The Herrscher of Evolution's collapse scream, which seemed capable of tearing the soul apart, still faintly reached the temporarily built hidden medical point like cold ripples, despite the long distance and heavy obstacles.
This was originally a safe house preset by Joachim through the remnant network of the City of the Future, close to the evacuation route. At this moment, however, it was filled with the mixed smell of hemostatics, disinfectant, and faint residual Honkai energy.
Kallen was settled on a simple folding bed. Her face was pale as paper. Multiple wounds on her body had undergone emergency treatment, but internal injuries and exhaustion were not something that could recover in a short while.
Her eyes were tightly closed, brows furrowed. Even in a coma, her body would still tremble slightly due to energy fluctuations coming from afar.
The ones responsible for looking after her were two reinforcements who had just arrived here, travel-worn.
One of them was Joachim, who had rushed over urgently.
And the other...
His blond hair was meticulously combed, green eyes deep as ancient wells. Even though his body was stained with a lot of blood and dust, he still exuded an elegance and alienation that seemed innate—
Otto Apocalypse.
Since morning, when Himeko ran to him with messy hair saying she received a call from the future Himeko, Otto had had a bad premonition.
And after rushing all the way urgently, he ran right into a hell as soon as he landed.
He was twirling an extremely crude instrument with his fingertips. The main body of the instrument was a complex miniature dashboard, displaying constantly fluctuating Honkai energy readings.
This was a Honkai energy monitoring instrument temporarily assembled using nanorobots provided by Joachim. In previous loops, Joachim used this kind of instrument to monitor the fluctuating Honkai energy during outbreaks.
"Reaction disappeared... no, it became chaotic, concentrated at one point, losing aggression and purpose..." Joachim stared at a light screen displaying violent energy turbulence but without clear direction, heaving a long sigh of relief.
Anyone could hear the obvious exhaustion and lingering fear in that sigh.
"Bet right... Natasha... she did it."
Otto put down the instrument, his gaze sweeping over the strange patterns exposed on Joachim's arm, then looking out the window.
Although unable to see the specific scene, the abnormally rolling clouds mixed with purple-black and dark red in the distant sky, as well as the increasingly thick, unsettling "activity" and oppressive feeling in the air, all foretold ominousness.
"Your 'old friend' really made quite a stir."
Otto's voice was calm, not revealing much emotion. "Thanks to him, the Honkai in Sapphire City was 'ignited' in advance, and in a way you never recorded."
His gaze turned to the city silhouette further away. It should have been a prosperous place with flashing neon lights, but at this moment it was shrouded in a strange gloom.
What was faintly visible were no longer neat architectural lines, but twisted and wriggling huge shadows, like strange tentacles rising into the sky.
In the air, which served as the medium for light propagation, the difference in Honkai energy concentration had reached a level where light was visibly distorted.
Even more creepy were the faintly audible howls and chewing sounds filled with pain and madness, which were not human language.
"Look, Joachim," Otto's tone carried a researcher-like cold interest, as well as a trace of heaviness and weakness hidden deep beneath, "this is the Honkai.
"It never follows human scripts. The so-called 'countdown' is just our self-righteousness.
"When conditions are met, when the 'fuse' is sensitive enough, it can turn heaven into hell at any time.
"And in hell, the old order, morality, and even life forms will be 'redefined.'"
Joachim coughed twice, wiping away a trace of blood at the corner of his mouth. His fingers slid quickly on the light screen, calling up a new data model.
"Fu Hua sent back final confirmation information. Her contact with Yun Mengxi has completed the key stage. The target's emotions changed drastically but didn't completely Herrscherize, temporarily stable.
"Combining with what we observed here..." He enlarged an energy diffusion simulation map, "The center point of the Honkai outbreak deviated 17.3 kilometers from the 'Pearl of Sapphire' area predicted by the model, precisely corresponding to the position where the Herrscher of Evolution intercepted and finally collapsed."
He paused, analytical light flashing in his eyes, although his face looked more ashen due to erosion.
"Two points confirmed: First, the Honkai outbreak can be induced in advance or have its core shifted by the intense activities of external high-level Honkai energy individuals.
"Second, the position of a Herrscher individual indeed has a near-absolute anchoring effect on the initial 'epicenter' of the Honkai energy outbreak."
"However," Joachim switched the screen, displaying the heat map of Honkai beast activities in various areas of Sapphire City.
"Interestingly, despite the shift of the outbreak center, the main locations and species distribution of Honkai beast breeding in the whole city still have a similarity as high as 81% with the data models recorded by Natasha in the previous two loops.
"Only the time of appearance and intensity produced obvious variations due to the suddenness of the Honkai energy outbreak and the difference in central energy concentration.
"Some areas have stronger monsters, while others have unrecorded aberrations... Like the same soil growing different but fundamentally similar poisonous weeds due to different watering quality and timing."
At this time, Kallen, who had been in a coma, let out a faint moan and struggled to open her eyes.
Her vision was blurry. She first saw Otto and Joachim, subconsciously wanted to move, but pulled her wounds, groaning muffledly.
Immediately, her keen eyes captured the unusual colors on the two—the faint purple patterns on Otto's neck and the more obvious erosion traces on Joachim's arm.
"You... this is..." Kallen's voice was hoarse and weak.
Otto glanced at the side of his neck following her gaze, shrugged indifferently, his tone even carrying a bit of teasing.
"Watching a Honkai energy tide caused by a Herrscher's emotional breakdown at close range always requires paying some ticket price.
"Irreversible erosion has begun. Looks like I was summoned thousands of miles from Nagazora by some 'future' with encrypted messages like a death warrant, only to catch up with a grand... collective funeral?"
He glanced at Joachim, "Of course, this chief planner is more active in paying the bill."
Joachim didn't refute, just calmly adding: "Natasha's erosion level... according to residual signal feedback, is probably the most severe among us... She is at the absolute core of the energy outbreak.
"This is also why the Herrscher of Evolution didn't immediately use authority to save her or do anything even after collapsing."
His voice lowered, "Any bit of extra Honkai energy disturbance might trigger a chain collapse in her body which has already been eroded to the limit... He dares not take the risk."