57. Kiana: "Getting Ready to Meet the Family, Everyone!" / 58. The Most Loving Mother-Daughter Episode

"After all, in their eyes, these children are not human beings, but rather lab rats."

Chapter 57 Kiana: Ready to Meet the Parents, Family

Kiana looked around. The cramped bunk bed, the confined space, the terrible environment—there were even black bloodstains in many places in the dormitory...

To be honest, Kiana felt that even a prison cell was probably better than this place.

A "dormitory" should house two people. It's not that they don't want to increase the dormitory's capacity, but rather that such a small room can only fit one bunk bed.

"Those bastards..."

Just as Xia Ling was about to say something, suddenly, footsteps came from outside. Several girls were seen struggling to move a red-haired girl who looked like she was on the verge of death, and they appeared at the dormitory door.

"Ugh, those bad guys, Agata actually..."

Bella's tearful voice abruptly stopped as she looked at the two people in the room.

"Who are you? Why are you here?"

"Huh, they can actually see..." Kiana said in surprise, "Do we need to interact with them ourselves this time...?"

"Ahem, we are personnel sent by Schicksal to conduct a routine inspection of the laboratory. My name is Xia Ling, and she is Kiana Kaslana."

Xia Ling squeezed Kiana's hand, signaling her to be quiet, then stepped forward and spoke to Bella.

"I don't think we need to show any identification. My companion's distinctive white hair and blue eyes should be enough to prove her Kaslana family identity."

Xia Ling knew, of course, that these children wouldn't recognize Kaslana, but they should be able to understand the weight of the word "Schicksal," and her seemingly profound but ultimately incomprehensible proof could, to some extent, impress them.

Clearly, her words were very effective, and the children's faces showed varying degrees of fear and resentment.

However, she overlooked one problem: the Unexpected Encounter was not an isolated moment, but rather part of a larger, continuous storyline.

"Hmm, these two older sisters look a bit alike..."

A hint of doubt flashed in Sirin's eyes, but she didn't know if it was a coincidence.

After all, several years had passed, yet the two older sisters' appearances hadn't changed at all, and even their attire seemed unchanged, which she found very difficult to understand.

Bella forced a smile and said, "Um, could we please put our companion back on the bed first? She's badly injured and needs to rest..."

"Is the injury serious?" Xia Ling frowned and was about to go over to check on them, but the children crowded even closer together, showing no intention of moving aside.

Oh no, I forgot these kids have a really bad view of Schicksal. Maybe next time I should say I'm Anti-Entropy...

Xia Ling had a headache and was about to explain something when Sirin spoke up first.

"Bella, let this older sister try it..."

"Sirin?" Bella turned around in shock.

Sirin gently shook her head, then cast a pleading and expectant look at Xia Ling.

Amid the somewhat worried gazes of the children, Xia Ling placed her hand on Agata's forehead.

"How much Honkai Energy was injected...?"

Xia Ling muttered to herself. Just then, she noticed that subtitles were starting to pop up on the screen.

[Unexpected Encounter]

[In the Babylon Laboratory, you encountered a group of battered and bruised experimental subjects. They had all been captured or tricked from nearby villages using various means. Because they generally possessed considerable resistance to Honkai Energy, this torturous experimentation was clearly destined to continue for a long time.]

[Under a twist of fate, Sirin turned to you, the "routine investigators," for help, hoping you could save her companion. Faced with this inexplicable trust, what will you choose...?]

[Steal Honkai Energy Inhibitor from the lab to completely eliminate Agata's Honkai Energy symptoms (encountering a difficult battle)]

[She only absorbed a small amount of the excess Honkai Energy from Agata's body, preventing her from dying (gaining a glimmer of insight)]

That was just someone else's misfortune; leave.

"This can't go on..." Xia Ling pondered, "If we want to save her, we still need to..."

"However, option one involves combat, and we don't know if it will affect subsequent events..."

After a moment of silence, Xia Ling placed her hand on Agata's forehead.

Her ability quietly activated, and the Honkai Energy slowly absorbed into Xia Ling's own body.

Agata's complexion visibly softened, but the purple Honkai Energy patterns on his body remained, though they were no longer as bright as before.

"I'm sorry, that's all I can do. There 'Honkai Energy injected into her body. If we don't use inhibitors, we can only manually remove some of it for her." Xia Ling gave an apologetic smile.

"If you keep an eye on her these next few days and don't let her get too much Honkai Energy, her health might improve."

"But if you want to eradicate it completely... I'm sorry, I probably can't do that right now."

"It's alright, thank you for saving Agata ... that's enough." Sirin shook her head, her eyes, which had been slightly moist with worry, now showing gratitude.

"Even if you do manage to cure her... she'll be injected with even more Honkai Energy tomorrow, and might just die on the lab table on the spot..."

"Anyway, thank you..."

"By the way, big sister, I have another question. Shouldn't we...?"

Before Sirin could finish speaking, the entire scene at the node began to collapse rapidly and disappear into the distance.

Xia Ling and Kiana seemed to hear Sirin ask something after thanking them, but they didn't hear it clearly.

"Xia Ling... do you think that in the actual history, they ultimately saved this child?"

Kiana muttered to herself.

"... Kiana." Xia Ling remained silent for a moment.

"During the Second Honkai Outbreak, Sirin used four Herrscher Core to create four Pseudo-Herrscher."

"These Pseudo-Herrscher figures... are these children."

"Is that so...?"

Kiana fell silent.

Sensing the somewhat heavy atmosphere, Xia Ling quickly changed the subject.

"Speaking of which, the next node is the last one on this floor."

"The last node on the Third Floor is not simple; we will encounter a being similar to a mini-boss."

"Is this mini-boss... any good?"

