A sharp blade tore through flesh, blood splattering out and scattering tiny droplets across the concrete ground.
"..."
Thick smoke grenades spread rapidly. Rita did not even have the mood to care about Mei, who might have already escaped; a fierce anger filled her heart, but she still immediately pressed down on the wound on her shoulder.
That was right, the blood that had just splattered belonged to Rita.
"To dare to interfere with the work of a Schicksal Valkyrie, Your Excellency's nerve is truly a bit too large." Forcibly enduring the anger in her heart, Rita retrieved a length of bandage from the equipment at her waist to barely bandage her wound, but now she would definitely suffer no small impact if she continued to use her scythe.
The newcomer did not speak, only silently walking out from the shadows.
A strand of fire-red long hair cascaded like a waterfall, a white half-face mask concealing the upper half of her face, with only one gray and one orange-red heterochromatic pupil exposed through the eyeholes.
Murata Himeko silently picked up the katana that Raiden Mei had dropped. As for the long blade she had just thrown in a sneak attack, it was merely an ordinary standard-issue weapon. Su Jue's industrial system had not yet spread out, so for now he could only steal them from some backward military groups to use, just like that sniper rifle from before.
The moment she saw Himeko, even the anger in her heart was replaced by shock. Rita stared fixedly at the current Himeko puppet: the fire-red long hair, the orange eyes, the signature chest...
"Murata Himeko? Weren't you supposed to have died in the Imaginary Space?" As the operative who assisted Otto in causing the awakening of the Herrscher of Void, Rita naturally understood the course of the entire battle. The battle had ultimately ended with Himeko's demise and the Herrscher of Void's escape, yet the person who should least appear right now had appeared.
Himeko did not speak. Her current appearance still had a very large difference from her original appearance. Although certain parts possessed a high degree of similarity, upon careful observation they could still be distinguished.
Sure enough, after confronting each other for more than ten seconds, Rita shook her head to herself, "No, you are not her. There is neither the erosion of artificial stigmata, nor the energy of the Plague Gem, and not even the backdoors left by the Overseer on the God-Slaying Armor have been triggered."
"Who on earth are you?"
Slowly raising the katana in her hand, Himeko decided to obey Su Jue's demand not to expose herself, but just as she prepared to begin fighting directly like this, Su Jue suddenly took over her control authority.
"Good evening, Miss Rita." A slightly frivolous voice came out from Himeko's mouth, instantly drawing Rita's attention.
"Oh? Finally willing to communicate? I thought you were just a wooden puppet that couldn't speak."
Although this woman of unknown origin finally stopped maintaining her silence, Rita felt the other party's danger level rise in a straight line.
"How could that be? Wasn't I specially coming to greet Miss Rita? As for accidentally letting Miss Rita's prey run away, that is purely an accident, and I express my apologies here." Su Jue spread his hands. He wished nothing more than for Rita to finish off Mei, but he also knew very well in his heart that this possibility was too low. With Mei conducting reconnaissance alone, it was impossible for Theresa's side not to make any preparations; this smoke grenade was a backup plan. Rather than waiting until she ran away and then trading blows with Rita, it was better to take advantage of Rita's move to launch a sneak attack first and weaken her strength.
This was not called despicable; could a Herrscher's affairs be considered despicable?
"Yet I do not feel your attitude is one of apology, and a fellow who hides around looks more than a little suspicious."
"Oh, it seems I forgot to introduce myself. I thought Miss Rita had already guessed my identity, after all, the snake has already set its sights on you, hasn't it?"
Rita frowned, "You are a member of World Serpent?"
"You are very clear on this, aren't you? As for whether I am a member of World Serpent or not, what does it matter?" Su Jue was silent for a brief moment, and then spoke as if he had just remembered something, "Uh, I think I can be a member of World Serpent. How does the codename Crimson Snake sound?"
"Crimson Snake? It does fit your entire red attire quite well, but Schicksal's snake-catching technology is not too bad either. Once we catch you, it will be very easy to distinguish whether you are a real snake or a fake one then."
Chapter 50: Puppet Machine
The verbal sparring ended here. For Rita, regardless of what Su Jue's true identity was, they had to fight to find out. And Su Jue's target was similarly the Gray Serpent Ocular Implant in Rita's hand—this item was the key to controlling the puppet machine, so this battle was unavoidable.
