8. Remember, This Is a Game

[She relentlessly followed Theresa. (Xia Ling and Kiana both Theresa Theresa's team.)]

[Pretend to faint, leaving Kiana to take care of herself. (Xia Ling and Kiana both leave the group)]

"I remember... in the original work Kiana was with Theresa, right?"

Xia Ling rubbed her hands together, eager to try.

[That's right, and in the original work, Theresa originally wanted Kiana to stay there. It was only after Sigfried's persuasion that Theresa brought Kiana with her.]

"Hmph, since you're going to cause trouble, then naturally we'll give Sirin a few more tough tasks. I want to see if Sirin can turn the script around."

"Hehehe, Sirin, I'm going to take Kiana with me to desert!"

Xia Ling chose the third option without hesitation, and at the same time, the plot entered CG mode again.

"Hey, Theresa, Xia Ling, you've finally arrived."

"I heard you met with the Second Herrscher before, I'm quite worried about you, you know?"

The white-haired man sat on several stacked wooden crates and greeted Theresa warmly.

"Hmph, I don't care about your worries, you lecherous devil." Theresa snorted. Although Kiana had asked her not to tell Sigfried that she was his daughter until after the war, it didn't mean the matter was over. Sigfried wasn't going to give Theresa a friendly look now.

Sigfried was not surprised by Theresa's attitude. Ever since he married Cecilia, Theresa, who felt that her good friend had been taken away, had never given him a kind look.

However, the girl next to Theresa... her hair and eye color seem somewhat familiar?

"Oh, alright, alright, by the way, who is this beautiful lady beside you...?"

"Beautiful lady, if I have the chance, I would love to invite you for a drink."

As always, she's so unreliable... Xia Ling took a step forward and said, "Ahem, Sigfried, you have to tease such a young girl? She's from your Kaslana family, you know. Maybe she even has some kind of relationship with you."

"Or are you planning to continue your great work of touching all the Schicksal 'Valkyrie butts and add us Valkyrie who joined later?"

"Pfft—" Sigfried spat out a mouthful of water.

"What? He did something like that?" Kiana's eyes widened, feeling her already less-than-impressive image of her father shatter in her memory.

"Wait, Xia Ling, I already told you that Shigure Kira made that up! Don't ruin my reputation in front of the new Valkyrie! Ever since I married Cecilia, I haven't even been to a bar much!"

"Hmph, you better be..." Theresa curled her lip. "Alright, Sigfried, stop wasting time and tell me, what's going on?"

"There is bad news, and there is worse news."

Sigfried's expression was somewhat grave.

"The bad news is that the Valkyrie forces have been deployed to search for the Second Herrscher, but so far they have found nothing."

"The worse news is that, due to the lack of progress in the operation, Bishop Otto has ordered Cecilia to launch an attack."

"What? But Cecilia's physical condition isn't good enough for her to participate in the battle!"

Theresa's tone became somewhat flustered.

"That's right, so..."

Sigfried's tone became firm.

"Cecilia will arrive in Siberia in thirty minutes. Before that, we must find the Second Herrscher and then kill her."

At this moment, the communication device next to us also issued a prompt, displaying two coordinates on the screen.

"Report received from Valkyrie in regions O-17 and O-23. They have both discovered traces of the Second Herrscher."

"Damn it, are they trying to separate us?"

"There is no other choice, Theresa. I'll go to O-23, you go to O-17. Whoever finds the target, don't hesitate."

Theresa nodded, then looked at Kiana beside her.

"Kiana, you stay here. It's safer here."

"Wait a minute?" Sigfried asked in confusion.

"Well, you didn't expect that, did you, Sigfried? Her name is the same as your one-year-old daughter's name, Kiana."

Theresa put her hands on her hips and said smugly.

"I'm not really surprised by that. What I wanted to ask is... is Xia Ling acting a little strange?"

"???"

Theresa turned her head sharply and found that Xia Ling, who had just said she would sit down for a while, was now swaying unsteadily.

"Wait, Xia Ling?"

"Sister Xia Ling!"

Amidst their gasps, Xia Ling collapsed to the ground.

"The previous wound reopened, and there was excessive blood loss. It's still too early to determine if there's an infection..."

Sigfried supported Xia Ling and gave her a quick check of her injuries.

"Then, what should we do...? There's no time to send her back now..."

"Hmm... Let's send a distress signal to headquarters and ask them to send someone over."

Sigfried pondered for a moment and said, "Kiana, only warriors with S-rank strength can barely contend with Herrscher. You won't be of much use following us. Why don't you stay here and take care of the seriously injured Xia Ling?"

"Come back and rejoin the team when the transport plane from headquarters arrives."

Chapter Eight: Remember, this is a game.

"I..."

Kiana glanced at Xia Ling, who was unconscious, and sighed.

She can still distinguish between illusion and reality. Compared to following Theresa to face the Second Herrscher, Xia Ling's health is obviously more worthy of concern.

"I understand. I'll take care of Sister Xia Ling."

Kiana nodded.

