Chapter 156 Senti: Kevin and I are basically on the same level; I solo him all the time
While Raven and Gray Snake were preparing something big in Arc City, Schicksal wasn't staying idle either. Rita Rossweisse had found traces of Kiana through the analysis of a prototype machine. Although they couldn't pinpoint her exact location, the results showed she was definitely still in the city.
Simultaneously, this intel meant Kiana was under surveillance by World Serpent. Otto was intensely curious about World Serpent's goals, so he dispatched Rita back to Arc City to lock onto Kiana's trail and continue the pursuit. He ordered Rita's squad to go under the guise of inspecting a partner enterprise—Schicksal maintained ties with massive corporations globally, including Shenzhou's "Heliopolis Life Sciences," which provided free services to Honkai-stricken cities.
Over the past five months, Schicksal had been providing Honkai vaccines and relief materials to Shenzhou through this company. This time, Rita would act as a pharmaceutical transport representative. By utilizing Heliopolis's medical records and information channels, the search operation would be much smoother.
[Hateful Otto! Is he still not going to let the Tuna go even now!]
[Clearly, Schicksal has been hunting Kiana all this time.]
[Kiana ending up like this and the Great Eruption happening... it's all Otto's handiwork!]
[Otto is a madman. Does he know how many ordinary lives were sacrificed because of the Eruption!]
[He's an extremely selfish bastard; do you really expect him to feel remorse? To Otto, those civilian casualties are just a string of numbers!]
Rita shook her head: "Lord Otto is not the type to let things go. Since he wants to control the power of the Honkai, he will inevitably follow Miss Kiana like a shadow. Schicksal's strength cannot be underestimated. If it weren't for the Great Eruption causing disasters in other places, Schicksal probably would have sent even more people to hunt Lady Kiana."
"Tch, creating the Great Eruption with his own hands and then sending Valkyries to clean up the mess... Otto is the height of hypocrisy." Kiana curled her lip. She had zero positive feelings for the in-game Otto; after all, her tragic state in the game was all thanks to him!
Rita covered her mouth and chuckled: "Hehe, Lady Kiana, if Lord Otto were to hear that evaluation..."
Kiana hurriedly explained: "I-I mean the game! The game version!" Seeing the amusement in the maid's eyes, Kiana knew Rita was doing this on purpose!
"Alright, don't be so nervous. I only wanted to tease Lady Kiana because your reactions are so interesting." Rita's words left Kiana helpless.
She sighed and raised both hands in a gesture of surrender. "Now I know why Auntie Theresa is so afraid of you... you really are a mischievous maid."
Rita replied with a smile: "Is that so? But not everyone thinks that way. Lady Bianca says I am a very diligent and excellent maid."
Kiana muttered: "Being excellent and being mischievous aren't mutually exclusive."
The "Tuna" might often skip using her brain because she had "external processors," but that didn't mean she was a complete idiot. Cecilia and Siegfried were both elite individuals, and Bianca was top-tier as well; it was impossible for Kiana to be a complete genetic failure. It was simply that she didn't use her talent. At school, she had Mei; at home, she had Sirin; and in Arc City, she had Bronya and Su Mu. She rarely needed to think.
Perhaps because she had spent so much time with Su Mu, she could now pick up on subtext a little. Though she looked like a paramecium, she had evolved into a high-speed rotating charging paramecium. Don't underestimate the distance from 0 to 0.1!
Rita wasn't annoyed, keeping her smiling facade: "Hehe, you say the exact same things as Lord Su Mu..."
Kiana stuck out her tongue, looking somewhat proud: "Hmph, look who recruited him."
While they talked, a focused Guinaifen advanced the plot to Rita's visit to Arc City. Riding the Eos, Rita received a comm from her subordinate Alvitr. Rita ordered her team to stand by on the ship while she went to complete the handover inspection. The person receiving Rita was a woman named Ciora.
[? This woman named Ciora... isn't that Raven?]
[True, dressed all in black, she doesn't look like a 'good person' at first glance (LMAO)]
[What kind of decent person wears all black in broad daylight?]
[Say what you will, but Raven's outfit is too cool! She looks like a literal assassin!]
