Gem Adaptable

"Alright, I'll make it quick. That girl lying on the bed is your friend, right?"

"Friend... I guess... you could say that..." Xina nodded, feigning calm, silently praying Kiana wouldn't wake up at a moment like this—otherwise, things would get very awkward.

"Child, do you want to protect your companion?" Dr. Mackie placed a heavy hand on Xina's shoulder, speaking with solemn gravity.

Ugh, at this point, can I even say no...

Xina's mouth twitched slightly as she steeled herself and nodded to Mackie: "I do..."

"Then wait until your friend wakes up, and together we'll convince her to leave Schicksal!"

"You—" Xina nearly spat out a mouthful of Honkai energy solution from sheer frustration. She barely held back the urge to tie this old man to a chair and interrogate him about the gem's whereabouts, instead squeezing out two crocodile tears and playing the victim.

"Fine, I admit it. I lied to you earlier. I know what the mission objective is, but I didn't tell the truth." Xina lowered her head, beginning to fabricate a story with a more coherent logic.

"So... what did you hide?" Mackie looked at Xina with suspicion, as if waiting for her answer.

"The order I received was that someone plans to use the Serenity Gem to trigger a large-scale Honkai eruption, directly selecting a suitable master for the gem—in other words, artificially creating a Honkai disaster." Xina's expression was blank as she pinned her own goal on someone else, hoping to force Mackie into a decision.

From their lengthy conversation, she had already roughly figured out Mackie's personality, and was just waiting for him to take the bait and reveal the Serenity Gem's location.

Sure enough, after Xina dropped such a bombshell, Mackie couldn't sit still. He looked at her seriously and asked, "Child, is your information reliable?"

"Even if... those guys do some shady things now and then, they're still professionals when it comes to intelligence..."

"Damn it!!" Mackie spun around frantically and started fiddling with the closed laptop on the desk. Soon, the screen displayed what looked like a live surveillance feed.

In the image, a blue-purple gem suspended in a glass container glowed faintly in the dim environment. Around it, a group of people in high-grade Honkai energy protective suits bustled about in the nearly sealed space.

They kept taking purple crystals from specialized containers and piling them up around the Serenity Gem's container.

"These are... Honkai energy crystals! Why are they putting these here?!"

Zzzzz...

A few seconds later, the surveillance feed flickered as if disrupted by something, until Mackie's screen was nothing but static.

"I see! I see!" Mackie covered his face, beads of sweat as big as beans rolling down his cheeks. Staring at the static-filled monitor, he beat his chest and stamped his feet:

"That vixen Cocolia! So this was her real plan all along! She never intended to analyze the gem..."

"She's going to soak the gem in high-concentration Honkai energy crystals to trigger a chain reaction!"

"Your intel is right. Cocolia plans to artificially create a Honkai disaster right here, to select a new gem-holder!"

"Then do we still have time to stop them?" Xina asked.

"Stop them..." Mackie looked up at the frail young woman standing beside him, then glanced at the watch on his wrist: "If we go now, we should still make it, but—"

"But what? The safety of the entire city rests on the two of us now. Even if there's danger, I have to go."

Xina's fingers dug tightly into the fabric of her clothes, and her voice carried an unmistakable urgency.

Who would've thought that woman Cocolia was even worse than me? What kind of twisted brain does she have?!

"Just you alone? Are you trying to get yourself killed!?"

"So what?" Xina glared at Mackie, puffing up with anger, and said each word deliberately: "I can't just stand by and watch a new Herrscher appear." Because I'm dead set on getting that gem!

The moment the word "Herrscher" came out, the pain and hesitation on Mackie's face vanished, replaced by resolve and determination: "Yeah... a Herrscher... if something like that appears..."

"You stay here and take care of your friend. I'll go give it a try. If I fail, you contact your superiors and let them handle it!"

"You? With those old bones of yours, can you manage? How about we go together? If something goes wrong, I'll run!" Xina stepped aside, tentatively offering a suggestion.

"Fine, follow me!"

With that, Mackie pulled back his chair and strode out the door.

For a split second, Xina caught a glimpse of youthful vitality in this weathered old man.

What a relief! Finally took the bait!

Xina let out a long breath. After Mackie left the room, she pressed her hand down on the laptop, destroying the surveillance playback device in a simple, brutal way.

Then, she leisurely followed behind Mackie, heading toward the Serenity Gem's storage location.

