K424 of the Collapse World

Lin said calmly, putting Claire on the ground, then waved to Sora, who nodded obediently, opened the car door and jumped out, returning to Lillian and Elena who were watching on the side.

When Claire heard a word in Lin's words, her pupils suddenly contracted. She opened her mouth but did not speak. She just looked at her companion over there silently. The moment her gaze swept over Lin, she paused slightly, and a hint of complexity flashed in her eyes.

"Claire, I know your former superior... Claudia Nora. She admires your courage and initiative, but we are no longer subordinates of Destiny. The system of Anti-Entropy is completely different from that of Destiny. Are you sure what you will get in return for your actions of ignoring orders?"

"Obey orders? Haha..."

However, Lin was surprised to find that her well-reasoned words did not calm Claire down, but instead made her sneer.

"Claire...you...?"

Lin looked at this suddenly strange friend in surprise, her eyes slightly widened. She had never seen this innocent and silly girl show such a cold expression...

Not only Lin, but also Elena and others standing aside looked at Claire in surprise, as if they were meeting this girl with short beige hair for the first time...

Claire didn't care about the astonished looks of her companions. She lowered her head slightly, and her originally energetic voice became cold.

"Lin... I want to know, when you enter an area infected by Honkai, knowing that there are still many survivors inside and having the ability to rescue them, the headquarters suddenly decides to use strategic weapons to destroy them and the dead soldiers together!

I can only watch all this happen, but I can't do anything...Have you ever experienced this feeling? Lynn Lawrence!"

"Claire..."

"This is what is called an order! At this point, I no longer want to experience this powerless and helpless feeling! Do you think... at that time, I really just got carried away and decided to break away from destiny?"

Claire gritted her teeth and recalled the hell two years ago. Her emotions were out of control...

"It's impossible for all orders to be correct... Even now! Have you ever thought about what will happen if Shirley and Kiana are defeated by the Sixth Herrscher?"

Claire screamed in a low voice, her beautiful face had become a little distorted. Lillian, who was standing beside her, covered her mouth with astonishment in her eyes. In that village, she had seen Claire like this before, but for just a moment, she thought it was just her illusion. But now it seems...

Lin was silent, with an expression of surprise that was difficult to conceal, staring blankly at Claire in front of her. An inexplicable chill covered the bright sunshine on the street at noon, spreading around the Valkyries, gradually expanding...

In fact, Lin accidentally heard about this incident. A small village on the Ukrainian border collapsed, and the upper echelons finally decided to solve it by bombing with micro-nuclear weapons. But what Lin didn't know was that Claire actually knew about this!

Lin was thinking seriously. Suddenly, she thought of something and her pupils shrank slightly...

(Remember the only survivor in that village...I think it was...!)

"Claire...is what you just said true?"

Suddenly, a slender figure passed Lin, stopped in front of Claire, and asked softly. Her tone was no less cold than Claire's.

Lin was stunned, and the next moment, her expression became complicated again.

“Elena…”

164 burden

Lin looked at Elena who was standing opposite Claire, and the moment she saw the other's eyes, she unconsciously took two steps back.

For some reason, she found that she didn't understand these two friends who lived together day and night at all! That kind of cold temperament that seemed to freeze even the air, Lin was sure that she had never seen it in them before...

At this time, around Lin, only Lillian knew roughly about this matter, but she had no room to interrupt. She could only watch Elena walk forward and question Claire.

"Claire...is what you just said true?"

"Ah."

Claire answered without hesitation and looked at Elena. When she recalled something, the long-term repression was released.

"As I recall, they said that they had already confirmed that there were no survivors, so they used nuclear weapons as a 'last resort', isn't that right?"

Hearing this question, a hint of mockery flashed across Claire's lips.

"Actually... I never told you. The real outcome of the disaster was that the higher-ups used strategic weapons to destroy everything in the village without confirming any survivors. Moreover, when the communication failed, they didn't notify Lillian and me to evacuate, and we were almost buried there together..."

Claire said softly, and she clearly saw a ripple in Elena's calm and cold eyes, which gradually became stronger...

"Why... didn't you tell me this before?"

"The higher-ups directly issued us a gag order, and in accordance with the principle of 'waste utilization', they conducted a Valkyrie qualification test on you. As a result, those guys found that they had unexpectedly picked up a treasure... You have Rinaldo's bloodline. So, Lillian and I 'voluntarily' signed a confidentiality agreement and became your supervisor. That's how it went on..."

As Claire spoke, Elena's head gradually lowered, and her hair on her forehead covered her eyes.

"I see... so the murderer who killed my brother is someone else? But why... did you tell me this only now? We are no longer people of destiny, right?"

Claire closed her eyes.

