126. Her Name is Kiana
On the top of high-rise buildings...
Grey Serpent sensed the countless Honkai energies in Arc City converging above the amusement park, forming a sphere.
Grey Serpent was certain that 80% of the Honkai energy in that sphere was their carefully planned reserve for the Stigmata Project!
Now, with the unexpected event, the plan had failed, and an unknown force had forcibly appropriated the Honkai energy. But the more crucial issue now wasn't the failed plan, but the man standing before him.
"...Who exactly are you?" Grey Serpent's tone was extremely soft, as if afraid that raising his voice would cause some trouble.
"Kevin Kaslana," Kevin said calmly.
"This…" Grey Serpent hesitated, unsure how to respond.
You could say the other person was fake, but it didn't seem fake; yet saying the other person was real seemed a bit off.
Just as he was struggling with how to address the person before him, Kevin continued.
"You don't need to worry too much. I don't have much to do with your Lord."
Grey Serpent breathed a sigh of relief, but before he could fully exhale—
"I am his past, but he is not my future."
Grey Serpent gasped.
This was intriguing. After a brief silence, Grey Serpent's voice carried an unprecedented seriousness and probing:
"Then… what is your purpose in seeking me out?"
"I have only one purpose in seeking you out: has he, your Lord, had already emerged?" Kevin stated his purpose in finding him.
"…The Lord has not yet returned."
Kevin nodded slightly.
"How do you plan to bring him back? Is there anything you lack?"
Grey Serpent's prosthetic eye flickered violently again.
"You mean…?"
"I've come to help you, to free him."
Kevin's words were very brief and very clear, but they left Grey Serpent bewildered. He couldn't fathom the other's motives.
"Why...why are you doing this?" Gray Serpent asked, voicing the most fundamental question.
"Because I want to see him."
Gray Serpent remained silent for a long time before slowly stating their needs.
"...A coordinate. Our original plan was to insert the Gem of Desire into the Eye of the Deep, using the power of the Herrscher Core to forcibly anchor a clear coordinate point on the chaotic boundary between the Sea of Quanta and the real world."
Kevin simply nodded.
"So, where is your plan at?"
"The crucial step...getting the Anti-Entropy people to open the Eye of the Deep." Gray Serpent carefully chose his words, "Using their technology and understanding of the Deep City, to break down the barrier separating the depths of the Sea of Quanta from reality—this is a necessary prerequisite for releasing the coordinate signal."
Gray Serpent told Kevin some information, not because he trusted him so much, but because he had already informed that person about the person before him, and that person's response was:
"I need to see him."
The rest is up to chance.
The other party found him and asked if he needed help, their request being exactly the same as that of the "adult."
After learning what he knew, Kevin said, "If you don't mind, let's get in touch. Perhaps there are some things I need to ask you."
Grey Serpent was silent for a moment, then gave him the contact information of a certain Miss Raven. An intelligence chief like him didn't have fixed contacts.
"Thanks, then goodbye. Perhaps we'll release him in a few days." Kevin waved and disappeared before Grey Serpent's eyes.
Grey Serpent's eyes flickered. The other party's disappearance hadn't involved any Honkai energy, and the surrounding energy hadn't changed at all. Grey Serpent murmured softly, "Is this some kind of technology?"
Grey Serpent turned to look at the fireworks in the sky that symbolized their plan's failure, lost in thought.
Kevin returned to the house using the chat group's teleportation function. Standing beside the Tarnished, he looked at the extra people in the house with a puzzled expression.
Those extra people were Theresa, Raiden Mei, and Bronya.
"And who are these people?" Kevin leaned close to the Tarnished's ear and asked.
"Xiling brought them back; they seem to be friends of Sirin," the Tarnished whispered in reply.
"I see," Kevin nodded, indicating he understood.
"Please, have a seat," Lemuen said with a smile, having brewed a pot of tea and inviting them to sit.
"Thank you, but no need," Theresa stepped forward, her eyes sweeping over Kevin and the Tarnished before finally settling on Lemuen. Her tone was polite but distant, her vigilance unwavering.
"We'll just stand."
"Don't be so tense," Lemuen said, her voice reassuring as she looked at the three somewhat tense individuals.
"We won't do anything to you; after all, you're Sirin's friends."
The name Lemuen mentioned clearly startled the three, who quickly realized that the Sirin she was referring to was Kiana.
Raiden Mei was the first to react, her voice urgent.
"Her name isn't Sirin! Her name is Kiana! Kiana Kaslana! She's our friend! Where is she now?"
"Where else could she be? In her room, of course." Just then, a door opened, and Xiling emerged, answering Raiden Mei's question.
Through the crack in the door, Raiden Mei, Bronya, and Theresa clearly saw. On a bed, a familiar figure lay peacefully on her side, long silver hair casually scattered on the pillow, her chest rising and falling gently with steady breathing.
"Kiana!"
"Kiana!" Theresa and Raiden Mei exclaimed almost simultaneously, their overwhelming joy and worry driving them instinctively to rush into the room, but a hand stopped them.
And the owner of that hand was none other than Xiling.
After stopping the group, Xiling stood in the doorway, hands on her hips, looking at the three of them with a puzzled expression.
"What do you want?"
Raiden Mei's urgent gaze almost pierced through Xiling, her voice pleading, "She's our friend! She... she was seriously injured before! We just wanted to check on her!" Her gaze was fixed on the sleeping figure peeking through the crack in the door, as if the person would disappear in the blink of an eye.
"It's okay to look, but don't be too noisy. She played all day and then got beaten up. She's only just fallen asleep," Xiling cautioned, then stepped aside.
