She is not an investigator.

The Gods' Fool - Beyond the World: Chapter Sixty-Seven, A Serene Reunion

However, the only thing that can be confirmed at present is that those soldiers are indeed controlled by the ant nest. As long as the queen ant is found and completely eliminated, they will naturally no longer be able to be controlled. Under the condition that they will not obey orders, it will be much easier to deal with them.

Based on the current situation, the queen ant may not be in the city, but most likely outside the blockade.

But since that person was able to control those soldiers to some extent, it proves that the queen ant shouldn't be too far away.

Perhaps the problem lies with that person? After all, if it weren't for the queen ant, controlling those soldiers would be quite difficult.

Simia's initial thought was that perhaps the queen ant would stay by the man's side, respond to his commands, and in turn control these soldiers.

However, this would involve issues of information and communication. Moreover, when he first arrived at the site, he found no strange features that could be associated with the queen ant and the sand table.

"……perhaps…"

Perhaps that man was the queen ant, but in reality, he did survive in another form through some means?

As the queen ant, even if he is dead, his consciousness will remain clear... But if, at this time, his body is also infected by that strange substance, causing mutation, and finally he completely loses his human characteristics.

So his body, at this moment, becomes a body that once belonged to him, instead of representing himself. In this way, according to the characteristics of the ant nest, he can even control himself as a worker ant.

In this way, worker ants act in his place, but the queen ant gives the orders, so the soldiers will naturally obey his commands.

However, this also has a clear drawback: if commands are given using other materials in the future, the commands themselves will lack certainty, since the worker ants cannot truly read the inner thoughts of the queen ant who is not actually there.

However, commands expressed solely through language will inevitably contain contradictions or inaccuracies.

This is probably why, during their first encounter, the man gave many orders before the soldiers finally began to move.

So... that's how their weakness seems to have appeared.

Simple and straightforward.

Their weakness lies in the fact that the queen ant is not in the area.

If the Mirror Demon were to transform into the Queen Ant's likeness, although it wouldn't be able to issue commands directly, if the Queen Ant were indeed present, the interference with language itself would prevent them from determining whether the commands were truly issued by the Queen Ant.

Of course, this method can't directly solve their problem. After all, it's obvious that the guy must have given the soldiers orders in advance to guard the line and not let anyone out.

In this way, even when the queen ant is not present, they will still carry out the orders themselves.

However, this also causes them to lose their ability to assess the situation and handle some emergencies.

After all that, the only solution is to lure the queen ant over and use the mirror demon to create chaos, temporarily paralyzing the enemy's control over the soldiers. This way, we can deal with those troublesome soldiers with almost no effort.

But how can I attract him...?

Simia turned her head and looked into the depths of the corridor.

She knew she shouldn't do this, but now she really needed help.

If the girl could be allowed to leave this place and try to break out, the soldiers would definitely engage her in battle. In the process, the queen ant would definitely not be able to miss her, and given the girl's unique nature, as an experiment that should not have succeeded but survived, he would definitely not be uninterested.

This is bait... It requires a certain sacrifice from that girl to unfold all the methods to break the deadlock and ultimately launch a resistance.

嗏

"..."

After hesitating for a long time, Simia grabbed a piece of scrap paper and wrote something down using a pen readily available in the lab.

She was prepared to leave some information because she couldn't really persuade the other party to make such a sacrifice, nor could she persuade her to help them, so this was just an option left for her.

She can refuse, and after some time, they can also look for other solutions.

But in any case, this is definitely the simplest and most efficient method.

…………

Simia left, and ultimately found nothing else noteworthy. It seemed that the place had been cleared away for some time, and apart from some monsters that were good at hiding themselves, such as chameleons, everything else seemed to have been killed by that girl.

The materials here contain a lot of information, but not much of it is actually useful.

She couldn't find any research materials about the key, even though traces of it were almost everywhere, it seemed that no one had actually studied it.

Correspondingly, she even went to Millie's experimental records, but the test results there were pending.

Perhaps due to insufficient time, it is impossible to truly determine whether it is actually normal.

It's worth mentioning that Simia's departure and return took less than two hours, so much so that Vicatina thought she had changed her mind. Naturally, when she heard the good news and new plans from Simia, Vicatina was even more surprised than she had imagined.

But in any case, it's definitely a good thing that nothing's wrong.

