Honkai Double Traverse, Taking Xilian to Honkai Impact 3rd

For a long time, Otto didn't even know that an organization called World Serpent existed in the world, to the point that in the manga Fog Capital Holiday and Legacy Chapter, one of his bodies was destroyed, and his memories weren't even fully uploaded in time.

48. Siegfried, my boy, your daughter is beyond saving.

The sun set, the evening clouds like fire.

Raiden Ryoma stood at the very edge of the street, watching the silhouettes of four people in the distance gradually blur before his eyes.

Jiang Cheng said nothing, but he had already made his point clear.

A father who couldn't even protect his own daughter was not worthy of making demands.

He turned around without hesitation.

Several black sedans had stopped silently behind him. The car doors were opened, and several men in black suits stepped out. The moment they saw him, they bowed ninety degrees straight.

"--Master!"

Even though the Raiden Family had changed their name and surname before, they had lived on this land for hundreds of years. The long passage of time had allowed the Raiden Family to accumulate enough loyal retainers. They might not have the ability to confront Cocolia, but they definitely had the ability to discover his reappearance immediately and assist him in making a comeback.

Raiden Ryoma assigned tasks one by one, asking them to contact his old subordinates and to stall Theresa's inquiries.

The image of the decadent uncle and the funny guy vanished without a trace, replaced by a sharp executor.

"--And also!"

Kiana's voice came from the distance.

That voice, so lively as if it carried not a trace of intelligence, instantly dispelled the serious atmosphere of the moment.

"Jiang Cheng, you still owe me one... no, two piggyback rides! When are you going to pay me back? This young lady has hugged you twice."

"Now?"

"Now?! Wait, wait, this young lady isn't ready yet--Hey!!! You can't use this for something like this!"

When Kiana was picked up by Jiang Cheng, she couldn't distinguish the expression on her face. Others could only see her fair skin flushed crimson by the evening glow.

"Cheng-kun, Kiana means for you to put her down."

"Hey, 'it' can be understood in Japanese when referring to an animal! Mei-senpai, how could you..."

"--You misheard!"

Raiden Ryoma silently pretended not to hear, continuing to assign tasks and issue orders with a cold face.

Siegfried, my boy.

Your daughter is beyond saving.

But I won't apologize to you. If you hadn't left without leaving any information, Kiana wouldn't have valued trust and promises so much, and she wouldn't have been so eager to help Mei...

Without her running back and forth between the two, how could Mei's heart have been captured?

Mei is not like those frivolous women!

Thump, thump, thump--

The moment they truly arrived at the Raiden Family's residence, Jiang Cheng didn't even realize they had arrived.

It wasn't that he was forgetful, but rather that what was before him was too grand--it couldn't be called a house or a villa at all, but clearly a Classical Japanese Manor that should have been lived in by hundreds, even thousands, of people. The limit of his vision, from one end to the other, the shortest span exceeded ten thousand meters.

The style was not as high-end and grand as traditional European architecture, but it was the ultimate in understated luxury and depth.

The Japanese-style eaves design almost made one imagine what kind of beautiful water flowers would bloom in the pond when it rained.

Even Chiba Academy, which he had visited before and was enough to make Xilian's eyes light up--that composite super-large teaching building was far inferior in comparison.

"So... so big!" Kiana's mouth was wide open.

"Kiana, don't you call yourself a young lady?" Raiden Mei narrowed her eyes slightly.

"Hmph~ You're so annoying." Kiana instantly bristled like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. She hugged her chest tightly with both hands, her small head forcefully turned to the side, perfectly replicating a textbook-level tsundere defense posture.

Unfortunately, even a professional tsundere could not deny that the sudden outburst of emotion itself represented a sore spot being poked.

--Even Xilian's attention was not diverted.

Although there were many things that could be said, such as the fact that the other party seemed to have been abandoned by her father.

But Raiden Mei was ultimately not that malicious.

She merely pretended to touch her soft lower lip and casually said, as if speaking to herself.

"So... am I actually just a verbal tic? Hmm, that's really strange."

"Kiana is indeed a young lady."

Jiang Cheng's voice interjected between the two.

The casual demeanor was instantly broken--Raiden Mei stared at him intently, and the fair jade finger pressed against her lips unconsciously tightened a bit.

However, before Kiana's grateful gaze arrived, he immediately added.

She can't be entirely considered a young lady. In short, she's an existence that barely falls in between the two.

"...What kind of statement is that?" Raiden Mei was genuinely curious this time.

"Kiana's surname, Kaslana, has been passed down since the dawn of human history. Their ancestor was named Adam."

"--Adam?"

Raiden Mei tilted her head, her eyes widening involuntarily.

"Who is Adam?"

Kiana was initially as bewildered as Raiden Mei. But then, the girl, who had never attended school due to her life spent in a dual spiral of combat and wandering, scratched the back of her head in ignorance.

"???"

Raiden Mei looked at him in shock--

Especially after Kiana blankly scratched the back of her head, the color in her eyes seemed to question if he was even a normal person with adequate intelligence.

