"Two weeks ago, our base set up in the Asian branch monitored a strong Honkai energy fluctuation."
"Schicksal is keeping the news under tight wraps, only announcing to the public that there was an irreparable construction accident at the Space Elevator. But I believe anyone who understands Honkai even a little bit wouldn't buy Otto's BS."
Two days ago, Anti-Entropy base.
In the spacious conference room, Dr. Tesla was projecting her investigation report onto the large screen. Her gaze swept across the few people present, and only after confirming that everyone had seriously read the text on the screen, did she continue speaking.
"According to the investigation by me and Mophead, this Honkai energy fluctuation far exceeds anything in the past and has reached the Herrscher threshold four times in a row. We speculate that there's a very high probability that a Herrscher was born on Coral Island, possibly even more than one. Unfortunately, this island is isolated from the outside world. After Schicksal's Valkyrie forces sealed it off, it's been difficult to investigate further and obtain more information. We also have no way of knowing the specific identity of the newborn Herrscher."
"However, judging from some of the images leaked by survivors, this disaster is probably not just simple Herrscher destruction."
Tesla pressed the remote control a few times, and some photos began to play in PPT format. Most of these photos were taken hastily by survivors with their mobile phones during their escape, and were generally quite blurry. However, just the blizzard scenes shown in the photos were enough to show how dangerous the situation was at the time.
"But, Dr. Tesla, Mr. Welt hasn't recovered yet, and Anti-Entropy's alliance has been constantly suppressed by Schicksal. Even if we know Otto is hiding something, we have no way to conduct an in-depth investigation."
Compared to the girl she was back then, Bronya, after such a long time, has become much more mature. Her originally slightly childish spiral ponytail is scattered over her delicate shoulders, with only a slight curl at the ends. After seriously reading Tesla's information, she proactively voiced her opinion.
"You're right, Anti-Entropy is indeed a bit weak at the moment, but the reason I called you all here is not just to analyze the identity of the newborn Herrscher, but this." Tesla said, selecting one of the photos and zooming it to full screen.
The photo, which was already of poor quality, looked even blurrier due to the photographer running during the evacuation. Faintly visible, there was only a large mass of pale whiteness mixed with frost.
"This is…?" Sitting next to Bronya was Seele. Although it was not very appropriate to have a little girl participate in this kind of meeting, Anti-Entropy was currently too short-handed, and Seele's strength was quite good, so her participation was not entirely impossible.
"Did you notice anything special? Seele?" Looking at Seele beside her who seemed to be deep in thought, Bronya frowned. She glanced at the photo again, confirming that she couldn't see anything special in the photo at all.
"Hmm, I don't know if it's just my imagination, but there seems to be a person in the sky in the picture." Seele's voice was soft, and she seemed a little unsure if she had seen it wrong.
"Seele is not mistaken." Dr. Einstein, with heavy dark circles under her eyes, looked like she hadn't woken up yet. Of course, she was indeed a bit sleep-deprived.
Since Welt's core was taken by Ren, she and Tesla had been responsible for the overall operation of Anti-Entropy, and they also had to spare energy to treat Welt's injuries, so they could only sleep for three or four hours a day.
The fact that she hadn't collapsed yet was thanks to the longevity granted to her by the Black Abyss White Flower back then.
Affirming Seele's answer, Einstein swiped her finger across her virtual screen. The photo on the screen was then cropped and magnified 20 times. The cropped image had long since blurred into a mosaic. However, she simply clicked a button, and the computer's powerful computing power began to perform high-definition restoration on this mosaic.
Thirty seconds later, the originally blurry photo finally became clear enough to see a rough outline. In the blizzard-swept sky, the outline of a girl-like figure appeared. It was just that the girl's white hair was too similar in color to the snowflakes in the blizzard, which is why she hadn't been recognized before.
"It's Kiana!" With these features, Bronya naturally recognized the girl's identity at a glance.
A few months ago, Kiana had to come to Anti-Entropy for treatment due to Herrscher core erosion. At that time, everyone at St. Freya was scattered for several months. They had finally gathered again, which should have been the most memorable moment.
