I was transported to a broken world, yet my dreams are connected to Star Iron?

　"Or have you begun to doubt the harmonious and friendly mutual trust we once had?"

　"Otto, what exactly do you want?"

　Fu Hua endured the stinging pain throughout her body and forced out a few words through gritted teeth: "Where is Kiana? And what's going on here?"

　"You're asking me such a private question right off the bat, old friend. Your request... is a bit difficult to fulfill."

　Otto shook his head slightly: "However, for the sake of our friendship, I can tell you the answer."

　"However, these answers may not be what you want."

　"For example... Kiana is definitely not here."

　-

　-

　-

　Quack! My little buddies, the temperature suddenly dropped yesterday and gave me a stomachache, and I've had a stomachache ever since I woke up this morning...

　I'm about to be kicked by this illness, meow (sad)

　In short, today's 6k will probably be converted to 4k... but I'll try my best to struggle.

　Chapter 207 Lingmo: Wait, where did this Lixue come from?!

　Ignoring Fu Hua's suddenly widened eyes, Otto continued as if no one else was there.

　"In fact, old friend, as you just saw, there are no guards in Heimdall's laboratory. This is for a very simple reason—"

　"As a place where God-Slaying Spears are mass-produced, ordinary Valkyries will feel burning pain and the disappearance of Honkai energy as soon as they get close to this place. Even just a test tube of God-Slaying Spear, when diluted into enough gas to fill a room, can temporarily incapacitate an S-rank Valkyrie. Under such circumstances, it is obviously not a wise choice to have someone stationed here."

　"As for why a large amount of Honkai energy ultimately leads to Heimdall Laboratory... Heh, this must be information that Suzuma told you, right? I'm sorry, old friend, you've all been fooled by me, or rather, fooled by the mechanism of the Destiny Floating Island system."

　"If you observe more closely, you will find that during the process of the Honkai energy from the various floating island reactors being collected at the central floating island and then transmitted through the central floating island to the weapons laboratory to Heimdall, the input and output Honkai energy are not actually equal."

　"The reason for this is quite simple. After all, the output of a single floating island, even the largest central floating island, cannot compare with the input of all the other peripheral floating islands."

　"Let's assume that the outer floating islands receive ten units of Honkai energy per hour, but the central floating island and the weapons laboratory can only output seven units of Honkai energy due to the limited output power... So where do the remaining three units of Honkai energy that are temporarily stored up due to the flow rate issue go?"

　"The answer is, I hid them, haha."

　Otto gave a very polite smile: "Although reducing the Honkai energy input to Kiana will slow down her Herrscher of Reasoning speed, but... considering the misleading effect on your attack direction, it is not a losing proposition."

　"As for why I wanted Kiana to become a Herrscher... I believe you, my old friend, already have some guesses in your heart, right? After all, ever since the Third Herrscher, I have been working to verify the effectiveness of this experiment—how to create a Herrscher with human emotions."

　"The results of the experiment are also very encouraging. Whether it is the deceased Sirin, or Welt, Wendy, Raiden Mei, they have all proven that human emotions can indeed resist the laws of Honkai. Now—I hope that Kiana can also accomplish this great feat."

　"Then, my friend..."

　Otto's smile faded, and he looked at Fu Hua seriously.

　“Your behavior has gotten out of my control, so I’m choosing to tell you all this.”

　"Now it's your turn to make a choice—to pay the price of a few lives in exchange for a Herrscher of the Feather with humanity, from a human perspective, this is a completely profitable deal for me."

　Even so, are you still going to rebel against me?

　"Haha, hahahaha..."

　Fu Hua suddenly burst into laughter.

　“Friend? Otto… I didn’t sense a single shred of conscience in your words, only bottomless selfishness and lies.”

　“Trampling on emotions, toying with fate, Otto Apocalypse, you make me feel utterly pathetic and disgusted from the bottom of my heart.”

　As Fu Hua sneered, several crimson feathers instantly appeared in front of her. Undoubtedly, she once again intended to burn Feather Crossing Dust—as a final counterattack.

　However, at the same time the feathers appeared, several spiraling blood spikes also burst out of Fu Hua's body.

