2. Kevin: "Xia Ling Is Dead? Do You Think I Believe That?" / 3. A Bug Who Won't Behave Deserves a Harsh Punishment

"Next, my main focus will be on investigating this company. Although there is no evidence yet, I always feel that the frequent occurrence of these Honkai events is definitely related to this company."

"But... isn't this a pharmaceutical company?"

Kiana tilted her head.

"It's precisely because it's a pharmaceutical company that I suspect there's something wrong with it."

"Receiving free medical care to a large number of patients eroded by Honkai Energy, huh? Do you remember how Sirin was tricked into the Babylon Laboratory?"

Xia Ling gave a cold laugh.

"Anyway, Kiana, you should be careful for now, and make sure you don't appear in their sight again."

"By the way, Sister Xia Ling." Kiana scratched her head, "You still haven't told me how you found out I went to the outskirts of Changkong City."

"..."

"Idiot, pick up the toilet paper roll I used to hit you on the head and open it."

Kiana walked over and unfolded the rolled-up pages.

This is a stack of newspapers, and on one of the pages, there are a bunch of headlines in various sizes, such as "Mysterious Ranger of Changkong City".

Kiana's disguised figure appeared prominently in the newspaper.

"Oh, this..."

"I'll look into the black market for information about you soon. Of course, you should also keep a low profile for now, and at least avoid things like being in the newspapers."

Meanwhile, at one of the World Serpent's bases.

After months of hard work, Gray Serpent finally Wish Fulfilled contact Kevin was bathing in the Sea of Quantum.

Although it cost a lot of manpower and resources, it was absolutely worth it for World Serpent.

"Your Honored Master, I have two matters to report to you in this communication."

Gray Serpent bowed to Kevin's image.

"Yes, communication time is precious, you don't need to waste time on these useless formalities."

"Yes, Your Honored Master."

The Gray Serpent remained unhurried.

"The first thing is about acquiring a Herrscher Core as a beacon for your escape from the Sea of Quantum."

"Forgive my incompetence, but the current civilization has already produced four Herrscher and six Herrscher Core, yet I have been unable to present even one to Your Honored Master."

"Reason?"

"The Herrscher of Reason disappeared six months ago, and we have no way of getting to his location."

"The Herrscher of the Void awakened at the Schicksal Headquarters four months ago, and she was carrying the cores of the Herrscher of Thunder and the Herrscher of Death. She later disappeared, and the core of the Herrscher of Flame also disappeared in the Imaginary Space."

"The Herrscher of Thunder is not fully awakened. Her core has been taken away, and her physical body is currently under the protection of Anti-Entropy."

"As for the Herrscher of Wind... I'm sorry, Your Honored Master, she and her Companion Honkai Beast are closely linked, and we cannot deal with these two in a short time."

Kevin was silent for a moment, but Gray Serpent sensed that he was clearly not thinking about whether he could escape.

Sure enough, Kevin asked an unexpected question.

"Do these Herrscher all possess self-awareness?"

"Well... of course, apart from the Herrscher of the Void whereabouts are unknown, the other three have chosen to stand on the side of humanity."

"Even the Herrscher of the Void, according to recent information, is actively eliminating Honkai."

"That's good..."

Kevin nodded slightly.

Chapter Two Kevin: Xia Ling is dead? You think I believe it or not?

"My Honored Master, regarding your departure from the Sea of Quantum... we later chose another option."

"We intercepted the Fourth Divine Key launched by Schicksal and removed its core, which we will use as a replacement for the Honored Master when he leaves the Sea of Quantum."

"The Fourth Divine Key... Can you guarantee it will be repaired later? Even after the Stigmata Project, this Divine Key will still be of great use."

Kevin asked casually.

"Please rest assured, Your Honored Master, I have already contacted Klein, who is in charge of the Elysian Realm, and obtained the design blueprints for the Fourth Divine Key."

"Once the Honored Master leaves the Sea of Quantum, we will repair it and relaunch it to continue its previous mission."

"Okay, then let's do it this way."

Kevin nodded. "And the other thing?"

"Another thing..." Gray Serpent's tone became somewhat cautious.

"My Honored Master, please forgive our incompetence. The girl Xia Ling that you asked us to pay special attention to... we failed to protect her."

"She is dead."

"Dead?" Kevin's voice finally changed slightly. "How did he die?"

"The information we have is still unclear, but we can be fairly certain that she died during the process of regaining the consciousness of the Second Herrscher."

"Her Far East Branch has basically confirmed her death and has even held a funeral."

"Schicksal, perhaps because the Far East Branch has already betrayed Schicksal, they haven't canceled Xia Ling's Valkyrie status."

"I apologize, Your Honored Master. Xia Ling's death was sudden. Since we were not prepared to intervene in this incident, we were unable to detect the seriousness of the situation in time."

