Published at 18th of December 2025 8:34 am

Chapter 2381: Watermark

This chapter is updated by JustRead.pl

“You finally came out.” Ferro said with a smile, his words seemingly implying hidden meaning.

No. 03 felt something was off, but the current situation left her no choice but to appear since the head of the Surge Alchemist was about to be burnt to ashes. Without the head, the mech being’s shell couldn’t be operated in a short time. More importantly, the people behind the Surge Alchemist were ones she couldn’t afford to offend.

Ferro: “I thought you would still hide under that tender shelter, like a turtle drawing its head back.”

No. 03 glared coldly at Ferro, “So you were eagerly looking forward to my appearance? Do you think you can definitely defeat me?”

“Heh, stop dreaming. We’ve studied the Official Wizards here long ago, even though the ‘Fire-stepper’ is stationed in Sleepless City all year, but we have plenty of information about you.” No. 03 said confidently.

She understood Ferro, but Ferro did not understand her. Moreover, she had prepared a lot in the past two days to deal with Ferro. With such an information and preparation imbalance, she was very confident that she could keep Ferro here.

Ferro also understood what No. 03 meant. He laughed nonchalantly, “Secretly studying the wizards of major organizations, it seems you really have significant plans?”

No. 03 knew Ferro was probing for information, she sneered without responding.

Ferro shrugged, “Okay, if you don’t want to say, never mind. But do you really think you’ve already won?”

As he said this, Ferro suddenly burst into laughter.

If he faced No. 03 alone, he might indeed fall into a disadvantage due to the asymmetrical information. But right now, he wasn’t alone!

As the laughter died down.

No. 03’s body suddenly shook, as if noticing something, her face full of disbelief.

Why, why did she feel there was a strange, powerful energy fluctuation behind her?

She slowly turned her head, and when she saw the scene behind her, her pupils suddenly shrank.

Unknown when, a gray-haired old man appeared behind her with a smile. When No. 03 turned her head, the gray-haired old man even “warmly” greeted her, “Lovely lady, apart from having tattoos on your face, everything else is imprinted in my heart… So, could you give your soul to me?”

“Redemption of the Dead, Nis Byron?!” No. 03 showed a look of disbelief.

“Hearing my name, coming out from such a beautiful lady’s mouth, truly makes my heart flutter.” Nis said with a smile.

“How, how are you here?” No. 03 asked dazedly, but realized right away the question was useless. She turned back to look at Ferro in the distance, saying coldly, “Seems I underestimated you. Not only do you know about the whereabouts of the base’s Combat Personnel, but you also arranged for Nis to spy secretly, you know much more than I imagined.”

“Who is the force behind you? Feileng or Deadwell?”

Feileng, Deadwell? What are these forces? Both Ferro and Nis had the same question flash through their minds.

Although filled with doubt, Ferro didn’t show it and calmly said, “You’re asking which force is behind us? You might as well take a guess.”

Upon hearing Ferro’s response, No. 03’s tenseness in her eyes visibly relaxed, and she said in a very certain tone, “Seems I guessed wrong, you’re clueless about these forces.”

Ferro paused for a moment, he indeed knew nothing about these forces, so he intended to use tricks to fool No. 03, to see if he could gain some information. But how did No. 03 figure out that he knew nothing just from his answer?

“Seems you’re confident in your judgment? But sometimes, being too blindly confident can easily lead to downfall.” Ferro wondered if No. 03 was also bluffing, so he responded with ambiguous words.

No. 03 sneered, coldly mocking, “You think I’m bluffing you? Haha, some information you know, and you’re bound to know it. If you don’t know, no matter how you pretend, you can’t fake it.”

With that, No. 03 didn’t bring up Feileng and Deadwell again since she had already determined that Ferro had no connection to them.

“Why did you come to ambush me at Snook Base? We have no dealings with Barbarian Cave.” No. 03 said coldly.

“Cunning woman.” Ferro muttered, not stupid himself. What No. 03 said was a question, wanting to know if Ferro and Nis’s appearance was coincidental or inevitable. If it’s inevitable, whether Barbarian Cave is involved.

