Humans are in chaos, despicable outsiders.

"We...? Aren't you coming out with me?"

Looking at Snow's expression, Big Hill asked with some curiosity...

"Hmph... The contract has been made, and it should be abided by—but I have a task for you."

The blonde girl let out a soft groan, a growing sense of unease creeping into her heart. Miss Snow, her hair beginning to turn green, started contemplating whether she should take her mother's surname instead of her father's...

"Uh... what kind of request?"

"Go beat up that other me, how dare he cheat on me..."

"Don't worry about not being able to beat them... I'll give you a little bit of a buff."

"A little bit???"

The two Seeles looked at the colorful black in Snow's hand and began to question their existence.

"A tiny bit—"

--------

Chapter 227 The weak can never catch up with the strong!

The bustling streets, filled with the sweet and sour smell of lovers, and children running around happily—the city seemed to have returned to its usual atmosphere overnight.

However, among the crowd, besides those who genuinely cheered and celebrated, there were also those with ulterior motives and those who were deeply worried.

Mei wandered alone through the crowd, hoping to find the figure of a white-haired girl. The black-haired girl, being pushed and shoved, was squeezed to the side of a teahouse—

Kiana?!

Raiden Mei looked at the white-clad girl sitting at the teahouse table with her back to her with some surprise. At this moment, the girl was fiddling with chopsticks, poking at the xiaolongbao in front of her like a knife and fork, trying to figure out the true use of this tableware full of Chinese characteristics.

"you......?"

Attracted by the shouts, the girl temporarily put down the two bamboo sticks in her hands, turned her head to look at the Valkyrie behind her, and scrutinized Raiden Mei in front of her with her blue eyes...

The latter's initial surprise faded upon seeing the girl's face, replaced by disappointment. Then, as if remembering something, hope rekindled.

"Excuse me, Miss Valkyrie, you must also be from the Kaslana family...?"

Although it was a question, Mei looked at the woman in front of her with an affirmative tone.

"...Is there something you need?"

Imotek neither denied it nor directly answered Raiden Mei's question, instead posing her own question...

"I'd like to ask, have you ever seen a girl with white hair and blue eyes like you?"

Raiden Mei's question was tinged with obvious anxiety and worry.

"I've seen you before, what's wrong?"

The white-haired girl's brief answer filled Raiden Mei with immense joy, and she eagerly pressed for details, wanting to know Kiana's whereabouts—

"Do you know where she went, or do you know where Kiana is right now...?!"

Raiden Mei's tone became increasingly urgent and anxious.

"have no idea--"

Imotek, without batting an eye, uttered the deception...

I only know where she's been staying recently, but if you ask me where she is now, I have no idea—maybe she's upstairs taking selfies while shaking her cloak?

“…”

Raiden Mei's face, which had once again lit up with surprise, dimmed again...

"I see... Sorry to bother you..."

The purple-haired woman turned and walked listlessly towards the crowd outside... and Imotek's voice rang out behind her again...

"Although I don't know what you want with her, Valkyrie of Destiny—"

"But you are too weak... so weak that you can be easily buried by the torrent of time and history... Valkyrie Raiden Mei, I know you, I recognize you—the Third Herrscher of this era... or rather, the Third Herrscher who has not yet awakened."

"The person you seek is a Herrscher, a fully-fledged Herrscher who loves humanity and the world and fights for them—a powerful being destined to leave an indelible mark on the history of civilization..."

"Whatever you wish to do, Valkyrie Raiden Mei—take revenge on the Honkai, or follow in the footsteps of that Kiana Kaslana you speak of—"

"Those are privileges reserved for the strong—while you, in your weak position..."

"It will only be a burden to her, slowing her down... even if she doesn't mind at all and is happy to accept it..."

And what about yourself?

"You're too weak... Third Herrscher. You're unwilling to accept that power, you fear it, and therefore the distance between you and her is widening..."

"When she only needs to take a small step, and you have to do everything you can to catch up..."

"And what will you use to catch up...? So-called love?"

Imotek, seemingly having finally grasped the correct way to use chopsticks, skewered the steamed buns from the steamer onto the chopsticks one by one and, mimicking the action of candied hawthorn skewers, put them into his mouth.

“That kind of ethereal concept can bring the two closer together—but that’s all it is…the substantial gap can’t be bridged by that kind of thing.”

Hearing the girl's mournful words, Raiden Mei stopped in her tracks... She looked back at the white-haired girl behind her who was skewering xiaolongbao (soup dumplings) with chopsticks, temporarily ignoring her textbook-perfect misuse of chopsticks, and said firmly to Imotek—

"I will find Kiana. That's the only thing I won't give up on!"

.....

"Ha... mere determination is meaningless—you'll soon understand, Valkyrie Raiden Mei. That difference in strength, like an abyss..."

"Keep making excuses for your cowardice and fear of power—"

"I will always wait for you—when you are torn apart by the cruel reality, when your ridiculous and naive awareness is shattered and truly reforged into determination..."

"At that time, I will tell you how to obtain the power you desire... No, when you truly make up your mind, you will obtain that power without our help..."

