Unlike the well-dressed bustle in the front, the preparation room backstage was relatively quiet.
Yae Rin, wearing a clean and comfortable white dress, sat in a wheelchair. Her pale face had a faint flush due to slight excitement.
In front of her, Natasha was squatting down, giving instructions softly for the last time.
"...So, there will be a 'special performance' later, Rin." Natasha's voice was softer than usual. Even in the Raven's Nest, she rarely showed such a gentle expression.
"A 'cool hero' will suddenly appear. It might be a bit noisy and bright, and then he will take you away from here temporarily to a safer, more fun place.
"Just like... a secret adventure."
"Mmh-hmm!" Yae Rin's eyes lit up, her slightly pale lips parting.
Long-term life in sanitariums and wards filled her with fairy-tale-like imagination about the "outside" world. Dull treatments and a weak body bound her, but also made the word "adventure" filled with irresistible magic for her.
Seeing the light of expectation rather than fear in the girl's eyes, Natasha breathed a sigh of relief slightly, but also felt a trace of complex sorrow.
This child didn't truly understand the dangerous nature of what was about to happen. She just treated it as a wonderful encounter breaking her dull fate.
"Maybe a bit more exciting than storybooks." Natasha gently stroked Rin's hair. "But don't be afraid. I, and... your sister, and that 'hero,' will all ensure your safety.
"Remember, no matter what happens, cooperate with that 'hero.' He will protect you."
"Mmh! I'm not afraid!" Yae Rin nodded vigorously, her small hands gripping the armrests of the wheelchair, her eyes flashing with eager light.
For her, this might just be a rare, exciting interlude amidst illness.
Just like she never considered what she would face when secretly leaving Yae Sakura.
Having comforted Rin, Natasha stood up and checked the communication equipment and several hidden emergency buttons in the room one last time to ensure everything was normal. She needed to go to the control center for final scheduling confirmation.
She opened the door of the preparation room and walked towards the slightly deserted internal corridor.
However, just as she turned a corner, her steps stopped abruptly, and the blood in her whole body seemed to freeze in this instant.
A tall figure stood quietly in front of the window ahead in the corridor, with his back to her, looking at the city lights outside.
That familiar, slightly old researcher's white coat, that meticulously groomed gray hair, that slightly hunched but still solid back she could outline with her eyes closed...
The alarm in Natasha's heart began to sound, and her pupils began to tremble slightly.
That familiar figure seemed to sense the shock behind him and turned around just right.
Vakh Cioara.
Her... brother...
His face wore the familiar, slightly tired but gentle smile, and the gaze behind the glasses fell on her.
"Natasha." He spoke, his voice somewhat low and hoarse, truly Vakh's voice.
"Busy?"
Cold swept through Natasha's whole body like a tsunami.
Her heart beat wildly, almost shattering her chest.
He... how could he appear here?!
According to the timeline, according to the fragmented information they collected after the Honkai outbreak, at this time node, her brother Vakh's personality should have already...
What occupied this body now was not the brother she knew well... It was the cold and paranoid existence inheriting all of Vakh's memories and knowledge but possessing a completely different core—
The Herrscher of Evolution!
But how could she meet "Him" here?
There was absolutely no such link in the plan! The other party should be in ARC City, at the headquarters of Heliopolis Life Sciences Pharmaceutical at this very moment!
A Herrscher-level existence suddenly appeared at the Heliopolis Life Sciences Pharmaceutical branch, and as luck would have it, was close at hand to Yae Rin and the impending action!
A huge sense of crisis and chaos seized her instantly.
But the panic lasted less than half a second.
Natasha's strong willpower forcibly suppressed the subconscious impulse to step back half a step.
Her nails dug deep into her palms, using pain to maintain sobriety.
Cannot give it away...
"Brother..." Natasha forced herself to relax her shoulders, trying hard to make her voice sound just a bit surprised. "Why are you here? Shouldn't you be in the headquarters laboratory..."
Her brain ran at high speed, trying to find a reasonable explanation.
"The data at the headquarters is a bit dull." 'Vakh' walked over, his steps light. His gaze seemingly casually swept over Natasha's slightly tense face and the direction of the preparation room behind her.
"Heard there's some 'interesting' progress here in Sapphire, so I came to have a look.
"And..."
He stopped a step away from Natasha, his gray-blue eyes looking deeply at her through the lenses.
That gaze still carried Vakh-style concern, but Natasha keenly captured something deeper—
An inquiry, an assessment, as if observing an experimental sample that had undergone unknown mutations.
"I felt some unusual fluctuations, Natasha." 'Vakh's' voice was very light, but it made Natasha's back instantly seep cold sweat. "Not just the so-called 'medical breakthrough' here... but also you.
"You seem very active recently, doing some... things beyond your usual scope of duties.
"And... I seem to have had a dream..."
He frowned slightly, showing a rare trace of confusion and contemplation on his face.
"It was an intermittent dream, or rather... flashback? Some fragments suddenly appeared in my memory that clearly hadn't happened but felt unusually real.
"About disaster, about repetition... and you, Natasha. In those fragments, you seem to always be trying to change something, with a group of... special people."
Natasha's heart instantly plunged into an ice cave at this moment.
If asked who in Fire Moth understood the Herrscher of Evolution best, Shu would be first, Otto second, Kiana possibly third... and she, Natasha, would definitely not leave the top five!
So she understood what the Herrscher of Evolution was talking about at this moment.
The Herrscher of Evolution was adapting to the time loop!
Although it might just be fragmented memory residues, it was enough for Him to sense the unusualness of Natasha and the actions behind her!
The plan encountered the biggest variable. A "Vakh" possessing Herrscher-level power and beginning to perceive loop anomalies stood right in front of her.
She must deal with it, must stabilize Him, at least... before Arahato's action began, she couldn't let Him interfere, let alone let Him detect Yae Rin's specialness and their true purpose.