Twin Consciousnesses / Treading on Snow

A miserable cry came from the Honkai Beast's body, but no one cared about its death.

The white-haired girl jumped down from the Honkai Beast's body, her toes lightly touching the ground with the sound of her soles meeting the concrete. Behind her, the massive Honkai Beast slowly collapsed. The dust it kicked up swept toward her, yet still failed to catch up with her steps.

She walked toward Su Jue. Seemingly noticing his stunned expression, the girl subconsciously tugged at the bangs over her forehead, covering her golden right eye. But her hair could not conceal it completely, so she could only pull up the hood of her somewhat grimy white hoodie, covering most of her face.

"Th... thank you." His voice trembled slightly. Su Jue still seemed immersed in the scene of the girl effortlessly killing the Honkai Beast. Only when she was about to reach him did he come back to his senses. He hurriedly crouched down and picked up the loose change he had not had time to gather earlier.

The change was scattered everywhere. Now that online transactions had become widespread, such loose paper bills were relatively uncommon.

"Ten, fifty..." Su Jue carefully counted his change, but his expression soon turned anxious. "No, no..."

"Are some missing?" The girl standing before him had remained silent until he counted the money again.

"Yeah, a hundred is missing. I remember putting it on the inside." His voice shook as he counted the change again and again.

The girl froze, then crouched down and lightly touched the bottom of her shoe. She took out a crumpled hundred-yuan bill. "Ah, looks like I stepped on it. Sorry."

His anxious expression turned into delight. Su Jue's eyes widened as he took the bill from her hand. He looked at the girl, a faint smile resting on her pretty face.

"Thank you!"

After carefully putting the change into the inner pocket of his clothes, Su Jue wiped the dust from his face before finally taking the time to examine the girl properly.

What met his eyes were blue pupils like a lake reflecting the sky. Her left eye, however, was hidden by her hair and could not be seen clearly. She wore a hood, but her white hair, like fine clouds woven from silk, still fell to her waist. Tight-fitting clothes covered her fair skin, and even the hoodie draped over her only hid a small part of her perfect figure.

But Su Jue's attention was not on her appearance. He noticed dried bloodstains in her white hair, while her outerwear was dusty and clearly had not been washed in a long time. And the arm she had kept half-hidden seemed to...

He wrinkled his nose and took a light sniff.

A flush rose to the girl's cheeks. She felt a little embarrassed. Since waking up, she had wandered for more than a month. Though she had tried to stay as clean as possible, sweating while fighting Honkai Beasts had been unavoidable. She had not bathed in a long time. Perhaps he had smelled something strange, which was truly difficult for her to admit.

Su Jue frowned slightly and looked at her with concern. "You're hurt?"

He had detected a faint smell of blood from the arm she had been hiding. Looking carefully, he saw tiny bloodstains already soaking through her clothes.

"It happened just now." Su Jue realized the battle had not been as easy as it had looked. He reached out and grabbed the girl's wrist, revealing the bright red wound marks beneath. He immediately turned around and took out a roll of bandages from inside his half-destroyed backpack. Unfortunately, the alcohol had spilled during his escape earlier, so Su Jue could only carefully wrap the bandage around her arm. His movements were skilled, as though he had long been used to dressing wounds.

The girl blinked as she watched the boy lower his head and bandage her wound. She did not tell him that it was an injury caused by Honkai Energy corrosion after using the Herrscher's power. Bandaging it was useless.

Sure enough, even after it was wrapped, blood continued to seep through uncontrollably, staining the white bandage red.

Su Jue carefully removed the stained bandage and wrapped it again. But even after using up all the bandages, the bleeding still did not stop. He looked lost, as if it were the first time he had encountered such a situation. Yet he quickly came to his senses and grabbed the girl's hand.

"It's okay. I have a medicine box at home. It works really well. It'll definitely stop the bleeding." Su Jue's eyes were earnest. Though he did not know who the girl was, she had been injured saving him. He had no reason to ignore her.

Kiana instinctively tried to pull her hand away, but a wave of dizziness suddenly surged into her mind. She pressed a hand to her forehead and gasped for air.