"I'm sorry. After signing the agreement of destiny, I chose to forget about this matter... Every time I think of the light that destroyed everything, I only hate my own powerlessness even more. It was my own decision to hide it from you because I didn't want to ruin the joy of that time... But no matter what, it's my fault, so if you want to vent your anger now, I don't care..."

Claire's voice gradually became flat as she spoke, and her eyes became dim. As she said, when she recalled this incident again, her usual happy smile completely disappeared from her face.

Hearing this, Elena's eyes narrowed into a slit, revealing a certain dangerous aura. She silently moved forward and stared at Claire, the two of them close to each other.

There was no fear on Claire's face. She just looked at Elena, who had a complicated expression in front of her, waiting for her next move.

"What are you thinking about? Claire... I just

I just want to ask you what happened. Don't worry, I'm calm now. I won't do anything like a child throwing a tantrum."

However, when Elena walked up to Claire, she just looked at her casually, spoke softly, patted Claire's shoulder casually, and put her right arm in black gloves on Claire.

"Don't worry... I'm fine, really. For me, this incident is just another person to avenge. But you, what do you think of me?"

She continued, turning her head slightly.

"Come to think of it... I was really stupid before. I actually regarded that organization as my destiny. If Kerry in heaven knew about this, he would probably hate me to death for taking the thief as his father, right?"

Elena passed Claire and turned her back to her companions, a hint of mocking laughter in her voice.

"Thank you... Claire. Anyway, thanks to you, I was able to save my life and keep a chance... Besides, you chose to betray destiny yourself. In this way, we are still on the same front, aren't we?"

Elena said with a slight ease, Claire slowly lowered her head and looked at the slightly trembling hand that Elena placed on her shoulder. She thought about it and said nothing, but her eyebrows couldn't help but twitching slightly.

It really hurts...

(By the way, her prosthetic limbs have no sense of touch, so it’s understandable that she lost control of her emotions, and… this is also the retribution I deserve…)

Claire thought silently. The pain that almost crushed her bones did not change her expression at all. The slight sweat that overflowed was not noticed by anyone.

Elena covered her eyes with her left hand, bit her lips, and fell silent. She didn't realize that she had unconsciously tightened the grip of the mechanical arm...

When Elena removed her hand from Claire's shoulder, she finally realized something. But before she could say anything, Claire calmly raised her other hand, lifted her collar, and straightened her coat. Thanks to this, Elena and the others did not notice that Claire's scapula was slightly deformed from sticking to her clothes...

164 Burden>>

"Claire, you...?"

Recalling the strange touch on her hand just now, Elena's pupils shrank slightly, and she reached out her hand again. But Claire turned around nimbly, avoiding Elena's hand that was stretched out to confirm something, took a step forward, and whispered to her ear.

"Okay Elena, don't cry... They are back~"

Hearing this, Elena turned around in astonishment, and indeed saw two petite silver-haired figures appear in the alley at the corner of the street, slowly walking towards this side. One of the silver-haired girls was holding an adult woman in her arms...

Seeing this, Elena didn't care about Claire beside her. She hurriedly wiped her eyes with her sleeves and stood behind Claire, waiting for the two girls to arrive.

·————————————·

"Hmm...? What happened?"

Lan Feng held the unconscious Yuli in his arms and looked at the Valkyries around him in a strange way. Although there was nothing strange about them, Lan Feng felt a sense of inexplicable disharmony...

Elena lowered her head slightly and said nothing, which was in line with her usual style. Lin opened her mouth slightly and wanted to say something, but was interrupted by a vibrant voice beside her.

"It's nothing~~ Shirley, we are not children and we won't get lost. What are you worried about? But what did you do in such a hurry just now? Hey... you even brought back a big sister..."

Claire asked with a smile, no trace of the coldness on her face, as if she had completely returned to being the silly and problematic girl she was before.

"Her name is Yuli, and she's the agent who told us the information about the Sixth Herrscher. I just... uh... never mind, this is a bit complicated to explain. Anyway, she's a little injured now, so let's find a hotel to stay in first."

Lan Feng's expression became somewhat awkward when she mentioned this. As she spoke, a flash of guilt crossed her face, and she did not notice Claire's slightly trembling right hand.

Although he always felt that something was wrong, Lan Feng couldn't tell why and could only shake his head secretly.

"By the way, Claire, you should hold her. With my height, it would look a bit strange for me to do this..."

Lan Feng said this to Claire beside him, and then walked towards her, wanting to hand Yuli to Claire. Unexpectedly, Claire took two steps back and waved her left hand towards Lan Feng.

"Wait, wait a minute, I think it might be better to let Lillian do this kind of thing?"

"……Why?"

"She has a more mature temperament. If she holds this secret agent, it will definitely be less likely to arouse suspicion from others, right?"

