"Alvitr, order all Immortals Blades members to stand by at all times, ready to support my coordinates." After giving that instruction,
she headed straight for the elevator leading underground.
As the massive elevator reached the bottom,
what appeared before her was a hall of astonishing scale, but what shocked Rita even more was the scene within it.
Experimental pods were lined up in rows.
The subjects suspended inside them were both familiar and unfamiliar to Rita.
Deadwalkers.
On the skin of these walking corpses that Rita had fought countless times, intricate patterns intertwined, forming glowing marks.
Stigmata—until Schicksal developed artificial stigmata, throughout humanity's long history, only a very few chosen by fate would manifest these special marks on their bodies.
Rita clenched her teeth, staring at the faces inside the containers.
None were people she knew.
She let out a breath of relief.
But in its place, a far stronger wave of anger surged through her veins.
These subjects varied in height, size, and age; some had Honkai beast tissue implanted in their bodies, their surfaces covered in white silicon-based shells.
Others had certain body parts removed and replaced with cybernetic prosthetics.
This place was like a museum of grotesque human forms, displaying to any intruder just how far the human body could be modified.
Seeing this,
the audience also breathed heavily, utterly shocked.
They posted comments one after another: "So... World Serpent is conducting human experiments? And in such an inhumane way?"
"I used to think Schicksal was hateful, but from this, it seems Schicksal is actually protecting ordinary people? While World Serpent is doing something even more terrifying?"
"Is this the plan Kevin mentioned? What exactly is he trying to do to be so brutal?"
"I can't watch this without shaking from anger—these guys are truly inhuman."
"Damn it! These bastards are even worse than Schicksal—is there no good organization in all of Honkai Impact 3rd?"
"Actually, from a certain perspective, Schicksal is a more reliable organization."
"I'm so furious—what World Serpent, what Kevin, I'll never like you again."
"..."
It wasn't just the online viewers.
Even everyone in the Fire Moth lounge felt chills down their spines, nameless rage rising, until they all turned in unison to glare at Hessian.
This guy was truly too skilled at exposing the naked evil of human nature.
Hessian coughed. "Don't look at me—watch the TV."
"Hmph!"
The group huffed lightly, muttered a few complaints under their breath, and continued watching.
Alvitr asked nervously, "Miss Rita... are you okay? I've detected your heart rate and blood pressure rising."
Rita shook her head. "I'm fine."
She used her armor's hound to access the terminal.
The information she wanted appeared on screen 583:
Stigmata, humanity's most precious legacy in its bloodline.
Stigmata are not products of natural evolution, but miracles of biotechnology from the Previous Era.
Their principles and mechanisms still hold many unsolved mysteries to this day.
Before the Previous Era's demise, they inoculated complex Honkai antibody genomes into the embryos of a few descendants.
These genomes would construct marks on the human body surface—that is stigmata.
Humans bearing stigmata possess stronger Honkai energy resistance and control, thereby exhibiting all sorts of inconceivable powers.
But regrettably, as generations passed, genes mutated and exchanged, causing the originally complete stigmata genomes to eventually disperse.
Once the puzzle is scattered, the pattern's meaning ceases to exist.
Thus, although every modern human carries stigmata genes within them, those who can naturally express stigmata are exceedingly rare.
Schicksal once imitated stigmata through artificial means and used post-natal implantation, but the technology was full of flaws and dangers, capable only of crude imitation.
However, under the revelation of the all-knowing serpent, our research has made a leap forward.
Now, we know how to activate and reorganize the latent stigmata fragments in human genes through artificial intervention, allowing their complete expression.
This process is extraordinarily difficult—those who cannot endure it will die, or even become walking corpses.
But those who survive will possess the power to live on amid the Honkai.
The cost is exceedingly high, but this cost is also exceedingly worth it...
The current activation progress remains slow, far from the expected numbers. We plan to conduct experiments in a densely populated city...
Rita was furious: "Experimenting on the entire city's population—they must be insane!"
At the end of the laboratory, a massive screen suddenly lit up, and the figure on the screen said, "Sometimes, I think so too."
Then, all the Deadwalkers in the laboratory broke out of their pods.
Surrounding Rita completely.
The person continued, "As expected of Schicksal—daring to trespass so brazenly without permission, peeking at others' secrets."
"Miss Rita, since you're so interested in this place, why not take a few more looks..."
"That way, I can free up some time to properly entertain you all."