The consciousness assault from the Herrscher of Void had come again.

"Sirin..."

Twin Consciousnesses

Sirin.

The moment that name appeared, the surrounding space seemed to tremble. Kiana pressed hard against her forehead, trying to suppress the violent emotions crashing into her.

Yet no matter how she tried to restrain them, the gold beneath her hair grew brighter and brighter.

"Run!" In the final instant before her consciousness was overwritten, the girl shoved Su Jue away.

The next moment, the gentle smile on the girl's face was torn apart, replaced by madness.

"Pathetic experiment. Did you think that as long as you stayed awake, my will would never awaken? How foolish." Chaotic and manic, yet carrying an indescribable nobility, strange cross-shaped stars flickered within her golden eye, radiating an eerie aura. "Sorrow, guilt... How long can you endure with such intense emotions filling you?"

The darkened white-haired girl bent slightly. Her loose hair flowed down her shoulders in silken strands. Su Jue stood where he was, silently watching as the golden eyes beneath that waterfall of silver hair gradually turned toward him.

In an instant, terrifying pressure from a superior being swept over him. Su Jue felt like prey in a zoo, locked onto by a ferocious beast.

"Hehe, looks like there's another thing here that doesn't know its place. I wonder what expression she'll make after I tear you apart." A smile crept onto Sirin's lips as she suddenly straightened. Her silver hair gleamed beneath the moonlight and firelight.

Her golden right eye burst with brutality, while her blue left eye held sorrow. She raised her head and looked down arrogantly at a pair of...

Equally golden eyes.

"Huh?" Sirin's expression froze, then became even more crazed. "You dare look at me like that, trash!"

She raised her hand, and Spears of the Void instantly formed. But before she could swing them, a hand pressed against her forehead.

"Herrscher of Void, it isn't time for you to take the stage yet." Su Jue's voice was calm, yet carried an unquestionable authority.

Sirin's eyes widened, and her breathing quickened. She noticed that the Honkai Energy within her, so full it was nearly overflowing, was actually dissipating. She was a Herrscher. Even if she was currently forced to share a body with K423, the Herrscher Core was still functioning.

"You... who exactly are you?"

There was no response. The turbulent space around them gradually calmed, and the Herrscher of Void's interference with space was suppressed. At that moment, Sirin finally realized what kind of monster could absorb a Herrscher's power.

"So that's how it is. So that's how it is."

The Honkai Energy Sirin had accumulated within Kiana's body for so long was completely absorbed, yet she laughed even more madly. Gathering every last bit of her strength, she broke free from Su Jue's hand on her forehead, slammed into him, and tightly gripped his throat.

"You lowly thing! How dare you humiliate the Queen!"

Even with his throat being choked, Su Jue showed no reaction. Sirin's consciousness was fading rapidly, so he might as well let her struggle.

The strength in the girl's hands gradually weakened until they finally fell limply. When the evening breeze blew, her entire body slowly collapsed against Su Jue.

The coin purse that had been knocked over scattered change all over the ground again. Su Jue sighed and crouched down to pick it up once more.

The largest denomination among the change was only fifty. The only unusual one was that crumpled hundred-yuan bill.

The girl had discreetly used her spatial power to take money from beneath her shoe, kindly making up the hundred yuan Su Jue had supposedly lost. Unfortunately, she did not know that none of Su Jue's change had been missing. That hundred was likely the only money she had left after wandering for so long.

Looking at Kiana collapsed on the ground, a trace of pity flashed through Su Jue's eyes, only to be quickly hidden away.

He rubbed his face hard. Only after the gold faded from his eyes did Su Jue struggle to his feet, help the girl up from the ground, carry her onto his back, and walk step by step toward home.

"Mmm..."

A faint moan slipped from the girl's lips. The weakness after her consciousness had collapsed gnawed at her mind like maggots on bone. Her vision was blurry, but Kiana soon realized she was moving.

Was someone carrying her?

