Someone in Honkai, But Integrated Strategies Activated

It was unusual, though, that she could sense traces of Honkai Energy usage on the other person's body as well.

Could Schicksal have found my trail? But I haven't even made a move yet... Should I test the waters?

Raven casually walked past her and then suddenly spoke up, "Little girl, your ice cream cone is melting."

"Ah... Huh?" Anna, who had been spacing out, looked dazed. Hearing Raven's voice, she quickly looked down. Indeed, the once firm ice cream was showing signs of softening.

"How is it melting so fast in such a short time..." The girl's voice held a hint of distress. She looked around and then, on impulse, shoved the cone into Raven's hand. "Thanks for the reminder. As a thank you, you can have this."

Looking at the ice cream cone the girl offered, Raven found her thoughts momentarily unable to keep up. She was even starting to wonder if the girl had poisoned the cone.

"Uh... Thanks, but I'm lactose intolerant, I can't eat dairy products like this." Raven waved her hand, pushing the ice cream back.

"Is that so... Then I'll just have to finish it all myself. I'll buy one for Reed Grass later," Anna muttered softly, then quickly devoured the other cone.

Before Raven could even be surprised by the girl's speed in eating the ice cream, the first thing she caught was another name.

"Reed Grass?"

The two of them weren't far from the shore, and Flame Willow's enhanced physical abilities allowed her to easily overhear their conversation.

Because of this, she was already sweating profusely.

"Mm-hmm, yes, she's my companion. But I'm a bit busy right now, so I'll have to ask her to wait a moment."

Anna answered without any suspicion.

"What an irresponsible person, leaving such a beautiful companion by the roadside."

Following this statement, Raven naturally continued, "What does your companion look like? I'll help you take a look and see when she'll be back."

Flame Willow: !!!∑(°Д°ノ)ノ

However, Anna did have some level of vigilance in this regard, or perhaps it was intuition born from a love-struck mind.

Anna immediately realized something was wrong. She clearly remembered that the reason Flame Willow disappeared was because she ran into an acquaintance.

Could it be that I've run into them by chance...?

Anna pondered, but her mouth didn't stop answering.

"My companion... she's about 1.5 meters tall, with white hair and red eyes. To put it a bit rudely, she's probably a flat-chested shorty."

Hearing this description, which bore almost no resemblance to her, Flame Willow breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed Anna had realized that Raven was the person she was trying to avoid.

Wuwuwu, I'm so touched, Anna. I'll never trick you into thinking you're a naive sweet girl again, qwqqq.

Flame Willow was sincerely repenting underwater.

"Oh... Is that so?" Not hearing the answer she wanted, Raven felt an indescribable mix of disappointment and relief. "Since the features are so distinct, I probably won't be needed. I have some things to attend to, so I wish you an early reunion with your friend."

After a few pleasantries with Anna, Raven quickly ended the one-sided conversation.

Although Raven appeared to have left, Anna maintained her unhurried demeanor. She first took a stroll through the food street, then bought an ice cream cone for both Flame Willow and herself. Finally, after confirming no one was paying attention to her, she walked to the ship's edge and looked at a certain spot on the water.

A moment later, a head with long golden hair emerged from the water. After looking around and seeing no one, it quickly surfaced.

Simultaneously, her body began emitting waves of intense heat, rapidly drying the moisture from her body before she lunged towards Anna.

"Wuwuwuwu, my dear Anna, I love you to death! I'll never call you silly again!"

"Wh-wh-what?" Anna's brain completely froze at Flame Willow's sudden action, her face instantly turning bright red, as if she had become a steam engine.

"Y-you... You let go of me first!" Anna could barely speak coherently.

Seeing that Flame Willow had finally let go, Anna quickly shoved the ice cream cone into her hand, preventing her from hugging her again. "You still haven't explained clearly, who was that just now!"

Meanwhile, Raven, who had arrived at a secret base of World Serpent, was still lost in thought.

