章節 7: Chapter 7: Raven's Nest and the Sakura Interceptor
It was not difficult for Kirataka to find Raven's location.
Although Nagazora is large and the East City District is also quite large, for him, who can move in multiple directions at the same time at any fork in the road to conduct a "carpet search," it is only a matter of time before he finds Raven.
Well, or rather, found by Raven.
"Do not move."
In a branch, after Kirataka turned into the corner of an alley, a voice came from the sky.
Then, a sharp claw abruptly extended from behind to his neck, threatening him so that he could not move easily.
A murderous aura locked onto Kirataka from behind, but it quickly disappeared after a few seconds.
Perhaps, Raven also has her own skills to judge whether the other party is a martial artist. After confirming that they are just ordinary people, she eliminated her hostility.
"You... are survivors?"
After retracting her claws, Raven said with some surprise.
Although she did save many children in Nagazora today, this was the first time she saw survivors like Kirataka and Sora with all their limbs intact and clear consciousness.
Adults' panicked escape often results in death, while young children lack sufficient physical strength and courage and often cannot run far.
The children she had rescued were still in a coma when they were first rescued.
"Well, hello, may I ask who you are..." Kirataka asked step by step.
"Um... you can just call me [Raven]. Okay, turn around."
The gray-haired woman said casually.
Kirataka pulled Sora back and saw the true face of the gray-haired woman.
She has short grey hair, rose-red eyes with snake-shaped pupils, and is wearing a black cloak with burgundy decorations. She is wearing a black and grey tight-fitting combat suit that wraps her entire body and is reinforced with a large number of leather belts. There is a feather decoration on her left shoulder, and the cuffs are shaped like bird wings.
Obviously, compared to Bronya, who is lightly dressed and looks like a girl next door, Raven looks more like a warrior.
Even Sora could tell this, and Raven seemed to still have some traces of battle from having just dealt with an Honkai beast, making her temperament seem a little intimidating.
For a little child, this kind of aura was a little scary.
"Don't worry, I won't hurt you."
Noticing Sora's fear, Raven spoke to her with a gentle smile.
After a pause, she continued:
"You are lucky to have met me. Come, I will take you to a truly safe place."
…
A moment later, in a high-rise building in the East City District.
This is the place that Raven calls the "Nest."
Because Raven used the World Serpent's black technology to drive away most of the nearby Honkai beasts and demarcated a safe zone, it was generally very safe and quiet here, without the restlessness and roars of monsters. It was like a paradise, completely different from other chaotic areas in Nagazora.
After Kirataka and Sora arrived here, they saw many children who were about the same age as Sora.
Most of them were resting in the room due to exhaustion. Only a white-haired boy was standing guard at the door, seemingly waiting for Raven to return.
He looked no more than six or seven years old. When he saw Raven return, he immediately ran forward happily:
"Teacher, you are back."
"Yeah, Lyle."
Raven smiled and patted his head, then pointed at Kirataka and Sora behind him:
"I met some new survivors in the city, so I brought them back with me."
Lyle...
Well, isn't this the sniper against the second team of Honkai in the post-Honkai?
Kirataka thought about it while looking at the young man carefully.
Well, although he was still a small guy physically, he did look pretty much the same as he remembered.
——He was also one of the children picked up by Raven in Nagazora.
After Raven did some basic physical examinations on Sora, she asked her to stay in the room and rest with the other children and then came outside.
Kirataka was standing on the edge of the platform, looking towards Chiba Academy, thinking about something.
"Thank you, Miss Raven."
Kirataka thanked her politely again.
"It's just a small favor... You look like you have something else to say to me."
The gray-haired woman waved her hand casually.
"Well, what I want to say is..."
Kirataka pondered for a moment and told Raven about Sora's affairs.
"You want to keep that child here?"
The gray-haired woman heard Kirataka's request, looked back at the room, nodded, and said:
"Of course, this area is very safe. If you need to, you can stay here and hide until the outbreak is over. And..."
After a pause, Raven continued:
"That child can only stay here now. She can't go anywhere else."
Because of the disaster of Honkai, the stigma was forced to awaken, but it was not fully awakened. It only gave these children the ability to survive in an environment filled with Honkai energy.
Conversely, they have also become dependent on Honkai energy, and once they leave an environment like Nagazora, they will become unable to survive.
The only way to save them is to take medicine to slowly promote the complete awakening of the stigmata - in this regard, the guy called "Jackal" does have some means.
"Besides her, what about you? What are your plans?"
"I have to go back to the other side of Nagazora. I have a friend there."
Kirataka responded with the same rhetoric he had used to deal with Bronya before.
"There are few living people in Nagazora now. Your friend is..."
Raven had a sharp mind and quickly came up with something.
However, she did not continue.
——Because it has nothing to do with her.
The mission assigned to her by the World Serpent in Nagazora has been completed. She doesn't care about the rest. Instead of getting involved in things that have nothing to do with her, she is more focused on continuing to search and rescue children in distress in the city.
It's better not to pry into other people's secrets. As a mercenary, the less you know, the better.
Raven said:
"You are very courageous. Normal people would not think of returning to the scene of such a doomsday disaster. They would just run away."
Even within the World Serpent, it is not an easy task to make the new recruits who have just joined the organization familiar with the atmosphere of fighting on the battlefield and facing danger.
She looked at Kirataka carefully for a while and suddenly said:
"You seem quite talented. If you are interested, I have a good place to recommend you."
Is she trying to pull herself into the World Serpent?
Kirataka thought about it and answered:
"What is the [Talent] you are talking about...?"
