"Quick, bandage her! Find a stretcher! Lift her carefully, be gentle, don't aggravate her injuries."
"Yes, Executor!" Several company bodyguards immediately rushed over. They found a stretcher and carefully placed Hua on it.
Just as Zofia was once again at a loss over her own clumsiness, a familiar voice rang out beside her.
"Hey, Sister Zofia!"
Pardo came running over with Kevin, Mei, and a mercenary, holding up... a tree branch?
Zofia blinked in confusion. Covering your face with a tree branch would stop Honkai Beasts and the zombies from recognizing you?
Mei also had doubts and turned to Pardo. "You know them?"
She was probing through casual conversation, trying to gauge Pardo's relationship with these armed personnel and infer information about the organization behind her.
Since that organization had shown such keen interest in her, she naturally needed to understand it as well. Only then could she avoid being placed at a disadvantage in the future.
But simple-minded little Pardo had no need for probing. She tossed the branch aside and spilled everything outright. "Yeah! This is Sister Zofia. She manages the treasures for our HoMu Company. My food money depends entirely on her!"
Even though Zofia could be a bit scatterbrained, she was extremely attentive to Mad Hatter Party's confidentiality under Mr. Mad Hatter's guidance.
Afraid Pardo might reveal the organization's secrets down to its last thread, Zofia quickly interrupted her torrent of leaks. "Pardo, where is your Sister Ido?"
"Oh, Sister Ido is lying over there saying she wants to rest. She told me to escort Kevin and Mei." Pardo pointed toward the baseball field as she explained.
"Rest?"
"Yeah. She said the mission ends here and she wants to have a good rest... Um, Sister Zofia... don't tell Sister Ido I exposed her slacking off..."
An image surfaced in Zofia's mind—Ido reclining on a beach chair with a bottle of Fuelosophy premium juice in hand, leisurely resting against a backdrop of roaring Honkai Beasts and dancing zombies. Quite a unique aesthetic choice. She might have to try it herself someday.
Mei finally couldn't hold back. She stepped closer to Zofia and said softly, "Actually... your companion, Ido... to protect us... she sacrificed herself... I'm very sorry."
Only then did Zofia understand. Her eyes widened, and for a long moment, she could not speak.
Ido had joined Mad Hatter Party earlier than she had—she had been there from the very beginning. Back then, Ido had taken care of her when she knew nothing at all, even though she was younger.
...Now wasn't the time to dwell on that.
Zofia clenched her fists. "If she's resting, then let her rest. When you fall, you get back up. As long as we remember the pain, we won't fall before the Honkai."
"Sister Zofia, aren't we really going to pick up Sister Ido? It's still dangerous for her to be resting there," Pardo said, now worrying about Ido instead.
"There's no need. The boss should have received the news already. He'll make the decision. Our priority is to ensure Kevin and Mei's safety."
Seeing the determination on Zofia's face, both Kevin and Mei were moved. Thinking of Ido's sacrifice, they had never imagined that, as mere high school students, they would be considered this important.
What could possibly make them worth such protection? Important enough that the other side would sacrifice a core member just to guarantee their safety?
Zofia's young face was set with resolve, like a warrior marching forward without hesitation. Even her back inspired awe.
Yet before she could take more than a few steps, she stepped on the branch Pardo had casually tossed aside and stumbled.
"Uuu..."
This time, there was no Hua to serve as a cushion.
Stretcher casualties: +1.
When the group finally reached the airport, the Honkai Beasts inside were gone. More precisely, they had been drawn to the commotion at the baseball field and eliminated there by Ido and the others.
Fortunately, most of the runway remained intact and was long enough for takeoff and landing. It wasn't long before they heard the descending roar of a MOTH battleship.
They weren't waiting directly on the runway. Instead, they had constructed a temporary defensive barrier within a crater in the ruined departure hall.
Zofia understood that waiting out in the open on the runway would be too conspicuous, as if they had known in advance that reinforcements would land there.
They didn't have to wait long. The thunderous engines of the MOTH battleship swept down from the sky.
At that moment, Kevin's worried voice came from a corner.
"Mike... you..."
"Heh..." Mike unfastened his tactical vest, revealing a neck covered in ghastly white patches. "Looks like I'm going to turn into one of those monsters too."
After his ammunition ran out, Mike had fought Honkai Beasts with nothing but a tactical knife. Unlike Kevin, who possessed natural resistance to Honkai energy and had it further strengthened by Scholar's serum, Mike's resistance was even lower than that of an ordinary person.
Not to mention that back in Nagazora City, he had been drenched in the blood of a scythe-wielding zombie. Even after changing clothes, residual blood had remained on his skin.
Mike's broad frame rose to its feet. "I won't be going with you. I'm going to collect a little interest from those bastard monsters."
Watching Mike walk away step by step, Kevin wanted to persuade him. Maybe a hospital could cure this illness?
But Mei shook her head. Even if a hospital could treat it, Mike wouldn't last that long. It was better to respect his decision in these final moments.
Mei wasn't cold-hearted. Like Kevin, she was deeply grateful to those who had helped them, even if they didn't yet know the true purpose of the organization behind them.
Ido... and now Mike...
They had both protected them to the very end.
Do I truly have the value to bear the weight of their lives?