"Leave it to you. Win or lose, you must stall her for me, otherwise what will happen to your students is hard to say. You wouldn't want..."
"Hoo—"
Exhaling a breath of stale air, control of her body returned once more, and Murata Himeko horizontally positioned Raiden Mei's katana in front of herself. Although her weapon of choice was a greatsword, it did not mean Himeko did not know how to use other weapons. If she were facing Rita in her prime, it naturally would not be enough, but now Rita was already injured, and with this brand-new body of hers, she might not lack a chance.
Moreover, she knew very well in her heart that Su Jue was preparing to seize the puppet machine from her students. If something went wrong on her end, that Herrscher would definitely show no mercy.
Boom—
Following the sudden shattering of the ground beneath her feet, Rita's body sprang forward like an arrow released from a bowstring, the clash between scythe and katana playing out once more in this street.
"Mr. Gray Serpent, please forgive me for borrowing the name of the snake, but I swear, our goals do not conflict in any way with the snake's guidance. On the contrary, I can provide you with a great deal of useful intelligence..." At Gray Serpent's stronghold, the [Father] puppet—which had been intentionally released by Su Jue to lure Gray Serpent out—had been caught red-handed, and at this moment was playing the role of an underground organization leader.
Facing the snake's cold, sinister gaze, Su Jue blended a trace of pride into his terrified emotions with exceptional skill. As the leader of an underground organization, even if he knew World Serpent was a behemoth, after all he had only heard of it, so he would inevitably retain a sliver of arrogance.
"The snake does not like things outside the plan. If this is all there is, you should probably consider your own funeral arrangements."
A cold sweat seeped from his forehead, and [Father] nervously pulled a handkerchief from his pocket to wipe his brow. Yet his hands continuously trembled as he racked his brains to find intelligence he could provide, "I... I know Schicksal's target... They are searching for the Gem of Desire. Yes, the Gem of Desire. As long as the snake can set an ambush, it can definitely wipe them out in one fell swoop."
Only after managing to squeeze out a piece of intelligence did [Father] relax quite a bit. Looking at the ocular implant behind the white mask, he said sincerely, "Trust me, this intelligence is definitely true..."
Gray Serpent still leaned on his black umbrella, not knowing what he was thinking, but after he spoke, [Father]'s expression changed drastically, "The intelligence is indeed true, but such obvious intelligence holds no value whatsoever. A former business partner of mine taught me a principle: when the value of intelligence fails to reach the value of the trader's value, life becomes the bargaining chip of this trade."
"Then you, have you decided on your bargaining chip?"
At this time, [Father] was already covered in cold sweat, continuously pondering, but Gray Serpent seemed to have lost his patience, the muzzle of his gun aiming directly at his head.
"I can hand over all my assets to World Serpent! I, I also have the whereabouts of the Herrscher of Void, and I also know the whereabouts of the Anti-Entropy Sovereign, as well as the experiments Otto has recently been conducting. As long as you give me time, I will definitely find them out."
Perhaps the value of life completely made the man lose his mind, causing him to blurt out everything he knew in one breath. The finger Gray Serpent held on the trigger paused, his red ocular implant flickering slightly.
"Schicksal, Anti-Entropy, World Serpent... You actually have intelligence on all of them. I am starting to grow interested in your identity."
The muzzle remained aimed at the forehead, and the man could only lower his body, "I merely have a slightly greater number of intelligence channels."
"I will give you two choices: join the snake, or die here."
"I..." [Father]'s lips trembled incessantly, but finally he swallowed his pride and lowered his head toward Gray Serpent, "I understand."
"If you can continuously bring useful intelligence to the snake, you will also possess your own codename, otherwise the snake will devour you entirely."
After undergoing a long period of decryption, Bronya finally breached the network defense line of the stronghold, finding the intelligence Gray Serpent had hidden here.
"Could this guy be a madman? He actually collected the network information of the entire Sky City." The moment she hacked into the database, Bronya frowned, "More importantly, Gray Serpent actually did not organize it. There is no classification, no tags, no index... All the data is in a complete mess."
