"Doctor, the vehicle is ready."
Within the settlement of Nagazora City, near a small aircraft, Mei was addressing Tesla inside the craft.
"Alright, got it. By the way, Mei, how are Kiana and Bronya's investigation results coming along?"
Tesla leaned out, faint dark circles visible under her eyes.
"With Kiana's help, Bronya analyzed the Honkai energy concentration in multiple water sources around Nagazora. The final conclusion is…"
Mei's expression turned somewhat odd.
"Right now, Nagazora either has several contamination sources, or a Herrscher is about to awaken… In short, this level of Honkai energy surge can't be explained as a natural phenomenon."
"I figured as much… If this place wasn't in the Far East, I'd think I'd stepped into Chernobyl," Tesla sighed.
"They've been busy all day yesterday too. Tell them to get some rest. Mei, I'll need you to accompany me for today's survey."
"Understood, Doctor. But should we depart now?"
Mei nodded and asked.
"Not yet. I'll analyze the data Kiana and the others brought back first, try to pinpoint the contamination source location, then we'll head over together. As for now…"
Tesla tapped a few times on the screen beside her, then removed her own wristband and tossed it to Mei.
"Schicksal's Glory Blades has also arrived in Nagazora. Go coordinate with them first, help them set up the defensive line. No matter what, we must prepare for the worst."
"If Honkai beasts appear, the settlement here must hold until the main force arrives."
"Don't worry, I'll handle it right away."
Mei caught the wristband and paused for a moment. "Oh, Doctor… any news about Lynelle?"
"Currently, we can only confirm that Lynelle holds an extremely exalted position within World Serpent—so exalted that calling her a 'Saintess' is probably just stating a fact…"
Just thinking about it made Tesla feel a headache coming on.
"Let me put it this way: Lynelle's status in World Serpent is roughly equivalent to Theresa's in Schicksal—but Otto is merely Schicksal's leader, while Kevin is a living god to World Serpent."
"The good news is, at least we can be sure that Seele and Lynelle are definitely safe. I know you and Bronya have been feeling guilty about what happened to Lynelle."
"You feel you could have stopped her from entering the Sea of Quanta, and Bronya blames herself for Lynelle being taken by Kevin."
"I'm not good at comforting people, but I know for certain Lynelle wouldn't want you blaming yourselves like this. And whether it's Kiana, Sirin, or Wendy, none of them have ever blamed you two for it. So…"
Tesla sighed. "Anyway, try to look on the bright side. We'll find Lynelle eventually. Who knows, maybe World Serpent is behind all this, and Lynelle will just show up in front of us in a couple days?"
"Pfft—Doctor, that's impossible… Nagazora is deep within Anti-Entropy territory. Plus, with Cocolia's former base here, we thoroughly cleared out all World Serpent forces in the Far East. Even if a few slipped through, they couldn't cause this much commotion."
Mei shook her head with a light laugh. "But… thank you for the reassurance, Doctor…"
--+--
Meanwhile, thousands of miles away, at the Vimur Base in North Africa.
A blond man sat comfortably in a laboratory, leisurely sipping a glass of red wine.
In principle, such behavior wasn't allowed in a lab. But since the man himself was the principle, the researchers coming and going saw no reason to comment.
On the computer screen before him displayed a scene from the outskirts of Nagazora. In the footage, a petite, brown-haired girl sat meditating with her eyes closed, several flying swords circling her agilely.
Behind the girl, numerous unidentified machines operated steadily and orderly.
Were it not for the steadily climbing Honkai energy readings on the screen, the scene would look no different from an ordinary experiment.
"With Sushang there, the verification experiment in Nagazora shouldn't run into major issues…"
Otto took another sip of wine, feeling quite pleased.
"As for the personnel Schicksal sent… It's actually Ana? Excellent, that aligns with my initial objective. I wonder who made that decision."
"It seems in my absence, Durandal and the others have sharpened their political acumen considerably…"
"Though, will World Serpent intervene? If Lynelle steps in, Sushang will likely be defeated under the combined pressure of multiple factions."
"Ah well, no matter. The experiment is nearly complete, and the necessary data has been mostly collected. Besides, they're all good people—even if defeated, Sushang won't be in real danger."
"Compared to Sushang, the risks on my end are greater. I hope my old friend won't react too strongly… But surely it won't come to that?"
"This old friend has cultivated inner peace all her life, barely uttering a swear word. Seeking revenge would be absurd…"
Leaning back in his chair, Otto gave a light tap.
The comfortable ergonomic seat spun around, bringing him face-to-face with a gray-haired girl floating inside a cultivation tank.
A closer look would reveal faint scars on her body—injuries indeed dealt by Otto's own hand.
Or rather, being subjected to point-blank Judgement of Shamash shots and still leaving a mostly intact corpse was a testament to this gray-haired girl's extraordinarily resilient physique.
Thanks to the restoration work Otto had recently begun, in just one week, Fu Hua's body had gone from resembling a Kennedy remake to its current state, where one could hardly tell she had died once.
"Physical restoration has reached 98%. In another hour or two, my old friend's body should be fully recovered. Hmm… After that, I'll need to awaken her consciousness. But with Void Archives here, that step shouldn't pose a problem."
"Even if my old friend truly doesn't want to fight me, with Nagazora drawing the attention of Schicksal and Anti-Entropy, plus this remote location in North Africa, things shouldn't get too out of hand."
"Indeed, I should focus my energy on the verification experiment for now…"
Thus, fully confident in Fu Hua's self-healing abilities and her character, Otto decisively enlarged the Nagazora feed on his screen—covering up the data stream tracking Fu Hua's physical recovery.
But he failed to notice that the obscured readings seemed to flicker slightly at times.
And behind him, "Fu Hua" was gradually showing signs of regaining consciousness.
--+--
T/N: I have a Patreon! Webnovel will get 2 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.