"Huh? Want to fight?"
Seele summoned her scythe and looked at Pela with an unfriendly expression. Because of Belobog's Stellaron crisis and debt problem, she was in a very bad mood. Right now, she really wanted to have a good fight.
"Wait, don't fight yet!" Serval quickly stood between Pela, Seele, Takagi, and the others. Although she had not seen Seele take action, she had seen the strength of Lumine, Jean, Klee, and the others. Even if Takagi, Seele, and Natasha didn't join in, the rest were enough to overwhelm Pela.
"Serval, what are you doing? Quickly get behind me," Pela said with a frown.
"That question should be asked by me. What are you doing, Pela?" Serval, who didn't want a fight to happen, said anxiously.
"Serval, what is wrong with you today? Why would you believe such absurd lies from those people?" Pela walked over to Serval, her gaze fixed on Takagi and the others. "I've felt very strange since just now. I understand your relationships very well. These people definitely wouldn't be your friends. Although I don't know what method they used to make you believe their lies, if we connect the fact that they are not people from Belobog's Overworld, we can guess they must have ulterior motives."
"So, you can tell we're not from the Overworld? As expected of the most excellent intelligence officer among the Silvermane Guards. Your little head is indeed as smart as I've heard." Takagi smiled.
"This girl is actually an intelligence officer of the Silvermane Guards?" Seele said, slightly surprised.
"Hmph, don't try to crack jokes!" Pela turned to look at Natasha and said with a serious expression: "I've seen records about you. You are Natasha, Doctor Vache's sister. Furthermore, you should be someone from the Underworld."
Hearing this, Natasha instantly frowned: "Vache..."
Pela continued: "Although I greatly respect Doctor Vache, the blockade of the Underworld is the Supreme Guardian's order. Now that you and your companions have appeared here, out of duty, I must take you back for questioning."
Natasha: "You said... you greatly respect Vache?"
Pela nodded and said: "He provided us Silvermane Guards with excellent cold resistance medicine, which is worthy of respect. Out of respect for him, if you surrender and honestly explain your purpose, I will help you as appropriate."
Natasha: "Cold resistance medicine? Are there no side effects?"
Pela: "Of course not! I say, is now the time to be concerned about this? Wait, you still have one person missing?"
"Are you looking for me?" Suddenly, Takagi's voice came from Pela's side. Just as Pela was about to turn her head, she saw Takagi emerging from his invisible state. He gave Pela a big smile and then quickly snatched the device she was holding to control the levitating drones.
"Give... give it back to me!" Pela fearfully reached out to Takagi, wanting to snatch back her weapon controller. However, Takagi dodged with a side step and then directly clamped Pela under his arm.
"Damn it, let... let go of me!" Pela struggled forcefully. However, her strength was simply unable to break free from Takagi's grip.
"Takagi, don't hurt Pela; she just misunderstood." Serval quickly stepped forward and grabbed Takagi's other hand.
"Don't worry, I have no intention of hurting her. I just don't want to waste more words explaining," Takagi said.
"Damn it, I am an intelligence officer of the Silvermane Guards. If you treat me like this, the Supreme Guardian won't let you off!" Seeing that she couldn't break free, Pela said anxiously.
"The Supreme Guardian... Hehe, it's still unknown who won't let whom off. Alright, stop struggling. You probably know the difference in our strength by now. If you don't want to get spanked, just be honest."
After Takagi threw the device he took from Pela into Serval's hand, he raised his hand, aimed at Pela's bottom, looking like he was about to slap it.
"Wai... wait, stop!" Pela cried out in terror.
"Scared? If you're scared, be honest. Otherwise, I won't just spank you. I'll also take off your scale-patterned stockings and let you experience the feeling of bare feet in the middle of winter," Takagi said with an evil smile.
"Ugh!" Pela pursed her lips tightly and looked at Serval: "Serval, I know why you said those things earlier. You must have been threatened by this man, right?"