Hearing Bronya's words, Theresa also felt it was thorny, "Is there no data concerning Kiana among them?"
"There might be, but for me to find it out will take at least a few days, and if I want to migrate it, the time will be even longer." Continuously searching for Kiana's information, the results yielded were extremely meager, "As an intelligence dealer, stealing information without such filtering is simply too strange."
"Unless he possesses a more efficient processing terminal—found it, this is..." Accompanied by Bronya's actions, the mechanical gates of the stronghold slowly opened. Along with the sound of hydraulic rods, the figure of a small girl appeared before the two of them.
"A little girl?" The moment she saw the figure, Theresa cried out in surprise, but she immediately noticed the heavy pipelines and data terminal interfaces connected to the girl.
"No, to be precise, it is a cyborg. Just like the modifications Gray Serpent made on his own body, most of this little girl's body has also undergone modifications." Bronya explained patiently, having in fact already attempted to use the biological chip's authority to crack it, but she quickly gave up.
"Her brain has actually been completely modified, being fitted with a quantum computer, possessing astonishing computing power. Without core authority, even I cannot crack it for a while."
"Quantum-level computing power... No wonder there was no need to organize." Theresa instantly understood her meaning, "Perhaps we can borrow the Hyperion's mainframe to decrypt it, but the problem now is how we are supposed to take her away."
"Outsiders, your journey ends here... Please do not point that kind of thing at me."
Facing the heavy artillery muzzle Bronya had pressed almost against her forehead, the puppet machine—which had just been prepared to act tough for a couple of sentences—immediately lost its nerve.
"Bronya, isn't this a bit too violent?" Theresa felt somewhat awkward, wanting to ease the atmosphere.
"Principal, we have no time to waste. Contact Sister Mei immediately; we should retreat." Replacing the invitation with abduction, Bronya did not give her a chance and immediately began contacting Mei.
Yet strangely enough, Mei's signal was clearly approaching, yet there was no connecting signal at all.
"Are you looking for her?" A strange male voice resounded within the empty stronghold. Theresa felt a jolt in her heart, only to see Mei—who was already somewhat delirious—being thrown out by that person, flying toward them.
"Hurry and run..."
Chapter 51: Feather Dust Fu Hua
Just as Su Jue was preparing to play the role of an evildoer, the central district of Sky City likewise welcomed an uninvited guest—the unstable factor Su Jue worried about the most: the Herrscher of Void.
Kiana at this moment already differed greatly from her previous disheveled appearance. Her further mastery of the Herrscher of Void's power allowed her to handle disaster sites with much greater ease. At the same time, the stabilization of her mental world also allowed her to no longer be bound hand and foot, worrying about Sirin's enticement. More importantly, the Feather Dust hidden deep within her consciousness had been discovered by her. Although this feather—which harbored Fu Hua's will—could not provide her with any substantive help, it was equivalent to gaining an additional companion.
"Kiana, compared to the past few months, your changes are truly massive." Appearing in her Phoenix form, Fu Hua could not help but feel some emotion. Ever since the awakening of the Herrscher of Void, she had remained by Kiana's side; yet Kiana at that time, deeply plagued by inner self-reproach and the interference of Sirin's consciousness, had kept her heart tightly sealed, unwilling to communicate with anyone and naturally unwilling to accept Fu Hua's guidance.
Precisely because of this, she understood Kiana's pain more than anyone, having witnessed her despair and loneliness, until a turning point finally arrived a few days prior. Kiana's heart grew more resilient, as if she had found a new goal in life. Although she still could not control her power, she could at least firmly lock away Sirin's consciousness, giving her no opportunity to cause trouble.
"Heh, do you think my consciousness should have dissipated as Otto anticipated, completely degenerating into a vessel for the Herrscher of Void?" Leaping down from a high-altitude rooftop and rolling to land with the aid of a tumble, she displayed no favorable attitude whatsoever toward Fu Hua's remarks.
And precisely because of her ongoing wandering, Kiana felt even more enraged by Otto's actions, while Fu Hua—who had been sent by him to monitor her—was naturally not looked upon favorably by her either. If it had been during that previous condition of being drowned in despair, she might have grasped at this single straw of life-saving hope after Feather Dust appeared.
