"You truly are persistent! I should have killed you all long ago!"
Wendy kept spouting threats, but her actions didn't follow.
Perhaps seeing how those people died made her hesitate, or perhaps she was simply unwilling.
But Kiana knew this was her only chance; Wendy still had human thoughts now.
She wasn't a pure Herrscher.
Ah, speaking of which, in this era, the only pure Herrscher who was truly dedicated to destruction was the later Herrscher of Ice.
"Would you really do that? I don't believe the Wendy who smiled so brightly and happily would do such a thing!"
So she chose to go all in, directly presenting her trump card: a photo of Wendy and Lin together.
She didn't need options; she knew what to do now.
Of course, if the situation turned bad, she would immediately drag Mei and run.
However, seeing this photo, Wendy clearly recognized it, so she paused for a moment.
Therefore, Kiana continued.
"If you think everyone is a liar… then is this girl a liar?!"
She didn't mention Lin's current situation; she knew saying it would definitely provoke Wendy, so she chose a different approach, becoming a logical genius.
"No…"
Initially, Wendy was very shy, just like in the photo recorded by Schicksal, but precisely because it was Lin, she was able to get along well with everyone.
"Since she's not a liar, then… she's Dr. Maki's granddaughter, and you two are good friends, so… Dr. Maki didn't deceive you; he genuinely wanted to save you."
Kiana knew that now was the time to gradually overturn Wendy's previous suspicions and re-establish trust.
Otherwise, there would be no way to continue the conversation or the conquest.
"But he's still one of the experimenters! All those people deserve to die!"
Wendy still remembered very clearly that the old man and these experimenters were all birds of a feather!
No one knew how disappointed she was when she found out.
"But… was he a liar? How did he not want to save you! Even if he initially worked for Cocoilia, he still repented in the end, and he's already dead."
Kiana used moral coercion, putting Wendy in a state of wavering.
"Wendy, please come out of Cocoilia's words. She only wanted to provoke you, to make you use the power of the Gem of Desire and become a Herrscher."
After making Wendy waver slightly, Kiana continued.
"Regarding Cocoilia's daughter, she controlled her daughter to attack us, and we eventually freed her from control. She's now recovering in our Academy. Whether these are deceptions will be clear once you come to the Academy."
Thanks to those laboratory members who died for unknown reasons, Kiana had enough opportunities to slowly persuade Wendy out of her hostility.
It was almost time now.
"Indeed, Bronya is in the infirmary right now. If it weren't for Cocoilia's incident… you would be able to see her now."
Mei also nodded, although she was a little annoyed.
But since she had made up her mind to help Kiana, she naturally wouldn't cause trouble at this critical moment.
[The Honkai energy reaction is continuously decreasing. It seems that photo was indeed a key point, but…]
However, Theresa was still very curious: why did those laboratory members die here?
Wendy should have been destroying everything in her path to chase them, but she didn't expect them to be dead already.
"Alright! Don't think too much. Although it's quite late, at least it can be completed!"
Himeko, on the other hand, felt that they shouldn't dwell too much. The problem was already solved, so there was no need to think about anything else.
Wendy had indeed listened, but…
"No! I won't trust anyone again!"
As long as she trusted no one, she wouldn't be hurt again!
"But Wendy!"
As Wendy was about to leave, Kiana bravely approached her and said loudly.
"Trust feels good, doesn't it! You trusted Lin, and even now, you still trust her…"
Though she said she didn't want to trust anyone, Wendy actually trusted others more than anyone else. Or rather, all other Valkyries were like this.
Precisely because of this, they were exploited by those mad experimenters.
"Stay away from me! Why are you coming over here!"
Wendy waved her hand in some panic, and the burst of power sent Kiana flying.
Compared to the initial attacks that sliced through buildings, this was already a minor skirmish.
"Kiana!"
However, Mei caught her, preventing her from falling to the ground.
"Mei, I'm fine."
Kiana stood up, feeling a bit sorry for Mei.
But… it was just one step away now, Wendy was very shaken.
She couldn't back down.
"There's no 'why', I just don't want to see you so lost! You're a Valkyrie, you know that feeling of not being able to let go of people who need help, right?!"
"I…"
Wendy herself had been helped by Lin, and precisely because of that, she could better understand Kiana's words.
"If you can't trust others, then trust us! Trust Mei and me!"
Kiana reached out her hand towards Wendy.
"We won't hurt you!"
"She's clearly been holding a weapon the whole time!"
Wendy pointed at Mei; Mei, after all, had to protect Kiana, so she naturally kept her weapon ready.
"…Then trust me! See, I've never intended to hurt you."
Kiana wondered if Wendy was just being difficult; was this really the time to care about that?!
But…
Unlike when she 'conquered' Mei, that time it relied on emotions, but here it relied on words.
Perhaps with Mei present, Kiana felt that relying on emotions would somehow feel like 'cheating'.
"Can I… really trust you?"
Having been deceived multiple times, Wendy was somewhat convinced by Kiana, but she was still a bit hesitant at this moment.
After all, betrayal was easy, but trust was hard.
"Of course, you can! I am Kiana Kaslana! So, just like when we first met… Wendy! Let's go back!"
As for the sealing, even a simpleton like Kiana knew she had to keep it from Mei.
Even if they both knew it in their hearts, it was better if it wasn't explicitly seen.
"I…"
"Alright, that's enough. I worked so hard to kill those experiment personnel, not for you to take her away."
Just then, Cocoilia's voice rang out again.
"If I let you take her, the Gem of Conquest might have problems, just like the Herrscher of Thunder before."
Having experienced one failure, she had learned a lot and researched quite a bit.
"Thank you for weakening her. Consider it compensation for Bronya being taken away by you ~"