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

Lin Wei's reminder brought Anna back to her senses from her inexplicable joy. She nodded seriously and pulled out a pistol from her waist with both hands - the "Water Fairy II" equipped by the Valkyrie Captain, and earnestly instructed,

"You are behind me, be careful, and leave immediately if you encounter any danger."

Lin Wei nodded helplessly and said, "You don't have to do this, really."

"Don't worry, I will."

What's wrong with this feeling of owing someone a favor for no reason?

(ノへ￣,)

Anna was very satisfied to see Lin Wei nodding obediently. Then she carefully protected Lin Wei behind her and walked in front with a vigilant and alert look on her face. She carefully explored the spiral staircase downward, alert to any subtle movements around her, and paid attention to the information fed back by the life detection device.

Anna never thought that the life detector originally used to search and rescue survivors in the Honkai disaster would one day be used to search for enemies and warn. This made her feel a little absurd.

After walking down dozens of steps, I was blocked by another iron gate, but this time there was only a simple mechanical lock on the door, which could be unlocked by twisting it with my bare hands.

Anna scanned and checked everything, and gave Lin Wei a look, who understood and stepped back slightly. Then, Anna took a deep breath, reached out to unlock the door, and gently pushed it. The heavy iron door was pushed open.

There was no alarm, sudden attack or chaos as expected, just silence and nothing happened.

But this did not make Anna feel safe. The fierce battle she had experienced outside had undoubtedly exposed her existence long ago. Therefore, the abnormal silence here made Anna feel extremely eerie and weird, and there was an inextricable strong malice.

If her retreat route had not been cut off, she would never have agreed to let Lin Wei take the risk with her.

Lin Wei also frowned. He didn't feel any port nearby that Pandora could invade, not even a camera.

"What conspiracy does Anti-Entropy have here?"

"What the hell is the World Serpent doing here?"

The two exchanged glances, each with their own thoughts. Anna drew her sword and thrust it forward, spreading ice and freezing it, destroying the gate's transmission mechanism and making it impossible to close. Then the two continued to advance.

………………

"How is the evacuation work going? Are the evacuation ships in place?"

On the other side of the world, the Jackal was playing with the mask in his hand while asking in an unhappy tone on the communicator. After receiving the message, he hung up the call and looked at the slanted sunlight outside the window with a gloomy face.

As the proudest cadre among the world's snakes, she hated having others cause trouble for her.

"Beep beep" the communicator rang again.

Jackal glanced casually and saw that the second communication signal band of Destiny was detected from the Coral Island. He then looked at the coordinate area.

"Hahaha, great! That's incredible! You actually managed to get so deep into the cave. Oh, even though there aren't any important secrets there, you can't just mess with the snake's assets. You're really brave!"

The jackal laughed in anger and turned on the communicator again.

"Tell your people that there's no need to prepare an evacuation ship. They're just a few experimental subjects, I can afford to throw them away. Also, I'm going to give that impolite kid a small gift~"

Jackal hung up the phone. It was almost dusk outside the window. The glass clearly reflected her sinister golden eyes.

"What a pity! I have no interest in those so-called 'Valkyries'. Otherwise, harvesting them and using them as specimens would be great."

Chapter 48: Train Problem

Both are hidden in the bustling city, and both are hideouts buried deep underground, but the feeling this place gives Lin Wei is completely different from the time when he was at the Thousand Fists Club.

If the underground den of the Thousand Fists Club gave Lin Wei the feeling of being "dirty"—a den of filth and filled with the most despicable desires of mankind;

The feeling this place gave him was unexpectedly clean. All he could see were a few plain doors and a few chandeliers emitting a cool blue light. Apart from that, it was quiet, a cold silence that made him feel indifferent from the bottom of his heart.

This strange atmosphere made Lin Wei think that he had come to the hospital morgue. There was an elevator door at the opposite wall. Lin Wei checked and found that the elevator there was not running, as if everything here had been abandoned long ago.

Lin Wei even secretly used Pandora to investigate, but did not find any systems that could be hacked, including common monitoring and security systems. This made Lin Wei unable to grasp the exact information here in the first place, which made Lin Wei hesitate.

Even the half-flesh, half-machine constructs we encountered earlier were just like worker bees or soldier ants, mechanically executing pre-programmed commands without any hive, network, or signal exchange.