Yet now, having accidentally witnessed Su Jue's optimistic and steadfast attitude toward life, Kiana had been infected by it during their contact, gradually recovering her courage to face life. In her view, the Fu Hua who appeared at this moment was merely another of Otto's methods. While it did not amount to hatred, unconditional trust was out of the question either.
Adding flowers to embroidery can never compare to sending charcoal in falling snow; Su Jue had broken into her life when she was at her most desperate and bestowed strength upon her, a kindness she would never forget in all her lives.
Faced with Kiana's obviously untrusting attitude, Fu Hua felt somewhat helpless as well, but she was not the type to bicker over petty details. Now that Kiana had found herself again, she was quite happy to play the role of an ordinary friend.
Stepping atop the skyscrapers of the central district, Kiana looked down at this bustling district, her gaze flickering.
"Clearly the outer edges of the city are still enduring the suffering of Honkai Beast attacks, yet the people living here act as if nothing has happened, peaceably and contentedly enjoying the prosperity. When they are singing and dancing the night away, have they ever thought of how many people are struggling for tomorrow..." The medical record she had seen flashed rapidly through her mind; the small change the gray-haired youth had accumulated to treat his illness was not even as much as the cost of the meals poured into the trash cans of the central district. Only by truly experiencing life in this world could one understand what kind of days those living at the bottom endured.
"I want to transform this imperfect world into the way we want it to be."
In the days of constantly rescuing the citizens of Sky City during this period, she also discovered that the reason for such a disparity was inextricably linked to a company called Shencheng Pharmaceuticals. Coming to the central district this time was precisely to investigate this company's background.
However, just as she prepared to head to her next location, a faint smell of blood drifted into her nostrils on the cold wind, and Kiana quickly reacted, "To be able to smell the scent of blood at such a height, the scene is definitely much more severe than imagined."
"Could it be a Honkai Beast attack?" Fu Hua put forward her own conjecture; all her sources of information came solely from Kiana, and she could only make deductions based on existing clues.
"Let's go take a look."
Borrowing force at the edge of a skyscraper to leap, she landed like a bird onto the opposite building, then continuously slid down the sloping wall, a Spear of the Void appearing to prop up her body as she landed at the end of the roof.
Moving back and forth, she had already descended from the skyscraper back to the street. To avoid being discovered by others, she chose not to cross the street directly, but prepared to detour from another direction.
Just as she prepared to act, she suddenly discovered a familiar little girl standing somewhat dazedly and helplessly in the middle of the avenue.
"Griseo? Why is she here?" Kiana was somewhat surprised, because the distance from here to the pasture was not close unless she had specifically come to the central district for shopping... It seemed so, as Griseo's hair-tips still pinned a cute hair clip, and she carried a paper bag in her hand, looking at the printed pattern on it, which should be some kind of painting tool.
"You know that little girl?" Because Kiana's heart had previously been in a closed-off state, Fu Hua did not know of the existence of Su Jue and Griseo.
Hesitating for a moment, Kiana still nodded, "She is the relative of a very important... friend of mine. Their family helped me previously."
Although she had wanted to chase her away immediately upon seeing the photo, Kiana felt there was no problem with that; on the contrary, she was deeply grateful for not being directly reported to the police because of Su Jue.
"Judging by her appearance, she seems to need help, but there is a possibility you might be captured by surveillance." After pondering slightly, Fu Hua understood Kiana's current worry, "She should have come with her family. If she is lost, her family should come looking for her very soon. The security forces in the city center are not bad; you don't need to take the risk."
"Yet..." The lingering unease in her heart still made Kiana somewhat worried, but she likewise knew that her whereabouts had already been captured once. Once exposed again, it would very likely attract Schicksal's pursuit. More importantly, the feeling the scent of blood from earlier gave her was even worse.
"Kiana, have you forgotten your goal? There must be many unknown secrets hidden in this city. You must find evidence before being discovered, and if it really is a Honkai Beast attack, the casualties caused will be even greater."
"..."
"I understand."
Sighing in her heart, Kiana could only leave helplessly. Compared to the lost Griseo, this city was far more important.
