"Awake, it's another day full of energy!"
Luo Lin quickly rose from bed, washed up, and retrieved a sandwich from the system space for a delightful breakfast — she had bought a variety of food and drinks, spending only a few crystals, which should effectively enhance her quality of life, and they wouldn't spoil in the system space anyway.
From her luggage, Luo Lin took out her drawing board and paints, setting up in the living room, carefully sketching a few strokes to craft the persona of a "painter" for herself. Then, donning a hat and gloves, she departed the warm confines of her room.
She planned to take a stroll around the small town to observe its atmosphere firsthand.
It was a typical Eastern European town, with almost all buildings constructed from a mix of bricks, stones, and wood. The windows were generally small, with modest openings, and the roofs were sharp to prevent snow accumulation from causing collapse.
As she wandered through the town, Luo Lin noticed a range of modern amenities, such as street lamps, power lines, asphalt roads, and iron fences produced in factories. Some houses even had garages that didn't quite match the architectural style, obviously added late.
However, the town also exuded a sense of independence from historical processes.
The roads were old and uneven, with weeds growing, and the condition of the street lamps was not very good; several were clearly broken, while the rest emitted only dim light at night.
Continuing her observation of the town, Luo
Lin unexpectedly discovered that there were not few people here, but most of them left the town early in the morning to go to nearby larger towns for work, leaving behind mostly preschool children and the elderly.
According to Grandma Dalia, on sunny days, the elderly and children would stroll on the streets of the town, shopping and basking in the sun, while the children would run around playing, and the neighbors were quite harmonious.
However, before Luo Lin arrived, there had been several days of snowstorms, so the elderly and children didn't venture out onto the streets.
"Honk!"
The huge snowplow struggled to navigate the snow-covered streets, the driver honking to signal Luo Lin to move aside. The girl cautiously held onto her hat, watching as the snowplow bumped its way past, leaving behind a path that should allow normal traffic.
She also saw some people shoveling snow in front of their homes, visibly tired. Some chose to clear a path to their door, while others just trudged through the snow.
Luo Lin looked up; the sky was much clearer than yesterday.
According to the intelligence department, the next few days would also be sunny like this.
Perhaps because the snow had stopped and the sun was shining, the children gradually emerged. They looked at the thick blanket of snow outside, cheering and starting to play, making snowmen, having snowball fights... Dozens of familiar children ran around the streets.
The sight of these children reminded Luo Lin of little Bianka, and then she thought of the other children in the French orphanage...
She shivered; those overly lively fellows were really hard to deal with.
"Little White?"
"Little White is probably still locked up at home!"
Little White? Who is Little White?
Luo Lin vaguely heard the children discussing someone, raised her head to look in the direction they were talking about, and saw the house on the edge of town — that was where Siegfried lived.
Sharp-eyed Luo Lin could see a small figure behind the window on the second floor of the house.
—It was Kiana, or rather, K423.
She had white hair tied into two braids, her right eye seemed lifeless, while the other functional eye stared straight ahead at the scene outside, especially at the children playing and laughing.
"Little White, come out and play!"
"Come play snowball fights!"
The children shouted, and the girl's face was full of longing. She turned her head, and beside her was the grim-faced Siegfried.
"Dad? Can I go out and play?"
"No... Forget it, go ahead and play." Siegfried wanted to refuse, but thinking of the old woman's words yesterday, after some hesitation, he made a decision. "Just don't go too far, and remember to come back early."
"Okay!" The white-haired girl cheered and rushed downstairs, kicking open the door, and darted into the group of children.
The children warmly welcomed Kiana's arrival, inviting her to join in building snowmen activities.
Luo Lin watched attentively; Kiana quickly showed the extraordinary strength of the Kaslana family, effortlessly lifting a snowball half her height onto the pile, which amazed the children around her.
But Luo Lin didn't linger too long; she soon felt a fierce gaze locking onto her, and
Siegfried appeared nearby, staring at her intently.
Luo Lin didn't want to entangle with him and turned to leave.
"Hmph, consider yourself lucky..."
With his arms crossed, Siegfried watched Kiana and the other children play from a distance, his eyes gentle.
Unfortunately, Siegfried didn't have long to enjoy this peaceful life. He took the initiative to set off to hunt Honkai Beasts.
After leaving the Schicksal and Anti-Entropy, he lost all convenient ways to detect Honkai Beasts and could only patrol the surrounding areas in his car, relying on the keen Honkai perception of an S-rank to search for potential enemies.
This work was time-consuming and labor-intensive, but it was effective. Almost every few days, Siegfried could kill some Honkai Beasts.
However, this situation also made Siegfried's inner anxiety gradually increase. Recently, he found that the number of Honkai Beasts was gradually increasing, and their strength seemed to be slightly increasing...
Was there something attracting Honkai Beasts?
He returned to the town every two or three days, spending a day with Kiana before continuing to search for traces of Honkai Beasts.
Unaware of the truth, Siegfried traveled across the Eastern European land, working hard to defend human peace.
As for Kiana, Siegfried left a batch of instant food at home, just need to warm it up in the microwave. Of course, he believed that Kiana could take care of herself and trusted the kind neighbors in the town not to ignore her... just like before.
And Kiana, who stayed in the town... she had a great time with her friends, happily playing in the snow before it melted, then playing hide and seek...
Then, the white-haired bundle went to Grandma Dalia's house for a meal, then to Grandpa Berns's house for a meal, then to Uncle Herman's house for a meal... After dinner, she returned home and continued to eat something to fill her stomach.
For Luo Lin, the children were curious about her.
After she arrived in this small town, she became a novelty:
Luo Lin would stroll on the streets of the town, dressed in plain clothes, observing the surroundings.
Sometimes, she would stay quietly in a place for half a day, gesturing with something in her hand, as if deeply engraving those scenes in her mind.
Since she came, Grandma Dalia's shop had become orderly, with even a few paintings on the walls, depicting the scenery of the town and the smiles of the people...
Dalia told the children that Luo Lin was a painter who came here to capture scenes.
The children became infinitely curious about Luo Lin's residence, wondering how an outsider would decorate the house and how the painter lived.
Finally, one day, the boldest child among them made a new suggestion.
"Let's explore the house of the newcomer in town!"