ebookland Chapter 130 Heading Towards the Sea!
Chapter 130 Heading Towards the Sea!
"Since the dawn of civilization, decay has plagued humanity. In ancient times, humanity was extremely weak, and the flame of civilization was almost extinguished..."
While Kiana was distracted by his story and not eating, Qiong quickly ate her food—otherwise, once this guy realized what was happening, it might start another war over a piece of meat.
"At this time, on the land of China, a girl bearing holy marks, Ji Lin, stepped forward. Holding a golden sword bestowed by the gods, she became the leader of the Xuanyuan tribe. With the help of the legendary gods and the joint efforts of her companions, Ji Lin's tribe was peaceful and prosperous, a rare paradise on earth at that time. To show respect, people called her Ji Xuanyuan, and her golden sword was also called the Xuanyuan Sword."
We've eaten enough; this modified version of the Chinese story is coming to an end.
"But the prosperous homeland attracted ferocious beasts, and the paradise on earth built by humans and gods was in danger. In the end, Ji Lin and his companions fought to the death and sealed the ferocious beasts in the Nine Netherworld. But Ji Lin disappeared after that, and the Xuanyuan Sword also disappeared. To this day, this legend has been around for four or five thousand years."
After finishing his meal, Qiong put down his chopsticks and stretched.
"It's a very special version, Qiong. I didn't even know there was such a version."
Fu Hua rarely showed a surprised expression, and Qiong did not reply—a third of this version was written by him. He originally wanted to test Fu Hua's reaction, after all, weren't they the gods in that story?
But there was no reaction at all, it seems that Yu Duchen's amnesia is truly complete.
However, Qiong left out one thing: even in Shenzhou, this story has been just a legend for thousands of years; no one takes it seriously. Until four people went to sea to search for Ji Lin's Sacred Mark…
And they were those four people.
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At the beach, four people are waiting for their rented boat to be ready.
"Aunt Himeko, to be honest, are the Stigmata really in the sea?"
Kiana, who was just an optimist, suddenly became pessimistic.
Searching for a legendary sacred mark at sea is like finding a needle in a haystack.
"It's highly likely! The Honkai energy and Honkai beasts in the sea have been extremely active lately, causing great harm to the surrounding areas. Didn't Qiong just go to support Manila? The root cause is the Honkai energy in this sea area! With such strong Honkai energy, the Stigmata might be hidden within it!"
Himeko boarded the ship and called the other three to come along.
"Once Theresa provides the map of ocean collapse energy distribution, we'll eliminate possibilities one by one, and we'll definitely find the Nine Netherworld!"
"Well said!"
We will definitely succeed!
Kiana and Sora immediately clapped, while Fu Hua seemed a little out of sync. Seeing their reaction, Fu Hua was somewhat at a loss. Come to think of it, was bringing them both along really the right thing to do?
But it can't be said that Theresa made a mistake in choosing the three of them to come with Himeko. Because even though some of them lack practical experience, they are all highly adaptable to Honkai energy! Exploring the Nine Netherworlds will inevitably take us deep into areas with high Honkai energy concentrations. Apart from Theresa, who can't leave, there's really no one else who can go in and come back safely without being corrupted—not the whole class, but the whole school, including the Valkyrie teacher. There are only a few of them.
However, Raiden Mei's situation was special, and Theresa personally stopped Mei from participating in this operation.
After the ship set sail, everyone remained silent, each lost in their own thoughts, unable to utter a word at that moment.
Kiana didn't like this atmosphere.
"Grey Hair, what are you thinking about?"
Getting close to Himeko would likely invite criticism, and chatting with Fu Hua would likely result in being lectured. After much thought, Kiana decided to take the initiative to talk to Sora.
"Nothing, I was just thinking about the uncle who was chatting up Himeko earlier, and that kid who obviously wasn't from China."
"A kid? I think he's just a brat!"
Qiong nodded in agreement; Kiana was right.
That Xing Mar, she really is a brat. She's so different from the other children Cocolia raised.
As everyone knows, Cocolia is not a good person, but her orphanage is a good orphanage—or you could call it Cocolia Lolita Orphanage.
Because Cocolia provided the Honkai Impact world with quite a few lolis, including Bronya Zaychek, Seele Freya, the "Red and Blue Twins" Rosalia Arlene and Lilia Arlene, and... Grandpa Xing?
Perhaps because her character design was so unlikable, when she was made into a game, all she got was a set of stigmata, and she wasn't even treated as well as Anna, the Herrscher of Ice—at least you get to beat Anna up a couple of times now and then, right?
"Alright, let's not talk about them. How about we talk about that hat of yours that made me lose my bearings! Ugh, I wish Mei and that little dwarf Bronya were on the ship too, it's so boring!"
Qiong was also bored, so he decided to tease Qi the cat.
"Do you want Bronya to argue with you, or do you want to see Mei and me kiss again?"
As expected, the paramecium took the bait, and Sora decisively ran behind Himeko, not forgetting to leave behind the words, "Come and bite me."
"You big bastard, just you wait, I'll get Mei!"
At the same time, another ship.
"Quickly, follow them! My brilliant plan is sure to succeed!"
Xing glared at "Walter Joyce" with disgust, who was still smugly popping champagne, but she still did as he said.
