I'm Not a Flame-Chaser - Chapter 615

"... Is there anything else you'd like to say?"

Mei turned around, her expression indifferent, her hand resting on the hilt of the long sword at her waist.

"Don't be nervous. I just want to know, did you cause the explosion in the Shencheng Pharmaceuticals industrial zone?" Rita's smile clearly held a deeper meaning.

"I wasn't the one who was in the skirt. When I was young, I didn't know what had happened either, but it was those two explosions that gave me enough time to get the antidote."

"... Okay, I understand. Go and reunite with Miss Kiana. You've been waiting for this for a long time, haven't you?"

"I don't need you to remind me."

Mei walked away with a cold face, while Rita stood on the railing, injected the antidote into her neck. After a slight dizziness, she felt her physical strength rapidly recovering. Then she put away the antidote syringe and stared in the direction of the Shencheng Pharmaceuticals Industrial Zone.

"Beggar..."

There was no evidence, but Rita had a feeling about it.

Being in the center of a vortex, with everything around me collapsing bit by bit, it felt like it wasn't over yet, or even started.

"Hmm..."

Her long, slender eyelashes trembled slightly, and an unusual gemstone appeared in her eye socket.

The girl looked up, yawned, and then froze.

When Kiana woke up this time, she didn't find her side empty as usual.

The hooded figure was sitting next to her, silently setting up a stove to cook.

"Ah, you..."

This was the first time Kiana had woken up and seen Lin. She sat up in a daze, stared at him, and after a long while, managed to stammer out, "What are you doing here?"

Why can't I be here?

Lin's question was clearly a challenge to her, but Kiana didn't understand the implication. She continued, "Don't you leave every day?"

"That's all for today." Lin dipped his chopsticks into the fish soup in the pot to taste it, then took the pot off the stove and said casually, "Let's eat."

"Oh..."

Is Lin a little different today?

Kiana couldn't quite put her finger on what was different. Was it that he was still by her side after she woke up, or that it was the first time they had sat down to eat together?

In short, Kiana, with mixed feelings, ate the delicious fish soup while occasionally glancing cautiously at Lin.

He still lifted his mask slightly, revealing only his chin, and ate his meal awkwardly, just like before.

The silver-haired girl stared at his lips as he drank the soup, then looked at the bite marks and red spots on the bottom of his neck, and swallowed hard.

He probably didn't notice, right?

"Tomorrow will be the day to test the results of our training." After finishing his soup, Lin picked up a spoon and scooped a fish from the pot into his bowl. As he did so, he said, "I hope you won't let me down."

"Hmph, you should worry more about not getting beaten down by me."

Kiana snorted softly upon hearing this. For some reason, she disliked Lin lecturing her in a condescending tone.

"I have destroyed the engine of the Eos. The World Serpent experiment has failed."

"Oh..."

Kiana gave a simple reply, then continued drinking her soup, thinking about how she could win tomorrow.

... Wait, what did he just say?

Kiana was halfway through drinking her soup, suddenly understood what Lin had said. She looked up and—

"Puff--"

He sprayed all the soup in his mouth onto Lin's mask.

"..."

Lin sat motionless, white fish soup dripping from his mask. He put down his bowl and stared at Kiana without saying a word.

Kiana, oblivious to everything else, casually wiped the fish soup from the corner of her mouth and stared at Lin incredulously. "You... you destroyed the engine?"

"I don't want to repeat myself twice."

"So when you say you've finished what you did, you mean you went to the industrial area again and sabotaged the engine?"

"Didn't you hear any explosions while you were sleeping?"

"No."

Are you a pig?

"You!"

Lin calmly drank his soup, while Kiana looked at him suspiciously, seemingly unable to believe that everything had been resolved after he woke up.

Has the crisis been resolved?

Lin didn't tell her that the solution was entirely due to an accident; if Night Owl hadn't brought him back, things probably wouldn't have gone so smoothly.

"The World Serpent should be withdrawing from Sky City, but you might be targeted. Leave before unnecessary trouble comes. Tomorrow is the last day of training. If you don't pass, I'll kill you."

"..."

Kiana muttered to herself, lowered her head, and scooped up another spoonful of soup.

It may seem unbelievable, but the man never lied.

The crisis is over, which is a good thing.

Thinking this way, her mood improved considerably, and even the soup tasted more delicious.

"By the way, did you leave the hickeys on my neck?"

"Puff--"

The Journey Begins in the Sky: Chapter Thirty-Three - Beneath the Mask

When Kiana saw Lin Mo tidying up the pots and fire, she suddenly wondered what her relationship with Lin was now.

After spending more than half a month together, her opinion of Lin kept changing.

From initial indifference and silence to now getting along peacefully, and even exchanging some lighthearted jokes, especially today, Lin gave her a very different feeling.

