Honkai, why do you only play high-end games?

"It's fate again? These guys deserve to die! Damn it!!"

The Jackal was furious.

"It seems that I am not needed here anymore?"

Raven shrugged, picked up the Third God's Key with a troubled look on his face, and said goodbye.

………………

"Draw a snake... and add legs? What does that mean? Is it a gecko? Or a lizard?"

As a European, Anna didn't know much about Chinese idioms, so she was a little confused.

However, she understood that Lin Wei was most likely not really talking about the painting, so she just looked at Lin Wei, wanting him to make his words clearer.

"...It's just a Shenzhou idiom. Simply put, these constructs that exist here, although they appear to be patrolling and on guard, actually constitute a clue for us to pursue."

Lin Wei smiled helplessly and explained simply,

"If they weren't there, it would be difficult to find them after leaving the inconspicuous park we just encountered and entering this well-connected transportation network."

"I see. Do you mean this is a trap?"

Anna suddenly realized what was going on and looked around vigilantly, feeling that hundreds or even thousands of those strange constructs would emerge from both ends of the passage in the next second and drown them both.

Even if I can fight and escape, how can I abandon my companions?

"...I don't know."

Lin Wei really didn't know.

He had sensed that something was not right here and wondered if this was a trap set specifically for him.

But on the one hand, this was a direct break-up, and he didn't think the World Serpent had any reason to do so.

On the other hand, if it really was a trap, the clue would be too obvious - to me, it was no different from saying directly, "There's something fishy here."

but……

If it was arranged by the Jackal, it is not impossible.

That arrogant woman has always been self-righteous and conceited.

What if the idiot is better than the master?

Lin Wei glanced at Anna and thought, didn’t she almost get into trouble just now?

So it’s better not to be careless.

Lin Wei took a deep breath, threw away all those distracting thoughts, and became more cautious.

"Let's go. The situation is unclear. Remember to be careful."

Anna nodded. In fact, she had always been very vigilant without Lin Wei's reminder.

During the operation, she moved closer to Lin Wei, shielding him behind her. She picked up the communicator to check the time, estimated the time it would take for support to arrive, and said seriously,

"If you're in danger, remember to protect yourself. I'll find a way for you to escape!"

"Don't make it sound like a den of dragons and tigers."

Lin Wei looked at Anna's serious expression, reached out and hit her lightly on the head, but she dodged it easily with a look of dissatisfaction.

Lin Wei didn't mind his mistake, and just said lightly and half-jokingly,

"Don't worry, I'm afraid of my life. If I encounter danger, I will definitely run away as soon as possible."

"That's the best."

As he spoke, a loud noise came from behind him. The tunnel traffic network was very empty late at night, and the sound mixed with the echo inside, and could be heard from far away.

"What kind of monsters are you?... Let me go, stop! You don't understand me, do you? Who the hell are you?! Let go! I told you to let go!... Snap, snap, snap... bang! Snap..."

It was the sound of a man shouting, struggling, running, falling down, and heavy objects falling to the ground; it was very short, but also very complete.

Then, the world fell silent again, as if it was just an insignificant episode.

Lin Wei and Anna exchanged a glance, then turned back to see what had happened. They hadn't gone far when they saw a black and red construct carrying a man on its shoulder like a sack, walking towards them. Startled, Anna grabbed Lin Wei and hid in the corner of a cross passage.

Then they saw them walking slowly past the two of them and heading deeper into the body. The man lay motionless on the shoulders of the construct, which were much broader than those of a normal human. His hands and feet hung down limply and swayed with his steps. It was unknown whether he was dead or alive.

"Luckily, I'm still alive. Wait, where are you going?!"

Anna quietly turned on the life detector, which showed that the other person still had a heartbeat, and she couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. Just as she was about to help, she saw Lin Wei had already stood up and walked in the opposite direction, and she was suddenly caught in the middle and felt a little torn.

