Could Ling Ke be the Herrscher of Human from the next era?
Elysia's guess had clearly slipped out because she had never seen that segment of "nonexistent memory."
Kevin, who had personally seen that "nonexistent memory," had effectively received a reminder from Su after his ascension.
Do not become Ling Ke's enemy.
Naturally, Kevin understood very well…
To human civilization on Earth, Ling Ke was actually similar in origin to the Cocoon of Finality.
No.
His rank was even higher than the Cocoon of Finality.
So…
"Don't overthink it, Elysia."
Kevin directly reminded her,
"He is not the same as you… no, you and Him are not the same."
It was only one or two short sentences, but Elysia caught the subtle difference in Kevin's tone.
For a moment, she forced a smile and nodded.
But she did not continue answering the question MEI had asked earlier.
Of course, MEI also noticed this.
With the same tacit understanding, she did not bring it up again.
Because, just as she had said before, no one here had the right to make decisions for anyone else.
After all, what the newborn World Serpent was about to do next was this:
To extinguish someone else's hope with their own hands, in exchange for their own long-term future.
For something like that, unless the person involved had already resolved themselves to walk this path, anyone forcibly dragged onto the war chariot would easily create serious problems at a critical moment.
And so…
"We will be very busy from here on."
MEI changed the topic.
First, she looked toward the white-haired young man nearby.
"Kevin, go to North America first and make contact with Kosma and Dystopia."
Kevin nodded.
"Understood."
Then she looked toward the pink-haired girl seated on the sofa beside her.
"Elysia, you go make contact with Eden… I remember you two already knew each other quite early."
"Mm~"
Elysia nodded. She knew MEI was referring to "future information," so she immediately smiled and said,
"Leave that to me."
MEI smiled softly, then continued,
"At present, Sundown Alley and its surrounding area should have been sealed off by that person, Ling Ke. The reason is unknown."
"So, Aponia, Kalpas, and Pardofelis… these three Flame-Chasers, we cannot contact them for now."
"But precisely because the one sealing off Sundown Alley is Him, we temporarily do not need to worry about their safety at all."
Clearly, she was very wise.
She was also doing her utmost to avoid standing on the opposite side of Ling Ke.
And to a certain degree, she had quite a lot of "confidence" in Ling Ke.
Then, on that basis…
"Griseo, her mother, Miss Blanca, and her father, Mr. Ato, can be left to Dr. Mobius to attempt contact."
"Of course, at this stage, it would be best not to place everything we discussed today, and that enormous pressure, onto a child."
MEI said calmly,
"But considering our later actions, we will sooner or later come into direct conflict with Fire MOTH. It is better to inform their family of three first… at the very least, both of Griseo's parents must be informed."
"After that, once Dr. Mobius believes there is no need to remain in Fire MOTH any longer, she can take all three of them away from that side."
"Finally, among the future Thirteen Flame-Chasers, only Vill-V, Sakura, and Hua remain…"
MEI took another light sip of her fruit foam latte and continued,
"According to the intelligence, Vill-V is currently imprisoned on P-21 Island. That place is also where the future Deepest Place will be constructed…"
Elysia suddenly raised her hand like a student.
"You can leave that one to me too."
"However, I think the order of contact should be changed a little."
"Although I also want to see my dear Eden again as soon as possible, her situation is relatively stable. But Vill-V…"
Elysia said with some worry,
"If we wait too long, she may be in danger."
"After all, because she privately did certain things before, her current identity is that of a criminal recognized by Fire MOTH."
Elysia's expression turned a little strange.
"And she was also arrested by me not long ago."
MEI nodded.
From the intelligence Kevin had provided, she knew that everything related to Vill-V had previously been handled by Elysia, who had not yet separated from Fire MOTH.
Elysia did indeed know these things very well.
As for what would happen after bringing Vill-V here…
Well, with Elysia here, and with herself and Kevin keeping things under control, it should be possible to feel a little more at ease.
To put it plainly, Vill-V's talent was worth the risk she might bring.
Then…
"Hua will soon go to Canghai City to study. Although her father is still alive, he has already been hospitalized."
"Considering Hua is only fifteen right now, if we are to contact her… I suggest contacting her father first."
"As for Sakura…"
MEI recalled what Kevin had told her over the past few days about his first meeting with Sakura.
Mm.
A not especially friendly scene.
Sakura was an assassin who would one day try to assassinate her, codename Forget-Me-Not.
At the same time, MEI herself would be the one to bring Sakura into Fire MOTH.
Then…
"Sakura's whereabouts may be uncertain, but as long as we find her younger sister, Rin, we can find her."
"And she… if her personality is truly as you described, Kevin, then she will certainly become our comrade."
MEI still gave the calmest analysis.
After all, Sakura's younger sister was the future vessel of the Twelfth Herrscher, the Herrscher of Corruption, who would die an unnatural death and personally extinguish humanity's last trace of hope.