"Hmm... at this difficulty level, I'm only slightly stronger than you... but the boss on this floor seems to be fixed. I've only ever encountered one person, the only difference being whether they wear a veil or not."

As Xia Ling entered the node, she introduced, "That older sister was wearing a black gauze dress, had a full figure, and a very elegant demeanor. She was holding a bone whistle in her hand..."

"Plump figure, holding a bone whistle...?"

Kiana looked at the figure in the distance and said in a puzzled voice, "But all I see is a big sister wearing a black cloak, with a... slender figure."

"And..." Kiana pointed to the other side, "That big black monster, doesn't it look more like the final boss?"

"?"

Xia Ling silently raised her head, and then her expression became extremely interesting in an instant.

"What's wrong, Sister Xia Ling?" Kiana was even more puzzled now. "Do you know that white-haired girl?"

"Young, young girl..." Xia Ling's expression turned strange. She placed her hands on Kiana's shoulders and said, "Kiana, that guy... is my elder."

"Uh... eh?"

Kiana's eyes widened immediately.

"Then, how about being more specific?"

"Be more specific..." Xia Ling silently shifted her gaze, "Something like Bronya and Cocolia..."

"Bronya and... Cocolia?"

Kiana paused for a moment, then exclaimed in surprise:

"Isn't that Sister Xia Ling's mother?"

Chapter Fifty-Eight: The Episode of the Most Loving Mother and Filial Daughter

Kiana gasped in surprise, then immediately covered her mouth.

Her expression immediately turned slightly apologetic, and she said softly, "I'm sorry, Sister Xia Ling, I shouldn't have been so surprised..."

Kiana hadn't forgotten one thing: Xia Ling had once said she came into this world alone, and given that she said her world was on the verge of destruction, this mother probably...

Kiana herself had experienced the pain of losing her mother, so she subconsciously took Xia Ling's series of behaviors as a sign that she was reminded of her own mother.

Well...?

Seeing Kiana's reaction, Xia Ling immediately realized that Kiana probably thought Kal'tsit was already dead, which was why she apologized so quickly.

"It's okay, it's okay, I'm not that fragile... Besides, I feel like you've misunderstood something."

Xia Ling gently stroked the basic information of the node boss on the screen with her finger and looked at Kiana.

"You don't think she's dead, do you?"

Although Kiana didn't speak, her expression betrayed her.

Xia Ling chuckled, "She's not that easy to kill... It's just that we haven't seen each other for a long time."

"However, judging by the time, if she discovered the coordinate information I left in the Sea of Quantum, she might already be heading towards the Intrinsic World by now."

"Don't let Dr. Kal'tsit's usual cold demeanor fool you; she was probably very worried when I went missing."

Judging from Sister Xia Ling's expression, she clearly has a story to tell, but it seems to be the kind that can't be told...

Kiana thought silently for a moment, then spoke:

"In that case, Sister Xia Ling."

Kiana adopted a heroic expression, as if she were about to die for her country.

"Then you can have a good chat with your mother. Even if I die, I'll hold off the other monsters for you!"

"Idiot, don't make such a fuss about dying all the time." Xia Ling tapped Kiana on the head. "Judging from this scene, this is probably Kal'tsit from the old days of the Allied Forces."

"She didn't know me back then..."

"The Allied Forces era?" Kiana leaned over and looked at the information on the panel provided by the system.

"A sage who foresaw the end times, a monster of iteration... Wow, he looks pretty cool..."

"Don't underestimate this black monster." Xia Ling pointed to mon2tr in the distance. "This guy is very strong. Why don't you go and fight Dr. Kal'tsit?"

"No, no!" Kiana shook her head like a rattle-drum. "I'm not the kind of person who would ruin the atmosphere, and this was originally a battle trial prepared for me, right?"

"It's settled then. You can leave the monster and the other enemies to me. Sister Xia Ling, you can go and catch up with Dr. Kal'tsit without worry."

As she spoke, Kiana pulled out her dual pistols and fired at the monsters one by one. Then, she flashed to the other side.

Since Xia Ling had not yet entered the aggro range, Kiana's action did indeed draw the aggro of almost all the monsters onto her.

"Never mind... just consider it as stress training for Kiana."

Xia Ling sighed and went to meet Kal'tsit, who had just heard the commotion and was about to go over.

"Although I haven't fought this boss, I have witnessed Kal'tsit's melee skills in sparring."

Xia Ling drew her sickle and held it in front of her.

"Fortunately, this is only the sixth difficulty. I can still suppress it with my physical strength alone."

Kal'tsit's ears twitched slightly. Faced with this suddenly appearing figure, she chose to raise her longsword and slash at him.

"Okay, looks like you can't speak either. Yesterday's logos mom couldn't speak either. When is your boss going to add a voice function?"

Xia Ling wasn't surprised. She had already tried to talk to the boss yesterday, but to no avail. She sighed slightly, parrying Kal'tsit's attacks while keeping an eye on Kiana's situation on the other side.

At this moment, Kiana was being chased relentlessly by mon2tr, and surrounded by a group of monsters. Her teleportation, which she was not very familiar with before, had now been forced to be used several times in a row.

Of course, while being chased by mon2tr, she didn't forget to turn around and throw a few Spear of Subspace, but due to the haste, she didn't have time to aim, and the result was only killing two Rift Beasts.

"The situation doesn't look too good... Let's try to reduce Kal'tsit's health first and be ready to provide support at any time."

Seeing Kiana in such dire straits on the other side, Xia Ling couldn't bear to watch any longer. She was planning to continue the two- or three-hit combo with Kiana, and she couldn't afford to have them fail here.

Once again deflecting Kal'tsit's attack, Xia Ling dodged to create distance, and a dangerous red light began to emanate from the scythe in her hand.