Before the "guest" arrived, Luo completed her final preparation in her reception room—she attached a Teleportation Gate talisman card to the door leading to the suite's inner room and activated it, constructing a portal that could access the Hostel Hub at any ti.
This building is equipped with an extrely powerful warning antenna and a certain level of defensive firepower, although she believes Old Qiao might not be that bold—after all, making a move in the no-man's-land and firing on the Gray Dwarf Star are two completely different concepts. But in case, in case one of the logic chips of that chanical freak truly burns out with astonishing intelligence, in the most extre scenario, the other party could fire down a "Purgatory" torpedo from space, she still has about a few minutes to evacuate with her subordinates.
Having completed this preparation, she gave an early break to all the employees in the building, driving out all the ordinary people who only work here.
After patiently waiting for an hour, her guest arrives as promised.
Slightly later than Luo estimated.
A silver-white luxury shuttle entered the atmosphere, and as it entered the planet, it sent a docking request.
At this mont, Luo changed into her favorite silver-white long dress, leaning lazily on the sofa in the reception room. A spherical communication robot floats before her, with the holographic projection above the robot popping up the visitor's docking request, along with a card symbol icon.
Luo clicked on the icon, and a beautifully designed welco pattern appeared, with a line of text jumping before her eyes along with the effect of fireworks blossoming:
"Congratulations to the best colleague and friend for returning safely—Welco back among us."
"Boss," the Guard Captain's voice ca from the side, "there are two unidentified light frigates parked in orbit, without any group emblem, and they jumped together with Old Qiao's shuttle."
"Hm," Luo nodded indifferently, casually accepting the shuttle's docking request, "Take two people to welco our guest."
The Guard Captain left the room.
The silver-white luxury craft landed on the rooftop helipad, after a while, Luo heard footsteps coming from the hallway outside the door.
The door opened, and a tall figure entered her field of vision.
It was a steel body—apart from the small part of bionic skin on it, it was almost entirely a heavy machine. The height over two ters was covered entirely with thick alloy plates, with sharp iron edges and a few deliberately exposed cable ducts making it look intimidating.
Old Qiao, a forr Algredian.
"Ah-ha, Luo, it's good to see you're still so spirited," the steel body over two ters tall made a sound loud to the point of noise, the smile radiating from the alloy-made face appeared amusing and bizarre. He opened his arms, seemingly wanting to co up for a hug, but received no response, instead, two guards at the site blocked him, making him reluctantly put his hands down again with a grunt, "I really an it, if you simply died like that, it would be a big loss to the company."
Old Qiao spoke, then glanced around.
The reception room with Algredian traditional style, the wall adorned with deep blue tapestry, outside the arched do window was a high-precision simulated starry sky projection, in one corner of the room was an operating classical astrolabe, in addition to a wooden display rack, bookshelves, and a real burning fireplace—the flas in the fireplace are not holographic projections but real flas.
Firewood on Gray Dwarf Star is an expensive commodity, especially those that don't release all kinds of strange toxic substances when burned.
"You still love retro-style things." Old Qiao shook his head, expressing his awe.
Luo lazily leaned on the sofa covered with dark red cushions, looking up at the other: "I'm quite old-fashioned, old habits die hard, difficult to change."
Old Qiao shrugged, with the chanical joints making a faint operational sound, stepping to sit on the sofa in front of Luo.
The vast and heavy steel body sank into the sofa, looking even a bit cramped.
Then he suddenly expressed confusion with an "Hm," turning his head as if observing the nearby air.
"What is this sll? My sensors detect so 'peculiar' substances in the air," Old Qiao looked at Luo, his tone devoid of any emotion, "Bloody sll?"
"Incense, witchcraft things from the black market," Luo said, deliberately taking a deep breath, "Honestly speaking, it does have a bloody sll because this thing is made with blood as a raw material—the Black Wizards added sothing strong into it, and I must rely on this incense to stay calm now... You, the iron lump, can't understand this, you don't need to adjust your endocrine system anymore."
Old Qiao stared at Luo for two or three seconds.
Indeed, there seed to be a blood-like substance floating in the air, but it appeared to be rely vaporized blood components. His sensors failed to analyze any further information and did not report any toxicity—the golden-haired elf and her guards exposed to this thin blood vapor appeared perfectly normal.
The alert in his heart gradually dissipated, and Old Qiao's expression relaxed.
What poison could possibly affect the resilient, reliable steel body?
