With Greed’s voice, a mass of congealed flesh-like tissue crawled out from under the red cloth.
It reared up and gradually took on a human form, appearing to be a young girl.
She had red hair, whose strands writhed slightly behind her like capillaries.
Countless crimson tentacles extended from every part of her body, dragging her along like a centipede as she slowly moved forward.
The monster’s limbs seemed stitched together from various chunks of flesh, yet they displayed a grotesque beauty.
She crawled and slithered, slowly approaching Noah.
The creature lifted its head and gazed at Noah.
She smiled.
Her mouth split wide, tearing open her cheeks, but her eyes didn’t look like she was staring at a dessert.
Instead, they showed excitement and restraint, as if meeting an old friend she hadn’t seen in ages.
The next moment, countless red tentacles coiled around Noah’s body.
They climbed and writhed over her, but had no intention of harming her.
Noah, however, had already prepared herself for suicide.
The only reason she hadn’t died yet was to test the true strength of the Sin Organization.
Noah’s left hand tightly gripped the pistol with only one bullet left.
Seeing Bao Shi getting closer, she decisively raised the gun and aimed it at her own temple.
Under the astonished gaze of the Sin Organization, she pulled the trigger.
“Goodbye.”
BANG!
Bright red blood splattered from the other side of Noah’s head.
The last thing she saw was Bao Shi’s shocked and confused expression.
[“Aurora?! You’re Aurora!?”]
Noah opened her eyes again.
The deep, starry sky once more appeared before her.
She quietly gazed at the vast expanse of stars, and a sense of relief suddenly washed over her.
No wonder—seeing this starry sky meant that the Death Return was not far off.
If Noah had opened her eyes to any other sight, she probably would have gone mad instantly.
[“You’ve come a long way this time.”]
The mysterious voice echoed in Noah’s ear again. Though she couldn’t see its true form, she faced the starry sky and smiled faintly.
“Yeah, but I still haven’t found a way out.”
[“Don’t rush, child,”] the mysterious voice comforted. [“You will find the answer.”]
“But I can’t think of any way to escape from here anymore.” Noah sighed, her tone filled with frustration.
“Without the secret code, I can’t open the door, but if I did have the password, I’d be worried it would trigger the explosives. The Sin Organization’s members are uneven in strength, but that doesn’t mean I can match them. The current situation seems like a dead end. I can’t think of any method of escape.”
After a brief silence, Noah tentatively asked the mysterious voice, “Or maybe… could you give me a hint?”
Noah knew that the being speaking to her was definitely not human.
Since it seemed willing to help, she might as well try to extract some information from it.
Hearing Noah’s request, the mysterious voice fell silent.
After a long pause, it spoke with a slightly conflicted tone.
[“You’ve seen that black-and-white cat girl, haven’t you?”]
Noah recalled the imprisoned cat girl and nodded lightly. “Yes, what about her?”
[“The key to breaking the deadlock lies with her,”] the mysterious voice hinted.
[“There isn’t only one way to leave this place. I can’t say more. Do you understand what I mean?”]
‘There isn’t only one way to leave this place… meaning besides opening the main gate, there are other methods…’ Noah repeated the sentence in her mind, then nodded gently.
“I understand.”
[“Good.”] The mysterious voice paused before continuing.
[“Time’s up. You need to go back.”]
As soon as the words faded, Noah’s consciousness suddenly sharpened.
Her vision went black, and when she opened her eyes again, she found herself back in Room A0135.
Noah looked up.
Sure enough, the mirror was still there.
She gently rubbed her temples, preparing to endure the coming pain.
Just then, Aurora’s voice came from behind her again.
“Heh, what’s up, beautiful? Did you get hypnotized by your own reflection?”
Aurora’s words were exactly the same as the previous times.
Noah cleared her throat softly and pretended nothing had happened.
“Oh, no… I was just checking if there was any dust on my face…”
Noah ignored Aurora’s subsequent teasing.
Standing by the mirror, she began to contemplate her next move.
Being able to start over from here was still a pleasant surprise to Noah.
At this point in time, Aurora hadn’t yet revealed her suspicious side, and the three men in black hadn’t been killed by her.
Noah had already gathered a lot of information about the Sin Organization, but they had no idea a person like Noah even existed.
Among all this, what troubled her most was how to deal with Aurora.
She was confirmed to be Envy of the Sin Organization.
Aurora had said her goal was to lure Noah to the main gate and then escape herself—and she had indeed succeeded in escaping last time.
But what Noah never understood was: as Envy, Aurora hadn’t displayed any special abilities.
Moreover, from their interactions, she didn’t show any sign of being jealous of Noah’s appearance.
‘So then… what aspect does her title actually manifest in…’ Noah turned back and quietly stared at Aurora’s back, deliberating her next plan.
‘So… should I kill her or not…’
Noah thought for a long time and finally decided not to kill Aurora for now.
First, killing her served no purpose.
Second, when dealing with the Sin Organization, Aurora might still be useful.
The most important thing right now was to find a way to rescue that cat girl.
The mysterious voice had said that cat girl was the key to breaking the deadlock.
That meant her combat ability was certainly stronger than Noah had imagined.
But as a tool of the Sin Organization, Greed wouldn’t allow outsiders to get near her.
Unless… someone could attract their attention, allowing another person to break the cat girl’s shackles and free her.
This idea lit up Noah’s eyes, and she quickly devised a careful plan.
First, she and Aurora would draw the Sin Organization’s attention, letting the three men in black infiltrate the main gate’s front desk and rescue the cat girl.
Then, since the men in black were clearly part of an organization, one of them would go back to Area B to request reinforcements from their organization ahead of time.
Noah herself would stay behind with the other two men in black to engage the Sin Organization.
If they could successfully rescue the cat girl, they should be able to hold out until the men in black’s reinforcements arrived.
As for whether the men in black would follow her orders, Noah thought there was no need to worry.
As long as she used the same secret code as before and made them believe she was that so-called Madam, she would immediately gain their loyalty.
Moreover, given the respect the men in black showed her, Noah could tell that her identity held a very high status in their organization.
She wasn’t worried about failing to summon reinforcements.
Even though they had mistaken her identity, using borrowed power to bully others wasn’t a bad idea.
If the plan succeeded, she would not only cross the main gate but also come into contact with other organizations within the Research Institute. Maybe they would have a better way to escape…
Finally, and most importantly, how could she attract the Sin Organization’s attention?
Claim she knew the password and trick them again?
Those fools would believe it, but the problem was that near the cat girl, many Sin Organization members were standing guard.
Would she be able to make them come and watch while she stepped up to input the password?
Noah glanced back at the robe Aurora was wearing.
Suddenly, an idea struck her.
‘What if I told them I’m a fortune-teller? How about that?’