Chapter 339: Mission Change and Horrific Tragedy

Shi Linglin led the other members of the Nightingale Squad to the landing pod, preparing to sneak directly into Shell Star.

The Saint Hand Society had ways to get them through starport inspections, but once inspected—even with fake identities—traces would remain that could be tracked.

So for any non-infiltration mission, the Saint Hand Society always chose to sneak in and finish as quickly as possible, just like this time.

Shi Linglin stepped inside the landing pod.

As soon as she fastened her seatbelt, a notification from Jinsique A suddenly popped up before her eyes.

[Emergency Notice: Star Keeper, the mission objective has been changed. Please confirm]

[Objective 1: Kill Chatosi]

[Objective 2: Capture Lin Zhen, kill Zi Jiu, Aili, and Anvil—three people]

She had seen mission objective changes before, but…

“Mission objective changed?” Shi Linglin frowned slightly.

But in the past, mission objectives changed within the mission content. This time, however, an entirely new objective had been added out of nowhere.

It felt like preparing to pick up a package, only to find that another delivery had coincidentally arrived at the same place, so she might as well take both.

“Lin Zhen, Zi Jiu, Aili, and Anvil… names I’ve never heard before. But if the Saint Hand Society has targeted them, they must be remarkable people.”

Shi Linglin tapped the projection to open the details Jinsique A had sent.

As she scrolled down from top to bottom, her heart skipped a beat.

Lin Zhen and Zi Jiu—they were among those who had participated in the Academy Grand Competition back then.

Not only were they academy students, but they were also the cream of the crop, true prodigies.

And if those two were that strong, the other two could not be weak either.

At least…

Click!

As Shi Linglin saw the two familiar faces in the target information, her raised right hand froze in midair.

It was them?

That couple she had met at the cake shop, who had offered her a small helping hand?

“What a small world.”

Shi Linglin’s emotions were complicated for a moment, but only for a moment.

Forget that they had only helped her a little—even if they were true benefactors…

For the sake of that annoying woman who loved to casually claim sisters, she would still act.

After all, she owed that one.

But…

Shi Linglin’s eyelids drooped.

A cold light flashed as she asked:

“Jinsique, these four are powerful, far beyond the likes of Chatosi. Our Nightingale Squad is no match for them. If something goes wrong, Anchen might not be able to support us in time. I request that Anchen be allowed to operate with us.”

“Denied! According to restriction protocols, Anchen is not permitted to participate in prolonged ground operations. I will keep Anchen on standby, ready to dispatch for support at any time!”

Shi Linglin clenched her fists in frustration.

Failed again.

Jinsique A’s restrictions on Ye Lan were far too harsh.

She just wanted to let Ye Lan breathe some fresh air from the Positive Universe, but even that was not allowed.

How infuriating.

whoosh

A small metal cube suddenly popped out from beside the ejection cabin and landed in Shi Linglin’s arms.

She picked it up, looked up in confusion.

“What is this?”

“Spare emotional cold element. As a precaution, please carry it with you, Star Keeper. Before the emotional cold element inside Anchen’s body volatilizes completely, inject it into Anchen in time to ensure the armament operates normally.”

“Understood.”

Shi Linglin’s eyes flickered slightly as she tucked the metal cube into her arms.

She really did not know the principle or origin of the emotional cold element.

But after spending so much time with Ye Lan, having seen so many times how the emotional cold element was injected into her, driving her to become the emotionless machine Anchen and engage in frenzied killing—combined with the term ’emotional cold element’—Shi Linglin had come to some guesses.

This thing was probably extracted from Ye Lan’s emotions and then cooled into its current form.

Two years ago, after that incident, the furious Dr. Forefinger had performed an ultimate modification on Ye Lan, completely stripping away her emotions and turning her into a walking corpse-like killing weapon—Anchen.

But if she could reverse the process and inject enough emotional cold element back into Ye Lan’s body, could she… bring back the gentle girl from before?

Shi Linglin rubbed the metal cube, her heart growing hotter, but her face betrayed nothing.

Because this amount of emotional cold element was definitely not enough.

She would need more… enough to fully awaken her.

Until then, she had to continue playing the role of ‘Star Keeper,’ watching over Ye Lan for Dr. Forefinger.

‘I will bring you back one day. When that happens, I will call you… Big Sister. Wait for me, Ye Lan.’

Shi Linglin vowed silently.

“Final countdown—one minute. Prepare for landing!”

As Jinsique A’s voice sounded, the landing pod’s hatch quickly locked shut.

A map of Shenke Star was projected before the Nightingale Squad members.

The map zoomed in and out.

A red cross moved rapidly across it—Jinsique A was calculating and selecting a suitable landing spot.

Soon, the red cross stopped at a desolate wilderness.

Unlike Lin Zhen and the others, the Saint Hand Society had received a distress signal from Chatosi and had already roughly determined their hiding location.

So Jinsique’s selection was exceptionally accurate—dozens of kilometers south of Luoding City…

But if any resident of Luoding City could see this map, they would surely be horrified.

Because this place had another name among them.

Dark Swamp.

Not hell, but a ghostly domain that surpassed hell.

Luoding City.

An ordinary small city on the border of the Crab Kingdom.

No beautiful scenery.

No entertainment facilities built for tourists.

It was named solely because it was suitable for cultivating a type of shooting snail that could be used as a ranged weapon.

Not to mention the entire Shenke Star, even within the Crab Kingdom it was utterly unremarkable.

If a carapace race guide were to choose, a hundred tours out of a hundred would never pick this as a tourist destination.

But everything changed one day a year ago…

A large number of Crab Kingdom troops stationed in this small city, building a long, towering carapace wall to the south.

Strictly forbidding any Crab Kingdom citizen from crossing the wall.

This harsh order was surprisingly met with no opposition from the nearby Luoding City citizens.

Because they knew what lay on the other side of the wall…

Dark Swamp!

Many of them had even witnessed the horrific tragedy that had occurred there that day.

“If it weren’t for the difficulty of leaving my homeland, I would have already moved my entire family far away from this city.”

“Horrific tragedy?”

Inside a bar in Luoding City, Aili sat in a booth made from a huge crab shell, listening to the person across from her sigh.

She paused slightly with her right hand, then revealed a faint smile as she raised her wine glass and gently clinked the rim of the other’s glass.

“I heard that Shenke Star is very safe, even rated as one of the top ten planets in the entire Empire most suitable for retirement. This so-called horrific tragedy…”