"Follow me, that man won't die for a while, so hurry up."

Lin Wei turned around and called out, he wanted to go back and see what had just fallen.

"Why are there other people here?"

"Are you the only one allowed to be a hero and come here to save people, and no one else is allowed to do the same as you?"

Anna grumbled a little dissatisfiedly at the self-righteous and hateful man in front of her. Did he look down on other people just because he had some abilities?

"I guess he's a fellow as bold as you, but just a little more unlucky than you."

"..."

Yes, it's different.

Anna's words hit the nail on the head, and it was hard for Lin Wei to explain.

He can't say that he has the key of God in his hand and has bodyguards with him, so he has nothing to fear, right?

I feel inexplicably tired.

Without further explanation, he quickly walked to the place where the sound had just been heard. In the dim corner of the wall, he saw a broken camera, which seemed to have been thrown there by the man with great force.

Lin Wei walked over, picked it up, took out the memory card inside and handed it to Anna, indicating that she could check it herself. In fact, he had already read most of it the moment he picked it up -

A local media reporter, initially seeking fame and success, heard some urban legends in order to dig up explosive information and began to pursue some "unknown truths."

But the more he investigated, the more frightened he became. He always felt that there must be some huge, world-shattering conspiracy in this world, and his mentality gradually changed.

The frequent disasters around the world may be one manifestation of this.

According to him, he wanted to visit some survivors of the so-called disaster, but he couldn't find them. It was as if they had disappeared from the face of the earth. However, in the process, he accidentally found this place and came to explore it.

"I know I'm overestimating my own abilities, and perhaps I can't change anything. Perhaps only this video will be the last trace of my existence. Perhaps nothing will be left behind, but I still want to be a hero for once."

The background in the camera is dim, and the recording time was not long ago. The person has a resolute expression. Then he saves the video and starts a new recording. The camera moves forward carefully with the footsteps, shaking constantly. At the very end, the camera draws an arc in the air and stops abruptly.

"how so?!"

Anna exclaimed in amazement, her emotions were complicated. On the one hand, she admired his courage, but on the other hand, the existence of Honkai should not be known to the general public, as it would cause great social chaos.

She even regretted letting Lin Wei see this message, but she didn't know how to deal with it.

No, she knew. She had heard that the Skyward Swords headquarters had a special Valkyrie unit targeting humans, but she couldn't bring herself to do it.

"Come on, follow them. If you go too late, you might lose them."

Lin Wei's idea was much simpler. He took Anna's hand and chased after the construct that had just left with the victim.

"These guys aren't patrolling guards, they're hunters patrolling the hunting grounds, specifically hunting prey like you who come to them on their own."

Anna looked at him in confusion. What do you want to say?

"Since this is a hunting ground, the real 'nest' is definitely not on this route. Only the 'hunter' who has harvested prey can embark on the road back to the nest. So we have to walk quickly, otherwise it will be difficult to deal with if we lose them."

"What if we lose track of him?"

Anna didn't quite understand how Lin Wei's thoughts jumped to this aspect. She was just a little anxious about the consequences of losing her destination, so she asked stupidly.

"Oh, that's okay. There is another way."

Lin Wei glanced at Anna and said with a smile,

"Just surrender and they'll take you to your destination. Of course, the process will be painful."

Chapter 42: Listen to my explanation, it’s all a misunderstanding~

"Just surrender and they'll take you to your destination. Of course, the process will be painful."

Lin Wei described the backup plan in concise language while leading Anna in the designated direction.

"I?"

Anna immediately stared at Lin Wei's profile with vigilance, wanting to see what his purpose was in saying this.

She never ruled out the possibility that "Lin Wei was lying to her", but she didn't want to actively question someone, especially when he had helped her.

If that were the case, she would be very disappointed.

"It's just a nickname, it doesn't mean anything, don't think too much about it."

