"Hm?"
Though confused, Kiana still turned around and saw Mei and Bronya standing behind them, watching with expressionless faces.
Then...
The two girls' expressions turned strange.
Just as Kiana instinctively sensed something was wrong, she suddenly felt something being placed over her mouth.
Click!
Before Kiana could react, Qin Mo pulled the Ripple Breathing mask over her face and locked it in place.
"Mmgh, mmgh, mmgh!!!"
Kiana felt like she couldn't breathe at all. She grabbed at the mask, trying to pull it off, but she had no idea what material it was made of. It seemed the only way to remove it was to destroy it. Just as she was about to break it, Qin Mo grabbed both her hands.
"While wearing this mask, you can only breathe normally by using Ripple Breathing."
After hearing Qin Mo's words, Kiana struggled for a while longer. But with both hands restrained, she couldn't resist at all. Even the Kaslana family's monstrous strength was no match for the Ox Talisman's power.
After more than ten seconds, the sound of breathing finally came from beneath Kiana's mask.
"Ahhh! That's way too cruel... mmgh... mmgh... hoo..."
The moment Qin Mo released her hands, Kiana angrily pounded his chest with her little fists. But the emotional fluctuation interrupted her Ripple Breathing again, and she nearly suffocated.
"Didn't you ask me to help you? You've already learned Ripple Breathing. Now you just need to make it instinctive."
As he spoke, Qin Mo took two masks from his pocket and looked at Mei and Bronya. "Do you want one?"
The two girls hurriedly shook their heads. What a joke. Not only was it extremely uncomfortable to wear without using Ripple Breathing, but neither of them wanted to put on something that ugly.
"What a shame."
Qin Mo put the masks back into his pocket, but this finally caught Bronya's attention.
There was something wrong with that pocket. Nothing inside it made it bulge at all.
None of them had explained the backpack's existence. Qin Mo had even put his food in an ordinary backpack outside.
Though it would be exposed eventually, Qin Mo still wanted to keep it hidden for the time being.
"How does idiot Kiana feel?"
Bronya calmly walked over to Kiana's side and asked about her experience.
"Ahhh! It feels awful. The moment I forget, I can't breathe."
Kiana spoke in a self-defeated tone. If she could take it off normally, she would have done so long ago. But forcibly removing it would damage it. It wasn't that they were afraid it couldn't be repaired—after all, Mei was there.
But if she did that, both Qin Mo and Mei would probably be disappointed in her. And Bronya would laugh at her too.
So Kiana gave up on the idea of taking it off.
"Idiot Kiana may have learned Ripple before Bronya, but Bronya will soon leave her behind. Idiot Kiana has no advantage at all anymore."
"Hmph! Even if I'm at a disadvantage with Ripple, I still have Stand powers! I know Heavy Tank Bunny isn't a Stand, right?"
Seeing the conversation heading where she wanted, Bronya pressed on. "What Stand? Bronya didn't see anything."
The moment she said that, Bronya felt a sharp pain in her forehead. Rubbing it, she looked around. Qin Mo had his head lowered, seemingly calculating something, while Mei was cleaning up the trash left over from their dinner.
And Kiana, the closest person to her, was more than a meter away. Her hand definitely hadn't moved.
"Hehe, see that? This is the power of a Stand."
Seeing Kiana looking so smug she might as well have stuck her nose into the sky, Bronya felt deeply irritated.
"Alright, Kiana. Stop using Killer Queen to bully Bronya."
Though it was only a temporary shelter they could abandon at any time, Mei had still cleaned up the living room. When she returned, she saw Killer Queen crouching in front of Bronya, its left hand posed to snap its fingers as it followed Bronya's constantly turning head.
Every now and then, it would sneakily flick Bronya's forehead.
Arrival of the Hyperion
"Big Sister Mei... Kiana is bullying Bronya."
Bronya rushed into Mei's arms in a few quick steps, but she was calculating inwardly. Stand, Killer Queen—Bronya deliberately memorized several key terms. Based on the clues just revealed, Stand was probably a general term, while Kiana's Stand was an ability called Killer Queen. Come to think of it, Mei's Crazy Diamond had been mentioned before as well.
Was that also a Stand?
Bronya continued analyzing the information she had gathered.
"Alright, alright. Kiana, don't bully Bronya anymore."
"Fine."
Kiana pouted reluctantly and moved closer to Qin Mo. "Qin Mo, Qin Mo, what are you thinking about?"
"I'm thinking about when the rescue team will arrive."
"A rescue team?"
Kiana tilted her head. "We don't need a rescue team, do we? We can escape on our own."
"I'm not waiting for the rescue team because I need them to rescue us."
Qin Mo shook his head. "Kiana, aren't you looking for Mr. Siegfried?"
"Is that stinky old man part of the rescue team!?"
Qin Mo shook his head. "No, but the person who sent the rescue team is your aunt."
"My aunt? I have an aunt?"
"Yes. Her name is Theresa Apocalypse. She knows where Siegfried is."
"!!!!"
Seeing Kiana nearly jump up in excitement, Mei, who was holding Bronya nearby, felt somewhat awkward. After all, she already knew where Kiana's father was.
The Great Eruption had broken out here, and Kiana was in Chang Kong City. That meant Mr. Siegfried should also be somewhere in Chang Kong City—perhaps even nearby.
