Welt nodded and confirmed, "That's right. Anti-Entropy has indeed conducted relevant research, but our results..."
"I know. You mean that the research findings of your conservative and radical factions are only partially shared."
Xia Ling cut him off directly. "Don't look at me like that. Many of Anti-Entropy's actions in North America have contradicted each other, including what happened in Changkong City this time. Anyone with eyes can tell that you have internal discord."
"Then all it takes is a little digging through Schicksal's database to easily learn about the factional divide within Anti-Entropy."
"I can assist you with some corresponding research. Although I don't know much about the theoretical side, I have the ability and experience. I can even help you avoid certain dangers."
"Then what do we need to give in return?" Welt adjusted his glasses. "It's clear that Teacher Xia Ling is very sincere, so I imagine what you want won't be insignificant either."
"Mm... you could say that. I have two requests." Xia Ling held up two fingers.
"First, I need an identity. This identity must be able to mobilize Anti-Entropy's resources to a certain extent and possess a sufficient level of confidentiality against Schicksal."
"Note that this identity does not necessarily have to be for my own use."
"That can be arranged." Einstein's calm voice came from the air. "The Alliance Leader is not very familiar with this aspect, but I can make that promise to you."
"Good. Straightforward enough." Xia Ling nodded in satisfaction. "Then second, I need Welt to act for me once at some point in the future."
"Don't rush to refuse. I'm not finished." Welt had just opened his mouth to decline when Xia Ling interrupted him.
"This action will not violate your principles, harm the interests of Anti-Entropy or humanity, or require you to kill innocent people."
"Likewise, you may refuse, or withdraw midway through, in case I deceive you with false information."
"But in that case, fulfilling this request would depend entirely on the Alliance Leader's own conscience, wouldn't it?" Einstein's voice turned questioning.
"That's because I have enough confidence in what I intend to do." Xia Ling did not answer the question. Instead, she turned to Welt. "Well? Do you agree?"
"I think we can accept." Ain did not use the external speakers this time, speaking to Welt through his earpiece.
"We stand to lose nothing. Even if she is from Schicksal, it doesn't matter. Schicksal's exploration of the Sea of Quantum has already surpassed ours by far, so obtaining our research progress would not mean much to her."
"As for her two requests... they barely count as a price for us to pay. You can simply refuse her request for action."
"Fine. In that case, here's to a pleasant cooperation, Teacher Xia Ling."
Welt extended his hand.
"Mm. A pleasant cooperation, Teacher Welt."
Xia Ling: Another One, Huh?
Host, did you ask Welt for an identity for Flame Willow's sake?
Back in her room, the system asked curiously.
Although the system could hear every conversation between Flame Willow and Xia Ling, the two of them were two bodies with one mind. Many arrangements were silently understood and skipped over without discussion, often leaving the system utterly confused.
"It really is for Flame Willow."
But doesn't that mean you'll expose the connection between you and Flame Willow?
"That doesn't really matter. The claim that she is a visitor from a World Bubble leaves far too much room for interpretation."
Xia Ling shook her head and explained, "System, you should know our three goals for the coming year."
Mm. Oceania, the Manila Honkai incident, and the Second Divine Key.
"That's right. But in these three incidents, our identities and opponents will all be different."
"Later, I'll also ask Raven to use World Serpent's channels to obtain an identity for Flame Willow."
"If we become involved in Oceania, our hypothetical enemy will be Schicksal. Anti-Entropy may also get involved, but for World Serpent, this matter would not be worth paying attention to."
"Then when we make our arrangements, we need to use an identity from World Serpent's side, so Schicksal and Anti-Entropy won't find any flaws."
"These global organizations gather information from many angles, such as flight records and the traces left by my itinerary."
"Going through all this trouble to change identities is so that their investigation can only lead as far as World Serpent. At most, they'll know that the person stirring things up came from World Serpent, instead of tracing the ticket I bought Flame Willow all the way back to me."
"The struggle over the Second Divine Key is the same. We will definitely have to face both Schicksal and World Serpent."
"So at that time..."
I see. I understand now. That's when we'll use Anti-Entropy's identity, right?
