When the girls, along with GIR and MIMI, spread out through the laboratory in search of something useful, hoping not to disturb Alex as he studied the data, they had no idea what exactly they were looking for. They were simply inspecting the scientists’ workstations and research materials.

In various sections of the lab, test tubes filled with unknown substances were scattered around, while fragments of zombie, mutant, and even artificially grown Necromorph bodies littered the tables.

But the worst part was that, on their way in, they had passed through a room where massive containers stored the bodies of various mutated zombies and Necromorphs. These creatures looked so horrifying that even the most resilient among them had to suppress their disgust. No one wanted to go back there, so the girls followed Ada Wong, who was the most familiar with this floor.

“What exactly are we looking for?” Chun-Li asked, eyeing the test tubes filled with suspicious liquid.

“I don’t know, maybe some data on how to kill all these freaks,” Ada shrugged, sitting down at one of the scientists’ computers. “Or at least information on a vaccine against the zombie virus. Worst case scenario—bioweapons.”

“Would they really leave such important data just lying around on a desk?” Cammy asked doubtfully, tapping on the walls in search of a hidden safe.

“Unlikely, but we can’t rule it out,” Valmet said. “Most of the information is probably on their personal terminals or in their living quarters.”

The girls nodded in agreement but decided to check for any hidden storage spaces anyway. To save time, GIR and MIMI joined in the search, their expertise in such matters proving invaluable.

Meanwhile, Ada had already hacked into one of the scientists’ personal terminals and was sifting through the records. However, as she skimmed the reports, she quickly realized that this researcher had nothing to do with the Marker studies. Everything in his files was useless for their current situation.

With a sigh of disappointment, Ada got up from the chair and headed toward another terminal but stopped when she noticed the girls systematically tapping the walls.

“Why are you doing that? Out of boredom?” she asked, crossing her arms.

“We’re looking for a safe. If you want, you can join in,” Rebecca replied, finishing her search of another section.

Ada merely shrugged but decided to help anyway. In fact, she already knew where one of the safes was—during her previous visit to the lab, when she had stolen a Marker fragment, she had spotted it.

Back then, she had infiltrated the facility under the guise of a graduate assistant hired to help one of the scientists. Getting the position had been easy—just a few flirtatious remarks, a little play on male vanity, and she was in. It wasn’t the first time she had used her charms to get what she wanted.

Confidently, Ada approached the right spot and ran her fingers under the desk, searching for a button. Pressing it, she heard a quiet click—a small recess in the wall slid open, revealing a hidden safe. Squatting down, she started working on the lock. Her experience in these matters allowed her to crack it in just a couple of minutes.

A distinct unlocking sound echoed through the room. But instead of valuable equipment or documents inside, there was only a single envelope stained with dried blood. Next to it lay a folded piece of paper with some writing on it.

Ada picked up the note first, not noticing the faint twitch of the bloodstained envelope, and unfolded the paper to read:

“Her eyes are open, cheeks pale as ash. The moment she fell from the building, she became the school’s taboo. In red dancing shoes and a blood-soaked uniform… Even her name became something spoken only in mad whispers. People pretended she didn’t exist, until one day, someone started receiving her love letters again.”

Ada frowned.

“What the hell…?” she muttered, rereading the text.

At that moment, the envelope twitched again—just barely.

Ada glanced at the note again, scanning the text once more. She reread it, trying to make sense of it, but she kept coming to the same conclusion—it sounded like the ramblings of a madman.

Her first thought was that the scientist she had worked for under the guise of a graduate student had started fantasizing about her. However, she quickly dismissed the idea—her fake dossier, which she had used to get the job, contained no mention of dancing or dance shoes.

Even after rereading it, she still couldn’t understand who the note was referring to, hidden in the safe alongside the bloodstained letter.

“Maybe he really did lose his mind because of his work,” she muttered to herself. “And the ‘love letter’ mentioned in the text could be the very one he kept in the safe…”

Ada fell silent, frowning, then suddenly snapped her head up.

“Wait… Where’s the letter?!” she exclaimed.

She was absolutely certain she had seen it. When she opened the safe, there had definitely been a bloodstained letter inside! There was no way she had imagined it.

Scanning the desk and the area around her, Ada assumed the letter had simply fallen out and rolled somewhere. Crouching down, she started checking under the tables, peering into every gap in hopes of finding the missing item.

“Oh, you found a safe?” Rebecca’s voice rang out. “But why are you crawling on all fours? Or are you already preparing to seduce my Muffin?”

