Chapter 899: Ch 898: Dump It at a Small Temple

"Hey!"

"Um, what?" Ryo blinked, looking down at the comm screen in front of him, a little startled by the sight of Shiroyasha's puzzled face. "Something wrong?"

"I should be asking you that." Shiroyasha waved her fan in exasperation. "What were you thinking about? You looked like you'd wandered off to another dimension."

Ryo hesitated, then wiped out a few parts of his speculation that were awkward to explain, and told her the rest.

Hearing this, Shiroyasha couldn't help but grip her fan tighter. She frowned, thought for a moment, and said, "It's not impossible."

She went on to lay out the current situation in the lower layers. "The East is Buddhism's turf, along with Thousand Eyes, plus my personal oversight. Ouroboros's influence basically can't get a foothold there."

"As for the South, the gods squabbling over it are practically beating each other's brains out over territory. Way too risky to set up shop there."

"The West's been wrecked by that Dystopia Demon Lord. It's a no-go zone now. Other races can survive there just fine, but it's especially brutal for gods and Buddhas. That's why only beings like the Seven Demon Kings stay there. Ouroboros wouldn't be stupid enough to walk into a place like that."

"So if you're picking a spot, that really only leaves the North. Though it's not out of the question that it's outside Little Garden's zone entirely."

At this, something flickered in Ryo's eyes.

He understood what she meant.

What people commonly called "Little Garden" actually referred to the Little Garden metropolitan zone, the vast expanse born from countless Outer Gates warping and expanding space, an area so massive it could rival the surface of a supergiant star.

But beyond that metropolitan zone lay a vast stretch of undeveloped land.

The communities that occupied and expanded into those lands were generally called "countries."

The empires of England, France, Germany, Italy, Austria, America, and even those founded by demihuman races were all located on the sprawling continent outside the Little Garden's metropolitan sphere.

Which meant the Ouroboros's headquarters didn't necessarily have to be in the North. It could be outside the zone, up among the stars, or even in some subordinate observable world under their control.

But...

"There has to be a production hub inside the metropolitan zone. It's a matter of cost," Ryo said flatly.

Shipping authorities in from the stars, or from beyond the Little Garden, just wasn't practical.

So Ouroboros absolutely needed a base serving as a production center, and it had to be inside Little Garden zone.

Only then could they conveniently move supplies where they were needed, close at hand.

"So where would this be?" Shiroyasha asked, looking genuinely puzzled.

Ryo's expression stayed calm. "Just think about what it would actually need."

He crossed his arms, laid them flat on the table in front of him, and said, "First, the location has to be well hidden. At the very least, it can't be easy to stumble across."

Shiroyasha picked up the thread. "Law enforcement needs to be tight, ideally with the Heavenly Army patrolling regularly."

Ryo nodded and continued, "The region needs to have the strongest ruling power around, someone who can guarantee the area stays stable and secure."

"And that ruler needs to be a bit oblivious. At least not the type to poke their nose into small matters..."

Shiroyasha's expression changed the instant the words left his mouth. "You've got to be kidding me. It's not actually going to be that, is it?"

Ryo looked at her shifting expression and said, dead serious, "The East."

Shiroyasha's mouth twitched violently.

"And in all likelihood, it's somewhere near your own Thousand Eyes outpost. Probably the most convenient transit spot around, too."

By the time he finished, Shiroyasha's whole face had gone red.

Not from embarrassment. From fury.

Damn it, the Ouroboros's base might have been sitting right under her own nose this whole time.

So this past half a year or so, all that effort she'd put into cleaning up the East District, stamping out the troublemaking Demon Lords, all of it, had she just been building the Ouroboros a nice, safe production environment?

What an absolute joke!

"Of course, it's not impossible that it's still in the North. Everyone knows you shouldn't put all your eggs in one basket," Ryo added, throwing her a bit of face, trying to smooth over her embarrassment.

"Watch it, kid. I've seen more beauties than you've seen grains of rice. You think I can't handle a little shock like this?" Shiroyasha rolled her eyes, using a comparison that struck Ryo as more than a little off.

'Sure, you've seen a lot in your years, but you haven't got my hands-on experience...' Ryo grumbled silently to himself. Then he waved his hand, "Anyway, all of this is just speculation. Without proof, it's all just talk."

"We could make it not just talk." Shiroyasha's eyes narrowed, her gaze turning sharp and vicious. "The only question is whether you've got the guts to actually do it."

Shiroyasha's usual easy, carefree smile was gone, replaced with something thick with anger.

Being played for a fool by the Ouroboros, with their base built practically under her own nose, of course she was seething.

"How would we do it?" Ryo asked, unbothered.

As if he'd lack the nerve to make a move right under the gods' noses. That would be a joke.

Shiroyasha raised her folding fan to cover the lower half of her face, leaving only those sharp, glinting eyes visible.

"Based on the intel you gave me before, my guess is something's gone wrong with Kalki, something serious enough that the Ouroboros decided the safest move was to stash him with you temporarily."

"Whatever the problem is, it might be serious enough to threaten Kalki's own importance to them. That's probably why they need you, or rather, need an outsider like Algol, to keep a lid on it."

"Of course, there's another possibility: they might be using you to hand Kalki over to the Heavenly Army for processing. But that would only make sense if whatever's wrong with him is so serious that even the Heavenly Army handing him a death sentence would be the only way to get rid of the problem."

Shiroyasha paused, glanced over at Ryo, who was listening in silence, then went on. "So... here's an idea. Kalki's a hot potato either way. A whole pile of old undying bastards are all over him."

"So how about this: you and I dump Kalki at some run-down little mountain temple, drop him straight into the donation box, and let the temple's master go a few rounds with those old undying bastards himself."

Ryo's expression turned subtly strange at that.

"Shiroyasha... this temple you're talking about. Wouldn't happen to be called 'Sanzen,' would it?"

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