Chapter 301

"You don't need to explain anything," MEI interrupted Wendy's attempt to continue speaking, "We need to think about what to do next."

"We do whatever Mom says." K423 is completely unconditionally obedient.

"Mei, can you hear me?" Mei called out to Mei. "If you can hear me, please answer."

"Are you a doctor?" Mei answered quickly.

"I've already met up with Bronya's team," MEI said. "How much longer until you get here? If it's short, we can wait for you here for a while."

"I... I'm here..." Mei's voice was broken and hesitant.

"Tell me the facts." MEI had a bad feeling about this. "Don't hesitate, tell me everything, good news and bad news, don't hide anything!"

Something terrible is about to happen! Mei had a bad feeling as soon as she heard Mei speak like that. Ninety-eight times out, something must have happened to Kiana. Otherwise, Mei wouldn't be so hesitant and unresponsive.

"Kiana is missing," Mei said. "I'm looking for her, and I promise I'll find her!"

Grass is a type of plant.

As expected, my worst fears came true. What is this? Is it like pressing down one gourd only to have another float up? I finally found Bronya's team, but then Mei lost Kiana.

"I'm so sorry, Doctor! I'm so sorry!" Mei said sadly, "It's my fault."

"This isn't about assigning blame," MEI said, having completely lost her temper. "The important thing is to find Kiana, and if anyone's taking responsibility, it's me too. I shouldn't have left you and Kiana there."

She should have realized long ago that Kiana, with her personality, would never obediently stay there and wait for her to return.

If Kiana were to actually wait for her to return, then she might not be Kiana anymore.

Mei glanced at the people behind her, figuring it was unlikely she could let them go first. She hoped things wouldn't repeat themselves like what happened with Kiana.

"I think we need to go look for Kiana first," Mei said. "This girl can't be allowed to get into any trouble. Everyone who came with us should go back together."

"How do we find him?" Bronya didn't raise any objections. Although she had some reservations about this idiot, it didn't mean Bronya would abandon him and retreat alone.

"Let's contact them first," MEI said, "To confirm Kiana's situation."

"Kiana!" Mei kicked K423 out first. Now all three were around her except for Mei and Kiana, who were nowhere to be seen. K423 was taking up space anyway, so she kicked him out first.

"Kiana! Please reply if you receive this! Please reply if you receive this!"

After calling for a while without getting a response, Mei's heart was in her throat. She didn't quite understand how this thing worked yet. If Kiana didn't answer, Mei wouldn't know Kiana's current location, and naturally, she wouldn't know what was happening on Kiana's side.

There are only two possibilities for her not answering. The first is that she is probably surrounded and has no time to spare, and the other is that her life is hanging by a thread.

The first possibility exists, but the second possibility is a bit harder to say.

Currently, there aren't any high-level Honkai Beast on the battlefield, so it's unlikely that Kiana will be completely overwhelmed. Although Kiana is a bit slow, as a practical fighter, she should know how to use the terrain to fight and retreat, then find a place to hide.

However, if she hides herself, it's unlikely she won't reply to me.

If they don't reply, they're most likely struggling with something.

And the last possibility...

It cannot be completely ruled out; the current battlefield situation is unpredictable. The absence of high-level Honkai Beast doesn't mean they won't appear later. What if a high-level Honkai Beast appear, accompanied by a horde of ordinary Honkai Beast...?

There's a very high chance Kiana will be seriously injured.

P. S.: The author is now in court.

P. S.: The author is just a lowly clerk.

P. S.: Although I'm just a court clerk, it's not bad. I feel pretty good about it. I wonder if any of you readers work in the court system?

Chapter 326 Kiana

Kiana shouldn't die.

Kiana is one of the main characters of this era, she's not so easy to die, right? So she's currently in the process of being transferred, but she doesn't have much energy to respond to me right now, right?

MEI glanced at the K423 beside her.

On the other hand, it seems that K423, who replaced Kiana in the game and inherited Kiana's name, is the real Kiana, right?

If that's the case, then Kiana is actually the one with the most tragic fate, right?

"Come with me," MEI said, switching to Kallen's form. "Go find Mei, and then we'll go find Kiana."

