know where she found the courage to stare back at him.

Her strength soon ran out, and she could only ask in a weak voice, "That hair clip... where did you get it from?"

Ren was stunned. Only then did he realize that Mei had found the star-shaped hair clip that he always carried with him. As the item used to locate the Gem of Haste, it should have lost its purpose after he brought Himeko back. But for some reason, Ren had kept it, and had even used it as a prop for his disguise.

At this moment, the star-shaped hairpin was in the pocket of his top. When Ren grabbed her earlier, Mei must have recognized that familiar hair clip.

"Heh... It's surprising that you have time to care about the decorations on your enemy when your life is in my hands. Are you little girls really not afraid of death?" Although Ren himself didn't know why he subconsciously kept carrying it with him, he wouldn't admit that. If Kiana returned to the main cast later, wouldn't he be exposed?

"That's Kiana's… you must know Kiana's whereabouts." As the person who knew Kiana best, Mei would never mistake her possessions. Even though Ren was holding her and her collar was so tight that she could barely breathe, she still desperately grabbed Ren's arm.

"…" The grey eyes behind the mask flickered slightly. Looking at the struggling Mei, Ren lost interest. He casually threw her back onto the ground, and said coldly, "So what if I do? So what if I don't? Right now, I'm the butcher, and you're the fish on the chopping board. You are so close to the information that you seek, but you can't do anything but beg."

"Raiden Mei, don't you understand the reason why things have become like this?"

"All the mistakes stem from your weakness."

The last defense in Mei's heart was easily torn open. Looking up at Ren who was looking down at her, Mei's vision gradually blurred. She fell on the cold ground, weakly watching Bronya being grabbed by Ren with one hand and Theresa being threatened and caught in a dilemma, while she was only able to fall on the ground powerlessly, and watch everything happen.

Before coming to ARC City, she had confidently said that she would bring back Kiana and boldly faced Rita, but in the end, not only couldn't she even keep her weapon, she was also captured and became a burden to her teammates.

The ripped wound and her weak body couldn't hide the pain in her heart.

Regret, despair, and pain burned her heart like fire.

"I can't do anything!"

"…"

"No, actually, you are able to, but the current you hasn't the courage to embrace it." When Mei was caught in her self-loathing, Ren interrupted her.

"If you want to protect, you must have the courage to sacrifice. If you want to seek revenge, you must have the will to kill your enemy. If you want to get back what you have lost, you must have the resolve to give up what you have."

"We're not enemies. It's just that your weakness makes it impossible for us to communicate on equal terms."

Ren's voice was calm, but every word felt like it was creating an opening in Mei's heart, which had been closed off by the Herrscher of Thunder. Although she still couldn't see the direction, when the light shone into the darkness, it meant that dawn was near.

Of course, Ren didn't say these words to gain her favor like he did with Kiana. He said it because Mei was actually entering the password right in front of him. He was flustered and quickly said something nice to avoid being targeted by the Herrscher of Thunder in the future.

After saying these words, Ren stopped paying attention to Raiden Mei. He had wasted another two minutes, and his patience had completely worn out.

He wasn't planning on giving Theresa more time to hesitate. If she didn't give it to him, he might actually break one of Bronya's arms. "I'll say this one last time, give me the item!"