(Volume X: Placeholder)
...When I close my eyes, I am surrounded by slaughter and wails, and shattered psyches wander at my side.
—
After months of tireless effort by Fire Moth, the scattered zombies and Honkai Beasts in Sapphire City had been almost completely cleared out. With Himeko's Titan Squad stationed there, the entire city had effectively become Fire Moth's second resource depot.
With the exception of a few special zones, Sapphire City was now open to all urban exploration teams. Members could form squads freely to venture inside, searching for useful resources to turn over to Fire Moth in exchange for contribution points.
But the Sapphire Pearl, the largest stadium in the city before the Great Eruption and the legendary site of Fire Moth's first public appearance, remained sealed off due to a high density of zombies. The Titan Squad was stationed nearby to keep watch.
Recently, only Shu and his group had been near the area. And just yesterday, the entire city had been completely evacuated. The people in ARC City could only feel a series of rather strong tremors coming from the direction of Sapphire City.
"I heard that yesterday, almost all of Fire Moth's core members, including Lord Shu, went to Sapphire City in secret..."
"It must be because some terrifying crisis appeared in Sapphire City! Did Lord Shu really have to take action again?"
"And they solved it in just one day? As expected of Lord Shu!"
Hearing the whispers behind her, Kallen struggled to keep her expression neutral. She chose to walk at the very front, so all anyone could see was her back.
She was the only "founding member of Fire Moth" who hadn't participated in the selection trials. According to Otto's plan, Shu was supposed to recruit Scepter in the end, leaving Kallen as the base's last line of defense...
At least, that's what Otto had said. But Kallen couldn't help but feel that he had tricked her.
Wow, that guy really is a villain. If no one kept him in check, he'd turn the world upside down.
Even now, Kallen would get a little huffy just thinking about the "original" Otto's reputation. Why did he become like that after she died? It made it seem like, seem like...
Kallen's stormy expression slowly gave way to a deep blush. Her cheeks were still puffed out, but the look of resentment was gone.
Still, wrong was wrong. Kallen would never forgive those wrongdoings just because "there was a reason." Fortunately, those things hadn't happened in this world, and she was keeping a close eye on Otto, not giving him a single chance to cause trouble...
Definitely not a single chance!
Thinking about the shocking things the original Otto had done, and then recalling the feeling of "being tricked" she'd just had, Kallen felt a pang of guilt.
Right, after this mission is over, I'm not going out anymore. I'm going to keep Otto tied firmly to my side and make sure he doesn't go out and cause any trouble!
Kallen took a deep breath, her face set with grim resolve. Like a soldier about to make a great sacrifice, she steeled herself and walked toward the Sapphire Pearl.
Her mission this time was to lead a squad to map out the zombie distribution inside the stadium. On the other sides of the Sapphire Pearl, Natasha and Fu Hua were also leading their own squads, entering from three different directions.
All three of them wore an unactivated "Theory of a Thousand Stars" device. If the surrounding Honkai Energy exceeded the threshold, the device would activate instantly, providing them with protection.
Just like it was doing now.
...?
The moment the medals lit up, the faces of the three squad leaders, who had just stepped into the Sapphire Pearl, changed instantly. But they only had time to take half a step back before their eyes rolled back, and they lost consciousness.
The sudden development startled the squad members behind them. Seeing their three leaders collapse within the bounds of the Sapphire Pearl, it didn't take a genius to figure out that the strange phenomenon originated from the building before them.
"This..." The squad members paced anxiously at the entrance, wanting to rush in and drag their captains out but worried they would suffer the same fate.
Their captains were wearing the Theory of a Thousand Stars devices, after all. And while the squad members had been allocated a few for emergencies, their captains had just proven that the devices were apparently useless here.
"A few of us should stay here and try to pull the captains out with lassos or grappling hooks or something. The rest of you, go notify Titan Squad..."