"As for the connection between Flame Willow and me... that brings us to another matter."
"Anti-Entropy's old guard are all intelligent people, but more importantly, they are good people." "Especially if they believe that I am a good person too."
"They may investigate and look into certain matters, but they absolutely won't dig to the bottom of everything like Otto does, trying to make every last detail clear."
"Once I give them vague answers that are still enough to explain things more or less, they'll infer a reasonable conclusion on their own."
"And once I truly become part of the protagonist group and share hardships with them, the identities and background I concealed at the beginning may only show up in flashback scenes like Passing Dust."
I completely understand it all now! This is the classic development of, "Your past no longer matters. At least now, you are my companion," right?
Images of brains, the universe, and formulas seemed to appear across the system's light screen, accompanied by a familiar BGM.
"This is the protagonist group. If they weren't good people, I wouldn't have the chance to be so vague... If Otto were my opponent, I'd probably really have to lay all my cards on the table to negotiate..."
Hm? Host, why did you stop talking?
"Sigh, another guest is here." Xia Ling sighed helplessly, spread her arms, and collapsed onto the bed.
After advancing to Elite 2, Xia Ling's perception of the various elements and information within space had become exceptionally sharp.
For example, right now, she could clearly sense a short lifeform slowly floating toward her room.
"Looks like I won't be getting a good night's sleep tonight..."
Sure enough, not long afterward.
"Knock, knock, knock." A soft knocking sound rang out.
"Sister Xia Ling, are you asleep? Bronya has something she wants to talk to Sister Xia Ling about."
Outside the door, Duck Duck's highly recognizable, childish, emotionless voice sounded together with the knocking.
"I'm already asleep."
"..."
"In that case, Bronya will not disturb Sister Xia Ling."
Duck Duck stopped knocking. Just as she turned to leave, the bedroom door suddenly opened.
"Hmm? Bronya, now that you're here, do you think you can still run away?"
Several tangible tentacles formed from Honkai Energy extended out the door, directly wrapped up Duck Duck, who was still in her pajamas, and pulled her back inside before casually shutting the door.
"Sister Xia Ling's method of using Honkai Energy is truly eye-opening."
Looking at the tentacle wrapped around her waist, Bronya wore a ( ? ? ? ) expression and spoke slowly.
"This is the punishment for naughty children who refuse to sleep properly."
After placing Bronya on the chair beside the desk, Xia Ling poured two glasses of water and sat beside Duck Duck.
"Go on. Coming to find me this late, it must be something inconvenient for others to hear. Let me guess... it has something to do with the Sea of Quantum, doesn't it?"
"That's right... Sister Xia Ling is truly perceptive."
Bronya was not too surprised that Xia Ling had immediately seen through her purpose. After all, her unusual traits were practically all visible on the outside.
A massive robotic companion, emotional impairment caused by brain damage, mechanical exoskeletons that allowed her to walk, and outstanding combat skills—anyone could tell at a glance that this girl had an extraordinary past.
"Then, Sister Xia Ling, please listen to Bronya tell a story first."
"Bronya was once a child soldier active in Siberia..."
In Xia Ling's room, Bronya slowly recounted her past in a calm voice: her childhood, her adoptive mother, and her younger sister... Seele.
Bronya did not hide that she came from Anti-Entropy, nor did she embellish the experiments Cocolia had once conducted. She merely stated the facts one by one.
Because she knew very well that, as the one asking for help, withholding information would be irresponsible toward the person helping her.
What was more, although Xia Ling had not said it outright, judging from the fact that it had taken her so long after coming to this world to recover from her injuries, entering and leaving the Sea of Quantum was clearly no easy task for Xia Ling either.
She desperately wanted to rescue Seele as soon as possible, but that did not mean she wanted others to encounter danger because of her.
"So you believe your sister Seele is still drifting in the Sea of Quantum, and you want to enter the Sea of Quantum to bring her back. Is that right?"
Xia Ling scratched her head in distress and sighed.
"Mm. So, does Sister Xia Ling have a way? Or even a little advice would do."
Bronya looked at Xia Ling, her eyes filled with hope and pleading.
