Chat Group: Starting by Swapping Bodies with Elysia?

The suburbs were desolate and sparsely populated, with only a few scattered factory buildings.

Having received Sakura's message, Pardo, who had rushed to the designated location, was perched on a tree, surveying the area from a high vantage point. On the surface, it seemed ordinary, but with the catgirl's sharp eyes, she immediately noticed the hidden signs.

The people who occasionally came out were all vigilant. There were several sentry posts both visible and hidden. The security cameras openly installed inside the factory were even more hair-raising, not to mention those that might be hidden.

Did such a dilapidated place really warrant such tight security?

"Good thing I have the stuff Vill-V-san gave me." After completing her observation, Pardo pulled down the high-tech goggles on her head—this was a device designed for infiltration by Vill-V. It could detect hidden cameras and infrared defense systems that were difficult to see with the naked eye. It also had many other functions, such as night vision.

With the help of the goggles and her own experience, she quickly found the weakest point in the defenses and quietly made her way over under the cover of the darkening night.

However, during this process, Pardo felt a little strange, as if someone was staring at her…

She subconsciously looked in the direction of the gaze—but she didn't see anything.

"Hah, it must be my imagination."

Shaking her head dismissively, Pardo didn't take it to heart. After all, she was very confident in her vigilance, and besides, she didn't have anything worth noticing. How could she possibly be targeted?

After the catgirl disappeared over the wall, a rustling sound came from the grass, and a strand of white hair emerged—a blue-eyed girl revealed herself.

It was Miss {Kiana}.

"I knew this guy was up to something." {Kiana} stared at the location where Pardo had disappeared, a look of certainty on her face.

While working part-time as a 'police assistant,' she had once again spotted the girl she had encountered yesterday. Of course, Kevin didn't think that the change that happened to him was caused by the other girl. After all, that was too unbelievable.

She would rather believe in aliens!

But even though she didn't think her 'change' was related to the girl, she still believed that the girl was definitely suspicious.

Running to this desolate place in a hurry. Her intuition was also telling her that.

Of course—the most important thing was that Kevin remembered something.

When she was checking the girl's bag yesterday, she had seen a badge with a moth-like pattern on it, and a serial number.

Unaware of it, Kevin had originally thought it was a work badge, some kind of decoration—but…

The girl looked at her phone—on the background of the photo that Su had sent her which was related to MEI, the same thing could be seen.

In other words.

This suspicious girl definitely… even if she didn't know MEI's location, she was certainly connected to MEI. Since she couldn't find MEI and had no clues on how to look for the girl with pink hair for the time being, Kevin could only place his hopes on this person whom she had met by chance.

She paused for a moment, then copied Pardo's way and climbed over the wall.

All of this had been completely seen by two girls standing on top of another building.

"Aren't you going to do anything?"

Sakura's cold voice carried a hint of question.

The other, a pink-haired girl—Elysia waved her hand dismissively:

"It's fine~"

"Don't you think it's interesting?"

"…"

"Sakura, you really have no sense of humor."

"I'm very curious, how will such a cute girl act?"

Saying this, Elysia smiled—her face was full of ease and confidence.

Although she was a bit lacking compared to bad Jiang Qiao… well, really just a little!

But she could still manage to act as a safety net.

Bad Jiang Qiao can do it. Why can't Elysia?

She would sit back and watch, and when anything happened, she would make a heroic entrance.

To defend the dignity of the 'real Elysia', the pink-haired lady had decided to use the opportunity of this trip to Europe to make a comeback, and prove to the bad guy that even without him, Elysia could do it!

Help me, Jiang Qiao? (x) Help me, Elysia! (o)

In her future 'status,' the pink-haired lady harbored considerable 'ambition'.

Seeming to already imagine the wonderful future, Elysia started humming happily.

——Thanks to her athletic life at school, although becoming a girl had noticeably decreased her endurance, Kevin could still feel a clear improvement in her joint flexibility and strength.

But after going in, she realized what it meant to regret following them. She could see those glaring sentry posts at a glance, and the things in their hands made Kevin's body tremble.

My god… had she infiltrated some hidden military base?

If she was shot, she would really die!