Her thoughts were a little muddled. The girl took two deep breaths of the smoke-tainted air, quickly easing the discomfort in her body.

Her gaze moved past close-cropped gray hair and fell upon a gaunt face.

It was that boy. He hadn't left...

The Herrscher of Void's consciousness was filled with destruction and ruin. Whenever she awakened, every living thing near her would be torn apart.

Yet this boy was still alive.

Kiana suddenly felt a lingering fear. She was afraid that when her consciousness awakened, she would see a mangled corpse.

"You're awake?" Just as Kiana's thoughts ran wild, Su Jue's weary voice came from below. He stopped walking and hitched up the arm supporting her legs, settling her into a steadier position.

But even Kiana, who was being carried, could feel that Su Jue had nearly exhausted all his strength. His thin arms could barely support her body anymore.

"Where is this?" There were no ruined walls or remnants of Honkai Beasts rampaging through the area. Only low rooftops, utterly out of place in this technological city, lined both sides of the road.

"The outskirts of Sky City. I live around here."

Kiana raised her head and looked at the tall buildings in the distance, their lights shimmering softly. That was the central district of Sky City. It was probably five or six kilometers from here. In other words, this boy had carried her unconscious body on foot all that way?

His thighs felt weak. Su Jue took one step, and his whole body wobbled. When he took the next, he could no longer support the weight of both of them. After stumbling, he fell forward onto the ground.

A fall like that should have been entirely avoidable for a well-trained Valkyrie like Kiana. But after her body had been taken over by Sirin, she had yet to recover and could not muster any strength. She could only fall alongside Su Jue. Her forehead went cold as it nearly struck the concrete.

The two lay on the ground for a while before their strength gradually returned. The girl climbed up and discovered that she had not avoided hitting the ground after all. Before she struck it, Su Jue had reached out and blocked the impact for her.

"Are you okay?" Strength returned to her body once more. Kiana hurriedly helped Su Jue up from the ground. The dim yellow streetlight fell across the boy's profile, and her reflection was mirrored in his gray eyes.

"I'm fine." Seemingly embarrassed by the girl's gaze, Su Jue awkwardly turned his head aside. "Sorry. I'm a guy, but I'm this weak."

Kiana shook her head. She did not care about that. Instead, she carefully checked Su Jue's body. Fortunately, aside from some scraped skin on the palm he had used to cushion her fall, he had no external injuries. She sighed in relief, but doubt rose in her heart. When the Herrscher of Void had awakened just now, the boy had been right beside her. How had he escaped without even a scratch?

But this was not the time to dwell on it. She helped Su Jue to his feet. Once the aftereffects faded, the strength of the Valkyrie who could punch down Scythe Deadwalkers and kick Judgment Beasts returned. If Su Jue had not stubbornly refused, Kiana would have carried him herself.

After weaving through old alleys, the two finally returned to a cluster of aging apartment buildings.

Compared to the city center, this place seemed like a defective remnant mercilessly abandoned by the technological age. Sewage flowed through the gutters, giving off an indescribable stench. An ugly stray dog stepped through puddles, soaking its entire body in filthy water. Seeing the two approach, it hurriedly stood up and shook sewage-covered fur everywhere.

"You live here?" Kiana was not surprised by the filth and disorder. She was simply curious about the boy's living conditions.

"Yeah." Su Jue pushed open the outermost gate of the row houses and stepped over the high threshold.

Just as Kiana, following close behind, had crossed over with one foot, a shrill cat cry suddenly rang out.

Tread Snow

"Tread Snow!" Su Jue's heart abruptly sank. Without time to greet Kiana, he immediately hurried toward his home.

The old residential building shared a single corridor. Perhaps due to years of neglect, the lights in the corridor no longer worked. At night, it was pitch-black, like a gloomy nest waiting to devour people.

Just as she was about to follow Su Jue, Kiana stopped. She turned her head and noticed that behind a window not far away, a girl had leaned half her body out and was looking in this direction.

As if noticing Kiana's movement, the girl immediately withdrew her gaze and pulled the curtains shut. Half a minute later, the room's light went out as well.