　"Why do you think that I would not be wary of your Feather Crossing Dust under such circumstances? At the very beginning of this conversation, I had already implanted the Holy Blood into your body."

　Otto sighed softly and aimed the slowly spinning Blood Thorn at Fu Hua's head.

　"But since you've already made your choice... well, I'm sorry, old friend."

　“Red Iris Immortal… I was not lying.”

　puff-

　With the sound of a blood spike piercing a skull, a lifeless body fell into a pool of blood.

　At that moment, the two of them failed to notice that two footsteps seemed to be coming from outside the laboratory door behind them.

　……

　"That's how it is, Suzumo."

　Just as Fu Hua "died," a feather floating in front of Ling Mo in the Third Airport spoke slowly.

　"I don't know why, but I didn't sense the aura of the Void Treasury's simulated Feather Dust on him, so this gave me the opportunity to activate Feather Dust."

　“When Otto thought I was going to make a last-ditch effort, I transferred my consciousness into this feather that I had left on you beforehand, and brought back crucial information.”

　“Rinma, Otto took precautions against your abilities. Kiana isn’t in Heimdall’s laboratory. According to him, a portion of the Honkai energy was intercepted at the central floating island while being transmitted into Heimdall, which means…”

　"So, Kiana's actual location is on the central floating island?"

　Lingmo lowered her head and pondered.

　“I see… I originally planned to go to Heimdall to meet Otto in person, but now it seems that the plan needs to be changed.”

　"If Wendy's report from the front lines is correct, then the garrison at the Second Airport only has one S-rank Valkyrie, Rita, while the garrison at the First Airport is a member of the Shaniat family named Anna. In other words, Durandal's location is most likely on the central floating island."

　"Very reasonable."

　Fu Hua nodded: "The more complex the plan, the more fragile its stability. Even if Otto had anticipated your thoughts, he would still send Durandal to Kiana to guard her in order to prevent any accidents from happening."

　"So, it's safe to put it at Heimdall's laboratory..."

　However, at that moment, Yu Duchen's feathers suddenly began to tremble violently.

　Immediately afterwards, Fu Hua's anxious voice rang out again.

　"Oh no, Suzumo!"

　“After I died, Otto retrieved several pieces of Feather Dust from my body, but since he didn’t know I was still alive, I could sense some external presence through those Feather Dust…”

　"So, what happened?"

　Lingmo asked somewhat nervously.

　"It's Ritsuki!"

　Fu Hua spoke faster: "Li Xue's presence has also appeared in Heimdall's laboratory!"

　"what?!"

　If Kiana's previous prediction of her location was wrong, it was still within the margin of error in Suzuma's plan—after all, Otto was cunning and had multiple escape routes, and Suzuma couldn't possibly believe that Otto would completely follow the original story; he definitely had a backup plan.

　Now, Ritsuki, who suddenly appeared out of Heimdall, is completely outside of Suzuma's understanding.

　Because in the one-way communication they sent to Ritsuki and Salome, they had clearly instructed the two to stay on the periphery and provide support from any other branches that Otto might appear, and to try not to enter the Schicksal headquarters.

　But... why is Li Xue here, and why did she happen to witness Fu Hua's death?

　Chapter 208 Otto: It's true that I killed your Fu Hua, but you still have me.

　Go back a few minutes.

　"I said, Li Xue..."

　Salome looked at the empty Heimdall Laboratory, with twelve sharp blades patrolling vigilantly in the air behind her, and her expression was rather unpleasant.

　"The more I look at this place, the more I feel like it's a trap... Normally, in a laboratory of this level, having guards every three steps is considered to be lax, but now, I haven't seen a single demigod, let alone a person."

　"Furthermore, have you noticed that since just now, our Honkai energy has been subjected to a strange suppression? And this feeling is somewhat familiar, but I can't quite place where I've seen it before..."

　"However, the information sent by that mysterious person makes me really hesitant to make a bet."

　Li Xue paused for a moment, then said with some guilt, "[If we don't rush to Heimdall's lab immediately, not only will Kiana be in danger, but your master will also be in peril.] I really can't rest easy about this information..."

　"Okay, okay, no need to explain."

　Salome chuckled and tiptoed to pat Cheng Lixue's head: "We older generation Valkyries all know what's on everyone's mind. I know you're worried about your favorite master, so I came with you."