[Wait, Raven is the head of Heliopolis Life Sciences? Does that mean... Heliopolis is a World Serpent property?]
[That's actually a huge possibility!]
Sharp-eyed viewers in the stream immediately recognized "Ciora" as the Raven who had previously spoken with Jackal. Although her face wasn't clearly shown in the earlier CG, her outfit made her identity obvious.
At the same time, inside a certain clinic... a blonde little girl looking at Ciora on her phone couldn't help but shout in surprise.
"Old Witch? The Old Witch is Raven! Wow, that's so cool!!"
Beside her, a white-haired girl with red eyes widened her gaze in surprise. "Eh? Is this person named Ciora actually Sister Natasha's game character?"
Hook and Clara—those were the names of the two children.
"So the Old Witch is a clinic doctor by day and a hidden assassin by night? Wow, I didn't know the Old Witch was so amazing!!"
"Eh? Doesn't Sister Natasha run an orphanage... maybe when she's not at the clinic, she's there?"
"Sister Aponia is at the orphanage! The Old Witch probably uses it as an excuse to be a secret assassin!"
Natasha was a highly respected doctor in Arc City, and she co-ran an orphanage with a woman named Aponia, adopting many homeless children. To the neighbors, she was a saint. But in Hook's eyes, she was a terrifying "Old Witch"! Natasha's clinic was connected to the orphanage. Usually, Hook's father had to work, so Hook often ran there to play with the kids. Recently, Hook had started playing Honkai Impact 3rd simply because she thought the "big sisters" in it were cool!
Back in Guinaifen's livestream. Under Guinaifen's control, Rita began her tour of the Heliopolis Life Sciences building under Raven's guidance. Their dialogue was laden with hidden meanings. Rita requested to see Honkai energy leak records from the past five months, while Raven mentioned a "lone wolf" appearing at various Honkai outbreak sites.
Undoubtedly, that lone wolf was Kiana. Relying on the info and records from Heliopolis, the technician of the 3rd squad, Alvitr, quickly finished the analysis. In her comms with Alvitr, the subordinate showed unhidden admiration for Rita. Tasking with the Vice-Captain of the Immortal Blades was rare, as Rita usually went solo. Clearly, Alvitr was Rita's little fangirl.
["You don't need to call me Vice-Captain, Rita is fine."]
["Rita.... ugh... Lady Rita! Oh, no, no, I feel like if I get too familiar, I'll feel Captain Durandal's burning gaze on the back of my head!"]
["Hehe, a burning gaze.... I shall relay your praise to her exactly as you said it."]
["No! Please don't trouble yourself!!"]
Seeing Alvitr's fangirl behavior in the game, Kiana looked surprised: "I didn't think this mischievous maid Rita had fangirls?"
Rita smiled slightly: "Lady Kiana, can I take that sentence as a doubt regarding my work attitude and capability? I shall relay your words to Lady Bianca."
Kiana waved her hands frantically: "Hey! I'm talking about the game! Don't tell Big Sister about this, Rita!!"
[Pfft, I always feel like the President is being played like a fiddle by Rita.]
[Is Rita this black-bellied in real life too? Poor President, she has no room to talk back!]
[Rita is a Schicksal S-rank Valkyrie in the plot, right? Reaching that rank proves how exceptional her abilities are.]
[Having fangirls is normal. Look at Kiana's mom, Cecilia—Theresa was her biggest fangirl.]
[President Kiana seems to be afraid of her older sister? On second thought, if the real Bianca is like the game version, it would be high pressure.]
[Yeah, an existence that can make even Theresa go crazy.]
Amidst the discussion, the in-game Alvitr showed her worth as the technician of the Immortal Blades. This "reliable tool" quickly analyzed the chaotic data. However, Kiana was like a ghost—there were no records of her, as if she had vanished from the world. It made one wonder if she was truly in the city. But Rita had a countermeasure; she found Gray Snake's "legacy" and searched for Kiana's info there.
Analyzing the info, Rita discovered that something in Arc City was constantly attracting Honkai beasts, and Kiana would appear at every outbreak site. In other words, they just needed to wait at the next site, and Kiana would show up.