"It seems you've been through quite a lot," he shook his head, his tone seemingly filled with sympathy and concern, "Flesh and blood are ultimately a bit fragile, aren't they?"
"Probably, but I always can't let go of this body's ability to perceive the 'world.' Even though you might think these perceptions are vague and inefficient, I still can't quite accept the entire world becoming just a pile of data sent back by sensors," Luo said calmly, his gaze landing on Old Qiao, "Your steel body is a bit extre for ."
The "incense" device on the table was operating silently, with wisps of thin mist gradually seeping out.
Old Qiao felt so strange signals appearing in his sensors, but when he tried to pay closer attention, those signals disappeared like ghosts.
He also felt a slight itch on his back, but how could a steel body have the concept of "itch"? He had gone too long without dealing with such sensations, so he quickly ignored the bit of itching information.
"Anyway, I'm always willing to help," he adjusted his sitting posture slightly in the sowhat cramped sofa, squeezing out a stiff smile at the golden-haired elf in front of him, "I helped with your first surgery back then—without that first modification, you wouldn't have made it here today."
Luo slowly blinked, his expression unchanged.
The agony of the spine being severed and living tal gradually eroding the spinal canal seed to resurface from mory; she felt her brain implant was discharging irregularly, numbing and stinging spreading at the base of the skull, but in the next mont, it was all smoothed out by the blood scent perating the air, turning into a gentle illusion.
"I want to know what really happened," Old Qiao stared into Luo's eyes, "I visited your stronghold just a few days ago; it seed as if a space storm had swept through, even the entire planetary system had undergone a terrifying global shift. The data recorded in local logs is baffling; your space station's last communication with the corporation was filled with a heap of chaotic, frenzied babbles, and at that ti, your personal identification signal had already disappeared... Then we received the news that Boundary Land announced an Angel's descent and fall event, and in the limited image data, your space station was floating at the zenith of Boundary Land."
"An accident," Luo said with a calm expression, "I acquired a piece of 'stone' a few years ago, but I didn't expect it to be so kind of 'Dao Mark' that could summon an Angel's descent—during attempts to draw out the power contained within that stone, the Dark Angel descended."
Old Qiao adjusted his sitting posture on the sofa once more, making a show of listening attentively.
He felt his chest pounding; news about the Dark Angel was certainly valuable intelligence, as was the remarkable survival of the golden-haired elf in front of him.
"How did you survive? What's the news from Boundary Land about?"
"That thing, the Dark Angel, possesses powers in the space-ti domain. During its first 'awakening,' it transported the entire Black Stone Space Station to Boundary Land," Luo spoke almost entirely truthfully, yet deliberately omitted a significant amount of detail, "I don't know how I survived; when I ca to, I was already in the prison of the Special Service Bureau—as for the Angel Fall incident, I might not know much more than you."
"Special Service Bureau?" Old Qiao's tone rose, "How did you escape from there?"
"Is this part of the company's investigation?"
"Don't misunderstand; I'm not questioning you—this is all due process," Old Qiao spread his hands, "You know what the Special Service Bureau is like, where that ironclad witch's cage holds the most dangerous beings and non-beings in the Universe, yet prison break incidents have been rare over the past century, as for you..."
He glanced up and down at Luo sitting on the sofa.
"I don't think you have the ability to escape from there."
Luo slowly propped her body up from the sofa, leaning her upper body towards Old Qiao.
"An Angel Hunter carried out a prison break with the Dark Angel," her voice was slightly hoarse, like telling a ghastly and peculiar story, "Just like a hero defeats an Evil Dragon to rescue a princess; they let out right in front of the ironclad expression."
Old Qiao's eyes widened, and the expression of astonishnt on his tallic face, lacking detail, seed almost comical. He stared at Luo for several seconds, then suddenly leaned back into the sofa, releasing a laugh close to noise from his chest: "Hahahahaha..."
The wanton laughter lasted for a mont and then abruptly halted, with his tone finally shedding superficial politeness: "This is not the ti to toy with the investigation commissioner, Luo; you'd better think carefully. I might be the only one who can help you return to the Black Spot—without soone to rely on in this place, you're worse off than a gutter bug."
Two guards took a step forward.
Luo waved her hand, lazily returning to her initial posture. She sighed in relaxation amidst the "incense" scent, then looked at Old Qiao with a half-smile: "See, I'm still more accustod to you this way. We could have been candid from the start—just like before, before my promotion."
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