Serval gave a forced smile: "Ac... actually, I wasn't threatened."
"No need to say it; I know everything." Pela took a deep breath and looked at Takagi with righteous indignation: "Let Serval go. It should be enough for me to be your hostage."
"Stop bargaining." Takagi lifted Pela under his arm slightly and looked at Serval. "Keep going; aren't we leaving this place?"
Serval nodded. After putting away Pela's weapon, she turned around and continued walking forward. Pela's eyes suddenly lit up when she saw the direction Serval was heading. This path was not Serval's secret passage, but a passage leading toward the Silvermane Guards' station.
As expected, Serval was threatened by this scoundrel. Her words earlier must have been said to appease him. The purpose was to make him lower his guard and lead them to be captured by the guards. No, I also have to cooperate with Serval to keep them off guard.
Thinking of this, Pela tried her best to twist her head to look at Takagi. "Um... Serval mentioned earlier that the IPC's success rate for modifying a planet's ecology is 63%, right?" Pela asked, trying her best to appear curious.
"Didn't you claim not to believe it? Why suddenly ask about this? Or are you scheming something?" Takagi raised an eyebrow and looked at Pela with interest. Vaguely, his other hand showed signs of raising again.
Seeing this, Pela, afraid of getting spanked, quickly said: "After thinking about it, what you said is not impossible. Um... you're saying that for a company of that size, the success rate for modifying the environment is only 63%? That probability is too low, isn't it?"
Beside her, Serval also nodded: "A probability of only 60% is indeed too low. Takagi, can the probability really not be a bit higher?"
Takagi shrugged: "This is just average data. In fact, different project leaders also affect the probability of success. I know there's someone in the IPC named Topaz. The projects she is responsible for have a success rate of over 80%."
Serval gave a wry smile: "80%... but there's still a 20% chance of failure." Even though she felt survival was more important than dreams, she still didn't dare to gamble on whether Yarilo-VI could withstand the probability of failure.
"Oh, and one more thing I need to remind you. The debt collectors from the IPC might not present all the information to you. Perhaps they will only tell you that they can change Belobog's environment. But they won't tell you that modifying a planet's ecology has a risk of failure," Takagi said.
"What?! How can that be? How can information like this be concealed?" Behind Takagi, Seele clenched her fists.
Takagi patted Seele's shoulder: "The IPC is very large; there are good people and bad people inside. And those responsible for collecting debts can't be too kind-hearted. Of course, there are exceptions. The Topaz I mentioned before is considered a good person."
Seele: "Is that the person whose project success rate reaches 80%? Will she be honest with us about the success rate?"
Takagi: "Probably not."
Seele: "Can someone like that be called a good person?"
Takagi shrugged: "If it were her, she would probably think that not telling everyone the probability is the best choice for the planet right now. This is related to her past experiences. The planet she was born on was once in a situation as bad as Belobog's."
Hearing this, Seele was speechless. Serval also fell silent. Even though she initially supported the plan, after learning that even the best employees couldn't guarantee success, a hint of hesitation grew in her heart. In this situation, she could only silently continue to lead the way.
[Dehya: The IPC's employees might not necessarily tell the people the success probability? Damn it, and here I thought they were quite good before.]
[Bennett: This is no longer a question of taking a risk. If modification has a probability, everyone might also be destroyed along with the failure!]
[Pantalone: Now you believe the IPC is not a kind organization, right?]
[Ningguang: No, I think the IPC is generally leaning towards good. It's just because they are so large, there are bound to be places that are not so pleasant.]
[Dottore: I am quite curious—if Teyvat is truly trapped by the Abyss or if the Irminsul has issues, how high would the chance be for the IPC's best employee to successfully modify Teyvat?]
[Yae Miko: That's a dangerous thought. You're not thinking of researching the power of the Abyss, are you?]
[Nahida: Irminsul...]
[Alhaitham: If we truly face such a choice, can we really make a decision calmly?]