Miss {Kiana} immediately backed down, but when she thought that Pardo was her only hope to find MEI, she mustered her courage. Moreover, the movements of the two of them had already seemed to have alerted the scouting post.

Bright searchlights had already illuminated the wall, and it wouldn't be long before someone came to patrol.

After weighing all of this, the girl had no choice but to bite the bullet and keep going.

Fortunately, due to the security, Pardo wasn't moving very fast, which allowed Kevin, whose infiltration skills were average, to piggyback on the former and avoid being discovered by the guards. Even so, she still encountered many dangers and was almost discovered several times.

Like the factory outside, the inside also didn't seem to have anything strange—which was clearly not right.

How could such old equipment require such a high level of security?

Lightly tapping her goggles, Pardo started exploring the inside of the factory. Soon, she found something unusual.

A passage leading underground.

Clearly, there was a 'secret base' beneath the factory.

Cautiously feeling her way, Pardo kept walking down. After an unknown amount of time, she finally felt a sense of relief.

What entered her eyes was an extremely spacious underground area.

Rows of culture tanks and all sorts of advanced equipment that Pardo couldn't recognize at all.

"Ugh…!"

Seeing the human organs and even living humans inside the culture tanks, Pardo cried out, but she reacted quickly and covered her mouth.

However—she had still alerted the security robots watching the area.

As it was gradually getting closer to Pardo, who was hiding in this corner and had become somewhat nervous.

A figure suddenly jumped out and with a thud, the security robot was pressed against the wall. Before it could even activate its alarm, it had been directly destroyed by a great force.

Pardo looked up—what entered her sight was Miss {Kiana}—Kevin—who was following her.

Clearly, she couldn't possibly be one of them.

In other words... an ally?!

Though she looked quite familiar—because her gender had been switched, she didn't recognize her at all, the catgirl thought.

After dealing with the remains of the security robot, they followed it to a slightly safer place.

"You are…?"

"…"

Miss {Kiana} fell into a brief silence.

How was she supposed to explain herself? That she had been following her? Wouldn't that make them fight?!

Since her purpose wasn't to fight Pardo, but to obtain information related to MEI, Kevin was somewhat distressed. After a long while, she came up with an appropriate excuse: "I'm here to investigate this place."

It made sense—it was obvious that this place was no good, besides, if Pardo could come, why couldn't others?

"Then… want to team up?" Based on the thought that more people meant more strength and working together would help avoid errors, Pardo proactively made an invitation.

And this undoubtedly went straight to Kevin's heart.

Whether it was to get information about MEI or to find out about the underground base, cooperating with Pardo was undoubtedly the best way—even Kevin had to acknowledge that this girl was really good at infiltration. If she hadn't been following her footsteps, she would probably have been caught by the guards soon after entering.

"Okay."

Being completely clueless about the base, they could only aimlessly explore.

They hid from countless security robots along the way—and arrived at a...

"It seems to be some kind of prison."

Looking at the fully enclosed doors with only a metal window, {Kiana} made a judgment.

Looking through the gaps, some figures could be seen.

They were men, women, old, and young—mostly women.

"Huh… why is there only one person in this prison?" Pardo asked strangely.

Hearing this, Kevin followed her gaze and squinted slightly—it was indeed just one person, and not only that.

While the guards outside the other prisons were guarding ordinary people, the man with white hair inside this room was being treated like a criminal.

His body was covered in wounds with shocking scars. He was bound to a cross made of alloy, with chains made of steel tightly binding him, so he couldn't move—it was nothing like restraining a human, but more like restraining a prehistoric beast.

"Should we go ask?"

"…Should we try?" Although the catgirl was a bit cowardly, she did feel like if they could obtain some useful information from this weird man, that would indeed be great, so she agreed.

She directly took out a wire and skillfully opened the lock—a super-protective lock? Ha, there wasn't a lock or a door in the world that I, Catgirl, couldn't open!

She lightly fiddled for a bit and effortlessly solved the lock she was seeing for the first time. As Kevin looked at her strangely, Pardo chuckled awkwardly and pushed the door open.

"Huh—he… he seems to be unconscious." She was originally a bit scared and didn't dare to approach him, but seeing the man was motionless, Pardo plucked up her courage and took a step forward, touching the man's scarred face and asking strangely.