Lin Wei knew what she was thinking without even looking at her. After all, the foundation of trust between the two was very weak. They just selectively ignored it in the face of the "formidable enemy". Therefore, he comforted her with a few words at the first opportunity.

"Though I think that without my accidental involvement, your most likely way of finding them would be what I just mentioned—pretend to be captured by them, then be taken to their lair; then you and your comrades would work together from the inside and outside to defeat them."

As he spoke, Lin Wei couldn't help laughing. He glanced at Anna and said teasingly,

"Tell me, does what I said make sense?"

Lin Wei had basically guessed from Anna's brief description of the story, in which she deleted key information, that her encounter with herself was really just a coincidence.

Therefore, today's events were most likely Anna's first encounter with Coral Island. Lin Wei could even imagine the general direction of the plot.

"The Valkyrie Anna Shaniat of Destiny single-handedly dismantled a deeply hidden criminal network rooted in Coral Island. Because the victims were survivors of the Honkai disaster and were implicated in Honkai affairs, this gave Destiny a reason to intervene in Coral Island affairs. As a result, she was soon granted the right to station a Valkyrie unit there.

As the chief contributor, Anna, due to her outstanding performance in the Manila Collapse Incident, was given the honor of leading the formation of the new "Snow Lotus Team" to undertake this mission.

There was no substantial evidence, so Lin Wei only regarded it as an interesting guess.

After all, the Valkyrie Corps' arrival at Coral Island was really late in terms of the timeline.

Moreover, after the Queen's arrival and the Great Collapse, the World Serpents had already been openly scavenging foreign populations in Sky City to support their preliminary experiments on the "Stigmata Project";

So how can we assume that they wouldn't have done something similar before?

After all, the Honkai disaster is breaking out everywhere in the world, and as the number of survivors accumulates, it can be considered a small help to the World Snake which is still in its dormant period, right?

As a fringe area where both Destiny and Anti-Entropy are in power, it is not impossible that the tentacles of the World Serpent would be relatively unbridled here compared to the restraint and infiltration in Europe and North America.

Therefore, it is not impossible that a Valkyrie with an overflowing sense of justice happened to catch some clues, and because of her super strong action ability, she went straight to the end and caught them off guard?

As to whether it is true or not, who knows?

Perhaps, it was precisely because Anna's incident directly led to the paralysis of the Southeast Asian "human trade network" that the World Serpent chose to retreat and lay dormant, so that the survivors of subsequent Honkai disasters - such as Manila - were able to successfully escape the clutches of the poisonous hands - such as Chen Tianwu, who would have a period of time in the underworld;

It was also because of this that, after being cut off from their "superiors", the Thousand Fists Society was given undue ambitions, causing the World Serpent to judge them as "traitors" and send Raven, who had returned to the organization, to "clean up the mess";

Because of this, Chen Tianwu was able to get in touch with Raven and become the "Night Owl", a cadre of the World Snake?

……

Tsk, that’s weird!

Thinking of this, Lin Wei couldn't help but look at Anna strangely.

If that's really the case, then the ill-fated relationship between you and Chen Tianwu was really created by your own strength?

Should I congratulate you then?

( ﹁ ﹁ ) ~

Lin Wei has a bad habit of coming up with all kinds of weird ideas at inappropriate times, which is full of bad taste.

"You're talking nonsense!"

Anna didn't know that Lin Wei's inner drama was no less complex than hers, but at this moment, because of Lin Wei's words and that strange look, her face flushed a little.

What does that mean? This damned fellow really thinks too highly of himself, doesn't he?

But I can't refute it, because I have to say that this is indeed a feasible strategy.

At this moment, there is only silence.

The two quickly returned to the hiding place where they had previously passed by the construct carrying the "prey" and continued to chase in the direction it left.

Then they stopped at a "transportation hub" with several passages intersecting in all directions, and the target had disappeared.

"How to do?"

Anna glanced at Lin Wei. He was right. It would be like looking for a needle in a haystack if she searched on her own. Did she really want to take the risk?