Collapse City: Starting with the Production of an Animated Honkai

A massive warship cut through the sky above Canghai City, and with a thunderous roar, the camera focused on the clouds trailing behind the ship. Beneath the blue sky, the movie title appeared: Honkai I: Ode to Wind Colors.]

"Ah, the movie's just starting... It's going to be another long haul like the last one." Ling quietly set down her cola, not wanting to miss the good parts to go to the bathroom.

Sakura chuckled and ruffled her hair.

"Anti-Entropy is portrayed as a terrorist organization that implants chips in girls' brains?!" Shigure Kira, sitting in the front row, wore a strange expression. Even though this movie wasn't a collaboration with Anti-Entropy, it shouldn't be smearing its name!

Otherwise, how would they collaborate in the future?!

"Kira-ro, that's not something we need to worry about. If the sky falls, the tall ones will hold it up. Let Yaqing worry about it; all he does is sit in his office drinking coffee and eating snacks all day." Patrick patted Shigure Kira's shoulder, telling her not to worry.

Kiana rubbed her reddened hand with a wronged expression.

It was her own fault, really. Seeing Bronya being implanted with a chip in the story, she got curious if the real Bronya had one too and reached out to feel her gray, spiraled hair.

Bronya glared at her and slapped her hand away.

Mei chuckled at the scene.

[In Himeko's voiceover, she explained the upcoming Valkyrie Exam. Kiana and the others quickly immersed themselves in the tense study atmosphere. Kiana, skipping class, unexpectedly ran into Theresa, inevitably receiving a scolding.

After meeting with Himeko, Kiana learned that the tutor Himeko had arranged for her was Fu Hua.

According to Himeko, Fu Hua was Kiana's class monitor and an A-Rank Valkyrie of Destiny.]

"This... this isn't right, is it? With Hua's strength, almost single-handedly taking on the Valkyries, she should be more than qualified as an S-Rank Valkyrie. And a survivor from the previous era is actually attending classes?!" Pardo was incredibly eager to complain.

Fu Hua, who had such high prestige in the previous movie, had now been reduced to an A-Rank Valkyrie and just a student.

Many viewers found it hard to accept, especially since that Taixu Sword Qi move had amazed so many people.

"It's probably a side effect of Feather of the Wind. After all, she burned her memories and was amnesiac when she went offline in the last movie, not even recognizing her own disciple," Su speculated.

"Ah, Hua is so miserable..."

Su and Pardo's voices naturally reached Little Knowledge, who was sitting in the row in front of them. She also felt sorry for Fu Hua, considering how Otto had screwed her over.

Little Knowledge patted Fu Hua's shoulder, puffed out her not-so-large chest, and said, "Old timer, don't worry. When my character comes out, I'll definitely look out for you."

Little Knowledge was still thinking about the character Yaqing had promised her.

"I actually think it's quite nice this way," Fu Hua said.

"Huh?"

"Class monitor, I didn't expect you to still be our class monitor in the story," Kiana said.

Chapter 70: Strange Sounds in a Dream

[After a short tutoring session with class monitor Fu Hua, Kiana, dressed in light clothing, fell asleep hugging a Houm plushie in Himeko's class. However, judging from her furrowed brows, it wasn't a pleasant dream.

The scene shifted from the bedroom to the St. Freya Academy plaza. Kiana had also changed from her light clothing back into her White Comet armor. The blood-red filter created a sense of oppression. Suddenly, a woman's eerie laughter echoed behind her.

Kiana turned around sharply, but saw nothing.

"I've been asleep for far too long. But now, the gears of fate are turning once more."

"Welcome home, Kiana Kaslana☆~"

The woman's voice made Kiana feel dizzy, but she quickly realized she was dreaming and tried to wake up. However, the woman, who didn't show her face, wasn't in a hurry at all, not even taking Kiana seriously.

When she heard Kiana say that she would be the strongest Valkyrie of Destiny in the future, the woman finally couldn't help but laugh, saying each word clearly, "It seems you know nothing about the karma on your body. You are just an orphan abandoned by her father, who never even saw her mother."

"Aren't you curious why you haven't had your mother since you were born? Why did her father leave you?"

The woman's words successfully piqued Kiana's interest. Under Kiana's questioning, the woman deliberately changed the subject, planning to play a little game with Kiana.]

"How lovely, Theresa," Rita said with a smile.

