As for the orphanage children, aside from those who came out of that so-called concentration camp,
they were all easy to deal with.
A piece of candy, a little dessert, and the like would do the trick.
Like this pink-haired girl in front of him.
"Lin Nai~ Lin Nai~ Can I have another piece of candy, pleeease~?"
The pink-haired girl tugged on Lin Nai's arm and shook it, her spoiled act leaving him rather helpless.
Honestly.
He already regretted getting along with the orphanage children, especially this one.
A blue-haired girl stood to the side watching. "Rosalia is an idiot. This is entirely Rosalia's personal behavior and has nothing to do with Lilia."
"Hey! Who are you calling an idiot?!" Rosalia turned and shouted at Lilia.
What idiot!
Why did she get called an idiot?!
"Rosalia, you've already had a lot. If you eat any more, Ms. Cocolia will come after me."
Lin Nai sighed. This girl was far too easy to fool.
He had only given her a few pieces of candy, and she had already become close to him.
It was hard to imagine whether she might one day get lured away with candy.
At first, Lin Nai had only given Rosalia candy because his mischievous side had suddenly surfaced.
He had wanted to make her say, "Ehe, it's no good!"
That way,
there could be follow-ups like, "It won't go in! No matter how you think about it, it won't go in!"
And so on.
It had to be said, Lin Nai was having plenty of fun with the meme.
As for Lilia...
Well, ah, um...
The blonde auntie had no lines, did she?
But of course Lin Nai had given Lilia candy too. Since her older sister got some, her younger sister should have some as well.
Hmm...
Of course,
there were also people Lin Nai could not get familiar with.
Like that little brat in the distance, glaring at him with a long face.
One blue eye and one gold eye, shark teeth, pink hair on the left and purple on the right, a gold pocket watch on her person, fond of androgynous clothes but surprisingly feminine shoes.
Hmm...
This girl seemed to have once been a noble.
Xing Ma'er.
What Lin Nai remembered most about this child was her pushing Bronya down the stairs.
And he had heard that during the Xuanyuan arc, she had tried to trade Duck Duck's panties for a mech.
He did not know whether that was true...
A trader?
The trader was Kiana.
After all, when Kiana met Mei, she could even loudly say that she wanted to eat beautiful-girl-flavored instant noodles and drink some kind of liquid, despite being a socially anxious girl.
A social terrorist, social anxiety for short.
That was the original Kiana. As for the current Kiana...
Lin Nai glanced at Kiana, who was hugging a lollipop as she ate it, and felt that probably would not happen now.
Helplessly, under Rosalia's pleading, Lin Nai could only give Rosalia two more candies.
Thus,
the Vodka Girls left happily.
Meanwhile, Lin Nai sat down on the sofa, right next to Kiana.
Bronya, beside him, shifted closer and leaned against Lin Nai.
And Kiana was just as unreserved, lying directly in Lin Nai's arms.
"What is it?"
"Nothing. I'm just looking for a pillow." Kiana grinned.
Lin Nai pinched Kiana's soft, smooth cheek. This girl's skin was pretty nice, huh.
Kiana held the lollipop in her mouth. "Lin Nai, tell us a story. I'm so bored."
"Once upon a time, there was a mountain. In the mountain, there was a temple. In the temple, there was an old monk."
"And then?"
"Once upon a time, there was a mountain. In the mountain, there was a temple. On the road, there was an old monk heading to the temple."
"Lin Nai, are you brushing me off?" Kiana wriggled a little and looked at Lin Nai's face.
Only after reaching out and poking his expressionless face did she say, "Tell something interesting."
"No, I'm not brushing you off. I'm not done yet."
"Fine, then what happened next?"
"What happened next? There was a temple in the mountain, and beneath the mountain was an old monk who wanted to go to the temple."
Kiana:
Lin Nai: (●-●)
The two stared at each other for quite some time.
In the end, Lin Nai conceded defeat and sighed helplessly. "Fine. What do you want to hear this time?"
"Hmm... Lin Nai, just tell us whatever you want."
Kiana snuggled deeper into Lin Nai's arms.
Lin Nai placed a hand on Kiana's head and gently stroked it. "Hmm... Even if you want me to tell one, I can't think of anything right away."
He looked up and noticed Einstein talking to Cocolia in the distance.
Lin Nai frowned.
A scientist...
Then he lowered his head and looked at innocent, carefree Kiana.
A fake...
Lin Nai fell silent for a while. Come to think of it, he really had never told Kiana the story of Build.
If one day, Kiana found out that she was K423,
then he did not want her to break down on the spot.
Even if she had been created for some plan, she truly existed.
The friendships and bonds Kiana had now and would have in the future were all real.
Kiana still had somewhere she could return to.
At that thought, Lin Nai's gaze became much gentler as he stroked Kiana's face.
He spoke softly.
"In an unknown world, a manned probe flew to Mars..."
Welt: Is That Polite?
After an unknown amount of time had passed,
Anti-Entropy personnel arrived at Cocolia Orphanage.
Tesla and Einstein did not disturb Lin Nai and the group of children as he told his story.
They simply led the Anti-Entropy personnel away to get the two mechs ready.
Only then did they return to notify the three of them.
Under the children's reluctant gazes, Lin Nai promised that he would come back to tell them more stories before they finally dispersed.
Of course, those clever little brats did not forget to scam two pieces of candy from Lin Nai.
I'm talking about you two!
Rosalia and Lilia!
Thus...
Aboard the aircraft,
Lin Nai looked through the window at the Anti-Entropy base below.
It was an enormous structure.
Its location was simply far too remote, so ordinary people would have trouble finding it.
Anti-Entropy.
It had formerly been the North American branch of the organization Schicksal.
After the First Herrscher, Walter Joyce, sacrificed himself, Planck led Einstein, Tesla, Joachim, and some of the North American branch's senior researchers out of Schicksal. Anti-Entropy was established from that point onward.
By the time of the Second Honkai War, Anti-Entropy had already grown to a considerable scale.
It had developed mech technology entirely different from Schicksal's, mainly using Honkai-energy-powered Titan Mechas instead of Valkyries in the fight against the Honkai.
Though it would be strange if it were not huge.
After all, all those mechs needed somewhere to be stored.
He just did not know whether the things created by the Herrscher of Reason could last forever. If they could...
Wouldn't that make this building practically free?
At most, Welt would just have to work a little harder.
Welt: Is that polite?
Tesla looked smug. "Hmph, hmph! Surprised? Scared? Our Anti-Entropy is the second-largest organization fighting the Honkai!"
"Second? How many organizations are there that fight the Honkai?"
"It's no good for children to know so much!" Tesla's expression stiffened, and she unceremoniously smacked Lin Nai on the head.
Lin Nai did not get angry, because he had done it on purpose.
As for organizations that fought the Honkai, he did not know about the smaller ones, but there were only three major ones.
Schicksal, Anti-Entropy, and World Serpent lurking in the shadows.
But how long had Anti-Entropy even existed?
Schicksal had existed for so many years, and it also had the Kaslana family, the Sania family, and the Apocalypse family.
Hmm...
He just did not know whether anyone else from the Kaslana and Apocalypse families, aside from Otto, was still around.
Before you continue