But she couldn't say anything!
Though she pitied Kiana's circumstances, Mei knew that Qin Mo had chosen to hide it for Kiana's own good.
Pressed against Mei, Bronya keenly sensed her hesitation. She looked at Qin Mo and Kiana, then at Mei.
But even she could never have imagined the story between them was this complicated.
Just as all of them were lost in their own thoughts, the living room ceiling suddenly shattered. A massive cleaver came crashing down, splitting the house in two.
The group was instantly exposed outside. The massive Temple-class Honkai Beast outside thrust the lance in its right hand toward Bronya and Mei.
Heavy Tank Bunny and Crazy Diamond appeared at the same time. Heavy Tank Bunny's weapon collided with the lance, while Crazy Diamond scooped up Mei and Bronya and swiftly carried them out of the lance's attack range.
"Kiana! Go protect Mei and Bronya!"
The instant the room was split apart, Qin Mo issued his command. Then he instantly switched his character card to the Fire Demon and charged forward.
"Leave it to me!"
Kiana tore off the mask, threw it to the ground, and rushed toward Mei.
Qin Mo grabbed hold of the enormous lance. Even the Temple-class Honkai Beast couldn't break free from his immense strength.
The monster raised the cleaver in its left hand and swung it down at Qin Mo.
But all it saw was blazing flames erupting from Qin Mo's mouth.
Ordinary flames weren't very deadly to Honkai Beasts, much less a Temple-class Honkai Beast built for both offense and defense.
But the Fire Demon's flames were naturally no ordinary fire. Though they lacked Dragon Blast's overwhelming explosive power, the blazing flames still melted the cleaver on its left arm in one go.
"Next, it's time to watch the fireworks!"
The flames just now had been unleashed in a moment of urgency, yet they had still melted its left arm. Qin Mo now had a rough idea of the Fire Demon's flames' power.
This time, he gathered terrifyingly powerful compressed flames in his mouth.
He hurled the Temple-class Honkai Beast into the air with all his strength. Combined with the Fire Demon's own terrifying physical power, the Ox Talisman sent even the heavy Temple-class Honkai Beast flying.
Boom!
A massive fireball followed, exploding into enormous fireworks in midair.
Blazing flames blossomed in the sky, completely illuminating the night.
Meanwhile, aboard the Hyperion several kilometers away.
"Major Himeko, a powerful energy fluctuation has been detected in Chang Kong City, but... it isn't Honkai Energy."
The adjutant looked strangely at the report. In a city suffering from the Third Eruption, such a massive energy fluctuation wasn't Honkai Energy. Moreover, they hadn't detected any obvious Herrscher energy signature.
"No need to scan anymore. I can already see it."
Standing on the bridge, Himeko looked toward distant Chang Kong City. The enormous fireworks in the sky were visible even from several kilometers away.
"Accelerate. Let's see who's welcoming us."
At this moment, Chang Kong City's group of four had gathered together again.
"Mei, are you hurt?"
The moment Qin Mo saw Mei, he asked.
"I'm fine. Thankfully, Heavy Tank Bunny blocked the attack."
Qin Mo looked at Heavy Tank Bunny, which had blocked the Temple-class Honkai Beast's strike without suffering any damage, then nodded. "That's good. We need to leave quickly. More monsters will be drawn here soon."
"Qin Mo... um, is that the rescue team you mentioned?"
The other three followed Kiana's gaze and saw a massive warship blotting out the sky as it stopped above them.
"Major Himeko, we have arrived at the energy eruption site. The previous energy signature was not detected, but a Herrscher energy signature has been found."
The adjutant looked at the report in his hand and pushed up his glasses. "However, four people were discovered at the location of the Herrscher energy signature."
"Four?"
"Yes. Please look."
The massive screen on the bridge displayed the situation on the ground—the four people were Qin Mo's group.
"The Herrscher energy signature is coming from this purple-haired girl."
Himeko frowned as she looked at Raiden Mei, who appeared no different from an ordinary person. "Are you sure the scan wasn't wrong? She looks like nothing more than an ordinary little girl."
"The Hyperion's detectors aren't wrong."
Murata Himeko naturally didn't doubt the equipment aboard her ship. She simply couldn't understand the situation before her.
"If that's the case, I'll go down personally and meet this Third Herrscher."
Upon hearing that, the adjutant hurriedly said, "That's too dangerous. We should launch a probing attack first."
"You want me to attack those kids? Don't be ridiculous. Prepare my armor!"
Murata Himeko flung off the coat draped over her shoulders and strode toward the rear.
"Qin Mo, did they not notice us?"
Kiana looked at the Hyperion overhead and asked.
"Idiot Kiana, if they hadn't noticed us, they wouldn't have stopped."
There was no need to guess that it was Bronya's jab. But even now, she didn't know what the other side's attitude was. After all, she knew there was a Herrscher among them.
"Someone's already coming down."
Only after hearing Qin Mo's words did they notice that someone had been launched from the warship.
"One person?"
Negotiations
Murata Himeko, clad in Crimson Impulse, launched herself down from the Hyperion. As she neared the ground, the external equipment on her armor released a powerful burst of thrust, slowing her descent as she landed.
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