Sorry, Miss Kiana, I Already Have a Lover-Probably

"By the way, senior sister, what's in that box you're carrying...?"

"The doll that Dr. Einstein has finished making."

Hua took two Soul Steel dolls out of the box and handed them to the two men.

"Because we couldn't find a suitable container at the time, and carrying it directly would be too conspicuous, we simply put it in a cardboard box. This is yours—I've already sent it to Danzhu."

Hua and Cangxuan Danzhu, these two sisters, have been getting along quite well lately—it must be due to their compatibility.

"Hmm... Looking closely, the faceless doll is actually kind of ugly-cute."

Elysia picked up the doll and looked at it. It was a Soul Steel doll that was exquisitely crafted in every aspect, but unfortunately, its face was blank.

"By the way, why is the face blank?"

"Because it's not important?" Hua thought for a moment and replied.

After all, possessing a soul steel can change its appearance to a certain extent—for example, its face.

Moreover, it can effectively conceal Liu Bai's information.

"What do you mean by 'not important'... Hua, I remember that Soul Steel has quite good plasticity?"

"Certainly."

"Would it be okay to dress it in a pink dress?"

"...Of course you can." Hua was a little confused about Elysia's thought process.

"Can I carve a face for this doll?" Elysia asked with great interest, putting aside their previous conversation about romance.

"Hmm... no problem, Danzhu is also planning to do the same, but let me state in advance that Dr. Einstein will not be covered by warranty."

Danzhu is a full-time homebody, so she basically knows a little bit of everything related to being a homebody, so modifying a doll is naturally not a big problem.

But Elysia...

"Danzhu wants to make a figure of her older sister. Miss Elysia, may I ask what kind of figure you would like to make?" Unconsciously, Huadu silently accepted the concept of a figure.

"My words..."

Elysia held the somewhat ugly-cute doll in her hands.

"... Then I'll do it myself."

"Huh?" Hua didn't understand what Elysia meant for a moment.

"If one day I disappear from this world—well, maybe I die in battle, maybe I die of illness or something... but if I could, I would like to leave a trace of my existence in this world—look, isn't this doll the best vessel for that?"

Chapter 135 I'm sorry, Miss Kiana, I already have a lover...

Why would I bring up things from back then again?

Mei sat up from the Hibernation Pod, rubbing her forehead.

"Back then... um, what happened back then?"

Mei had a headache; the hazy memories in her mind made her very uncomfortable.

"... Is it a side effect of hibernation? After all, no one knows what the consequences of more than 50,000 years of hibernation would be—I hope my brain hasn't frozen."

Mei crawled out of the hibernation chamber with somewhat stiff limbs. Fortunately, the Hibernation Pod's life support functions were quite good; otherwise, she would be facing problems including, but not limited to, muscle atrophy.

"Waaah..."

Even so, Mei almost lost her balance when she landed.

"Everything is terrible..."

Mei lamented her current physical condition while looking around.

The entire hibernation chamber had been completely powered off. If it weren't for the Hibernation Pod's independent power supply and several large-capacity backup batteries, she would probably be finished.

Although in theory these generators, which are the final crystallization of civilization, have a working life of far more than 50,000 years, the more sophisticated the instrument, the more likely it is to break down over time for all sorts of strange reasons.

Therefore, as a precaution, Mei has left independent power supply functions and batteries that can support long-term power consumption in important facilities.

Mei's eyes quickly adapted to the darkness, and with the few memories she had left, she successfully located the storage warehouse she had left behind before hibernation.

"Storage Warehouse 1728..."

The Soul Steel storage warehouse remained as durable as ever. Even after more than 50,000 years, the warehouse lit up immediately after no password was entered. Then, the square Soul Steel warehouse "disintegrated," and the items stored inside the one-cubic-meter block floated in the air under the anti-gravity function for easy access.

"Looking at it this way, Elysia's thoughts back then actually made some sense... But what happened to Elysia in the end...? Tsk."

Mei discovered that she couldn't remember most of the Flame-Chasers' stories, which was almost unbelievable for Mei, who had become the decision-maker of the Moth Chasers to Fire in the later stages.

"The only people I can remember... seem to be Kevin, Su, and Senior Sister Hua."

No, my memories in this area are completely hazy. Most people can't remember anything except their names.

"... This experience was absolutely terrible."

This feeling of emptiness made Mei involuntarily begin to "take stock" of her memories.

My childhood memories are all normal, my memories of joining the Moth Chasers to Fire are all normal, and my memories of scheming against that guy Mobius are all normal.

My last memory is...

("Mei, my time here is almost up... Hmm? You're asking about our next meeting? Who knows? But as long as we keep moving forward, we'll meet again someday, right? Maybe the next meeting won't be too far away.")

As luck would have it, the last clear memory left in my mind was Liu Bai's last words. Other than that, it's not that I can't remember them at all, but rather that they are all fragmented.

Should I thank God for this?

Mei's expression was somewhat complicated.

"To be honest, I was surprisingly calm at the time... If I'm not mistaken, that wasn't the last thing I said to the doctor—it was just the last thing I remember saying."

Knowing that Hua Shijie had a precedent, and having summarized the patterns of her own teacher, the atmosphere of parting between the two was not very intense.

Mei gathered up the floating objects and then used the prepared emergency batteries to restore power to the entire room.

"Prometheus?"

"Prometheus is restarting... Long time no see, Dr. Mei."

A clear, melodious girl's voice came from the computer, which had regained its functionality— Prometheus, one of the super artificial intelligences of the Previous Era.

Like Aida of Anti-Entropy, Prometheus was a supercomputer from Previous Era. However, in terms of computing power, Prometheus was probably the strongest. He once calculated that there were a total of fourteen Herrscher and that the Previous Era would inevitably perish at the hands of the most powerful Herrscher of Finality.

