Collapse Iron: As the Balance Envoy, I've joined the chat group

"receive."

"Can I have some fun this time?"

"The previous operations were all so boring!"

"Sorry, today's task is very tedious; it's just a matter of 'putting the target in'."

"—But, I won't stop you from having whatever fun you want. After all..."

"Anything Eriol didn't write in the script is irrelevant!"

The virtual screen with a wolf head image featuring a strong cyberpunk spray paint effect flickered and disappeared.

The next second, Kafka drew her twin pistols from her waist and strode forward toward the curio collection room.

He strolled leisurely, as elegantly as if he were visiting his own backyard, treating the antimatter legion's illusory soldiers who had invaded the space station as nothing.

"When did the Antimatter Legion become so weak?" Kafka opened a hatch, and with no Antimatter Legion's war weapons in front of her for the time being, she had time to chat with the Silver Wolf on the other side.

"That's all the troops I can lure in. You don't want this place to be targeted by the legion's main force, do you?" Silver Wolf's somewhat helpless voice came through the communicator.

"This kind of stuff alone can't hold off the Star Train crew."

"Don't worry, a doomsday beast has arrived too."

Kafka felt much relieved upon hearing this, and when the hatch opened, a long starry corridor appeared before her.

On both sides of the corridor, virtual portraits of a few of the more famous people in the Genius Club are displayed.

Kafka's gait remained as elegant as ever, and she even had the leisure to discuss the famous figures in the portraits with Silver Wolf on the other end of the communicator:

"This is Zandal. Zandal I. Kuwabara, the first genius in history."

"The legendary creator of the Venerable Vajrapani?"

"It's him... If the legend is true, then he is the man who created the Star God."

"I hope the rumors are untrue; I don't want to be a Zandal hunter."

Upon hearing this, Kafka chuckled and continued walking forward, occasionally pausing to glance at the portraits of the geniuses on both sides of the corridor.

However, when they reached the portrait of a certain genius, they stopped once and jokingly said to Silver Wolf on the other end of the communicator:

"Hey! Silver Wolf, look, it's Screwgoom! Your old rival!"

Silver Wolf sighed on the other end of the communicator: "Ha... I told you, I didn't know it was him back then..."

"It was that battle that made Eriol take notice of you: there's actually someone in the universe who can crack Sorgg's program!"

"...First it was Slugum, then Black Tower. I doubt anyone in the universe has provoked two geniuses in such a short period of time. It's fate."

The other silver wolf sighed again upon hearing this: "Alas... it seems I am the 'slave of fate.'"

Kafka just smiled and continued walking.

However, after passing through the new hatch and dealing with the phantom soldier in front of him, he was straightening his sleeves when a new phantom soldier suddenly appeared behind him.

However, just before the cold blade in the soldier's hand was about to pierce the back of his head, it suddenly turned into tiny cubes and disappeared.

"Cleaning up other people's messes isn't my job."

"Aren't you right, Kafka?"

Silver Wolf tapped the light screen in front of him, randomly selecting a coordinate to banish the phantom soldier, before standing up and blowing a bubble.

Kafka turned around, her tone gentle as if coaxing a child: "Alright, alright~ Where did you put it, Silver Wolf?"

"These coordinates were just randomly chosen, nothing fancy. Are you really concerned about where that pawn went?"

"I don't care~ It's just that no matter how many times I see it, I can't help but think, your methods are truly unbelievable~"

"It's just modifying the displayed data; it's a trivial trick."

Seeing that Silver Wolf was unwilling to elaborate, Kafka did not press further and changed the subject:

"What were you looking at so intently just now? Let me see it too!"

"The Black Tower's toys, the space station's catalog of 'curiosities.' There are many interesting things in there." As he spoke, Silver Wolf's eyes seemed to light up.

"for example?"

"There is a gun that can score the creatures that appear in its crosshair from 0 to 100."

Kafka laughed out loud: "...Hmm~ What's so funny about that?"

"Aren't you curious about how many points you'll get?...I'm quite curious to know."

"Sure~ If it's on the way, let's go check it out. Where's our destination?"

"Continue deeper into the corridor behind the left door, and you'll find a room containing some kind of 'strange object.'"

"The 'Star Core'...is it there?"

"It can tell us where the 'star nucleus' is!"

As he spoke, Silver Wolf tapped his wristwatch a few times and opened the hatch.

"The area ahead is the core region of the space station; there will be many illusory soldiers from the antimatter legion there."

"Okay." Kafka's tone showed no fear whatsoever, but rather a hint of eagerness.

The two cleared away the spurious soldiers as they moved forward, and then another hatch appeared before them.

"stop!"

"There's something ahead."

Hmm... there's more later; the two were surrounded by spies.

"It seems we're the ones who were ambushed."

"Unfortunately, they're the ones who are surrounded!"

The two quickly dealt with the illusory soldiers who were surrounding them.

Kafka looked around: "There's no one here. The evacuation was quite thorough. Was it an order from the Black Tower itself?"

Silver Wolf checked the space station's access logs using his wristwatch:

"According to the access history, that woman did log in here today, but she stayed in the office and didn't come out."

"The evacuation operation was directed by the acting station chief—a woman named Está."

"A name I've never heard of... Ah, I think Elio said we wouldn't run into the Black Tower, but I didn't expect her to be here too. Looks like we need to hurry."

"Where is the star core...?"

"Elio's script doesn't mention the specific location of the star core, meaning that in the future he sees..."

Kafka picked up where Silver Wolf left off: "—We didn't find the star core through physical movement."

Silver Wolf nodded: "There are so many incredible things in this space station, it's not surprising to find such a strange object."

"Using a strange object to hide another strange object—that's exactly the kind of thing that woman would do... You've been flipping through the catalog for so long, you must have some clues by now, right?"

"We have all the necessary clues; all that's needed next is a little trick."

"Help me investigate the terminal equipment in the room; the strange object might be inside."

"Okay~ Let's see your performance!"

Just then, a series of clattering footsteps sounded from the side:

"Judging from the situation, you two seem to be in some trouble. Do you need any help?"

Zhong Heng emerged from the shadows with a smile in his eyes; he had been waiting here for quite some time.

Zhong Heng looked at Kafka: "Your violin playing is quite good!"

She then turned to the silver wolf beside her: "And... after we find that strange object that can rate creatures, could you rate me too?"

"I'm also quite curious, little silver wolf, how many points will I get?"

......