Theresa, who was far away in Germany watching the movie with Kallen and Otto in their love nest, suddenly shivered, took a sip of bitter melon juice, and gradually calmed down.

Shigure Kira wished she could change seats, wanting to be as far away from Rita as possible. Theresa was clearly older than her...

"Rita has finally appeared. It seems you're the only one of us who hasn't shown up yet," Salome said with a smile. According to Yaqing's usual logic, she probably wouldn't live long and would go offline in the middle of the movie.

"You're the only one who hasn't died yet," Shub also thought of this, squinting her eyes and smiling.

"Hey, hey, hey, 'I'm' not confirmed dead, just missing," Shigure Kira quickly distanced herself from the "dead people," indicating that she was still alive.

Hearing them say that, Rita couldn't quite grasp the upcoming plot. Although Walter was nominally writing the script, everyone knew that Yaqing was a master of burying knives and using them.

He wouldn't really write me to death, would he?

Rita wasn't sure herself.

[After Fu Hua's tutoring session ended, Kiana, wearing light clothing, hugged a Houm plushie and fell asleep. However, judging from her furrowed brows, it wasn't a pleasant dream.

The scene shifted from the bedroom to the St. Freya Academy plaza. Kiana had also changed from her light clothing back into her White Comet armor. The blood-red filter created a sense of oppression. Suddenly, a woman's eerie laughter echoed behind her.

Kiana turned around sharply, but saw nothing.

"I've been asleep for far too long. But now, the gears of fate are turning once more."

"Welcome home, Kiana Kaslana☆~"

The woman's voice made Kiana feel dizzy, but she quickly realized she was dreaming and tried to wake up. However, the woman, who didn't show her face, wasn't in a hurry at all, not even taking Kiana seriously.

When she heard Kiana say that she would be the strongest Valkyrie of Destiny in the future, the woman finally couldn't help but laugh, saying each word clearly, "It seems you know nothing about the karma on your body. You are just an orphan abandoned by her father, who never even saw her mother."

"Aren't you curious why you haven't had your mother since you were born? Why did her father leave you?"

The woman's words successfully piqued Kiana's interest. Under Kiana's questioning, the woman deliberately changed the subject, planning to play a little game with Kiana.

Let Kiana catch up with her, while also summoning a number of dead soldiers to block Kiana's path.]

Seeing that familiar ☆ symbol, the audience watching the movie got excited.

"It's Queen! Ahhh, Queen is still alive!"

"Crap, we can't say she's just a memory anymore, Queen is actually online again."

"Queen, your voice and appearance remain, your smile is eternal!"

"Queen is actually still alive?!"

"If Queen didn't go offline, does that mean Cecilia didn't either?"

"I feel like I wasted my tears..."

In the front row, Shub guessed, "Since Sirin hasn't gone offline, have you received any news? Will Director Cecilia appear again later?"

"I haven't received any such plot points yet." Salome, as a director, denied Shub's guess.

"Salome, how many scripts have you received now?" Cheng Lixue asked curiously.

It wasn't just Cheng Lixue who was curious; all the women were a little curious, and even Kiana and the others in the back row perked up their ears.

"I can't say." Salome refused to answer.

Everyone couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.

But Patrick noticed Salome giving them a meaningful look.

"Sirin?" Himeko now recalled that Sirin seemed to be a student in her class, but she had been on leave of absence, so there was no way to see this "Queen" at St. Freya Academy.

In the back row, Mei looked at Mobius with a smile that wasn't quite a smile, and said, "Dr. Mobius, it seems I've won."

Mobius stubbornly said, "It's just this segment, it doesn't necessarily mean that the Herrscher of the Void's core is in Kiana's body."

Mei had worked with Mobius for almost ten years, so she naturally knew her stubbornness and bravado. She didn't press the issue, smiled, and continued watching the movie.

But Mobius felt more and more uncertain, and cautiously nudged Yaqing with her elbow.

Yaqing looked at her in confusion.

Mobius frowned.

Strangely, Yaqing actually understood the meaning in Mobius's eyes.

The Void Herrscher core isn't really in Kiana's body, is it?

Mobius gestured with her eyes.

For the sake of fairness in the bet, Yaqing pretended not to see.

Mobius angrily stomped on his foot.

