Chapter 173: Lena Is in Action

"Huh… inhale… exhale…"

Leaving the No. 6 gathering point, the girl in a tight leather suit took two deep breaths; as her thoughts gradually cooled, light and shadow flickered around her.

After only a few steps, her appearance changed—from a playful, rebellious girl into a mature woman with dark circles under her eyes.

She slightly adjusted how the leather suit was worn; though it covered less skin than before, it somehow seemed even more alluring when paired with her posture.

Confirming her new identity documents had been fully updated, Lena returned to the bustling district; elsewhere, such attire might draw attention, especially given her striking beauty.

But in Rishuku, where brothels lined every street, far more eye-catching figures were everywhere.

It was still some time before noon, far from the peak hours of the sex industry; Lena, like a tired tea master just off shift, wandered aimlessly into a popular ramen shop.

In old-era Japan, it was strange for a woman to visit a ramen shop alone, but now that Japan had become Giant He Xing's He Zujie, few had the luxury to care about social norms.

Here, repression and indulgence proceeded in tandem; high wages came with extreme work pressure; under the deliberate guidance of Giant He Xing, this land now known as He Zujie had become a distorted society—high income, abundant entertainment, but abysmal happiness (Note ①).

Lena glanced at the fully occupied bar stools, chose a window seat, and before the server approached, spoke:

"Soy sauce tonkotsu ramen, light broth, slightly firm noodles."

"Understood. There are many customers—please wait a moment." The young server quickly noted the order on his clipboard, then tore off a receipt and handed it to the girl.

"Rishuku Five-chome?" Lena stared at the number on the receipt but didn't leave; she waited quietly for the ramen to arrive.

Though she looked no different from usual, along her walk she'd spotted numerous plainclothes agents—not just on the streets, but even inside this ramen shop, she'd identified one team.

Though their acting was excellent, Lena, deeply familiar with such tactics, could keenly sense their difference from ordinary people—

They carried no stress.

"Damn alien bastards!"

She cursed inwardly but suppressed her urgency, finishing the bowl of ramen before paying and leaving.

Though she'd wasted half an hour, Lena wasn't in a hurry; leaving a signal meant Xiao Ye was still relatively safe—if it were a trap, time didn't matter at all.

Walking from East Rishuku to Kabukicho, then through Kabukicho to West Rishuku, she changed her face at least six or seven times before arriving at her target with an utterly ordinary visage, like a salaryman returning from a night shift.

In West Shinjuku, clean walls were nearly impossible to find; aside from the inner walls of private homes, most surfaces were covered in graffiti—chaotic and disordered on the surface, yet perfect for hiding signals.

"So there's one too?" Lena's weary eyes, accentuated by her dark circles, had already locked onto two housewives chatting at the alley's mouth.

Though fewer than near where Xiao Ye disappeared, the surrounding area was clearly under heavy surveillance.

Though she sighed inwardly at the trouble, it didn't hinder her from reading the graffiti; when a small, tongue-out demon face appeared before her, her tension eased slightly.

"As long as she's alive… looks like the thing's still there. Not drawn by Xiao Ye herself—drawn by whoever saved her? Wait, why is there a number? Forty-seven million? Currency… money? Why would they want money? Was Xiao Ye kidnapped? But her bounty's nearly two hundred million—so if it's a kidnapping, why not just hand her over to those alien bastards?"

For a moment, Lena couldn't even make sense of the graffiti, but she knew she couldn't linger; using a pinhole camera, she photographed the entire mural, then dragged her heavy feet to her safehouse in West Rishuku… well, officially, it was the home of her current identity.

Due to the overwhelming technological superiority of the aliens, nearly all internet-connected electronic devices were untrustworthy; yet in this era, anyone who avoided the network might as well advertise their guilt; even in her safehouse, Lena left behind many devices that could serve as the enemy's "cameras."

"Thud!"

She collapsed onto the bed like a true salaryman, too exhausted even to change clothes, falling asleep on the spot—but in truth, she had already entered the "Faith Space" and begun manipulating intelligence.

"Faith" was a power system developed by humans with the aid of deities; unlike the alien bastards who absorbed brainwaves, human consciousness radiating outward formed the foundation for deities' power.

But now that Japan's deities had been utterly purged by the aliens, the Anti-He Front could only rely on years of research to develop techniques using their own generated faith, combined with equipment donated by foreign allies disguised as tourists, barely managing to find breathing room under Giant He Xing's oppressive rule.

Yet compared to the collective power of deities, individual strength was far too weak; outright defeating the aliens' technology was nearly impossible—this was why the Anti-He Front, despite possessing some power, still desperately sought deities.

"Compared to three days ago, graffiti has increased by thirty-seven locations: twelve are from allies updating the signals, twenty are copycat graffiti by ordinary people, and the remaining five are likely Xiao Ye's signals."

In Lena's mind, she dismantled each signal, but the results left her deeply confused.

To avoid decryption, every member of the organization used unique, unrelated signals—each person simply listed common words or phrases as graffiti symbols that wouldn't look out of place on walls, and each symbol was periodically refreshed after multiple uses.

Of the five symbols on the wall now, "survived," "important asset," and "funds" (following the number forty-seven million) were understandable—but the remaining two…

"This symbol—I remember it means 'doctor.' Does it mean rescued by a doctor? Undergoing treatment? Or hidden in a hospital? And what does this last one mean?"

Lena stared at the bizarre final symbol, unable to recall its meaning; she entered meditation, retrieving the "stored" information within her Faith Space, her expression growing increasingly strange.

"This symbol means 'rumor' or 'legend'? But why would Xiao Ye write this now? Shouldn't she be transmitting her exact location?"

(End of Chapter)