The Girl Who Resonates with Subspace

"Thanks to the help of the two heroes, we were able to slay this monster."

The person who came to negotiate with them was the leader of this group. He pretended not to have seen the two girls' intimate actions just now, focusing all his attention on the monster they had just fought.

"There's no need to thank me." Raiden Mei had no time to waste on empty pleasantries or probing questions, so she spoke directly. "Raiden Mei, from Narukami Shrine."

"I want to know exactly what happened. Why did that spider appear here just now? Are there many monsters like this in Changkong City?"

Raiden Mei asked all the questions she wanted answered, intending to learn about the current situation in Changkong City from them.

"Mei, I'm going back to check on everyone and bring them here."

Seeing that Mei was about to speak with them, Kiana figured that Mei would surely ask about everything important.

There was no point in Kiana staying here and listening from the side. She might as well use this time to go back and check on the people from Zhuohua Street.

By the time she brought them over, Mei should have finished talking with these people.

She could just ask Mei then.

"Okay. Be careful on the way."

Seeing this, the person who had spoken with them asked, "Do you need our help?"

"I'm only escorting ordinary civilians to the shelter. I can handle it alone, so I won't trouble you."

Kiana shook her head and refused. She did not want to trouble them. After saying goodbye again, she returned along the way they had come to the street from earlier.

She saw Granny Zhuohua there.

Some people were resting while others stood watch. From the looks of it, nothing unexpected had happened while she was away.

When Granny Zhuohua saw her, she approached with her cane. "Are you hurt, Kiana? How was the situation over there?"

"I'm fine. A giant spider appeared over there, but we've already dealt with it. Have everyone get ready. We're leaving."

We need to get into the shelter quickly.

Who knew what other strange Kishin might be waiting for them if they stayed outside?

"Already dealt with?" Granny Zhuohua asked with concern. "They said there were explosions just now, as well as gunshots."

"Don't worry. The armed forces were bombing the spiders just now. The giant spider is dead, and all the smaller spiders were shot as well. The shelter is safe now."

Come to think of it, the shelter was quite sturdy. At least during the battle just now, there had been no sign that it might collapse.

"Those people are guarding it too."

"Very well, very well. I'll inform everyone to keep moving." Granny Zhuohua had no more doubts and turned to call the others over.

The group continued forward, and before long, they reached the place where Kiana and the others had just fought.

What came into view was spiderwebs and spider corpses scattered everywhere between the high-rises and across the ground.

There were at least a hundred spider corpses, each as tall as a person. The dense mass was a shocking sight.

There were also armed personnel carrying guns, searching everywhere for any smaller spiders that might still be hiding.

"Oh my..."

Some of the more timid people went weak in the knees at the sight. If someone beside them had not caught them, they might have collapsed on the spot.

Were the gunshots and explosions from earlier really meant to deal with all these spiders?

These spiders were even more terrifying than the lizard-headed monster from before. When they saw spiders this huge, their first instinct was that the creatures must eat people.

And there were so many of them...

Who could guarantee that none had slipped through?

"W-we really have to..."

Some people began to have second thoughts. The spiders covering the ground terrified them, as did the possibility that more were still lurking in the darkness.

One of the personnel searching nearby had noticed this group of people heading for the shelter, as well as Kiana leading them.

She hurried to the front of the group.

"Hero, do you need help?"

As someone who had participated in the entire operation against the spiders, the young woman had witnessed Kiana's courage and strength firsthand.

She had knocked the giant spider to the ground with a single punch. How incredible was that strength?!

To think a human could wield such power with a human body alone—it was unbelievable.

"Huh? Don't call me that." Kiana hurriedly shook her head. "Kiana. My name is Kiana. Just call me Kiana."

She did not want to be some kind of hero.

"Miss Kiana? Then please allow me to address you that way. You can call me Suzuki. I'm also the security officer in charge of Shelter Six."

"That's great." Kiana stepped aside and said, "Granny Zhuohua, this is the security officer in charge of the shelter."

She then turned to Suzuki and introduced them. "These are residents from Zhuohua Street and the surrounding areas who are planning to enter the shelter. Could you take them there?"

"It's my duty. No problem!"

A Girl Resonating with the Subspace

With the security officer's help, Kiana quickly settled these people in, then found Mei, who had finished speaking with the others and was staring blankly into space.

"Mei, are you done talking? How is the situation?"

"They didn't know much either." Mei sighed. She glanced at the sky, which was covered in dark clouds, and said solemnly, "Let's return to the shrine first."

"No problem."

They had delivered the people to the shelter and dealt with the nearby Kishin. They had completed their mission beyond expectations.

Returning to rest now was perfectly reasonable.

