The Almighty Ring

“Ah. I was only contacting the leader about Jiang Fei’s arrival. The leader has something to talk about with Jiang Fei,” Straz responded immediately as an attempt to hide the fact that he had been caught doing something suspicious.

“Huh? Me?” Jiang Fei said. He was oblivious to what had happened.

“That’s right. The great leader wishes to have an audience with you. I will take you to the leader when you are finished here,” said Straz normally, acting like nothing had happened.

Ariel stood still, minding her own thoughts when Jiang Fei talked to Straz. Despite that, she was sailing in her sea of thoughts. Right now, she had definitive proof that 0542 was colluding with the Unknowns. Unfortunately, that proof was only as good as a grain of salt to the sea. She needed something more concrete for Jiang Fei to see!

It pained her so but there was nothing she could do then. They were on the moon! Ariel and Jiang Fei were only two people. If she were to get things riled up, starting a fight there in the base would only cause a terrible ending to them.

Ariel sighed as she gave it a serious thought. She dared not confront the matter and decided to postpone calling 0542 out until she had definitive proof. It was an incredible unease for her since 0542 was akin to a time bomb strapped to Jiang Fei’s finger. Every moment the ring was on the finger was hell for her.

“In that case, shall we get a move on?” said Jiang Fei nonchalantly. He was done with the ship, and since unsealing 0541 was still a far away journey, there was no use in staying on the bridge. There was nothing he could do to further his cause.

“Please follow me,” said Straz as he gestured politely again.

Jiang Fei followed on with Ariel sticking extremely close to his side. The barrier that she had encased Jiang Fei with was still there. Jiang Fei noticed the barrier that she had cast on him but did not question her about it. From his point of view, he thought Ariel was just being overly cautious of his safety. He had been conditioned when 0541 was still around to think that the ring’s A.I support system would never do anything to harm him. That was why he had no idea that the barrier was erected, not to shield him from the Unknowns, but from 0542.

Unbeknownst to Jiang Fei, the barrier served no other purpose but to block incoming and outgoing electromagnetic waves. Nothing could get in or out of the barrier if it had anything to do with electric waves.

With Straz’s guidance, Jiang Fei came to a large oval hall. It had a simplistic design with no windows and no doors. There was no visible hanging light yet everything was illuminated. Everything was… so… technologically advanced.

“Where’s Z0-11? Are we meeting here?” Jiang Fei asked.

“Please wait. The great leader with be here shortly,” Straz answered politely, like a plane steward, as he took two steps back, away from the walls.

Ariel got anxious. The room itself was too dangerous to be in. With Jiang Fei standing directly at its center, he would be at the perfect spot for an ambush. The walls itself could be hiding guns and turrets. Based on their technology advancement, Jiang Fei and Ariel might get shot from all around.

“No need to be so anxious, miss Ariel,” said Straz, smiling innocently.

When he was trying to communicate with 0542, Ariel had managed to catch them in the act and even did something to stop them. From then on, he knew that Ariel would not lower her guard when he was in the room. It was only fortunate that she was not able to produce any proof or else Jiang Fei would immediately call off the cooperation.

The only reason Ariel had not destroyed anything was because of their number. Jiang Fei had only brought Ariel along. The fighting force of them two combined was most definitely not enough to take on all the Unknowns at the moon base.

As for Straz’s side, Z0-11 would not want a confrontation then since they needed Jiang Fei to “surrender” the original parts of Braveheart. They might have more Energy Crystals than Jiang Fei could ever collect, but it was still far from what they needed to finish the entire ship.

To finish the ship, Z0-11 would have to make a move against the other Unknowns and rob their stash of Energy Crystals. Unfortunately, Z0-11 would never be able to do so with their current fighting force. Then again, they were good enough to leave them in peace, so why break the silence when the others wished to preserve it.

Hence, Z0-11 prioritized having a good relationship with Jiang Fei. To be specific, they needed the help of Isabella the Destroyer! Hence, it all boiled down to not offending Jiang Fei. To be honest, in their own turf, they could easily erase both Ariel and Jiang Fei. It would be like spraying insecticide in a small room.

They were, unfortunately, uninformed about Isabella’s current condition. They did not know about Isabella’s ailment. All they knew about her was the sheer destructive power she had during her awakening. If they knew that Isabella being cured would strip her of her Berserk power, they would not want to play this game of house with Jiang Fei.

At this point, it was all thanks to Ariel’s barrier that they were still oblivious about Isabella’s condition. Had she had not created the isolation barrier around Jiang Fei, 0542 would have transmitted its data pack to the Unknowns, which contained detailed reports of Jiang Fei’s activities. Jiang Fei was still alive, only because Z0-11 and Straz did not know that he was already useless to them.

After having caught 0542 once, Ariel never left Jiang Fei’s side. Her presence had created an obstacle for 0542 to transmit information to Straz. At that moment, Straz and Z0-11 were still under the presumption that Isabella was still strong. They needed her strength to fight and destroy their enemies, the other faction of the Unknowns, in order to rob their Energy Crystals.

While Ariel was still glaring at Straz, a crack opened at one of the far corners of the oval hall. The crack opened up wider, unveiling a long narrow pathway. No sooner, echoes of footsteps could be heard from it and Z0-11 revealed itself.

“Mr. Jiang Fei, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you in person,” said Z0-11. Its voice made it hard to discern its gender, unlike Straz who was using his original voice pack from the game. Z0-11 was completely covered in a thick dark cloak, from head to toe.

“What do you need me for?” Jiang Fei asked.

“Nothing of urgent but there’s been… in layman terms, trouble. I wish for your help. If you would, and it would be so effortless for you to do so, help us, it would be beneficial to you as well,” said Z0-11.