"Mei! From now on, report your location every five minutes. No need for precise directions," Kallen told Mei. "Just give me a shout, and I can pinpoint your exact location."

"I understand," Mei said. "What about Kiana?"

"I'll figure something out," Kallen said.

Theoretically speaking, Kiana can only hope for the best until there's a solution. Hopefully, nothing bad will happen to her. Especially, please don't let her turn into a Herrscher at this crucial moment... that Herrscher being K423, who's right next to her.

Please don't change, thank you.

How do I find Kiana?

"System! I know you're coming out here!" Kallen shouted in her mind. "You're definitely eavesdropping somewhere. Don't think I don't know you're unaware of what's going on here! Come out right now."

System! The omnipotent system, she must have a way.

'You're really going too far.' The system's voice actually appeared, and it sounded a little unhappy as it said, 'I'm not some Tom, Dick, or Harry that you can order around.'

It's getting more and more outrageous. They're treating themselves like kittens or puppies, coming and going at will!

'Stop complaining.' Kallen had no intention of saying anything pleasant to the system.

"You know the situation," Kallen said bluntly. "To make a long story short, what do we do?!"

"You really do cut to the chase," the system said. "You're asking me what to do about this? How am I supposed to know? You'll have to figure it out yourself."

"Stop spouting nonsense," Kallen said. "I don't believe you can't do it."

Kallen didn't want to wake up, but there was nothing she could do. Even MEI could get this team system from her. Couldn't she get something else? Like that search system that often appears in games?

Having that thing will allow me to achieve twice the results with half the effort!

But the system really doesn't have a solution.

"The team-up system is already yours," the system said. "And it's free; there's really no other way. Otherwise, I wouldn't know how to explain this to my superiors!"

The team-up system was intentionally withheld; it could be modified and submitted again. But this request is really troublesome; if it's added back, she might not be able to deliver.

"To hand in the task?" Kallen seemed a little puzzled.

To be honest, she never quite understood the meaning of this system design and its interaction, or the significance of the title given to her. She wasn't like other systems that constantly gave you various tasks.

Her approach is somewhat like giving titles in a game, allowing players to explore and unlock titles on their own.

There's one Kallen still doesn't understand: how exactly do these characters the system gave her exist? Their advancement does indeed affect her; once they reach a certain level, some of their characteristics are inherited by the original Li Pu.

So the question is, what state are these characters in, and what role and position does the original Li Pu hold?

So far, he has strong combat power whenever he transforms into a character, but when he turns back into Li Pu, it seems that apart from becoming a little smarter, there are not many changes.

What role should I play? Who am I now? For example, who is Kallen now? Is she a character controlled by Li Pu to constantly conform to her original image, or is she actually Kallen herself?

Kallen stopped, and she suddenly switched to one of the earliest characters she had acquired, a character that hadn't appeared in a long time.

Cecilia Schariac.

"What's wrong?" K423 didn't know what had happened, but she noticed her mother suddenly stop and then revert to her mother's appearance. Despite not knowing what had occurred, she still felt a surge of excitement and longing.

It's Mom! It must be Mom!

Cecilia patted K423's head.

Let go of all the obsessions and emotions that might belong to Li Pu, let go of those thoughts and ideas. When you believe yourself to be Cecilia, and stand beside K423 as Cecilia, an unstoppable emotion erupts.

However, Cecilia could still clearly sense that this emotion was different from the one she felt when facing Kiana.

"Nothing much." Cecilia glanced at Bronya beside her, who was filled with envy and longing, and withdrew her hand, saying, "Just confirming a few things."

"System," Cecilia said, "I don't want to discuss that with you right now. How you explain yourself is your problem. I just want to know if you have any way to help me find Kiana."

'What if I say no?' the system asked weakly.

'Then I'll make sure you can't explain yourself,' Cecilia said with absolute certainty.

"You have no idea what I'm supposed to do," the system said, its voice trembling with tears. "How did you manage to make it impossible for me to complete my task?"

"The character," Cecilia said. "I have no evidence to confirm my guess, but I feel like I've grasped some of the truth about this character. Especially the essence of a character who originally belonged to this world."