Imotek caught up with Raiden Mei, who had turned to leave, with a mocking tone, causing her to pause for a moment before quickening her pace—

"Who are you chatting with...? And is that how you use chopsticks???"

Carrying a plate of Chinese specialty snacks, Jiu Xiao returned to Imotek's side. He twitched his lips as he looked at the skewer of steamed buns in her hand and a figure that had disappeared into the crowd.

Isn't that right?

The white-haired girl held up the skewer of xiaolongbao and examined it closely, seemingly finding no problem with it.

"I think I understand why Rita never cooks certain specialties from China for you... You just use your chopsticks as a fork, right... And that figure just now, if I'm not mistaken, was that Raiden Mei?"

"Ah, that's right, one... um... one coward?"

"It's too early for her to accept the true power of the Third Herrscher, Imotek."

I used chopsticks to pick up a piece of char siu and demonstrated the correct way to use chopsticks to the white-haired girl, then, with my partner opening their mouth to feed me, I put it into her mouth...

The latter, with satisfied squinting eyes, chewed the food stuffed into his mouth, muttering indistinctly—

"It's not like I wanted to rush her... It's just that Kiana keeps complaining about how weak Mei is. What if Raiden Mei gets bullied by Honkai Beasts or other Herrschers if she goes out alone...?"

Chapter 228 Some People Are Alive...

Jackal was very excited, or rather, her life seemed to have reached a certain peak at this moment. She was directing the mechanical guards transferred from Shencheng Medical Center to place Honkai energy storage devices in various corners of the downtown area, and she was just about to activate all these containers at the very end of the celebration to release the Honkai energy.

"Raven, huh? Keep an eye on the Valkyrie's movements for me—I have a brilliant plan..."

The jackal dialed a phone number and began sending his companions to provide free labor. As for the free labor on the other end of the line...

"You finally have a plan? Tell me about it."

After days of being so idle that they were having an open-air barbecue on the rooftop, the sound of voices on the radio finally roused them, and they all started to rub their hands together, ready to give the jackal a good thrashing.

"I had the security robots store high-concentration Honkai energy containers in various corners of the downtown area. I'll send you the locations in a bit. Raven, you'd better find a way to lure all those Valkyries and the like away."

"Huh? Luring away that group of Valkyries and the *** team? I think you want me to get killed by Schicksal's S-rank Valkyries—don't forget they haven't left yet, and they're probably involved in this festival as well."

Raven gave a dramatic performance to the other end of the communication channel while sending the locations shared by Jackal to Rita Kiana and Bella, who were standing nearby.

"Isn't that obvious? Didn't you get chased and beaten by half the city a few days ago because you were accused of employing child labor and forcing children to work overtime?

"Why don't you just jump out and act like a human trafficker again? The S-rank Valkyries of Destiny won't bother to arrest someone who looks like a human trafficker. Only the B-rank Valkyries will come after you. It's easy for you to take care of them in a second—by the time those two S-rank Valkyries realize what's happening, the situation will already be settled."

The jackal started to think of something and began to come up with some bad ideas.

"Can't you come up with any normal ideas—you just come up with these kinds of stupid ideas that harm our own people, right???"

...

Meanwhile, Siola continued to haggle and stall for time with the jackal, while the others, now with extra space, began assigning tasks...

"Hey, what a disgrace! How many... containers did this dog-headed man release?"

Seeing the markers sent by the jackal, the faces of the group twitched involuntarily. The small map was covered with markers, reminding everyone of the fear they had experienced while playing Ubisoft's open-world games—all question marks, not a single map.

"It's not that I can't understand it..."

The captain, who had originally intended to join in the fun, looked at the densely packed "collectibles" on the map and gave her opinion.

"Dispersed releases are less likely to trigger monitoring alarms—and even if accidentally bumped into by an unrelated person, the container's small size will make it go unnoticed..."

"This guy called Jackal is quite thoughtful—it's just that he might not be so bright in other areas..."

"Let's start dividing the work—"

Kiana tapped the tablet and began assigning tasks.

“The East District has the densest distribution and the largest flow of people. I will take charge of this area. With the help of the Herrscher of the Void’s abilities and the characteristics of the Herrscher, even if I can’t deal with all these Honkai energy containers, I can absorb them all when they are released.”

The girl pointed to the most densely populated area on the map, indicating that she would be responsible for the most troublesome part.

"Then I'll go to the south with Her Majesty the Queen... It just so happens that after these past few days of turmoil, Her Majesty's body is struggling to keep up with her consumption of Honkai energy—we can take this opportunity to recharge."

Bella held up the somewhat sickly Sirin doll and waved it around, then crossed out one of the remaining sections.

"Hmm... Miss Eileen and I will be in charge of the West and North districts... those are also the areas where the Valkyries are responsible for security, so we can use the Valkyries' power."

"After all, Miss Eileen must be very good at acting, right?"

Rita glanced at the witch beside her, who was exchanging glances with her.

"Leave it to me... It's just that Miss Rita will probably have to explain to the local Valkyries later why she can appear in two places at the same time..."