"Hiss..."
The sound of pressure releasing echoed.
The Stellaron Train gradually slowed to a halt, finally coming to a gentle stop within the Moths Who Chase the Flames' Headquarters Base.
At this moment, on the relatively wide platform, not a single other soul was in sight.
At a certain moment...
"Whoosh!"
Just as the side door of the Stellaron Train's second carriage slid open, before the passengers inside could even take a single step out, a Blood Spike shot out from the ground, hurtling straight for their faces.
Only a second ago, this thing had been camouflaged as a common pebble, blending into the surrounding artificial environment. Compared to the other pebbles nearby, it showed no signs of being anything unusual.
But in an instant, it transformed into a lethal weapon.
Unfortunately...
"Crackle..."
Before the Blood Spike could even touch its targets, it shattered into ice shards mid-air.
Kevin Kaslana was the first person to step out of the train.
He knew that recently, under the arrangements of the Herrscher of Blood: Kali, these things had been popping up without warning to launch surprise attacks.
The casualties caused by them were not few.
Fortunately, recently, after Vill-V stepped onto the Path and obtained the "Avatar" ability, she finally had enough time to develop a "Psionic Amplification Sensor."
This thing was a mass-produced, portable piece of individual combat equipment.
Its appearance resembled a bulletproof plate attached to the chest area of a tactical vest.
But it featured a square screen, large enough for an adult to press both hands onto it for a palm print scan.
At the four corners of the screen... unsurprisingly, there were numerous gear-shaped ornaments of unknown purpose.
And not just one.
Initially, some users thought those gears were something like the "adjusters" on a mechanical watch.
But after trying it out a bit...
It did nothing. It could only spin.
At most, it made a clicking sound as the gears turned.
It was truly just a decorative ornament.
The designer's thought process was probably: "You think it has a function, but it actually doesn't. Isn't that a kind of 'surprise'?"
Yet, if you found it taking up too much space and tried to remove it, the entire device wouldn't fit back together.
"..."
Standard-issue mass-produced equipment is usually designed with stability as the top priority.
This was absolutely not the time or place to show off one's individuality.
For someone to act so recklessly and play such a prank without regard for the consequences was, in fact, nothing short of playing with other people's lives.
And to make matters worse, this prank was played on the very warriors willing to sacrifice themselves for the future of human civilization.
Alright, back to the true nature of this thing.
The large screen of the "Psionic Amplification Sensor" would display an animated image of a brain upon startup.
The creepy part was that this brain would constantly throb in the screen, just like a beating heart.
Whenever a disguised Alien Monster was nearby, the closer it got or the stronger it was, the more violently the "brain-heart" on the screen would throb.
This was how it issued alerts.
To be honest...
The device's sensitivity and detection range were not low at all.
But it was incredibly awkward to use.
So many soldiers and agents had asked and complained: Why not design the display module as a radar chart?
Even adding a simple arrow to indicate the general direction would be helpful!
To this...
"That would have no artistic sense at all!"
These were Vill-V's own words.
Yes, it wasn't that she couldn't do it, but that she wouldn't, feeling it lacked taste.
"..."
Faced with this, many people on the front lines were left utterly speechless.
Some were even tempted to curse in hopes of lowering their own blood pressure.
But there was nothing they could do, as no one could even get an audience with Vill-V.
So, they could only ask other scholars in private to figure out how to improve it.
Vill-V didn't object to this.
She just mentioned in passing: "Don't label the final products as being from the 'Helix Workshop,' and don't claim it as my invention."
Some people felt a prickle of discomfort hearing this request, but no one else objected.
After all, she had even made the blueprints public.
But after this...
Unfortunately, those engineers couldn't even understand the blueprints Vill-V had sent.
Honestly, if Ling Ke knew about all this, he'd probably just snort in amusement.
And then...
"Vill-V's terrible habit of this so-called 'performer's reserve' only truly changed in the original timeline after the Twelfth Honkai Eruption broke out and the Herrscher of Corruption used the Honkai Fission Bomb she developed to destroy the last hope of all humanity."
"And even if such a thing did happen, it would only be a temporary change, not a complete reformation."
"Once the 'Ark' was built and the 'Dormancy of All Things' was modified, it all just started again."
"And now... huh~"
Thinking back to when Eden rushed to the front line with the 'Star-Sea Harmony' in hand, facing a surging tide of Honkai Beasts, she pulled the trigger, only for a small flower full of mockery to emerge from the muzzle instead of a gravity ray... On a battlefield in such dire straits, would anyone really find that amusing and be able to laugh?
And thinking further, even after Vill-V's Sim had stayed in the 'Elysian Realm' for more than fifty thousand years, it had actually reverted to her so-called former personality.
And... even the original Vill-V, after learning about the 'Future Intelligence', still acted as she pleased...
Do geniuses always have special privileges?
Perhaps.
Her talent was indeed beyond reproach.
Especially after splitting her consciousness, her ability to say 'If I want to, then I can' was nothing short of divine.
But in other ways...
"At least I don't want a 'time bomb' like that ticking right next to me."
This was Ling Ke's thought.
Was Vill-V outstanding?
Of course, without a doubt.
The various contingency plans she left in the original story were enough to brand her as: the MVP who carried the game from the Previous Civilization to the current one.
But some of her allies, if they only saw such obvious strengths and completely ignored those mischievous... or even one could say "terrifying" flaws, they would truly be done for in this life.
All one could say was...
"I am not the type of person suited to lead a major faction," Ling Ke had once evaluated herself.
The most important quality of a competent leader is the ability to efficiently utilize every strength of their subordinates, letting them play to their full potential, while also tolerating their various shortcomings so they don't cause major incidents... Well, to put it more bluntly: you must both train a fierce hound and keep a tight grip on its leash.
To excel at all this, one needs observation, judgment... and even patience. Not a single one could be missing.
Ling Ke was the most lacking in patience right now.
Fortunately, he didn't have to worry about that at all.
As the one who was "United as One," he had no need to endure anyone else's shortcomings.
On the contrary, now it was others who had to lose their patience and keep him in mind.
And today...
"The security here is really getting worse and worse."
After Kevin got out of the car, Sakura, Kalpas, and Elysia, who was still reluctant to leave Pamu, all came to the open area.
Ling Ke was now standing beside the group, looking around.
So quiet...
Looking around, there wasn't a single unfamiliar face... ahem...
"This is probably the part where we get a song called 'Flower of Hope'."
Ling Ke grumbled in his heart.
Don't say it, although he had now turned off the power of "Omniscience," and logically speaking, whether his intuition was accurate or not depended entirely on luck.
But right now, he just had a strangely... very ominous premonition.
As if...
This place was about to break out into some major chaos.