No matter how Ferro answered, with No. 03’s insight, she could gather some information, so the best way was to ignore it.

“Catch you first, and we can talk slowly!” Ferro said silently in his heart, crushing a Fireball Cluster to turn it into a flaming sword, he swung it fiercely at No. 03!

No. 03 also understood that the time for mutual probing was over. She hesitated not, immediately raising a Water Shield.

After blocking the flaming sword’s blade, she extended another hand.

The slender, fair palm flashed with a light blue glow, and as the glow flickered, ripples began to spread across the space.

Upon seeing the ripples, Ferro yelled, “She’s trying to run!”

This water ripple, Ferro was all too familiar with, the moment he saw it, he understood No. 03’s intention.

No. 03 was planning to escape.

Indeed, No. 03 wanted to retrieve the Surge Alchemist’s head, but only under the condition of self-preservation.

If facing Ferro alone, No. 03 would prioritize saving the Surge Alchemist’s head, as she had enough ability to deal with Ferro. But once Ferro and Nis teamed up, she couldn’t even protect herself, and naturally couldn’t care for anything else.

So, she didn’t hesitate to create the ripples, intending to escape into them, waiting for No. 01 and No. 02 to return.

As for the Surge Alchemist’s head… if it’s ruined, so be it. At worst, she’d face punishment from above, but at least her life was intact.

No. 03 decisively retreated into the water ripple, surprising both Nis and Ferro.

This witch was simply too cunning, didn’t even bother to struggle, just ran!

Ferro quickly turned the flaming sword into a widespread fire rain, attempting to break through No. 03’s Water Shield and disrupt the water ripples. However, the Water Shield’s defense was strong, and breaking it within a second or two was practically impossible.

Ferro could only pin his hopes on Nis.

Nis, being a Soul Witch, should be able to penetrate through an elemental energy like the Water Shield if he wished.

Nis did exactly that. To quickly disrupt the water ripples, Nis used a soul sect Third Level trick, Hand of Soul Splitting.

The Hand of Soul Splitting could condense an invisible, intangible force to directly attack the target’s Soul.

The appearance of Hand of Soul Splitting seemed ordinary, but it was one of the few abilities among the soul sect tricks that could directly assault the Soul.

Keep in mind, the Soul resides in the ethereal Land of the Soul. The Hand of Soul Splitting must be able to enter there, target the opponent’s Soul, and inflict damage to attack it. This single soul trick integrates so many functions, proving not to judge tricks merely by superficial descriptions. The simpler the description, the more complex it might be inside.

The intangible Hand of Soul Splitting passed through the Water Shield unobstructed, directly rushing into No. 03’s body.

No. 03’s movements halted for a moment. Yet soon, she resumed as if unaffected, continuing to generate water ripples.

“Something is blocking the Hand of Soul Splitting… Your Soul has a barrier?” Nis asked in surprise.

No. 03 ignored Nis’s inquiry, but her lips curved slightly. While displaying triumphant feelings, she silently mocked Nis.

“I’m leaving first. As for that mechanical head… if you have the guts, keep destroying it, the unknown punishment will surely befall you.”

As soon as Number 03 finished speaking, water ripples had already formed, and half her body was submerged within them.

“Are the people from your ghostly base only capable of running away?” Ferro said in frustration.

“Hehe, never fight an unprepared battle, that’s my motto.” Accompanied by the faint sound of water, Number 03’s figure completely vanished into the water ripples.

In Number 03’s view, Ferro and Nis outside were venting their anger on the surroundings. Ferro was burning the head of the Surge Alchemist while Nis summoned a large skeleton army to wantonly destroy everything around, seemingly trying to force Number 03 out from hiding.

Number 03 sneered and shook her head, “As long as I don’t show myself, the ability of the Watermark, even Number 01 and Number 02 can’t break it. You, hmph.”

Upon saying that, Number 03 turned to delve deeper into the Watermark.

However, just as she turned around, Number 03 felt a faint dizziness before her eyes.

She closed her eyes and rubbed her eyelids softly, “Am I too tired recently?”