Kiana withdrew her gaze and stepped into the corridor.

Meow!

The shrill cat cry came again, accompanied by an angry man's voice.

"You damned little beast, get the hell out of here!"

The orange kitten widened its eyes as it watched the man's kicking foot draw closer and closer.

Bang—!

A dull impact rang out. The kick landed on Su Jue's shoulder. His body sank, and the kitten named Tread Snow slipped from his arms.

Meow!

After rolling on the ground, Tread Snow gently licked his owner's cheek, arched her back, and continued hissing at the man.

"Well, well. The little brat finally came home this late. That bitch refuses to open the door. Don't tell me she died in there." The man lifted Su Jue from the ground. He was tall, but years of alcoholism had hollowed out his body. "Where are the keys?"

The pain in his shoulder made Su Jue clench his teeth involuntarily. Yet even as the man grabbed him, he did not say a word.

"You little bastard, think your wings have grown in? I'm your father! Without me, you and your mother would've died in some filthy ditch long ago! I was the one who saved up money for this house!" Looking at Su Jue's half-dead expression, the man's anger flared. He raised his hand, intending to slap Su Jue across the face.

Tap tap.

Footsteps sounded. The man frowned. With the help of the dim light by the entrance, he saw the newcomer clearly.

"Well, well. No wonder this little brat came home so late and made me wait so long. He brought a woman home." The man looked Kiana up and down, his eyes clouded. But alcohol had long numbed his nerves. To him, having money to drink was far more important than women. After only two glances, he turned his eyes back to Su Jue.

Slap.

The man struck Su Jue across the face, fury filling his eyes. "You fucking lied to me about having no money? You've got money to find women but none to show your old man some filial respect? I should've smeared you on the wall back then."

He raised his hand high, intending to slap him again, but before it could fall, someone fiercely grabbed his wrist.

An icy aura was reflected in those blue eyes. The enraged man subconsciously swallowed, and all the momentum drained out of him at once.

He slowly lowered his hand. Only after he had fully released Su Jue did Kiana release his wrist. Judging from what the man had said, he seemed to be Su Jue's father. Though Kiana could not stand his actions, she was ultimately an outsider.

After being interrupted, the man seemed to realize Kiana was not someone to provoke. He could only lean close to Su Jue and whisper, "Xiao Jue, just give Dad a little more. I promise, after I take it this time, I'll never come back again."

"I know you've suffered living with that useless mother of yours. Don't worry. Once I win my money back, Dad will take you away with me, okay?" His voice lowered, even carrying a hint of pleading. Alcoholism and gambling had completely destroyed the man's will. He looked into Su Jue's eyes, but all he received was deep hatred.

Seemingly reading the meaning in Su Jue's gaze, the man's expression changed. He stood and reached for Kiana.

"You little brat won't listen, huh? Since you brought someone home, then I'll..."

Before he could finish, he took a heavy punch to the face. But this time, it was not Kiana who hit him. It was Su Jue.

"This is our family's business." After punching the man in the face, Su Jue finally spoke. He turned back to glance at Kiana and gestured for her to leave quickly.

"Oh? You even know to protect women now. Looks like you've really grown up." The man showed little reaction after taking the punch. He knew Su Jue did not have much strength. That little injury was far lighter than being beaten in an alley by debt collectors. "Since you want to protect someone, let's see if you have what it takes."

As soon as the man finished speaking, he took another punch to the face. Su Jue did not know where the strength came from, but he drove his fist into the man's nose, blood running down his cheeks.

The man clenched his teeth, ready to beat the little brat to death, when a bag was suddenly thrown into his face. He froze, then hurriedly opened the battered backpack. It held a large handful of loose change. It was not much, but enough for him to fool around for a few more days.

"Take the money and get out!"

His fingers trembled with rage as Su Jue turned around and pulled a hidden rusty steel bar from the trash heap nearby. Holding the steel bar, he advanced toward the man step by step.

Finally realizing Su Jue was serious, the man shrank back. He hurriedly clutched the backpack and ran off in disgrace.