While the teams scrambled in a panic at the entrance, inside the Sapphire Pearl's main arena, a sea of heads moved restlessly on the grand stage, accompanied by the rustle of fabric and the listless, low growls of zombies.
They had been trapped here for a full six months. Unlike the zombies outside that would frenzy at the slightest sound, only a handful of the sixty thousand zombies here had managed to scrounge a sliver of flesh amidst the chaos.
Dried bloodstains were scattered in front of the speakers, in the control room, and even across the most lavishly decorated stage.
And at the very center of the stage, the dense crowd of zombies had formed a small, eerily empty clearing.
Any zombie that approached would linger for a moment before turning away. If one could look down from above, they would see the figure of a young girl lying face-up in the very spot the zombies shunned.
The girl's body was also stained with blood. A thin, white crust had formed on her lovely, delicate face, and fine cracks extended into the blood splatters, as if transporting her to another time and place.
Her hands and feet were pale, and the blood beneath her had bloomed like a messy chrysanthemum. Her tattered dress bore the remnants of violence and struggle. Her blackened fingernails still had specks of nail polish, and the crevices were filled with the rotten flesh of some unknown victim.
A microphone had been violently kicked to the side. Before it was sent flying, its last owner had turned it off, saving herself the indignity of having her final screams recorded.
That would be far too tragic for a pretty idol.
It looked like she was already dead.
But months later, this girl who should have been dead slowly opened her eyes.
The dim light of the stadium reflected off the divine patterns within her pupils.
Her revival was like something out of scripture. She moved her ashen neck, revealing a horrifying hole from which one could see twitching, damaged blood vessels and muscle fibers.
As she turned her head, a shattered compact mirror directly reflected her face, showing her a self as broken as the mirror itself.
The sight of her ruined appearance brought a flicker of terror to her eyes, and the "risen" girl shut them, unable to bear it.
—
And when I open my eyes, everything returns to the morning, to twelve hours ago, when I had just woken up, the sun filtering through the clouds and shining upon the Sapphire Pearl.
Then, I will forget everything and watch again as everyone mutates into monsters to the sound of my song...
I will close my eyes again, and then open them...
—
My face... feels wet.
Kallen opened her eyes and was immediately greeted by the sight of a white cat several times her size, licking her with its barbed tongue.
Her heart skipped a beat, her gaze freezing. But instead of screaming, she decisively threw a punch at the giant white cat before her.
"Aaargh—!"
With a sudden, sharp cry of pain, Kallen opened her eyes again. Her heart was still pounding in her chest as if it would burst.
Huh? Wait, where's the giant white cat?
The unfamiliar surroundings made Kallen pause. Then, the memories flooded her mind, a beat too late.
No, what giant white cat? I was attacked!
The Sapphire Pearl, the Fire Moth mission... The events came rushing back, each one adding to her sense of urgency.
Ignoring the tightness in her chest, she shot up from the floor.
The tightness in her chest vanished, but a small cry escaped from somewhere. Kallen instinctively reached out and caught the figure she had just knocked over, pulling it into her arms.
Kallen froze. She looked down and saw a small, skinny girl with strangely long, pink hair in her embrace.
The girl was clutching her head, but her appearance still struck Kallen with a familiarity that came from deep within.
Pink hair? Do I know anyone with pink hair?
Kallen ran through everyone she knew, but she was certain none of them had such distinctive pink hair. Besides, the child in her arms looked eight or nine at most...
No, wait, she must be about eleven, right? Her skeletal development seems more advanced than an eight-year-old's, but her build...
"Hmm..." Kallen subconsciously squeezed... no, gripped the small figure in her hands, feeling the individual ribs.
At the same time, the pink-haired girl, whose ribs Kallen was gripping, shifted uncomfortably, her small face turning bright red.
Hiss, she's so thin...
Did she really know such a skinny, pink-haired girl?
She... she actually might!
Kallen racked her brain and finally recalled a pink-haired girl.
