Tuesday, July 27, 1740
20th Floor.
Inside the hotel room, Lyxander was still fast asleep on the bed. Normally, he would wake up quite early, considering that in his previous life he had been a former athlete. But perhaps because the hotel bed was too comfortable, or because the escort mission had been too exhausting, Lyxander was still sleeping soundly.
Eventually, he was awakened by the morning sunlight creeping in through the window. Feeling the warmth of the sun, his eyes slowly opened.
His vision was blurry. He raised his hand slightly to block the sunlight and saw the faint silhouette of a small, cute girl.
"Ugh..." Lyxander rubbed his eyes several times. Even after that, he still had to blink repeatedly to fully wake himself up.
For a moment, he stared intently at the little girl. Then, in disbelief, he shifted his gaze toward the door lying on the floor.
"Uhh... Senior, what happened?" Lyxander asked in confusion.
Vivi didn't answer immediately. For a moment, she simply stood still in front of the window. Eventually, she couldn't hold it in anymore and bit her lip hard. Her face was hidden beneath her military cap, preventing Lyxander from seeing her distressed expression.
"Lyxander..." Her voice faltered for a moment before she reluctantly continued.
"Zirkon Iskariot is dead."
Lyxander pinched his cheek, trying to wake himself from this nightmare.
But he couldn't.
Because this wasn't a nightmare.
•••
2nd Floor
After delivering the news of Zirkon's death, Vivi informed Lyxander that he had been temporarily relieved from the escort mission until a replacement was found.
With nothing to do, Lyxander ended up spending his time beside a vending machine. Sitting on a wooden bench, he stared blankly at one of the buttons from Zirkon's uniform in his hand.
Before the escort mission, the ravens' uniforms had been modified in several ways—one of them being the buttons, which had been turned into listening devices.
There was a reason why Zirkon had removed the buttons during his fight against Winter Ghost.
Through those buttons, Lyxander could now replay all the conversations between Zirkon and Ghost.
And because of that, he felt utterly disgusted.
Not because he hadn't been there during the fight. Not because he had stolen and hidden Zirkon's lighter.
But because of one thing—
Winter Ghost was No scope.
The fact that members of the group chat couldn't kill each other irritated him. For the first time, he truly wanted to kill someone… and couldn't.
Even though, from the CCTV recordings, he had already figured out a way to kill Winter Ghost.
But it was all meaningless.
He would never be able to do it.
The Sigma organization truly felt like a suffocating restraint.
"Lyxander!"
A familiar voice snapped him out of his thoughts.
When he turned around, he had already seen Claudius with his usual friendly smile.
"Claudius? Aren't you supposed to be at the party?"
To celebrate the arrival of the second prince, a banquet had been held, inviting nobles and important figures from the city of Faulust to gather in the hall on the 2nd floor.
Naturally, Claudius should have been there, welcoming the guests. Yet here he was instead.
"Hehehe..." Claudius replied awkwardly.
"My stomach hurts, so I snuck out of the party. And who would've thought I'd find you here looking so happy and cheerful?"
Lyxander could only give a bitter smile at Claudius' remark.
"Your eyes must be amazing if that's what you see right now."
Claudius chuckled, then took a seat beside him with a wry smile.
"Come on, I'm just joking. Anyway, my condolences. I heard your teammate was killed last night."
Before Lyxander could respond, Claudius continued.
"So, why does your face look so unpleasant right now?"
Lyxander raised an eyebrow. What kind of question was that?
"Didn't you just offer your condolences?"
With an innocent look, Claudius shrugged as if he didn't care about how strange his question sounded.
"That's true. But I think you might be angry about something else... After all, I'm pretty good at reading people."
Lyxander's pupils trembled slightly. He was genuinely surprised—who would've thought Claudius was that perceptive?
With a hesitant expression, Lyxander gave a bitter smile, silently confirming Claudius' guess.
"I'm angry. That's why right now I want to kill someone… but for certain reasons, I can't."
"Ah!" Lyxander quickly added. "It's not that I *can't* kill him. It's just that I can't kill him."
That strange statement left Claudius a bit confused. Was Lyxander messing with him, or was he actually serious? In the end, Claudius chose to believe him.
He thought for a moment before giving his answer.
"Then why not just beat him up?"
"Beat him up?" Lyxander looked puzzled.
Claudius quickly explained, "I mean, isn't the problem that you can't kill him? So instead of killing him, why not just beat him up?"
He smiled and added, "At least that should be satisfying, right?"
"Hahahaha..." Lyxander burst into laughter until his stomach hurt.
"Thank you, really, thank you Claudius." He stood up from the bench and slipped Zirkon's button into his pocket.
"Well then, I'll get going."
Seeing Lyxander leave in a better mood, Claudius smiled. But that smile quickly faded, replaced by panic as he realized how terrible his advice had been.
"Wait, Lyxander! Even if you're upset, you shouldn't go around beating people up!"
Despite hearing Claudius shouting after him, Lyxander simply waved his hand and walked away.
•••
3rd Floor.
Ghost was casually walking down the corridor. The hall on the 2nd floor was directly connected to the 3rd floor, allowing him to observe from above.
Unfortunately, he hadn't found the entrance to the hall yet—and he probably never would.
Because Lyxander was already standing right in front of him.
"Yo."
Lyxander greeted him with his usual sarcastic smile.
Ghost looked at him with an annoyed expression. He had just been strolling peacefully, yet he was found so easily by a raven? It seemed peace truly despised him.
However, Lyxander's next words turned that annoyance into amusement.
"Your 5-star identity is No scope, right? Then I guess my 1-star identity should be Pup dog."
'Found you.'
Ghost couldn't hold back his grin. He stared at Lyxander intensely and asked,
"It's a pleasure to be the first member of the group chat to meet you, Pup dog."
"So, what do you want from me?"
Hearing that, Lyxander chuckled. He had been waiting for that question.
"It's simple... I want to beat you up."
It didn't take long for Ghost to understand what he meant.
With a terrifying grin, he lunged forward without hesitation.
Lyxander remained still, not reacting at all. He simply stared at Ghost coldly.
In the next instant, Ghost vanished from his sight and reappeared right behind him, ready to strike.
Instead of being surprised, Lyxander spoke calmly.
"I haven't introduced myself yet, have I? Then let me introduce myself…"
"Satria Sinaga."
His blade was just about to reach Lyxander's neck, but Ghost froze in shock upon hearing his real name from before transmigration.
"What!? Not Lyxander?"
Stunned, Ghost failed to realize what had just happened.
His body suddenly spun through the air—
"Aikido!"