"Alright, go back and get some rest, Mei."
"Okay, you too..."
Watching Fu Li walk towards the apartment building with Klein, the smile on Mei's face gradually faded. The thrill from the concert quietly dissolved into a sense of loss.
Miss Klein... is she really just friends with Fu Li?
In this cold and cruel society, could a pure friendship truly exist between a man and a woman?
Mei sighed. Although she kept telling herself it was nothing, a latent desire for conquest and possession began to spread like thorns, taking root deep in her heart.
As someone from Japan, even though Mei had never actively sought out knowledge about relationships between men and women, her mind conjured a scene that, while ordinary to others, was incredibly risqué to her.
She seemed to see Klein, dressed in a regal red gown, her arms crossed over her chest, her gaze disdainful and cold.
She was crossing her long, smooth legs, one perfect foot slightly raised. Before her, Fu Li was kneeling piously on one knee, eyes closed, about to kiss her pearl-like toes.
The image played out in slow motion. As his lips drew closer, Miss Klein's indifferent face began to blur, reassembling like pixels into Mei's own.
Wait, wait, wait... stop.
As the young lady of the Raiden family, how could she possibly have such a filthy thought?!
And what was with that version of herself in her imagination just now? Although she had been trained in kendo since childhood, deep down, she yearned for the graceful demeanor of a Yamato Nadeshiko.
How could such a domineering person possibly be her?
"Hah... honestly, what's wrong with me today? Why am I having these ridiculous thoughts?"
Mei sighed, and in the faintness of the moment, she thought she heard a soft "tsk."
"Hm? Who's there?"
The instant she heard the sound, Mei immediately scanned the area from where it came. But it was already past midnight, and the surrounding streets were lit only by dim yellow streetlights. There was no one else in sight.
Strange, did I mishear?
That couldn't be right. Her body and mind should both be healthy. How could a problem like this occur?
For some reason, Mei felt as if there was an invisible person beside her. This inexplicable feeling sent a chill down her spine.
It couldn't be a ghost, could it?
The thought surfaced in Mei's mind, throwing her, a young girl, into a state of panic. She subconsciously rushed into her apartment building.
Only when she saw the familiar, gentle face of the old woman at the entrance did her heart calm down a little. She raised a hand and greeted her politely.
"Um, Granny, good evening."
"Mhm, good evening to you, little Mei."
As the building's manager, the old woman had a soft spot for polite girls like Mei, who was about the same age as her own granddaughter. Seeing her somewhat pale face, she couldn't help but ask with concern.
"By the way, little Mei, you don't look so well. Did something happen?"
"Ah... I don't look well?"
Mei subconsciously touched her own face at the comment, then said with some embarrassment, "I'm sorry, Granny. Maybe the concert tonight was a little too loud... it made me feel a bit... unwell."
"Oh, I see. In that case, you should remember to get some good rest. Drink a glass of milk before bed; it's good for sleep."
"Mhm, I will, Granny."
"Right... and remember to warm it up before you drink it. Otherwise, it's not good for your body."
"Okay, thank you for your concern."
Faced with the old woman's kindness, Mei felt a little embarrassed but politely accepted it all. After returning to her room, she finally plopped down on her bed and let out a weary sigh.
She stood up and looked at her reflection in the mirror. She did look drained, but it didn't seem that exaggerated.
"I guess I should hurry up and take a shower and go to sleep. I have to work with Fu Li tomorrow..."
After taking out her phone to message Fu Li and Kiana that she was home safe, Mei saw their "good night" replies and smiled softly. She placed her phone on the headboard and turned to walk towards the bathroom.
---o---
Meanwhile, somewhere next door to Fu Li.
"Hello, Lord Overseer. Contacting me this late at night? Do you have instructions?"
"Hehe, no need to be so tense, Miss Rita. I merely wish to remind you that the Third Herrscher, the Herrscher of Thunder, is about to awaken."
"Understood, Lord Overseer."
Hearing this news, Rita, who was lying in bed and operating something on her computer, stopped what she was doing. Her expression turned serious.
A Herrscher was a humanoid natural disaster. Its birth alone was like a small nuclear bomb.
In 1952, the First Honkai Eruption occurred in Berlin, leading to the complete destruction of the city and causing over 300,000 deaths. Schicksal later recovered and began researching the First Herrscher, codenamed Ω1.
To control and study him, Otto adopted the persona of Joker α, exchanging letters with the First Herrscher as a pen pal, sharing thoughts, and attempting to bring him into the fold and groom him as the next Overseer of Schicksal.
This continued until 1955 when Otto's plot was exposed. The First Herrscher, who had already received the new name of Welt, led a portion of the staff into a major conflict with Otto.
The result of this human civil war was the rebellion of a former Schicksal branch, which led to the birth of their greatest rival today: Anti-Entropy.
And then there was the Second Herrscher, Sirin, born in the year 2000. If not for her own arrogance, she could have dealt humanity an unimaginably devastating blow right from the moon.
Now, the news that the Third Herrscher was about to descend made even an S-rank Valkyrie like Rita brace herself.
However, more than the threat the Herrscher could pose, Rita was actually more worried about the Lord Overseer she was currently speaking with.
"So, Lord Overseer, what are your orders?" Rita quickly managed her expression. As both a warrior and a maid, all she needed to do was execute.
"Hehe... as expected of you, Rita." Otto shook his head, sighing inwardly.
"But you can rest assured. This time, I will not ask you to do anything that violates so-called secular morality. On the contrary, this time, we can rid the world of a pestilence."
"Rid the world of a pestilence?" Rita tilted her head. Just as she was about to ask for more details, an encrypted file was sent to her computer.
"That's right. All the residents of Nagazora City have been secretly inoculated with an Anti-Honkai agent provided by Shencheng Pharmaceuticals. This agent will protect them from Honkai corruption for six hours."
"But, Rita, you must understand, people must die in a Honkai Eruption. Therefore, the personnel listed in this file are the fodder to be provided to the Honkai."
"Among them are death row inmates from all over the world, human traffickers, gangsters, as well as some serial killers and cultists who worship the Honkai and have committed unforgivable acts. In short, they are all people whose deaths would be no great loss."
"I have informed some of the more cooperative among them that if they survive the incident, they can join Schicksal as D-class personnel and contribute to humanity for the rest of their lives."
"Your mission is to ensure their confinement before the Honkai arrives, and to oversee the evacuation of the ordinary soldiers after the eruption begins."
"Well? Can you do it, Rita?"
"This..." Rita opened the file and glanced at the numbers on the list. Her pupils couldn't help but constrict. "Lord Overseer, this number... it's a bit too large."
"Oh, of course. You needn't worry about that. I will send people to assist you."
"I see. In that case, it's not a problem, Lord Overseer." Rita let out a breath, then asked a little cautiously, "But Lord Overseer, why are you doing this? Normally..."
You wouldn't care about the lives of ordinary people, nor are you someone who would go to such lengths to gather criminals.
Moreover, if she was seeing this correctly, a large portion of these criminals came from North America, a region that had already escaped Schicksal's control.
In other words, Anti-Entropy was also involved in this.
Rita didn't say the rest of her thoughts out loud, but Otto already knew what she meant. After all, he was a man who knew himself well.
Therefore, he answered the question.
"Rita, I know what you're thinking. Indeed, if it were up to me, I wouldn't do something so troublesome."
"But alas, it is the will of that most ancient Saintess. So you should understand, Rita. To me, this is just a transaction, nothing more."