Chapter 33: Headquarters' Vigil

"This is heading towards the outskirts of Nagazora..."

A few minutes after Bronya was knocked down by Hida Ren, Luo Lin, Kiana, and Fu Hua finally arrived at the outskirts.

The tracker signal on Raiden Mei had weakened to a dangerous level, almost no longer flashing. Fu Hua concluded that Raiden Mei should have entered underground or into a building with isolated walls.

Luo Lin and Fu Hua advanced in the direction where the signal was last detected, observing any anomalies along the way.

Like the outskirts of any major city, the outskirts of Nagazora were a gathering place for many buildings that were inconvenient to place in the city's core, such as factories with short shelf life food production, sewage treatment plants, garbage treatment plants, large warehouses...

Compared to the high-rise buildings in the core area, these buildings appeared low and sprawling, all of similar style, making it easy to get lost inside.

Arriving here, Luo Lin and Fu Hua became more cautious.

After all, it was much easier to arrange ambushes in such places than in the main city area of Nagazora, and even if there was a fight, it wouldn't cause a particularly large disturbance.

Luo Lin and Fu Hua almost immediately decided to explore forward from the rooftops of warehouses and factories, just like Siegfried's previous choice.

Because currently, both Schicksal and Anti-Entropy still extensively used ordinary intelligence personnel, the cameras and sensors they installed to guard against these individuals were generally placed in relatively conventional locations, such as alleys and dark corners... places like factory and warehouse rooftops were usually undefended.

After all, ordinary intelligence personnel couldn't run up walls using anti-gravity footsteps and traverse buildings like Spider-Man.

Of course, important places would also be equipped with omnidirectional detectors, because there were indeed intelligence personnel from Schicksal and Anti-Entropy who could perform such feats - Luo Lin and Fu Hua were living examples.

However, most C-rank Valkyries couldn't do such things, and even some B-rank Valkyries lacked such mobility.

Of course, Luo Lin and Fu Hua were not normal Valkyries. One was a quasi-A-rank Valkyrie wearing a B-rank label (meeting the standard in combat power but lacking in strategic command knowledge), and the other was an A-rank Valkyrie with an S-rank status as the Immortal Phoenix in secret...

And both had experience in intelligence work, so they had some expertise in tracing facilities hidden in the outskirts.

Luo Lin and Fu Hua quickly discovered clues. The closer they got to the last location where the signal lingered, the more cameras and sensors were around, similar to the quantity needed for normal suburban factories or warehouses.

Among them were some cunningly placed, extremely hidden cameras, obviously meant to guard against foreign intelligence personnel.

The bold Fu Hua even went down to observe, but didn't find any clues from the cameras.

Following these cameras and sensors for a while, the two roughly determined the direction, then carried Kiana and advanced towards the more heavily guarded areas.

"I feel Raiden Mei's thoughts, Luo Lin, go that way!"

To their joy, using her authority, Senti determined Raiden Mei's location. She guided Luo Lin, ensuring they didn't wander aimlessly.

Soon, Luo Lin and Fu Hua arrived near the secluded warehouse.

The gray-haired Valkyrie observed the building from a distance and whispered, "Luo Lin, are you sure Raiden Mei is in there?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

"The style of these cameras and sensors suggests they're Anti-Entropy's concealed facilities... It seems Raiden Ryoma's capture was an internal struggle within Anti-Entropy."

Fu Hua clenched her fist and said, "We don't have invisibility or interference devices on us. This is about as close as we can stealthily get. Going further, we'll definitely be exposed..."

Kiana gritted her teeth, "So what do we do?"

"Time is running out, so we'll launch a direct assault..."

Luo Lin said casually, "Why do you think we provided you with weapons and equipment? It's time for some head-on confrontation."

"...Luo Lin, news from Schicksal headquarters."

Fu Hua tapped her personal terminal and sent the message to the black-haired Valkyrie.

After reading it, she saw that it marked several safe houses set up by Schicksal's Intelligence Department in Nagazora.

With the arrival of this message, they were all open to Luo Lin, Kiana, and Fu Hua.

[Emergency permissions have been issued. I have contacted the nearest Far East Branch to you. The Far East Branch will dispatch a covert transport ship to rendezvous with you. After rescuing Raiden Mei, utilize the safe houses and any available means to stay concealed, and finally evacuate.

   - OTTO  ]

"...Truly worthy of Bishop Otto."

Luo Lin chuckled bitterly, but felt somewhat relieved.

At least for now, Otto's attention could help them solve many problems.

Kiana looked at Luo Lin and Fu Hua's expressions, cautiously asking, "What happened?"

"It's good news, Kiana, we have a way to evacuate." Luo Lin patted Kiana's shoulder.

"Are you ready?"

The white-haired girl took a deep breath and gripped her pistol. "I'm ready."

"Good, let's go!"

---------

Theresa Apocalypse looked somewhat mournfully at the shredded pieces of paper on the table, feeling a bit speechless for a moment.

Just now, her beloved grandfather Otto Apocalypse called from Schicksal headquarters, and the sudden ringing of the phone made Theresa, who was highly alert, tear up the comic book in her hand.

Her latest issue of "Homu Adventure"!

But Theresa didn't have time to mourn. She adjusted her expression and answered the call, staring at the golden-haired man sitting in the office.

"Theresa, deploy a high-speed stealth transport ship to Nagazora's outskirts to rendezvous with our personnel for evacuation. The specific intelligence has been sent to your terminal."

Otto's expression was very serious, and this seriousness immediately put Theresa into work mode. She quickly glanced over the intelligence her grandfather sent, and her face gradually became strange.

"Grandfather, was the situation in Nagazora manipulated by you?"

After all, Theresa had just learned in the morning that Raiden Ryoma had been captured, and a few hours later, Otto called her to assist in evacuating intelligence personnel... It was hard not to think that this was the work of the Schicksal Archbishop, which made perfect sense logically.

"What do you think of your grandfather?"

The golden-haired man chuckled contemptuously. "Do you think I would use such a simple method to target Raiden Ryoma? Using this mild means of manipulation to imprison him for fraud?"

"Of course not... So should I dispatch personnel now?"

Theresa hesitated.

"Well... Theresa, it's best to put Hyperion on alert. I think things might not go so smoothly." Otto glanced at Theresa with a helpless expression and shook his head imperceptibly.

It seems he have to cut back on Theresa's "funds" a bit, at least let her read fewer comics.

"No, that's the worst-case scenario... At least for now, we can say we're just passing by, offering assistance to some of our people along the way."

The golden-haired bishop stroked his chin, his eyes deep.