Chapter 306

Full-time Hunter.

The military ritual's chess piece hovered at the fingertip; Xiao Mai keenly noticed the King's movement lag for an instant. She tilted her head slightly, her hollow eyes 'gazing' toward the Ant King's direction.

"King……?"

The Ant King gave no response, he recalled the demonic apparition that had just appeared for only dozens of seconds in the firmament—Afrit spread his arms, echoing in the endless flames a frenzied hymn to the Destruction Nanuk.

"Interesting." Wang suddenly spoke, the corner of his mouth hooking into an upward arc, "Clearly he has not received the gaze of a god, yet he still venerates destruction as faith and walks His path—this purity… is actually commendable."

Pufu knelt-sat at the palace gate position, his butterfly wings trembling uneasily: "But, Wang, this kind of utterly irrational declaration of war—"

A sharp explosive sound suddenly burst out in the air!

Wang's tail lashed like a steel whip across Pufu's face, flipping his whole body onto the ground.

"Do you need to tell me what rationality is? You don't think I can't tell?" Wang's voice was like an ice cone soaked in venom, deeply piercing Pufu's heart.

"... Yes, yes, I, your subordinate, have overstepped! My liege." Pufu trembled as he rose, intense pain accompanied by strong self-reproach sweeping over him like a tsunami.

How, how majestic the king is! And yet I dare to question his judgment—utterly foolish!

"Someone like me… truly deserves to stay by the king's side?" Pufu sank into deep doubt.

The Ant King finally returned his gaze to the chessboard, and the chess piece he had been holding finally dropped: "Remember, I want a blade that can fully carry out my ideas, not a mediocre talent constantly wrangling over right and wrong—understand?"

Pufu lay limp on the ground, obsessively watching Wang's back as he refocused on the game: "As you command… King."

——

Laatio invited Xing to go investigate together, while Aisida and the others remained in place to control public opinion.

"They found Alan, from him obtained a list of missing staff members and their detailed information, then without even looking handed it to Xing: 'Hold it, remember these names, then find a well-informed friend and just say you want to know these people's contacts.'"

Xing looked at him doubtfully: "Any clues?"

Laatio shrugged: "I don't know, it depends on your friend."

Xing had no choice but to hand the list to Pamela, the gossip-loving one on the space station, yet continued discussing the follow-up with Alan; when Laatio mentioned wanting to meet Mr. Adler, Alan said that a few system hours ago he too had disappeared.

The last time I saw him was in the main control compartment, together with Wen Shiling.

"Lead the way, you said that Adler seemed to have some clues, but you didn't get a chance to say them. If his disappearance is also related to the attack—then he probably really realized something."

Xing recalled that what initially inspired Adler was an energy lifeform, and the Netherfire Duke is also a kind of element life; they might share something in common.

She contacted Danheng, asking him to investigate detailed information about the Netherfire Duke; she needed more intelligence.

——

fate。

At the Emiya household's dining table, steaming hot dishes filled the spread; Saber attentively shoved curry rice into her mouth, wearing an expression of satisfied enjoyment. Meanwhile, Rin Tohsaka rested her chin on her hands, gazing at the sharp profile of Professor Laatio on the sky curtain.

"What a strange person." She said thoughtfully, "Clearly his speech is so aggressive, yet he voluntarily wants to investigate this dangerous missing-persons case together with Xing—completely opposite to Thus: Ruan Mei."

"A hot-blooded sharp tongue?" Shirou Emiya chuckled, "Sounds like someone who loves to lecture." As he spoke, he gave Archer, sitting beside Rin, a meaningful glance.

Archer let out a cold snort: "Don't lump me together with scholars."

"By the way… Saber, do you want to go take a look in the galaxy?" Rin Tohsaka suddenly put down her chopsticks, an eager expression on her face, "Going to the world in the sky curtain? Fighting mythic heroes from other civilizations would surely be fun, right?"

Saber's emerald eyes flickered with a hint of anticipation: "I really would like to personally experience it, but if there's no Master over there, would it—"

"Saber, this is just a hypothesis! Just a hypothesis! I was just asking casually." Rin Tohsaka glanced at Archer beside her, "What about you? Do you want to go? Archer?"

"I refuse." Archer bluntly interrupted, "Even if such an opportunity existed, I wouldn't go—after all, there isn't one. Compared to satisfying the young lady's curiosity, I still believe my own safety is more important."

"Tch—" Rin Tohsaka snorted, her tsundere attitude practically drifting out of the Emiya household's windows, "I don't look forward to your combat at all."

——

The two found Wen Shiling, who was weeping bitterly over Chandler's disappearance. She said he had recently been constantly studying things like human spontaneous combustion and paranormal phenomena, his whole person becoming weird and eerie.

"What did he say?" Laatio suddenly asked.

Wen Shiling suddenly remembered, blinking her eyes: "Well, well, it seems like some kind of scent!"

"Scent..." Laatio repeated thoughtfully.

Wen Shiling handed the two a small booklet, saying it was the last thing he had browsed before his disappearance.

Just then Pamela also sent Xing a message, saying she had obtained a subtle result regarding the contacts of the missing personnel: these people indeed had no connections in their personal relationships, but they had all posted extreme statements against management on the dark web, and they had many supporters.

"Looking at your complexion, this doesn't seem like good news."

After relaying Pamela's findings to Laatio, he gave a meaningful "oh": "The missing staff are opinion leaders who have denounced management—this is somewhat thought-provoking."

"While you were replying to the message, I also finished reading this booklet. It records the biographies of several members of the Genius Club—there is no shortage of interesting information."

He thought, it's time to go back and chat with Aisida and Mr. Luosigu Mu.

On the way back, Danheng also sent Xing the information he had gathered, indicating that the Netherfire Duke was no ordinary being. His flame trait is also considered special among the fire demons of Tuofeite; based on investigators' surveys, Danheng speculated that the duke's flame inherited some ability related to his origin, beyond mere burning.

His flame, constantly shifting between phases, is hard to capture.

"Phase shifting..." Xing felt these four words were somewhat familiar, yet he couldn't recall them at the moment.