Uncle / Photograph ...

After the girl ran off, the two looked at each other until the door of the cabin was shoved open with a bang and a man holding a double-barreled shotgun strode out aggressively, making them realize the seriousness of the consequences.

"Where'd little thieves come from that dare touch my daughter?!" The beefy man bared his teeth, his shotgun already loaded as if he were about to blast some clueless bastard to pieces the very next second.

Sensing trouble before the other could act, Su Jue quickly raised his hands while giving Kiana a tug beside him to keep her from acting rashly.

Coming to her senses, Kiana hurriedly raised a hand to signal she was harmless, though the rancher didn't think the two of them could get off scot-free just by surrendering. "Speak! Why'd you come to my ranch! Why'd you sneak up on my daughter?!"

"No, no, no, we didn't do anything to your daughter, Excellency. It's just that her painting process was too engrossing and she didn't notice us." Su Jue immediately explained.

"You mean it's my daughter's fault?" Clearly unwilling to let anyone blame his child, the middle-aged man aimed his gun straight at Su Jue.

Just as things threatened to turn worse, that small head suddenly poked out from behind the tall man, and the blue-haired little girl tugged at her father's hem, shaking her head at him. "Sorry, Daddy, I was too focused and didn't see them."

Hearing the little girl's voice, the fierce look on the man's face finally softened somewhat. He held the gun in one hand and used the other to pet the little girl's head. "Don't be scared, little Griseo, Daddy knows you don't want to hurt anyone, but we definitely have to interrogate unknown characters like these."

"Quickly, how'd you break in here anyway?"

"We got lost..."

Before Su Jue could finish, he was cut off as the man jammed the muzzle right against his face. "You take me for a fool? My ranch is surrounded by fences on all sides. Laughable to claim you got lost and crossed the fence."

Stuck with no good options, Su Jue could only manage a helpless expression; at this rate, the man wasn't going to believe him no matter what he said.

"Daddy!" Griseo emerged entirely from behind the man and tugged hard at his clothes. "If you keep this up, I'll be mad!"

The man, who had looked so fierce just a moment ago, instantly deflated. He glared harshly at the two of them, finally withdrew the shotgun, and squatted down to ruffle Griseo's head. "Don't be mad, little Griseo, Daddy'll let them go."

Su Jue and Kiana exchanged a glance of relief and slowly lowered their hands. Right at that moment, a rumble came from both of their stomachs simultaneously.

"Uh..."

The man, still coaxing Griseo, suddenly turned his head and glared at them once more.

What, not only trespass on someone else's ranch, but also expect to grab a bite before leaving?

He didn't voice the thought, but Griseo heard their rumbling stomachs and took the initiative to invite them to stay.

"Lost travelers, rest here for the night," she said, reciting poetry-like lines as her paint-stained dress fluttered in the breeze.

For a moment the two felt rather awkward; although they were hungry, mooching off a stranger's meal was still somewhat inappropriate, though they were indeed hungry...

"Then thank you, little sister." In the end, Su Jue had the thicker skin and accepted directly.

This naturally drew the man's strong dissatisfaction, but after figuring out who truly held the highest status in this household, Su Jue had already learned to selectively ignore his threats.

"Wait, although little Griseo agreed to let you stay here for the night, we still need to verify your identities. Take out your documents and let me see them." Seeing no room to maneuver, the man relented, holding out a hand to demand their identification.

Naturally, this was to be expected. Su Jue didn't stall and pulled out his ID card.

"Su... Su Jue, such a familiar name." The man muttered softly, seeming to recall after a moment where he had heard it. "Kid, isn't your father Su Lin?"

A flash of surprise crossed Su Jue's face, and he nodded slowly.

"So you're that fellow's kid, no wonder." Upon confirming Su Jue's identity, the man's expression instantly softened.

"Your old man... is he doing okay?" the man asked hesitantly.

"May I ask who you are?"

"By seniority, I suppose I should be considered your uncle."

Never had they expected this ranch to belong to Su Jue's uncle, and Kiana was truly quite surprised. She had heard from Su Jue that his father had broken off all contact with family relatives on account of Su Jue's mother, especially now that he had deteriorated entirely due to heavy drinking. She had thought all ties were genuinely severed, but it seemed otherwise now.

Thanks to this connection, their free meal suddenly felt a great deal more justified. Only, her identity hadn't been explained yet, and the other party seemed to view her as Su Jue's girlfriend, which bothered her somewhat.

Yet she didn't object. At the table, the two men chatted about family history, while Kiana instead went off to play with little Griseo. She could tell that Griseo genuinely loved to paint; even while eating, she kept hold of her paintbrush.

The lady of the ranch did not appear, and Kiana wisely refrained from asking. Looking at the carefree little Griseo, she suddenly felt a pang of longing for her own father.

Seele Kaslana, the existence who bestowed upon her the name Kiana and also taught her how to grow into an upright person. Amidst Sirin's prior consciousness interference, voices kept insisting her name was merely a tool used by Seele to restrain the Herrscher of Void, but the present Kiana no longer thought that way.

