Chapter 185: You Found Me
The more Rovel turned the thought over in his mind, the more plausible the terrifying scenario became. He gently lowered the unconscious Kiana onto the nearest resting spot, smoothing out her disheveled hair.
"Mei, please look after Kiana for a bit," he instructed, his tone leaving no room for argument. "I need to go out and check on the situation."
"Mr. Rovel..." Mei started, reaching out a hand, but the space where he had just been standing was already empty. A faint breeze was the only proof he had ever been there.
Mei blinked, a strange feeling settling in her chest. Was Rovel always the type of person to rush headlong into the center of a crisis?
"Bronya will go take a look as well," the small Russian girl stated flatly. Her gray eyes shifted, as if she had already pieced together the puzzle Rovel was chasing. Without waiting for permission, she floated toward the exit, hot on his trail.
Fu Hua adjusted her glasses, her gaze sweeping over the remaining occupants of the room. "...I'll go out and take a look too. It's a bit chaotic outside right now, and Rovel hasn't fully recovered his stamina. If anything happens, it's better to have someone there to back him up." She offered Mei a reassuring nod. "I'll leave Kiana and Major Himeko in your care for now, Mei."
With that, Fu Hua turned and followed the other two out the door.
Mei stood in silence. '...'
She glanced down at the peacefully sleeping Kiana, then shifted her attention to the nearby couch. The commotion had finally disturbed Himeko.
"Did something happen?" Himeko mumbled, rubbing her heavy, sleep-crusted eyelids. She pushed herself up into a sitting position, still entirely in a daze.
Outside, Rovel's current physical limitations kept his speed grounded. It didn't take long for Bronya to close the distance between them.
"Get on," Bronya said. Project Bunny 19C materialized behind her, its massive, cold metallic arm extending outward to form a makeshift platform.
"Why did you come?" Rovel asked, though he didn't hesitate to climb onto the hovering mechanical limb.
"Bronya is a little worried about Wendy's situation..." she replied, her voice maintaining its usual monotone cadence.
"You know too?" Rovel blurted out. The moment the words left his mouth, he clamped his jaw shut. He had just been baited into revealing his hand.
"Now Bronya does."
The thrusters on Project Bunny 19C flared to life, and they shot forward, rushing directly toward Wendy's designated residence.
When they arrived, the area was already locked down. Heavily armed Schicksal personnel guarded the perimeter, with all entrances and exits completely sealed off by barricades. Captain Clark paced back and forth near the main gate, her boots clicking sharply against the pavement in an erratic, anxious rhythm.
"Captain Clark," Rovel called out, hopping down from Project Bunny 19C's arm.
Clark stopped dead in her tracks. Her eyes narrowed the second they landed on him.
"I'm sorry, and while I really don't want to suspect you, do you know where Wendy went?" Clark demanded, crossing her arms.
The suspicion was entirely logical. Wendy and Rovel had spent the entirety of yesterday together, practically inseparable. Now, less than twenty-four hours later, the girl had vanished into thin air. It was incredibly hard for the security captain not to assume Rovel had orchestrated the disappearance.
"Is Wendy missing?" Bronya interjected, a rare hint of genuine urgency bleeding into her voice.
"...Yes. We are currently searching every inch of the facility for her location. If you have any clues, please let us know immediately." Clark's stern gaze remained entirely fixed on Rovel's face, searching for a micro-expression of guilt.
Unfortunately for her theory, Rovel possessed an ironclad alibi. He had been well within Clark's own line of sight all throughout the previous night, helping take care of her and the intoxicated Himeko. He couldn't possibly have smuggled Wendy out.
Rovel, meanwhile, was lost in his own rapid calculations. Wendy's legs were severely crippled; she had immense difficulty even walking a few steps. For her to suddenly bypass a heavy security detail and vanish without a trace... there was only one logical conclusion. The Gem of Desire had awakened.
"We'll help look for her too," Rovel said, meeting Clark's gaze evenly. "If we find Wendy, we'll notify you the second we do."
"...I'll leave it to you then." Clark scrutinized his features for another long second before letting out a frustrated sigh. She couldn't read a single lie on his face, forcing her to drop the interrogation.
Once they had moved a safe distance away from the perimeter, ensuring Clark couldn't overhear them, Bronya spoke up again.
"Do you actually know where Wendy went?"
"I don't possess divine vision. How could I possibly know exactly where she ran off to?" Rovel sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose to stave off an incoming headache.
"Then... why was your first thought that Wendy was missing?" Bronya tilted her head, her twin drills shifting slightly with the motion.
"Last year, Wendy underwent a highly classified experiment. It was a compatibility test with the Gem of Desire..." Rovel kept his voice low as he began to explain the grim reality of Wendy's condition to the young Russian girl.
"So... Wendy is currently carrying the Gem of Desire inside her. And just like Mei, she could become a Herrscher under the sudden stimulation of a massive Honkai Energy spike?" Bronya summarized, processing the data with terrifying speed.
