Senti's appearance caused Bronya's expression to change drastically. Liuli clearly didn't want to reveal her Herrscher identity. If the news accidentally leaked from her, there was no guarantee that the other party wouldn't silence her.
Forcing herself to stay calm, Bronya turned around with a strained smile. "Class Monitor, you heard wrong. We weren't talking about the Herrscher of Sentience."
"But I clearly heard…"
"It's just that I haven't seen Kiana for a long time, so we were chatting about some things from the past."
"…" Senti fell silent.
Bronya breathed a sigh of relief, but the other party's next words made her attempts at concealment incredibly laughable.
"Bronya, do you think I'm an idiot?" Senti gave her an exasperated look. "Although I haven't been awake for long, my ears haven't malfunctioned yet."
"I heard you mention the Herrscher of Sentience as soon as I approached. I was thinking of asking if there was anything I could help with, but now it seems you're deliberately hiding it from me?"
"No, it's just…"
"Forget it. We're not that close anyway. If you don't want to tell me, there's no need to lie to me." With that, she looked away from Bronya, casting a puzzled gaze at Ren.
"Kiana, can you tell me?" she asked softly, her attitude a stark contrast to the one she showed Bronya.
Seeing this scene, Ren sighed inwardly. Even having successfully awakened the Herrscher of Reason's authority, Bronya was still too naive. While her inability to lie could be explained by her years as a mercenary, her unintentional hurting of others' feelings was something she needed to reflect on.
"Of course." Ren didn't refuse. "Class Monitor, you should know that as time goes on, more Herrschers will continuously appear. And during the time you were asleep, the sequence of Herrscher appearances has reached the eighth."
"Oh, I remember. In the Previous Era, the Eighth Herrscher was the Herrscher of Sentience. The Fenghuang Down I use was made from the Herrscher of Sentience's core."
"Based on the timeline, the Herrscher of Sentience of this era will also be born soon. What Bronya and I were discussing just now was her speculation about the Herrscher of Sentience's identity."
"Oh?" Senti couldn't help but glance at Bronya. She hadn't expected this short, ill-tempered classmate to be so smart. "So, who did she speculate the identity to be?"
"Me."
"…"
"…"
The three fell briefly silent until Senti finally couldn't hold back and burst out laughing. "The speculation is… Kiana? You?"
"If you were the Herrscher of Sentience, then I…" Senti paused. "Then how could my Fenghuang Down not react? This thing was made from a Herrscher core; besides me, it only reacts to the Eighth Herrscher."
She took out her black feather and placed it in front of Ren. The feather floated in mid-air without any movement.
"See, see? No reaction at all. I fought with Kiana for so long, don't I know whether you're the Herrscher of Sentience or not? Bronya actually suspected you, it's the funniest joke I've heard since I woke up!"
Bronya's face turned a bit ugly after being mocked by Senti, but she could only endure it without saying anything. She was also puzzled. Fenghuang Down really didn't react. Could she have guessed wrong?
No. She immediately rejected this thought. Liuli had already been active for months, meaning the other party wasn't a sequentially awakened Herrscher, and her combat power far exceeded ordinary Herrschers. There definitely was something special about her.
Thinking this way, being able to evade Fenghuang Down's detection also became reasonable.
At this point, Bronya was secretly glad she hadn't said anything more, otherwise she might have truly exposed Liuli's identity.
"Alright, it was just a guess, I'm not angry, of course." Ren stopped Senti's taunting and walked towards the collapsed bridge in the rain. "The previous battle damaged the terrain here. If it's left unattended, it will definitely affect the lives of ordinary people."
"Then what do we do? I don't know how to build houses." Senti said frankly.
"Using the Herrscher of Reason's authority should be able to repair it. Bronya, come here." Beckoning to the girl who was obediently playing invisible, Ren created some blueprints for repairs in his mind and transmitted them to the real core using his remaining Herrscher of Reason's authority.
"The final lesson. Create the blueprints I transmitted to you using the Herrscher of Reason's ability. As long as you succeed, your mastery of Herrscher authority will definitely greatly improve."
