122. The Girl's Confusion, The Three Major Forces' Actions
Arc City, Heliopolis Shenzhou Industrial Area
In a hidden corner of a room, a rattlesnake pattern was branded. A tall man stood in the darkness, his face completely covered by a mask. Even so, his disbelief was palpable in his constantly flashing crimson prosthetic eyes.
Before him lay a photograph, and the person in the picture was Kevin.
"This…what is going on!"
The man's voice was filled with disbelief. He never imagined that he had only come to gather information on the Second Herrscher to attract the attention of Schicksal and Anti-Entropy; however, while monitoring her, he discovered that several people had appeared beside the Herrscher of the Void. What he found most unbelievable was the white-haired man in the picture before him.
"Calm down…calm down."
The man forced himself to calm down, trying to regain control over his chaotic mind.
However, how could he remain calm in the face of the man in the picture?
The man began pacing rapidly around the room. After several minutes of contemplation, he made up his mind. Regardless of the current situation, the plan couldn't afford to go wrong. The other party had suddenly appeared beside the Herrscher of the Void; he had to investigate it, no matter what.
"Perhaps... the plan should be moved up."
Leaving these words, the man silently left the room.
In the lobby of Heliopolis Life Sciences, employees were clocking in.
Among the crowd, a woman with long pink hair looked up at the ceiling, seemingly sensing something.
"Did you find something, Lemuen?" A colleague patted her shoulder.
"Nothing," Lemuen looked away, giving a professional smile, "Just that the air conditioning is a bit too strong today."
—
Slumped on a park bench, Xiling idly played with his phone.
He realized he had nothing to do.
They arrived both too early and too late. The initial investigation of the city was complete, and with Kiana's help, the mission was 33% complete. Ironically, because they were worried about the other party causing trouble, they had asked Lemuen to keep an eye on them. However, following the clues the other party found, their completion mission rate greatly improved.
Now, all they could do was wait for things to happen, so the four of them were basically idle every day.
Lemuen got a job at Heliopolis Life Sciences based on her own abilities.
The Tarnished became a shut-in.
Kevin was indeed doing food delivery, but he was also fighting honkai beasts while delivering food. If Kevin encountered an Honkai event in Arc City while making food deliveries, he would take immediate action.
As for Xiling, as a detective, he also worked while eliminating the Honkai events that were arising.
Just as Xiling was yawning, a shadow fell over him. Xiling looked up and saw Kiana standing before him.
Xiling put down his phone, puzzled.
"What are you doing here?" Shouldn't she be investigating the true culprit behind these Honkai events in Arc City? She should be in the city center, not the outer ring.
Kiana didn't answer immediately, but sat down on the bench next to him.
"I was passing by and saw you. By the way, what are you doing here?"
This was a lie.
She had sensed an increase in Honkai energy concentration here and thought it was another Honkai attack, so she rushed over. But the Honkai energy she sensed quickly disappeared halfway here. Recently, she didn't know why, but Honkai events in Arc City had become less frequent. Just as she was wondering about the reason behind it, she found Xiling here. Originally, she wanted to avoid Xiling, but... There were some things she wanted to know.
Faced with Kiana's question, Xiling replied matter-of-factly, "Working, what else could I do?"
"But if I remember it correctly, your office is at the office in the city center, right?" Kiana asked, feeling puzzled.
Xiling chuckled softly, waving his finger in front of Kiana.
"Young woman, you don't understand. My job requires me to be constantly on the go; I don't have a fixed place."
"I see..." Kiana's voice trailed off, her gaze shifting to the artificial lake in the center of the park. A brief silence fell between them, filled only by the rustling of leaves in the wind.
The wind gently ruffled their hair. Kiana looked at the lake and asked the question she had been wanting to ask.
"Xiling."
"Yes, I'm here."
"Why are you all... so kind to me?" She finally asked the question that had been troubling her for so long.
Kiana couldn't understand. Why were they so kind to her when they didn't even know her? Was there something about her that they wanted? Kiana had always thought this way. They really were... so kind, so kind that it felt unreal.
Xiling turned his head to meet her gaze. Sunlight filtered through the leaves, casting dappled shadows on Kiana's face, making her expression appear particularly complex.
"What do you think?" Xiling asked back with a deliberately playful smile.
Kiana's expression immediately fell.
"Hey! I'm serious!"
