K424 of the Collapse World

Along with the bright light, a strong vibration came from the familiar direction. Then, in Kerry's dazed eyes, a violent blast of wind washed away everything around them, including the tree they were standing on...

·————————————·

When a brilliant light burst out from the horizon, Claire, who was holding Elena, stared blankly.

She looked in that direction for a long time... Suddenly, she lowered her head with a complicated look in her eyes.

Even though she was far away, she could still feel a slight vibration from the ground, which was enough to prove its terrifying destructive power.

Even if there were any survivors in that place, they should have all disappeared in the light of destruction, right?

The light in the distance shattered her previous indifference to the lives of the survivors. For the first time, Claire began to doubt her own behavior...

"Hey……"

Seeing that Claire didn't move for a long time, Lillian suddenly felt a little worried.

"Claire...?"

"...Lillian, tell me, are the orders of destiny and what we are doing now really correct?"

"..."

"Haha... I was just kidding~~ Don't mind it, I was just joking. When the Honkai breaks out, Sentence is the last hope of mankind. How could such a righteous organization do something wrong?"

Claire suddenly laughed out loud, walked forward first, passed Lillian, and said these words in a voice full of energy, and deliberately made an exaggerated expression.

"Um……"

In response, Lillian just responded softly and then remained silent. She couldn't think of a good way to comfort Claire, so she could only remain silent. However, in her heart, she was not as calm as she appeared on the surface.

(Why did Claire become like this...? Are there still many survivors in that village? But... why? They are just strangers...)

Since Lillian did not witness it all with her own eyes and did not make a decision in that situation, she could not understand what Claire felt when she was in the village at that time.

Lillian couldn't see it, but Claire, who was walking in front of her, gritted her teeth and looked at the girl in her arms. Especially when she saw her broken shoulder, she felt a surge of guilt in her heart...

(She should have a younger brother... but, he has already...)

Claire pondered, and suddenly recalled the mission she had carried out not long ago, to recover the experimental subject K424...

(At that time too... k424... no, that girl should have known what would happen if she was collected as a test subject, so she fought desperately... But at that time I... I treated her desire to survive as a game...!)

Claire's eyes flickered slightly. Thinking of what she had done in the past, she hated herself more and more, and...

"Heh... fate..."

She whispered, with a hint of irony on her lips. Lillian behind her did not hear Claire's whisper. The two of them walked one after the other towards the direction of the exploration team in the distance...

……

After the missile attack, the original large settlement had completely disappeared, leaving only a large pit like a meteorite crater that sank inward. Outside of it, everything around it was completely flattened by the shock wave generated by the explosion, leaving only a bare surface that stretched for thousands of meters...

049 Short-lived >>

At the edge of the explosion, destroyed trees and rubble were piled up in a mess. At this moment, a pile of dirt covered with dust suddenly rose up, and as the dust slid down, a petite figure slowly climbed up.

“Huh…ha…it obviously doesn’t hurt, but…”

Lan Feng's whole body was twitching as she tried to support herself. Before the explosion, she hugged Kiana and directly bore the strong shock wave of the explosion with her back. Even though she tried her best to generate a crystal layer to resist, she was still thrown out by this huge force.

At this moment, she felt that her body was almost falling apart, her internal organs were churning, as if they were turned into a paste by something. Even though it didn't hurt, the feeling was really uncomfortable.

Moreover, under the fierce impact, the wounds left by the battle with Aimiye burst open one after another, and were even torn apart, and blood slowly flowed out and dripped...

After receiving the warning from her body, Lan Feng almost knew how serious her current injuries were. However, due to some evolution of her nerves after being exposed to Honkai Impact, she was able to selectively block out these pain sensations.

If I hadn't chosen to protect Kiana and focused on resisting the impact, it wouldn't have turned out like this. But...

Slowly loosening his arms around Kiana, Lan Feng looked at the silver-haired girl sleeping in his arms with gentle eyes, a smile appearing on his tired little face.

How could I abandon her...

(She is... Kiana Kaslana!)