Claire's eyes fluctuated slightly. As she spoke, she grabbed the hand of the girl next to her and pulled the bewildered Lillian in front of Lan Feng. She took a few steps back and huddled next to Lin.

"Oh, Claire...

When did you become so cautious? Although I asked you to be a little more serious in the mission, there is really no need to be so exaggerated, right? "

Lan Feng said this helplessly, but he didn't care about anything. He handed the woman in his arms to Lillian beside him, and walked towards the main street not far away.

"Everyone, hurry up. I have something to tell you about the next action target..."

Lan Feng waved his hand, and the Valkyries followed. Kiana walked at the end, looking back and forth at the Valkyries in front of her. Thinking back to Lin's hesitation, she frowned...

In the hotel, a group of seven people squeezed into a small single room. Lan Feng laid the woman flat on the small bed next to him, and the others looked at her quietly without saying a word.

Lan Feng felt strange again. The atmosphere at this moment was inexplicably heavy, completely different from when he was in the car. Along the way, everyone was chatting in a relaxed manner, unlike now, when it was so heavy that it seemed as if the sky was about to fall...

(How could this happen… Is it because of the time I scolded Claire? No way…? Are you guys too sensitive?!)

Feeling the stagnation in the atmosphere, Lan Feng wanted to say something, but then he remembered that he had wrongly accused Da Xi'er before, and coupled with the current situation, he suddenly felt embarrassed to speak...

However, the next moment, Kiana, who was standing in the corner of the room, suddenly coughed twice, which directly attracted everyone's attention.

"Everyone, I hope you can tell us one thing truthfully..."

She spoke softly, casting her gaze towards a blue-haired girl who had been hiding in the corner...

"Elena, what exactly happened just now?"

165 Fluctuation

“Eh…? I…”

With Kiana's sudden roll call, Elena suddenly came back to her senses and raised her head in surprise. Kiana keenly noticed that Elena's eyes were a little red, and there were faint traces of tears in the corners of her eyes...

Lan Feng saw this and frowned slightly.

"You're crying? What happened?"

She was about to ask something when Claire suddenly stood up and walked over, blocking Elena.

"That's not the case. Elena just..."

"That's enough, Claire! There's no need to hide this kind of thing from everyone, and... Shiris has also experienced this..."

However, Elena suddenly interrupted Claire. She wiped her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Indeed, nothing major happened. I just suddenly remembered something..."

Elena said expressionlessly, slowly leaning back and resting her body on the edge of the table behind her.

Lan Feng thought about it, a hint of understanding appeared in his eyes, and then he turned his gaze to Elena.

"Something I also experienced...? Oh yeah, are you referring to the time in the village?"

Lan Feng said uncertainly. The only sad thing she could think of that she and Elena had experienced together was the tragedy two years ago. The girl had completely lost her home and her only family because of it.

Elena nodded slightly and held the prosthesis of her right arm with her left hand. She had taken off the beautiful black gloves and threw them on the low table. At this moment, the strange silver-white mechanical arm was exposed to everyone. The section where the prosthesis was connected to the shoulder was a bunch of small and twisted cables, which went around her shoulder several times and ended up connecting to her spine.

In fact, everyone, including Lan Feng, has gotten used to her unusual hand. But only Claire knows what kind of story is behind this mechanical arm...

"Yes. That's it. I'm ashamed to say that I just suddenly thought of Kerry and couldn't help but lose control of my emotions, but it's nothing serious. I'm sorry for making you worry, Shirley."

As Elena spoke, she bowed slightly to Lan Feng. At this moment, her demeanor was not as casual as usual, and her sad eyes even made Lan Feng feel a little uncomfortable.

"Oh, besides this, I also know who my real enemy is..."

Suddenly, Elena changed her tone, and her sadness turned cold in an instant. Her tearful eyes seemed to be frozen, no longer fluctuating like before, leaving only a dazed indifference.

"The real enemy?"

Lan Feng frowned and asked back with a puzzled look. In fact, she was already feeling a bit overwhelmed at this time. Xier's problem had not been resolved yet, and Elena's problem had arisen again. It was really one problem after another. Lan Feng was already a little dazed at this time. She didn't know what she should do...

"Yes, I always thought that everything Destiny did was right, and all the tragedies were helpless. But now, I know... what their true colors are! And how they view human life.

! I finally know these things...thanks to Claire. "

Elena continued to speak, ignoring Lan Feng's puzzled expression. After a moment's hesitation, she suddenly laughed.

"Hehe... I used to be like a fool, swearing to use this life to destroy all the Houkai. But now I know that the one who took away everything from me was the destiny that I once regarded as my benefactor?"

Elena continued to speak, lowering her head and looking at her regained right arm, her expression gradually becoming cruel...

——Crunch…