Kiana also had some things she should not say at a time like this. Mei's suggestion to return to the shrine matched what she had been thinking.

The two of them returned to the shrine together.

Kiana did not know whether it was because they had slain that spider Kishin, or because there were originally only a few Kishin in the city and they had simply been unlucky enough to encounter them all.

They did not run into any more trouble on the way back.

After returning to the shrine, Kiana first went back to the guest room Mei had prepared for her. She had slept there the previous night.

Kiana had plenty of romantic thoughts but no courage to act on them, so she had failed to move into Mei's room. She had not even managed to enter it.

Because she was poor and did not have much to begin with, packing up was quick. She only needed to put a few changes of clothes in the wardrobe before she was nearly finished.

Only after completing all that did Kiana have the time to focus on the matter she had been neglecting.

The subspace connected through Phase Shift.

She had used Phase Shift several times today, but because she had been in combat, she had not explored the subspace again.

Now that she had some free time,

she could finally take a look.

During the battle, while she had been connected to the subspace, she had vaguely sensed that something was wrong.

Her figure faded from where she stood.

She arrived in a vast, pale-golden space. It was incredibly empty, and she could feel that the Honkai Energy Concentration here was much higher than outside.

"This is the feeling..."

It was an indescribable discomfort, as if she could sense a foreign object.

Kiana could not ignore the feeling. Thus, after dealing with most of the day's affairs, she had returned here, wanting to find the source of that discomfort.

"This way!"

She closed her eyes and sensed for a while before quickly heading to her right, wanting to see what it was.

Could it be that this subspace was not exclusive to her, but was actually shared?

With that question in mind, Kiana moved forward quickly.

The rules of the subspace differed from those of reality, and distance was no exception. Yet in this strange place so different from reality, there was actually a boundary known as an "air wall."

Kiana touched the air wall blocking her path—the same wall she had accidentally crashed into—and was rendered speechless.

So this place had a boundary?

"Although it's a little ridiculous, it does make sense..."

What would happen if it were truly endless?

She could not see what lay beyond the air wall. All her eyes could see was pale gold.

Kiana followed the air wall for a while, but failed to find anywhere she could exploit a bug.

"Something's wrong." She furrowed her brows tightly and muttered to herself, "Why did I feel that way from outside?"

What was outside?

She lowered her hand and stroked her chin, pondering for a moment. In the end, curiosity won out.

"I'll know once I open it!"

Clenching her fist, Kiana slammed it into the air wall in front of her. However, the sturdy air wall did not change in the slightest.

It was like an ant trying to shake a tree.

Physical attacks were useless.

Kiana lowered her head and thought for a moment. Purely physical attacks did not work, so what about Honkai energy?

With that thought, she awkwardly drew on the free-floating Honkai energy in the subspace and concentrated it all in her fist.

"Hah!"

Her fist slammed into the air wall, and cracks appeared across the pale gold before her eyes.

"Honkai energy really does work!"

Kiana's eyes lit up, but the cracks she had created showed signs of repairing themselves. She repeated the motion, smashing her fist into the same spot several more times. Before the cracks could heal, she punched a "hole" through the air wall.

The appearance of the "hole" allowed her to see what lay outside the subspace.

It was an alternate space somewhat similar to the subspace she occupied. The hole she had just punched had created a brief connection between the two spaces that normally did not intersect.

In simple terms, Kiana had physically punched open a passage to another space with her fist.

However, the space on the other side looked unstable. It was constantly collapsing, as if it were on the verge of destruction.

Was the strange feeling she had experienced caused by the space beside the subspace collapsing?

Kiana frowned as she observed the collapsing space on the other side through the passage she had punched open.

The black-and-red color scheme looked ominous.

Collapsing blocks, space fragments covered in cracks and falling piece by piece into the abyss, and purple... Purple?

Her eyes swept over one area, and she froze.

Kiana had nearly passed it by, but she focused her gaze and saw a purple-haired girl lying not far from the passage, her condition unknown.

Someone was there?

There were actually humans in this godforsaken place?

Without time to think, Kiana boldly leaped through the passage without understanding the situation. She landed in the collapsing space, stepped onto a precarious platform, and ran toward the girl lying on the ground nearby.

The atmosphere here made her uncomfortable.

And also...

Honkai energy?

If she had not sensed it wrong, there was Honkai energy here too. As for its concentration, it was about the same as in Izumo.

So was this some part of Izumo?

Kiana crouched beside the girl whose condition was unknown and reached out to push her shoulder. "Hey, wake up. Are you still alive?"

Her body was burning hot!

When she felt the abnormal temperature, Kiana's eyes widened slightly. She turned the girl's head and finally realized that she looked as if she had been struck by lightning.