Kindness, uprightness, the proof of being human—these were owed to the existence of such fine qualities. Even if she truly turned out to be a mere substitute in the end, nothing more than an experimental subject named K423, everything she had experienced and every person she had met were still entirely real.

With that thought, she raised her head to steal a glance at Su Jue's profile. It was that lean boy who had given her strength and enabled her to break free from the whirlpool of the Herrscher of Void.

He was real, and that was enough.

The night grew deeper, and the bright moon climbed into the night sky unawares. Through the mottled leaves, it cast a scattering of sparkling jade fragments across the ground.

This ranch wasn't particularly large; rather than a ranch, it felt more like a paradise built specially for little Griseo. Once absolute stillness settled, the insects hidden in the lawn began to rustle and play their music.

The evening breeze swept past the wooden swing board, kicking up a creaking sound. Kiana pressed down on the swaying swing and sat gently upon it. In the distance, Griseo had already put down her drawing board and switched to a handier sketchbook, gazing at the starry sky as her pen tip scratched rapidly across the rough drafting paper.

Seeing the girl hadn't noticed her, Kiana quietly stood on tiptoe, sitting on the swing and swaying with the evening breeze like a child who had yet to grow up, a happy smile blooming on her face.

The swing picked up speed, the girl's smile grew brighter still, like a chirping bird about to take flight. But the corner of her vision suddenly caught the boy leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, and her face flushed red as the swing gradually slowed to a halt.

"I was just curious, definitely not playing around!" Kiana felt somewhat awkward at being caught playing with children's toys. Having just passed her eighteenth birthday not long ago, she was a complete adult by every metric, yet she was still playing on a swing like a little kid.

A faint smile on his face, Su Jue hooked his arm—secured by a bandage—around his neck and strolled over to the swing.

The girl understood his intent and shifted aside, so the two of them sat together on the narrow swing, creaking as they drifted with the wind.

"Right, this is for you." Remembering something suddenly, Kiana fished out Su Jue's broken phone and handed it to him.

Su Jue, however, shook his head and didn't take it.

"Keep this phone for yourself for now. After wandering for so long, have you ever thought about calling your family?"

"Family..." The word burst unceremoniously into Kiana's mind. She murmured softly, then looked back up at the night sky.

"I've almost forgotten what family is like. The year I just turned twelve, my old man left me behind and walked out alone."

"I don't know where he went, nor why he was hiding from me. From that moment on, I just kept telling myself: Kiana, you're not a kid anymore, time to live on your own."

"As the days passed and I grew older, I never heard from him again. By now, even his appearance has grown a bit hazy." The girl offered a self-deprecating smile, unconsciously toying with the orange-white star hair ornament in her hair. "During that period of living alone, I was lucky enough to meet many friends. Back then I was clumsy, lazy, and acted like a bad kid, hoping that one day Dad would see how useless I was and come back to look for me. Dad never came back, but instead, they were all willing to tolerate me and help me walk out of the gloom bit by bit."

"That time was my happiest."

Quietly listening to the girl's monologue, the two of them tilted their heads back to gaze into the distance, their eyes reflecting the exact same starry sky.

"But later, some accidents happened. I did things to them that couldn't be undone, committed unforgivable sins."

"I chose to run away. I couldn't even muster the courage to apologize to them face to face; I didn't dare look into their eyes, terrified of seeing hatred in them."

"I ran away like a cowardly child. I thought I had grown up, I should have grown up..."

Cuddled together on the narrow swing, the girl poured out the story buried deep in her heart bit by bit.

"What about your mother?" Su Jue asked softly.

"I don't know... I don't know." Bewilderment, pain, sorrow, and complex emotions continuously washed over Kiana's memories.

When she was little, the stories told by her father Seele were her best way of understanding the entire world. Back then she didn't understand the meaning of the word mother, merely listening as Seele described over and over again the person he loved—Cecilia Schariac.

The man described his every little moment with Cecilia tirelessly, and through those accounts, Kiana gradually pieced together the image of a perfect woman in her mind.

She was Schicksal's chief Valkyrie, the darling of the battlefield, the most perfect family member, and the mother of a girl named Kiana Kaslana.

Yet, did the name Kiana Kaslana truly belong to her?

"Dad told me Mom turned into a star in the sky. Whenever I miss her, I just have to look up at the stars, and she'll be watching me too."

Countless stars twinkled—which one belonged to her?

Kiana quietly turned her head, looking at the boy, and found he was studying the starry sky with absolute earnestness.

The night view today really was quite lovely, perhaps.

Griseo had left at some point, leaving only the two of them on the grassland. Even the chirping of insects gradually faded away, leaving only the evening breeze tirelessly brushing past their hair, eager to carry their story far away.

"Sometimes, I still envy you quite a bit. Even though your dad's become a bit unreasonable, your mom really is a perfect mother." Finishing her story, Kiana offered a smile. "The food she made was delicious. You might not have noticed, but every time she looked at you, she'd show a look of happiness. I suppose that's what true maternal pampering for a child is."

"Ever thought about making up with your father? As long as you're with family, you can get through any hurdle."

As long as family remained by one's side, life wouldn't turn out too badly after all.

In the girl's heart, she held fast to such a belief.

"Yeah, I will."