Meanwhile, far away in Canghai City, Shenzhou, Ziegfried and his wife were also in a movie theater. Ziegfried once again showed off his money power, directly booking a high-end VIP screening room. When he saw Sirin's voice on the screen telling Kiana that she had been abandoned by her father, Cecilia's brow furrowed.

Noticing Cecilia's frown, Ziegfried, filled with a desire to survive, quickly explained, "Honey, you know me, I would never abandon Kiana."

It's no wonder Ziegfried explained so quickly; if he were any slower, he'd probably be kneeling on a keyboard all night when they got back to the hotel.

"I know." Cecilia understood Ziegfried and also believed in Yaqing's scriptwriting ability. Therefore, she was wondering how to rationalize this unreasonable plot point.

Cecilia guessed that there were only two possibilities.

The first was that Sirin was lying.

The second was that something very serious happened during the fourteen years of blank history, enough to force Ziegfried to leave Kiana.

"Honey..." Ziegfried called out cautiously.

"Pfft." Seeing Ziegfried's pitiful appearance, Cecilia couldn't help but laugh, "Alright, I'm not angry with you, it's just a scene in the anime."

"Then I don't have to kneel on the keyboard, right?" Ziegfried relaxed immediately and said casually.

"You still have to kneel." Cecilia smiled.

"Huh?" Ziegfried was dumbfounded.

"Just kidding." Cecilia winked.

Ziegfried breathed a sigh of relief.

Chapter 71: Darkness in the Heart

[After Kiana caught up with the blurry shadow, the female voice, as agreed, answered Kiana's question, mentioning the Second Honkai fourteen years ago and explaining Cecilia's identity to Kiana.

"STOP, it's almost dawn, let's leave some suspense~"

The woman deliberately left a cliffhanger.

The scene changed to the library, and Kiana seemed to have forgotten about the dream.]

"That stinky Sirin, why does she have to be a riddle-maker? What does the Second Honkai have to do with me? How old was I back then?" Kiana's fist hardened.

"Isn't the question of why Sirin appears in idiot Kiana's dream even more problematic?" Bronya grasped the blind spot.

"That's right." Kiana's eyes were extremely wise, inheriting the trait from Theresa.

"I have a feeling there's a bigger game being played here." Fu Hua had a premonition that things weren't so simple.

"What kind of problem could there be? It's just a nightmare." Little Knowledge didn't think much of it.

"No, it's not just a nightmare. According to the story, Kiana shouldn't have met Sirin, so how could she dream of Sirin unless..." Fu Hua seemed to realize something, like an Easter egg from the previous movie.

[In the transition between reality and dreams, Kiana, who was sneaking around the library and fighting (goofing off) in games with Bronya, was quickly caught by Mei, who dragged her by the ear to the training ground for special training.

Because if she failed this Valkyrie exam, Kiana could forget about being promoted to A-Rank Valkyrie; she'd probably be demoted from B-Rank Valkyrie to a D-Rank Valkyrie in charge of clerical work and logistics.

Unexpectedly, she encountered Fu Hua, who was diligently training, at the training ground. After completing her combat training, Fu Hua once again took Kiana back to the library and began cultural tutoring.

Fu Hua very skillfully explained the origin of Stigmata.

This surprised Kiana. "Really? You're saying it so seriously, it's like you've seen it yourself, Class Monitor."

"...Just kidding, I only read about it in books." Fu Hua said modestly.]

"It's not like she's just seen it; she's been alive since the previous era." Watching the awkwardness and panic in Fu Hua's model on the screen, Pardo, who had originally been trembling because of the dream, laughed out loud.

"You don't have to keep bringing that up." Ever since Fu Hua's character design came out, Fu Hua had been enduring "verbal abuse" from those around her.

"Destiny can actually replicate Stigmata and create artificial Stigmata. No wonder there are so many Valkyrie units. But what exactly is a Stigmata?" Sakura wondered.

"Big sister is so dumb. Didn't Sister Fu Hua say it above? Stigmata are the power left behind by outstanding figures from ancient history." Ling waved her hand, indicating it was no big deal.

Sakura smiled gently. "Thank you for telling sister."

If you ignored Sakura's hands, which were ruthlessly rubbing Ling's small face, you couldn't help but admire the deep sisterly affection.

"Ugh... Big shister, I'm shorry, let go of my face..."

[Kiana, who was training hard at the training ground, encountered Himeko and Theresa. After their identical expressions of surprise, they left the training ground angrily.]