Kiana and the Captain's Bizarre Adventure

Chapter 179 Gray Snake

"Hello, welcome!"

Inside the convenience store, Kiana is warmly greeting customers.

"Huh? A new face. Are they college students from around here working?"

The speaker's name was Tang Ke, and he was a resident of the area.

"And judging by your appearance, young lady, you're an international student? Your Chinese is quite good!"

"Yes...yes, because the security situation has been quite bad lately, I've been moving around a lot. Although there's a government subsidy, the moving costs have exceeded my budget, so I have to do some part-time jobs to make ends meet."

"Yes, gang shootouts have been happening every now and then lately. They use guns and bombs, leaving only ruins at the scene of each shootout. It's really unsettling. Sky Dome City wasn't like this before."

Seeing that the man in front of her believed her, Kiana secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Thanks to the frequent Honkai attacks during this period, Sky City experienced a large influx of people. People in some affected areas were temporarily housed in concentration camps after being confirmed to be free of Honkai infection. Of course, if you have the money, you can also choose to stay in accommodation or rent a house directly.

There are government subsidies and preferential treatments for renting a house. The amount of subsidies and preferential treatments varies depending on the status of the person. University students receive the highest preferential treatment, and they basically only need to pay for a moving company. Therefore, many university students choose to find a rental house nearby after their own rented house or dormitory is destroyed.

As for the collapse, the government disguised it as a gang war, which made things difficult for the local gangs, who were unfairly blamed for doing nothing.

Kiana has discovered all of this in the past few days. With the captain's help, Kiana has successfully obtained the status of an international student.

With this new identity, Kiana was finally free from having to work on construction sites. So she found a rental apartment nearby and moved in with the captain.

Then she found a job at a convenience store. Luckily, there was a university nearby, so Kiana didn't arouse the store manager's suspicion during the interview.

The reason for choosing to work at a convenience store is simple: employees are allowed to take away and dispose of near-expiry items such as bento boxes.

After several months, Kiana was finally able to stop eating instant noodles.

As for the captain, it's even simpler. While Kiana was out working, the captain would either find an internet cafe, book a private room, and hack into Shencheng Pharmacy, or go to the vicinity of Shencheng Pharmacy to conduct on-site investigations.

After several days of observation, the captain finally figured out the security guards' patrol patterns. The remaining mechanical guards and monitoring equipment were not difficult to deal with, but they were definitely not easy either.

The main problem is that the captain doesn't have a suitable electronic device to operate right now. After all, he's not a genius hacker like Bronya who can hack into all sorts of places with just an ordinary computer or mobile phone.

These past few days, hacking into some surveillance equipment and sharing the footage through internet cafe computers without being detected has been the captain's limit. Directly hacking into those mechanical guards and remotely shutting them down is basically impossible.

Sigh! If only I had the power of the Herrscher of Corruption!

The captain, desperately needing electronic warfare capabilities, uttered this lament, after all, when it comes to electronic warfare, the Herrscher of Corruption is second to none. Although the Herrscher of Knowledge was somewhat unconvinced, she had to admit that her abilities were indeed useless against electronic devices.

However, these were just thoughts. As usual, after clearing his browsing history, the captain skillfully disembarked and prepared to pay the bill.

But when he stepped out of the private room, he was met by someone he absolutely did not want to see right now.

Gray Snake—that's the name of the suspicious man dressed in black, holding an umbrella indoors.

"Looks like I'm in luck. I didn't expect the captain to come out and greet me as soon as I was about to knock on the door."

"Enough with the nonsense, Gray Snake, what brings you here today?"

"Oh? I didn't expect that the captain already knew my identity before I even introduced myself?"

"Ha! You're known as the number one intelligence dealer in Sky Dome City. Anyone who's ever been in contact with this kind of business knows your name."

"It seems that sometimes having too much fame isn't a good thing. Now that the captain knows my identity, he should understand why I came to find you. Why beat around the bush like this?"

"I know you're here to sell me information, but I'd like to know if you're here simply as an information broker, or if you're representing the organization behind you to make a deal with me?"