Following her own perception of the scent of blood, Kiana quickly found the source of the odor, and when she stepped into that massacred street, she could not help feeling shocked. More than a dozen corpses lay on the ground in incomplete postures, blood staining nearly all the ground red.
"The corpses are all wearing uniform attire, and there are dropped firearms on the ground. It looks like some kind of underground organization, probably not good people. The strange thing is that almost all of them were severed by sharp blades, very much resembling something caused by a large-scale weapon, and apart from the craters caused by the deceased, there are no other bullet holes." Fu Hua rapidly analyzed the traces at the scene. She had once worked as a detective in London for a period of time, and her investigative capability was not weak.
Looking at the corpses littering the ground and listening to Fu Hua's analysis, Kiana's expression gradually grew unsightly. In her mind, the figure of someone skilled at using such large heavy melee weapons gradually surfaced—Rita Rossweisse.
Chapter 52: Clues and Flames
"As expected, my whereabouts have already been detected by Schicksal?" Sighing inwardly, Kiana began to check the remaining traces. Once she had a suspected target, reconstructing the sequence of events at the scene became very easy.
"It looks like Rita had a conflict with some underground organization, but why is that?" Kiana felt somewhat puzzled. If they had found her whereabouts, they should have come straight to capture her instead of engaging in a struggle with local forces.
Very quickly, Fu Hua provided the answer: "Intelligence—about you."
"Most of the men in black were killed with a single strike. Rita left no leeway whatsoever for these flunkies, but that masked corpse was different. All the electronic chips on his body were taken away, and even his modified cybernetic prosthetics were the same. Rita going to such great lengths is very likely because this intelligence organization grasped your whereabouts, and she chose the most convenient method of intelligence acquisition. And do you notice these blood-stained footprints?"
The area was covered in blood everywhere, yet there were still clean patches, and the footprints left there made Kiana extremely familiar with them.
"This size should be a woman and a child... Mei and Auntie?" In an instant, Kiana reacted. Having spent so much time with everyone at St. Freya, she knew their little details inside and out. (Bronya flew, so she would not leave footprints.)
"The footsteps are not chaotic; they probably didn't have a conflict with Rita. They also obtained intelligence concerning you. Right, you might not yet know that after the awakening of the Herrscher of Void, everyone at St. Freya had already broken ties with Schicksal." Noticing the psychological changes in Kiana's mind, Fu Hua gently persuaded, "They should have come to take you back, Kiana. Everyone is waiting for you..."
"..." Without replying, Kiana felt somewhat restless internally. On one hand, it was because everyone had kept her identity a secret from her all along, which made her harbor a slight estrangement in her heart; on the other hand, it was because she still could not control the power of the Herrscher of Void at present. If she lost control again, she would inevitably harm her friends.
More importantly, she still harbored a thought buried deep at the bottom of her heart—one that even Fu Hua was unaware of: she wanted to take Su Jue away with her, to treat his illness for him and let him witness her growth.
Yet this for now was merely an extravagant hope. Because of the Herrscher, she was deeply trapped in a whirlpool, and Su Jue staying with her as an ordinary person would only bring him harm. Moreover, he had his own family and his own life; she could not and should not disturb him—her uncle's expression had been exceedingly obvious after learning she might be a Herrscher, even if he didn't mind...
No, he would definitely mind.
Would he really mind?
Shaking her head fiercely, Kiana cast aside the chaotic thoughts in her mind. Regardless of what happened, since Auntie and the others had come to Sky City and might encounter Rita's attack, she could not sit idly by.
"Class Monitor, can you determine their whereabouts?"
Seeing Kiana evade this question, Fu Hua also felt somewhat helpless. However, at present she was merely a shred of consciousness residing within Feather Dust, and she could do nothing about Kiana's rejection of returning, only able to use her own experience to help her search for clues as much as possible.
"Judging by the signs of the footprints' activity, they should have lingered here for a period of time, but they did not return by the original route; they should have discovered the clues left behind by the deceased... Kiana, take two steps forward to your front right."
Very quickly, with Fu Hua's assistance, they rapidly analyzed the general direction based on the traces left behind by the few individuals, and Kiana roughly guessed the situation at that time.
Before you continue