"The way you're looking at me is making me feel so guilty all of a sudden..."
Xia Ling felt uncomfortable under Duck Duck's gaze and silently turned her head away.
"So... Sister Xia Ling doesn't have a solution either?"
Seeing this, Bronya assumed that Xia Ling was powerless in this matter as well and lowered her head in disappointment.
"I really can't help you right now, but that doesn't mean I won't be able to help you later, or that I can't tell you how."
"Really?" Light returned to Bronya's eyes.
"First, I rely on a... mm, item bound to me to enter and leave the Sea of Quantum. It can't be transferred, and it can't bring anyone else along. I definitely can't help you bring Seele out."
"So you still need to find a way in reality to enter the Sea of Quantum yourself and bring out your sister. I can enter the Sea of Quantum beforehand to help you determine her location, and protect you after you enter."
"Second, your sister is not simply lost in the Sea of Quantum. Her problem is that she has been quantized. Simply finding her would be useless."
Complete Acceptance
"Of course, there is one more, and it is the most dangerous problem."
Xia Ling sighed. "In the Sea of Quantum, near our world, there is an extremely dangerous existence."
"An extremely dangerous existence?" Bronya tilted her head. "How dangerous?"
"Whether it was me at my peak, or Principal Theresa, even if the two of us joined forces, we would probably find it difficult to defeat it." Xia Ling paused before adding, "Saying we even had a ten percent chance of winning would already be giving ourselves too much credit."
"Th-that dangerous?" Bronya's expression did not change, but it was obvious that she had begun to panic. "Then doesn't that mean Seele is in danger?"
"Not necessarily..." Xia Ling thought for a moment. "That existence may not bear much hostility toward humans. It might even protect your sister incidentally. I'm only saying that its strength is terrifying, and we know absolutely nothing about it."
"Whenever something is unknown, it is often accompanied by risk, isn't it?"
"But don't worry." Seeing that Bronya was still visibly uneasy, Xia Ling smiled and reassured her.
"After some time, I'll go to the Sea of Quantum and take a look for you. I can't bring your sister out, but at least I can try to determine her location and whether she is safe."
"Okay." Bronya nodded heavily. "As long as Sister Xia Ling can help Bronya rescue Seele, Bronya will do anything Sister Xia Ling asks."
"Oh? Really, anything?" Xia Ling wore a mischievous smile and, imitating Elysia from earlier, softly asked beside Bronya's ear.
Feeling the warm breath by her ear, Bronya lowered her head slightly. "Of course... anything."
"All right, all right." Xia Ling vigorously rubbed Bronya's little head. "At your age, don't think about such messy things... Maybe I really will need your help with something later, but we can talk about that in the future."
"Now hurry back and sleep. You still have classes tomorrow."
After seeing Bronya off, Xia Ling sighed and lay down on her bed.
"Finally, I can get a good night's sleep..."
After advancing to Elite 2, Xia Ling's life immediately became much more fulfilling.
Besides her regular teaching duties during the day, Himeko had no intention of letting this fresh combat resource go. She directly incorporated Xia Ling into St. Freya's combat roster and took her everywhere to carry out combat missions whenever there was work to do.
After fighting alongside her many times, the experienced Himeko gradually saw through Xia Ling's true nature.
Although Xia Ling's explosive power and overall strength were formidable, her combat techniques and experience could only be described as extremely... unrestrained.
No, it would be more accurate to say that she fought with a completely wild style.
Xia Ling's experience and techniques had been gained honestly through life-and-death struggles. She had no fixed patterns in battle, attacking only for the greatest possible efficiency in killing and prioritizing survival in defense.
She even frequently used tactics that traded injuries for lives during missions. Though her own strength was solid enough that she usually emerged completely unscathed, Himeko beside her was often frightened out of her wits.
Still, that was not necessarily a bad thing. Although these habits had all been developed by Xia Ling in trials and simulated training grounds, they also happened to match Xia Ling's "background."
Her lack of formal combat experience was because she came from an unorthodox background. Her focus on killing and survival in battle was because she often walked the line between life and death. And her combat style of trading wounds for lives...
Before you continue