The gray snake fell silent, then laughed. The laughter was so sinister and terrifying, as if a venomous snake were already watching you.

"Hehehe! I didn't expect the captain to know so much. It seems the captain is no ordinary person! Since that's the case, I'll be frank with you. I can give you the security intelligence of Shencheng Pharmaceuticals, but you have to agree to one condition."

"..."

Seeing that the captain remained silent, Gray Serpent assumed that the captain was worried about his and Kiana's safety, so he added.

"Don't worry, this condition will not involve your or Ms. Kiana's safety, and you don't need to worry that I will tell my colleagues about your plan to infiltrate Shencheng Pharmaceuticals."

"No, I'm just wondering what benefits you could possibly have for us, or rather, for me, that would make you choose to secretly cooperate with me."

"Clap clap clap!"

Gray Snake couldn't help but clap, but the noise startled the customers in the nearby internet cafe. Realizing that this was not a suitable place for the next negotiation, Gray Snake made a suggestion.

"Let's talk somewhere else."

After saying that, Gray Serpent turned and left without looking back. The captain quickly followed. Before long, the two arrived at the alley behind the internet cafe.

"Hmm, this will do." Gray Serpent stopped and said, "Getting back to our previous topic, I must say, Captain, your intuition is indeed sharp. Kiana alone isn't enough to pique my interest; what interests me is the weapon you used earlier."

"So it really is the Heavenly Fire Judgment?"

“That’s right! According to my intelligence, the Judgment of Heavenly Fire is still in Siegfried Kaslana’s hands, and he is still recuperating in Anti-Entropy’s secret base. The Judgment of Heavenly Fire has not been handed over to anyone else for safekeeping, but the Judgment of Heavenly Fire you used before was undoubtedly genuine, and the power it released was significantly stronger than Siegfried’s. How could this not arouse my curiosity!”

"So that condition is related to the Heavenly Fire Judgment?"

"That's right!" For some reason, Gray Serpent's tone became fervent. "Now that you know the organization I belong to, I solemnly invite you to join World Serpent. If you can use your Heavenly Judgment to lead our Lord back to the mortal world and finally offer up your Heavenly Judgment, you will be the greatest contributor to World Serpent! At the same time, I can also promise to help Miss Kiana get rid of the threat of Honkai invasion, and even help her master the power of the Herrscher. How about that?"

"That sounds tempting," the captain said.

"so…?"

"So I refused."

"...?" Gray Serpent asked after a moment of silence, "I don't understand, Captain. This is clearly beneficial to both of us, so why choose to refuse?"

"Indeed, as you said, it sounds very tempting, but I can't completely trust the people in your organization, especially the cadre in charge of Shencheng Pharmaceutical."

"Oh, you mean Jackal, right? Indeed, she is excellent enough as a scientist, but that's all she has to offer. Putting that aside, she's arrogant, conceited, and has a little bit of humanity, but not much. Having her around really makes one uneasy."

"Good that you understand. So thank you for your kindness. Let's just consider this deal off."

"But if I do that, I can't guarantee I won't leak your and Kiana's whereabouts to my companions, can I?"

At that moment, the captain's eyes turned cold, and his vertical snake pupils stared intently at the gray snake. The gray snake subconsciously took a step back. For a moment, the gray snake felt as if it were facing the Lord.

But how could this be? That person is clearly dead, and their memory is trapped in the Land of Rebirth! Why?!

Realizing he had lost his composure, Gray Snake quickly composed himself and continued speaking.

"That's all for today. I hope you'll give my suggestion a good consideration, Captain. I'll come back in a few days."

After saying that, he turned around and left.

Seeing the slightly disheveled figure of the gray snake, the captain secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Just now, seeing that the negotiations were about to reach a stalemate, the captain had no choice but to use the Infinite Imprint that Mebius had forced upon him. However, he did not expect that the effect would be so good that it stunned Gray Serpent.

Just thinking back to that experience where he almost lost his penis, the captain still feels a chill to this day.

Because he was worried about Mei's safety, the captain asked Kevin to secretly send him into Paradise to check on Mei.

