"What do you mean, talented?"
Sora saw that the white-haired peer sitting on the missile launcher seemed a little confused by what the big brother behind her had said.
"Nothing."
The big brother in Sora's eyes, or rather, Luo Li, focused his gaze on the girl with deep purple eyes in front of him.
"I mean, this child is quite talented."
"To just casually save someone and they turn out to be a Stigmata awakener... when did Stigmata awakeners become so common?"
"Oh?"
Hearing this, Ghost jumped down from the missile launcher and walked over to the girl crouching in the corner.
Looking through her collar, she saw a corner of a deep red pattern exposed on the child's neck.
Although it was covered by clothes, both of them were Stigmata holders, so they could naturally tell what it was.
"It really is a Stigmata," Ghost sighed. "But in this city controlled by World Serpent, it's hard to say if that's a good thing."
Then, she extended her hand and showed the girl on the ground a kind smile.
"Can you get up, little sister?"
Sora looked at the girl extending her hand to her. She felt a strong sense of goodwill from her, just like when she had first met her Teacher.
So, she didn't resist and gently reached out her hand.
Ghost pulled her up.
"Alright, don't be afraid. The bad guys have been taken care of."
Ghost kindly comforted her while also gathering information.
"What's your name, little sister?"
Sora shrank back and replied in a low voice.
"Sora... Little Sora. You can just call me Little Sora, big brother and sister."
"So, Little Sora, how did you get here? And, you're not from around here, are you?"
"Um..." Thinking of her experience, Sora's mood dropped.
But she could feel the goodwill of the little big sister and the handsome big brother beside her.
She just didn't know why the big brother's face would twitch from time to time, as if he was trying his best to hold something in.
So, she chose not to hide anything.
"I... was captured and brought here by a group of bad people." Saying this, Sora became dejected.
And after hearing her words, Luo Li and Ghost exchanged a look.
"Alright, I can roughly guess what happened," Luo Li sighed. "It's probably another one of World Serpent's dirty deeds."
Then, he looked at the riot control mech that had become a pile of scrap metal not far away, and turned to Ghost and Sora, "Let's change places. This isn't a good place to talk."
But just as the three of them were about to turn and leave, Ghost seemed to have discovered something and turned to look at the wreckage of the mech.
"What's wrong?" Luo Li was attracted by Ghost's movement and asked.
But Ghost just shook her head gently.
"Nothing, just a feeling."
After speaking, the two seemed to have a tacit understanding and exchanged a look.
They smiled lightly, not dwelling on the matter, and left with Little Sora.
And after they left, time passed.
Soon, a few minutes passed.
Suddenly, the mech, which was already on the verge of falling apart, trembled violently and completely turned into a pile of broken parts.
Then, the electronic eye, which had already gone out, flickered abruptly.
---||---
Some time later.
In the bar Ghost used for cover.
Luo Li and Ghost sat on one side, and opposite them sat Little Sora with a glass of milk in front of her.
"That's what happened," Little Sora's mood was very low. "We were locked in cans by those people in white coats and then sent to this strange city."
"If it weren't for Teacher's help, we might have already become test subjects for those bad people."
Listening to Little Sora's account, Luo Li seemed a little surprised.
"That Dodo Bird actually has a kind side?"
But Ghost held a different opinion.
"People are complicated. It's hard to define them with a single label." She lay on the table, sipping the non-alcoholic drink in front of her.
The bubbles and sweet-sour taste exploded in her mouth, making her squint her eyes in satisfaction.
Then she continued:
"A cruel and ruthless mafia boss who has blood on his hands might be a good father to his children."
"An emperor who holds great power and can decide life and death might also be a devoted lover."
"A bad person's heart is not necessarily devoid of tenderness, and a good person's heart is not necessarily without a trace of evil."
"Showing kindness to children and planning to destroy ARK City are not mutually exclusive."
"What are you talking about, big sister?" Little Sora keenly noticed that they seemed to be talking about her Teacher.
"We're discussing how to prevent a tragedy from happening," Ghost didn't hide it. "It is related to your Teacher."
Her premonition came true. Little Sora's face began to turn pale.
At Ghost's actions, Luo Li, who was beside her, frowned, but said nothing.
Seeming to see Little Sora's struggle, Ghost got up silently.
A moment later, Little Sora suddenly felt something cold on her face, which brought her back to her senses.
She found that a can of orange-flavored soda had been placed in front of her by Ghost, and then, under her gaze, she gently pulled the tab.
