The Vixen's Gambit: Tonight We Hunt

"Ouch!"

Lihua, deep in thought, didn't pay attention to her surroundings and bumped into a little boy.

No matter how weak she was, Lihua was still half-Valkyrie. The little boy was the one who suffered from their collision. He fell on his butt, and the apples in his hands rolled all over the ground.

"Are you okay?"

Lihua crouched down and picked up the apples. "You need to be careful."

"Yeah. I'm sorry, thank you, big sis--"

The little boy stood up awkwardly and took the apples, then saw Schicksal's symbol on Lihua's clothes. He shuddered in fear.

But after taking a closer look, he let out a sigh of relief and pointed at the cross badge on Lihua's shoulder. "Big sis, are you from the Charitable Association?"

"Yes." Lihua smiled and rubbed the little boy's head. "Be careful next time, okay?"

The Schicksal Charitable Association that Lihua created had grown rapidly over the past year.

Although it was part of Schicksal, the organization listened directly to Lihua and wasn't controlled by Schicksal HQ.

So, while Schicksal was busy plundering the wealth of the people, the Charitable Association continued to help the poor. While they couldn't stop Schicksal's indulgences, they could secretly give them resources or use Schicksal's name to scare away bullies.

While Schicksal HQ had an awful reputation, the Charitable Association still maintained a good one.

Of course, there were those who said the Schicksal Charitable Association was working with Schicksal. That they were playing the good cop and bad cop, and that neither side was good.

But she couldn't do anything about those comments. She wasn't even interested. Those whiners were too unlikely to give her any energy.

She was currently using the patent rights that Otto had given her to make merchandise and have it sold by traders around the world to support her organization and to help the poor.

When it wasn't enough, she had to spend a bit of energy to exchange for resources and secretly put it into the public account.

To be honest, Lihua was starting to get a headache. Her energy had been going out more than it was coming in.

She used to have three main sources of energy: Kallen, Otto, and the public. In the past few years, she earned a lot of energy by capitalizing on Kallen and Otto's jealousy, and from the public's concerns.

But the situation had changed. Kallen was now busy training all day and would react to no one. Otto was busy with Schicksal's matters, always out of sight.

The energy she was receiving from the two had dropped to 0.

And from the public, even though the Association had a good reputation, people were still wary of Schicksal. And while people were worried about their lives, they had no time to worry about her.

Lihua was unhappy with this. So she decided to do what she said she would—hang those Schicksal executives and bring peace to the people.

Though she planned to hang those people, she still needed to follow the rules.

First was how to hang them.

The first option was for Lihua to exchange energy for immense power and kill everyone at Schicksal HQ. The advantage of this method was that it was quick and simple, but the disadvantage was that it wouldn't solve the real problem.

How could Lihua guarantee that she had killed every executive? After she killed all of them, wouldn't Schicksal just choose another group of greedy people?

Another thing to consider was whether she could defeat Schicksal alone. Schicksal's Divine keys weren't a joke. What if someone pulled out a Judgement of Shamash that could part the Earth and used it on her?

She had stored some good stuff in her cart, but she was still unsure if they could allow her to take on Schicksal.

After considering everything, the first method was scratched.

The second method was to let a people's war consume Schicksal. Schicksal's oppression had already made many people resentful but silent. If a reputable and powerful person were to stand up, they could ignite the flames of rebellion in all of Europe and burn down the corrupted Schicksal.

The advantage of this method was that it could completely erase the influence of old Schicksal. But it also had many disadvantages.

Schicksal's Honkai weapons were not a joke. If a war broke out between them and the people, the civilians and the rebels would definitely die the most. Lihua didn't want to see that happen.

Also, education levels among the civilians were low. It was unlikely that they could create a modern democratic society.

And lastly, Kallen and Otto were also part of Schicksal. Lihua didn't want to fight them.

Based on those considerations, the second method was also scratched.

After having crossed out two easy solutions, Lihua settled on a more moderate approach. She'd carry out a less progressive revolution.

She would work with the people at Schicksal HQ who were still worth saving and get rid of those who were irredeemable.

That way, the battle wouldn't be too big, wouldn't harm the civilians, and there wouldn't be any chaos caused by the sudden change in leadership. After all, the people at Schicksal HQ were still experienced in governing.

She chose this method because she knew there was one very reliable person at Schicksal HQ—that was Otto.

In the original story, Otto had already shown his skills by becoming the Schicksal Archbishop, a position he had used to take control of the world.

Politics, technology, economy... Otto managed to develop all aspects of the world. Other than being crazy about Kallen, he was an excellent ruler.

Because of his obsession with Kallen, nothing else was able to tempt him. She didn't have to worry about him becoming corrupt and seeking power.

Although the timeline seemed to have changed, from the way he had risked his life to save Kallen from Fu Hua, he was still that obsessive man. She could trust him to take care of Schicksal.

Otto seemed to be gaining some influence in Schicksal. So Lihua decided to work with him. She'd use a secret elite team to take out those greedy fools and turn Schicksal into Otto's domain.

And today, she was supposed to meet with Otto, who she had finally managed to make time for.