I'm going to kill everyone who calls me Hill.

"Eh? What does this mean?"

Nanoha looked at the place that could barely be called a door with a little vigilance, raised her magic wand, and was ready to smash her face with the God of War at any time.

"Wait! Someone's coming out!"

Xier quickly pressed Nanoha's wand, and she found a light blue voice slowly coming out of the door.

The figure slowly walked in front of the few people. Her lips did not move, but her voice reached the ears of several people.

"Please follow me..."

Chapter 27 The Lost Base

"Please follow me"

The projection pointed a finger towards the opening of the mysterious building and said.

"Who are you? What is this building? Why are you here?"

Xier stopped Nanoha who was about to walk over and asked in a serious tone.

"The answer to the question is in there, please believe me."

The projection shook slightly and flickered as if the signal was bad, and then he still maintained that smile and spoke to Xier and others.

"This……"

Several people looked at each other, and for a moment they didn't know what to do.

After struggling for a long time, Xier gritted her teeth and said, "Let's go... go and take a look. Since you sincerely invited me, I will be merciful and go with you..."

Without paying any attention to the sarcasm in Xier's words, the projection stretched out his hand again, made a please gesture, and then waited for Xier to come forward.

"cut……"

Seeing that the other party did not respond, Xier couldn't help but make a sound, and then walked out first. When she walked a distance away, she signaled Nanoha and others to follow.

Without paying any attention to the little movements of Xier and others, the projection flashed twice and disappeared on the spot after Xier walked inside, and a new projection appeared in front of Xier.

"Does this include a shift change?"

Xier glanced at the projection that looked the same as before and complained silently.

"Yes, No. 1623 and I are responsible for the reception at the door. Once you enter, someone else will come to guide you forward."

To Xier's surprise, the projection suddenly changed its silent tone and became cheerful, speaking in a bright and generous voice, which was completely different from its silent appearance just now.

Xier looked at the projection in confusion and asked, "Number 1623? What does this mean?"

"Of course it's our number." The cheerful projection seemed to be more talkative than the previous projection, so he turned around and explained: "I am No. 1633, and the previous one is No. 1623. We are both caregivers of this Xiling Fortress, probably... [Data missing]... Ah! Sorry, our database is missing something. In short, we have been doing maintenance work here a long time ago."

"Maintenance? Aren't you just a projection?"

Xier looked at the projection in front of her that was emitting a light blue glow in confusion. How did this thing need to be maintained?

The projection did not reply but smiled mysteriously, raised a hand and gently touched Xier's face.

"Ah! Feel it?"

Xier only felt a cool feeling on her face, which made Xier look at the projection in surprise. As far as the feeling just now was concerned, except for the lower temperature, it was almost the feeling of a human hand.

"We are not ordinary projections. We are mass projections developed by the Empire. We can affect things to a certain extent, so we can be used for maintenance work. By the way, the Empire conducted a racial study on mass projections [data missing] years ago. Although the final result was not valid, there are still some affiliated races that regard us as a separate race..."

It seemed that he hadn't talked to anyone for a long time. The projection happily uttered a lot of incoherent words, among which the word "empire" appeared most frequently, which made Xier even more confused.

(Empire? Is it some kind of ancient technology? Something like the ancient Belka Empire?)

Out of interest, Xier learned a little about the history of this world, especially the ancient Belka Empire, which played an important role in the history of Midchelda. This epic historical story fascinated Xier, so she thought of this place first.

"…So, for some reason, the scientists in the Empire always do strange things, as if they have no other place to go except the laboratory. Ah! Here we are!"

The projection that had been leading Xi'er and the others for a long time suddenly stopped in front of a crystal door, and said to Xi'er and the others with regret: "Okay, my mission is completed. Thank you for listening to me. After all, I haven't talked so much to people for a long time. I can't control myself for a while. The main reason is that No. 1623 is so boring. She can't even say a word all day. It's really nice to work with her every day^beep"

Seeing that projection number 1633 was getting more and more off topic, it was unclear whether the owner of the fortress could no longer afford to lose face or this guy had finally run out of power. In any case, the projection numbered 1633 suddenly lost control, opened and closed its mouth a few times, and then suddenly disappeared.