"Yes. Although the gem is currently stable inside her body, Wendy's situation is different from Mei's. She doesn't have the power of a Stigmata to act as a natural countermeasure against the Honkai corruption. That's exactly why her legs had to bear the physical burden of acting as the 'container' for the gem."
"But I'm only guessing at this point," Rovel added, shaking his head. "There are far too few experimental cases like this to draw a concrete conclusion."
It was a mess of lore and tragedy. After the Second Honkai War, Anti-Entropy had managed to secure the Gem of Conquest. Meanwhile, Schicksal had obtained four Herrscher cores, including the Core of the Void.
Currently, the Core of the Void resided inside Kiana's body. The Gem of Haste was embedded in the Key of Blankness. The Gem of Desire had been surgically placed into Wendy's body just last year. As for the Gem of Serenity, Schicksal had yet to find a suitable host capable of surviving the transplant.
Transplanting a Herrscher core directly into a living human body just to artificially replicate a Herrscher's power...
Rovel searched his memories, but he didn't recall seeing any records of such reckless, brute-force methods in the stories of the Previous Era that he was familiar with. Although the Herrschers of the Previous Era didn't have Elysia's unique power acting as an aid, the scientific approach had always been different.
If it were Snake—Mobius—or Dr. Mei, they absolutely must have conducted similar, albeit more refined, experiments, right? He made a mental note to ask the next time he had the chance.
"Why don't we retrace your steps and check the places you went yesterday?" Bronya suggested, pulling him from his thoughts.
"That's the only lead we have right now." Rovel nodded in agreement.
A short trip later, the duo arrived at the local basketball court.
"You... brought Wendy here to play basketball?" A look of deep shock finally broke through Bronya's usually expressionless face. She stared at the court, then at Rovel, clearly judging his life choices regarding a wheelchair-bound girl.
"That's right, and I even won!" Rovel planted his hands on his hips, puffing his chest out proudly.
Bronya stared at him. The look in her gray eyes was so full of pure, unfiltered contempt that it practically had physical weight.
Rovel opened his mouth to defend his honor, but the words died in his throat. He paused, his senses suddenly going on high alert. He had felt something just a second ago.
Was that... wind?
He looked around. This was an entirely enclosed indoor environment. How could there be a localized draft blowing from that specific direction?
Raising his hand, Rovel focused. A tiny, spherical water droplet condensed on the very tip of his index finger. He held it up to the air. Under the subtle influence of the unnatural breeze, the tiny droplet stretched and deformed, shaping itself into a minute, pointing needle. It was aiming straight up.
"Bronya, lift me up for a moment," Rovel instructed, his eyes locked on the target.
Project Bunny 19C hummed to life, lifting Rovel high into the air as requested. He reached the top of the basketball hoop and carefully peeled a small, square object off the backboard.
It was a Photo Sticker. The glossy image clearly showed him and Wendy smiling together.
This... was left here by Wendy?
To place a sticker this high up, completely out of reach of any normal person, meant only one thing. Wendy had indeed awakened the power of the Gem of Desire and was using the wind to move.
However, finding the sticker also managed to put Rovel's racing mind at ease, at least for the moment. It proved Wendy hadn't been kidnapped by some rogue organization or Anti-Entropy splinter faction. She was playing a game. She had just hidden herself away temporarily and was leaving him a trail of breadcrumbs.
"Did you find something?" Bronya called up from the ground.
"Let's go look in the other places." Rovel didn't answer her question directly, dropping back down to the floor and immediately heading toward the exit.
Their next stop was yesterday's ice cream stand. Tucked away just above the awning, Rovel found a second Photo Sticker.
Next was the local barbershop. Then the barbecue stall down the street.
At every single location they had visited on their date, Rovel found a Photo Sticker of the two of them hidden away in a spot only someone controlling the wind could reach.
Now, only one place remained on the list.
They stood outside the brightly lit photo sticker booth.
"Bronya, do you want to take a Photo Sticker with me?" Rovel asked, gesturing to the curtained entrance.
"No," Bronya refused instantly, her tone colder than a Siberian winter.
Helpless, Rovel could only shrug and step inside the cramped booth alone. He pulled the curtain shut behind him, the small space smelling faintly of ozone and cheap plastic.
He reached forward, turning on the machine and tapping the screen to adjust the lighting settings. He pressed the start button.
Three.
Two.
Just as the countdown flashed to the two-second mark, the air pressure inside the booth plummeted. A violent gust of wind whipped the curtain wildly, and Wendy materialized directly beside him without a single sound of warning.
Just like yesterday, her hands shot out. She grabbed the sides of his face, pulling him down.
Except... this time, the kiss was absolutely nothing like the gentle, hesitant press of lips from the day before. It was like a hurricane. It was desperate, bruising, and filled with a terrifying, overwhelming aggressiveness that pinned him in place.
The camera flashed, blindingly bright.
Wendy pulled back just a fraction of an inch, her breath hot against his lips, her eyes swirling with an unnatural, dangerous light.
"Rovel... you found me..."
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