Pop!
Ghost placed the soda beside Little Sora.
"Don't think too much. At your age, you don't need to worry about whether the world is black or white."
"Like is like, dislike is dislike. A child's world should be simple."
"Let your future self think about this question!"
"As for you at this age, you should be thinking about what to eat and what to play today," Ghost smiled gently. "Childhood passes by quickly. You should cherish every day."
At this point, Ghost suddenly looked at Luo Li.
"By the way, the hot pot in ARK City should be quite famous. Do you want to try it after this is over?"
"Uh... I don't really like spicy food," Luo Li's face showed some resistance, but after thinking about it, he still said, "But I haven't had hot pot since I came to ARK City. I can give it a try."
Seeing the sad matter suddenly turn to what to eat today, the leap was so big that even Little Sora was caught off guard.
But then she couldn't help but laugh.
"Anyway, don't think too much," Ghost sat on the chair, took a big gulp of her drink, and then said to Little Sora, "When this is over, we'll send you home."
"Okay!" Little Sora nodded, and at the same time, a sense of respect for Ghost grew in her.
She looked to be about the same age as her, but she was so reliable.
When could she become such a mature person?
If so, would she not always need someone else's protection?
Could she also become someone else's support?
As Little Sora was thinking and dreaming...
She heard Luo Li suddenly say, "It's about time."
What's about time?
Just as Little Sora was wondering, she felt a sense of weightlessness.
Then, she fell uncontrollably.
"Ah... oof!"
Just as Little Sora was about to cry out, she found herself falling into a warm embrace.
"Who are you?"
A confused voice came from above her head. Little Sora looked up and met the gaze of a big sister with white hair and blue eyes.
It was Kiana.
"I, I'm..."
Just as Little Sora was about to explain, she heard Kiana say, "It's okay, just wait here quietly."
Then, Little Sora felt herself being put down, and beside her, a huge metal box stood quietly.
Her gaze swept around, and she found that she was now at the top of a tall building.
Then, she saw the big sister with white hair seem to sigh, then jump lightly and sit on top of the box.
She propped her chin on one hand and stared blankly at the tall buildings in the distance.
Until a loud explosion came from afar.
---||---
The originally luxurious bar was now seamlessly connected to the war-torn style of Syria.
The pillars had collapsed, the walls were broken, and even the originally bright ceiling had been blown away to who knows where.
And in the ruins of the bar, Luo Li and Ghost stood back to back, their clothes tattered, their faces covered in dust, looking extremely pathetic.
Looking at the high-end riot control mechs and various biologically modified weapons gradually surrounding them, the faces of the two were extremely grim.
To be honest, the biological weapons created by Jackal were indeed powerful, and the riot control mechs equipped with Honkai energy weapons could also pose a strong threat to the two of them.
If it were a small number, the two of them could work together to defeat them.
But looking at the World Serpent armed forces that almost occupied the entire street...
Death Weavers were hidden in any possible shadow, and batches of modified Deadwalkers and Honkai Beasts were controlled by an invisible force, constantly pressing toward Luo Li and Ghost.
And behind all this, a steady stream of mech troops was being dispatched from various parts of the city.
The weapon slots loaded with Honkai energy weapons were aimed at their position with the help of artificial intelligence.
"I say, this is a bit too much, isn't it?" Ghost complained. "It's just the two of us. Is it necessary to send so many troops?"
"This lineup is enough to charge at a Herrscher in a major Honkai eruption, right?"
And in response to her complaint, a cold female voice suppressing excitement replied.
"Two little bugs, you really gave me a surprise!"
"Don't worry, I won't kill you."
"I've always had a great tolerance for excellent experimental materials. I'll try to let you live through as many rounds as possible."
But at Jackal's victory speech, Ghost, who had been on guard against her surroundings, laughed.
"Jackal, you stupid woman, you're here again!"
"Although you're so stupid that it's a bit annoying, I have to admit your perseverance is worth acknowledging."
"But sorry, your hospitality is hard to accept. Please forgive me for not being able to make the appointment."
At this point, Ghost quietly nudged Luo Li behind her.
But the response she got was Luo Li's slightly embarrassed expression.
"I have some bad news."
"What?" Ghost seemed to have no idea of the seriousness of the situation.
And the one who answered her was not Luo Li, but Jackal.
"You can't tear open the surrounding spatial membrane, can you?" Her voice was extremely smug. "It wasn't in vain that I prepared for so long."
