[Vol. 5] Chapter 188: A Ray of Hope in the Dark
“…!”
Without ti to think, she hastily slamd open the barely ajar door and rushed into the research lab.
“Bastards!”
The miserable scene before her almost made the young woman unable to suppress the urge to curse out loud.
The lab table was in utter disarray. Docunts and files that had once been neatly arranged were torn to shreds. The lab equipnt, used for years, had been smashed and destroyed, now scattered into countless broken pieces.
To ensure that nothing could be restored, the intruder had deliberately poured corrosive and contaminating acid over the remnants of the research materials and results. Even the tal lab table itself was full of holes and pits from the corrosion, clearly beyond repair.
In the corner of the lab, a few large machines that Ayla had purchased at great expense were also not spared.
While their cores were too difficult to dismantle or destroy, many parts had been severely corroded by the acid and were dented, as though struck with great force, leaving them unrecognizable.
No matter what, they were definitely unusable.
To make matters worse, the pungent, stinging odor of the corrosive liquid had spread all over the small lab. Even the magical lamps hanging in the air had been deliberately smashed, leaving the lab nearly pitch dark.
With great difficulty, Ayla felt her way through, carefully stepping over the few safe spots, until she reached the table where she had spent countless days and nights.
Looking at the small wooden chair that had been reduced to scattered fragnts on the floor, she hesitated for a long ti, unable to bring herself to do anything.
“Those bastards… How dare they…”
A pang of emotion gripped her. The sensation was strong enough to make her fight back tears.
Even though this place was where she had moved, or rather, been driven to after being forced out of her previous lab a few years ago, it was now a space she had co to use alone. Each chair and table, every object here, carried a deeper aning for her.
It carried deeper expectations and attention.
She lifted her head, and on the wall directly in front of her, the crooked words “This is your final warning,” written in the common language of the Holy Empire with corrosive acid, stood out so starkly. Even without evidence, Ayla could imdiately guess the motive behind the destruction.
In fact, she’d encountered similar situations before, though previously they had resorted to more subtle thods to interfere and obstruct her. This was the first ti they had directly broken into her private residence and caused such blatant destruction.
It seed that her speech earlier in the day had truly touched upon certain individuals’ core interests and struck a sensitive nerve.
“Don’t think… this will stop . I will expose the truth and shatter your hypocritical lies.”
The tears she had been holding back for so long never fell. Ayla Light simply clenched her fists, muttering through gritted teeth.
She glanced at the degree of acid evaporation and corrosion on the table, then quickly shifted her gaze toward the outside. Raising her hand, a golden sword of light, seemingly ford entirely of radiance, appeared in her palm, glowing brilliantly in the dim night as she prepared to step out!
However—
“If I were you, I wouldn’t choose to chase after him like this.”
A clear, lodious voice suddenly echoed from within the room. Ayla’s entire body stiffened, and her gem-like, brilliant blue eyes contracted sharply as she spun around almost instantly!
“Who’s there!?”
The golden glow on her sword intensified, its bright light cutting through the darkness where it was aid. Finally, the figure of a girl, dressed in an elegant red-and-white shrine maiden outfit and wearing what appeared to be a white fox mask, ca into the light, eting the gaze of the girl from the Lightborn Tribe.
“……”
Ayla didn’t make any further moves imdiately. Although, as a mber of the Lightborn Tribe, she was naturally endowed with combat abilities far beyond those of ordinary beings, and had often fought powerful enemies as a rcenary or ventured through treacherous terrain to fund her research, this didn’t an she enjoyed fighting.
She was, at heart, a scholar. Scholars don’t resort to violence unless they have no other choice.
Besides, the girl standing before her was far too mysterious. Until the stranger spoke, Ayla hadn’t even realized that soone had been standing so openly in this small house, no more than a few dozen square feet in size.
Darkness could never obscure the vision of the Lightborn Tribe.
“Who are you?”
“Oh, very calm, aren’t you~”
Seeing that after a mont’s hesitation, Ayla had voluntarily withdrawn the blade of light in her hand, the girl wearing the white fox mask spoke with a peculiar tone.
However, she didn’t imdiately explain anything further. Instead, with a casual gesture, she “conjured” a large chair, sitting confidently on the other side of Ayla’s lab table. Her smooth, pale legs dangled like jade beneath her skirt, as she swayed them back and forth, letting out a light chuckle.
“We t earlier today. Have you forgotten so quickly? Your speech left quite an impression on .”
“Speech? You…”
The vague sense of familiarity slowly beca clear. With her exceptionally sharp mory, Ayla took less than a few seconds to identify the individual based on the clues provided.
“You’re… that strange person who was sitting in the back with a little girl during the public hearing earlier today?”
The girl frowned, her dark-circled eyes narrowing in thought.
“So it’s you. What are you doing in my lab? Did you do all this?”
Miss White Fox didn’t answer directly. Instead, she chuckled lightly, as if amused, and asked in return, “So, do you think I’m the one who did this?”
“…What do you want from ?”
“Oh?”
The fact that they were completely speaking past each other only seed to amuse the casually seated Miss White Fox further, prompting her to let out a sound of mild surprise.
“From the way you’re talking, it sounds like you already know who I am?”
Ayla furrowed her brow once more and bluntly replied.
“You really talk too much. I’m in a terrible mood right now and have no ti to waste with you. If you’re not the one causing trouble, then don’t get in my way. If you dare do sothing like this, don’t expect to get away unscathed.”
“Eh? But I’m not blocking your way~ Aren’t you the one who decided to stay? Haha, co on, co on, don’t get all serious. I’m here to help you, Miss Ayla. Right now… you must be in urgent need of soone like , right?”
“……”
Seeing the Lightborn Tribe girl fall silent without making any further moves, Miss White Fox didn’t seem bothered. Instead, she casually tapped her mask with her hand, producing a crisp “tap tap” sound.
“So~ back to the sa question. You know who I am, don’t you?”
“Hah…”
Suppressing the slight frustration caused by the unexpected events, Ayla regained her rational mindset as a scholar. She sighed and spoke in a low voice.
“White fox ears on the head, possibly a fox hybrid, but without a tail or fur. Wears a full-face fox mask. Physically smaller than the average human adult, about one ‘jun’ in height. That’s the first characteristic.”
If you forget,
“jun” is a unit of length in this world, roughly equivalent to about one and a half ters.
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