"…It's probably an anesthetic, not a small dose, either."

With Su as a doctor friend, she had also learned and been exposed to a bit of knowledge. Kevin touched his nose to judge.

"Water…"

A weak voice rang out.

She was stunned—wow, he was able to speak even after being injected with an anesthetic… The dose must be small then, she assumed.

"Is there any water?"

"Uh… yes yes yes!"

The catgirl paused, and once again took out her small bottle—after leaving Su's place, she had very carefully taken the water that he had prepared to drink and filled her bottle again.

She directly put the bottle to the man's mouth—he gulped it down.

Then…

His head tilted, and he went silent.

"…Did you put something in the water?"

Seeing this situation, {Kiana} was stunned for a moment, and looked at the catgirl with a complex expression, asking this question.

Well, good thing she hadn't drunk it yesterday, or else, looking at this reaction—if she had drunk it, wouldn't she have been finished?!

"H-how is that possible! This is pure water that we got from the hospital! It doesn't have a single additive!"

"He's still breathing, okay?"

"Indeed, it seems he just fell asleep." The girl tested and concluded it was the effect of the anesthetic that made him sleep.

"Looks like we won't be able to get any information."

Putting the bottle, which had only a little water left, back to Pardo—the latter wiped it with her sleeve, putting it back in her bag as if it were a treasure.

Pardo sighed, going over to the man and unlocking the chains, saying helplessly, "What a waste of effort. Oh well… might as well see if we have a chance to rescue him later."

After closing the prison door, they continued to explore the base.

Soon—they finally arrived at their final destination.

At the lowest level of the base, in a special container, a blue crystal was stored in a sealed room.

"It's a Herrscher core!"

Having seen a picture of it before, Pardo cried out excitedly when she saw the crystal.

{Kiana}, who had a keen sense of awareness, frowned and whispered, "Someone's coming."

The two quickly hid in the most inconspicuous corner of the room.

Soon, they heard the sound of footsteps approaching and saw the person.

"It's him!"

Pardo's eyes widened, and she nearly cried out, but luckily she had learned from her previous mistake and covered her mouth this time.

—The blond man with blue eyes that she had seen at the hospital that day, who had an argument with Su, the man named Otto.

Beside him was another old man who looked quite sinister from his facial features.

The catgirl tapped her goggles—

And found information about them in its database.

Pargenin—a high-ranking official of Fire Moth, the British Isles representative in Fire Moth, and in charge of the supervision of the Fifth Science Division.

As the two held their breath and listened quietly.

The two began to talk.

"Is there still no progress in the research?" The old man's voice was full of impatience and dissatisfaction.

"Hehe, you know, the process of scientific research is always difficult and lengthy."

"I'm not interested in the process."

"Of course, but we have indeed achieved results that far surpass the past, haven't we?"

"Not enough."

"That young yellow-haired girl from headquarters has already sent her people."

"Who is it?"

"Elysia, a young girl who's good at talking… hehe, it seems like there's no one in the Mu Continent, being suppressed by a bunch of young girls." The old voice was full of disdain and prejudice.

People always used age to measure each other's worth. This was especially popular in the European faction. At least, the faction led by Pargenin had never taken the 'kids' from headquarters seriously, even though they had already achieved remarkable results.

"A Fire Moth Hero? I've heard of the name."

"Hero? Humph, just a little girl who's good at networking."

Even with the achievement of 'subjugating the Second Herrscher,' in the eyes of the European faction, it was more like a form of 'marketing' from headquarters.

A deliberate exaggeration and a role model, used to boost the morale of the rank-and-file soldiers. Simply something artificial.

A 'tool' that could be made again and again as long as it was needed.

Aside from the Second Honkai Eruption, was there anything else worth mentioning that she had accomplished?

Participating in the subjugation of a small snake, a monkey… how ridiculous.

—Due to various considerations, and also due to Jiang Qiao's request, whether it was about the Third Herrscher or the Fourth Herrscher, their disappearance was more like a 'cover-up' with a barely reasonable explanation.

Therefore, in the eyes of the European faction—Elysia, who had only accomplished the feat of subduing the Second Herrscher, was no different from them who had subdued the First Herrscher back then.