"But to gain something, one must always pay a price, right?"
"Exchanging what you've seen here with your life and those of your subordinates... that's not too high a price, is it?"
Rita ignored her entirely. After informing the Immortals Blades that she was surrounded, she immediately began breaking out.
But everything was under Raven's control.
She released a special serum; as long as it contacted the Valkyries, it would neutralize the Honkai energy in their bodies, rendering them powerless.
Not only against Rita, but even the Immortals Blades members who came to support from outside were all affected without exception.
At the same time,
outside Shencheng Pharmaceuticals,
Kiana stood on the rooftop, watching what was happening here.
Fu Hua watched the Valkyries falling one by one and said in surprise, "What's going on? These Valkyries have no power to fight back... it's like ordinary people facing Honkai beasts? ...Something's wrong, Kiana, be careful."
Kiana said, "Their injuries are severe—if we leave them..."
Fu Hua reminded her, "Kiana, we don't have much time."
"I understand..."
Kiana ultimately gritted her teeth and resolved to strike down the Honkai beasts attacking the Valkyries.
The rescued Valkyrie struggled to prop herself up, then suddenly backed toward the wall in fear, as if seeing the Grim Reaper.
"Herrscher of the Void...! Don't come near me!"
Kiana said, "I won't hurt you."
Hearing this, the other's face was filled only with distrust, but she still said, "Is that so... then thank heavens..."
Kiana asked, "What happened here? Your injuries aren't that serious—why are the Valkyries here being slaughtered one-sidedly?"
The Valkyrie replied, "Despicable bastards... they used some kind of tear gas... my body... suddenly lost all strength..."
She suddenly remembered something and gripped Kiana's arm tightly, completely forgetting her earlier plea to stay away.
Kiana said, "Don't talk—save your strength. Have your teammates get you out of here quickly."
The Valkyrie urgently said, "Miss Rita... it's very dangerous down there... please! ...You have to help her..."
"I understand."
Kiana agreed.
She charged straight into Shencheng Pharmaceuticals.
Fu Hua reminded her from the side, "Kiana, time is precious. Whether to help Rita or uncover the secrets—it's your choice."
Kiana thought for a moment.
She decided to head down to help Rita while also preparing to investigate some data along the way.
Thanks to Rita's earlier intrusion, the data here was mostly in an open state.
She quickly found a file on the stigmata experiments.
Fu Hua said, "They're planning to experiment on the entire city's residents, screening for humans who can resist the Honkai."
Kiana couldn't help but retort, "This idea is even crazier than Otto's."
Fu Hua continued, "The document clearly mentions the Previous Era... Shencheng Pharmaceuticals knows far more secrets than I thought."
"The all-knowing serpent... serpent? That man... is still alive??!"
"That's impossible..."
Kiana didn't notice Fu Hua's shock.
Instead, she saw another file: "This data is... observation records on MANTIS... MANTIS?"
"...!" Fu Hua was even more shocked.
Kiana simply read from the file: "1475, the Phoenix Immortal breaks the formation and draws a true diagram... Hey, Squad Leader, the immortal in this scroll looks a lot like you?"
"1887, photo with Doctor Conan Doyle in London? Wait, the person in this photo..."
Fu Hua admitted, "Kiana, you're not mistaken. This is my resume—this document records almost every place I've been and everything I've done in my life."
Seeing this scene,
the audience was completely stunned.
"Who exactly is Fu Hua?"
"All this is about her? So she's lived for thousands of years too? Isn't she an old monster like Kevin?"
"Holy crap, this revelation is explosive—Fu Hua has actually lived this long?"
"What's going on? We're supposed to be heading into the final battle, and they're still digging pits?"
"With this pit-digging style, this episode definitely isn't the finale—everyone can watch without worry!"
"..."
Kiana also asked the question the audience was curious about: "Squad Leader, who exactly are you...?"
Fu Hua replied, "I didn't intend to hide it from you. It's just that in this life, I've had too many identities and names... I don't know where to start."
"What's more important now is that my life resume shouldn't appear in the archives of a pharmaceutical company like this."
"The person hiding behind Shencheng Pharmaceuticals is someone who knows all the secrets—someone from the same era as me."
Seeing this,
Kiana didn't press further.
Instead, she headed straight down to rescue Rita.
Quite coincidentally, when she arrived, Rita was just being besieged by several mechs.
