Soon, Rappa found information about Bai Luan and Stelle.
Hmm… from their past actions, they are both good people.
The Nameless needs no further mention, and Bai Luan is hailed as 'the most down-to-earth genius'.
Although some Xianzhou people complain that the prank videos they filmed together are not just 'down-to-earth,' but almost 'down-to-the-underworld,' Rappa doesn't think much of it.
As long as one does not harm others, one only needs to hold firm to one's heart when acting, and not care about what others think.
It seems I misunderstood them.
Rappa put away her short sword, clasped her hands together, and bowed.
"I apologize for my previous offense; it was my oversight."
She straightened up and explained earnestly:
"My ninja designation is 'Rappa'. This time, I am traveling with Silver Lance. Shura to a planet called 'Somatik'. I have discovered evildoers committing wicked deeds here. We have vowed to eliminate all of them."
Stelle looked at Rappa with a strange expression.
Ninja designation, Silver Lance. Shura, evildoers… I can understand the words, but why does it feel so weird?
Bai Luan, however, nodded knowingly from the side.
"So, you and Boothill discovered an evil organization on that planet and plan to 'deal with' them together, right?"
"Precisely!"
Stelle turned her head to Bai Luan in disbelief.
"Uncle, how did you manage to translate that so seamlessly?"
Bai Luan smiled and pointed to his temple.
"Stelle, you need to think more about things."
Think more?
Stelle stroked her chin, pondering for a moment, then suddenly realized.
"Oh—I get it!"
She said with a confident expression:
"It's Uncle's prophetic ability activating again, right?"
"Aha, exactly!"
Bai Luan looked pleased.
A teachable student indeed.
Soon, Stelle found a blind spot and asked:
"Then why didn't you foresee the Anywhere Door malfunctioning?"
Bai Luan paused at her words and revised his assessment of Stelle.
An unteachable student indeed.
"Child, I've told you before, prophecy is not omnipotent. Many things I can only glimpse in fragments; they are meaningless when viewed in isolation. Only when needed do those images reveal their significance."
"Hmm..."
Stelle once again used her little brain to ponder this sentence, activating her super wisdom.
Ultimately, her "super wisdom" concluded: This is not important, no need to delve deeper.
She promptly followed suit and gave up thinking.
After abandoning thought, it indeed felt much easier.
Rappa, standing nearby, heard Stelle and Bai Luan's conversation, her eyes lit up, and she stepped forward to ask:
"Can Your Excellency foresee the future?"
"Something like that."
"Then may I ask for your assistance in eliminating these evildoers?
To be frank, this group of evildoers is extremely skilled at concealment. Silver Lance. Shura and I have investigated for over half a month and only just barely found a clue.
Just now, I was in pursuit of an escaping evildoer, but unexpectedly…"
At this point, she glanced at the Anywhere Door lying on the ground, and said no more.
Clearly, this suddenly appearing door had interrupted the pursuit.
882 stepped forward and bowed deeply to Rappa, her voice filled with apology:
"I am very sorry. If I hadn't been so impatient, you wouldn't have lost them..."
"It's fine, you didn't do it intentionally."
Rappa observed 882 for a moment, then smiled faintly:
"For days, I've only seen mechanical minions controlled by evildoers. Now, seeing a clear-minded sentient machine like Your Excellency, it's rather reassuring."
Bai Luan extracted information from Rappa's words and asked:
"Are you saying that organization uses a large number of robots to commit evil?"
"That's right. But those are just puppets controlled by people, not sentient machines like this young lady."
"Although I don't know exactly what happened, it should be related to when I opened the door..."
882 then stepped forward:
"I know my abilities are limited, but if there's anything I can help with... please let me participate."
Stelle scratched her head:
"882, aren't you going home? Is there enough vacation time left?"
"Uh..."
Stelle's words reminded 882, a data stream flashed in her eyes, and she began to ponder a solution.
Soon, she came up with a plan:
"Shura said that in this situation, I can 'request leave'. If I explain the situation to him now, it should be fine.
But requesting leave... I've never requested leave before. How should I do it?"
"I'll teach you! To request leave, you first need to..."