In front of the metal door on the basement's first floor, Mackie—weighed down by his aging body—leaned against the wall, gasping for air. He stared nervously at the keypad, praying silently as he entered the code he knew.

8 0 8 8!

Beep—Password correct!

Seeing the sealed metal door slide open before him, Mackie finally relaxed. It was still early enough; everything could still be salvaged.

Yet, for some reason, he felt something was off. If that vixen Cocolia didn't trust him, why hadn't she even changed the password to the vault...

Just as he was thinking, several soldiers in special Honkai energy protective suits emerged from the vault.

Each of them carried weapons. They had been busy inside, but when they saw the sealed vault door opened from the outside, they raised their guns and blocked the entrance to see what was happening.

The one in the lead stepped out of the vault and looked at Mackie with confusion: "Dr. Mackie, what are you doing here?"

Even facing several dark gun barrels, Mackie showed no fear. He puffed out his chest, looked at these Anti-Entropy soldiers, and questioned them without flinching: "What I want to ask is, what are you doing! Do you have any idea you're artificially creating a disaster?!"

"We only follow orders, nothing else!" The Anti-Entropy soldier waved dismissively, pushing Mackie back a step. "If you have a problem, contact my superior, Cocolia."

"What kind of nonsense is that! This is the lives of an entire city! Have you people lost even the most basic shred of humanity?!" Mackie caught a glimpse through the gaps between the soldiers—the Honkai Intensity Detector beside the gem container had already started ticking upward. He charged recklessly toward the open metal door, desperate to do something.

"Old man, if you want to die, just say so—don't get in the way of our work!" The Anti-Entropy Soldier slammed the butt of his rifle into Baki, sending him sprawling to the ground. He kicked Baki's abdomen while impatiently urging his companions inside the secret chamber:

"Are you guys done yet? It won't be long before this place becomes uninhabitable. Finish up quickly so we can get the hell out of here."

"Damn it! Whether it's Otto... or Cocolia... those big shots... have they never valued anyone's life?" Baki lay on the ground clutching his chest and abdomen, staring blankly at the ceiling. That rifle butt strike was no joke—he could clearly feel two of his ribs had snapped, the broken bones even piercing into his internal organs.

The massive internal bleeding quickly drained Baki's already meager vitality. His eyelids grew heavier, his consciousness fuzzier. In a daze, he seemed to see his granddaughter standing quietly beside him, watching him.

"That girl didn't come, which means she's already gone to call someone to handle this. I've tried everything I could and should do. Lin, Grandpa's coming to find you..."

Muttering to himself, Baki slowly closed his eyes. A trail of murky tears flowed down the corner of his eye, past his ear, through his hair, and finally fell to the ground, freezing into a dazzling ice flower.

"Ah! What the hell is that thing?!"

A sharp scream and hurried footsteps pulled Baki back from his fading consciousness. He opened his eyes in confusion, and before death arrived, he witnessed a sight that completely overturned his understanding.

The Anti-Entropy Soldiers who had just been bossing him around and kicking him in front of the secret chamber door were frozen into ice statues as they fled, yet he himself still lay safely on the ground.

That young girl he had mistaken for a Valkyrie of Destiny was standing at the entrance of the secret chamber, holding a pile of high-concentration Honkai energy crystals and eating them like snacks.

Crunch, crunch...

Xina swallowed one high-concentration Honkai energy crystal, then picked up another and stuffed it into her mouth.

The exertion from just now had been a bit intense; she needed to replenish some energy to support her next moves.

"You... who... the hell... are you..." Baki raised his right hand with difficulty, pointing at Xina as he forced out a few words haltingly.

"Me?" Xina stuffed a Honkai energy crystal into her mouth while organizing her words, preparing to answer the last question of this old man who had helped her find the Serenity Gem.

"Didn't I already tell you? The Serenity Gem will catalyze a Gem-Worthy One. Guess who that Gem-Worthy One is?"

"..." Baki didn't answer, just stared at the Honkai energy crystals tucked in Xina's arms.

Seeing no one to play off her, Xina had to warm up the stage herself: "Yeah, that's right, it's me, Xina-da!"

"To thank you for guiding me, I'll allow you to witness the birth of the Apostle of God in your final moments!" Xina pulled the blue-purple Serenity Gem from a small metal box in her pocket and pressed it tightly against her chest.