"Long time no see, Prometheus —perform a self-check."

As she spoke, Mei picked up a syringe and injected herself.

Specially formulated nutrients can quickly restore the body to its normal state after a long period of hibernation.

"Understood, self-checking in progress..." Prometheus quickly responded, "Self-check complete. Overall functionality is 11% damaged. Only the interaction module is damaged. There are no other damages."

This answer relieved Mei; one-tenth of the damage was perfectly acceptable.

Incidentally, the intelligent interaction module is only used to maintain the image projection and has little practical significance.

—Incidentally, Prometheus was modeled after Bronya.

"Eject the core, let's go out and see the world."

"Yes, Dr. Mei."

After some processing, the palm-sized core popped out of the computer. After saving the Prometheus core, Mei found the path to the surface by relying on the light emanating from the Soul Steel Warehouse.

"Hopefully the road above is passable... Although there are items in the spare supplies for special situations, I can't lift them right now."

Mei vaguely remembered that towards the end of the war, the various busy affairs left her no time to exercise, but she still kept up her habit of eating late-night snacks. As a result, she not only didn't break down, but actually gained a little weight...

Well, it's also thanks to the healthy body I developed when I was young, thanks to Liu Bai's encouragement.

Mei subconsciously touched her waist... thankfully, there was no excess fat.

That makes sense. After sleeping in the Hibernation Pod for so long, how could I possibly still have the energy to maintain my excess weight?

Mei breathed a sigh of relief.

You might even run into a PhD student, especially if you have some extra fat around your waist...

Mei shook her head, dismissing the idea.

Mei then collected some potentially useful supplies—such as a Soul Steel Doll—and opened the gate leading to the surface.

Hey! Ha!

The nights in Sky Dome City are always unsettling. Although the number of Honkai events in Sky Dome City has decreased significantly because World Serpent temporarily halted the Stigmata Project, K423—or rather, Kiana, as Herrscher —still unconsciously attracts Honkai Beast to the city.

With a gunshot, the last Honkai Beast fell to the ground, Kiana breathed slightly.

"Ha... The Honkai Beast in Sector B3 have been cleared out. Where else do you need me?"

"C6 Sector Sky Dome Patrol Riot, C8 Sector Detected Traces of Death Soldier —choose one of these two missions." Jackal's irritating voice came through the communicator.

"Huh? No, isn't Shencheng Pharmaceuticals supposed to have covert control over Sky Dome City? How could the Sky Dome Patrol have rioted?"

"I suggest you ask Miss Rita over there about this matter."

The Jackal said in a somewhat sarcastic tone.

"And you can also learn about the mech riot that swept through the city a few days ago. By the way, the riot's target was your comrades."

At least the World Serpent kept a bit of a shred of cunning, but when it came to Schicksal, they were utterly unrestrained.

"Miss Jackal, if you continue with this, I will sue you for defamation."

Rita seemed to be right next to the Jackal; just hearing her voice made you imagine the maid's forced, insincere smile.

"... So it really is related to Schicksal, right?"

Kiana is no longer the Kiana she once was. Although she still can't understand more profound riddles, this level of understanding doesn't prevent her from comprehending them.

"You guys from the Heavenly Schicksal are really persistent, aren't you? Didn't your hometown get ransacked?"

"Watch your words, Miss Kiana. Don't forget our mission is to hunt you down."

Rita, sitting next to the Jackal, listening to the communications while watching the monitor, couldn't help but sneer.

Don't you know I'm really annoyed with you because of Liu Bai?

Durandal is one thing, but she's still my best friend, so at least we're in a tolerable situation. What about you?

You really did something outrageous in front of the woman back then!

Although the matter is in the past, Rita still feels a bit resentful when she thinks about how Liu Bai was mistaken for Kiana's spirit.

"You're arresting me? Then I'll tattle on you! We're all in the same boat... cough, we're all in this together!"

"... It seems that the academic courses at the St. Freya Academy still need improvement," Rita sighed softly.

While she wasn't afraid of snitching, she realized that there was no need for her to end up hurting herself with an idiot.

Even if I were to trade one for one with someone else, it would have to be Fu Hua or Durandal's level, right?

"However, it's best not to go to the Sky Dome Patrol. Durandal is closely monitoring them with her people, so there's no need to worry about casualties. Durandal will stop it before it happens."

In such a public setting, Rita still used the name Durandal.

Kiana would only get beaten up if she went up there now... but Bianka definitely wouldn't hurt Kiana.

After all, in a way, they really are in the same boat.

"Understood, then I'll go investigate the traces of the Death Soldier."

Although Kiana was actually quite annoyed with Rita, she wasn't entirely trusting of Rita's character... well, actually, she wasn't entirely convinced of her character either.

However, the incident a few days ago, although Rita's sudden outburst made her quite embarrassed, actually improved Kiana's impression of Rita quite a bit—it turns out that the girl wasn't so hypocritical and cold after all.

Therefore, Kiana is more willing to trust Rita this once.

"By the way, are all these changes in that guy because of that Teacher Liu you mentioned, class monitor?" Kiana asked after ending the call.

"If I'm not mistaken... Teacher Liu is a very remarkable person. In terms of teaching and nurturing students, I am far inferior to Teacher Liu."

Speaking of this, Fu Hua in Feather of the Wind said with a hint of self-deprecation, "If possible, I would like to hope that Teacher Liu can set aside some time to teach Kiana some principles... or at the very least, some extra lessons would be good."

"No, no, just thinking about having some kind of ghost or spirit following me around... Ah, I'm not saying anything bad about your teacher, class monitor, it's just that I'm not used to it."

Kiana said as she hurried along.