"Two ignorant paramecia, you can't even imagine the greatness of the Serpent."
"Long before civilization was in its infancy, we walked the earth, mastering great knowledge that you could never glimpse a fraction of."
"To you, the power of space is an elusive and mysterious power, but in my eyes, it is just a parameter that can be revised at will."
The surrounding World Serpent armed forces gradually opened a gap, and a woman holding a crystal-clear obelisk in her hand came to Luo Li and Ghost, surrounded by many Death Weavers. It was Jackal.
She casually threw the crystal in her hand on the ground. The next moment, a crystal-clear obelisk, as if carved from a single crystal, broke through the ground.
"I know your trump card. You can try to tear open space under the lock of a spatial anchor."
And so Jackal saw that after her words, the faces of the two in front of her changed abruptly.
This made her even more certain of her guess.
So, she looked at Luo Li, her eyes filled with madness and paranoia.
"Look what I found, a living Herrscher!"
"Just thinking about being able to personally understand the structure of your body makes me overjoyed!"
Looking at Jackal's current slut-like appearance, Luo Li's body couldn't help but tremble.
If he was caught by this woman, he would probably be better off dead.
But for Jackal, everything was already settled.
So, she gave the order.
"Capture them, alive."
---||---
For Jackal, this battle was without any suspense.
With the surrounding space locked, she suppressed them with numbers and successfully captured Luo Li and Ghost.
"Without control of space, you are no different from ordinary bugs."
But from time to time, when she looked at the obelisk used to lock the space, a flash of pain crossed her face.
World Serpent, as the embers of the Fire Moth, had inherited the most legacy from the Previous Era.
But most of the legacy were things that could not be replicated with the technology of the current civilization, in other words, disposable items.
The obelisk in her hand was one such thing.
In the Previous Era, it was only used to lock anchor points with spatial abilities, a by-product of the analysis of the corpse of the Herrscher of the Void from the Previous Era.
This thing had very little use and great limitations. It was basically useless against a full-fledged Herrscher. The reason it could lock the space here was purely because the energy level of this suspected Herrscher of the Void was too weak.
But even so, for the current civilization, it was an immeasurable relic.
Its best use should be to be analyzed in a laboratory to supplement the technological deficiencies of the current civilization in the field of space.
For a researcher like Jackal, fighting with this thing could only be described with one word.
A waste.
Only after injecting a high concentration of Honkai energy inhibitor into the bodies of Luo Li and Ghost did she quickly put away this spatial anchor.
Looking at the dimmed crystal, she felt extremely pained.
But looking at Luo Li, who had been sealed in a culture tank and was now in a deep sleep, her pain quickly dissipated.
A living Herrscher was much more valuable than most of the relics of the Previous Era.
As long as she could fully analyze the Herrscher of the Void, she might be able to create something similar to a spatial anchor.
At this thought, she couldn't help but laugh.
And at this moment, another piece of information reached her ears.
The guards in charge of guarding the outer perimeter had just intercepted a truck that had lost control of its brakes.
Inside, they found a group of children, the very same batch of test subjects she had lost.
After learning of this, Jackal was overjoyed.
She felt that today was simply her lucky day.
She had just captured the Herrscher of the Void, and now she had a batch of lab rats for experimental verification.
Just thinking about it made her want to hum a little!
But in a place she hadn't noticed...
Kiana sat on the heavy box containing the Collapse Bomb, watching Luo Li and Ghost being put into the culture tank without any drastic action.
Just like Luo Li's state when he looked at Kiana, in Kiana's eyes, Luo Li was like a constantly flashing North Star in the realm of space.
The connection between the two was so strong that even the spatial anchor Jackal had set up could not affect it.
"Big brother and sister were captured by the bad auntie." Little Sora had been anxious when Luo Li and Ghost were surrounded by Jackal.
And now, when Luo Li and Ghost were really captured by Jackal, a huge sense of panic enveloped her heart.
That feeling of helplessness in the face of danger washed over her again.
But, as she was panicking, a warm hand landed on her head.
She looked up and found that the big sister with white hair had gotten up at some point.
She was now gently stroking her head and smiling at her, saying:
"Be good, stay here and don't move."
"Big sister is going to give that jackal-faced woman a little surprise."
The pre-arranged plan went very smoothly.
When Jackal captured Luo Li and Ghost without noticing anything unusual, the outcome was already decided.
The rest was just cleanup.
And by the way, sending Jackal on her way.