Ada shot her an irritated glance but didn’t respond, continuing to search under the table.

Hearing that Ada had found a safe, the other women also came over to see what was inside. But to their surprise, they found only an open metal door and an empty interior.

“Uh… Ada?” Chun-Li looked at her skeptically. “Are you looking for something?”

“Don’t tell me your ever-greedy hands dropped something, and now you’re trying to get it back?” Rebecca smirked, crouching down beside her.

“First of all, my hands are not greedy!” Ada huffed, straightening up. “And second, there wasn’t just this note in that damn safe,” she shook the piece of paper in front of Rebecca’s face, “but also a letter. It was covered in dried blood. And now it’s just gone!”

“Are you sure?” Valmet asked doubtfully. “Maybe I should ask Alex to heal you again? What if he didn’t fix everything?”

“There’s nothing wrong with my head!” Ada narrowed her eyes in irritation.

But judging by the looks the women gave her, they didn’t believe her.

“Alright, listen!” She crossed her arms sharply. “I found the safe, opened it, and inside there was this note and a letter. I took the note, but when I looked again—the letter was gone!”

To prove her point, she handed the note to the others so they could read it themselves. Then she pointed to the table, under which she thought the letter might have rolled.

Instead of crawling on the floor like Ada, Rebecca simply lifted the table with one hand and smirked.

“Hmm, you know what I see? Nothing.”

“Maybe, as Valmet said, we should ask Alex to help you again?” Saeko mused, narrowing her eyes.

“Or,” Chun-Li folded her arms, “there’s a ghost here that took the letter.”

“I repeat!” Ada crossed her arms, glaring at them indignantly. “There is nothing wrong with my head, and I don’t need help!”

“You know, all crazy people say that,” Rebecca noted philosophically, shrugging. “Even my Muffin has a few loose screws in his head, and he admits it. I know it, everyone knows it, and he doesn’t deny it.”

“I am not crazy!”

“Of course, of course. That’s what they all say…” Rebecca smirked.

Ada gritted her teeth as the women continued teasing her, insisting she had mental issues. Her irritation grew, but she knew for sure that she had seen the bloodstained letter in the safe!

Realizing that arguing with them was pointless, Ada decided to change the subject. However, the girls’ words affected her more than she wanted to admit. Maybe she really should talk to Alex? After the influence of the Marker, she still wasn’t sure she had completely rid herself of its effects.

Thinking about this, she decided to discuss everything with Alex in private to avoid further teasing. Especially from one particular person—Coco. She definitely wouldn’t let this incident go unnoticed, would bring it up at every opportunity, and wouldn’t miss a chance to rub salt into the wound.

While the girls were sharing their findings, GIR and MIMI returned to the room, dragging some equipment behind them. Both were still wearing lab coats that were obviously too big for them, trailing along the floor.

“Alright, my little ones, show mommy what you found,” Rebecca said with a smile, crouching beside them.

“I just hope your ‘little ones’ didn’t bring anything dangerous,” Cammy muttered suspiciously, eyeing the two robo-dogs.

“Oh, relax, nothing bad is going to happen. They’re very responsible,” Rebecca waved her off.

Cammy and Chun-Li exchanged doubtful glances. In their opinion, these two were more like mischievous children than anything remotely “responsible.” More likely, they would cause chaos rather than prevent it.

Meanwhile, Rebecca began sorting through the items GIR and MIMI had brought, carefully examining them. Soon enough, she found something genuinely interesting.

“Hmm… Looks like we’ve got a keycard to some room,” she announced with a satisfied grin, holding up the card. “Wanna check where it leads?”

“Why not?” Cammy shrugged. “Who knows how long your guy will be buried in the archives, so we might as well look around.”

“Great! Then let’s not waste time,” Rebecca declared cheerfully and, waving the keycard, strode off in search of a door to unlock.

“Couldn’t those two just hack any door we need to get through?” Chun-Li asked, nodding toward GIR and MIMI. “They’re robots. If that ‘green one’ could power up the entire complex, opening doors should be no problem for them.”

“They could, of course,” Rebecca agreed easily. “But where’s the fun in that? We’re in a secret lab! You have to embrace the atmosphere! Not just snap your fingers and waltz in anywhere.”

“So you just want to have fun?” Valmet guessed, narrowing her eyes.

“Exactly!” Rebecca nodded enthusiastically. “Now, let’s move before the sun sets!”

With that, she marched forward, with GIR and MIMI eagerly trotting after her.