Thinking of this…
"Apart from the future Thirteen Flame-Chasers, there are also the MANTIS comrades who sacrificed themselves in the Tragedy of Binding, as well as the elites who made achievements in various scientific fields."
"Vera, Jona, Mila, Imel… Danzhu, Cangxuan, Spacy, Erwin, Einstein…"
MEI listed many names in one breath.
These were all names Kevin had told her.
That "big boy," even after more than fifty thousand years had passed, still remembered those people's names.
Perhaps he would never forget them.
So now, she would not forget them either.
At this point…
"Let us begin."
MEI adjusted the glasses on the bridge of her nose.
At that moment, the lenses reflected a faint light.
"Our bloody road of salvation."
"Use this half-year gap ahead of us…"
"And gather all available forces first."
At the same time…
Clatter.
Clatter.
Cold.
Shaking.
The rhythmic sound of the train passing over the gaps in the tracks continued to echo.
"Mm…"
Seele frowned slightly and slowly woke up.
Suddenly…
"!!!"
Her eyes snapped wide open.
At that moment, she remembered everything she had experienced before losing consciousness.
And at the same time…
"Hiss…"
A burning pain came from her right arm.
When she looked over, Seele found that her right arm had already been badly burned.
But the injured area was small.
Yes.
Compared with the person beside her…
Looking over now, that gray-haired girl she had only met today, Bronya, had suffered extremely severe injuries across her entire right arm.
The terrifying wrinkled flesh of the injury even extended from her shoulder to her neck, all the way beneath her cheek.
And there were bloodstains on her head as well.
It looked as though she had been struck by something heavy.
"…"
At this moment, Seele did not know what she should say.
Because of the information gap, she still believed that this Bronya before her had dragged her into all of this.
But earlier, at the most critical moment, the other girl had still protected her first without any regard for herself.
Otherwise, Bronya would not have suffered such serious injuries now.
"Why did you…"
Buzz.
As if noticing that Seele had awakened, Project Bunny once again appeared beside Bronya.
The movement was too sudden, and it startled Seele badly.
She nearly fell off the freight car.
Fortunately, Project Bunny reacted quickly and used its enormous mechanical arm to protect her.
This time…
"You're also… protecting me?"
Feeling the mechanical touch against her back, Seele asked tentatively.
Project Bunny did not have a neck component, so it could not nod.
Therefore, it raised the thumb of its other mechanical arm.
Just like a Vanguard-class Titan that had been led astray by a certain acting Pilot.
All right.
Thumbs-up bro or whatever was a little ridiculous, but Seele understood.
And so…
"You… she, why did she come looking for me?"
Seele turned her head and glanced at Bronya, who had collapsed beside her. Even unconscious, Bronya was still frowning, clearly in pain.
Of course, while asking, Seele had already moved to Bronya's side, planning to treat the wound on her head first.
The conditions were limited.
She could only tear off a sleeve from her clothes, already ripped from the fall, and make do with that for now.
But the injury on her own right arm was far too inconvenient.
Every time Seele moved a little more, the pain made her suck in a sharp breath.
After struggling like this for quite a while…
She gave up.
Then she turned her attention back to the large robot beside her.
"Why aren't you answering my question? Don't tell me you can't… uwah!"
As the freight train passed through a quiet, secluded stretch of mountain forest, Project Bunny's two enormous mechanical arms suddenly reached out and grabbed both Seele and Bronya.
Then, while hovering, it "jumped" down from the train.
Not far away, Seele saw signs of smoke and fire from a village.
In midair, Seele had originally wanted to struggle a little by instinct.
But when she lowered her head and saw how high she was above the ground, she immediately settled down.
Still, her tone remained impatient.
"Hey, you lump of metal. You really can't talk, can you?"
[…]
Project Bunny did not respond.
Not even an electronic sound came out.
Perhaps it had been struck a blow.
Or perhaps it had already started thinking that right now it only had a command language module, and that in the future it definitely needed to install an intelligent voice module with greater freedom, one that could properly speak.
Just like those ELFs.
It would be best if it could also show a contemptuous look, or act cute in a sweet, affected voice or something…
All right.
That was getting off topic.
Project Bunny did not hover in the air for long.
After bringing Seele and Bronya down to the ground, it arrived on a mountain road.
Then, it first had Seele support the still-unconscious Bronya.
After that, it quickly changed form and became that extremely stylish motorcycle.
At the same time…
Beep.
A screen was projected from the fuel port position of an ordinary motorcycle.
Seele supported Bronya and walked closer.
"Please proceed to the designated location first and treat Bronya's injuries?"
After reading the German text on the screen aloud, she frowned.
"Hey, why do I have to do something this troublesome?"
"I don't want to get dragged into your mess again…"
That was what she said.
But in truth, she had no intention of abandoning Bronya.
Yet at this moment…
[Those people were actually targeting you!]
Project Bunny displayed that sentence.
Immediately…
"What?"
Seele's eyes widened.
"What do you mean?"
"Explain it clearly!"