[Something is attracting the beasts? Is it Kiana?]
[No, knowing Kiana's personality, if she were the cause, she wouldn't stay in Arc City.]
[Exactly! The Tuna wouldn't bear to see people hurt because of her! If she were attracting them, she'd leave immediately!]
[So Arc City is hiding a secret! A secret related to Raven and Jackal's conspiracy!]
[Things are getting complicated.]
[So Kiana stays in Arc City probably to investigate what's attracting the beasts!]
[Kiana will definitely show up at the next outbreak. Is Rita going to have a direct confrontation with her?]
Thinking of Kiana wandering between Honkai sites for months, fighting beasts to protect the city, the viewers felt both relieved and heartbroken. Seeing Rita coming to hunt her, they felt tense. After all, Rita was an S-rank Valkyrie leading the elite Immortal Blades! Could the current Kiana handle a prepared Rita?
Under the anxious gazes of the audience, the game skipped to two days later. At a Honkai outbreak site, Rita and her squad were dealing with Honkai beasts and zombies blocking the road. Rita discovered something shocking on the zombies—special patterns glowing red. Those were undoubtedly Stigmata!
While surprised by the presence of Stigmata on zombies, Alvitr found Kiana's trail. Rita had no time to think and rushed to the scene.
[The girl moved like a shadow in the darkness cast by beasts and zombies; gunfire and flashes erupted everywhere.]
[With the final flash of a gunshot, the girl landed.]
[Under the night sky, her white hair condensed like a beam of moonlight, making the mountain of corpses at her feet look even gloomier.]
[The girl tilted her head slightly, stayed silent for a moment, then spoke.]
["Are you going to keep hiding? Come out."]
Kiana, in her Void Drifter outfit, had already sensed the anomaly. As her voice fell, Rita in her God-Slayer armor Argent Knight: Artemis and the Immortal Blades Valkyries surrounded her. However, Kiana looked completely composed, as if she had expected this.
["Rita Rossweisse, I remember you. An inspector from HQ. We met during the St. Freya exams months ago."]
Kiana's aura was entirely different. Even surrounded by so many people, she remained calm and rational. Clearly, the past months had turned her from a hot-blooded idiot into a mature warrior capable of standing on her own. Rita wanted to "invite" Kiana back, claiming the city was being attacked by beasts because of her. But Kiana refused, negotiations broke down, and a battle began.
[Bursts of gunfire and scythe strikes crossed paths in the dark, like a battle between stars and a crescent moon.]
[But this endless battle was but a split-second illusion in the eyes of bystanders.]
[A moment later, both figures landed, returning to their positions.]
Clearly, neither side gained the upper hand in this clash. Compared to their bout during the Valkyrie exams, Kiana's growth was shocking even to Rita.
["Rita, I have a question for you.... Which do you think is more important: catching me, or stopping the disaster in this city?"]Kiana soon received her answer. ["Catching you is stopping the disaster."]
The battle resumed. Rita and her summoned stand, Artemis, double-teamed Kiana. However, by using her Herrscher powers, Kiana easily escaped the pincer movement.
["Unfortunately, catching the current me isn't that easy."]Mastering part of the Herrscher of the Void's power allowed Kiana to use space teleportation. If she wanted to flee, Rita couldn't stop her.
["Believe it or not, I am not the reason the beasts are attacking this city."]Kiana tossed a hard drive to Rita. ["The disaster in Arc City is much more dangerous than you imagine. You can see for yourself what Heliopolis Life Sciences is up to with this evidence."]
["Also... I won't leave. To me, stopping the disaster is more important than running away."]
Kiana brushed past Rita, her firm tone making Rita pause.
["I know you have no reason to trust me, but the right to choose is always in your hands."]
Kiana's voice faded as she walked away. Rita looked at the hard drive in her hand, her eyes swirling with thought as she fell into contemplation.
"Sigh, the current Kiana feels so much more mature than before." Guinaifen sighed, propping up her chin with a somber expression. "Though she's cool like this, Pardo... I mean, Guinaifen still likes the happy Kiana more."