"call……"

Xier breathed a sigh of relief subconsciously as she watched the disappearing projection. This guy was really too talkative. The journey was only ten minutes at most, but he never stopped talking. He talked about his own work and then the Empire, and then jumped from the Empire to the battleship engine. Then he changed the topic and pointed the gun at the Empire's scientists. He also kept inserting many words like [missing data] or [insufficient authority], which made Xier stunned. She was so annoyed by this guy that she couldn't say a word all the way.

"Hiss, this is really a weird thing..."

Xier scratched her head. She had never thought that she would be bothered by a projection one day. (However, she had not expected that she would even be dragged by the imperial elite to sell pirated CDs in the future... Of course, this is a later story.)

"Okay... Now it's time to see what the owner of this fortress wants us to do..."

Although the projection said many irrelevant words along the way, Xier still felt what the projection wanted to express, which is that we have no ill intentions.

This is also the reason why Xier was able to follow the projection obediently all the way. Otherwise, as long as Xier sensed a little bit of malice, she would immediately magnify it, no matter who the other party is, she would magnify it first to show respect.

However, Xier waited for a long time but the door showed no sign of opening. Xier and Nanoha looked at each other, not understanding why the other party invited them but did not open the door. In a peaceful and polite manner, Xier knocked on the crystal door and said, "Hey, little rabbit, open the door obediently?"

"..."

There was no movement at the door.

"Open sesame?"

Still no movement.

"Hey! Once or twice doesn't mean three or four times! Are you bluffing? You won't even open the door?"

Xier knocked hard on the door, but the door never opened. Xier got angry, and just as she was about to kick the door in an unladylike manner, a mass projection appeared in front of them again.

"Please be gentle with your feet..."

The voice of this projection was quite clear, and it was obviously different from the previous projection. After using words to dissuade Xier from breaking the door, this projection bowed deeply and then said, "I'm very sorry, this door has been in disrepair for a long time, so there is a malfunction at the joint, causing the bolt to fail to work successfully. Therefore, no matter how hard the guest kicks it, it will have no effect."

"Oh?"

Xier glanced at the rather polite projection and asked, "So what are you going to do?"

"Please be at ease. I am here to solve this problem."

The projection bowed deeply again, then turned to look at the door.

"..."

"..."

"Move, don't you want to solve the problem?"

Xier asked curiously, looking at the projection standing in front of the door without moving.

"Please stand a little further away. I'm worried that the dust will affect you."

The projection respectfully brought Xier and others to a place ten meters away, and then returned to the door alone.

"Sister Xier, what is she going to do?"

Nanoha asked Seele curiously, and Seele replied, "I don't know..." and then stared at the projection.

The projection lifted her skirt elegantly, and then kicked the door in the horrified eyes of several people.

"Boom!"

As the projection moved, the door creaked as if it could not bear the weight. Seeing that his first kick was ineffective, the projection kicked the door again.

This time the door was kicked so hard that it was deformed, but it still stood firmly in the door frame.

"Humph!"

It seemed that because he failed to kick the door open with both feet, the projection no longer maintained his reserved posture, squatted slightly to gather strength, and then kicked the door with a standard knight's kick in front of everyone's horrified gaze.

This time, the strong door finally couldn't bear the impact and was kicked inside. The projection landed lightly, as if nothing had happened, saluted Xi'er and the others, and then said softly;

"Everyone, the door is open."

“Don’t we still have to kick it!!!!!!”

Chapter 28: The Mother Nest

"Everyone, the door is open"

The projection bowed deeply and then stretched out his right hand, saying elegantly: "Please go this way." As he spoke, he kindly kicked the remains of the door to the side.

"..."

Xier didn’t know what to say. Are all these projections so unique?