However, due to the attack on the Hyperion a few days before they met, everyone who had just returned from the Sea of Quanta was completely defeated, and even Rosaria was taken away by the attacker. Bronya had been in a state of high tension.
In the subsequent debriefing, Theresa and others deduced the identity of the attacker, The Obsidian Concord's "Herrscher of Sentience".
Therefore, when she discovered that Liuli, who had come with Kiana at that time, was actually the "Herrscher of Sentience", Bronya didn't think much and directly launched an attack.
It was precisely this rash attack that led to the series of events: the opponent angrily counterattacking, causing Anti-Entropy to be destroyed, and the core being taken.
The destruction of a base of tens of thousands of people due to her recklessness made Bronya feel extremely guilty, especially after Kiana was ostracized by Anti-Entropy and chose to leave alone, which made her even more ashamed.
Her staying in Anti-Entropy, in addition to continuing to try to regain the power of the Herrscher of Reason, was also her punishment for herself.
In her relentless training day and night, Bronya had preliminarily redeemed some of the Herrscher of Reason's authority. Her style of doing things also became more steady under Welt's guidance. Now that she had discovered clues about Kiana, a trace of fluctuation appeared in her usually calm heart.
She wanted to find Kiana and apologize to her properly.
"Dr. Tesla, what do you mean?" There was some anticipation in Bronya's eyes. She knew that the other party would not tell her these clues for no reason, and there must be something she needed to do.
"That's right, the Coral Island incident is confirmed to be related to Kiana, and her whereabouts, after analysis by intelligence personnel, also have preliminary clues. If you can find her, many things will be easily solved."
"Could you please tell me her whereabouts?" The girl nervously clenched her fists.
"ARC City." Tesla pulled up another piece of information. This time it was not photos, but a series of train ticket itineraries. "This is the passenger information for the trip from a city near Coral Island to Shenzhou. It can be seen that she disguised herself, but after comparison, it was found that she traveled with a boy named Ren throughout this trip."
"Ren?" This name was quite unfamiliar to Bronya. Unlike Mei, she had no contact with Ren at all.
Tesla didn't explain, but directly released an old photo. "This is the surveillance footage from when you first discovered Kiana 4 months ago. The gray-haired boy in the picture is Ren."
Bronya naturally knew this photo. She remembered that Mei hadn't slept all night because of the identity of this strange boy.
"This time your goal is to find him or Kiana. This boy is just an ordinary person. With your hacking skills, it shouldn't be difficult to find him. As long as you make use of the ubiquitous internet in ARC City, you will gain something sooner or later."
"Bronya, Schicksal's people have been tracking Anti-Entropy. We don't have more energy to mobilize manpower, so this operation may only be carried out by you alone. If there are any accidents, we may not even be able to provide timely support. But I believe that with your current strength, you should be able to complete the mission."
"Remember, your own safety must be the primary goal. Welt cannot protect Anti-Entropy forever, you are our new hope."
…
Time returns to the present.
Boom!
The roaring thunder fell from the sky, illuminating the shadows of distant city buildings.
Bronya was driving a motorcycle transformed from Project Bunny, speeding on the highway to ARC City. After spending two whole days, she was finally about to arrive at this city.
「It is now 8 PM, speed 389km/h, night driving, please pay attention to safety.」
"Is it going to rain?" Bronya looked up at the dark shadows ahead, feeling inexplicably uneasy.
「The weather system has not detected any heavy rain forecast.」
"Tch, it can't be that unlucky, to run into a sudden thunderstorm." The motorcycle drove onto the elevated bridge over the canal. The storm ahead seemed to be getting more violent. Even with goggles, she could hardly see the road ahead.
However, Bronya, who was always used to speeding, had no intention of slowing down. She lowered her body, preparing to enter the city limits within 10 minutes.
But just as she was concentrating on driving, a familiar call drifted into her ears along with the distant storm.
"Good evening, Bronya."