[Yeah, Little Gui spoke my mind! Kiana is definitely cuter when she's smiling!]
[Seeing her so mature only makes my heart ache!]
[Sigh, I thought Kiana would lose control of her emotions seeing someone from Schicksal.... after all, Schicksal made her like this. But she's so calm, she didn't even mention the past.]
[The Tuna is taking the blame for World Serpent! Though to be fair, from Rita's perspective, the probability of Kiana being the source of the beasts was indeed high.]
[World Serpent probably wanted to use this to make Kiana and Schicksal fight?]
[But Kiana isn't the same as before! World Serpent can't trick her that easily!]
The viewers praised the calm and collected Kiana. In such a situation, her performance was beyond excellent.
"Mhm, it seems Lady Kiana really has matured a lot," Rita nodded in approval. "Detecting World Serpent's conspiracy and counter-playing them at the same time is indeed impressive."
"Hmph, now it just depends on whether Rita believes me."
"Hehe, I imagine I would make a decision after reviewing that data. If the evidence Lady Kiana provided is convincing enough, cooperation might indeed be possible."
Kiana looked at the screen suspiciously: "By the way, why do Rita, Big Sister Bianca, and the Immortal Blades work for a guy like Otto? Does Big Sister not know Otto killed Mom?"
Rita thought for a bit: "Lady Bianca likely doesn't know. It seems in the game world, there's no mention of a connection between Lady Bianca and Lady Kiana either."
Kiana nodded: "True. Sirin became the Herrscher of the Void directly in the game and seized my body."
"So, some relationships in Su Mu's script are different from reality.... In the game, Kiana was made from Cecilia and Siegfried's genes, plus Sirin's genes, right? Uh, so...." Guinaifen calculated in her head, then made a weird face. "So, genetically speaking, in the game, Kiana is... Sirin's... daughter?"
Rita analyzed: "Mhm, not necessarily. Didn't Lord Otto's experiment say K-423 had no consciousness until the Herrscher core was implanted? In other words, Sirin's consciousness might have been revived this way."
Kiana was now thoroughly confused: "Uh... so I might be Sirin, and Sirin might be me? Both at the same time!"
Rita continued: "If I recall, Herrschers have Herrscher personalities, right? Perhaps the one that revived in K-423 was Sirin's kind personality, while the ruthless Herrscher was Sirin's evil side." Then she smiled: "But that's just a guess, don't mind it too much."
Just a guess? Kiana was shocked. She thought Rita had read Su Mu's script while working beside him, but it was just a deduction? This woman's analytical skills were terrifying. Logically... well, she couldn't find a flaw. She just wanted to nod and say, "Wow, you're right, Rita, you're amazing!"
Simultaneously, in Senti's livestream.
Senti rubbed her chin and reached a conclusion: "Wow, World Serpent are not good people! They're definitely planning something big in Arc City, trying to set Kiana and Rita against each other.... I thought Kevin's return would clean up World Serpent, but maybe Kevin wants them to do this!"
"Kevin is probably the hardest nut for Kiana to crack, right? Hmph! But I have insider info from Su Mu—my character might be on equal footing with Kevin!"
At this, Senti couldn't help but puff out her chest with pride! Currently, Kevin's "coolness factor" in the plot was too high. Being on par with him meant she wouldn't have bad treatment! "Hehe, maybe I'll join the protagonist group later and lead Kiana and the others to beat up Kevin and save the world! That would be so cool!"
"But then again, I feel like Su Mu has a lot of malice toward the Golden Courtyard members?"
"Look at this, Old Timer: Sakura and Rin were stabbed immediately. Dr. MEI probably vanished with the Previous Era. You, Old Timer, spent years alone only to be shot by Otto and turn into a ghost. Kevin was trapped for 1,500 years only to become an enemy to Welt... and now he's out but he's the head of World Serpent, which is full of 'freaks'... doesn't that make Kevin the leader of the freaks?"
"I'm wondering now—what kind of image will the rest of the Golden Courtyard have? They can't all be background characters who died in the Previous Era, right? There should be some survivors, or that's just too ridiculous!"
END OF CHAPTER
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