During the next stretch of the journey, Elthea didn't talk much.
She was focused on her A.R.M.
We passed one intersection.
Then another.
And after that, three more branching paths appeared.
The metal corridors interconnected like an anthill.
I had lost my sense of direction a long time ago.
"This is practically a maze."
"Of course."
Reina answered casually.
"Have you mapped it already?"
"Of course."
I felt slightly relieved.
"We can come back anytime. I've already saved every route we've taken."
"Including dead ends?"
"Already done."
I gave a small nod.
"Good. At least now we have access to this secret route too."
I looked at Elthea's back ahead of me.
"I think accepting her offer was probably the right decision."
"Don't get ahead of yourself, Arche."
Reina immediately cut in.
"We haven't even heard their boss's offer yet."
"True."
"So stay alert."
"Yeah."
We kept walking.
A few minutes later, the corridor began to change.
The number of branches decreased.
The pathways became neater.
And at the end stood another elevator.
Elthea finally put away her A.R.M.
"Well then."
She opened the elevator door.
"We're here."
I stepped in after her.
The doors closed.
The machine began moving upward.
Elthea leaned against the wall.
"Well?"
I glanced at her.
"What?"
"You feel safe, right?"
I didn't answer.
Elthea smiled faintly.
"You don't need to worry about running into Green Serpent members."
She pointed at the floor.
"And nobody's going to hunt you for that bounty down here."
I remained silent.
Elthea continued.
"My boss is also willing to offer you protection in Firmament."
I looked at her.
"I'll hear that offer directly from your boss."
Elthea nodded.
"That was always the plan."
Ding.
The elevator stopped.
The doors opened.
What I saw immediately was a facility completely different from the ruins outside.
White corridors.
Clean metal floors.
Bright lights.
Large rooms lined both sides of the hallway, separated by glass walls.
Some were empty.
Others contained workstations and electronic equipment.
Several people walked through the halls carrying data tablets.
They glanced at me briefly.
Then returned to their work.
No one seemed surprised.
No one seemed cautious.
As if my arrival had been expected.
"Reina."
"I know."
"This place is much bigger than I expected."
"And much wealthier."
I nodded slowly.
This wasn't like a criminal organization's hideout.
It looked more like an intelligence operations center.
Elthea started walking again.
"Follow me."
I followed her through several security doors.
Eventually, we stopped in front of a large black door.
Elthea halted.
Then knocked twice.
A few seconds passed.
A woman's voice came from inside.
"Come in."
Elthea smiled.
"Looks like the boss has some free time."
She opened the door.
And I immediately saw a woman with long black hair sitting behind a desk, reading several holographic screens at once.
Her gaze immediately shifted toward me.
Then stopped.
For several seconds.
The woman slowly closed her holographic displays.
I stood in front of the desk.
Meanwhile, the long-haired woman behind it continued observing me calmly.
Elthea casually walked to the side of her desk.
I spoke first.
"Uh... so you're Elthea's boss?"
The woman nodded.
"Yes."
She closed one of the holographic screens before her.
"Karen Vale."
"External liaison for The Whisperer and manager of the Firmament regional Black Market."
She looked at me.
"Nice to meet you, Archemidas."
I nodded slightly.
"Yeah."
"First, I'd like to thank you for your help. Elthea escorted me here safely."
Karen smiled faintly.
"You're welcome."
I immediately got to the point.
"So what's your offer?"
Karen interlocked her fingers on top of the desk.
"Hmm."
"Broadly speaking, I saved your life, didn't I?"
I didn't answer.
Karen pressed something on her desk.
A holographic screen appeared.
A blurry recording.
Glitches.
Fragments of images.
But I recognized it immediately.
It was a reconstruction of my fight against the Green Serpent members.
I frowned.
Inside my head, Reina sounded surprised.
"She tracked us from footage that blurry?"
I didn't answer Reina.
Instead, I looked at Karen.
"Did killing Green Serpent members cause trouble for you?"
Karen actually chuckled.
"No."
"Quite the opposite."
She pointed at the holographic screen.
"Most of my income comes from local merchants."
"Merchants who sell equipment to beginners."
Karen tapped the desk once.
"Green Serpent costs me money."
I listened silently.
"They hunt beginners."
"They take their equipment."
"They sell the loot back to me through the black market."
"Then use that money to buy new equipment."
Karen shrugged.
"An annoying business model."
Elthea, standing nearby, simply nodded.
Karen continued.
"Then you appeared."
She pointed at me.
"You started hunting them one by one."
"When I saw that, I became interested."
I remained silent.
Karen smiled.
"Because our goals are more or less the same."
"But..."
She looked at me more seriously.
"Your progress is too slow, Arche."
I frowned.
"What do you mean?"
Karen changed the screen display.
Several names appeared.
Jess.
Harn.
Toren.
Then several others.
"You killed low-level field operatives."
"The people assigned to guard shifts."
Karen pointed at the combat footage.
"With the skills displayed here, I'm confident you could kill higher-ranking members."
"But you didn't."
I stayed silent.
Karen continued.
"Why?"
She tapped the desk lightly.
"If my guess is correct..."
"You weren't originally hunting Green Serpent."
I tensed slightly.
Karen smiled faintly.
"You were only hunting the people who nearly killed you."
Inside my head, Reina immediately spoke.
"Hmm."
"She's almost right."
Karen continued.
"The problem is that you didn't know their identities."
"So you killed every member of the shift that was on duty during the incident."
Reina commented again.
"She's almost right about that too."
I remained silent.
Karen leaned back in her chair.
"And now you've found new clues."
"But not enough."
"You have several names."
"You have partial information."
"But you don't know where your targets are."
"Their routines."
"Their movement routes."
"Or their current locations."
I didn't respond.
Reina spoke again.
"She's right, Arche."
"This woman is just making educated guesses."
"But every one of them hits the mark."
I remembered the three names we had found.
Bram.
Jax.
Harry.
We still didn't know which of them had nearly killed me that day.
And now the entire Green Serpent organization was hunting me.
The shift schedule we had stolen was practically useless now.
Karen watched my reaction.
Then smiled slightly.
"Looks like I'm right."
I looked at her.
"Then what?"
Karen met my gaze without blinking.
"Then I have the information you need."
The room suddenly felt much quieter.
Even Elthea stopped smiling.
Karen continued.
"I know who you're looking for."
I immediately tensed.
And even Reina fell silent for several seconds.