Its entire operation mode is utterly inefficient, but it happens to limit the effectiveness of the Key of Corrosion to a great extent.

Coincidence? Not necessarily.

Who is this design intended to protect against?

The answer is self-evident. The World Serpent knew a year ago that it had mastered the key to the fatal erosion, so it would make some targeted adjustments to its base to enhance security. This is understandable, isn't it?

"The situation has changed a little. Be careful, Anna."

Lin Wei shared his situation with his companions.

"There's no hackable network or system here, not even surveillance. I have no way to quickly obtain intelligence information here. We need to investigate step by step ourselves."

At this point, Lin Wei gently comforted Anna, who had become even more alert.

"But there's also good news. I haven't noticed any security systems. There might be some stragglers like the previous enemies, but they shouldn't pose a big threat. If there are any, I'll find a way to control them."

Could this be a trap? It was possible, but having come this far, Lin Wei couldn't give up halfway.

Not to mention that leaving Anna alone is extremely irresponsible,

Just considering the delicate relationship between him and the World Snake, no matter whether this is a trap or not, if he quits now, he will probably only be able to sit at the children's table in front of them in the future.

At worst, we can just delay for a while and wait for the Destiny Army to arrive, then you two families can go and have fun!

In a moment, Lin Wei decided on several optional backup plans for himself.

Anna was a little hesitant. Since Lin Wei's "hacking" ability was limited here, he shouldn't continue going down with her. After all, there was no telling what dangers lay ahead!

But, it's not safe to stay here...

Anna was in a dilemma when she suddenly saw a reading on the detection equipment. She was immediately shocked and grabbed Lin Wei's waist, ready to take him out of here, but Lin Wei dodged by pulling his waist. He didn't find anything unusual, so he was a little surprised.

"What happened?"

"Follow me and leave! It's dangerous here!"

Anna was a little anxious and spoke quickly,

"The concentration of Honkai energy here is a bit abnormal. You will be in danger here!"

According to the reading just displayed, the concentration of Honkai energy here has slightly exceeded the scope of "Honkai Disease". Ordinary people who are exposed to it for a long time will have their bodies gradually eroded by Honkai and slowly turn into dead soldiers.

It’s not been long since we came in, so it should still be time to exit!

Lin Wei looked at Anna's anxious expression, gave a helpless smile, and then put away the feather in his sleeve that was always emitting subtle fluctuations, breaking the last bit of the barrier between them.

"Miss Anna, you don't seem to know my name yet?"

"Uh... huh? Yeah!"

Anna was stunned for a moment, then suddenly realized what was going on after losing Yu Duchen's distraction. She felt extremely ashamed. She felt that she had been together for such a long time, but she didn't even know the other person's name. How rude of her...

She thought to herself with self-condemnation, her face flushed with shame. She wanted to ask but was too embarrassed to speak, and she stammered and was unable to speak.

"My name is Lin Wei."

Even though revealing his real name would increase risks for himself, Lin Wei did not intend to go to the trouble of making up a fake name.

This cannot go on.

The more attentive and caring Anna is, the more despicable she appears to be. The lies will be exposed one day, and if this continues, something bad will happen.

While there is still time, just like he spread rumors in Changkong City a year ago in order to get his way, Lin Wei decided to be willful and cruel and help Anna face the reality; as for the consequences, we will talk about it later!

"Look, Miss Anna knows very little about me, so it's unnecessary to be so concerned. Look, how can you assume that I don't know about the existence of Honkai?"

Lin Wei once again maintained a deliberate distance in his gentle tone. But this time, Anna felt not only wronged, but also ashamed and shocked.

"You? How did you..."

Anna's heart was in turmoil, filled with shock, as if something had been taken away from her. After a moment, she smiled miserably and muttered to herself in a hoarse voice,

"Yeah, you're a hacker, and such an excellent one at that... It's normal for you to know about the existence of Honkai..."

Then he looked at Lin Wei with his dazed eyes and asked unwillingly,

"So, you've been lying to me all along, huh? You bastard..."

"You misunderstood me. When we first met, I told you that I knew about your destiny."

Lin Wei touched his nose. He felt that the name "bastard" was very familiar. He had even been slapped for it. Ah, he really missed it...