　"You don't need to feel too much pressure. I remember there's a song from your Shenzhou that goes something like this: 'It's rare to have a few true brothers, the bond is like peeling garlic.' Our Snow Wolf Squad has been through so many life-or-death situations together. If you don't let me come along, I'll actually get angry, okay?"

　"That lyric is about an enduring friendship... You should probably watch less short videos."

　As she spoke, Li Xue suddenly stopped in her tracks.

　"what happened?"

　"There is a situation..."

　Ruoshui instantly appeared in Lixue's hand. The girl lowered her voice and whispered, "It seems to have the smell of blood, and a familiar feeling..."

　"Is he the master of that kind of Honkai energy suppression power?"

　Salome frowned slightly: "I suddenly remembered, isn't this suppressive force Captain Cecilia's holy blood? Could it be..."

　"No, that's not what I mean by familiar."

　Li Xue's tone was somewhat hurried. For some reason, she had been feeling a strange sense of panic since earlier. If it weren't for her well-honed warrior instincts suppressing this feeling, Li Xue even suspected that her hands would have started to tremble uncontrollably.

　"It seems to be... over there!"

　As she spoke, Li Xue no longer cared about concealing herself and rushed quickly toward the place where the smell of blood was coming from.

　"Hey, Ritsuki! Don't be like that... Sigh, never mind."

　Salome sighed helplessly and could only follow immediately.

　Although she was now 100% certain that there was definitely a problem here, she still couldn't just abandon her teammates, could she?

　However, just a dozen seconds later, Salome knew that Ritsuki's anxiety was not unfounded.

　Because, just seconds after Li Xue rushed into that room, a fierce sword intent that soared into the sky instantly erupted from the small laboratory.

　Otto! I'm going to kill you!

　"?"

　Salome, realizing the gravity of the situation, rushed into the laboratory.

　Then, she immediately understood why Ritsuki had become like this—

　After all... the unrecognizable corpse lying in a pool of blood, its body pierced in multiple places... was undoubtedly someone that both of them were very familiar with.

　"Tsk, this is bad. How did she get here... Could this also be part of Lingmo's plan?"

　Upon seeing the uninvited guests who had suddenly barged into the laboratory, Otto's expression became visibly troubled.

　“Miss Lixue, as I just said, the situation isn’t what you think. Your master didn’t…”

　Before Otto could finish speaking, a sharp sword aura, accompanied by a wisp of frost, sliced ​​across Otto's chest, shaving off a few strands of his golden hair.

　"I can't hear a thing... Is this what my old friend told me about being possessed by a demon?"

　Looking at Cheng Lixue, whose eyes had turned completely red, Otto showed a hint of embarrassment.

　“Miss Salome…it seems that only you can persuade Li Xue right now. Things are not as she thinks. Although I did kill Fu Hua, the one who actually planned her death was someone else.”

　“Oh, that’s easy, Bishop.”

　Salome thought for a moment, then casually scattered the twelve blades on her body. As the blades swung, they seemed to form silver halos around the girl.

　"However, as you can see, Ritsuki is not listening to anything right now. If we want to persuade her, we may need the bishop's help as well."

　"For example... could I borrow your head, Bishop?"

　As he spoke, the blade, which had almost transformed into a silver ring due to its rapid spinning, shot out from beside the girl almost instantly, blocking several of Otto's dodging routes.

　"Ugh……"

　Seeing the two who betrayed him without hesitation, Otto couldn't help but sigh.

　To be honest, he really didn't want to kill those two people. Firstly, it would mean that he and Fu Hua would be mortal enemies from now on—after all, as long as the reason was valid, Fu Hua wouldn't care too much about how you treated her, or even if you killed her. But if you killed someone close to her… then you might have to bear the wrath of an honest person.

　Another reason is that these two mentors of many Valkyries in the Destiny have had a falling out with him before. Because these incidents have caused such a big commotion, Otto knows without a doubt that if Cheng Lixue and Salome die, he will definitely fall into Tacitus's trap—regardless of whether it has anything to do with him or not, the blame will be placed on him.

　So, without a moment's hesitation, Otto decisively chose... the third path.