The Butterfly Effect (Continued)

"To prove the existence of the Herrscher."

"Sorry, I can't prove it, but there are records of the Honkai events in the Sky Dome Zone, right?"

"Unusually active?" Ragna looked at Rita.

"Yes, recent data shows that the activity level in the Sky Dome Zone is increasing day by day."

Rita activated her bracelet, and a map of the Sky Dome Zone and a curve of the Honkai over the past two weeks were projected into the air.

The upward momentum is not fast, but it is very stable.

"Hmm..."

"Isn't it better to believe something is true than not?"

"But what if it's just hearsay?" Ragna frowned. There was no trust between her and Liu Bai, and her desire to slack off wasn't as strong as Rita's.

Not to mention that her main task right now is to save Kiana, so she has no reason to slack off.

"Okay, it's not impossible."

Liu Bai shrugged. If Ragna really gets caught up in this dilemma, he might struggle with it for a long time.

"I have other information here. What would you like to hear?"

"..." Ragna glanced at Rita.

Is the kid Rita found really an information broker?

With such composure, one could easily believe that Liu Bai was the leader of some small organization, Ragna.

Although Liu Bai is currently at a disadvantage in the negotiations, Ragna feels that he is the one at a disadvantage.

"... Do you have anything about Kiana?"

"Have."

Liu Bai nodded, "The person is at my house."

Rita: "..."

Do you have to be so direct?

Ragna was also taken aback by Liu Bai's answer.

What does this mean?

"Let's lay our cards on the table, La Signora. Ragna. Rita or Otto, you choose one."

Liu Bai didn't give Ragna any more time to think, and simply shrugged.

While a methodical approach might fool Ragna, it could lead to a repeat of Rita's previous accounting tactics later on.

So Liu Bai stopped pretending and said, "Come on, choose between your student and your boss."

Rita glanced at Liu Bai.

Who said she was going to be at odds with Otto?

She just wanted to casually deal with any potential Herrscher and then run away, okay?

Liu Bai is simply trying to create a sense of crisis for his teacher.

Well, Rita herself is actually quite aware of the crisis right now—because Otto has such a huge information gap on this side.

This place is not Otto's territory at all, not to mention that World Serpent has intelligence giants like Gray Serpent. World Serpent's ironclad defenses have always been such that they don't show themselves and no one can find them.

"We're just business partners." Rita tapped the table, subtly undermining Liu Bai's position.

This made Ragna's expression improve considerably.

... But I didn't deny the possibility of choosing one.

"You know Rita too?"

"The Far East Branch's collusion with World Serpent is too obvious," Rita sighed.

"Well, you didn't realize it either, did you?" Bai rolled her eyes.

"I don't have God's perspective." Rita smiled helplessly.

Looking back, this makes perfect sense, but considering only the preceding events, it's more likely that the Far East and Liyue colluded, with both sides using compensation for losses as a pretext for a political deal.

World Serpent?

Just kidding, if it weren't for meeting Natasha because of the "handsome guy who fell from the sky," Rita wouldn't have known that there was World Serpent event in the Sky Dome Zone, let alone that the World Serpent headquarters was right here.

If Liu Bai hadn't disrupted everyone's plans, the World Serpent would likely have only appeared when Kiana's affair was coming to an end, allowing Kiana to "disappear" unnoticed by both sides' deliberate cover-up.

Not to mention...

"The World Serpent was involved in Kiana's kidnapping?" Ragna was astonished by the amount of information in Rita's words.

"Yes." Rita nodded. Not to mention that even after the whole plan was disrupted, when World Serpent had no choice but to bite the bullet and kidnap Kiana, World Serpent was not exposed thanks to Liu Bai's manipulation.

All the exposed targets were Inazuma — Natasha had simply fired a few shots from a very long distance using a sniper rifle.

Of course, the generally good relationship between Inazuma and the Far East Branch also makes people wonder why this happened.

"... Just how many things are you hiding from me?"

Ragna suddenly felt a headache coming on; she did know that the World Serpent was active in this area.

But World Serpent was also involved in Kiana's affair... no, according to Liu Bai, it was an affair?

This whole thing is totally veered off into political infighting, isn't it?

Don't let it end up being some kind of "love-hate relationship between Bishop Otto and Saint Kallen".

This mess might actually be more troublesome than dealing with the Herrscher, and if they get involved, they might just become cannon fodder.

Even if these two quarrel and then make up, you'll be caught in the middle, pleasing neither side.

"... But why is the Far East Branch involved with World Serpent... you World Serpent?"

Ragna looked at Liu Bai; she had already guessed who Liu Bai belonged to.

Hmm... this is even more of a headache.

If the headache continued, Ragna felt he couldn't retire without injury.