While Stelle and 882 were discussing how to request leave.
Bai Luan, meanwhile, inquired about the specific evil deeds of the organization from Rappa.
Rappa recounted everything she had investigated.
Implanting chips into human brains, brainwashing and mind control, forcibly transforming beloved officials into their protectors.
Kidnapping innocent passersby for human experimentation, discarding the unrecognizable mutilated bodies at will.
Capturing the family members of investigating police officers, transforming them into weapons of war, using them to attack the police station in front of the officers, slaughtering their colleagues, and then leaving after crippling their limbs.
Trafficking people, organs, selling addictive drugs... Hearing this, Bai Luan's blood pressure rose.
"Some people are just too eager to die."
The Anywhere Door had one remaining fixed-point teleportation opportunity, which could return to its original location.
As for Stelle... she could only take an interstellar flight to Beta Star.
Rappa's phone chimed softly.
She nodded to Bai Luan, then looked down to check the message.
Bai Luan took the opportunity to arrange Stelle's itinerary.
"Sorry, Stelle, Uncle can't see you off this time. The Anywhere Door needs to be used elsewhere."
"It's fine, Uncle, I was planning to take a flight anyway."
"Uncle will cover your ticket fare."
"Uncle, put my matter aside for now. Does Rappa need my help?"
Bai Luan glanced at Stelle—when Rappa was sharing information, she was discussing how to request leave with 882 and didn't hear what the organization had done.
Otherwise, given her personality, she would probably put her fun aside and come to help.
She was originally going to Beta Star for leisure; she shouldn't be dragged into such trouble.
"No need. Dan Heng and March 7th are waiting for you on Beta Star. Don't break your promise. Uncle's got things covered here, so you just go and have fun."
"Okay... then I'm relieved."
Bai Luan quickly booked Stelle's flight. Since Bai Luan was a valued customer, the spaceship arrived very quickly, reaching the Space Station platform within ten minutes.
Stelle immediately grabbed her suitcase and headed to the Space Station platform.
Bai Luan watched Stelle's hurried retreating figure and called out:
"You don't need to rush; if you miss it, just have them wait for you!"
"Got it, Uncle!"
Stelle went to Beta Star, and as for 882, she decided to stay and contribute to the mistake she had inadvertently caused.
Bai Luan had also wanted to persuade 882 to go back, after all, it was his involvement that allowed this accident to happen.
But as soon as he spoke, 882 firmly raised her phone and showed Bai Luan the leave slip approved by Shura—she was probably the first mechanical life form on Beta Star to request leave.
Since 882 had gone this far, Bai Luan no longer tried to persuade her; taking 882 out to broaden her horizons was also acceptable.
At this moment, Rappa had also finished organizing the messages.
"Silver Lance. Shura has also encountered some difficulties. The captured individuals all had their minds burned out by brain chips, and no useful information could be extracted."
At this, she sighed softly, rubbing her forehead:
"The clue we finally found is broken again."
Upon hearing this, 882 visibly became dejected.
"I'm very sorry..."
"It's fine. What's done is done; being upset is useless."
Rappa turned to Bai Luan and solemnly requested:
"Master Yumao, may I ask for your assistance?"
"I can help. Also, my name is Bai Luan."
"Understood, Master Yumao."
Hmm, perhaps after Stelle, I should give up correcting how people address me.
He had only succeeded in this when he was on Beta Star.
Rappa then looked at 882 beside Bai Luan and introduced herself more formally again.
"My ninja designation is 'Rappa', meaning 'undisturbed mind, breaking evil and revealing righteousness'. May I ask your name, Your Excellency?"
"Uh, you can call me 882. That's my production serial number."
"?"
Rappa tilted her head slightly—are sentient machines all so casual with their names?
She looked at Bai Luan with a hint of confusion.
"Ahem, regarding 882's name, it's a long story..."
This involved events that happened on Beta Star, and it would take a long time to explain.
Bai Luan picked up the fallen Anywhere Door and pulled it open.
On the other side of the door was the street scene from when Rappa was just pursuing the evildoer.
"So, let's talk about it as we go."
...