Li Pu rubbed his arms, feeling that something was completely wrong with everything.
"Cecilia." Siegfried felt a bit sad, with a heavy feeling blocked up in his heart. He had imagined many scenarios, thought of many things, but never once had he imagined it would be like this.
It really made a person feel somewhat heartbroken.
Why...
Would it be like this?!
"Wait!" Li Pu leaned against a tree, braced himself, stood up, and said, "You... you just stand over there! Don't come too close!"
"I know, I know that thing..." Li Pu said with trembling legs, "but don't come too close. For certain reasons, please don't treat me as that Cecilia in your memories."
"Thank you, please stay a little further away from me."
"I..." Siegfried did not quite know how to say it, how to put it into words.
It was precisely Cecilia—that feeling and that voice both proved that she was indeed that Cecilia who had departed fourteen years ago.
Yet why...
"I understand." Siegfried straightened his clothes slightly.
He collected his emotions; perhaps he should have also anticipated certain issues.
Indeed, rushing in like this right off the bat was a bit too impulsive.
"Fourteen years have passed, and you are still the same."
"Cecilia."
Perhaps if everything needed a fresh start.
Then let's start as friends.
Chapter 42 This Siegfried Is
Did people hate Siegfried?
Not really.
Actually, Siegfried was not unlikable, even though he had gone from a fresh-faced youth to an old salted meat. Yet this old salted meat still had quite a bit of flavor to him.
Li Pu had to admit that Siegfried, this old salted meat, was quite flavorful.
First of all, as a mature man judged purely by first impressions, the impression Siegfried gave people was that he was reliable. Experienced, steady, mature, and possessing wisdom.
His tall, straight, and powerful physique gave Siegfried the true male charm of 'looking thin in clothes and muscular when stripped'.
He possessed strength without being showy, and refinement without being weak.
He basically achieved a perfect balance of these two different auras; he possessed power yet never made people feel savage and reckless, and he possessed knowledge yet never made people feel overly feeble.
He looked like a man you could depend on, or perhaps one you couldn't.
For instance, when it came to being unfaithful...
Of course, Siegfried was not a fickle person, nor was he a scumbag. Whether viewed in a broad or narrow sense, he was a very devoted person.
If he weren't, given his status as an S-rank Valkyrie and the head of the Kaslana family, it would have been enough to find Kiana a stepmother in a very short time.
Yet he hadn't.
Because of Cecilia's sacrifice, Siegfried had fallen into a slump ever since. Likewise, it was also because he learned the news that Cecilia was still alive.
He had traveled through the night, flying directly over from the small town at the foot of the snowy mountain where he lived.
Therefore, in every sense, Siegfried was a man who valued deep affections.
Toward such a person, Li Pu did not feel any aversion.
As for loving him deeply the way Cecilia did...
Sorry, he couldn't do that!
"I'm not the same anymore." Seeing that Siegfried had already reined in that agitation, Li Pu relaxed slightly and said, "There is a huge difference between me and the Cecilia in your memories."
"Ahahaha~" Siegfried laughed with his hands on his hips and said, "I can already tell."
"Hahaha~ I'm no fool."
"Ah ha-ha... ha... ha..."
He soon couldn't laugh anymore, finding it virtually impossible to mask the turbulent emotions churning deep within his heart. Siegfried finally failed to maintain the smile on his face, yet he still forced it to stay, barely keeping up the appearance of someone who wasn't crying.
"It's already great just knowing that you're alive."
Siegfried's voice was a bit out of tune.
A real man does not easily shed tears, it's just that he hasn't reached the point of heartbreak yet.
Excitement, self-reproach, love, and loss. Countless emotions intertwined, finally causing Siegfried—who couldn't entirely be considered an iron-willed man—to lose his footing.
In this world, there was probably nothing quite like longing for someone day and night for fourteen years.
The person you loved most was now standing right before your eyes, yet you had to maintain a certain distance, making it a matter that brought both immense joy and sorrowful loneliness.
Li Pu did not offer any comfort.
He wasn't a person of stone either. As an ordinary man of the streets, he wasn't selfish and self-serving. He could also be considered a rather emotional person.
Being able to accept it or not accepting it was one thing.
He could also understand what an exciting thing it was to have a beloved wife, once thought to have sacrificed her life, standing before him once more.
Equally, how heartbreaking it must be when that very wife could not accept him and had even forgotten him.
"Sorry..." Li Pu said with an apologetic air, "I let you down."
"No, it's nothing at all." Siegfried wiped his face, brushed away the tears at the corners of his eyes, and said, "I was just too excited and didn't think things through enough."
"It's enough just knowing you're alive."
Siegfried finally revealed his gleaming white teeth, pulling a relieved smile and saying, "So what have you been doing all these fourteen years? Why didn't you ever send back a message?"
"Looking for a job, none." Li Pu spread his hands and said, "Besides, Mr. Siegfried."
"I don't know if you've heard, but actually my name is."
"Your name is Li Pu, and you're the cleaner here." Siegfried answered for Li Pu, saying, "I've already heard Theresa talk about these matters."
"Ah..." Li Pu scratched his head. Sure enough, nine times out of ten, this matter had been leaked by Theresa and her big mouth. Of course, there probably wasn't a second person here besides her anyway.
