After a good sleep at the hotel, the girls and I woke up at around 3 in the afternoon.

Man...our biological clocks are completely reversed now that we're living in the Fortress. Then again...sleeping during the day and operating at night is the norm around here. So I guess this is just our new biological clock, from now on. I imagine inside Fragment will be different though...switching back will be a pain, I already know it.

Today was the day we would be returning to that underground research facility - Exurtra Labs. The same place with laser beams of death and giant robots with machine guns for arms. Not exactly the kind of place you'll take your children when you grow up, but it is what it is. I agreed to the deal, and I wasn't about to back down now.

The girls and I met up in the hotel lobby once we were all ready for the day. We would first head to Old Man Leng's wife's shop to pick up the earpieces again and just to check in, then head towards the movie theatre to enter Exurtra Labs. I wasn't exactly thrilled about having to dress up as a girl again, but once again - it is what it is. As an aside, it seems the girls were quite excited to see me dressed up again...for some odd reason.

I don't know what goes through girls' heads. Like, I wouldn't be excited to see the girls dressed up as boys, so why does the opposite apply? Whatever.

And so, we continued our mission within the Fortress, and our quest to obtain gadgets.

*****

- A While Later, Twilight Movie Theatre -

"Damn it...this dress is the worst," I complained. "I can't even move properly in it. How do you girls manage to live wearing these?"

"Well, we only wear dresses for special occasions," Qing Yue explained. "I do agree, dresses are pretty inconvenient."

"Then why the hell did you guys pick a dress out for me, all of all things?!"

"Hm...let's see, because it was the most amusing?" Xiang Peng murmured thoughtfully.

"Yeah...that sounds about right," Feng Mian agreed.

I shook my head in despair as we walked through the corridors of the Twilight Movie Theatre. We had been here once already yesterday, so we were more or less slightly familiar with the layout of the place. We had to pay the entry free again (one ammo pack the each of us), since this place operated on a daily basis - the reset was at 12 PM, even though the theatre itself operated 24/7. That meant that even if you paid at 12 PM one day and stayed all the way until 11:59 AM the next day, you would get kicked out by the staff and have to pay again for admittance. A pretty weird policy, but hell, we were on a massive floating city. Anything goes.

In any case, we entered the female bathroom once more...but this time there was someone inside. After some eye contact with the girls, we silently agreed on just waiting for this woman to leave. We each entered a different stall - I happened to enter the one with the trapdoor - and waited for the sound of shuffling feet outside.

But...none came.

We waited.

Five minutes...ten minutes.

But still, no noise was coming from the outside at all.

I frowned, and activate my Third Eye. It was still picking up on the woman, who appeared to have not moved a single step from when we entered the bathroom initially. I then decided to send a telepathic message to Mei Gui.

[Mei Gui, can you check out what's going on outside? I'm getting suspicious of this woman.]

[Understood, Master. Remember what I mentioned a long time ago about the sense linking? I believe that is a suitable skill to use here.]

[Oh yeah...I do remember you saying something like that. It was really a while ago though - how do we do it?]

[You do not have to do anything, Master. Just communicate with me telepathically normally, and I will handle the rest.]

[Alright.]

I heard a shuffling noise from the stall beside me - the one Mei Gui was in, and I knew that she had exited the stall as an excuse to sneak a peek at the woman who still hadn't budged a single inch. She just stood there menacingly, back leaning against the wall and arms folded as her eyes were hidden behind a beautiful black winged mask that covered her upper face but left her mouth out. She looked to be around 20 or so, wearing a black tight full-body skinsuit that highlighted her slim figure and nice curves. She was certainly an enemy, but it was undeniable that she had charms.

How did I know all this? Well...it was thanks to the ability known as Sense Linking Mei Gui had used with me during the fight with Plague, of course. I was currently seeing a projection within my head like I was seeing the scene with my own two eyes, all while maintaining perception of my actual surroundings. It was weird, but kind of similar to when I experimented multicasting with Summoning Magic - looking at two separate scenes at the exact same time...just not as extreme as the Summoning dimension, where I literally have two different bodies, one within the Summoning dimension and the other still in the real world - consciously, unlike other Summoning Magic users.

Either way, this woman was starting to concern me. By now, I was 90% certain she was here for us...but then again, she hasn't done anything yet, so I can't say for sure. If she's really here for us...then I'm assuming she has some sort of connection with the mad scientist down below. That also meant we would have to deal with her if we wanted to enter the labs again.

Ugh...how troublesome.

Since Mei Gui couldn't just keep staring at the woman for too long without appearing suspicious, she just went up to the sink, washed her hands, and pretended to exit the bathroom. Of course, in reality, she was just standing right outside, waiting for the chance to slip back in again.

After a while, I couldn't take it anymore, and decided to confront the woman directly. I stepped outside the stall, and look at her in the eyes (in her sunglasses, really. I couldn't actually see her eyes).

"You've been standing there for the past fifteen minutes. What do you want?" I demanded, careful to keep my tone slightly high-pitched so I sounded more like a girl.

"Oh? Finally can't wait any more?" the woman asked right back, easily ignoring my question. Whether that was intentional or not, no one knew. "I don't think you're in a position to be asking any questions, my dear...boy."

I flinched. So she can tell.

I narrowed my gaze. "I'll repeat myself. What do you want?"

"No no no..." the woman murmured. "I should be asking you that question. What do you want, infiltrating my business partner's secret lab?"

At that moment, Mei Gui walked back into the bathroom, sensing that I was already confronting the woman head on so there was no need to act anymore. The other girls also came out of their respective stalls, and turned to face the woman.

"Your business partner?" Feng Mian echoed. "You mean that crazy scientist?"

The woman shrugged. "Whether he is crazy or completely sane, I care not. As long as I get my benefits, our deal stands. And so...as much as I don't want to, he requested that I do this, so here I am, blocking your way. So? What will it be? You leave here peacefully, keep your mouths shut, never come back here again, and we have no further problems, or do you want to do this the hard way?"

I discretely evaluated this woman's strength. On the surface, it seemed she was around an Ancestral Mage - which meant Xiang Peng alone should be enough to handle her, much less the all of us combined. But...strong mages can hide their true strength with ease, which is what makes me concerned. If she was a Holy Emperor, wiping all of us here would be no problem.

But...we're out of options here. If we want those gadgets, we're going to have to complete this mission...alternatively, we could go to a different gadget store, but I doubt they will just offer items to us for free - and very possibly demand something even more difficult than what Old Man Leng's wife is asking.

This bet...I'm willing to take it.

"Sorry, but...I'm afraid we're going to need to enter the lab."

The woman smiled seductively, as if anticipating this. "Very well. The hard way it is, then."

And all of a sudden, we were enveloped in darkness. But this was far more than just some basic Shadow Magic. The moment she released this dark energy around us, I knew. I knew that I had made a fatal mistake. And the rest of the girls felt it too. This woman...was not an Ancestral Mage. She wasn't a Golden Monarch either, which we could've handled.

No...she was a Holy Emperor.

And we, were fighting right within her domain.