Unexpectedly, upon entering, they were discovered by Mebius, who had just been defeated by Mei. After being forcibly dragged onto the experimental table for research, Mebius unexpectedly discovered that the captain's body had an alarmingly high compatibility rate with her consciousness.

Torn between his desire to return to the real world and his anger at being defeated by Mei, Mebius forcibly imprinted his mark onto the captain's consciousness and began preparing for a consciousness transfer experiment.

Anyway, gender doesn't matter to Mebius anymore. As long as he can successfully return to the present world, what does it matter if he uses a man's body? At worst, he can just have a sex reassignment surgery on the body. Moreover, with the World Serpent's technology, it can be guaranteed that he will have all the functions of a woman.

Fortunately, Kevin realized something was wrong in time and forcibly logged the captain out of Paradise. This prevented the captain from losing his manhood in the future, although the infinite mark still remained on the captain.

There was nothing he could do; back then, he was just an ordinary person who could freely use the Judgment of Heavenly Fire. How could he possibly defeat Möbius, a scientist?

Please, that's a scientist, someone who can play chess with a weak scholar who can't even kill a chicken. How could an ordinary person like me possibly win?

Kiana, who had become the Goddess of Earth, had considered removing the mark from herself, but the Captain thought that keeping it might have other uses, so he didn't let Kiana do it. Unexpectedly, it has now actually come in handy.

Back in the rented room, the captain began to think about how to deal with the Grey Serpents, since the Grey Serpents were just a general term for a concept, and their true form was thousands of androids.

Even if they killed the gray snake just now, more gray snakes would come knocking. Besides, this gray snake had a human computer with him, constantly processing all kinds of intelligence about Sky City. As long as Kiana and he were still in Sky City, they would definitely not escape his eyes.

Thinking back to that human computer captain next to the gray snake, I still feel quite sorry for her, after all, she was also a victim of the Honkai.

She was rescued by Gray Serpent, and although Gray Serpent did help her survive, the price was that her body was completely transformed into an emotionless robot and she had to help Gray Serpent handle various intelligence in Sky City.

In the original work, the child was successfully formatted by Rita using the prosthetic eye left behind by the gray snake and was taken back to St. Freya Academy by Theresa, which can be considered a good ending.

However, that's not what we should be thinking about now. What the captain urgently needs to consider is how to avoid Gray Serpent's line of sight.

To be honest, if Gray Serpent only wanted the captain to help bring Kevin back, the captain might have readily agreed. But Gray Serpent went too far and wanted to take away the Heavenly Judgment from him and give it to Kevin in this world, which was something he could not tolerate.

Because the Heavenly Judgment in his hand represents Kevin's last entrustment in his world, hoping that the captain can take over the mission of protecting the world from him, rather than the thorny path of salvation.

Kevin in this world has not yet completed his mission, and this greatsword, which no longer symbolizes the inscription of salvation, is not suitable for him. I suppose even Kevin himself would have this thought after obtaining the Judgment of Heavenly Fire.

But the Grey Serpent is different. For him, completing the Stigmata Project is his ultimate wish; everything else is irrelevant. Furthermore, this world of serpents is an organization with religious characteristics that he created using the Stigmata Project. Its members have only one faith: the Stigmata Project itself.

Kevin, as the Lord, is both the symbol of the Stigmata Project and the guarantee that they can carry it out.

Without Kevin, or rather, if Kevin were no longer willing to carry out the Stigmata Project, this organization would forever remain a small organization hidden in the shadows.

Just then, a steaming hot bento box was placed in front of the captain, who then realized that it was Kiana's time to get off work.

"What's wrong? Why are you so engrossed in thinking?"

After spending these past few days together, Kiana no longer treats the captain as an outsider, and sometimes even cooks for him. However, every time she cooks, Kiana ends up being kicked out of the kitchen and the captain has to clean up the mess.

"Nothing, just..."

The captain instinctively uttered words against his will, realizing a second later that they wouldn't convince Kiana. Sure enough, when the captain looked up, he saw Kiana with her cheeks puffed out in anger.

"Okay, actually it's..."

After sighing, the captain recounted his experience to Kiana and Fu Hua, hoping to get some advice from them.