At any rate, Li Pu didn't think Otto would pass this news along to Siegfried.
"Don't be so guarded against me." Siegfried spread his hands and said, "Otherwise it always feels like I don't look like a good guy."
"Look, if this goes on, the girls around here are going to dial 110, and I really don't want to end up at the police station."
"Oh~ hahaha~" Li Pu cautiously stepped out from beside the tree. After all, the tree was in the green belt, and trampling around inside here wasn't exactly a good look.
Walking out from the green belt and standing right in front of Siegfried, he always felt that something was very wrong somewhere.
"Umm, Mr. Siegfried..." Li Pu tried to explain, "I... well... although I know this matter is very hard to explain clearly."
"But I am not Cecilia, or rather I am just..."
"She's Li Pu, a cleaner at the Academy." Suddenly, a voice spoke up to explain for Li Pu. "She is Cecilia, and she is also not Cecilia. At least for now, you cannot completely treat her as Cecilia."
"OTTO!!!"
Gritting his teeth almost to the breaking point, Siegfried spoke first. Actual flames seemed to well up in his eyes as he clenched his hands into fists and said, "You actually have the nerve to show your face here, right in front of Cecilia!"
"You bastard!"
Indeed, other than Otto, there wouldn't be a second person.
Facing Siegfried's fury, Otto was not the least bit flustered, nor did he show any intention of making excuses for himself.
However, he still made excuses for himself.
"I am very sorry for that order." Otto said hypocritically, "After all, I couldn't possibly gamble with the future of all humanity. So I had no choice in the matter either."
"This is just like the classic switchback problem, where the lever to switch tracks is in my hands."
"Whether to choose to let the bus crash and kill one person, or to choose to let the entire train be destroyed."
"I didn't have any better choices; I couldn't watch the train do a 360-degree flaming wheel."
Otto spoke with lofty justification, leaving Siegfried unable to find any grounds for rebuttal. He himself knew that as frontline combat personnel and as commanding personnel.
The perspective from which they viewed problems and the choices they needed to make when facing them were completely different.
Perhaps to Otto, his course of action at the time was the optimal solution.
Yet for him, it was completely unforgivable!
"Don't be so angry~" Otto walked over with extreme warmth, throwing his arm around Siegfried's shoulder like a sworn brother.
"I have some matters here that I'd like you to know about. They concern Cecilia."
"I believe you certainly have the desire to know."
Chapter 43 True Is False and False Is True
Did Otto's words have any credibility?
The answer was 'Of course they do.'
Siegfried fell silent. As for the person Otto was, Siegfried still understood him to a certain extent. This person was an exceptional master of lying. He didn't bother mixing a few truths with a few falsehoods to achieve the effect of hiding falsehoods within truths, or truths within falsehoods.
Otto's words could be true, they could be false, or they could be half-true and half-false.
If one wanted to know how much of what Otto said was true, one had to figure out what Otto wanted to achieve.
"What do you want?" Siegfried still felt a measure of disgust, yet forcefully curbed his temper; at the very least, he couldn't act recklessly right in front of Cecilia.
Even if he bore a blood feud with Otto.
"Redemption, or rather atoning for sins." Otto seemed to say with utmost sincerity, "I merely wish to make amends for the mistakes I once committed, that is all."
"Hehehe~" Siegfried sneered with contempt, "Do you take me for a fool? Or an amoeba?"
"Atoning for sins? If you, Otto, ever had the thought of atoning for sins."
"Ganesha could stand on one leg atop a tree."
"That is only one aspect of it." Otto said without blushing in the least, "The other aspect is the Valkyries."
"Anti-Entropy—although we are not openly enemies, there genuinely exists a rather obvious competitive relationship between us."
A very obvious kind, such as instances where Valkyries and Anti-Entropy mechs would brawl, occasionally sneaking into each other's bases or stealing each other's access permissions.
"In short, all of this is completely normal business competition." Otto said with utter righteousness, "However, Anti-Entropy does indeed have an advantage we cannot match."
"Mass production!"
Yes, Valkyries are neither mechs nor artificial idiots that only need to execute relatively simple commands.
Valkyries are picked out one in a million and slowly cultivated over time.
"Although the vast majority of Anti-Entropy's mechs are not worth mentioning." Otto spread his hands and said, "After all, we cannot manage to turn out mechs in batches at the push of a button the way they do."
"And you should also know that manufacturing mechs can actually stimulate the economy."
"Elevate manufacturing standards and technological levels."
"I don't know anything about that." Siegfried replied deadpan, "What does this have to do with Cecilia?"
"Circling around me with such a huge detour, what are you trying to say?"
"It's very simple." Otto stated, "If we're being completely honest, most people within the World United Council favor Anti-Entropy. Honkai is a part of it, but everyday life matters just as much."
"Although Anti-Entropy does not cultivate powerful Valkyries, and currently their mechs cannot contend with our Valkyries."
"Yet for many countries, mech manufacturing requires factories, and factories require workers."
"Products require raw materials, and raw materials require related mining equipment."
"And of course, manufacturing technology as well."
"To them, a mech manufacturing factory can drive a vast up-and-downstream production chain, solving employment problems for a batch of people." Otto said very realistically, "It promotes economic development, upgrades the industrial chain at the same time, and masters more advanced technologies."
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