The girls exchanged glances. Valmet let out a heavy sigh and was the first to follow. No one doubted that if Alex wasn’t keeping Rebecca in check, she could do something… unexpected. Saeko knew this all too well and decided to go after her as well.

Chun-Li, Cammy, and Ada remained standing, debating what to do next.

Ada crossed her arms.

“No way. I’m not staying alone in this damn lab,” she muttered and quickly turned to follow the others.

Chun-Li and Cammy exchanged looks, not particularly eager to stay behind either. In the end, they followed the group as well.

At the same time, Alex and Shigure remained in their places. The girl sat quietly beside him, observing his work. However, her gaze was not fixed on the monitor, where various data and records flashed, but on Alex’s face, focused and serious.

Meanwhile, Alex had hacked into the archives and was going through tons of information, searching for data related to the Marker shards and mentions of the construction of the Red Marker.

He knew that the original Marker was black, while those created by humanoid races had a red tint. The reason for this was that scientists couldn’t recreate the original materials from which the Black Marker was made.

But Alex already knew the truth. They couldn’t do this because the Black Marker was created by the Outer Gods, specifically the Avatar of Nyan-Nyan, known as the Minister of Monoliths. The difference between the Red Marker, built by humans, and the Black Marker, created by the Minister of Monoliths, wasn’t just in their radius of influence, but also in how they affected both living and dead organisms.

The Black Marker provided people with knowledge, driving them to create the Red Marker, while simultaneously driving them insane. When the Red Marker activated, the first stage of the Convergence began, which eventually turned an entire planet into a Brethren Moon.

This was exactly why Alex was searching for information about whether a Red Marker existed in this complex, as well as any mentions of other places where such structures might have been built. Any clues, scientist correspondence, or testimonies about the appearance of Marker fanatics who founded their own church could give him more information.

While Alex worked intently, a strange sensation swept over him. It felt as if someone else had established a connection with him—something akin to the Völundr effect with the Valkyries. But he distinctly remembered that, at the moment, he was using Völundr only with Alvitr, and no connection had been established with the other Valkyries. This made him uneasy.

At the same time, in Alex’s spiritual space, confusion reigned.

After the Valkyries formed a bond with Alex, they had spent most of their time in his spiritual world and had grown accustomed to his surroundings: the vast Black Castle of the Demon King, circling Alex’s soul, the grim sword carrying the power of destruction, and other artifacts tied to his essence. For them, this had become something familiar, even comfortable.

But now, something new had appeared.

Next to the Black Castle, a Red City had emerged, resembling a nightmarish vision from a horror film. The Valkyries even thought they heard muffled cries of despair coming from it.

“What the hell is this? What has Alex dragged into his spiritual space now?” Hlökk asked, stunned, staring at the floating city.

“I don’t know… But this Red City looks even more terrifying than the prison in Helheim,” said Reginleif, adjusting her glasses.

“Does he even realize what he just brought in here? Or does he not care again?” Geirölul frowned.

“Maybe we should just ask him instead of guessing?” Thrúd suggested, glancing at Göndul.

Everyone else also looked at Göndul. Apart from Brunhilde, she was the closest to Alex and understood him better than the others.

Göll was the most worried — she couldn’t shake the feeling that this city hid something sinister. She even clung to Göndul’s clothes, seeking protection.

However, Göndul maintained a light smile. Her intuition told her that this Red City was connected to someone they would eventually get along with. It was the same feeling she had experienced when she first saw the goddess Freya from Alex’s home world.

But seeing the worried faces of her sisters, she decided not to guess and simply ask Alex.

Leaving the spiritual space, Göndul appeared behind Alex in her spiritual form and gently touched his cheeks to grab his attention.

“Darling, there have been changes in your spiritual world. Will you take a look?” she whispered.

Upon hearing Göndul’s words, Alex merely nodded slightly, lighting a cigarette, closing his eyes, and pretending to be deep in thought so that Shigure wouldn’t become suspicious.

Once in his spiritual space, the first thing Alex noticed was the worried faces of the Valkyries, all of them staring in the same direction. Alex followed their gaze — in front of him stood the Red City. His eyes narrowed as his thoughts began to race, trying to find any clue.

Where could he have seen or heard about something like this? Gradually, his focused expression shifted to surprise, and then to sheer astonishment. He hadn’t expected to see something like this… and certainly didn’t think the one connected to this city would be involved with it.

The Valkyries watched closely as his expression changed, and it became clear to them — Alex knew who or what the Red City was connected to.

“You seem to understand who it’s connected to,” Reginleif noted, studying his reaction.

