An hour after Yinuo destroyed the powerful dragon-shaped Echo, the battle was declared over. Still, the alert level wasn't taken down completely, but rather only lowered by two levels.
When Melody regained consciousness, she was already far from the frontlines and was resting in one of the hospital's private rooms. Beside her bed was Quinlan, or rather, Yinuo, who was reading a book while passing the time idly.
"Quinlan...? What happened...?" Melody whispered, trying to rise from the bed. "Ugh!"
However, she quickly held her temple in pain. She wasn't too injured, but she hit her head violently against the metal frames inside the cockpit. Added to the slight injuries from the sound-based attacks of the Echo, she wasn't in the condition to move.
"Don't move. Just stay down there for a while." Yinuo quickly held her by the shoulders, pushing her back down the bed. "The doctors already healed your injuries, but they said you might still feel headaches or dizziness."
"..."
Melody was still so confused by the situation that she couldn't even react when Yinuo's face came a bit too close to hers. Slowly, her brain began spinning, recalling why she was currently in a hospital bed.
"Right! What happened after that?! We—we were attacked by an Echo, right?! You're not injured, are you?"
"Calm down; I'm fine," Yinuo replied, a smile appearing on her face briefly. "For that Echo, I borrowed your Doppel and defeated it. It was quite a formidable foe."
"You what...?!"
Melody raised her body in shock but soon staggered back down, holding her forehead as her vision spun. "Y-you... defeated an Echo... That's more powerful than normal ones?" She continued with faltering words.
Although Melody fainted, the fact that her Sylveria's hi-tech sensors didn't even catch sight of the attack meant the enemy was powerful beyond the norm. If each of the small Echoes were around the Golden Core Early Stages, then that dragon was roughly at the Late or Peak Stage.
Given that most Doppels were only around the Foundation Establishment Stage in terms of mobility, they would need hundreds of fighters just to bring down that dragon if not for Yinuo's interference.
Yinuo shook her head slowly in response to her question. "That's all done already, so there's no need to delve into it any further. Anyway, I fulfilled my promise to you, right?"
"Promise...?"
Melody furrowed her brows, trying to recall what Yinuo was talking about. Soon after, a certain phrase repeated itself inside her head like a broken record: "As long as I'm together with you, I can and will protect you!"
*Poof!*
Melody's face suddenly turned red, recalling the embarrassing words that Yinuo had declared before. Her temperature even rose, causing her vision to tremble slightly.
"It seems you still remember it." Yinuo smiled sweetly. "However, I'm sure there are times when I can't protect you at all. So, I have an offer for you instead. I will make you stronger."
"Stronger...? Me?"
"Yes." Yinuo nodded her head, the smile slowly vanishing from her face as she reached for Melody's hands. "Come to my room tonight, around midnight. I'll make sure to teach you a lot of things. Things I know you wouldn't be disappointed with."
Without waiting for Melody's reply, Yinuo stood up and left the room. Melody stayed still for a while, staring at the door where "Quinlan" exited, her sluggish mind trying to process the words he left.
Keywords like "tonight," "I'll teach you," and "won't be disappointed," however, led Melody to a completely different conclusion. Her face blushed once more, causing her to bury her face under the blanket as she squirmed in delight.
"Quinlan... invited me!"
---
It had already been the second day since Yinuo was completely healed, so she was already released from her private room in the hospital. The doctor did give her his business card, just in case Yinuo had questions she wanted to ask him about.
As she left the hospital, Yinuo decided to walk past the First Stadium once more. It was nearing 6 p.m. but the sun had yet to set, so she figured it would be best to waste some time before heading to "Quinlan's" dorm room.
As she walked onward, the damage to the surrounding infrastructure became worse. Seeing such large-scale destruction, it was almost a miracle to know that other than the few soldiers who lost their lives while pushing back the Echoes, none of the students lost their lives.
It was fortunate that the Echoes attacked near the stadium, as most of the students there were coming for their Doppel training or returning after finishing. In short, most of them were wearing powerful protective armor. Well, some were wearing casual clothes like Melody and Yinuo themselves, but they were lucky enough to survive unscathed.
"Hmmm?"
Suddenly, just as Yinuo crossed the yellow tape with the words "Police Line! Do not Cross!" written on it, which were spread around the damaged facilities, something caught her eye.
"That's..." Yinuo walked forward, heading for the location where she fought the first Echo she met before.
The corpse was already retrieved long ago, but in its location, a thick amount of Yin Qi was left hanging around. Of course, Yinuo didn't waste such a feast. After a few breaths and a few circulations, the Qi in the surroundings was completely absorbed. It was enough to completely restore the Qi she had used up during the battle against the dragon-shaped Echo.
"Still not enough..." However, it was far from adequate to satisfy Yinuo.
Sharpening her senses, she quickly found a location where a lot of Yin and Yang Qi were gathered. From the raw amount she could feel, cultivating there for a couple of hours should be enough to raise her to the 3rd Stage.
"I already wasted enough time. I should hurry and catch up with Quinlan!"
Yinuo used another foot technique, causing her to vanish from her spot in the middle of the First Stadium. About a minute later, two police officers came to the scene, looking around, and reported to the radio hanging on their chest, "There's nobody here, over." while looking at the lone CCTV camera above them, hanging on the stadium's large display.
---
"ACHOOO!"
"My gosh, that's nasty, Young Lady Yinuo. Please wipe your nose with this."
Quinlan quickly received the handkerchief from Xiyadie and used it to blow his nose clean. Rather than a sneeze due to the cold air, since it was almost nighttime, he felt more like someone was talking about him behind his back.
"Anyway, with this, it's complete!" Quinlan cheered, raising the device in his hand.
It was a device that could be said to be his "safety measure" in a world where killing was as common as pebbles in the road. A weapon that could fire powerful bolts at blinding speeds. What Quinlan made was nothing other than a crossbow!