In contrast, although Xilian did not belong to this world and could at most be considered a newcomer, she was also completely unaware. But seeing Jiang Cheng's expression and confirming that this was common knowledge, she took small steps and cautiously tugged at his clothes.

"Adam is a figure from the religious epic Bible, the first human created by God," he explained patiently. "However, you should also understand--Adam is not just a fictional character in mythology; he was a real person who truly lived."

Raiden Mei nodded. Having been a fugitive for a day and beaten for half of it, she was no longer shocked by anything. Even if she were told that there was an ancient person who had lived for hundreds or thousands of years, she would believe it.

"Thousands of years ago, with the rise of religion, the Kaslanas, as one of the three great families of Schicksal, were called the Knight Family by people at that time. And it was much older than the Apocalypse Family, which produced bishops, and the Schariac Family, which produced saintesses. Time has passed, and Schicksal has never declined until now, still being the hidden number one organization in this world, and the Kaslana family is still one of the three great families."

"The classic number one power in the world is the Papacy," Raiden Mei nodded calmly, even a little bored.

"----!"

She suddenly widened her eyes and looked at Kiana, who was nodding foolishly--

"Kiana is both a young lady and not a young lady--"

"Could it be--?"

PS: Please vote, I'll add an update tonight.

49. Don't Copy My Speech (Vote for Update)

"Could it be--?"

Kiana's eyes widened in unison, a certain expectant light flickering in her sapphire-blue eyes--though she herself couldn't explain what she was expecting.

"Could it be--?"

Xilian, not understanding what was happening, saw that everyone present except A-Cheng was looking shocked, so she followed suit and widened her eyes in imitation.

Her clear emerald eyes were filled with an innocence that, while not knowing what was happening, wanted to join in the fun.

"Kiana is the classic character in a hot-blooded manga who will be won over by the male protagonist--the only kind--saintess in an evil church that has been rotten for thousands of years!"

Raiden Mei uttered the most classic tropes from chuunibyou and "cool" manga and novels, word by word.

"Where did you get that from?! The church as the evil villain and the saintess were things of the past!"

"Huh?"

Raiden Mei tilted her head in a daze.

The pretense of mystery vanished in an instant, replaced by an expression that was almost identical to Kiana's, who was also tilting her head in a daze at that moment.

"Isn't this a popular story in recent years? Like the Soldier King from Shenzhou."

"Ah?"

Jiang Cheng, as if infected, showed the same expression, and the two girls stared at each other blankly at this moment--

Three people, six eyes, looking at each other in the afterglow of the sunset, the scene was quite comical.

This kind of thing... oh.

He understood instantly.

For the world before his transmigration, these stories were indeed too cliché, already stale. But the world of Honkai Impact 3 was also quasi-realistic, and it seemed to be only 2014.

...I see.

At this time, although the transmigration trope wasn't as rotten, it was already basically becoming formulaic and homogenized.

"I was mistaken about that," he admitted his mistake frankly. "But don't overthink it, Kiana isn't a saintess--though she is a very, very, very important friend in your chapter."

"Me?"

"Her?"

Raiden Mei and Kiana pointed at each other, showing literal disgust.

The two girls' uniquely charming faces seemed to say, "How is that possible?" Both their sapphire-blue and deep purple eyes held only deep disdain.

"Tsk." x2

They both turned their heads to the side.

Upon realizing that the other had made the same sound, they both turned their heads to the left or right again--

The two pairs of eyes stared intently at each other, as if faint sparks were flashing between their gazes, making the air scorching, and a strange smell of burning could be detected.

"Don't copy my speech?!" x2

Jiang Cheng looked at the scene with a hint of helplessness, slapping his forehead with one hand.

Then, just as the noisy atmosphere was about to escalate, he clapped his hands, drawing both their gazes—

"You don't need to worry about future developments; there's no predetermined future anymore. Just like Kiana said—the future you saw has already been shattered."

"----!"

Kiana bit her silver teeth tightly.

A blush, like the rosy glow of dawn piercing through clouds, bloomed on her fair cheeks.

She casually shook her head, letting her long hair fall to conceal the alluring crimson.

It had felt so cool when she brandished the baseball bat in front of Jiang Cheng, and when she said it in front of Raiden Mei, but why did it feel so strange now, coming from someone else's mouth?

It...

It just felt so weird?

"The past is decided, the future is just a possibility," Jiang Cheng said, looking them directly in the eyes, enunciating each word. "And the present has been truly changed by us."

"I don't blindly believe in prophecies; the future I see is merely one possibility. I will only treat it as a tool for more efficient information gathering and share that information with you. We'll brainstorm together, find the best ways to utilize that information, and establish an intelligence advantage. However, please allow me to be a little selfish and withhold some information. Some things might not be suitable to tell you too early, or at least I should prepare some groundwork beforehand."

"I understand, I understand."

Kiana, who should have been the one most in need of knowing the truth, was now patting her chest and nodding in understanding.

Jiang Cheng had a feeling that ever since they drew turtles on each other's faces that one time, the girl had lost a lot of her guard and wasn't as aloof as he occasionally saw her at first.