Seeing that his superior remained silent, the bodyguard cautiously asked, "Then what should we do with Forget-Me-Not's younger sister?"
"Do you really need me to make a decision about something so trivial? Don't you have other matters you should be handling?"
From the man's tone, it was obvious he did not consider Sakura worth his attention at all.
"Yes, sir!"
A chill ran down the burly bodyguard's spine, and he immediately saluted before turning to leave.
The "other matters" naturally referred to handling the aftermath of Dr. Newton's death.
For example, disguising the murder scene as a suicide.
However, before the bodyguard could leave, "Lucifer's" secretary knocked on the door and entered.
Compared with the bodyguard, the secretary looked distinctly uncomfortable inside the gravity chamber.
Both of her legs were trembling uncontrollably.
"M-Mr. Lucifer, you have a message from Magellan."
Clang! The man's body jolted violently, and the weight on the power rack slammed into the iron frame with a deafening crash, frightening the secretary so badly that she collapsed onto the floor.
"From Dusk City?"
The man slowly turned around, took a handkerchief from the secretary's breast pocket, and wiped the sweat from his body. Meanwhile, the bodyguard who had yet to leave respectfully opened the communication recording from Magellan in the secretary's hands.
"Ha! Lucifer, you coward who only knows how to wage war on paper!"
Sinara, in the form of a young boy, appeared on the screen.
However, compared with when Dr. Mobius and the others had encountered him, this "Sinara" now exuded a terrifying aura, his eyes filled with savagery and cruelty.
Magellan sneered in the video. "Behold the power of 'God'! I've already accomplished what you could never do. The entire world will kneel beneath my feet!"
As he spoke, he swung his fist, and the vegetation behind him withered and died. Then he opened his palm, and the plants began growing again...
Sinara's deep-set eyes widened with fury. "The authority over life and death rests in my hands! Hahahaha—"
Click.
The video ended there... because Lucifer had personally switched it off.
The gravity chamber fell into a terrifying silence.
The only sound was the bodyguard's sweat dripping onto the floor.
"Heh... Haha... Hahahahaha."
This was not "Lucifer" raging because Magellan had succeeded before him. He did not even need to keep watching to know exactly how "Magellan" would mock and humiliate him afterward before finally demanding his submission.
Lucifer knew his colleague Magellan's arrogant personality all too well.
At that thought, the corners of "Lucifer's" mouth instead curved faintly upward. Everything had unfolded exactly as he expected.
"Magellan, oh Magellan... thank you for your contribution, and for that of the unknown life-form. You've allowed me to confirm my hypothesis. I will make certain you receive the reward you deserve."
"A truly intelligent man never uses himself to test unknown dangers. But you, my old friend... you are a true hero. You dared to make a deal with an unknown life-form, dared to use your own body as an experiment, and even dared to flaunt the fruits of your success before others... No one can compare with your courage."
"But that is precisely why, Sinara, we guided you into doing this."
"Muge."
"Yes, sir!" Hearing his superior call his name, the burly bodyguard immediately snapped into a military salute.
"Lucifer" stripped off his cumbersome spacesuit and casually tossed it toward the secretary.
But this was no ordinary piece of clothing. A spacesuit weighing several hundred pounds, further amplified by the gravity chamber, was heavy enough to crush a person's bones.
The spacesuit landed heavily on the secretary, who was still sitting helplessly on the floor. The unfortunate woman was crushed beneath it and died on the spot.
This was not because "Lucifer" had made a mistake and forgotten how heavy the spacesuit was. To Lucifer, death was simply the most efficient way to silence someone. There was no need to consider what she thought, no need to worry about betrayal, and not even any need to spend time asking her to leave.
Of course, "Lucifer" would not actually bother thinking carefully about such insignificant matters. He had simply done it casually and instinctively. That was all.
He was a villain, a man of Pure Evil who carried wickedness through to its absolute extreme.
"Put all those miscellaneous matters aside. It's time for us to handle the real business."
"Yes, sir!" The burly bodyguard saluted respectfully, then asked with some concern, "But that lord is also in Dusk City..."
"Heh. Star Sovereign?"
Lucifer paced around the room for a few steps, then closed his eyes and gave a cold snort. "That old fossil obsessed with appearances has already stepped into his own grave. The fact that I haven't dug up his tombstone is already repayment enough for the favor he once showed me."
"The future will belong to my era. Hahahaha!"
"Lucifer," who had already reached the doorway, suddenly stopped.
"Oh, right."
"Since you mentioned that Forget-Me-Not, bring her along. Her ability will be extremely useful to us. Dusk Street has already fallen, so arrange through the council to send her there for some experience."
"MOTH will soon fall into my hands. I truly will need more people to help me deal with those who disagree with me."
"That old man's imperial methods are obsolete, but the tool itself is still useful. Cocoon can still be exploited by us."
...
Time returned to the present.
Outside Newton's laboratory, shortly after a round of assassination and counter-assassination.
Thud.
Dr. Mei suddenly collapsed to her knees after walking out of Newton's laboratory, and the briefcase containing important documents slipped from her hand and fell to the floor.
Fortunately, Sakura reacted quickly enough to catch her. Otherwise, Dr. Mei would have ended up with at least a few nasty bruises.
"You... I'm sorry. I didn't expect you to react this badly. If I'd known, I would have held back."
Naturally, Sakura dealt with Cocoon assassins very differently from ordinary people.
Even after suffering fatal injuries, a Cocoon assassin would still do everything possible in their final moments to kill the target, and that stage was often the most terrifying of all.
Some Cocoon assassins had even trained themselves so thoroughly that, even after losing their heads, their bodies could still perform certain actions through dying conditioned reflexes—for example, pulling the fuse on an explosive strapped to their bodies.
To prevent them from resorting to mutually assured destruction and dragging everyone present down with them, Sakura had been forced to dismember them completely, eliminating that possibility.
This was Dr. Mei's first time witnessing such a horrific scene. During the Third Honkai Eruption, Kevin had deliberately or inadvertently kept Dr. Mei away from places like that.
More importantly, this time the carnage had not been caused by monsters. It had been inflicted by human hands, and the resulting shock was entirely different from anything before.
The brutal slaughter of humans by other humans made Dr. Mei, who was actually an extremely sensitive person beneath the surface, feel deeply uncomfortable, even pained.
"There's no need for that, Sakura."
Dr. Mei pressed a hand against her sweat-covered forehead and leaned back against the cold wall.
"You and I both bear sin. Closing our eyes doesn't make that sin disappear."
"..."
Sakura had always taken the sin of killing entirely upon herself. This was the first time an employer had voluntarily taken part of that burden onto their own shoulders.
Dr. Mei was different from those people.