"!"
Under Maji's shocked gaze, Xina suddenly opened her eyes again. She stuffed the gem back into her pocket, crouched beside Maji with a mischievous grin, and said softly:
"Ha ha ha, I tricked you! Making such a big move in a place where enemies could pop up anywhere—I'd have to be out of my mind to do something that stupid."
"But seriously, I'm still very grateful to you. After all, I never would have found this place without you."
"To thank you, I can grant you one wish within my power. So don't die just yet~ Think it over carefully, and tell me once you've decided!"
"A wish..." Maji savored the word. After thinking for several minutes, he struggled to pull several test tubes from his pocket.
"I beg you to send the little girl in my room somewhere safe, and while you're at it, destroy the Honkai energy reactor here."
"Hey, hey, hey, that's a little greedy~, you know? Saving someone plus blowing up the reactor—that's two wishes!" Xina turned back to look at the reactor continuously producing Honkai energy and unconsciously licked her lips.
"I know. This is the Honkai energy antibody medicine I developed. Consider it payment." Maji nodded and handed the test tubes to Xina. "It is my finest work. Take it. It will probably be useful to you someday."
"Tch, sounds like a hassle. But... considering you're about to die, I'll reluctantly agree!" Xina took the test tubes Maji offered and held them up to the light for a look.
When she could make neither heads nor tails of them, Xina pursed her lips and rose to walk toward the sealed chamber filled with highly concentrated Honkai energy.
After absorbing the last of the Honkai energy leaking into the surroundings, Xina slammed her fist down on the red self-destruct button and headed for the exit.
"Hey, what I promised you, I..."
Suddenly, Xina swallowed the rest of her words.
Looking at Maji, who had already passed away peacefully on the floor, Xina fell silent for a long time. After a while, she let out a faint sigh, turned around, and walked toward the elevator.
Now, she had only one last thing left to do—send that foolish girl named Kiana upstairs somewhere safe.
After that, she could finally abandon that unbearable past and enjoy her life.
Meanwhile, Welt, who had just been recovered from the blast zone, lay on a sofa while Anti-Entropy medical personnel treated him.
"Damn Valkyrie! She actually cut off my tongue. The next time I see her, I'll make her pay it back tenfold!" The moment Welt put on his voice-assistance collar, he turned into a human telegraph machine. His mouth simply would not stop, making the eyelids of the nearby Anti-Entropy personnel twitch.
Beep beep beep! Beep beep beep!
"Hello? Cocolia, what is it now? Let me tell you, I'm in a very bad mood right now. You'd better have something important if you suddenly called me!" Welt shoved aside the caregiver next to him and sat up from the sofa with a careless air.
"I've lost contact with the team installing the reactor on the gem, and I can't reach Maji either. I have a feeling our plan might..."
Before she could finish, another violent explosion erupted from below. Anti-Entropy technicians looked through the window toward the explosion site, and their faces instantly darkened.
"What now? Why has everything been so damned chaotic today?" Keeping the line open with Cocolia, Welt swaggered to the window. He casually shoved aside the person blocking his view and happened to witness the spectacular secondary collapse caused by the Honkai energy reactor explosion!
"Damn it, it must have been those Valkyries messing around! By the way, where's that old bastard Maji?"
Welt gritted his teeth as he stared at the first underground floor, where columns of black smoke continued to rise, then turned and rushed out of the room.
Bang!
"Old man! Why aren't you replying to me? Are you looking down on me?"
Welt kicked open Maji's room door and stormed inside, intending to beat up that senile fool who only knew how to cause him trouble and vent his anger.
Who would have thought that after all that noisy commotion, it could only be said that he had found nothing much.
Forget Maji, a living person—someone had even deliberately destroyed the computer on Maji's desk beyond repair.
The exploded basement, the missing operation team, the damaged electronic equipment, Maji's loss of contact, and the clues his subordinates had reported all made Welt even more certain of his earlier judgment—those hateful Valkyries from Schicksal had definitely done it!
No! It seemed like I'd just overlooked something?
Having just reached the hallway outside the door, Welt, usually such a straightforward thinker, seemed to recall something important and hurried back into Maji's room.
He picked up several strands of long white hair from the messy bed, inexplicably thinking of the two girls he had encountered downstairs earlier.
He had been in a hurry at the time. Seeing that one of the girls wore hotel staff clothing, he had not paid them much attention. But... the girl being supported by the staff member had definitely had white hair.
"Quick! Find that white-haired girl from earlier! Even if you have to tear this hotel apart, find her for me!" Welt casually flung the white strands aside and stormed out of the room.
Perhaps Xina had never intended to conceal her tracks. Relying on the staff uniform she wore, she quickly found Kiana's room number at the hotel front desk.
After borrowing a master key card from the cleaners on this floor to unlock Kiana's door, Xina casually tossed the unconscious Kiana onto the bed. She then found a sofa that was relatively soft and planned to rest here for a while before leaving.
"That short walk wore me out completely. Looks like I need to exercise more from now on." Xina looked resentfully at Kiana, who was sleeping soundly on the bed, and rubbed her aching lower back.
Hm, someone's coming? Are they looking for me, or for that sleeping beauty?
Lying on her side on the sofa with her eyes closed, Xina sensed it in advance and opened her eyes. Her golden pupils curiously turned toward the door. Before long, a chaotic, heavy set of footsteps came from outside the tightly shut door.
"Quick! Quick! Quick! It's here..."
With a loud bang, the closed hotel room door was brutally destroyed by force. A group led by Welt barged straight in.
"..." Welt turned his head and surveyed the room. His lecherous yet violent gaze passed right over Xina, dressed as a staff member, and landed on Kiana.
"You lot, get out. I alone am enough here."
Before you continue