"That Reed Grass just now... I'm still a bit bothered. White hair, red eyes, flat-chested loli – isn't that image a bit too... cliché? Like it was made up subconsciously."

After much deliberation, Raven finally took out her phone.

"Hello? Little Kong."

"Ah, it's Teacher!" Little Kong picked up the phone, her voice instantly brightening upon hearing Raven's voice.

"Yes, it's me, Little Kong. Are you all doing well recently?"

"Of course, Teacher. Sister Reed Grass takes very good care of us, just like always." Little Kong answered without hesitation. "Besides, Teacher, you haven't been gone that long, it's basically the same as before you left."

"Oh, that's good... By the way, where's your Sister Reed Grass? I don't hear her voice." Raven asked casually.

"Sister Reed Grass? She went out just now. It seems there's another powerful Honkai Beast nearby." Little Kong's answer was flawless. "Since the location isn't confirmed, only eyewitnesses have verified its authenticity, so it might take a long time to find. But Sister Reed Grass made us a big table of food before she left."

"Really? That's quite thoughtful of her. What did you all eat?"

"Sweet and sour pork, fish-flavored shredded pork, and many other dishes I can't name!"

As she spoke, a picture was sent to Raven's phone.

Looking at the lavish feast in the photo, with Flame Willow and the children wearing aprons beside it, Raven finally felt at ease. After chatting with Little Kong about their usual lives for a while, Raven hung up the phone.

"Sigh, I really am too suspicious. How could Reed Grass possibly come here to date someone from Schicksal at this time?"

Finding her own absurd thought somewhat amusing, Raven stopped thinking about it and began to focus on her work.

On the other side, Little Kong also hung up the phone, sighing helplessly.

"Why is Sister Reed Grass so careless... Teacher already suspects her so quickly. Luckily, I still have the photos Sister Reed Grass took while cooking before I left."

"I hope Teacher and Sister Reed Grass go smoothly..."

Chapter 6: Respond to me, Elysia!

"So, is she your enemy? Colleague? Or friend?" Anna cautiously leaned closer after seeing Flame Willow start eating her ice cream cone, her eyes sparkling with gossip.

"None of those are quite right... My relationship with her is quite complicated, not something that can be explained in a few words."

Flame Willow felt a bit helpless but still tried her best to explain to Anna: "Right now, the situation is basically that she thinks I'm working hard and taking care of a child, but I've actually snuck out to play. So, it'll be troublesome if she finds out."

"You, you already have a child?" Anna's pupils dilated in shock.

"?"

Flame Willow almost lost her balance and fell: "No, I don't look that much older than you, girl. Is your mind perhaps a little..."

"But, didn't Lady Theresa also look very young..."

"So, I'm talking about the children at the orphanage!" Flame Willow tapped Anna's head: "No lewd thoughts!"

"So you're the type who really likes children." Anna had a look of understanding: "No wonder the first time we met, you were preparing to save that child."

"Hey, hey, I'd save anyone, okay..."

As night fell, during the routine meeting of the Xia Lings.

"Hello there, you sea king who was almost caught red-handed."

As soon as Flame Willow appeared in the system space, teasing from her other selves flooded in.

"To be precise, it should be a sea king hiding in the river."

"In this river? In this River Thames."

"Hey, hey, enough already. Who knew such a big place like London would have me running into two acquaintances in two days!"

Flame Willow was quite helpless about it.

"Besides, it's all the same no matter who among you came. It's just my bad luck to have run into it."

"Can't be helped. Because seeing you also inevitably heading into the sea, oh no, I should say the river, made me too happy." Xia Ling, whose ears had grown coral-like decorations similar to Highmore's, said with schadenfreude.

"Still laughing? Wait until you've completely turned into a Sea Creature, and I'll make you into braised fish!"

The group immediately descended into playful chaos. After a while, Highmore asked.

