Chapter 214: Chapter-214

His voice dissolved into sobs.

Larus buried his face against her hand and cried—deep, wrenching sobs that shook his entire body.

Outside the medical wing, the physicians gathered in grim silence.

“How long does she have?” one asked quietly.

The head physician shook her head. “Unknown. She might wake tomorrow. She might never wake. The poison is completely unpredictable.”

“And if she does wake?”

“Then we pray to whatever gods are listening that she’s still herself.”

Inside the room, Larus continued holding Heena’s hand, whispering desperately:

“Come back to me. Please. I need you. The empire needs you. Come back. Please. Please.”

But Heena remained still and silent, trapped somewhere between life and death, frozen in a prison of her own paralyzed body.

And no one knew if she would ever escape.

–

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Somewhere Far Above in the Sky – The Transmigration Bureau

It was the place where all Hosts—all transmigrators chosen for missions across infinite worlds—lived alongside their Systems. A realm completely different from mortal worlds, so technologically advanced it felt like magic itself.

The whole place existed suspended in the sky. All around, endless clouds drifted past, a brilliant azure sky stretching in every conceivable direction, but there was no land beneath. No ground. Just… sky, and the impossible architecture that defied every law of physics Heena had ever known.

As Heena walked across the bridge connecting to this celestial city, she had to admit—no matter how many times she visited, it still amazed her.

It looked exactly like someone had taken chunks of the most advanced modern city imaginable, torn them free from Earth, and thrown them into the air where they somehow stayed, floating and perfectly functional. Glass skyscrapers that reached toward infinity and reflected the heavens. Clean white buildings that gleamed like polished pearls. Walkways that glowed with soft, pulsing light beneath your feet, guiding travelers through the sprawling metropolis.

It was every science fiction movie she’d ever seen, but real. Tangible. Functioning.

The bridge itself was impossibly wide—like a massive intergalactic highway—yet you could cross it in just a few steps because space worked differently here, folding and bending to accommodate travelers. People moved past her in both directions, and every single one had a System companion floating beside them. Some looked like animals, some like geometric shapes, some like miniature humanoid figures woven entirely of light.

System 427, currently in his miniature golden lion form, floated close to Heena’s shoulder. He was fidgeting, his tail flicking back and forth in a frantic rhythm.

“Host,” he asked nervously, his voice a high-pitched squeak of anxiety, “was it really necessary to kill yourself like that? What if your dosage had missed even slightly? Wouldn’t you have been dead for real? Couldn’t you have just waited for a report? Or I could have come to collect the reward myself! Did you really need to trigger a chemical coma just to come here personally?”

Heena took a leisurely bite of her strawberry ice popsicle. She had purchased it from a vendor at the bridge entrance, because even interdimensional law enforcement apparently had excellent, reasonably priced snack stands.

“You fool,” she said around the cold, sweet popsicle, her tone perfectly casual. “If I didn’t come personally, how would I get the full story? And you think I’d trust you with the prize money? I don’t even trust my own father when it comes to money, so how could I possibly trust a gambling addict like you?”

System 427 looked profoundly wounded, his fluffy ears drooping.

Heena rolled her eyes and continued, “And think about the plot, 427. If I hadn’t taken that specific poison deliberately, how would I know why such a strong, martial-arts-trained body would die after only ten years? Wouldn’t a sudden, unexplained exit seem strange to everyone, you idiot? I gave them a medically plausible crisis. It buys me time.”

The golden lion still looked troubled. “But Host… don’t you think it’s too soon to leave? Even temporarily?”

Heena waved her free hand dismissively. “Nothing is too soon. We should prepare from the start for the end. A good Black Lotus always has an exit strategy.”

“But it might already be nearly twenty days there!” System 427 practically wailed, flying a tight circle around her head. “Time runs differently between the Bureau and the mission worlds! How will Larus handle everything alone? The court is a snake pit!”

Heena pulled the popsicle from her mouth. Only now did she truly register the time dilation. Yes, time here and in different mission worlds ran at vastly different rates. She’d only been here for about thirty minutes, navigating the sleek corridors of the Bureau, but it might have already turned into weeks back in the Eternal Phoenix Empire.

She looked at her System, her expression turning serious, calculating.

“It’s fine. It’s not a big deal.”

“Host—”

“He’s a prince,” Heena interrupted firmly. “He has training. Royal education. He survived his own kingdom’s deadly politics before I ever proposed to him. And honestly? This is a test.”

She shrugged, taking another unbothered bite of strawberry ice.

“If he can handle the pressure of managing the empire while I’m… indisposed… then that proves my investment in him was correct. If he can’t—” Her eyes flashed with a cold, pragmatic light. “—then I’ll need to find another person to be my Emperor Consort when I return.”

The System stared at her, utterly horrified. “Host, that’s really cruel!”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m cruel,” Heena said dismissively, tossing the popsicle stick into a nearby glowing disintegration bin. “If I wasn’t cruel, I wouldn’t be here collecting prize money for catching an unregistered, illegal System, would I? Besides, I need to personally interrogate that thing.”

What Heena didn’t say—what she kept locked tight behind her ribs—was that this was deeply personal.

That illegal System had tried to destroy her entire mission. It had enabled Seraphina’s sickening “White Lotus” act, caused chaos, and nearly derailed everything Heena had worked for over the past months. It had manipulated her consorts, twisted the empire’s fate, and tried to erase her existence.

She wanted answers. Direct, unfiltered, painful answers. Not bureaucratic reports handed down by a desk clerk.

It didn’t take long to reach the police station.

And yes, there was a police station—the headquarters of the same interdimensional law enforcement division that had arrested Seraphina’s illegal System.

The building was massive. Crystalline and stark white, with the star-shaped emblem of the Transmigration Bureau prominently displayed above the grand entrance. Inside, it looked like any modern police station might, but infinitely cleaner and more organized. People—Hosts and their Systems—were registering complaints at floating holographic counters, filing reports, and attending preliminary hearings. Behind heavily reinforced, shimmering energy barriers, you could see detained Systems locked in containment cells, their code stripped of its physical avatars.

Heena walked up to the main counter with the confidence of someone who owned the building.

The woman behind the desk was wearing the standard officer uniform: a sharp blue suit, blue pants, a crisp white undershirt, and a blue digital mask covering the lower half of her face. Only her eyes were visible—sharp, assessing, and intelligent. On her shoulder was a badge with the star-shaped rose emblem, three-dimensional and somehow alive-looking, shifting colors in the light.

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