“Let’s just say that,” Alex replied with a crooked smile. “This city belongs to a ghost girl.”

“A girl? And a ghost-girl?” Geirölul asked, smirking. “I knew that with your charm, even goddesses fall for you, but now ghosts, too? That’s something new. Even our elder sister Brunhilde couldn’t escape your claws… let alone the poor ghost girl.”

“First of all, I had no idea she could be in this universe. She shouldn’t even be here. How she got here is a mystery, but as they say, it’s the will of the heavens,” Alex shook his head.

“Big brother, so you know who she is?” Göll asked anxiously, tugging at his sleeve.

“Yes. Her name is Zhang Ya, and she’s an extremely dangerous ghost. And if you’re curious about her past, you can see it for yourselves in my memories.”

Intrigued, the Valkyries delved into Alex’s memories, studying the story of the mysterious Zhang Ya. The more they learned, the more they glanced at Göndul — there was no doubt in their minds that their sister and this ghost girl would get along perfectly.

Alex, however, was thinking about something else. He hoped that Zhang Ya wouldn’t start seeing all his companions as threats. Would she be hostile? Or would she accept his surroundings? For now, this remained unknown. The only thing that had appeared in his spiritual space was the Red City itself, but he had yet to see any signs of Zhang Ya.

When the Valkyries finished viewing the memories, their faces showed barely concealed outrage and anger.

“That damn bastard! If I could get to him, I’d skin him alive!” Thrúd declared furiously.

“And those four scoundrels… they should be killed too,” Geirölul muttered through clenched teeth.

Alex just shook his head. When he first learned Zhang Ya’s story, his thoughts had been the same. It all happened because of the envy of her ballet classmates, who were in the same class as her. Zhang Ya wanted to befriend them, but they pushed her into Hell in return.

In the end, Zhang Ya, once a kind and gentle girl, turned into one of the most ruthless and dangerous ghosts.

Alex knew one thing: now that she was connected to him, he would protect her.

While the Valkyries were expressing their anger over her fate, Alex returned to reality and felt Shigure begin to poke him in the cheek.

“What happened?” she asked quietly, looking into his eyes.

“Nothing special. Just got lost in thought,” he replied with a smile.

“Mmm… Did you find what you were looking for?”

“Unfortunately, no. We’ll have to check the lower floors of the complex. Maybe we’ll find something there,” Alex said, placing his hand on her head.

Alex lazily petted Shigure on the head, as though caressing a content cat. Feeling the pleasant touch, Shigure squinted and purred, fully giving herself over to the moment. Alex even paused for a second — was it just his imagination, or was she really purring like a real cat?

His gaze involuntarily fell on Tachimaru, who looked clearly alarmed. The little mouse was staring at something behind him and, like a true assistant, frantically pointed with his paws. Alex furrowed his brow, slowly turned his head, and saw… his own shadow. Or rather, what should have been his shadow.

Now the silhouette was clearly not his. It was the shadow of a girl with long, almost living, flowing hair. Alex squinted, and immediately realized where Zhang Ya had gone. Just like in the original story, she had taken the main character’s shadow. This time, she had become his shadow.

As soon as his focus settled on the strange shadow, it immediately returned to its normal state. Alex sighed heavily, shaking his head. Zhang Ya hadn’t just found him, she had already begun to show jealousy. He looked back at Tachimaru and silently signaled for him to be quiet. The little mouse immediately stood at attention but continued to glance at Alex’s shadow, which, whenever he looked away, regained the silhouette of a girl.

Stopping his petting of Shigure, Alex withdrew his hand, and the girl immediately opened her eyes.

“Well, shall we go look for the others?” he asked, looking at her.

“Mmm, let’s go,” she nodded.

Alex got up from the table, but before he could take a step, he glanced at his shadow again. It immediately returned to its usual appearance. He sighed, realizing that he would have to talk to Zhang Ya later, although it wouldn’t be easy. She was clearly not the talkative type, and that would certainly cause problems. But that wasn’t something he could deal with right now.

Closing his eyes, he focused, trying to sense the presence of the girls. They were in the far part of the floor. Alex wondered what they had found and if it was worth going so far. After determining their location, he waved to Shigure, and they left the room together.

As they walked, Alex suddenly felt something in his pocket. Reaching in, he found… a letter. Carefully pulling it out so Shigure wouldn’t notice, he immediately understood what kind of letter it was. A bloody message.

He didn’t even need to open it to know what it said. He knew it was a bloody confession of love from Zhang Ya. Just a few words: “I like you!”