"It's really a miracle that I meet you here..."

At this moment, as if feeling the cold night wind, Kiana, who was lying in Lan Feng's arms, slowly woke up. Her clear blue eyes slowly opened and looked at the girl with purple hair and purple eyes in front of her.

(Why did she... save me?)

Although she didn't know what had just happened, the young Kiana still realized: this girl protected herself...

Thinking back to the cloud of dust that had just come, Kiana felt

I still have some lingering fears. But, in such a disaster, I didn't get hurt at all...?

Thinking of this, her eyes moved slightly downward and she was stunned.

Everywhere she looked, the girl's body was covered with shocking scars! The blood dripping from the wounds gathered together and slowly flowed down. Seeing all this, Kiana's eyes widened...

"Um...um, Qia...little girl, what's your name? Why are you here?"

Suddenly, Lan Feng asked, breaking the silence at the scene and interrupting Kiana's thoughts.

Under the bright moonlight, the two girls looked at each other, and the atmosphere was cold. Lan Feng felt that she should say something, so she casually started a conversation. Just now, she almost called out Kiana's name directly, but fortunately she changed her words in time. At this time, Siegfried should not have given her the name "Kiana", and Lan Feng did not want to cause any unpredictable impact on the future.

Kiana looked into Lan Feng's eyes with her mouth slightly opened.

"My name? I don't know... About the second question... Dad sent me here..."

After hearing her words, Lan Feng understood that Siegfried should be nearby and would probably arrive here soon. He was not ready to face Siegfried yet, so he could only leave first...?

After she finished speaking, Kiana fell silent, and the scene fell silent again. Just as Lan Feng was about to say something, he saw Kiana slowly reaching out her hand and lightly touching the skin near her wound. Her movements were very subtle, as if she was afraid of hurting herself...

"Do you... hurt?"

Lan Feng was stunned. She looked at Kiana's complicated eyes and was a little surprised for a moment.

(She is... concerned about me?)

After a long time, Lan Feng finally reacted. Her lips moved, but she didn't say anything, just shook her head.

"No...it doesn't hurt."

Yes, it really doesn't hurt. If it was a feeling of pain, Lan Feng had already selectively ignored it. He only received the specific information of the injury and did not feel the pain caused by the injury. The slight spasm of the body was just the instinctive reaction of the muscles and nerves after the injury, but it did look like it was shaking because of severe pain.

But Kiana didn't know this. Looking at the purple-haired girl in front of her, she just thought that she was just showing off. The reason she thought so was because she suddenly remembered something very similar that happened a few days ago:

The flames burned the huge Honkai beast to ashes. Siegfried covered his arm with his hands, and blood slowly seeped out from his sleeves...

“Dad, your wound…?”

When she asked this, she saw Siegfried's pupils shrink slightly, and after a while, he revealed a relieved smile.

"It won't hurt."

Siegfried smiled and comforted her.

……

That... should be painful, right?

Although she is inexperienced in the ways of the world, Kiana is not completely ignorant.

Looking at my slightly scratched wrist, I felt the uncomfortable burning sensation coming from that spot. Just such a small injury could bring such a painful feeling...

Thinking of this, Kiana looked at Lan Feng.

She is the same age as me, why is she so strong?

Her injuries were obviously more serious, and the amount of bleeding was so much that Kiana felt scared just by looking at it. But the girl, like her father, forced a smile and said that she was not in pain... Moreover, those injuries were all caused by protecting herself...

In Kiana's memory, this girl was the second person who cared about her so much. Kiana stared at Lan Feng in a daze, tears flickering in her eyes...

"You're crying...? Are you hurt? Does it hurt anywhere?"

“No…No…!”

Suddenly hearing the girl's anxious voice and feeling her concern, Kiana was startled and waved her hands hurriedly.

(I am worried about you...)

However, before she could say that, she saw the girl suddenly raised her head.

With her keen perception, Lan Feng suddenly noticed something. She looked up and looked into the distance. She saw a vague figure exploring towards this side. Although the distance was too far to see the specific appearance, Lan Feng still saw the iconic blue coat. Obviously, it was Siegfried... and it seemed that he had not discovered her yet.

