Surviving in a Collapsed World, Is Something Wrong?

Just as Patrick was about to investigate further, two sharp cries for help came from underground.

"Help...Help!!"

"Is anyone there?! Quick... come and save us!!"

Hearing these shouts, Theresa immediately covered her head and crouched down.

“Ahh!! Ghost… a ghost is coming out!!”

"Calm down Theresa, this isn't the voice of a ghost."

Patrick looked in the direction of the sound.

"This is the voice of a human girl..."

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Chapter 177: The Second Herrscher's Power Appears, and a Head-on Confrontation Begins

February 2, 2:8 AM

Xilin woke up naturally from her sleep. It had been a long time since she had such a good sleep. She didn’t want to think about it, and she was too lazy to think about it. There was only one person in her heart now.

"elder brother?"

"Hmm? I'm here."

A gentle response came from above her head. Xilin opened her eyes, her golden pupils twinkling. Looking at the familiar figure in front of her, she smiled subconsciously.

"Good morning, brother."

"Well, good morning, Xilin, did you sleep well last night? Ah...wake up first, I'll help you comb your hair. You moved around a lot last night, and your beautiful hair has become messy."

"Ah."

Xilin sat up from Jiang Ming's lap and sat obediently in front of Jiang Ming. The magical thing was that her hair, which was stiff and tangled yesterday, soon became as soft and fluffy as a French doll under Jiang Ming's careful care, and now it was even better.

The petite body was no longer like a dead tree like yesterday, but was full of cuteness like a small animal, which made Jiang Ming couldn't help but rub it more.

"Mmm...Brother☆, it's so itchy..."

Although she said so, Xilin still showed an expression of enjoyment and actively rubbed Jiang Ming's hand with her face. Jiang Ming gently pinched it and reminded her.

"Okay, Xilin, it's time to get down to business. After last night's simple exercises, you should be able to adapt to your body's strength. You only have two abilities now."

"The first is the control of imaginary space. I don't know much about this ability, so I can only rely on you to figure it out slowly."

"Second, we have absolute orders for the Honkai beasts. They can help us destroy this world."

"Hmm, then... Brother, do you mean to let Sirin summon some Honkai beasts first?☆"

"No, it's a bit early to summon now."

Jiang Ming shook his head slightly, then stood up, took Xilin's left hand and walked towards the depths of the Tower of Babel.

"I just helped you condense the Herrscher Core earlier, but I can't directly supply you with a large amount of Honkai energy. If you want to have more foundation, our only target is the Honkai energy reactor under this tower. As long as we completely absorb it, the destruction of mankind is just around the corner."

"But those humans have already noticed something strange here, we have to find a way to distract them..."

...............

At this moment, Theresa and the other girl, who heard the human girl's cry for help, immediately followed the source of the sound and came to the prison on the lower floor.

"The cry for help seems to be coming from here... Is this... a prison? Why is there such a place in the institute?"

The two were walking in front of the cell doors in the prison. Suddenly, a pale ghost-like hand stretched out from the cell door, scaring Theresa, who was already frightened, and she screamed.

“Ahh!! It’s… it’s a ghost!!!”

"Calm down, Theresa, look carefully, that's not a ghost."

Patrick immediately stopped Theresa from screaming and asked her to open her eyes and look forward.

"Don't be afraid, they are just ordinary human girls."

"Save...save us..."

A brown-haired girl with bruises all over her body and tears in her eyes spoke with a tone full of desire. There was an unusual paleness on her face, and her weak and fragile appearance made her look even more pitiful.

"Don't be afraid, I'll help you out right away!"

Seeing this, Theresa quickly placed her hands on the cell door, stood firmly on her feet, and exerted all her strength. In just a moment, she pulled the sturdy cell door down with her bare hands and threw it aside.

boom!

"Okay, come on, come out, you are all safe."

Theresa showed an expectant smile and extended her hand to them. Although the children were a little afraid, they suddenly seemed to remember something and put their hands up.

"Thank...thank you."

Several rescued girls bowed to express their gratitude to them. Theresa, on the other hand, waved her hands a little embarrassedly, but the joyful smile on her face was beyond words.

"No...you're welcome. I opened the door this way because I didn't have the key. It's definitely not because I like to use brute force!"

After Patrick's explanation, Theresa learned that they were experimental subjects of the Advanced System Department, and that experiments were being conducted on them to test the adaptability of the human body's Honkai energy.

"No wonder...they are covered in bandages and wounds...but why aren't they mentioned in the mission information?"

"Because there is no need for this, Theresa. You know... Every year, Skyward secretly recruits thousands of such test subjects. Most of them are orphans. No one cares about their life or death. They are just disposable test subjects."

"No, it's not that there is no one. At least I care about them."

Theresa assured, looking at the poor girl in front of her.

"You guys hide here first, I'll send you away in a few days."

"Wait... Theresa, you are violating the rules. According to the rules, the experimental subjects must be sent back to the headquarters. They all have Honkai energy registered in their bodies. We can't just let these experimental subjects go. It's too dangerous."

Theresa nodded slightly to indicate that she understood, but then she turned back to Patrick to explain her intention.

"You know St. Freya's College, right? Not long ago, I applied to the Bishop for an artificial island in the Far East, where I will quietly house the girls who are being used as experimental subjects."

"Let them learn to control the power in their bodies. One day, they will be able to return to normal life, or...it is not impossible for them to become Valkyries as good as you."

"... Never mind. It's up to you. You're the leader of this mission after all~"

"Yeah! Thanks! Patrick!"

After sending Theresa away, Patrick turned back and continued her investigation. In fact, she had already discovered that something was wrong here.

She leaned over and looked at the remnants of Honkai energy on the prison door, and couldn't help but murmur in her heart.

