"I'll give it a try!"
Although ten grains of Embers were very tempting, what truly attracted Shinji was the circle of 'Glorious Light' Alice.
Shinji now understood that even among 'Lampbearers,' Hegemons were a taboo topic.
Only in the circle of high-level 'Lampbearers,' or more accurately, the circle of high-level 'Lampbearers' willing to resist Hegemons, could one possibly obtain more detailed information about Hegemons.
Time was limited now, and Shinji didn't have time to slowly collect information about Hegemons, so he had to infiltrate 'Glorious Light' Alice's small circle as soon as possible.
With the information broker Black Light acting as a middleman, Shinji soon arrived in front of Alice and her group.
'Mad Wolf' Hengo sized up Shinji and asked, "Newcomer?"
Shinji nodded.
Hengo said, "Let me tell you upfront, this operation might encounter a Hegemon. You newcomers better know what you're getting into!"
Hearing this, Black Light beside him frowned, thinking Shinji would refuse. But before he could speak, Shinji's answer rang in his ears: "I have no problem. When do we start?"
"Heh..." Hengo chuckled, then asked, "You don't happen to not even know what a Hegemon is, do you?"
Black Light hurriedly answered, "He knows, I told him."
Seeing that Shinji didn't seem ready to back out, 'Glorious Light' Alice handed Shinji a light screen tablet and said, "Fill in your information on this. If you pass our selection, we will notify you when to act!"
Shinji didn't waste words; he took the light screen tablet and turned to leave.
Black Light, leaving with Shinji, muttered, "Didn't expect this bounty to really be related to a Hegemon. Are those lunatics really going to challenge a Hegemon?"
Shinji ignored the muttering Black Light beside him and concentrated on filling in his basic information.
Although it was filling in information, it was actually just filling in basic information like name, contact method, weapons and equipment, or specialized abilities, not involving too many privacy secrets.
Seeing Shinji filling it in attentively, Black Light knew he had made up his mind, so he said, "You can rest assured about credibility. Although 'Glorious Light' and her group are lunatics, their reputation is quite good. Haven't heard of them doing anything like killing people for their goods."
"Thanks!"
Shinji thanked Black Light.
A day passed in the blink of an eye.
Shinji, who had rested for a night in the luxurious suite of Heimdallr, received the operation notification from 'Glorious Light' Alice.
Undoubtedly, he passed the screening.
The gathering place was at the Wisher Bar. When Shinji arrived, besides the three of 'Glorious Light' Alice, 'Mad Wolf' Hengo, and the old man, there were two other black-robed 'Lampbearers.'
Because it involved a secret operation, this time they were not in the outer booth, but in a private room deep in the bar.
After setting up the anti-eavesdropping firewall, 'Glorious Light' Alice said, "Your mission is very simple, which is to deploy information spheres at designated locations!"
A black-robed 'Lampbearer' asked, "Which world?"
Alice said, "T33!"
The black-robed 'Lampbearer's face changed, and he exclaimed, "What!? Isn't that the world targeted by the Propagation Hegemon?"
'Mad Wolf' Hengo smoked a cigar and said casually, "Otherwise, why recruit you 'Lampbearers' who can shuttle between worlds? Ten grains of Embers are not that easy to earn!"
The black-robed 'Lampbearer' looked embarrassed, "Even if we are 'Lampbearers,' if our luck is bad, we might also be targeted by the Hegemon!"
Alice said, "If you want to quit, you can leave now!"
The black-robed 'Lampbearer' hesitated for a while, finally gritted his teeth and said, "I want to know the specific mission details!"
Obviously, the temptation of ten grains of Embers was too great, making him choose to take the risk.
Alice looked at Shinji and the other 'Lampbearer,' asking, "What about you? If you want to quit, you can leave now."
The other 'Lampbearer' said, "I need you to advance half of the Embers as a deposit for this operation."
Alice nodded and looked at Shinji.
Shinji said calmly, "I need information about the Hegemon afterwards."
"Okay!"
Alice gave an answer.
After negotiating the conditions, Alice began to explain the specific steps of this operation.
They were going to a world named 'T33.' 'T33' was just a code number. This world was nothing extraordinary; what made it a taboo among 'Lampbearers' was that it was targeted by the Propagation Hegemon and was heading towards destruction.
In other words, this 'T33' was experiencing the same misfortune as the Ninja World.
The difference was that the one targeting 'T33' was the Hegemon named 'Propagation,' while the one targeting the Ninja World was the Fear Hegemon.
After explaining the mission location, Alice said, "For this mission, the three of us will also participate. Six people will be divided into three groups to place information spheres at different coordinates. After successfully activating them, we can evacuate."
Hearing this, Shinji finally understood why Alice and her group wanted to recruit 'Lampbearers' to carry out the mission. Because only 'Lampbearers' who were immune to Hegemon pollution and could shuttle through spatial rifts could complete this kind of mission.
As for what the information spheres were and why they had to be placed in 'T33,' Alice didn't say.
After a long time, Shinji stepped across the spatial rift onto the land of 'T33.'
Sensing slightly, Shinji found that this world named 'T33' was very ordinary, and its power level shouldn't be high. Apart from the pervasive aura of the Propagation Hegemon, there seemed to be no existence that could threaten him.
"Do you know why I chose you?"
At this moment, the voice of 'Glorious Light' Alice sounded behind him.
Obviously, he and 'Glorious Light' Alice were divided into one group.
Shinji asked casually, "Why?"
Alice said, "Because you are a newcomer, and I can feel that you are very young. Only young newcomers like you won't fear the Hegemon!"
Shinji couldn't help but chuckle. He thought being a newcomer would be his disadvantage, but didn't expect it to become the reason Alice chose to recruit him.
While launching small reconnaissance drones around, Alice said, "When we fear the Hegemon, we have already lost."
"Hmm!"
Shinji, targeted by the Fear Hegemon, deeply agreed.
Alice threw a locator and an information sphere that needed activation to Shinji, "When you arrive at the location marked by the locator, you can activate the information sphere. If you encounter the Hegemon on the way, I don't need to teach you how to use the 'Lantern' to escape, right?"
Shinji raised his eyebrows, "Will encounter the Hegemon?"
"Of course not the Hegemon's main body!" Pausing for a moment, Alice pointed to the sky, "The Hegemon's main body is in the universe. We will only encounter the Hegemon's flesh puppets when moving on the surface. But even flesh puppets are not something a newcomer like you can deal with, so if you feel something is wrong, you can escape directly!"