When she reopened her eyes, the dizziness had vanished, and the familiar setup surrounded her: the golden pool, with water columns gushing high and foaming inside, and the statue of a praying maiden in the center, carved in her likeness.

This Golden Pool is the core within the Watermark, an alchemy creation rewarded to her by the faction. The water spurting inside the pool is pure Water Force.

Previously, when the Surge Alchemist was wounded, he was immersed in the pool and quickly recovered through the soothing of Water Force.

Around the pool, there’s a living area paved with crystals—there’s a sofa, tables and chairs, mirrors, a wardrobe, and some knickknacks.

Number 03 called this place the Crystal Zone.

Usually, when Number 03 enters the Watermark, she would rest in this Crystal Zone.

She exhaled the turbid air from her mouth and stumbled slightly as she sat down on the sofa in the Crystal Zone. Perhaps it was due to repeatedly using her spell technique through the Watermark that she felt a little dizzy.

After resting on the sofa for quite a while, she felt somewhat better.

She looked up instinctively at the Golden Pool.

For some reason, she felt that the Golden Pool seemed bland today, as if the steam wasn’t dense enough.

She stood up, wanting to check out the pool, but just as she stood, her head spun again and her vision blurred, forcing her to sit back down.

After resting a bit more, she felt refreshed and looked at the Golden Pool again… the density of the steam had restored to normal.

Did she misinterpret earlier? Number 03 pinched her brows, something felt off, but upon careful thought, everything seemed alright too.

The situation felt a bit eerie; Number 03 decided to meditate and examine herself.

Just as she was about to meditate, a heart-wrenching scream erupted from outside. She hesitated, raising her hand to swipe before her, conjuring a water mirror displaying the outside scene.

Upon closer scrutiny, the screams previously heard were from Nis and Ferro, shouting in anger because they couldn’t find Number 03.

“Jumping clowns.” Number 03 transmitted her mocking voice out of the Watermark.

Upon hearing it, Ferro and Nis became even more furious.

Watching the two wizards outside in their incensed state, Number 03 inexplicably felt a sense of satisfaction.

She even carried a strange yet superior feeling as she approached the wardrobe, interestedly selecting a few bathrobes, standing before a full-length mirror, gauging which suited her better.

“When Numbers 01 and 02 return, I’ll wear the gleaming gown bestowed upon us and go out; when those two bastards see it, they’re bound to be even more annoyed.” Her expression in the mirror was filled with slyness and an eerie delight, “The unhappier they are, the happier I get!”

—While they destroy outside, I leisurely bathe and change clothes within the Watermark. Anyone knowing this would feel upset.

Thinking of this, Number 03 even started humming a little tune with unexplainable delight.

Then… she took off the blue-scaled formal gown, revealing underneath a curvaceous, fair, and slender body.

Looking at the perfect form in the mirror, Number 03 even narcissistically caressed herself.

The only thing that dissatisfied her was the numeric tattoo on her face.

“As long as this operation succeeds, the upper echelon will certainly reward me, and then I can request to erase the tattoo from my face like… those people.”

Murmuring to herself for a while, Number 03 got lost again in the mirror at the sight of such an exquisite version of herself.

She flaunted several alluring poses while being stark naked until a strange noise rang unexpectedly.

Gulp—Tsk—

This sound was akin to someone gulping.

More importantly, the sound… was close at hand!!

Number 03 froze, why would she hear such noise?

Could there be someone else here? Impossible, this is the inside of the Watermark!

But if no one is here, then where did the gulping sound come from?

She looked around perplexedly.

Looking at the magnificent Golden Pool far away, looking at the sofa and tables, and then back to the mirror before her… everything seemed familiar, yet everything appeared alien.

This isn’t right, something’s really off!

Number 03 rubbed her temples as if pondering something deeply.

“Right, I remember now!” Number 03 suddenly rushed to the pool’s edge, madly reaching her hand into the pool.

Despite the rippling water before her eyes, she didn’t feel any moisture.

Or rather, there was a moist sensation, but it felt like an external simulation, not the real thing!

As a Water System wizard, she knew water’s feel very well.

The water in the pool was a complete fake!

If even the water was fake, then could this entire space possibly be…

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