"After realizing the problem, we immediately dispatched the Rabbit to the Imaginary Space to confirm, but we did not find Xia Ling's remains."

"Um..."

Kevin pondered for a moment, then suddenly asked a completely unrelated question.

"Recently, has there been any unusual activity or abnormality in the Elysian Realm?"

"Anomalies in the Elysian Realm? I'm sorry, Your Honored Master, I don't quite understand what you mean by 'anomalies'..."

"If you don't understand, then it means there's nothing wrong with it."

Kevin finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Since there are no abnormalities in the Elysian Realm, I can tell you that Xia Ling is most likely not dead."

A glint of light flashed in the Gray Serpent's eyes. "Your Honored Master, do you mean that this Miss Xia Ling is related to a certain Honored Master of the Elysian Realm..."

"This is not something you should be thinking about; I'm just reminding you."

Kevin doesn't intend to reveal any more.

"She couldn't have died so hastily, and... your follow-up actions, unless they involve the final version of the Stigmata Project that we are going to implement, can all give way to her."

"After all, she herself is an important part of a certain plan."

"Understood, Your Honored Master. Based on our previous investigation of Xia Ling, her worldview and understanding of good and evil should be quite upright."

"We will adjust the plans she is involved in accordingly."

"However, Your Honored Master, the extent of our concessions..."

"Let's see what she's capable of."

"If she can do it, then let her do it. Of course, you can also try to stop her, it's up to you to decide."

"But you also need to bear the risk of failure yourselves. As for her, I will not take action against her unless it involves the final version of the Stigmata Project."

"Alright, that's all I have to say. You can handle the rest yourselves."

"Yes, Your Honored Master."

The Gray Serpent bowed again. "I will prepare everything necessary for your return."

The Sea of Quantum fell into a deathly silence once again.

Meanwhile, in Changkong City.

"Headmaster, Bronya has arrived at her destination."

Bronya was hiding in a makeshift rental room, operating several computers.

The Heavy Armor Rabbit was right beside her, helping her with data processing and classification.

"The forged identities for us are all ready, and the message we received on the Hyperion has been deciphered and translated."

"Next, please follow Bronya's instructions to enter the city, and then meet up at the location Bronya has prepared."

"The coordinate information has been confirmed and sent to your respective terminals."

"Okay, I understand."

Theresa's brief reply came through the communicator, along with her questioning voice.

"But why did you give me the identity of a primary school student?! I'm not that childish, am I?"

"It seems the headmistress doesn't have a full understanding of her own appearance, but that's alright, Bronya has that."

"In short, please enter the city as soon as possible. Although Bronya has not studied it carefully, her intuition and some details tell Bronya that there are many suspicious things about this city."

"It's the same with Mei. If something goes wrong, the headmaster can pretend to be a child and act cute to solve the problem, but it will be much more difficult for Mei."

"I understand, Bronya..."

"But should we really believe what that so-called Gray Serpent said?"

"Is there really any information about Kiana in Changkong City...?"

"Whether what he said is true or not, we have to come and see for ourselves."

Theresa continued, "For us right now, any intelligence is invaluable."

"Moreover, according to the Doctor's monitoring, the frequency of Honkai events in Changkong City recently has indeed reached an abnormally high level."

"Even if Kiana isn't here, there will definitely be other issues related to this."

Moreover, the main reason is...

Theresa couldn't help but recall a conversation Ain had with her privately on the day of Xia Ling's funeral.

During that time, she didn't get enough rest because of Xia Ling's situation, and she worked with dark circles under her eyes all day long.

At that time, Ain shared a guess with her.

"Regarding Xia Ling... After this incident, Te Xia San Liu Zhou Long VII Wu Ba Ling Meng Sila and I constructed a personality model for her."

"Combined with the details we reviewed afterward, we came to a very interesting conclusion."

"Throughout the entire Schicksal War, Xia Ling was able to calculate almost every step of her plan flawlessly, and she even guessed Otto's every move clearly."

"Such a person could not possibly be unaware of the risks of facing Sirin deep into the Imaginary Space."

"Moreover, it's not hard to guess that Sirin would escape into the Imaginary Space. Even I could think of this possibility before activating the weapon, so there's no reason why Xia Ling couldn't."

"So, now that she's thought of it, she can't possibly face Sirin empty-handed."

"So... IIling",siba/"

"She may not actually be dead, or rather, she was already aware of her impending death."

Chapter Three: Disobedient Kiana Should Be Severely Punished

"But that doesn't make sense."

Theresa immediately retorted.

"Putting aside the question of whether Xia Ling is dead or not, even if it were true, what reason would Xia Ling have to die at Sirin's hands?"

"Besides, if she's not dead, why hasn't she come looking for me yet...?"

"Well... I don't know."

"I can only say that we know too little about Xia Ling."