"Are you... Yae Sakura?" Kallen exclaimed, looking strangely at the red-faced, pink-haired girl in her arms.
The pink-haired girl, equally shocked, lifted her head and stared at Kallen with wide, blue eyes, her pupils shaking like an earthquake.
The two stared at each other. Kallen's expression grew even stranger, contorting slightly.
Is this really Yae Sakura? The... the fox spirit I met in the Far East in the "original story"? Ah, no, the Pseudo-Herrscher?
But she was too thin! And so young... Wait, the fact that she's here at all is wrong. Shouldn't she be from five hundred years ago... Ohhh, wait, I'm also from five hundred years ago.
Kallen's mind was a mess, but one thing was clear:
When she had called out "Yae Sakura," the little girl in her arms had reacted intensely.
Is she scared because a stranger somehow knows her name?
Hmm... I still feel like something is off...
Kallen narrowed her eyes and began to scrutinize the small, trembling girl in her arms, observing her slightly pale face, her somewhat thin but still beautiful features, and her bloodless, thin lips...
A white medical patch was taped to the back of her hand, and she clutched a damp cloth. Underneath an obviously ill-fitting, thick jacket, she wore a hospital gown.
Huh? Is this girl sick?
Kallen was surprised. The "Suspected Yae Sakura," noticing Kallen staring at her collar, glanced down and panicked, immediately tugging her collar tight with the hand that had been covering her forehead.
Watching the "Suspected Yae Sakura" curl up into herself, Kallen momentarily spaced out. Then, a feeling of deep compassion welled up in her heart.
Regardless of whether she was Yae Sakura or not, this small, thin child was clinging tightly to her collar, shivering slightly and unable to stop curling in on herself.
Combined with the "soft-looking" color of her pink hair, the girl in her arms practically had the word "fragile" etched onto her. She was the type who would inspire kindness in the good, a desire to bully in the wicked, and a wish for a pervert to throw her in a sack and haul her away...
Wait, what?
It was only now that Kallen realized her surroundings were also completely wrong... In fact, everything about this place was wrong!
Didn't I get ambushed in the Sapphire Pearl?! Kallen mentally recalled her situation for the second time.
But why was she here?
The surroundings felt cramped: a tiny room where a bed, a table, a kitchen area, and messy piles of sundries and books occupied almost all the space.
Add to that the peeling white walls and the long, strip-shaped fluorescent light.
This was undoubtedly a very typical, old, single-room rental apartment from the Chinese mainland.
But judging by the hospital gown the child was wearing, she should be in a hospital. Even if she was temporarily brought home, where were her guardians? Was a child who should be hospitalized left unattended?
Speaking of which, she thought she had heard a man's groan earlier. Was she hallucinating?
Kallen didn't think she was prone to hallucination, so she shifted her gaze away from the pink-haired little loli in her arms and scanned the room. In a corner, among a pile of messy items, she spotted a figure splayed out.
The figure was wearing a grayish-brown leather jacket, and his dry brown hair stood up like a sea urchin, with a single streak of white dye.
A pair of glasses lay on the floor in the corner. They lacked the curved lens of normal spectacles and looked like two pieces of highly transparent glass.
It seemed the man had been lying there for a while. There were two people in the room, but only one single bed. Perhaps this person had chosen to sleep among the junk piles so the child could have the bed.
He looked like he was sleeping very soundly, as he hadn't woken up despite the commotion Kallen had just caused.
However, the brilliant Kallen gave him a serious look. Noticing the redness on his chin, she quickly analyzed that he must have suffered a heavy blow to the jaw, causing him to lose consciousness.
A heavy blow to the jaw, you say... Who would do such a thing?
Kallen was puzzled. Kallen was indignant. Kallen recalled the punch she had instinctively thrown when she first woke up.
Oh no!
The clever Kallen finally understood why a fully grown adult was sleeping right there!