"This isn't just a regular, super-realistic cosplay, is it? It requires me to constantly get closer to the character and the character's personality."

The system remained silent.

"I'm not going to dwell on this," Cecilia said. "I don't intend to delve into it if you don't want to discuss it, but I believe that maternal love is definitely one of the basic settings of the character 'Cecilia'. And don't forget that I also drew a character called 'Mrs. Aleshkevich'. It's such an ordinary character that it doesn't even have a name in its description. I've never really thought much of it."

"But this character is Bronya's mother, right?" Cecilia said with a hint of threat. "You should know that a mother can unleash amazing perseverance and strength when her child is in danger, and you could even say she will stop at nothing."

"So please organize your thoughts and discuss with me again whether you can actually do this."

Chapter 327 Search Radar

It's not that I can't help you.

The system backed down, saying, "This is different from before. If I give it away for free again, I really won't be able to explain it to everyone. So, could we..."

"Tell me," Cecilia said, "What do you want to do?"

Don't push the system too far; it won't do you any good. While this system isn't exactly a model of integrity, and our cooperation hasn't been perfect, I still need its assistance. A falling out would benefit no one.

It's just a common task, no problem at all.

"Mission: Collect a Herrscher Core. No time limit. Mission reward: Map Search Radar (available during the mission)."

"YES/NO"

A string of words appeared out of nowhere before Cecilia's eyes.

Faced with this, of course Cecilia chose YES without hesitation. She immediately asked, "How do I use this radar? How do I track Kiana?"

"This cannot track Kiana." The system didn't say anything that satisfied Cecilia.

"Huh?" Cecilia was dissatisfied but didn't immediately get angry. Instead, she said, "I'll give you one minute to explain."

I was disappointed, but then I thought that since it wasn't specifically given to her to track down Kiana, it must be very useful since it can still be used after the mission is over. It's definitely a better deal than something that's only useful when you're looking for Kiana.

"Map Search Radar!" the system quickly explained, "This is a telepathic radar that consumes a certain amount of Honkai Energy convert into mental shockwaves and release them to search for terrain, enemies, important items, or people. It can also be used for certain specific targets."

"After completing the first search, you need to annotate it yourself; subsequent searches will automatically identify and annotate it."

"It really is a useful thing," Cecilia said with satisfaction.

The gap between ideals and reality makes finding Kiana crucial. The exclusive ability acquired specifically for finding Kiana becomes useless afterward; while this tool wasn't originally designed for finding Kiana, it can still be used afterward.

That's good enough.

As for the Herrscher Core, there's no mention of when this task will be completed.

Consuming a little Honkai Energy was no problem for Cecilia; she quickly mastered how to use the search tool after a short while.

After the first wave of psychic shockwave was released...

"Mom?" "Doctor?"

Wendy, K423, and Bronya looked at Cecilia, and they all had a strange feeling, as if something had struck them.

"What's wrong?" Cecilia hadn't noticed the strangeness from Bronya and the others. She just felt that this thing was really hard to describe... It was hard to say whether it was useful or not. After the map was formed, it was a jumbled mess, like a stew, all thrown in front of Cecilia.

'But I have to annotate it myself,' Cecilia thought to herself. 'Without annotations, this stuff is almost impossible to understand.'

Unlike the maps you often see in games, which are easy to understand at a glance, you have to manually mark out the terrain and buildings, the items you can pick up and collect, the enemies, the friendly forces, and so on.

'This is truly a massive undertaking,' Cecilia thought to herself.

"Let's continue," Cecilia said. "Let's meet up with Mei first, and then go find Kiana together, according to our original plan."

Mei is easy to find. As Cecilia requested, Mei will send back a message on time to confirm her location.

Cecilia made markings as she walked.

The system said some things but not all; this wasn't simply a matter of labeling. She needed to simplify it, removing unnecessary elements from the map.

For example, fragments in ruins are not completely removed, but simplified and aggregated into a whole. Small creatures and their corpses that are useless and have no hostile relationship with the map are removed. The decorations, ornaments, and shelves inside buildings are either deleted, merged, or simplified.