"You're a Dish," Says Zhao Bai

Back then, Kiana had carved a bloody path through hordes of dead soldiers with nothing but a baseball bat.

Kiana's face darkened as she thought with all her might. Seeing this, Zhao Bai immediately understood something and cut off a piece of rib, placing it before Kiana as a reward for her quick thinking.

"What do you mean?"

Kiana suddenly raised her head like a startled beast, her gaze hostile.

"A reward. Don't you want to eat it?"

Zhao Bai answered in confusion. Kiana kept staring at him. After a while, the hostility in the girl's eyes gradually faded. She slowly put on her bib, cut the beef into small pieces with her knife, and savored the springy fibers and scalding juices with complicated feelings.

Kiana felt conflicted.

On one hand, this strange way of rewarding her made her feel like a hunting dog, bruising the girl's sensitive pride.

On the other hand, the grilled meat smelled far too good.

Zhao Bai Says You Are a Dish

Kiana ate more than half of the large piece of grilled meat.

After thanking Miss Chen, they immediately headed for Senba Academy, where the Third Honkai had begun.

Senba Academy had once been an aristocratic school. It was not located in Canghai City, but in the neighboring Changkong City, though geographically it was somewhat closer to Canghai City.

As far as the eye could see, there were broken walls and ruins. Vegetation grew wildly, weeds even filling the cracks between bricks. Against the gray-white walls and dark-red rust, the vast stretches of green were enough to make one's skin crawl.

Nearly two years had passed since the Great Honkai, and Changkong City was slowly recovering from destruction and death.

However, as the starting point of the Honkai, Senba Academy had yet to be repaired. Its board members were still serving prison sentences. If rebuilding a city was like healing a wound, then these shattered walls at the city's edge were the scars left behind after the wound had healed.

They were insignificant, yet a single glance could stir up painful memories.

"Any thoughts?"

Zhao Bai waved a hand in front of Kiana. "Your eyes are unfocused. You don't look like you're thinking. It seems like you're remembering something."

"Of course not." Kiana moved away the hand blocking her view and looked once more at the fallen academy. "It's a little different from what I remember, but that was two years ago. I was busy escaping. How could I remember the school's layout?"

"No time to waste. Let's begin scouting."

Who knew what was hidden within the campus? Kiana vigilantly drew her twin pistols. They could fire high-frequency pulse lasers, leagues beyond a baseball bat.

Zhao Bai also drew his knife. Pale blue light coiled around its three-foot blade—the flickering glow of high-energy cutting particles. With those particles, the blade could cut through steel reinforcement as easily as a knife sliced noodles. As a chef, Zhao Bai was not skilled with ranged weapons. Three feet was the best distance for battling ingredients.

Silent. Eerily silent.

Once they entered the academy, the temperature plummeted. Vines intertwined densely overhead, blotting out the sky. Tough vines had woven themselves into an impenetrable net around Senba Academy, as though trying to hide whatever lay inside.

Without exception, those vines carried a faint aura of Honkai energy.

The counter buzzed in alarm, and the detector's needle shifted from green to yellow. Zhao Bai carefully observed the changes in concentration and slowly moved toward the rising readings.

"St. Freya has always believed the rampant plant growth here was caused by residual Honkai energy, which is understandable. This was the starting point of the Third Honkai, after all. Higher residual Honkai energy than elsewhere would be perfectly normal."

Zhao Bai cut through the vines as he walked forward. "But look. The Honkai energy concentration here is rising far too noticeably. It doesn't resemble residual energy at all. That means there's a new source releasing Honkai energy here—stronger than dead soldiers, but nowhere near a Herrscher."

Kiana asked in confusion, "Why would it avoid causing trouble in Changkong City, right outside its own doorstep, and take the long way around to Canghai City instead?"