And so, the long night finally came to a slow end, and with hope and anticipation for tomorrow, I drifted off into a deep sleep.

…………

In many ways, the world is indeed very small.

For example, Igris would never have imagined that she would meet someone she thought she would never see again in her life.

Especially when that person knocked on Isabella's door in the early morning.

Of course, it seems that Isabella was too anemic last night and still hadn't woken up, so naturally, it was Igris who opened the door.

And so, they met again.

Five hundred years have passed, and we meet again.

"...Nolan."

“Igris… uh, what a coincidence…”

Nolan, who was originally planning to discuss the next steps with Isabella, never expected that the person who opened the door would be Igris.

As a result, she didn't even have time to put on the disguise she originally wanted to.

"What a coincidence... You're a bit more unassuming than I imagined, but thank you for remembering my name."

Igris stepped aside, revealing Isabella, who was still fast asleep in bed.

"You're here to see her, right? You two talk first, I'm just going out to buy some food."

"Huh? Ah... okay..."

Igris left just like that, so quietly.

She clearly thought their reunion would be more formal.

The Gods' Fool's Play - Beyond the World: Chapter Sixty-Eight, What Are You Afraid Of?

"Hey! Get up!"

Feeling increasingly aggrieved, Nolan kicked Isabella's bed, knocking the still-sleeping Miss Phantom Thief off the bed.

She raised her head somewhat blankly, swayed left and right, and finally realized that it was Nolan who did it, and anger visibly appeared on her face.

"What's wrong with you! Are you going through menopause? Coming to my house this early in the morning and acting crazy..."

As Isabella spoke, she stretched and rubbed her shoulder.

There's no wound there anymore. It's strange, even though it bled yesterday, it hasn't even scabbed over yet.

Why didn't you tell me that Igris lived in your house!

"Why should I tell you?! Are you two that close? You're crazy..."

Isabella had a wonderful dream, so when she was forcibly awakened, she was clearly filled with resentment.

However, Nolan seemed to harbor even more resentment.

"It's all because of you. I didn't even have time to pretend before I came in... She not only opened the door for me and saw my face, but she didn't even say much to me..."

Looking at Nolan, who was so sad that tears were about to fall, Isabella felt her resentment lessen for some reason, and scratched her cheek somewhat awkwardly.

"I thought you two didn't know each other before."

"...That kind of thing is no longer important. Since it has already happened, there's nothing left for me to hide."

Nolan sighed and rallied his spirits.

"Also, let's get down to business. The team will set off around noon and will arrive at its destination in about three days. The Special Investigations Department has provided us with some very important assistance and manpower, and the issues of route and security have been basically resolved."

"Oh…"

Isabella didn't care about that; what she cared about now was how Nolan and Igris met.

Because of Sharti? While that makes sense, her reaction shouldn't be that strong, right?

…It can't be that she wants an older man to date a younger woman.

Isabella suddenly felt that this was indeed a possibility, and directly interrupted Nolan's intention to continue speaking, asking him in a serious tone.

"Putting everything else aside, Nolan... you have to tell me how you met Igris, what you did together, and..."

"We slept together."

"..."

Isabella's eyes widened in disbelief, and she took a step back, collapsing onto the bed.

She stared blankly at Nolan in front of her, while Nolan remained calm as he looked at Isabella, his chin slightly raised, seemingly quite proud of the matter.

"...Did she know about this herself?"

"...?"

"I need to ask her."

"Alright, alright... let's leave this matter here and get down to business."

"This is the important matter!"

Isabella grabbed Nolan's collar fiercely and said through gritted teeth.

"I've finally gotten this far, and you're telling me you're going to interfere again? I consider you a friend, Nolan, you're one of my few friends, but you, you fucking can't do this!"

"..."

Nolan slapped Isabella's hand away, his expression colder than ever before.

“Isabella, of course you are my friend, which is why I am willing to help you. But now I must tell you that I will never back down on this again. I have already lost her. Five hundred years... Do you know how I have spent these five hundred years? For my family, for Sharti, I even gave up pursuing my own happiness again. But now... I will never back down again.”

"you--!"

"What's wrong, Isabella? Are you scared? Aren't you the world's greatest phantom thief? Aren't you able to steal anything you want? What are you afraid of? Are you afraid you can't beat me? Are you afraid she doesn't even like you?"

"..."