Inside the cell, Kallen's hands were shackled to iron rings on the wall, restricting her range of movement. Kiana and Evan, however, didn't receive much special treatment; they were locked in without any restraints.
Whether it was because that man Arthur still retained some humanity, or because he was wary of the combat power Evan had displayed earlier, or perhaps because a normally operating program couldn't immediately make a proper reaction to an unexpected situation, was unknown.
"...Why did you voluntarily let yourselves be caught? If you wanted to run away earlier, Grandpa Arthur probably wouldn't have forcefully stopped you."
Even in the posture of a shackled sinner, Kallen still exuded a graceful and elegant temperament. She looked at Evan and asked.
"Running away is the choice of a loser. I'm more inclined to defeat all enemies. But to you, those people don't seem to be enemies in the true sense, so to avoid hurting them, I chose to surrender."
There was another sentence Evan didn't say.
In this space, apart from Kallen being very special, the others seemed more like NPCs who would only act according to pre-set programs. If Evan rashly defeated the NPCs and caused the normally running program to produce an error result, what would happen?
It probably wouldn't be anything good. After all, a perfect program should have error repair functions. To avoid the spread of errors, the program might delete and reset or even destroy itself if the vulnerability couldn't be patched.
Schicksal, being a massive organization, couldn't possibly forget to set up error handling methods in its database.
While falling from high altitude earlier, Evan had been able to survey the whole city. Apart from these few nearby streets, the further areas were a gray expanse. Undoubtedly, those were inaccessible areas, like the invisible walls at the boundaries of a large game map. This space should essentially still be a virtual reality, just strangely possessing interactivity.
"Thank you, but you really didn't have to get caught."
"Because you didn't want to run away, Miss Kallen, we just followed along. Do you mind chatting with me for a bit? Miss Kallen."
Honestly, a stranger suddenly appearing, actively contacting her, even willing to be thrown into prison, and finally doing it just to chat with her—this was an extremely strange, even bizarre thing.
But Kallen didn't show any questionable expression. She seemed faintly happy.
"Sure, what do you want to talk about?"
"I want to know more about you."
Evan's words made Kiana nod repeatedly beside him. She was also very curious about this beautiful young lady.
"About me..."
Kallen murmured softly, closed her eyes, and spoke in a calm tone that sounded less like describing her own past and more like telling a story.
"I am a Valkyrie of Schicksal. Or used to be. I led my companions on the front lines of resisting the Honkai, sealed many Honkai Beasts, and protected the people."
"Then why were you caught by Schicksal, Big Sister?"
Kiana already knew that the plague doctors just now were Schicksal's people. Hearing Kallen's words, she asked curiously.
"Because many things happened afterwards. Not long after I became the captain of the Valkyrie squad, the Overseer decided on an Eastern Crusade. The enemy wasn't Honkai Beasts, but humans in the East."
"Eh? Why..."
"Because human desire is infinite. Schicksal gained an advantage in the process of fighting the Honkai and had a breathing spell, so other ideas arose. Probably the higher-ups hoped to control more land and protect more people while letting more people sing praises of Schicksal's greatness. This is a thirst for fame, or simply greed for wealth and power."
This time, it was Evan who answered Kiana's question.
Kallen nodded slightly, agreeing with Evan's statement, and continued.
"Schicksal's army, which had fought Honkai Beasts for years, was unstoppable in the initial stage of the Eastern Crusade, until they met the overlord of the Divine Land, the [Ming] Empire. After several skirmishes, the two sides fought a decisive battle on the Kipchak Steppe. The unfavorable situation in the battle made Schicksal resort to using extremely dangerous Honkai energy weapons, which attracted the Immortal of the [Ming] Empire. Neither the power of the Honkai nor I could withstand a single blow in front of that Immortal. Schicksal's plan for the Eastern Crusade failed right there."
"..."
"After being defeated, I began to think about the meaning of this Eastern Crusade. Since the [Ming] Empire has the protection of an Immortal and can fight the Honkai well even without Schicksal's power, this fact completely contradicted the organization's previous claim of 'spreading Schicksal's glory to protect more people.' Afterward, a series of the organization's measures made me more and more certain that Schicksal, or rather that part of the higher-ups, didn't truly take protecting the people as their code of conduct."
Pausing slightly, Kallen looked at Evan and Kiana, who were listening attentively, and asked.
"Did you see them just now? The sick people on both sides of the street."
"Mm."
"The failure of the Eastern Crusade caused Schicksal to suffer huge war losses. To make up for it, Schicksal began to issue 'Indulgences,' claiming that people could reduce their sins by buying Indulgences, and semi-forced them to buy them. This further aggravated the suffering of the people when the Black Death was raging. This is wrong. I think this is wrong."
"I think so too!"
Kiana nodded heavily in agreement, making Kallen smile.
"Later, I discovered that Schicksal was quietly conducting Honkai experiments, using innocent children and Valkyries as experimental materials. To prevent this terrible experiment from continuing, and to prevent the [Black Box] from being used by people with evil intentions, I stole that dangerous experimental item, the [Black Box], and fled all the way to the Far East. There, I met a person, and also hurt that person. The [Black Box] turned her into a Pseudo-Herrscher. This is my fault."
"Big Sister Kallen hurt someone? Impossible. It must have been unintentional, right?"
In just a short time, Kiana already had an extremely good impression of Kallen.
Kallen shook her head slightly.
"Whether intentional or unintentional, the result is the same. To save the other party but end up hurting her, to save one person but hurt others—this in itself is a mistake."
"If Miss Kallen really thinks so, maybe we will get along very well?"
Evan's words made Kallen reveal a brief look of confusion—a strange confusion, as if she was thinking about whether the words she said truly came from her heart.
Then, she nodded heavily.
"Mm, I really think so."
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