Meanwhile, deep underground.
"Ahhhhh!!"
Nihilister screamed, her chest heaving violently like a furnace burning with rage, ready to erupt in scorching flame. Her hands were clenched into fists, knuckles turning white from the force, as if expressing the fury and humiliation boiling inside her.
"That damn bastard… that lowly insect! He actually… dared to humiliate me like that!"
Just thinking about being manipulated so casually, forced to crawl on the ground without dignity, made Nihilister's blood boil. Her teeth clenched with such fury they audibly cracked. If she could, she would tear the bastard who defiled her into pieces.
"Kill him, kill—I'm going to kill him!"
Beside her, Liberalio seemed to be stirred from her slumber by Nihilister's enraged shouting. Her previously dazed eyes slowly opened, and the air around them instantly chilled, like being cast into the depths of a silent ocean.
"…Quiet, Nihilister."
The voice was soft, like a whisper from a dream.
And yet, it alone was enough to suppress Nihilister's explosive rage.
"If someone makes me appear personally… and then interrupts my sleep again… stay awake—unless you want me to kill you now…"
It wasn't a warning. It was a statement of fact.
Nihilister's eyes turned cold. Her crimson gaze locked onto Liberalio, voice tinged with danger.
"Kill…?"
"You want to kill me?"
Liberalio yawned, still drowsy and sluggish.
"Yeah… that's right. The former Queen… didn't allow fights between the vanguard commanders…"
"But now… who knows?"
"This time, the Queen is very disappointed in you…"
"Unless you erase Eden from the surface completely… it will be hard to regain her trust…"
"And so, one day… before the humans kill you…"
"We will."
Liberalio looked as though she might fall asleep mid-sentence. Her words stretched out slowly, like a lullaby. It should have been a stern threat, but from her lips, it sounded so soft it barely evoked fear.
Nihilister chuckled darkly as if she'd just heard a funny joke. Her crimson eyes gleamed with a dangerous light.
"Nonsense… I'll burn you to death with my flames first!"
"It's true…" Liberalio didn't get angry: she merely stated it as fact. "By the way… before I arrived… you did a lot with that human, didn't you… begging for mercy… talking about the Rapture Queen's… whereabouts…"
"What nonsense are you spouting?!" Nihilister's heart skipped a beat.
Did she hear that?
She quickly snorted coldly, still trying to act tough. "I would never beg! That guy—I'll kill him eventually! As for the Rapture Queen, that was just to deceive him."
"Besides, I acquired that human's genes. If the Queen finds out, she'll probably praise me."
"Oh? Is that so…" Liberalio mumbled sleepily, her delicate body swaying like she'd doze off at any moment. "Whether it's clever adaptation… or the prelude to betrayal… will depend on what you do next…"
Nihilister found her words irritating and snapped coldly, "I don't need you to remind me of that."
Liberalio let out a yawn, her sleepy eyes barely open.
"Don't forget… the Queen is always watching you…"
After saying those words in her drawn-out, dreamy voice, she promptly fell asleep again, slipping into a deep slumber.
A faint crimson glow flickered in Nihilister's eyes. It looked like hatred, maybe madness, but more than anything—it was excitement.
"No matter where it is… I'll burn it all to ash…"
Elsewhere—
The group returned to Eden.
Outside the base lay a war-torn landscape—cratered, scarred, and utterly ravaged. Rapture corpses littered the ground, along with broken Nikke limbs and shattered mechanical parts. Defensive structures were crushed, barricades wrecked, the energy shields and visual camouflage blown open with gaping holes.
Thankfully, the inner defenses had held: Eden had survived.
Mo Chen walked past the remains of a massive Rapture over ten meters tall: a Lord-class one. Its frontal armor had been melted through, likely by a high-temperature plasma cannon, the shot piercing clean through and destroying its core completely.
But from the dense spread of bullet marks all across its carapace, the ferocity of the battle was clear.
Nearby, Nikkes piloting mechanical rigs were dismantling the Rapture, cutting it apart and hauling pieces like ants carrying food, slowly reducing it to scrap.
"Eden's building materials, repair parts, and energy sources mostly come from Rapture corpses. Ironically, though they're our hated enemy, we rely on their remains to sustain our weapons and infrastructure. But, in a way, it's not so different from ancient tribes hunting animals to survive."
A melodic voice spoke beside him. Mo Chen turned to see Dorothy calmly explaining, surprising him a bit.
Previously, Dorothy had shown signs of discomfort around him. Even if she hadn't said it outright, he could feel it. Back then, she never would've taken the initiative to speak to him like this, let alone offer explanations.
"This time, you saved Eden from a crisis. Everyone here will remember that," she said, stepping forward and offering something with both hands. "I believe this is what you need."
Mo Chen reached out and took it, brushing against her fingertips by accident. Her skin was cool, smooth, almost slippery.
Dorothy didn't seem to mind.
But Mo Chen's attention quickly shifted to what he held in his palm.
It was a bullet, identical to the one Snow White had given him—its tip gleaming like a ruby.
"A suppressor?"
Mo Chen was surprised.
Because in the original timeline, Eden wasn't supposed to have any suppressors.
Dorothy didn't try to hide it. She smiled faintly and spoke bluntly.
"This suppressor was originally meant for research. But due to personal reasons, I kept it. I thought… if Eden ever faced a dire moment, it could be used as a last resort."
With that, she turned gracefully and walked away.
Mo Chen stared at her back, thinking to himself: this woman's scheming runs deep.