Chapter 43

Chapter 43. God’s Wisdom (2)

“So what? Did you come here to ask Victoria to cure you?”

Yukgap asked bluntly.

Nova immediately shook her head.

“No. I have no attachment to my own life. And I already know I can’t be cured. If there were a way, I would have found it by now.”

Then she calmly explained why she had come.

“I’m developing a new drug capable of treating a rare blood disorder. It’s almost complete. But because of that, Abraxas is targeting me.”

Victoria looked confused.

“Why? Isn’t developing a new medicine a good thing?”

“Ask your chef. He’s assassinated more than enough people to understand.”

Nova gestured toward Yukgap.

Yukgap flinched slightly before answering honestly.

“Abraxas monopolizes several pharmaceuticals. They’re extremely effective, so patients have no choice but to pay absurd prices for Abraxas’s medicine. But once a competing drug is developed, they won’t be able to maintain that monopoly.”

“And then Abraxas loses money, and its stock price takes a hit. So they want to kill me before I finish developing the drug.”

Nova’s voice was so calm that it made the words even more chilling.

Victoria stared at her in shock.

“That’s cruel.”

“That’s what Abraxas is like.”

Nova then explained how she had ended up here.

“Anyway, I went to Doctor Mozg and gave her two conditions. I asked her to recommend someone powerful enough to protect me and knowledgeable enough to help me finish my research.”

Victoria immediately understood.

“And Doctor Mozg recommended me?”

“Yes. Victoria Frankenstein. She said you could help with my research while protecting me at the same time. I paid an enormous amount of money for that information.”

Extraordinary physical strength and exceptional knowledge of alchemy.

Victoria certainly fit both requirements.

More importantly, she had already fought members of the Twelve Archons several times.

But there was one important problem.

“Why should Victoria accept your request? She’s already been targeted by Abraxas more than once just for hiding me.”

Yukgap immediately pointed it out.

Whatever else might be true, Victoria had no reason to risk her life for someone else’s dangerous problem.

“I expected you to say that. That’s why I prepared this.”

Nova took out a document and handed it over.

Yukgap looked at it and scoffed.

“Hah. Planning to pay her?”

“No. It’s a picture of my little sister.”

Just as Nova said, there was a photograph of a young girl inside.

The child was painfully thin and dressed in a hospital gown, as though she had been sick for a long time.

Nova stared at the photograph and continued quietly.

“Her name is Anna Hanson. She’s eight years old. She’s the reason I’m risking my life to develop this drug. My sister has a rare blood disorder.”

For the first time, desperation entered Nova’s voice.

“I don’t care about my own life. But I want to save my sister. She is... the only piece of humanity I have left.”

“And you expect Victoria to help you just because of that?”

Yukgap replied in disbelief.

She had come all this way without offering money or leverage.

Just a simple emotional appeal.

Nova pointed toward Victoria.

“She already looks convinced.”

“What?”

Yukgap quickly turned.

Victoria’s eyes were already full of tears.

“Oh my God... I had no idea you had such a heartbreaking reason!”

Victoria wiped her eyes, clearly moved.

Yukgap stared at her.

“Don’t tell me you actually fell for that.”

“But it’s so sad! A terminally ill older sister risking her life to develop medicine for her sick little sister!”

Victoria had clearly already made up her mind.

She grabbed Nova’s hand with a determined expression.

“I’ll do whatever I can! Fine, I’ll risk my life too!”

“Hehehe. Thank you.”

Nova laughed softly, sounding distinctly victorious.

Yukgap immediately tried to stop Victoria.

“What are you going to do if you get dragged into another fight?”

“So what? Yukgap can protect me again.”

Victoria answered casually.

Nova quickly interrupted.

“Sorry, but that won’t work. The person I asked to accompany me is Victoria Frankenstein, not No. 6.”

“What? You’re taking Victoria alone?”

Yukgap looked startled.

Nova answered sharply.

“I still don’t trust you. Whether you like it or not, you were one of Abraxas’s Twelve Archons, and you’ve killed countless people. No one knows when you might suddenly turn on us.”

Given Yukgap’s history, Nova clearly had no intention of bringing him along.

“I don’t kill people anymore!”

Yukgap answered firmly.

Nova merely snorted.

“How reassuring.”

Then her expression turned serious.

“More importantly, there’s another reason.”