"But if you want to call it deception, it can't be considered wrong. After all, when you tried to cover up the existence of Honkai, I didn't take the initiative to reveal this information, and I have been letting it go all the way to this point. But I feel that I can't continue to be so confused. It's not good for you or me."

"Then why are you bringing this up now? Is it because you think I'm no longer useful to you? And what are you going to do next? Capture me? Or kill me?"

Anna's grievance gradually turned into sadness, and then into anger, questioning the guy who had betrayed her trust.

"You and the guys here are in the same group, right?!"

But she did not launch the attack first. In her heart, she still hoped that he would give her an explanation.

"Because you're too immature, Anna. This isn't a training ground where you can just go in and out as you please. This is a real battlefield."

Lin Wei was not polite either, if he wanted to make it clear, he would make it clear.

"In the real battlefield, how can I tell you to quit? Anna, don't you consider the consequences?"

"But, shouldn't it be like this? The concentration of Honkai energy here is too high. I took you away to protect your safety. Am I wrong?"

Anna asked back indignantly, but inexplicably, she felt more at ease. At least Lin Wei's attitude wasn't that of an enemy, and that alone made her breathe a sigh of relief.

After a sigh of relief, Anna began to feel aggrieved again. It was like a dog biting Lu Dongbin, right? How long had it been since she had been criticized like this?

"So, have you considered the consequences? What if your whereabouts are exposed, or if you delay too long and the enemy inside notices something unusual, what drastic actions might they take?"

Lin Wei calmed down his voice, which was gentle and calm, even with a hint of sympathy and pity.

"If the delay caused the deaths of ten or a hundred people because of me, think about those bodies, Anna. Can you bear the consequences?"

"me……"

Anna was stunned. The more she thought about it, the more confused she became. She seemed to imagine countless people dying in front of her because of her momentary mistake. The more she thought about it, the paler her face became. She felt as if she had become an executioner.

After a moment, she stared at Lin Wei unwillingly.

"Then I saw danger and wanted to save you. Was that wrong? Is watching you die the right thing to do?!"

Train Dilemma.

Unfortunately, Anna found herself in such an awkward position where whatever she did would be wrong. However, with Anna's character and experience, it was not time for her to bear the consequences of her choices for such a cruel problem.

"Of course you are, Anna. You have always bravely shouldered the responsibilities of a Valkyrie and have always done your best to protect me. These are facts that cannot be erased."

Lin Wei looked at Anna calmly. He had always approved of this girl. She was kind-hearted and stubborn, but her limited experience made her seem naive and prone to getting stuck in a rut.

"So, you shouldn't have to consider such cruel questions, and you shouldn't have to bear the consequences."

Lin Wei took out the half of the heart-shaped pendant from his pocket and put it on Anna's neck while she was looking uneasy. It blended perfectly with the other half of the pendant that was already there, shining brightly. Lin Wei admired it without hesitation and said with a smile,

"You see, this way we have the best of both worlds."

The problem was solved when one of the people in the railway branch suddenly broke free from the rope and jumped out of the stage.

"...This is the best of both worlds..."

Anna's mind began to swirl again. With her natural intelligence, she understood Lin Wei's good intentions and no longer felt any anger or grievance. She simply reached out and stroked the pendant, now whole again, in a daze.

After a while, he realized a problem and looked up anxiously to ask Lin Wei,

"We seem to have been delayed a long time indeed?"

Lin Wei glanced at her and interrupted with a smile,

"It's okay. This isn't a problem for me. For me, I'm more inclined to prioritize protecting this innocent little girl in front of me than those strangers I don't know."

When Lin Wei decided to bring the issue to light, he actually put himself in the same predicament.

After all, doing so would risk a breakup and would also waste considerable time, so he would have to bear the same consequences.

"Nonsense...nonsense..."

Anna blushed and stammered, and she had completely forgotten the previous unpleasantness.

"Based on universal human morality, I certainly hope to save more people. But based on the closeness and distance of basic human emotions, if I have to choose between the two, I will of course abandon the majority of strangers and choose to protect the few people who are related to me."

Lin Wei said meaningfully,

"It's quite selfish, isn't it? But I don't care. After all, I'm not a good person to begin with."

Live according to your heart and only do what you think you should do; other than that, let everything else take its course.

As long as I am not moral, morality cannot hold me hostage.

"Stop talking nonsense and go!"