128. Arrival at Deep City
Suddenly, a portal appeared on the beach, and several figures emerged. One white figure, gazing at the azure sea, opened his arms and shouted, "Oh, sea, you are so blue!"
"That's too loud!" The Tarnished covered his left ear, somewhat speechless at his companion's act.
"How are you feeling, Sirin? Are you alright?" Lemuen asked Kiana.
Kiana shook her head.
"I'm fine."
"Don't force yourself, or people will say we're capitalists." Xiling turned back and smiled.
"Ugh, don't drag me into this." Kevin walked past Xiling towards the sea, the sea breeze caressing his face, giving him a sense of comfort.
"I'll tell you if something's wrong," Kiana rolled her eyes at Xiling, "Don't always treat me like a child who needs constant attention!"
"It's because you always try to be strong, you've already given people a stereotype." Xiling took a step back, dodging something Kiana threw at him—a...lifebuoy.
"Speaking of which, aren't we here to find that Deep City? Isn't our attire a bit impolite?" The Tarnished, dressed casually in summer clothes, stood with his hands on his hips, gazing at the sea alongside Kevin.
The five of them were all dressed in relaxed summer outfits perfect for a beach vacation.
Xiling's cartoon T-shirt, Lemuen's floral maxi dress, Kiana's sundress, Kevin's casual shirt, and the Tarnished's cool summer clothes.
"Hey, we're at the beach, this is definitely the way to go!" Xiling walked between Kevin and the Tarnished, putting his arm around their shoulders.
"Can you feel that? The sea breeze is blowing in our faces."
The three of them closed their eyes simultaneously, letting the sea breeze gently caress their faces, bringing a cool sensation and a strange sense of comfort. They all let out a long, satisfied sigh:
"Phew..."
Kiana looked at the three of them with disdain.
Several days had passed since that day, and their lives seemed unaffected by the incident; in fact, they seemed to be having even more fun.
And she, the Herrscher of the Void, had become their personal driver.
Thinking about this, Kiana's forehead creased with worry.
In just a few days, they had been traveling all over the world—or rather, resolving Honkai events in various locations.
Just then, one of Kiana's phones rang. Kiana seemed to guess who was calling and stiffly picked up the phone to answer.
The call connected, and Theresa's voice, trying to sound light and cheerful, immediately came through:
"Kiana? Um... um... have you had lunch?" A typical, conversation-making opening.
"...I've eaten."
"That's good! Um...have you found Deep City?"
"We're already in the target area," Kiana answered truthfully, "but we're not planning to go down yet."
"I see...see you then, goodbye, Kiana."
"Yeah...goodbye, Theresa."
After hanging up the communicator, Kiana breathed a sigh of relief. She still felt a little uneasy.
Soon, Kiana's gaze fell on the person who had made her this way.
Xiling, who was fighting with the Tarnished for a lifebuoy, shuddered, causing the lifebuoy to be snatched away.
Because of what the other person had said, Theresa, Mei, and even Bronya had called her dozens of times in just a few days. She went from being completely bewildered to slowly adapting.
Watching the person joking around with the others, Kiana sighed deeply. She had submitted; what would happen next was up to her future self.
As for now...
Kiana pulled out her secretly purchased super-powerful water gun; she was going to blast that Xiling guy to smithereens!
Watching Kiana charge towards someone on the beach with the water gun, Remian smiled and shook her head, then pulled out her own weapon and joined the fray.
The battle became 4 against 1. Soon, the bullied hero, unable to bear the bullying any longer, commanded the seawater, drenching everyone completely.
Finally, Kiana, reaching the shore, kicked the cheating person hard and was rewarded with being wiped off the water.
Xiling, kicked, stood with his hands behind his back, a smile on his face.
"What a thrilling duel!"
Four middle fingers were pointed directly at him.
"If you can't play, don't play."
"Shameless bastard."
"You deserve to die."
"Sirin really needs to teach you a lesson."
Faced with these vile words, Xiling chuckled lightly, not bothering to refute them. The strong are easily scorned; it's an inevitable path for the strong, and he was used to it.
Ignoring the whispers behind him, Xiling's gaze seemed to pierce through the ocean, reaching the deepest structures beneath.
Deep City.
A relic left from a previous civilization era, it should have been the center of the Mu Continent civilization; however, because of the pseudo-black hole created by the Ninth Herrscher, only a small portion of it remained, becoming the current ruins—a massive portal connecting to the Sea of Quanta.
Xiling saw a submarine enter Deep City; without a doubt, he knew it was Theresa and the others.
Xiling and Anti-Entropy hadn't reached any cooperation agreement. What Xiling wanted to do was far too dangerous for them, so their reluctance was understandable.
However, they also knew they were unlikely to stop Xiling. Forcibly appropriating the Honkai energy of an entire city and directly converting it into some energy seemed simple, but it was actually complicated.
Even Herrschers only obtained vast amounts of Honkai energy through a core connection to the Imaginary Space, while Xiling was directly appropriating the Honkai energy of the native world. Did this mean he could instantly destroy all equipment that relied on Honkai energy for combat? This thought was terrifying.
Therefore, once Xiling found Deep City, they wouldn't try to stop him. While they were unlikely to be able to stop him, another factor was that they believed Xiling was probably not a bad person.
At least that was their assessment of him for the past few days.
"Alright, stop playing around," Xiling said calmly, turning around.
"We came here on serious business."
"This guy is only good at changing the subject," Kevin said disdainfully.
"I'll add some spice to his cooking later, to make him repent," the Tarnished said viciously.
Ignoring the two scoundrels, Xiling held out his hand to Kiana.
"Sirin, open the door."
Kiana, who was tidying her clothes, glanced at the other person with disdain, but still went over, first slapping Xiling's outstretched hand.
Then, standing on the beach, Kiana closed her eyes as if sensing something. In the past few days, she had used the Herrscher of the Void's abilities many times; the power she had once rejected was now quite easy to use.
100 meters, 1 kilometer, 3000 meters, 6 kilometers—at that moment, Kiana seemed to discover something, abruptly opening her eyes, her hand reaching forward, and a portal connecting to the seabed over 6,000 meters deep appeared before them.
"Well done," Xiling gave Kiana a thumbs up.
"Hmph! A piece of cake," Kiana said proudly, puffing out her chest, but then, remembering something, her pride shrank back.
"Alright, you'll have to face this sooner or later, and we're here for you. Get used to it quickly." Lemuen patted Kiana's head.
"What your sister Lemuen said is right, you need to get used to it quickly." Xiling winked at Kiana, then strode towards the portal.
Seeing this, the others followed without hesitation.
After all five of them had passed through the portal, Kiana casually closed it. At that moment, the city reflected in their eyes was an underwater city.
Deep City.
Just then, a metallic scraping sound rang out, and soon, one tactical mech after another automatically activated upon detecting the intruders.
Watching the approaching tactical mechs, Xiling's lips slowly curved into a smile, then he raised a hand and lightly snapped his fingers forward.
When Theresa and the others arrived, they saw rows of tactical mechs, motionless, while five people stood beneath one of them, striking various poses. A cell phone, seemingly unmanned, floated in the air, taking photos of them.
After taking the last photo, Xiling looked at Theresa and the others who had arrived and raised his hand.
"Yo, long time no see."
"We've come to finish what we agreed on earlier."