Xier, who appeared expressionless but was actually complaining madly in her heart, finally walked into the core of the fortress under the guidance of the projection.

"Welcome everyone to the main control center."

The projection bowed slightly again and then disappeared, leaving Xi'er and the others behind.

This is a huge circular hall. The floor, ceiling, walls and everything within sight are made of crystals. Perhaps due to years of disrepair, most of these crystals have lost their luster. Only the 3-meter-high crystal column in the middle is still flashing a faint light, but it is extremely weak, flickering like a firefly in the summer night sky, making people worry that it will go out in the next moment.

"Wow! So beautiful!"

Nanoha looked at the huge crystal column in the center and couldn't help but sigh. She had never seen such a large crystal column in her life. Curious, Nanoha couldn't help but reach out and touch the crystal column. As her fingers touched the surface of the crystal column, a circle began to spread from the contact point, like ripples in the water.

"Eh? What is that?"

Xier, who was also attracted by the crystal column, saw something different. She discovered with her sharp eyes that there was a human-like thing in the huge crystal column, but because the surrounding light was not very bright, Xier could not see everything clearly.

As if Xier's inner thoughts were heard, the dark room suddenly lit up, first the crystal column in the center, then the floor, walls, ceiling, and finally the surrounding crystals all regained their brilliance, the entire hall was glittering with light, like a crystal castle, this beautiful scene would probably be unbelievable if you didn't see it with your own eyes. As the light became more abundant, Xier finally saw the scene in the crystal clearly.

"what!"

As the light became brighter, Nanoha also saw the scene in the crystal. She screamed in surprise, what a scene it was!

A little girl with delicate features was floating in the huge crystal with her eyes closed. Her petite body formed a sharp contrast with the huge crystal column. She was about one meter above the ground, sleeping in the crystal like a sealed angel.

"Welcome everyone to the mother nest."

Before Xier and the others could do anything, the girl sleeping in the crystal suddenly opened her eyes, and at the same time, a childish voice with a slight tremor sounded from all directions.

"you are?"

Xier stared closely at the loli in Crystal. Her red eyes met those eyes flashing with data streams for a long time, and Xier's question finally got a response.

"I am the Xiling Host, a subordinate of the Xiling Empire. You can call me Jing."

"Xiling Empire? Xiling Host? What is that?" Xier was stunned by the term she had never heard of before and asked quickly.

"Please be patient. I will give you an explanation. But first..."

The little girl's voice paused for a moment, and then she said seriously, "Abyss, please die!"

As he spoke, a stream of light suddenly refracted out from the surrounding crystals and headed straight for Xier.

"Nani!"

Unexpectedly, the little girl suddenly attacked. Xier had no time to react and could only watch the stream of light pass through her body... Eh? Passed through?

Xier was stunned for a moment, and then she found that the pain she expected did not come. She felt up and down but did not find any wounds on her body.

"Sister Xier! Behind you!"

This was Nanoha's slightly frightened voice. Seele subconsciously turned her head to look behind her, and then she was stunned.

I saw a black shadow floating quietly behind Xier, and there was a small hole at the head of the black shadow, which was obviously pierced by the light just now.

"What's this!"

Xier had never thought that she had such a thing. She knew clearly that she had not felt anything until now, but the black shadow appeared suddenly. That is to say, the black shadow had been following them for a long time without Xier and others noticing it at all.

"Hehehe...Interesting!!!"

The pierced black shadow suddenly laughed, and the laughter came from the guy who had fought with Xier before.

"Damn it! When did…"

Xier looked at the laughing figure with an unsightly expression. She had no idea when she was possessed by such a thing.

"Psionic ray activated."

However, the little girl was not affected by the black shadow at all. As her voice rang out, several streams of light flashed and instantly tore the black shadow apart. The torn black shadow finally became silent and dissipated in the crystal space.

"Crisis averted."

The little girl said in a calm tone, as if nothing had happened just now.

"Damn it! What's going on?"