"This is our communication channel, Kiana. Although it's unlikely, the possibility of the Second Herrscher retaliating here cannot be ruled out."

Theresa handed Kiana a communicator. "If anything happens, contact us from here. You should know how to use this."

Kiana's mind wasn't on that at the moment; she was worried about Xia Ling and Cecilia, who was on her way to Siberia. She took the communicator from Theresa and casually put it in her pocket.

"Then, all three of you, please take good care of yourselves."

Sigfried waved and stepped into the snowstorm first.

"Okay, take care, Kiana. I'm entrusting Xia Ling to you."

Theresa glanced back at the unconscious Xia Ling, then turned and walked towards O-17.

"Dad, Auntie..."

Kiana murmured to herself as she watched their retreating figures.

"Huh? What's that noise?"

Kiana, still feeling melancholy, suddenly heard a noise behind her.

She turned her head in confusion and found that Xia Ling had already sat up and was quietly looking at her.

"Wow! Sister Xia Ling, you've come back to life! You scared me half to death!"

[Host, do you need to communicate with Kiana yourself from now on?]

"You can do that?"

Well... because of the split-team operation, the leadership of the team has now shifted to you, so you'll have more authority as a result.

"But... even if that's the case, shouldn't Kiana be the captain based on what just happened?" Xia Ling asked, puzzled.

[After Kiana saw you wake up, she subconsciously began to prioritize your will, so the captain position automatically became yours. You can think of it as a unique characteristic of the Kaslana family: only one teammate and one brain can exist at a time.]

"That's quite a vivid description..."

Xia Ling pulled over the microphone generated in front of the screen and spoke simultaneously with Xia Ling on the screen.

"Ahem, Kiana, listen to me. I pretended to faint just now to get Theresa and Sigfried away."

"The situation is urgent. You must have come directly from the external data space, right?"

"Yes, that's right, I saw my period..."

"You don't need to explain the reasons to me yet. Whether it's out of curiosity or something else, since it has already happened, let's deal with the problem at hand first."

Xia Ling said in a deep voice, "I don't know what conditions you were given to leave this data space. This thing is now like a game instance, becoming unpredictable, and the situation differs quite a bit from the real history."

"I know your history grades, so I won't go into that. Based on the current situation, we can tentatively assume that we need to clear this instance before we can return to reality."

Before Kiana could react, Xia Ling bombarded Kiana's brain with long sections of analysis.

This is also part of Xia Ling's plan. She needs to reinforce the understanding that "this is a game" time and time again, and tell her that this "copy" is different from normal history.

In this way, regardless of whether the outcome is success or failure, this experience will no longer be a breakthrough point for Kiana when Sirin tries to control Kiana.

"A game? Oh right, I was so focused on Lady Cecilia that I almost forgot we were still in a data space..."

Kiana's voice lowered somewhat.

"Don't be discouraged." Xia Ling placed her hand on Kiana's head and gently stroked her soft white hair. "Even in a game, there are happy endings and bad endings."

Now that you know all this, shouldn't you go all out and try to achieve the best possible outcome?

"And... Theresa has told me some things about you." Xia Ling's tone softened. "I know what you're thinking, and coincidentally, I think the same thing."

"Why not take this opportunity to see your mother for yourself?"

"Um..."

Kiana nuzzled Xia Ling's hand like a kitten and nodded gently.

"Then, Sister Xia Ling... where should we go now?"

"Where to go... we'll have to talk about that later."

Xia Ling shook her head. "I've said before that this isn't real history, but the trajectory of history is still traceable. I'll analyze the map later and see if it matches my memories..."

"Then, why is it later?"

"Because I need you to treat me quickly, at least give me an adrenaline injection..."

Xia Ling said speechlessly, "Although data's body can't feel pain, theoretically speaking, my body can also die. Maybe after I die, I'll be kicked out."

"Considering you still need me as an external brain, why don't you spare my life?"

"!?"

"Ah, I'm so sorry, Sister Xia Ling, I forgot you're still seriously injured. I'll treat you right away..."

Kiana then realized what was happening and began treating Xia Ling.

A dozen minutes later, Xia Ling successfully stood up and stretched her body.

"As expected, the data space is where things really work quickly."

"Kiana, take the communicator, we're off."

"Yay!"

[Hint: You are now free to choose your route.]

"Finally, I don't have to recklessly follow Theresa anymore..."

Seeing that her health was still below double digits, Xia Ling began to examine the map.

"If I remember correctly, the Second Herrscher should have appeared with Sigfried..."

"Then Sigfried used Heavenly Fire Judgment..."

"Heavenly Fire Judgment? That's my old man's cool pair of guns, huh?"

"That's right. When fully unleashed, as long as it hits, the fully unleashed Heavenly Fire Judgment is capable of killing Herrscher in one strike."

"But I remember from the history books that the Second Honkai Outbreak didn't end here..."

"Yes, Sirin is the Herrscher of the Void after all, so escaping would be very easy for her. According to records, Cecilia later arrived at the battlefield and healed Sigfried with the Black Abyss White Flower, but her own strength was also greatly reduced as a result."