"Xia Ling, have you gotten any results from your scans? If you still need to go into the water tomorrow, I'll suppress the Sea Creature cells in your body first, instead of removing them directly."

"No need, just take them out directly. I've pretty much gotten my results today."

"Alright, then do it." Highmore shrugged and placed her hand on Xia Ling's chest.

A moment later, Xia Ling, whose Sea Creature characteristics had completely disappeared, took out a map.

"Look, the location of the Second Divine Key is probably around here."

Near the outskirts of the city, Xia Ling drew a circle with a pen.

"So remote." Flame Willow, who had already gained a preliminary understanding of London's geography, frowned.

"That's normal. Hiding a Divine Key is no small undertaking. The jackal also has to consider concealing its tracks," Xi analyzed the map.

"Actually, it's good. Remote is relative. At least this way it's convenient for us to come and go freely."

"Then, since we've found the location of the Second Divine Key, can we..." Flame Willow's voice revealed a hint of excitement.

"Don't rush. You can't use the Cipher Plate in the system, you know."

Xia Ling shook her head: "No matter what, we have to wait until Anna leaves tomorrow afternoon."

"By the way, the location is fine at the hotel. I took a stroll around while you guys were gone. Unless the other side is using monitoring equipment far superior to Schicksal's, there shouldn't be any cameras or recording devices in the room."

"That's why I say, Anna is truly a good person."

The next day, Anna, who had unknowingly been given the "good person" card, headed to the airport on time.

"I've already spoken with the front desk. You can use this suite however you like, for a month. If it exceeds that time, just give them my name, and they'll handle it."

Before leaving, Anna gave Flame Willow instructions and left her a thick travel guide.

"This wasn't made by me, but by Rita. It's highly playable and informative."

"So, this silly girl actually thinks I'm here for a vacation."

Standing by the floor-to-ceiling window of the hotel suite, Flame Willow couldn't help but exclaim: "How did she manage to grow this old without being scammed?"

"Is there a possibility that you are the one scamming her?" With a distortion of space, Xia Ling suddenly appeared beside Flame Willow.

"How did you manage to distance yourself so naturally? Commander Xia Ling, who was just as involved in fooling Anna back then, are you just cutting yourself off?" Flame Willow asked speechlessly.

"Alright, we'll talk about Anna later. We exchanged contact information this time anyway."

Xia Ling swiped her finger through the air, clearing a large space in the suite's living room.

"Now, it's time to get down to business."

[Cough, cough, although the host already knows, I still need to remind you here.]

[The random recruitment provided by the Cipher Plate doesn't absolutely guarantee the character the host wants to summon, even with my help.]

[So, host, are you ready with the anchor point to locate Elysia?]

"Why does this feel like Servant summoning? Do I need a Holy Relic too?" Xia Ling quipped. "Good thing I was prepared."

As she spoke, Xia Ling retrieved a well-preserved red envelope from the system space.

"So it's this. This brings back quite a distant memory." Seeing the red envelope, a flicker of understanding crossed Flame Willow's eyes. "I asked for this from Elysia during the trial back then."

"That's right. Using this for anchoring should be enough."

Next, Xia Ling took out a tightly wrapped stone tablet.

"I've been saving up for so long, and I only managed to pull two 'Wrath' cards. The drop rate is really low."

"Just to be safe, in case the effect of that red envelope isn't enough, let's use this to increase the anchor's precision."

As she said this, Flame Willow took out another tri-colored Cipher Plate from the system space.

The Cipher Plate in Flame Willow's hand was named [Arrival]. In the game, [Arrival] could select any node and trigger the accompanying text of any Cipher Plate. In reality, besides one node being equivalent to three days of summoning time, the [Arrival] Cipher itself had certain specific effects.

"Then..."

Flame Willow and Xia Ling exchanged a glance and placed their Cipher Plates together. Instantly, along with the red envelope Xia Ling had placed on the Cipher Plate, a dazzling white light erupted between them.

"Answer me, Elysia!"