They were supposed to fight to the death tomorrow, but their relationship seems to have improved quite a bit. So what are they now? Friends? Master and apprentice? Comrades-in-arms?

It seems neither of those are the case.

Kiana touched the chain around her neck; she still couldn't see through this man, just like she had two weeks ago.

"Tomorrow, same place."

After Lin finished tidying up, he put his hands in his pockets and was about to leave when Kiana snapped out of her daze and called out to him, "Wait a minute, Lin."

Forest.

This was the second time Kiana had uttered that name.

A very special name with only one character, which at first glance sounds like a pseudonym or code name, but Kiana is willing to believe that it is a man's name.

"Is there anything else?"

Lin Bai's white mask contrasted sharply with the black hood, and the gleam in his Prismatic Eyes made Kiana's heart skip a beat.

"... Do we really have to fight tomorrow?"

"..."

After Kiana asked the question, she felt as if a huge weight had been lifted from her heart.

Yes, at first she was confident that she wouldn't lose, but now she's grown up and can bravely overcome anything in her way. She's willing to give everything for the lives of others, so she will definitely be able to defeat Lin and prove herself to him.

But now, the two people who were just joking around and having dinner together are going to fight each other tomorrow?

She wasn't worried about herself.

She was worried about Lin.

"I executed his mother, and then I killed him."

"Later she became Herrscher, and I killed her."

This reliable man, who always seemed calm and collected, capable of handling anything and even resolving the crisis in Sky City while she slept, only softened his tough exterior and revealed his soft inner self when he talked about his past and the people he had killed.

Lin will definitely make his move; he will kill her without the slightest hesitation.

But at that time, she would definitely not see cold-blooded and ruthless eyes.

"... You seem to have misunderstood something."

Lin turned around, reached out and took off his hood, revealing a head of black hair.

A hoarse, low voice came from behind the mask. "This is not for you, but for humanity. To prove that you will not harm humanity, you must defeat me. In order to be able to defeat a Herrscher who caused the Honkai, I must kill you."

"At that time, I only killed one Herrscher, so we don't need to bear any psychological burden for it."

Kiana Kaslana.

Huh?

The hoarse, raspy voice, like a leaky duct, disappeared as the last sentence was uttered, replaced by a young, ethereal voice.

Kiana stared in disbelief as the man grabbed her mask and then gently removed it from her face right in front of her.

A beam of light from dusk transformed into golden feathers and landed on the man's shoulder.

Kiana's mind went blank, and her language skills deteriorated at that moment.

The moment her true face was revealed beneath the mask, she forgot to breathe and think.

She had wondered what kind of face the man who had accompanied her and trained her for more than half a month might have under his mask.

Disfigurement, old man, ugliness... all sorts of speculations were completely shattered.

"This is what I promised you. As long as you meet my standards, I will tell you everything you want to know."

After doing all this, the man gently pulled up his hood, then ignored the stunned Kiana and turned to walk towards the sunset.

Kiana, are you alright?

On Kiana's absent-minded journey back to the base, Fu Hua asked Kiana a question in her mind.

She was startled, then forced a smile, "Me? I'm fine, Class President. That guy's just a little unexpectedly good-looking..."

Not just a little.

Kiana never imagined that what she would see behind the mask would be like that.

She thought Lin should have a mature face, but the reality was quite the opposite.

She seemed to see someone her age who had experienced countless hardships.

Moreover... the moment the mask was removed, an invisible barrier appeared between the two who should have become quite familiar with each other. He was even colder than when he was wearing the mask, exuding a faint sorrow that prevented her from getting closer.

My mind is in turmoil.

Kiana's heartbeat and breathing quickened with the flashing of the passing lights. She knew where her agitation came from, but she didn't know why.

She should be happy. She finally saw Lin's true face. For the past half month, she had been incredibly curious about what he looked like under the mask. Now that her wish had come true, the strange feeling in her heart swelled up like a sponge that had absorbed water.

It's all his fault... it's all his fault!

She bit her lip, her knuckles cracking as she ran faster toward her base. She just wanted to rest for a while before facing tomorrow's decisive battle.

She was determined to beat him to a pulp.

Make sure that guy never shows that look again.

To Fu Hua's bewilderment, Kiana returned to the base as quickly as possible, stood at the door with her head down, her bangs obscuring her gloomy eyes.

"Kiana..."

"————!"

Kiana's body trembled. She looked up in disbelief, thinking she had misheard, and saw the purple-haired girl standing at the end.

"Ya...?" Kiana's emotions were all dispelled. In this wrong place and at the wrong time, all the scenarios she had imagined of reuniting with the purple-haired girl were replaced by panic in her heart.