"Nothing here. Cough, cough... No Titans either. We can move on!"
In one of the streets of Changkong City, Dong Moxuan cautiously looked around. Seeing no trace of any Titans, he breathed a quiet sigh of relief and led Mei out from a hidden corner.
"Jun Xuan, where are we going next?"
A full day had passed since Dong Moxuan revealed his identity as a dead apostle to Mei.
It seemed that after certain knots in her heart had been untied, the Honkai Energy faintly lingering around Mei had vanished without a trace. The "Honkai Will" that had often urged her on in her mind had also disappeared. At this moment, Mei was no different from how she had been before the Honkai outbreak.
However, as the price, Mei had also lost the ability to casually wield the power of the "Third Herrscher" as she had before. Fortunately, Mei herself was quite strong, so she would not become a burden.
At this moment, she stood obediently beside Dong Moxuan and asked him with a gentle expression.
"Yesterday, I spent more than an hour studying the map."
Hearing Mei's question, Dong Moxuan took out a paper map of Changkong City from his clothes.
Pointing at a location on the map, he said confidently, "As long as we can cross this bridge, we'll have covered nearly half of Changkong City!"
"This is... Qinjiang Bridge?"
As a native of Changkong City, Mei was quite familiar with the bridge Dong Moxuan was pointing at.
"That's right."
Dong Moxuan turned his head. From here, they could already see the outline of the bridge.
"We have to at least reach the other side of that bridge this morning. Your stamina should be fine, right, Mei?"
"Mhm. No problem."
After receiving Mei's firm reply, Dong Moxuan quietly led her toward the bridge.
Those Honkai-infected creatures were not the problem. The real concern was being discovered by Mother Cocolia's Titan mechs.
At the same time, a cute girl with silver braids held both hands behind her head and walked listlessly along the ruined streets of Changkong City.
"Dong Moxuan..."
She softly muttered the name of the silver-haired youth, the displeasure in her eyes nearly overflowing.
"That bastard..."
She kicked a stone by the roadside while grumbling under her breath.
Even she did not know why she was so irritated. She simply could not forget what had happened yesterday.
Although she never had anything nice to say when facing Dong Moxuan, there was no denying that, apart from the elder who had raised her, Dong Moxuan was the only person she cared about—the only one she could call a friend.
Unfortunately, that friend of hers apparently did not need her.
Ever since he had left, she had returned to her former state of being alone.
Humans were social animals. Even Kiana found loneliness difficult to endure.
"Hey, Xuan, a weak-looking guy like you is actually staying beside such a cute girl... Be careful not to work yourself to death... Huh? What's that?"
Recalling how intimate Dong Moxuan and Mei had looked yesterday, Kiana secretly cursed Dong Moxuan to die from overwork and kidney deficiency.
But she had barely finished cursing him when she spotted Dong Moxuan and Mei sneaking cautiously along.
She had been cursing them one moment and run into the person in question the next, which inexplicably made Kiana feel a little guilty.
However, looking at Dong Moxuan and Mei, she could not help but furrow her brows.
"What are those two doing, sneaking around like that?"
After hesitating for a while, Kiana quietly followed them.
"Is this... Changkong City?"
Beside a shattered ruin somewhere in Changkong City, a girl with beautiful golden hair reaching her waist and wearing blue-and-white armor looked around and sighed.
"What a disastrous sight... As expected of the Honkai..."
As an S-rank Valkyrie of Schicksal, she was no stranger to the Honkai.
But no matter how many times she saw it, she could never completely ignore the destruction caused by the Honkai.
"As expected... something like the Honkai should never have existed in this world."
Muttering softly, the girl lightly tapped the device beside her ear that resembled a Bluetooth earpiece.
"Reporting to Bishop Otto. I have arrived in Changkong City. The target location is exactly as described in the files. No anomalies have been found so far... Wait!"
"An emergency has occurred. Communications are temporarily suspended."
After saying that, the girl lightly touched the device beside her ear. Looking at the pink-haired girl in shrine maiden attire who had just collided with her, the corners of her lips curved slightly upward.
"Quasi-Herrscher?"
Hearing the killing intent in the girl's voice, the shrine maiden instinctively gripped the hilt of her sword.
"Boom!"
On Qinjiang Bridge in Changkong City, Dong Moxuan and Mei had already crossed nearly half the distance and were almost at the other side.
However, just as he let out a sigh of relief, several Titans suddenly leaped out of the river on both sides of the bridge, surrounding Dong Moxuan and Mei.
"I knew it wouldn't be this easy..."
Looking at the blue robots surrounding him, Dong Moxuan rubbed his temples in frustration.
"I say, Mother Cocolia, are you really that persistent?"
"Why don't you let us go this time, for the sake of our past relationship?"
Titan: "..."
However, no one answered him.
"Cocolia?"
Seeing this, Dong Moxuan called out the name of that blond woman again.
This time, he finally received a reply, though it was different from what he had expected.
"Sorry, big brother. The mechs aren't being controlled by Mother Cocolia, so Mother Cocolia probably can't hear you."
Unlike Cocolia's mature voice, which carried a hoarse undertone, the voice that rang out now was exceptionally clear, with a hint of youthful innocence and coolness.
"You are..."
Watching the girl slowly emerge from behind the Titans, Dong Moxuan's pupils suddenly contracted.
"Bronya..."
He called out the girl's name in surprise.
"Mhm."
Looking at the familiar yet unfamiliar youth before her, Bronya's eyes reddened slightly.
"Long time no see, big brother!"
Dong Moxuan: "..."
After remaining silent for a long while, Dong Moxuan finally said, "I didn't expect Mother Cocolia to send you out just to capture Mei and me..."
"But that really is in keeping with Mother Cocolia's style."
"However..."
Dong Moxuan looked at the girl before him, his tone filled with confusion.
"You should no longer be able to sense the Honkai Energy inside Mei. How did you know that Mei and I would pass through here?"
The Titans in front of him had clearly been lying in ambush here beforehand, which left Dong Moxuan deeply puzzled.
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