"Why so serious? And this is nothing!" Xiling stretched.
"Don't think about all that nonsense, and..."
"And?" Kiana pressed, leaning unconsciously towards him.
"You'll find out the reason sooner or later."
Hearing Xiling's words, Kiana deflated like a punctured balloon, her shoulders slumping as she sat back down on the bench.
"Can't you tell me now?" Her voice was lower than usual, her fingers unconsciously twisting the hem of her dress.
Xiling tilted his head to look at her, then suddenly gave her a thumbs-up.
"I find you pleasing to the eye."
"Come on! Stop joking around!"
Kiana abruptly crossed her arms, turning her face away from him. She didn't realize she looked like a sulking girl, her long white hair tracing an arc in the air as she turned her head.
Xiling, sitting beside her, couldn't help but laugh.
"Hey! You're still laughing!" Kiana turned and glared at Xiling.
"Okay, okay, I won't laugh, I won't laugh." Xiling raised his hands in surrender, barely managing to suppress his laughter.
Xiling adjusted his posture, his tone becoming casual:
"Well, to be honest, we haven't been that good to you; we've only temporarily waived your rent." Xiling counted on his fingers, "We're friends, it's normal to eat together, right? Since we're friends, it's normal to give you a couple of outfits, right? Giving you gifts is normal, isn't it?"
Kiana opened her mouth to retort, but found herself unable to find the right words.
Each of Xiling's words, taken individually, seemed ordinary, but put together, they created a sense of belonging that Kiana couldn't quite articulate...
"You," Xiling's voice suddenly softened, "are you just feeling lonely in the city, that's why you think we're so good to you?"
Kiana's fingertips trembled slightly. She wanted to shout that it wasn't like that at all, to tell him she'd experienced far more cruel things than loneliness, but the words caught in her throat, as if something invisible was blocking her mouth.
Just then, Xiling's phone rang. Xiling picked it up and showed it to Kiana.
"I'm here for work, so I won't be able to counsel you, you lost girl."
Xiling stood up, brushed the dust off his pants, and waved casually at Kiana.
"Remember to come home for dinner tonight, or I won't wait for you."
Kiana watched his retreating figure, a strange impulse suddenly welling up in her chest. She didn't know why she did it, but just as Xiling was about to step out of the park, she called out:
"Xiling!"
The figure paused, slowly turning around. Sunlight shone from behind him, gilding his silhouette and obscuring his expression.
Kiana took a deep breath, her voice trembling more than she expected:
"If... I'm different from what you imagine. If the me you see isn't the real me, if even my name might be fake, what would you think?"
The words left her lips, and she froze. How long had this question been buried in her heart? Since when had she even dared to confirm her own name? The Herrscher of the Void's whisper echoed in her ears again, reminding her that she was nothing but an imposter, a fraud who had stolen someone else's life.
Xiling turned completely around, and Kiana could feel him scrutinizing her intently, his gaze seemingly piercing through all pretense, reaching her most shameful secret.
The next second, Xiling suddenly raised two middle fingers:
"Aren't you too full of yourself? Who cares what your name is!" His voice was so loud it attracted the attention of several passersby.
"Even if you have a second personality, it's useless. We only recognize you! Tonight, Tarnished will cut your food in half. You'll starve!"
After saying this, Xiling, as if afraid of being beaten, quickly turned and ran away.
Kiana's eyes widened.
She should be angry—any normal person would be furious to be teased like this at such a serious moment. But strangely, a warm current welled up from the bottom of her heart, dispelling the chill that had lingered there for so long.
She smiled slowly, at first just a slight upturn of the corners of her mouth, eventually developing into an uncontrollable, radiant smile.
"...Idiot," she muttered softly, not knowing what she was saying.
Fu Hua quietly watched all of this. She could feel Kiana's emotional fluctuations at this moment, that long-lost, pure joy. Having witnessed Kiana's immense suffering, Fu Hua understood better than anyone how precious this relief was.
"You've met some wonderful people, Kiana," Fu Hua said softly.
This time, Kiana didn't object as usual. She gazed in the direction where Xiling had disappeared and nodded.
"Yeah, I... I'm truly lucky."
She took a deep breath, the morning air carrying the fragrance of grass and trees. When she exhaled again, it seemed as if she were expelling the gloom that had accumulated over time. The confusion in her eyes gradually gave way to a resolute light. She clenched her fist, feeling the power flowing within her.