Despite it being just a few short sentences, the amount of information conveyed was so great that Ragna was completely baffled by the situation.

Ragna now wishes he were an idiot, someone who could just stare at the sky, drool, and occasionally blow a snot bubble.

Unfortunately, one shouldn't be foolish.

When Rita heard Ragna's question, she also turned her gaze to Liu Bai.

That's exactly what she was curious about.

"Although I don't mind revealing my secrets to you, are you really mentally prepared?"

Liu Bai weighed the matter in his mind for a moment before issuing a warning.

"After hearing this, you won't even have the right to pretend to be fools anymore—if you don't want to hear it, I can make up a plausible story for you."

"... Listen, if something happens, I don't want to be a fool."

Ragna steeled his heart. They were already here; could they possibly apply to run away again?

Rita nodded, her reasoning the same as Ragna's.

The whirlpool has already formed; it's too late to extricate yourself now.

It's better to listen to the truth than to pretend to be blind.

Liu Bai looked at the two of them and smiled helplessly—as if to say, "You two will definitely regret asking this question."

"Kiana is currently an unawakened Herrscher. You are very familiar with her core and powers. Second Herrscher Sirin."

Smack

After Liu Bai finished speaking, Ragna suddenly slapped himself.

You idiot, you're just curious, aren't you? You're doomed!

And you bastard! Can you stop saying such scary things?!

Is Kiana Herrscher or Sirin?

Damn!

Ragna felt that his logic modules were completely in disarray.

"... a very good scam."

Ragna seemed to be convincing himself.

However, she had already believed it.

No wonder they didn't cooperate with the Far East Branch to rescue Kiana, but instead fought their own battles.

So, there's this kind of thing going on with her mother?

Ragna paused for a moment and then came up with a fairly basic logic.

The Second Herrscher, Sirin, died at the hands of Schicksal, and her core is in Schicksal's possession Kiana is the unawakened Second Herrscher, Cecilia. In the past, Cecilia left Schicksal with her child and went to the Far East Branch. Now, I must rescue Kiana.

"... As expected, the rumor was true." Rita sighed with a slightly melancholy expression.

Ragna sighed; she knew what Rita meant.

Ragna is a veteran, 32 years old this year, and has been involved in training and service for nearly 20 years—it's common for Valkyries trainees to be 11 or 12 years old.

When Cecilia left Schicksal, she was already a combat instructor at Schicksal Headquarters.

At that time, Rita also joined Schicksal and participated in the training because she admired him.

So... there are some things they actually know.

For example, everyone in their Stormtroopers knew that Lady Cecilia had only given birth once and had only one biological child.

—That was Bianka, the energetic and mischievous kid who used to cause trouble all the time in Schicksal Square.

"Tsk, still not giving up." Ragna scratched his head roughly, pulling out a few strands of hair.

The worship of bishops leads to questioning, slander, and defamation of bishops.

Veterans who are Schicksal generally have to go through this process.

Ragna admired Otto the most when she had just become an A-rank, back when she was only interested in combat. Otto taught her about inheritance, protection, and hope.

And then... well, I believed it myself, but Otto... what he said and what he did were not quite the same thing!

In modern times, Ragna has gone from questioning to discrediting...

Add to that Kiana's matter... Liu Bai's statement is practically irrefutable evidence to them!

No, you could even say it perfectly fills in the last "mountain" in "ironclad evidence".

They were curious back then why Cecilia and her husband had a falling out with Otto. They had managed to get along for so many years, and several years had passed since the Second Honkai Eruption. They had been living peacefully together, so why did they suddenly break up?

The initial internal rumor was that Cecilia discovered that Otto was conducting human experiments on members of Kaslana's distant relatives. Later, as the rumors spread, they evolved into rumors about the Herrscher core—of course, because these rumors were so absurd, nobody believed them.

It was even considered a new rumor created to generate buzz because the original rumor had lost its appeal.

In short, that topic had already passed by then, so just take it as a joke.

But now even Liu Bai is saying this...

"... Bianka didn't return to Schicksal entirely because she missed me and wanted to gain experience, did she?"

Having figured out the problem, Ragna turned to look at Rita.

Who knows?

Rita smiled.

She and Bianka had been best friends for ten years, from hanging out together to being pen pals and then hanging out together again. They had a deep and open relationship, so how could she not know why Bianka had come back?

However, over the years, Bianka has indeed developed a sense of belonging to Schicksal and his teammates, and he has also come to somewhat agree with Otto.

So Rita was thinking that after Liu Bai persuaded Ragna, he would have a lot of favors done, and Bianka would have to come back no matter what.

But now... well, if I tell Bianka this, she can come back right away.

Liu Bai and Chiyo watched the two people talking as if they were exchanging riddles, completely bewildered— Liu Bai genuinely hadn't grasped these butterfly effects.