He smiled, much as he always did. The warm, sunshine-like smile seemed capable of infecting the girl beside him. Having poured her troubles entirely out to the person beside her, the emotions that had brewed up heavily for so long seemed to dissipate into nothingness.

Side by side with the boy, swinging higher and higher, the starlight of the whole sky felt almost within reach.

"I don't have many rooms here, you two will have to share one for now." Clearing out the spare room, the uncle handed two pillows to Su Jue.

A blush stained the girl's cheeks. Even though she had long since grown accustomed to a wandering life and wasn't too picky about lodging, staying in the same room as a boy was a first.

"Alright, thank you, Uncle."

After expressing his thanks, Su Jue very consciously laid out the extra quilt on the floor, patted the bed, and said to Kiana, "Please bear with sleeping on the bed tonight."

"Uh, actually, it's fine if we both... I, anyway you definitely... can't beat me." Seeming to find a justification in her own words, the girl muttered softly, "You certainly won't do anything impolite either...?"

Looking at the conflicted girl, Su Jue smiled without insisting on sharing a single bed.

"All right, time for bed. You must be exhausted too." Lying down first on his makeshift pallet, Su Jue fell quietly asleep. His sleeping posture was standard, lying flat and as quiet as a corpse.

"Fine." Seeing that Su Jue had put it that way, Kiana naturally couldn't bring herself to genuinely force him to sleep in the same bed with her. She turned off the bedside lamp and, mimicking his example, went to sleep fully clothed.

Late at night, Kiana—who had been sleeping soundly—vaguely heard a knock on the door. Her brows furrowed tightly; could there be something wrong with Su Jue's uncle and his family?

She didn't move, waiting quietly for the malice of the night to arrive, until the rustling sound of Su Jue getting up rang out. He opened the door and walked out.

An abrupt sense of emptiness struck her heart. If—if Su Jue was really just lying to her and wanted to do something bad to her, how would she face him then?

With that thought, she got up as well, tiptoed to the bedroom door, and stealthily eavesdropped on the sounds in the living room.

"Xiao Jue, is that girl who came with you really your girlfriend?"

"Uh, why do you ask?" Caught out in a lie, the boy's voice sounded somewhat nervous.

"Take a look at this photo. Some say that's the mastermind who plunged the world into chaos, and this picture was taken in Sky City... She looks a bit familiar."

"..." Silence.

"Uncle, you're mistaken, she isn't... I'll take her away tomorrow, you don't need to worry."

At the mention of the photo, Kiana's heart trembled. Right now the entirety of Schicksal was searching for her; if someone had photographed her tracks, it would likely draw their encirclement very soon.

With no further noise from the living room, Kiana returned to her bed, her mind replaying everything she had overheard.

Coincidentally, Su Jue's phone was still left here. She turned it on and began searching for recent gossip regarding Sky City.

She quickly found the photograph. Judging by the angle, it appeared to be from when the two of them crossed the checkpoint during daylight; a large portion of her face was completely exposed, while Su Jue's identity also seemed to have sparked unfounded speculation among netizens.

When she refreshed again, however, the photo seemed to have been deleted. Her heart sank; with the news suppressed in such a short amount of time, that photo had probably already been placed in front of Otto.

Click.

The sound of the bedroom door opening echoed. Kiana hurriedly closed her eyes, and until Su Jue's breathing gradually leveled out, the girl had already made up her mind.

The next day, before the sunlight had even spilled onto the grounds of Schicksal's headquarters, this incomparably massive war machine, much like its master, had long since prepared itself to counter the Honkai.

A pure white laced hair ornament, exquisite light-brown short hair, and a well-tailored black-and-white maid outfit walked abruptly into the sci-fi-filled Schicksal center, accompanied by a pair of slender legs wrapped in black silk. If an outsider were to see this, they would likely mistake it not for the heavily guarded Schicksal building, but rather a maid cafe brimming with peach-colored allure.

Yet none of the passing staff dared harbor even a shred of frivolous thought, because the huge scythe carried behind the woman was simply too recognizable and far too deterrent. Everyone knew that the only person permitted to freely enter and exit Schicksal using a scythe as her weapon was Schicksal's chief combat maid, the S-Rank Valkyrie—Rita Rossweisse.

"Lord Bishop, what are your orders?" Rita's voice was crisp and efficient, forming a sharp contrast to her charming and alluring appearance.

Accompanied by the ticking of the communicator, an elegant male voice issued from it—none other than Schicksal's Bishop, Otto.

"Three days ago, two extremely closely spaced Honkai Energy fluctuations were detected in Sky City. Although the source of the Honkai eruption wasn't found, some speculate this is very likely a sign of the Herrscher of Void's manifestation. Then, around midnight yesterday, someone uploaded a photograph of a suspected sighting of the Herrscher of Void."

"Your mission is to find her whereabouts."

The photo was instantly transmitted to Rita's device. After glancing at it for a few seconds, confirming that the figure had a high probability of being K423 who had been missing for nearly three months, she immediately replied: "Understood, Lord Bishop..."

"However, the shooting angle of this photo is somewhat peculiar. I'm afraid someone did it on purpose."