"From here, you can see flocks of birds taking off from the hillside and landing in the open area specifically for feeding in the amusement park. This sight is called 'The Geese's Descent,' but those birds are not geese. The person who named it didn't even know the species of those birds; he just thought this name sounded more pleasant and convenient."
"It's like the designation numbers of the soldiers in Fire Moth. They have their own names, but the numbers allow the commanders to order them more easily, just like a rancher branding pigs with numbers in a pasture. To drag a pig out and butcher it, you only need to say the number."
Her short hair had somehow grown long, falling to her waist. Her slender figure and fair body were half-covered by clothes resembling a battle-suit/dress in black and white. Two deep crimson eyes were set in her delicate face. Her hands rested on the railing of the back hill as she sat on it, gazing at the city where the sun was about to set.
A plush rabbit head lay by her side. She liked this toy; it made her feel much better in this city teeming with zombies.
A few high-level zombies had discovered her whereabouts just now, but she instantly dealt with them. She had learned in Moth's Flame that there was a special way for zombies and Honkai Beasts to communicate, so once she was discovered by one, she was likely to be discovered by all Honkai creatures in the area.
So she dealt with them swiftly and decisively. Before they could use their means of communication to notify other zombies, she decapitated them on the spot and used the black mist to utterly destroy their corpses, leaving not even a speck of residue.
To save a bit of Honkai Energy, she didn't decompose their clothing. The remaining clothes were still in the plush toy museum. She had come out to the back hill to observe the conditions of the area before the support arrived.
Seeing the zombies rampant in the city, the gloom in her heart deepened slightly but quickly vanished.
She had the power to resurrect all of them as humans.
Catching sight of the bird-feeding area she had once visited, she expressed an involuntary sigh of emotion, though she didn't know why she said that. Didn't it sound like she was questioning Fire Moth?
"Squad Member Lin, what do you think?"
"…"
A person wearing a helmet stood behind her. The futuristic helmet looked somewhat out of place in this scene with a touch of the apocalypse. The azure viewing window was not lit, reflecting a pale yellow light in the afterglow of the setting sun.
"Squad Member Lin? Are you asleep?" She smiled and waved her hand in front of him.
"No, I was just recalling what happened before you resurrected me." "Lin's" tone sounded exactly the same as in her memory: indifferent, calm, and with a subtle hint of distance. "Are you saying you suddenly gained the power to resurrect people, and then…"
He glanced at the others and asked, "You resurrected us?"
"Yes," her lovely face was full of smiles.
"…Did you think about where this power came from?"
"Hmm…" She was momentarily stunned by "Lin's" sudden question, then shook her head blankly. "No."
"I suspect that…" "Lin" slowly began to voice his conjecture.
However…
"Enough."
Her expression abruptly changed. Some complex substance flowed in her eyes, imperiously commanding "Lin" to be silent.
At this sharp command, "Lin's" demeanor stiffened, becoming somewhat wooden.
Seeing this, a hint of playfulness entered her eyes.
"…Squad Member Lin, please don't overthink things, okay? We've finally met again. Why talk about such irrelevant matters?" The playfulness was quickly replaced by her original concern. She extended her hand to "Lin," "From now on, you won't have to fight anymore and can live a normal life."
"…Alright."
Receiving "Lin's" affirmative answer, she smiled with relief, but then a sharp gaze caused her to frown. She scanned the surroundings and finally looked coldly at one place.
The Ferris wheel, which had been stopped, had been turned on again at some point. Looking from a distance, no one was riding inside.
Except for the one carriage that had now reached the highest point.
She narrowed her eyes, and some black mist emanated from her body.
A hideous zombie was inside it, staring at her with its putrid, foul-smelling eyes.
…
"Is this…"
Sakura, having settled Rin, rushed to the mission location. This was one of the rare missions Mei gave her that wasn't exclusively for the Cocoon of Corruption. It was said that due to the sudden events at the headquarters, the available combat personnel were too few, so she was temporarily assigned to subjugate the Herrscher.
Subjugating a Herrscher…
Sakura had heard the name. The significance it symbolized was clear to every person in Fire Moth: an existence more terrifying than a nightmare, like an agent of the gods from myths.
And the order she received was to subjugate a child of the gods—a Herrscher—and right in the city where she resided.
She hadn't expected her first direct confrontation with the Honkai, humanity's enemy, to be with its highest physical manifestation, a Herrscher. Even with Sakura's psychological resilience, she couldn't help but feel extremely nervous. Had there not been records of the subjugation of the First to Fifth Herrschers, she might have suspected Mei was trying to eliminate her.
Fortunately, this subjugation mission wasn't truly asking her to fight the Herrscher alone, but to wait for the combat personnel deployable by the headquarters to join the subjugation battle. This Herrscher's unique Authority might require her specific combat style.
But what surprised her the most was that this place… was the amusement park where Rin and Lin first met.
Their fate began to change there. Returning here now couldn't help but make one feel that some things were perhaps destined.
"Dr. Einstein, I have reached the designated location."
"Understood. I need to give you urgent intelligence. A total of seven squads entered this amusement park before you to search for the Herrscher, but their signals disappeared instantly at the same time. I need you to investigate the location where the signals were last lost." Einstein's calm voice entered Sakura's ear through the headset.
Disappeared instantly…
Even Sakura couldn't guarantee she could kill seven people in an instant, let alone seven squads.
And this was probably only an insignificant part of the Herrscher's power.
Sakura's palm was clammy with cold sweat, but when she thought of Rin, her wildly beating heart calmed down. After three deep breaths with her eyes closed, she replied to Einstein: "Understood. Please send the coordinates."
Sakura followed the coordinates, avoiding the crowd until she reached the location where the soldiers had last vanished.
"This is… a haunted house?"
Sakura looked bewilderedly at the mannequin with a decaying face on the display sign.