For Mom's sake, let's do it for Cocolia's sake.
You stinking middle-aged man, let you be smug for a few days first!
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Bronya, I'm going out to buy groceries!
"Ah."
Bronya responded, her eyes still fixed on the computer screen, her fingers rapidly tapping on the keyboard.
The computer screen went black the moment the door closed. Reloaded Bunny carried Bronya towards Qiong's bedroom.
Just as she wrote in her investigation report, the only option now was to slightly infringe on Qiong's privacy. Although reason told her that the chances of finding clues about Seele in Qiong's room were slim, what if she did find them?
There's always an opportunity to try, but it's a low priority. But now, that opportunity has presented itself to Bronya: because Himeko has taken Sora and Kiana on a special mission, only Bronya and Raiden Mei remain. And Raiden Mei spends a lot of time and effort just buying groceries every day; this window of opportunity is enough for her to complete her search.
I'm sorry, Sora. Bronya will apologize, but Bronya has no regrets.
Even if they find something shameful, Bronya will never tell anyone. If someone tortures her, she'll stubbornly refuse to admit it—that's a soldier's dignity!
The slightly messy bed proved that its owner didn't have the habit of folding the blankets into neat squares; several Homu comic books and some textbooks were casually placed on the table (Bronya: What a waste!). Bronya reached out to flip through the comics. Hmm, she hadn't read this one yet... No, she was here to find clues about Seele!
After wasting a few minutes flipping through it, Bronya looked elsewhere. On the bedside table were the manual and a large tape recorder. What era are we living in? Why are people still listening to tapes?
This minimalist room, devoid of even a wardrobe, had no blind spots, and Bronya's investigation yielded nothing.
I wouldn't say I was disappointed, since I had expected it. Finally, a quick look under the bed—the most likely place to hide things—is enough; apparently, many guys like to hide things they don't want to be seen in the light of day under their beds.
Whether unexpectedly or not, there really was something under the bed, but Bronya lost interest after opening it. It was all cassette tapes; there wasn't anything that could be hidden in the light.
Ah, she really is an innocent Sora.
But isn't this box too big and empty? Also, is there a photo underneath?
Bronya, who had only intended to pick up the cassette tape to look at the photos underneath, was somewhat surprised by the number and quality of the photos beneath it.
Beneath the tightly sealed cassette tape case was a stack of photos.
The photo that was revealed was a group photo, in which five people, including Himeko, Walter, the pink-haired girl from March 7th, and the one from Danheng that he mentioned, were all making hand gestures. But why was there a doll in the lower right corner of the photo? For some reason, this photo gave people a very warm feeling.
Himeko in this photo is indeed beautiful, mature and reliable. Could it be that when Sora said she liked the beautiful Himeko, it wasn't just a polite remark to Kiana, but something she truly felt?
By the way, this is definitely not a photoshopped image! Bronya, who is an expert in electronic information technology, can confirm that this photo could not have been artificially created.
But if the photos are real, how could they have had time to take them? That doesn't make sense! They haven't had a single moment to take photos since they enrolled!
Bronya eagerly flipped to the next photo, and was even more shocked when she saw what she wanted. Seele was actually there? But that photo was a system-generated group photo of Bronya, Seele, and Sora during Sora's exam… Would Seele pose like that? And she can actually stand on two legs?
Bronya was absolutely certain that the photo wasn't fake; the Bronya and Seele in it were the real deal.
What? You're saying that's not Bronya or Seele? How is that possible?! You can even Photoshop a mole on a picture? That's impossible with technology! Not to mention there's a picture below of her and Qiong together—it looks like she'll only reach that standard in two years, but she's smiling so beautifully in the photo, while Bronya is expressionless and can't smile at all right now.
There's also a photo of her with that pink-haired Mitsuki Shichi, who had one eye covered by her bangs, and she looks more mature than the current Mei.
Bronya wanted to scroll down further, at least to find photos of Kiana, but she just couldn't find them.
At this moment, Bronya formed a conclusion that she herself had previously found absurd: Sora came from the future, and was closer to them in the future... The appearance of these photos seemed to provide evidence for this conclusion.
But Kiana and Theresa aren't there. Could it be because they sacrificed themselves in the fight against the Honkai, and Sora traveled back through time to save them...?
"I am back!"
Bronya was so engrossed in the photos that she spent too much time on them, and it wasn't until Raiden Mei walked into the living room carrying groceries that she snapped out of her reverie and hurriedly packed away the photos and tapes.
"Bronya, what are you doing in Sora's room?"
Raiden Mei felt a little strange seeing Bronya in her boyfriend's room.
Bronya shook her head frantically.
"She did nothing! Bronya did nothing!"
There must be a reason why Sora isn't telling me; I can't explain it to Mei right now! If Sora really is from the future, then I absolutely can't say anything!
Mei frowned slightly, seemingly not believing it, but she didn't press for details.
"Try not to next time... Remember to close the door when you come out."
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I haven't been able to update twice a day lately (I'm feeling unwell and in a bad mood), so I'll post a slightly longer chapter instead.
It could actually be split into a separate chapter, but I'm being generous and posting it all together (actually, I was just too lazy to come up with a title for the next chapter...).