"Sorry, I have to leave now... The person who is here to greet you is here...!"

"Eh……?"

Kiana's little head tilted, obviously she hadn't reacted yet, but Lan Feng had already stood up, his long purple hair swaying slightly, as if rippling with flowing light, and dots of purple light appeared around his body. The weak look just now disappeared without a trace in an instant!

"Goodbye. If we are destined to meet again... No, we will definitely meet again."

Lan Feng said as he raised his hand and gently brushed Kiana's hair. A purple light spot sank into the girl's silver hair and disappeared into it the next moment, as if nothing had happened.

Then, Lan Feng turned around...

"etc……!"

Kiana hurriedly stretched out her hand, but before she could finish her words, the purple-haired girl rushed out.

, her figure disappeared in the thick night...

"I don't even know your name..."

Kiana muttered to herself, slowly put down her hand, and there seemed to be some loss in her eyes.

……

Having sensed the Honkai energy that erupted at that moment, Siegfried quickly rushed to the location. He was a little confused when he saw the silver-haired girl sitting in the smoke and dust.

(Not out of control? Then what I just sensed was...?)

He shook his head. Since she was fine, he didn't need to think about these things anymore. After all, there were more important things to do now...

Siegfried looked at the mushroom cloud in the distance that had not yet dissipated, frowning slightly.

(What on earth happened there...?)

As he was thinking, he suddenly realized that the girl was still in a daze, staring at that direction. Siegfried was a little surprised, so he reminded her:

"Hey...are you okay?"

"dad……?"

Hearing Siegfried's voice, Kiana was startled and came back to her senses. She once again looked reluctantly in the direction where Lan Feng left, then turned around and faced her father.

"What happened...are you hurt?"

Siegfried suddenly noticed that the pool of blood in front of the girl was very fresh, and it was obviously left just now...

However, Siegfried did not see any wounds on the girl's body.

"No... this is not my blood... someone saved me just now... she was badly injured..."

Kiana bit her lip and said in a panic. Siegfried didn't notice for a moment that the girl's words were no longer cold, but had a real feeling...

"The person who saved you...? Who is she?"

"...I don't know, but, she is a girl about my age..."

While describing it to Siegfried, Kiana stretched out her hand and pointed in the direction of the mushroom cloud...

050 After the Disaster

"Huh...Huh...This distance...should be about right."

Lan Feng stopped running, staggered forward a few steps, leaned against a tree, and gasped.

(It’s a pity… I didn’t get to spend more time with Kiana. However, the small Kiana is really cute…)

(I can’t meet Siegfried now… I can’t explain my identity, and there are things I need to do…)

After calming down from the excitement of seeing Kiana, Lan Feng once again thought of what she had to do. She stared into the distance. Above the original settlement, the smoke and dust brought by the mushroom cloud had not yet dissipated. Lan Feng could not see clearly what the place looked like now.

However, having witnessed the power of the explosion, Lan Feng naturally guessed what happened there. However, she didn't want to give up hope...

"No matter what the result is... I have to see it with my own eyes, and then remember it in my heart."

Holding the pendant tightly in her pocket, Lan Feng's destructive energy that erupted in her body slowly subsided under her own control. She no longer had the energy to maintain that state.

The purple color faded, and he returned to his silver hair and blue eyes, and a feeling of weakness suddenly hit him. Fortunately, Lan Feng was prepared and immediately held onto the tree trunk beside him, so he didn't fall to the ground like last time.

Perhaps due to the collapse energy in his body, his injuries recovered very quickly. After just a short while, the wounds all over his body scabbed over and stopped bleeding. However, due to the weakness caused by the large amount of blood loss in a short period of time, the recovery time was slightly slower.

Lan Feng felt a little exhausted just by supporting her body against the tree trunk. She mustered her strength and took a step forward. The moment her toes touched the ground, she felt her knees go weak and she staggered involuntarily, but managed to stand firm.