"Come on, Kiana," she told herself, "You still have so much to do. You can't stop here."
She had to work hard. She absolutely couldn't let such good people fall into danger. She had to resolve the honkai crisis in Arc City so that ordinary people like Xiling could have better protection...
—
Anti-Entropy.
"This…" In a room, three girls stared at a picture, puzzled. These three were the three traitors from the Schicksal Far East Branch—Theresa, Raiden Mei, and Bronya Zaychik. They sat around a tactical table, each with a different expression.
Because among the three was a photograph, or rather several photographs, and the white-haired girl in the photos was undoubtedly Kiana Kaslana.
They should have been overjoyed to have found the girl, but the problem was, is the source of this information reliable?
After careful examination, they concluded that the photographs were genuine, but what they couldn't believe was their content.
In the first photograph, Kiana sat on the back of a delivery scooter, her hands casually resting on the shoulders of the white-haired man in front of her. She pointed in a certain direction, her mouth slightly open as if she were excitedly saying something, and her eyes and brows held a relaxed smile that Theresa hadn't seen in a long time.
"This delivery guy…" Theresa frowned.
"Why does he feel so familiar?"
The second photo showed Kiana intimately linked arm-in-arm with a woman with long pink hair. The pink-haired woman was turning her head to speak to Kiana, who was smiling happily.
The third photo was relatively ordinary. Kiana was walking side-by-side with a young man with gray hair, both carrying shopping bags.
The fourth photo showed Kiana with her hands on her hips, glaring at a white-haired man in front of her with displeasure. The man tilted his head, his expression mocking, as if he had just said something to upset her.
"Are these photos really okay?" Theresa asked the same question for the umpteenth time, her voice carrying an anxiety she herself didn't realize.
"The photos are raw data, without any post-processing," Bronya, a top-tier hacker, answered Theresa's question with absolute certainty.
"But this is too bizarre," Theresa ruffled her hair in frustration.
"Who are those people? Why is Kiana so...close to them?"
Mei remained silent. The expressions of joy and discontent on Kiana's face in the photo made her chest tighten—these vivid emotions were only present in the real Kiana.
But why? Why would Kiana prefer to be close to strangers rather than contact her former companions?
Just then, the sound of a door sliding open broke the heavy atmosphere in the room.
"Several planes bound for Arc City are ready," Dr. Einstein, one of the leaders of Anti-Entropy, walked in.
Theresa immediately turned to her:
"Doctor, is this information really reliable? I mean, besides these photos..."
Einstein calmly pulled up her data panel:
"According to Anti-Entropy's investigation over the past month, several small-scale Honkai events have occurred in Sky City, with survivors reporting seeing a white-haired girl helping them escape danger in nine of them."
"Of course, these eyewitness reports alone are not enough to confirm that it is Kiana, but combined with the photos we obtained, we found some clues... but..."
"But what?" Theresa keenly caught the hesitation in Einstein's tone.
Einstein rarely showed a hint of confusion:
"But... according to our tracking, Kiana's activities in Arc City during this period have been very regular, almost like..." She chose her words carefully, "like she has a fixed residence and a social circle."
These words were like a block of ice settling in the hearts of the three. A fixed residence? A social circle? This was so different from the image of Kiana they had imagined—a wandering, solitary figure.
Einstein continued, "This intelligence wasn't obtained through our investigation, but from your target, an intelligence dealer named Gray Serpent. He's traded various secrets extensively and has a good reputation in various organizations. He likely has other leads on Kiana."
"Anyway," Einstein regained his composure, "Kiana is very likely currently in Arc City. You must act quickly. Given Schicksal's efficiency, they may already have this intelligence."
Theresa nodded seriously. Indeed, Schicksal might have already begun its operation, and this thought made Theresa feel somewhat anxious.
But Mei's voice suddenly interrupted her:
"Dr. Einstein, what's the situation with these people?" She pointed to the four strangers interacting with Kiana in the photo.
Einstein sighed.
"This is the most perplexing part." She pulled up a data projection.
"We've used all of Anti-Entropy's intelligence networks, but these four people—" she pointed to the people in the photo—
"They are like they don't exist in this world."
An eerie silence fell over the room. Four non-existent individuals established a seemingly close relationship with Kiana, and all of this happened in a short period of time.
