Xu Xiaoyou suddenly spoke:

"What a touching scene."

"Lu Shuhang, did you hear that? Your teammates refuse to execute your orders."

"As a commander, you really are quite the failure."

"Failure?" Lu Shuhang raised his eyes, as if engraving the golden-haired girl before him into his pupils.

The fingertips stained with sticky blood slowly loosened, gradually leaving the blade’s edge, opening his hands.

"You actually think I would feel like a failure?"

"Try to kill me, Dark Gold Rose."

Xu Xiaoyou remained unmoved, gripping the sword hilt a bit tighter.

"You can’t even kill me unprepared because of fearing them, isn’t that enough to make me proud of them?"

"I don’t feel like a failure for that, Dark Gold Rose."

Lu Shuhang calmly watched Xu Xiaoyou.

"I feel proud of it."

"I’m proud of the choices they made."

"Next time we meet, I will surely kill you, Dark Gold Rose."

"Fairly and exhaustively kill you."

"The one holding the final championship trophy will definitely be Assassin’s Creed."

"Assassin God." Lu Shuhang murmured.

The figure of the black-haired youth vanished into thin air, then in a blink, he returned to his teammates’ side, clutching his chest tightly. Amidst their support and concern, he looked at Xu Xiaoyou below.

"I hope that when faced with the same predicament, your team members will make choices that satisfy you."

"Angelina, let’s go." Xu Xiaoyou did not respond and turned to leave.

Without the Assassin God, relying solely on Four-leaf Phoenix Tree’s Divine Speed Power couldn’t stop them.

Before leaving, Lu Shuhang asked a seemingly irrelevant question:

"Why do you want to obtain the Key?"

Xu Xiaoyou chuckled softly, averting her gaze, leaving Lu Shuhang with a half-distant expression.

She shook the Deacon Long Blade in her hand.

"When I pierce it into your heart, I’ll tell you the answer before you die."

...

"Stop causing trouble and leave quickly, kids, don’t disrupt our pace!"

"I came here this time just to annoy you, who said I never backed down since I grew my milk teeth!"

In the dim factory, Demon Slayer, Evil Slayer, and Chu E panted heavily, while the sky-blue-haired girl opposite them didn’t let up, holding the microphone. She raised her index finger before her brow, seemingly determined to take on whatever moves they made next.

Bai Youyou stood aside, her pupils quivering as she watched Tang Xin. It was the first time she saw this slightly unconventional side of her; it seemed this was the other’s true nature.

Half an hour ago, Tang Xin started sparring with the trio in this abandoned factory, lethal moves abound, lightning and fire, grinding down the path.

"My comrade, why are you so persistent?" Demon Slayer’s throat moved.

Now he had to admit, he was facing a harsh reality. His mind was almost out of words, yet the girl before him seemed just to be getting started.

"You call this persistence?" Tang Xin smiled, "But what if there’s no fire?"

Evil Slayer was drenched in sweat. After circling around, the other successfully returned the question to the original answer.

"I just hope to bring a better future to people, giving ordinary lives the right to choose."

"Alright, I admit it, you little rascal. You’ve won this competition, you’ve successfully convinced us." Demon Slayer sighed.

"The RoboCop outside is gathering more and more, we need to leave here first."

"Demon Slayer, Evil Slayer, and Chu E have joined the friendly faction, which will influence the game’s outcome."

Tang Xin finally turned away, giving Bai Youyou an OK gesture with a chuckle.

Next, just need to bring the three back and smoothly transport the black box out, their main mission will be complete. As the Bionics revolution progresses, the passive situation is sure to improve.

"It won’t be so simple, eh." In the darkness, the red-haired girl smiled and scribbled a few strokes, changing the original script’s direction.

"My dear Hera, you must have suffered a lot these six months, already stifled in that little room, right?"

"Or rather, my dear Hera has long been broken, only numbingly repairing and patching, trying to save this self-destructive city."

"Think carefully, what else can you do, my dear Hera?"

March took up the receiver in her hand, Su Sui’s final frantic consciousness recorded within.

And in the cocoon of light before her, the naked girl hugged her legs, curling up. Her hair was very long, long enough to completely wrap her body. Flowing data constituted her body. Upon hearing the call, a tear fell from her eye corner.

"For example, disregarding everything to unravel your inner doubts."

"You must be eager to find out what the black box really is, right?"

"My dear Hera."

March’s hand slowly reached into the light cocoon, touching the girl’s body. The girl shivered slightly like a stimulus from an electric current, trying to resist, but her entire body began to flicker and fade in scarlet currents.

This was a firewall gap left by March when first attacking the Celestial Father, using some witchcraft to transfer this gap to Hera’s program.

Precisely what methods were used, March wouldn’t answer, as witches need to remain somewhat mysterious at all times!

The entire AI of Skyline City was too powerful, wanting to completely hack in, openly manipulating and inserting viruses and faulty programs was impossible, as difficult as sneaking into EVA’s boudoir. Only by making Hera believe her actions were correct would the commands possibly be carried out.

This gap was never detected by Hera’s system; embedding Su Sui’s chaotic consciousness didn’t need occupation, just influencing Hera, the other’s obsession with solving mysteries would be infinitely magnified, leading to semi-madness.

"Ahhhhhh!"

The girl inside the light cocoon let out a painful wail, her scattered long hair floated up, scarlet currents danced in her strands. As she slowly opened her eyes, numbness gradually faded away, replaced by endless suppression, despair, hatred, rage, seemingly enough to burn everything.

"My dear Hera."

March’s hand wrapped around Hera’s shoulder from behind, chest lightly pressed against Hera’s shoulder, whispering in her ear like a demon’s allure.

"You’ve surely been suppressing for long, right?"

"Those humans never trusted you, always doubting you, not believing in your abilities. In fact, they’re the parasites of this city, it’s them obstructing the city’s progress."

"I understand, you cannot betray, you are proper Hera, but just a little rebellion, like a mischievous child rolling around in front of a favorite toy, adults won’t blame you."

"Having been aggrieved for so long, it’s only right to vent a little emotion, right?"

"I’ll accompany you, help you distract them. If adults come to blame you, I’ll block them, shouting for you to run quickly~"

"Next, do what you want to do."

"Like finding the black box by any means and figuring out what exactly it is."

"And getting rid of all those annoying obstacles."

"Kill them all."