Kiana stepped in to deal with the mechs: "Looks like the maid has made her choice."
Rita relaxed a bit upon seeing Kiana: "Just a temporary choice."
The two cooperated to break out.
With every movement, every dodge, Rita's body grew heavier and slower.
As if a hole had opened in her body, strength leaking out with every breath.
The edge of her scythe dulled, no longer able to easily cleave through mech shells or sever enemy limbs.
But she knew that now, her only choice was to fight her way out.
As long as she broke out, there would still be a chance...
"Eos! Emergency descent for support! Respond, Eos!" As soon as they reached the surface, Rita called the battleship.
But only the sound of explosions came through the communicator—no response—and in her visor, the list of remaining crew turned gray.
The hope of boarding the battleship and escaping was shattered.
Seeing this, Kiana immediately summoned a spatial portal and urged, "Hurry, jump in!"
Anger flashed in Rita's eyes, but her voice remained elegant: "Sorry, Miss Kiana—allow me to finish one last thing today. After all, a maid's essential duty is cleaning."
"Eos, activate autopilot. Action order: clean! Target: current coordinates."
The next moment,
Kiana felt an oppressive force from behind.
She turned and was scared silly.
The Eos was actually crashing toward their position.
She hurriedly dragged Rita into the portal and left the area.
Only after confirming safety did she say with lingering fear, "You look so cold on the outside, but you act so impulsively. You weren't thinking of ending it because your team suffered heavy casualties, were you?"
"To prevent you from doing something stupid, I have to tell you in advance—I did my best to save some of the people you brought."
Rita regained her previous elegance: "Don't worry, Miss Kiana—I don't make meaningless sacrifices. From the enemy's numbers and layout, we could be hunted anywhere in this city at any time, so I just wanted to create the illusion of mutual destruction to buy some time."
Kiana asked, "Are you sure this will fool them?"
Rita nodded: "Just covering up this massive commotion will take effort. Whether it fools them or not, it will divert their attention."
"While World Serpent hasn't found our trail yet..."
The last word hung on Rita's lips unfinished when she suddenly trembled.
As if that battle had drained the last of her strength, she collapsed to the ground, unresponsive to everything around her.
Kiana took Rita to a resting spot and settled her in.
Then she began her daily training with Fu Hua.
This was training to better control the Herrscher of the Void's power—ever since she last controlled the Herrscher's power, she had been training continuously.
After training ended, she fell into sleep.
Before her appeared an infinite abyss of darkness and an endless bone-white desert.
On this silent land, she and seven comrades sharing the same goal would face the end of this long war.
After this battle deciding humanity's fate concluded, would any of them still stand here to greet the dawn of a new day?
She had no answer in her heart.
"Hua, it's time to prepare." Kevin suddenly appeared before her: "According to Dr. MEI's calculations, only one hour remains until Its arrival."
"Yes!"
"..."
"Kevin, I hope that after today, humanity can continue onward."
Kevin replied, "It will. If you still have any doubt, turn and look at the Earth behind you."
She turned around.
Earth, like a blue marble, hung suspended in the endless void.
Its deep blue arc emitted a warm halo, as if striving to resist the embrace of darkness.
Kevin said, "Every time I look up, I tremble at the universe's darkness and coldness. Yet even so, it still has warmth... because Earth nurtured us, because the stars still shine above our heads."
Earth...
She couldn't help but wonder—what were the people on Earth doing at this moment?
Lamenting, crying, or holding doomsday revelry?
From the moon's perspective, all past conflicts and anger, pain and attachments... none of it mattered anymore.
What mattered was only the future.
If humanity could continue, repopulate, pain and conflict would return.
But what mattered was always the future.
She spoke: "Kevin, about my dispute with Dr. MEI, and those words I said to you... I'm sorry."
Kevin said, "No apologies are needed to those you can entrust your life to."
She was confused: "Is that so... then what should I say?"
Kevin answered: "A promise. If any of us survive this battlefield, we must bear even greater responsibility."
"The plans Dr. MEI prepared—the Stigmata Project, the Seed Project, the Ark Project... though not everyone agrees with them."
"But these efforts will plant seeds for humanity's revival."
"Those of us who survive must protect these seeds, prevent them from repeating mistakes, until a new civilization is built."
"Hua, I believe the hope of permanently ending the Honkai lies within!"
"To reach that day, humanity will sacrifice much."
"...But humanity will never lose hope."