Maybe the only difference was—the difference between pushing a button and personally getting involved?

"Although she's just an exaggerated 'tool', her arrival is still a hassle. The first thing she asked for was to see the First Herrscher's core, you understand?"

"That young girl from headquarters still hasn't given up, huh?"

The old man sneered.

Sending their so-called hero, what did it mean? Supervision, deterrence?

That yellow-haired girl was just a yellow-haired girl, not patient at all.

"In short, we need to get rid of that 'hero'."

"The experiment has reached a very crucial point. If we stop at this time…" Otto's tone was nuanced.

"…"

"Alright, we'll delay it for a while…"

"If that 'hero' doesn't know her place."

"Then, we'll just make her disappear."

"Understood." Otto lowered his eyes.

As a force supported by the European headquarters, the Apocalypse Church, who had always played the role of a 'front', occasionally had these kinds of jobs.

"Click—"

"Someone's there!"

Noticing the unusual noise, Otto spoke coldly.

But when they followed the sound, the two who had been hiding in the dark had long since realized something was wrong and had fled.

——No matter how much she tried to remain calm.

For Pardo, there were people and things that were too difficult to let go of.

And without a doubt, Elysia, who had helped her, was like that.

Therefore, when she heard those two people planning to kill Elysia, Pardo couldn't keep calm at all.

To this, Kevin, who was following along as they fled, felt somewhat helpless.

Was that Elysia this girl's mother or something? She had become so agitated after hearing those words.

Sigh… she couldn't stay calm, too young.

Suddenly feeling a chill, the white-haired girl quickly picked up the baseball bat she had found in the base and swung it behind her.

"Clang."

The sound of metal clashing rang out, allowing her to see the true face of the person who was attacking her.

It was a girl with yellow hair tied in a side ponytail, wearing a trench coat and standing at about 1.45 meters tall. She was holding two shining short blades, and her delicate cheeks showed that no emotion could be found in her purple eyes—just like a cold-blooded killer. Oh, she was one.

The force of Kevin's strike combined with the blunt force of the baseball bat was obviously something the two short blades could not withstand. Added to the fact that the girl likely didn't expect to be able to be reacted to, she revealed a hint of surprise.

But the next moment, she charged over again.

...So fast!

Looking at the incoming blades, {Kiana}s' pupils shrank—she tried to step back, but no matter how flexible her female body had become compared to before, it still couldn't match the speed of the opponent.

This girl was definitely a professional.

Her attacks were always aimed at vital points without any unnecessary movements.

However—

The next moment.

"Swoosh—"

All that could be heard was the sound of a blade being drawn, and the girl, who couldn't react, felt a heavy feeling in her back, followed by a metallic 'clang.'

Looking again, a cherry-haired girl holding a katana was confronting the yellow-haired girl who had attacked her.

"Sakura-san!"

Pardo, not skilled in combat, was instantly excited at Sakura's arrival and shouted loudly.

But the latter didn't have time for anything else and simply whispered:

"Go."

As soon as she engaged in combat, Sakura knew that this girl's assassination skills were definitely no less than hers. Fortunately, her weapon was far superior to the other girl's.

"Clap clap clap~"

Sudden applause rang in their ears, breaking the solemn atmosphere.

The blond man slowly walked over, revealing a smile—for some reason, Sakura thought this man was very annoying.

"Come back, Ninti."

The girl called Ninti was very obedient and gave up the fight, retreating behind Otto.

And the latter smiled, saying, "I didn't expect that the famous 'Forget-Me-Not' would actually appear here."

"…"

Sakura didn't say anything—she was very famous in the assassin circle, so famous that she could even be seen in some tabloid stories. It wasn't strange that he knew her name.

"Then—"

Just as Otto was about to say something, a deafening roar made him stop abruptly:

"Boom!!!"

It was as if something had exploded, making the smile on his face disappear.

As if he had recalled something bad, he didn't say anything, only asking with a hint of nervousness:

"Did you… let that man out?"

"What man?" Sakura was completely clueless, a look of confusion on her face.

Why did he suddenly bring up a man?

Pardo hesitantly raised her hand and whispered, "Uh… there seemed to be one when we came in."

At this moment, Otto's face instantly turned green.