[Kaveh: It would be better if Teyvat doesn't encounter such a thing.]
"Takagi, I have a question. The IPC hasn't come to Belobog to collect debts for seven hundred years. Have they actually forgotten about this already? Or rather, they don't plan to collect this little money anymore?" Pela raised her head, pretending to look at Takagi curiously.
Serval: "That's right! The IPC hasn't come for so long, they must have forgotten about it."
"I'm afraid not, Serval." Takagi shook his head. "The reason they haven't come to Yarilo-VI for the past seven hundred years is because the Stellaron blocked information between Yarilo-VI and the outside world. The IPC couldn't receive a signal. Furthermore, most planets eroded by the Stellaron head towards destruction, so the IPC believed Yarilo-VI had been destroyed. After all, the actions of the first Supreme Guardian, who used the Stellaron to freeze the entire world and the Antimatter Legion, are far too rare. Once Belobog deals with the Stellaron, the IPC will immediately receive the signal. This way, debt collectors will naturally come."
Hearing Takagi's words, Serval felt even more despair. If the Stellaron is not dealt with, Belobog faces destruction. If it is dealt with, the IPC comes to collect debts. This is practically leaving Belobog no way to survive.
[Beidou: That's truly tragic. If it were me, I wouldn't know whether or not to deal with the Stellaron.]
[Hu Tao: This is simply a dilemma.]
[Yoimiya: It would be great if the IPC could be a bit kinder, but according to Takagi, relying on them is also unreliable.]
[Albert: Is there a possibility that after the Stellaron is dealt with, the IPC will send a very good debt collector who will 100% help Belobog solve the problem?]
[Gorou: Could there really be something this good?]
[Pantalone: Placing hope on the opponent's side is not a good choice.]
[Ningguang: Belobog might as well think about whether they can rely on Takagi to overcome the crisis. After all, he seems quite good to the people of the Underworld.]
[Yelan: If Takagi is willing to help Belobog, does that mean if Teyvat encounters something like this, he would be willing to help us too?]
[Yae Miko: That would probably require Teyvat to have enough people Takagi likes.]
"Cheer up, Serval. Once I use my invisibility to take you out of here, you can worry about it properly," Takagi said.
"Wait, you can turn invisible?" Pela's eyes widened.
"That's right! Takagi said he can not only turn himself invisible, but he can also make all of us invisible with him," Seele said.
"Not just invisibility; I can also conceal the voices of everyone present. So Miss Pela, if you were hoping to get those Silvermane Guards to catch us, then you've miscalculated," Takagi said, as if he had seen through her thoughts.
"You're kidding, right? Making others invisible is one thing, but how can you possibly conceal voices as well?" Pela frowned her cute eyebrows and spoke disbelievingly.
"Believe it or not." Takagi shrugged and looked at Seele: "Speaking of which, you remember what I said about invisibility. Looks like you also remember our bet. If I can indeed make you all invisible with me, you have to agree to one condition for me."
Seele sighed: "How could I be in the mood to care about that right now? More than that, I want to know if you have a way to solve Belobog's predicament. If you can resolve it, let alone one or two conditions, I'll agree to a hundred."
Serval: "Right! If you can solve Belobog's debt problem, I'll also agree to a hundred conditions for you."
Natasha: "Takagi, you must have a solution, right?"
Takagi stroked his chin and fell into thought. Solving Belobog's financial crisis was something he was confident he could do. He just didn't want to hand money over to the IPC for free. Not to mention, the debt was truly excessive—more exorbitant than any usury he had heard of back on the Blue Planet.
"Wouldn't it be better if Brother Takagi just bought this world?" Suddenly, Klee spoke up.
"Then wouldn't Takagi become the king of this world? No, the King of the World?" Paimon said.
"Buy this world? Become the king?" Pela's eyes widened. These guys... they can't be serious, can they? Do they want to seize this world?! No, this must be reported to the Supreme Guardian! Pela thought nervously.