The peculiar attitude of Raiden Mei left Luo Lin perplexed. She silently noted it and, after exchanging greetings with Kiana, rode her bike home.
"Raiden Mei seems to harbor some animosity toward you."
Even without employing Fenghuang Down, Fuhua was a first-rate intelligence expert. Her years of experience in various covert operations endowed her with ample expertise to gauge the attitude of an ordinary girl who hadn't undergone espionage training.
"Does she believe I stole her spotlight? No, that doesn't seem right..."
Raiden Mei didn't strike Luo Lin as that type of person. Although she had received a comprehensive aristocratic education and was, in some sense, a modern aristocrat as the daughter of the Owner of ME Corp and the Executor of Anti-Entropy...
But Mei hadn't adopted the disdainful attitude typical of second-generation affluent individuals—she was proud, yet not haughty, and she maintained connections with ordinary people.
Perhaps this was owing to Raiden Ryoma's upbringing?
Of course, Mei's adherence to traditional swordsmanship from a young age might also be one of the significant reasons she hadn't gone astray. After all, Eastern sword arts not only imparted sword skills but also emphasized corresponding "mental skills," involving spiritual practices.
Hmm... coupled with Mei's smooth upbringing and lack of significant setbacks, the only potential issue might be Raiden Ryoma's frequent absences due to work, which might have made her more mature and resilient.
—In fact, Raiden Ryoma even found time to don the HOMU Puppet Skin and teach Raiden Mei swordsmanship, so in reality, he spent quite a lot of time with her.
In summary, under the influence of various factors, Raiden Mei now exhibited grace, maturity, delicacy, and courtesy in her interactions with others, even displaying a nurturing side.
Someone like her wouldn't simply hold a grudge against someone for stealing her thunder, or even exhibit overt hostility towards them... this definitely wasn't an attitude she could have developed on her own, but was influenced by someone else.
Luo Lin recalled the whispering of Mei's entourage in the classroom earlier and shook her head.
It wasn't them; at most, they might have wanted to deal with Luo Lin privately and wouldn't reveal a excessively sinister side in front of Raiden Mei... besides, could they truly unsettle Raiden Mei? She wouldn't easily trust outsiders...
It must be Raiden Ryoma's influence.
Had she inadvertently exposed something?
It was within Luo Lin's expectations for Otto to detect something amiss; there wasn't much to say about it.
But how had Raiden Ryoma discovered the issue?
...No, perhaps it wasn't about discovering the issue; for Raiden Ryoma, as long as he harbored suspicions, he would take action.
Even if he guessed incorrectly, it would merely result in some compensation, or even if he erred, he might simply eliminate the person directly.
Luo Lin rubbed her cheeks and her mind raced.
It was likely that Cocolia had already plotting actions against him, and Raiden Ryoma had sensed something amiss from various signs... hence, he had warned his daughter to be cautious of Luo Lin, and Raiden Mei had naturally developed animosity towards her in this manner...
The girl's heart sank, harboring resentment towards a certain blonde woman in Siberia.
So vexing, yet there was no way to land a punch on Cocolia's face right now... sigh, it wasn't certain; perhaps we might still encounter Cocolia in the Second Eruption Chronicle.
Luo Lin swiftly returned to her room, where Fuhua's body lay peacefully on the bed, not a single wrinkle on the blanket having shifted.
"Wow, you sleep so soundly."
The girl marveled.
Fuhua replied somewhat resignedly, "Even if my consciousness isn't within my body, if it's uncomfortable to be stared at. I can't move even if I wanted to, right?"
"You have a point; those unconscious people in the hospital remain completely still..."
Fuhua rubbed her forehead with her hand; what kind of metaphor were you using.
Kiana was still working outside and hadn't returned home yet, so Luo Lin assisted Fuhua's body to the bathroom, prepared a basin of hot water, and wiped her body with a towel, effectively cleansing her.
After all, even with air conditioning in the house, and sweating being unlikely, spending all day in bed would likely cause the body to become unpleasant.
Fuhua didn't object and even expressed gratitude in the end.
"No need to thank me; after all, the current situation partly stems from my actions..."
Luo Lin touched her nose, feeling her face slightly feverish, and her ears turning red—actually, Shenzou Immortal weren't as flat as imagined... well... considering her body, it was actually quite good.
After finishing tidying up, Luo Lin moved Fuhua, who looked refreshed, back to the bedroom and sat in the chair, immersing her consciousness into the system space.
"Alright, let's proceed to the second task..."
Luo Lin glanced at the magnificent background image on the Chronicles interface and lightly tapped on the second task.
[Life and Death - Nemesis of the Wind Herrscher: Avora's Subjugation Battle]
[Special affinity attribute detected, opening hidden branch]
[Current identity: S-Rank Valkyrie Cecilia (non-switchable)]
[Current target: Defeat the pseudo-Herrscher of Wind -Avrora]
"Ah?!"
With the appearance of the mission prompt box, the scene before Luo Lin's eyes rapidly changed, and when it finally stabilized, she beheld a magnificent sight—
The white clouds twisted and turned, forming a colossal storm, while Luo Lin stood above it.
Luo Lin observed the blue earth beneath her feet, separated from the universe by a bright white border, while faint stars twinkled in the pitch-black sky.
This is... our world...?
Luo Lin stared blankly at everything before her, almost unable to speak.
The girl blinked, continuing to look up, only to be obstructed by the steel ceiling of the crew cabin—she then realized that she stood in an open cabin with a door, and the indicator lights above her head were flashing red.
The Valkyrie realized she was aboard a Schicksal Transporter ship, with the height displayed on the cabin screen having reached 51,000 meters, surpassing the top of the stratosphere, enough to overlook the rotating center of the storm below.
"...Lewis's forces have commenced bait operations. While rockets can't penetrate the wind barrier, destroying those rockets will undoubtedly cause targets inside the tornado to emit a large amount of Honkai energy. Leveraging this, our satellites can accurately locate the target."
A rather pleasing voice sounded through Luo Lin's earphones, providing a clear explanation of the current situation.
It sounded like... ...Shigure Kira.
"In 15 seconds, you will arrive directly above the target, with the current height of the target from the ground being about 500 meters—Lady Cecilia, please seize the opportunity."
Luo Lin snapped out of her daze. She lowered her head and saw the enormous spear-shaped Divine Key—[Key of Creation: Black Abyss White Flower]—clutched in her right hand.
"I know Kaslana's gun-fu, not this kind of Knight's 'gun'!"
The girl's face paled as she gripped the spear handle tightly, her body stiffening.
But in the next moment, the Divine Key unexpectedly gave her a strange sense of jubilant closeness, as if it had acknowledged Luo Lin and was ready to heed her command.
"Don't worry, just let go and do what you need to do..."
A voice, as if an illusion, flashed past Luo Lin's ear, causing her eyes to widen.
Cecilia?!