"The plane will take off in ten minutes," Einstein concluded.
"You can continue analyzing this intelligence en route."
Theresa nodded solemnly, and soon everyone boarded the plane bound for Arc City.
—
Schicksal.
Just as the Anti-Entropy people had predicted, Schicksal had obtained the intelligence, but one person knew far too much, so he paused.
Otto Apocalypse tapped his fingers lightly on the table, several photographs displayed on the holographic projection in front of him.
The rhythmic tapping suddenly stopped. Otto stared at the white-haired delivery man on the screen, his eyes filled with unspeakable doubt, while a voice echoed in his ear, "There's no mistake, it's that man."
"Calm down, my friend. You should know that man hasn't emerged from that sea yet." Otto's lips curled slightly, as if reassuring the unseen person.
Although he said this, a barely perceptible wrinkle appeared between Otto's brows when his gaze returned to the photograph.
"Another version of himself in the world?" Otto chuckled softly, his fingertips tracing Kevin's image in the projection. No, he absolutely refused to believe such a coincidence.
He closed his eyes, letting his thoughts sink into the river of memory. In five hundred years, he had seen countless similar faces, but this man in the photograph was different. It wasn't a resemblance based on blood or chance, but a more fundamental repetition.
The sounds around him had long since faded; the room was deathly silent, save for the ticking of the antique clock, cutting through the frozen time.
"Tick, tick, tick..."
New footsteps approached, their rhythm precise as a machine. Otto slowly opened his eyes, watching the maid step into the halo of light.
Rita Rossweisse stopped at the perfect distance, the curve of her skirt perfectly controlled. As she bowed, her grey-gold hair cascaded down like a waterfall, concealing the fleeting doubt in her eyes—the bishop rarely summoned her directly, and even less often did he display such a thoughtful expression.
"Your Excellency, what are your orders?"
"Well, I have a task for you, oh, not one but two," Otto said with a smile.
He waved his hand lightly, and the holographic projection switched to a 3D map of Arc City, a dozen red dots marking the locations of recent Honkai events.
"First, notify Durandal and have her accompany you to Arc City."
Rita's eyelashes trembled slightly. As the vice-captain of the Immortal Blades, she knew all too well the weight of this order—Durandal's power far surpassed the standard S-rank Valkyrie rating; a mission requiring both of them to travel together was likely extremely dangerous.
"Second," Otto's fingertip swept across the projection, and the photo data was simultaneously transmitted to Rita's device, "Arc City has discovered the Second Herrscher's whereabouts. You need to find her, and..."
He paused, this subtle hesitation making Rita's back tense.
"...I need you to find out the identity of another person."
The photo magnified before Rita's eyes. She was intimately familiar with Kiana's image, but the white-haired man following behind puzzled her.
"The angles of these photos…" Rita analyzed softly, "It's a bit strange. Someone probably did it on purpose."
Otto chuckled, the sound echoing in the room.
"Heh, it's an information broker called Gray Serpent, quite famous in Arc City's underworld." He stood up and paced to the window.
"They deliberately released these photos; they probably have some plan…maybe they want us as their pawns."
However, facing Otto like this, Rita lowered her head even further.
"Alright, go down." Otto suddenly turned around.
"This mission … be careful."
The last four words were so soft they were almost inaudible, yet they caused Rita's bowing motion to freeze almost imperceptibly for a moment.
In her memory, the bishop had never given such an instruction before any mission.
"Yes, Your Excellency."
Rita left the room, standing in the corridor, taking a rare deep breath.
The device automatically displayed the mission details. Next to the white-haired man's photo was a handwritten note from Otto listing the investigation priority—tied with the pursuit of the Herrscher of the Void as number one.
"Who exactly is this person..."
Rita glanced one last time at the room behind her, then turned and headed towards the Durandal training grounds...
—
The three major forces— Schicksal, World Serpent, and Anti-Entropy— began their operations, and their convergence point was...
The room was filled with a fragrant aroma. Five people sat at a dining table, in the center of which sat a large pot laden with ingredients.
"Can you let go of that tripe? I saw it first!" A certain ordinary hero desperately tried to snatch the tripe from the powerful Valkyrie.
"I put it down, here you go!" The Valkyrie swept the tripe away from the ordinary hero, dipped it in a dish, and then contentedly put it in her mouth.
"No!!!"
"Don't disturb the neighbors, you bastard!"