Normal, Correct

Himeko Murata had never been known for her good temper. After her own battleship had nearly crashed, the anger in her heart had reached its limit.

At the same time, however, Himeko Murata knew very well that although Gu Yu had caused this incident, the root of it all lay with the two people on Schicksal's side.

Theresa had persuaded Gu Yu to cancel his transformation, causing him to fall straight onto the deck and nearly drain the Hyperion's reactor.

And S-rank Valkyrie Rita Roosevelt, acting under Archbishop Otto's orders, had tried to sever the deck, turning the atmosphere between the two sides utterly tense.

The thought that this mess had been fanned into what it was by her own people made Himeko feel she had no right to lose her temper at Gu Yu.

And most importantly...

—Theresa had invited him aboard herself. Who was Himeko supposed to blame?!

She could only blame Theresa, obviously!

She looked at Theresa, who still had not figured out the situation, and frantically signaled her comrade with her eyes.

Theresa, hurry up and explain!

Prompted by Himeko's gaze, Theresa finally caught on and immediately glared at Rita, who had put away her weapon some distance away.

Rita, handle him!

After seeing Theresa's look and receiving Otto's order to [keep these people as stable as possible], Rita maintained her polite smile on the surface, but inwardly, she was already full of resentment.

Ever since earlier, she had been caught in the middle between both sides, unable to please either and rejected by both.

This might have been Archbishop Otto's mission, but wasn't this asking too much of her?

On one side was a girl who could awaken as a Herrscher at any time, a valuable subject, and a young man of unknown but potentially formidable strength.

On the other were the two people in charge of the Far East Branch, including Theresa, Otto's dearly beloved granddaughter.

What was she supposed to do???

She was despairing too, okay?!

Watching the women frantically signal one another with their eyes, Gu Yu felt his head throb painfully.

He had already been exhausted from leading the group out of Changkong City through battle after battle.

Back then, so that Raiden Mei and Kiana Kaslana could rest a little longer, Gu Yu himself had not even slept.

He had indeed joked to them that people from Shenzhou cultivated immortality and did not need sleep...

—But there had to be a limit, okay?!

Different people had different constitutions. Once, in a state of extreme rage, he had slept only three hours over two days and two nights.

But ordinary life was different from struggling for survival in Changkong City.

In the dozens of hours since he had crossed over, he had constantly guarded against the Herrscher of Thunder and the Herrscher of the Void awakening, against Cocolia leading a team to seize the Herrscher Core, and against Yuno and Hiyorimar, those two wild bosses.

Gu Yu, who had remained vigilant against every powerful enemy, had kept his mind in a constant state of tension.

He wanted to rest!

He desperately wanted to rest!

Assailed by such exhaustion, Gu Yu felt himself becoming incredibly irritable.

"Um, Elder Brother Gu..."

Seemingly sensing the nearly tangible fury emanating from Gu Yu, Kiana timidly reached out and touched him, speaking in a small voice.

"That little shorty over there and that auntie did help us out, you know."

"The one who's really suspicious is this one-eyed woman over here!"

"If that little shorty hadn't stopped her, she might've pointed her weapon at you!"

"I know."

After saying those words coldly, Gu Yu first looked toward Himeko Murata.

"Miss Murata, first of all, thank you for everything you have done for us strangers."

"I failed to control the power inside me and caused damage to the Hyperion. That truly was my responsibility. I sincerely apologize to you and the crew here."

"Oh, oh... it's fine."

Hearing Gu Yu's straightforward apology, Himeko Murata was instead somewhat stunned.

When she had heard his sarcastic remark just now, she had thought the young man was so consumed by rage that he had lost all reason.

Yet judging by his current behavior, he had instead become entirely rational afterward.

If anything, the fact that he had proactively taken part of the blame onto himself was a point in his favor for Himeko Murata.

Mm, he was a good kid. Just a little too young, otherwise...

"As for Miss Apocalypse... forget it. There's no point saying more."

"The Hyperion is, after all, one of Schicksal's strongest battleships. It is absolutely safe aboard it—hehehehehe, right. I believe that."

After tossing out those words, Gu Yu looked at the apologetic Rita Roosevelt before him.

"Lastly, Miss Roosevelt, I would like to sincerely thank you."

"Thanks to you, I now understand what kind of organization Schicksal really is. Hehehehehe."

Listening to Gu Yu's biting sarcasm, Rita gave a slight bow and spoke softly to him.

"It is not strange for Mr. Gu Yu to be dissatisfied with me, but please believe that Schicksal is an organization that exists to fight the Honkai and protect humanity."

"Please do not form any excessive misunderstandings about Schicksal, this sacred organization, because of my personal actions."

"Mm-hm, excessive misunderstandings."

As if he had heard an amusing joke, Gu Yu let out a derisive laugh and swept his gaze across the three Valkyries present.

"Yes, Schicksal fighting the Honkai is indeed an indisputable fact, and in terms of protecting humanity, most of the time, you have indeed done well."

"However, why should I trust an organization that treats human experimentation as casually as eating a meal?"

After being choked by Gu Yu's words, the expressions of the three Valkyries changed slightly.

They wanted very much to refute him, but at the same time, all three knew there was nothing wrong with what Gu Yu had said.

Unlike Anti-Entropy, which advocated mechanical technology, Schicksal had used the technological system of Valkyries in modern times to grant humanity the power to fight the Honkai.

Schicksal conducted human experiments every day. Rather than something that could not see the light of day, it was practically an open secret.

Not to mention that the artificial Stigmata implanted in Himeko Murata and the Honkai Beast Factor within Theresa were products obtained through repeated human experimentation.

Rita herself knew even more clearly that the girl beside Gu Yu was also one of Schicksal's crimes.

Subject K423. That was the girl's true identity.

After the Second Herrscher Sirin's defeat, Otto extracted genes from the girl's physical body, fused them with the genes of Cecilia and Siegfried's daughter, Kiana Kaslana, and created a batch of subjects.

And the sole surviving Subject K423 was precisely the girl standing before Rita.

Rita knew very well that the bastard things Otto had done had indeed given humanity the strength to fight the Honkai.

But in her view, crimes committed in the name of righteousness...

—Were still crimes.

The reason she had chosen to become Schicksal's shadow and helped Otto handle so much dirty work was because she knew someone had to do these things.

Yet even so, she knew perfectly well that these things were merely [normal], not [correct].

Thus, at this moment, the eloquent Rita truly fell silent.

"Schicksal is an organization filled with Human Heroes, and humanity has indeed gained better lives because of you. I do not deny your achievements."

"I respect you Valkyries for fighting for humanity, but that does not mean I will trust Schicksal."

After giving Rita a cold glance, Gu Yu spoke each word distinctly.

"I will not trust Schicksal."

"Not in this lifetime."