Alex wondered — did she have all of her powers, or only part of them? In his memory, Zhang Ya possessed many dangerous abilities and grew stronger by absorbing other ghosts. But now wasn’t the time to figure this out. There were more important things ahead: first, he needed to get the girls, then contact Lehm’s group, and only then head to the lower floors of this cursed complex.

Already from a distance, Alex and Shigure heard the voices of the girls, chatting animatedly. Deciding to listen in, Alex frowned slightly. What he heard made him wrinkle his nose.

They were talking about him.

More specifically, the night they spent with him.

Alex couldn’t help but think that they could have chosen a more appropriate place for such conversations. He definitely didn’t want to hear Valmet, Rebecca, and Saeko gleefully recounting the spicy details. At moments like this, it seemed to him that the girls weren’t so much boasting to each other as deliberately “advertising” him to others.

Entering the room, Alex and Shigure saw the girls sitting around, relaxed and chatting animatedly. All the work, apparently, had been left to G.I.R. and M.I.M.I., who were still rummaging around the lab, wrapped in oversized white lab coats.

Alex even thought — maybe he should take a couple of those lab coats with him and adjust them to their size? And, of course, not forget about Stitch so he wouldn’t feel left out.

“I see you’re having fun,” he said, drawing their attention.

As if on cue, all the girls turned around in unison and saw him with Shigure. A knowing look passed across their faces — he had heard everything.

Alex noticed how they involuntarily looked at a certain part of his body.

He frowned and cast a dry glance at Rebecca. He knew exactly who had started this conversation.

The green-haired gremlin only smirked and shrugged, as if to say, “What’s the big deal?”

“Stop staring like that, or you’ll burn a hole through me,” he muttered, rolling his eyes.

“Heh, sorry,” Ada chuckled, completely unashamed. “She just described everything so vividly that I… couldn’t help but get curious.”

Alex felt an icy chill down his spine. He didn’t even need to turn around to understand where such strong hostility was coming from. The only thing that comforted him was that no one else could sense it. The source of the unspoken threat was obvious: the ghost girl who had decided to take the place of his shadow.

However, Alex wondered — why hadn’t Zhang Ya stayed in his spiritual space? Why had she chosen to replace his shadow? Of course, he wouldn’t get any answers. This silent and dangerous girl was not one to explain herself.

“Did you find anything interesting? Or were you just sitting and chatting?” Alex asked as he sat down in a free chair.

“Nothing useful,” Cammy shook her head. “Except for vials with suspicious liquids and pieces of mutant bodies.”

“And Ada found a safe, which, according to her, contained a letter, but it’s gone,” Chun-Li added, nodding toward Ada.

“I told you, the letter was there!” Ada replied irritably, having had to repeat this multiple times.

“Things like that happen. What’s so surprising?” Alex shrugged, fully aware of the letter in question.

He had recently found it in his pocket. It was thanks to that cursed letter that he now had an unexpected stalker in the form of a cruel and bloodthirsty ghost girl.

The women exchanged looks, surprised by his reaction. Even Ada stared at him in clear confusion — after all, until now, everyone had thought she was almost crazy because of the missing letter.

“You’re not even surprised,” Chun-Li observed, squinting.

“What’s there to be surprised about?” Alex smirked. “It’s a zombie apocalypse caused by a corporation that decided to play god. We have a Marker that drives people insane and makes them build even more Markers. In the end, infected people turn into disgusting creatures under its influence. And there are mutants suspiciously resembling demons, but with cybernetic implants. So, a missing letter is really a minor detail compared to everything else going on.”

He ticked off his fingers, listing all of this, while the girls just listened in silence.

“You’re right there. I don’t even know what to argue with,” Chun-Li nodded thoughtfully.

“But still, Alex, maybe you should check her again?” Valmet suggested. “You did say it’s better to be safe.”

“What do you think, Ada? Do you want another therapy session? Or are you sure you’re fine?” Alex smiled lazily. “I’m confident I did my job excellently.”

“Fine, go ahead and do your thing again,” Ada sighed, glancing at the other girls. “Otherwise, they’ll think I’m really crazy.”

Alex smirked and waved her over. He knew Ada was perfectly fine — he had already dealt with the effects of the Marker the first time. But if repeating the procedure would make her feel more at ease, he was up for it.

When the girl approached, he gently placed his hand on her head. Almost immediately, she was engulfed by the familiar feeling of tranquility. The tension melted away, her mind cleared, and her body relaxed. Ada even involuntarily closed her eyes, savoring the sensation.

To be continued…

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Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep