"I have arrived at the designated location, HQ, and am waiting for further instructions."
On a street in Sundown Alley, a girl with long pink hair is wearing casual clothes and walking slowly to a alley.
"I am sensing a lot of people infected with Honkai Sickness, I 'inquired' a little bit, a nursing home is taking in children with the sickness... What a lunatic, if too much Honkai energy can gather in large amounts, it would have caused a Honkai Outbreak."
All around, many residents exuding a dangerous aura were looking at this weak girl vigilantly. Seeing her young and beautiful appearance, vigorous and tangible figure, with her pink rabbit ears on the top of her head that seemed to be for cosplay, some people still couldn't help but licked their lips and whistle.
However, in the face of these people, the girl didn't care about them. Before someone came up, she patted a sharp katana on her waist, and the handle of the blade drew off suddenly, revealing a light blue color like a thin ice-colored blade.
The cold wind spread instantly, and all the peepers fled immediately.
"Ha......"
Sakura took a deep breath, tried hard to restrain the rabbit ears on the top of her head, and stop them from moving, and continued to walk forward.
"The coordinates of the traitor have been sent to you, and the equipment prepared for you will erase all signs. We will cut off contact next, Sakura, you know the rules. If you are arrested, then no one will prove it for you— - do it well."
On the other end of the phone, the man who spoke sounded amiable, as if he was an old leader who cared about his subordinates.
"As for the nursing home, although it shouldn't be important, you can drop by... Take care of it and do it cleanly."
But his words were still cold and ruthless, Sakura knew how many damnable and innocent lives were carried on this person.
"Don't be burdened by this. You are fighting for the survival of mankind. Before the end, all of our morality and ethics will lose their meaning. All must be erased!"
In society at this time, the regimes of various countries are still alive and well. At a social level, people are not interested in Fire Moth which suddenly pops up and declares that they want to save the world and recruit talents.
The people called Fire Moth a devil, and the politicians rack their brains to make this organization serve them. Although Fire Moth itself was established by each country, a country always has hostile factions of its founders.
In fact, the people's name is not wrong. Fire Moth is indeed a demon. Their experiments are constantly trampling the bottom line, and there is also Cocoon, an organization specially used to deal with the dirty work.
And this mission is to deal with a few defectors from Fire Moth, making them disappear without a sound.
Sakura is one of them. She failed to assassinate Dr. Mei but was recruited into the organization instead. As a price, she was dragged into the so-called MANTIS experiment which had a high chance of death.
Of course, in fact, this is no different from the death penalty. After enduring great pain, Sakura became one of the lucky few who survived.
Afterward, Sakura got ears on the top of her head, and she couldn't restrain the pair of rabbit ears from swinging, which made her very embarrassed. The other nine, no, the first batch of the eight MANTIS didn't have this strange feature ——Why does she always subconsciously feel that there were nine MANTIS?
However, this has nothing to do with Sakura, she is just a weapon, she shouldn't have too many other thoughts, she doesn't think too much when carrying out missions, and the only thing she cares about is one person...
Thinking in this way, Sakura came to the depths of the alley, into a warehouse that looked particularly old, and opened the gate covered with iron chains.
She will not act as a Fire Moth Soldier, and all the equipment she needs will be provided at the target location, which can make her actions more stealthy...or she can run away at any time.
"Eh?"
Then, looking at the empty warehouse in front of her, Sakura was stunned.
Where do I equip? Where's my equipment?
She can be sure that there were no mistakes in Cocoon, the tactical equipment must have been delivered, then...someone must have stolen the goods!
"Big Sis, what are you looking for, is something missing?"
Suddenly, behind Sakura, there was a crisp, childish voice, which could not be distinguished between a boy or girl and rang softly. Sakura subconsciously thought of her sister "Rin", and her body trembled violently.
She worked so hard and never minded getting blood on her hands, just because she wanted her sister to live a stable life. In the eyes of her sister, she has always been a gentle and good sister. The fact that she has become a killer must not be known to her!
But soon, she realized that it was impossible for Rin to be here—the most important thing was, how could she, not notice that someone was approaching her!
Putting her slender hand on the handle of her blade, Sakura turned her head and saw a neatly dressed little boy looking at him with a smile, she was slightly relieved.
Just a kid...
"Hello, child, some of the goods I stored here were in a big box, and now are missing. Do you know who took them?"
Still maintaining basic politeness, Sakura smiled and asked the child in front of her a question. She knew the chaos in Sundown Alley, and if these pieces of equipment spread to the market, there would definitely be a lot of impacts.
"Big box? I don't know, sister, all I know is that Fire Moth planned to murder the residents of Sundown Alley. Since your war preparations were taken away by a cute cat—Sister Sakura?"
But in the next second, this cute black-haired boy suddenly uttered words that sent a chill down Sakura's spine, and her slender hands instantly gripped "Frozen Naraka" on her waist, and the blade was unsheathed, onto her opponent's throat.
"Which organization do you belong to? I will give you three seconds."
This is the consciousness of being a killer. No matter how she talks, she must be able to take someone's life at any time.
However, what the little boy said next made Sakura shudder.
"Threatening children with weapons, has Fire Moth always been this low? Sakura, what will happen if your sister Rin finds out about this kind of thing? She indeed is a naive child. "
His neck was almost frozen by ice flakes, but the boy—Gao Qi was not afraid at all, and he didn't even feel the cold. He smiled and looked at the shocked girl in front of him, and said the lines he had always dreamed of.
"Sister Sakura, you don't want your favorite sister to have an accident, right?"
Gao Qi still likes this cute rabbit-eared character very much, but as a good sister, it is a bit too tragic that her sister has died in both the Previous Era and the Current Era.
However, the threat method in the book is obviously of no use to a killer.
"I think you need to consider your own safety first, little friend—you sure know a lot, but can you utter more words in the Deep Zone."
Panic and hesitation only existed for a moment, and Sakura stopped the blade on the neck of the little boy in front of her without hesitation. No matter what, she wanted to control the boy.
Perhaps, he's just the messenger, and there is another person behind this child. Sakura knows that in Sundown Alley, there is an underground king named "Boss". Maybe he is...
However, in the next second, Sakura felt a biting cold. Her katana was made of the remains of the Herrscher of Ice and the shell of its companion Honkai Beast Parvati. The cold can freeze a room instantly, but It won't hurt her.
But now, her arm was frozen in reverse.
At this moment, Gao Qi's body began to emit bursts of chills. Frost covered his black hair, and the Honkai energy on his arms began to spread continuously—the next second, the armor made of frost began to cover his body.
【 Authority of the Herrscher: Herrscher of Ice. 】
"What are you waiting for, Kalpas, the war has begun!"
In the next second, in a corner of the warehouse, a man wearing a mask who was burning with blazing flames broke through the wall and crashed into the stunned Sakura.
"Come on, woman, fight me, you want to destroy the nursing home! Come try to kill me first!!!"
【A few seconds later, the corner of Sundown Alley, where you evacuated the crowd in advance with the excuse of a fire, was completely swallowed by the impact of the explosion. 】
【You let Kalpas be responsible for dealing with Sakura, and you unsealed the power of your MANTIS. At the same time, you activated the core of the Herrscher of Ice that had been preserved long ago—your life began to count down. 】
【Three minutes later, while Kalpas was already being beaten to the point of screaming, you subdued all the Cocoon forces hiding in Sundown Alley, packed them up, and threw them in front of Sakura. 】
【At this time, Kalpas's body was almost frozen, and he had no ability to fight except his mouth was still stiff. 】
【Then, you showed a power that surprised even Sakura. 】
"Ha, you little brat! You're strong, so you have been hiding your clumsiness all this time. If I knew it, I would have fought you!"
A big hole was pierced through his heart, and Kalpas lay motionless on the ground beside him, although extremely weak, his mouth was still stiff.
"MANTIS, you're a MANTIS?! How is it possible, you're so so small, how can Mobius——damn it!"
Half of her body was completely frozen, and Sakura was pressed to the ground by Gao Qi's small body. Although her strength was slightly weaker, this opponent's proficient fighting skills were not inferior to hers.
Sakura could tell that this boy must have experienced cruel and rigorous training through deathmatches, he is a real fighter!
As for Gao Qi, he just smiled and shrugged.
"Actually, I was also living in Sundown Alley nearly a year ago, and I was the only one who survived among the experimental subjects —guess, how many other children are as old as your sister?"
Nine truths and one lie, Gao Qi is the best at talking, as the lover of Mobius, the MANTIS who suppressed the entire Higher Ups of Fire Moth, Gao Qi knows almost all the dark secrets of the organization, although after the Seventh Herrscher, Mobius produced the first MANTIS but she had done many experiments before, and many people died.
But— there couldn't be children among there. Are the Higher Ups of Fire Moth stupid, leaving the ready-made elite soldiers unused, and wasting precious resources on children?
As for Grieso, that's purely Mobius' selfishness.
However, Gao Qi now intends to tell a lie and become a survivor of a Fire Moth MANTIS experiment—coming for revenge.
And Sakura is his chosen helper.
After all, it may be more effective to convince her that her sister will become the subject of the experiment than using something that will happen in the future like "your sister will become the Twelfth Herrscher".
"What, you're talking nonsense, it's impossible, it's impossible for Rin to—"
This person knew so many secrets about Fire Moth and also possesses the power of a MANTIS. Up to this point, Sakura has actually believed most of his words.
And, when it comes to her sister Rin...
"If you don't believe me, I can take you to Mobius' Laboratory to check if there is any information about Rin—you can also think that nothing happened here at all, and continue to be the lackey of Cocoon."
Standing up from Sakura, Gao Qi stretched out his hand towards her.
"Or, you can let those so-called Higher Ups completely bow down to you and let them fear you instead of using you-you should have come by plane, so we can go back together."
Because of the success of the experiment on Sakura, Mobius did save her data, but the purpose was to investigate whether the sisters had anything in common with regard to the success of the MANTIS surgery—but if Sakura had to look at it, then Rin's information on the computer was enough to convince her.
"Okay... I will take you to the HQ of Fire Moth, just to verify."
After hesitating for a while, the rabbit ears on the top of Sakura's head slowly drooped. For her, Rin is everything. To ensure her safety, Sakura will do anything!
"Okay, Miss Killer, get up, let's—"
However, before Gao Qi finished, suddenly, a somewhat surprised voice appeared behind Gao Qi.
"Zero! Children, the fate of the children has changed. I only found out that were here when I asked Pardo. Was it a gas explosion—you, are you all right!"
Not far away, Aponia ran over out of breath, with an excited smile on her face, but when she saw the scene of the great battle and Gao Qi's appearance wrapped in ice at the moment, Aponia suddenly froze.
Hearing Aponia's voice, Gao Qi didn't hesitate much, and directly wrapped his left arm covered by Honkai energy lines with pure ice crystals. Smiling and looking at Aponia.
"It's nothing serious, Sister Nia, everything is fine, but... I want to talk to you about the things I kept from you."
It was Gao Qi who asked Pardo to inform him that Aponia came here. In fact, Aponia also needs to be involved in the next plan.
"Kept from me, It's okay, I won't be angry, everyone has secrets, you can tell me, I'm happy your doing so."
Her joyful expression dissipated, and Aponia couldn't help biting her lips as she looked at the boy smiling at her.
She and Gao Qi, the inseparable silk thread called fate, is becoming thinner and thinner at this moment, from the originally inseparable iron chain to a fragile silk thread...
As Gao Qi said, fate may really be changed, but it is difficult.
Just now, Aponia discovered that the fate of the children in the nursing home had undergone a certain change. It not only continued, but also became stable and safe.
It's just... Aponia didn't expect that the change of fate would cost so much.
With just one glance, she understood that Gao Qi's time...is running out.
Walking forward slowly, she came to Gao Qi's side. Aponia was not afraid of the ice crystals on his body, but stretched out her arms and hugged Gao Qi in her arms.
"It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter, I will be with you...to the end."
Deliberately raising the temperature of the ice crystals, Gao Qi knew that Aponia might have known everything, and there shouldn't be too much sadness in this parting.
"Let's go, sister, to completely burn the sins of Fire Moth to ashes!