Raiden Mei and Theresa immediately went into the room after the group moved aside. Only Bronya stared at Xiling with suspicion. Kiana's injuries were extremely serious, yet Xiling said she was sleeping, not unconscious.
Despite her doubts, Bronya's concern for Kiana prompted her to quickly enter the room. They stood in Kiana's cozy room, gazing at the girl on the bed, her breathing even and steady. The girl seemed truly asleep, showing no signs of injury.
Seeing this, Raiden Mei's steps involuntarily slowed. She held her breath, inching closer to the bedside, the girl's even breathing clearly audible.
Looking at Kiana's sleeping face, Raiden Mei felt a surge of unreality.
Was this really Kiana? Could it be a hallucination caused by her excessive longing? Her hand trembled as she reached out, her fingertips carefully and gently touching the back of Kiana's uncovered hand.
The real touch instantly came through her fingertips—it was real! Overwhelmed with joy and the bittersweet feeling of regaining what she had lost, Mei was instantly overwhelmed, her eyes welling up with tears, and she almost collapsed.
Theresa breathed a long sigh of relief upon seeing Kiana unharmed; her anxious heart finally calmed down.
Bronya, meanwhile, had been observing everything in the room, her eyes growing increasingly puzzled with each examination.
The room was filled with the scent of daily life: a girl's clothes, some electronic devices, and potted plants. Just then, Bronya's sharp eyes spotted a diary on a desk.
"This room should be Kiana's room, and this should be the place Dr. Einstein speculated was Kiana's permanent residence. That diary might contain something," Xiling spoke up from the doorway just as Bronya reached for the diary.
"Have you looked enough? If you've looked enough, come out now. Sirin is fine; she's sleeping. You can talk to her when she wakes up."
"Her name is Kiana," Theresa tried to object when she heard Xiling call Kiana's name, but she quickly realized she couldn't utter a sound.
Xiling glanced at the group with disdain.
"I know you're all close to her, and you're worried about her, but your concern won't do her any good. She'd be better off resting; she...she's exhausted."
Xiling's tone became serious at the end.
Raiden Mei, Theresa, and Bronya gave the sleeping girl one last look before quietly leaving the room, the door clicking shut.
Only the girl's even breathing remained in the room.
Soon, in the living room, Raiden Mei, Theresa, and Bronya sat on a sofa, facing Xiling, Lemuen, Kevin, and the Tarnished.
Theresa took a deep breath and raised her head, her tone solemn and sincere:
"I, Theresa, as Kiana Kaslana's aunt," she clearly emphasized her identity and name, "thank you very much for taking care of and protecting her during this time."
"You should indeed thank me, after all, I waived her rent and her meals," Xiling nodded with satisfaction.
Theresa's expression stiffened slightly upon hearing this; that wasn't what she meant.
"Um…" Theresa tried to steer the conversation back on track, raising her voice slightly, "I meant thank you for protecting Kiana when she was in danger! As her family, I express my sincerest gratitude!"
"Oh, you mean that?" Xiling deflated immediately.
"I thought someone was finally coming to settle the bill… tsk…"
Theresa felt a throbbing pain in her temples, internally cursing:
"Is this person even reliable? Why is he so unserious! He completely misses the point!"
Just as Theresa was about to say something more, Xiling's voice came again.
"We're friends, it's normal for us to help her."
"Is...is that so?" Theresa was a little unsure how to respond. Bronya, seeing that the other party was completely controlling Theresa's rhythm, immediately spoke up.
"Who exactly are you people, and why are you with Kiana?" She didn't mention gratitude or Kiana, but directly questioned Xiling and the others' identities.
Faced with Bronya's question, Xiling shook his head helplessly.
"Who we are is none of your concern. As for why we're with Kiana," Xiling smiled, "it's probably because she asked us for help."
"Help…" This word, like a fine needle, gently pierced the hearts of Mei, Theresa, and Bronya. They fell silent instantly.
Images of Kiana fleeing alone, wounded and helpless, flashed uncontrollably through their minds… What kind of desperate situation had driven this always energetic girl to reach out to a group of strangers for help?
Raiden Mei took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing her surging emotions. She raised her head and looked directly at Xiling:
"Thank you very much for your help. But now, please let us take her back."
"That's not something we can decide." Kevin, arms crossed, looked at Raiden Mei's face, which was not much different from Mei's, and said in a normal tone.
Kevin's words were like ice cubes thrown into hot water, instantly freezing the atmosphere in the living room!
Just as the tension was about to explode, Lemuen's gentle voice rang out, dissolving the stagnant air:
"The one who can decide," she smiled, her gaze softly sweeping over the three tense people opposite her, "is only Sirin herself."
Her words eased the tension in the hearts of Theresa, Raiden Mei, and Bronya.
If the other party refused to let Kiana go, it would be difficult for them to retrieve Kiana. The three of them turned their gazes simultaneously to the smiling man watching them, Xiling.
"So, as long as Kiana is willing to come with us, you won't stop her? Can I understand that?" Theresa looked at Xiling and the others, as if waiting for an answer.
The four of them nodded simultaneously.
"Phew..." A huge weight was finally lifted from Theresa's heart. As long as Kiana was willing, they could take her home!
"As long as Sirin wants to leave, we won't stop her, because she's free. As for now, you either stay here obediently or go home and come back later." Xiling slumped onto the sofa, his voice weak.
Hearing her call Sirin's name again, Theresa couldn't help but try to correct him.
"Her name is Kiana, not Sirin."
"Oh," Xiling responded indifferently.
"When she introduces herself as Kiana, we'll call her Kiana."