"Why are there such obvious signs of collapse on this iron fence...?"

.................

Tower of Babel, Honkai energy reactor.

"Xilin, aren't you going to take a break? You haven't stopped to absorb Honkai energy since this morning. Aren't you tired?"

"...No, it's okay, brother. Xilin...can continue. Xilin knows that brother is very powerful, so...Xilin can't fall behind!"

"..."

"Well, that's true..."

Jiang Ming lowered his head and sighed heavily, then quickly looked up at Xilin who was sitting on his neck, and couldn't help shouting.

“But do you have to sit on my shoulders while absorbing it!? It’s not that heavy, but we’ve been doing it from morning to noon!!”

But when Xilin heard this, she put her right index finger in front of her lips and said in a slightly serious but playful tone.

“Shhh…Brother, what if we get discovered if you make such a loud noise? We got in here with great difficulty!”

"You are the only one who should not say this, you who was making a lot of noise before, opened your hands and said you wanted to sit on my eyebrows... And it seems that I brought you in, without any effort."

"Oh... But this is also my brother's fault, right? It was my brother who asked me to kill all those 300 people one by one. I used so much Honkai energy, it was really tiring..."

"I also used those children to lure them away. Not only did they successfully get down safely, but you could also absorb the Houkai energy for a while longer..."

"Well!!"

"Okay, okay, sorry, my bad..."

Feeling Xilin gently rubbing his face with both hands, Jiang Ming had to bow his head and apologize to her.

"If this is your plan, brother and sister, then you can stop now!"

A sudden scolding came from behind the two of them, breaking their relatively intimate solitude.

Jiang Ming and Xilin, who was sitting on his shoulders, turned around and found that Patrick was holding an M134 Vulcan machine gun in each hand and pointing it at them. This multi-barreled rotating machine gun looked extremely terrifying. It was rumored that when its barrel began to rotate, the roar of the Flame God would resound throughout the battlefield.

Patrick's expression was equally serious. From what she had just heard, the other party had been here since she and Theresa arrived, but they hadn't noticed it at all. She had never seen such concealment ability even in the Savior Headquarters. They were definitely not simple.

Patrick couldn't help but break out in sweat when she thought of this. She was afraid that she alone wouldn't be able to deal with the enemy in front of her.

Jiang Ming naturally saw the anxiety in her heart and couldn't help but chuckle and joked.

"The Valkyrie of Destiny? It seems that you hold a high position in Destiny. If you continue to point that useless weapon at us, even I will be angry, you know?"

"...Do you think I'm kidding you?"

"Hahaha↗? So what you mean is...Ah! Xilin, don't move..."

"elder brother!"

Xilin suddenly jumped down from Jiang Ming's shoulder. Although she really wanted to use her spatial ability to tear the Valkyrie in front of her into pieces, she still listened to Jiang Ming.

She tried hard not to be impulsive and explained to Jiang Ming.

"Brother...that's what those damn researchers told me. The experiments they performed on us were to create the stigmata of the Valkyries. We orphans should feel honored to sacrifice for our destiny and for those Valkyries."

“…I see…”

Jiang Ming nodded to show that he understood. He looked again at Patrick, who was five meters away from them, and casually spread his hands, speaking with a slightly apologetic tone.

"I'm sorry, but I will follow the child's every choice, so I'm sorry, please die here."

"—?!"

This was undoubtedly a provocation to Patrick. She gritted her teeth and quickly activated the Vulcan machine gun in her hand. The barrel began to rotate and countless bullets poured towards them.

But Jiang Ming simply placed his hand on Xilin's shoulder. The next second, something strange happened - their figures began to become illusory, and the bullets that seemed to be able to turn them into honeycomb coals in an instant hit the wall behind them.

Ignoring the surprise on Patrick's face, Jiang Ming slowly stepped back, gently patted Xilin's shoulder, and said with entrustment.

"Xilin, your imaginary space power can also do this, but I will teach you this later. From now on, this guy will be fully in your hands. If you let him run away, you can't blame me~"

"Xilin understands!!"

When Xilin heard this burst of joy, a happy smile appeared on her face.

"Don't worry, brother. I will use my strength to prove that I am more powerful than these so-called Valkyries!"

Compared to the normal conversation with Jiang Ming and the others, who seemed not to take the previous attack seriously, Patrick seemed more flustered.

"Damn it... What on earth is going on...? Why didn't the attack hit them... Wait, they just mentioned space... Did they use space abilities to dodge? Are you kidding me?!"

Before Patrick had time to escape, she sensed that the environment around her seemed to have changed slightly.

"Wait... the light nearby is distorted! What is this--!?"

"Tear it into pieces!"

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Chapter 178: The whole picture of the unknown illusion, the white robe disappeared unexpectedly

Patrick's right half of the body gradually twisted, and she suddenly broke out in a cold sweat. She quickly took off her equipment and jumped to the left, but she was still a step too late. Her right arm was forcibly twisted off, and the removed right arm exploded directly the next second.

Blood gushed out like a fountain, staining the floor with a layer of blood-red paint.

“Ahem…”

"Ahh...she dodged me..."

When Xilin saw this, an unhappy expression suddenly appeared on her delicate face, but just as she reached out to tear the goddess in front of her into pieces again, a condensed and pure purple thunder ball suddenly attacked her.

"What--?!"

Xilin couldn't help but frown, and her originally unhappy expression suddenly turned into panic.

But there was no time to dodge. Just as the lightning ball emitting arcs of electricity was about to hit Xilin, the man in white robe suddenly appeared in front of Xilin and protected her behind him. At the same time, an ice wall condensed in front of him to block the lightning ball head-on.