The broken bridge wasn't just a small section; it also included a large number of facilities on the riverbank. This level of workload would have been absolutely impossible for Bronya to complete before.
But…
The girl looked at the core in her hand, then clenched it tightly, starting to repair the damaged bridge bit by bit.
"By the way, if you're looking for Rozaliya, you can go to World Serpent and find a woman named Raven."
Bronya was stunned, then looked at Ren with a complicated expression, a trace of gratitude flowing through her eyes as she worked even harder at restoring the bridge.
"What about me?" Senti volunteered.
"Class Monitor, you just woke up, you don't need to do these things. Hmm…" Ren pondered. "It's a bit of a mouthful to keep calling you Class Monitor, why don't I give you a nickname, 'Little Senti'? What do you think?"
"Little Senti?" Senti was puzzled.
"Fu Hua in the past experienced too much helpless pain, but now you're reborn from death and can choose to be a completely new you."
Senti's eyes lit up. "That's right! The past me was indecisive, which led to my death. The reborn me will definitely not repeat the same mistakes."
Ren struck while the iron was hot. "And friends often have special nicknames for each other. You are still Fu Hua, but everyone can also call you Little Senti more intimately. This way, not only can you better integrate with everyone, but you can also distinguish yourself from the past you."
"I see. Little Senti… I don't dislike this name."
The naming process went smoothly. Ren didn't waste any more time. After leaving Senti alone, he went to deal with the remaining Honkai energy.
The range of the Honkai radiation was very wide. Bronya's repairs alone wouldn't be enough.
…
Little Senti.
Is this my own name?
Not Fu Hua.
But 'me'?
Little Senti looked at the black feather in her hand, lost in thought.
Fenghuang Down represented Fu Hua, and was also her way of proving her identity. She could be Fu Hua, but ultimately, she wasn't Fu Hua.
But if she was 'Little Senti', even if she wasn't Fu Hua, she wouldn't disappear, right?
A few minutes later, after dealing with the Honkai energy, Ren returned to the same spot.
"Next, I'm going to World Serpent. If you have nowhere to go, you can come with me."
Little Senti gathered her scattered thoughts, and her face immediately regained its carefree look as she hurried towards Ren.
And in the spot where she had been standing, a black feather lay quietly in the mud.
"Of course, I have nowhere else to go after just waking up besides turning to you, Kiana. But why does the name World Serpent sound familiar?"
"World Serpent's Sovereign is named Kevin."
"Kevin? You didn't make an enemy of him, did you? That guy is usually cold and aloof, and his strength shouldn't be underestimated."
"Four months ago, World Serpent conducted an experiment in ARC City called the Stigmata Project, using the lives of millions of people as experimental subjects. I was in the city at the time."
Hearing this, Little Senti also realized the seriousness of the issue. "The Stigmata Project, hasn't he given up on such a cruel plan yet? And according to the timeline, you should have just become a Herrscher due to Otto's experiments…"
"That's right, so I must take revenge on him and stop World Serpent from causing an even bigger disaster."
"That Kevin!" Little Senti said angrily, patting her chest in assurance. "Don't worry, I'm very familiar with him, I'll personally help you get justice."
Bronya, who was still restoring the bridge, hesitated for a moment, then spoke up. "Liu…Kiana, can you take me with you too?"
Although following Ren meant possibly encountering unmanageable dangers at any time, she had to go to World Serpent, and…she didn't know the way.
"Mm." Ren nodded in agreement. This time, he was going there to stir up trouble, so the more people, the better.
…
Boom!
With the departure of the three, the outskirts of ARC City returned to their usual tranquility.
The muffled rumbling of thunder echoed throughout the city, and the traces left by the battle were washed away by the heavy rain. No one knew that a terrifying Herrscher-level battle had taken place here.
Splish, splash.
A long time later, the sound of footsteps treading through the mud soaked by sewage came to this place, but the traces here had already been completely cleared.
Rainwater dripped down silvery-white hair, and the girl, finding nothing, lowered her head in disappointment.
"Was I mistaken?"
The girl, empty-handed, turned to return to the city. A mud-stained black feather quietly fell into her view.