Nova continued,

“The place Victoria and I are going is a women-only zone. Men are forbidden from entering.”

“Hmm-hmm-hmm.”

Victoria hummed happily as she watched the scenery pass outside the car.

“You look excited.”

Nova glanced at her.

Victoria immediately answered with barely contained enthusiasm.

“Doesn’t this make your heart race? We’re risking our lives to go up against Abraxas! I’ve actually wanted to hit them back at least once. The opportunity came sooner than I expected!”

“...Doctor Mozg said your head was full of flowers. Apparently, she wasn’t exaggerating.”

Nova muttered while watching Victoria beam.

Normally, when someone received an offer that could cost them their life, they became frightened or hesitant.

Nova had even considered the possibility that Victoria might simply report her to Abraxas.

Yet Victoria had agreed to help without asking for anything in return.

From beginning to end, she was impossible to understand.

“So where’s the laboratory?”

Victoria asked while looking outside.

They had already been driving for quite a while since leaving Restaurant Shelley, but nothing resembling a research facility had appeared.

The scenery had only become more barren.

“We’re almost there.”

Nova answered shortly.

Before long, they arrived in front of an old building.

The car stopped.

“You’ll have to continue alone from here. We can’t go any farther.”

The bodyguard who had been driving spoke.

Nova gave a small nod.

“Thank you. Abraxas will probably attack soon, so get as far away as possible. I won’t be able to protect you anymore.”

“Thank you, Doctor Nova.”

The bodyguard remained perfectly respectful.

Considering Nova was far younger than him, there was clearly some deeper history between them that Victoria did not know.

“This is the place?”

Victoria looked up at the building after their long drive.

Nova nodded.

“Yes.”

“But this is... a convent.”

Herrington Convent.

Victoria quickly read the words mounted high on the old spire.

No matter how she looked at it, this was nothing more than an aging convent.

“I’m back.”

Nova stood in front of the door and spoke quietly.

A rapid voice immediately came from the other side.

“How many ravens?”

“Six starving ones in the kitchen cupboard.”

Apparently, it was some kind of password.

A moment later, the door swung open.

A large nun appeared.

“Come in, Sister! We’ve been wondering when you would arrive!”

The nun seemed cheerful and energetic.

Victoria quickly introduced herself.

“Hello! I’m Victoria Frankenstein.”

“I’ve heard so much about you. I’m Olga. Please feel free to call me Sister Olga!”

The nun who introduced herself as Olga smiled warmly.

As they entered the convent, Nova explained,

“The Herrington Order runs charities supporting patients with rare diseases. They’re also funding the development of my new drug.”

“We are merely carrying out the work the Lord has commanded of His obedient servants.”

Sister Olga chuckled cheerfully.

“Is this really the laboratory?”

Victoria asked as she followed Nova inside.

The convent was clean and orderly, but it still looked exactly like an old convent.

It certainly did not look like a place where cutting-edge medicine was being developed.

“Please follow me to the underground prayer room.”

Sister Olga pointed toward a corner as though she had expected the question.

An elevator stood there, completely out of place.

“An elevator?”

There was somewhere underground deep enough to require an elevator?

Victoria stepped inside suspiciously.

The elevator descended endlessly into the ground.

Apparently, the underground facility was far deeper than she had expected.

“We’ve arrived at the underground prayer room.”

Sister Olga announced brightly.

The elevator doors slid open.

Victoria immediately stared in amazement.

“My God! Is this really a convent?”

What Sister Olga called the “underground prayer room” was an enormous research laboratory.

Computers and experimental equipment were neatly arranged everywhere.

Nuns in lab coats moved between stations, completely absorbed in all kinds of experiments.

Victoria immediately realized that the old convent aboveground was merely a disguise.

“Prayer alone isn’t enough to eradicate disease. The sisters of the Herrington Order devote themselves to research here every day.”

Sister Olga spoke proudly.

Nova walked into the center of the laboratory and explained,

“The Herrington Order fights disease and poverty all over the world. Thanks to them, I was able to escape Abraxas and continue my research here.”

Victoria looked around at everyone with admiration.

“You’re doing incredible work!”

“Oh, not at all! Compared to what Sister Nova is doing, our efforts are insignificant.”

Sister Olga only smiled modestly.

Nova turned toward them.

“All right. Enough chatting.”

She put on a white lab coat.

Then her eyes sharpened.

“Shall we get to work properly before I die?”