"Most people are terrified when facing a disaster. Even if they can still move, they can't think calmly and find a precise way to escape from the Honkai beast. This means that you already have enough psychological qualities to face danger. Well, I'm talking about the talent to become a [Warrior]."
Raven said with a smile.
Although he looks like an ordinary person who is powerless now, with such talent, his future growth will be quite rapid.
'Actually, I just got used to it because I experienced it so many times...'
Kirataka responded silently in his heart.
After the first few deaths, he still felt uncomfortable all over and felt nauseous, and wanted to vomit, but now that his death record has been in double digits, he has become accustomed to it.
Or rather, numbness.
He thought for a moment, and instead of rejecting the olive branch offered by Raven, he replied:
"...After I find my friend, if I am still alive, I will consider this matter."
Although Raven has extended an olive branch, the World Serpent organization is indeed not on his priority list at the moment.
After all, before Kevin was salvaged from the sea, the World Serpent was basically in a dormant state, doing basically nothing except infiltrating Schicksal and anti-Entropy.
After Kevin's comeback, the main work of the entire organization was to prepare for the [Stigmata Project]. In the original timeline, excluding the Herrscher of Corruption who was brought into the [Elysian Realm] by Mei, they only sent cadres to deal with the incidents of the Herrscher of Stars and the Herrscher of Ice.
It can be said that before the final [Stigmata Plan] was launched, the World Serpent was mostly free from crisis - perhaps, in the eyes of the World Serpent, only the crisis of the Herrscher of the End could be regarded as the only disaster.
Among the three organizations, Schicksal, Anti-Entropy, and World Serpent, the one he currently wants to enter is Schicksal's St. Freya Academy.
On the one hand, it is because of the existence of the Big Three, and on the other hand, as the protagonists, they are exposed to the most crises.
As for Anti-Entropy... it is indeed not a good choice at this moment when the leader Welt is personally undercover in St. Freya Academy and the executive officer Cocolia is taking the opportunity to usurp power.
"Then I wish you could come back alive. If you have such plans, you can come back here and leave me your contact information. Although I won't stay here all the time to take care of these children... but I will come back every once in a while."
Raven said with a low laugh.
She really wanted to pull Kirataka into the World Serpent.
There are not many people with excellent Honkai resistance, and men are even rarer. Moreover, most of them have been intercepted by the Schicksal Organization or the Anti-Entropy Organization.
The World Serpent, which has been hiding underground, has a natural disadvantage in attracting talent. The number of cadres is pitifully small, and it can only recruit talent through this method of picking up leaks.
If he could join the World Serpent and become a cadre, he would also receive a generous bonus.
Well, for Raven, the latter is actually the point.
——Since the past, she has been accumulating wealth, planning to retire one day in the future and start a new life.
More than ten years have passed since she was picked up and trained by Gray Serpent. She has basically saved up enough money. Well, she has set her eyes on a small island near the Mediterranean and plans to build an island villa there.
That location was carefully selected by her, near the floating island headquarters of Schicksal - Raven believed that the area near the headquarters of Schicksal must be the safest place in the world and the place farthest from Honkai.
As long as she lived nearby, the Valkyries at the Schicksal Headquarters would be equivalent to her bodyguards for her retirement life.
She can stay away from the Honkai, away from all the troubles of the world, and enjoy a new and free life.
Originally, she just wanted to live there alone, but now she has saved so many children here... After their illnesses are cured, she will let them move over there to live together.
"Since you are going back to Nagazora... would you like me to give you a hand? I have something to do on that side as well."
Raven suggested.
She would not stay in the [Nest] forever but would have to go back to the disaster site in Nagazora to search for other surviving children.
It would be convenient to take Kirataka along.
"Well, thank you for your help then."
Of course, he wanted it more than anything. After all, with his current physical strength as an ordinary person, it would take him a long time just to get to Chiba Academy.
"Then now... Hey, that child seems to have something to say to you."
Raven was about to get up and take action, but she saw Sora gently push open the door behind her and stick her little head out to look over here.
"I'll go prepare the equipment first, and we'll set off in five minutes."
Raven waved to Kirataka as she walked towards another house at the edge.
"Sora, what's wrong?"
Kirataka looked at the purple-haired girl who came to his side.
She folded her hands in front of her chest and asked timidly:
"Brother Kirataka... are you going to leave here?"
"Well, I still have some things to take care of. You can live here with the other children."
He leaned over and touched Sora's head.
"Then, can I... see you again in the future?"
The girl asked timidly.
"Of course."
For a long time, the girl had to live in Nagazora.
If he managed to sneak into St. Freya's Academy, it wouldn't be difficult for him to return here.
Sora lowered her head and thought for a few seconds, then raised her head again, plucked up the courage to come forward, and gave Kirataka a hug.
"Thank you..."
If Kirataka hadn't rescued her in the collapsed house, she might have been devoured by those horrible monsters.
At the same time, Kirataka felt as if a warm current was flowing into his body.
He clearly felt that his resistance to Honkai energy had improved.
Is this what is called "feedback"? From Sora?
Reincarnation and salvation... and getting rewarded for it?
Kirataka thought thoughtfully.
Perhaps, this is what is called "good people will be rewarded."
............…
Near Chiba Academy.
Kirataka came here again.
Thanks to Raven, it took less than twenty minutes to get here from Dongcheng District.
——She lifted herself with one hand and jumped between tall buildings, easily avoiding most of the Honkai beasts.
After looking at the raven that was gradually going away, Kirataka turned around and looked towards Chiba Academy, which was not too far away.
Anyway, his initial goal is to use his abilities to infiltrate Chiba Academy.
With no other ideas, for the time being, the only way now is obviously to find a certain white-haired ball who is still in the academy.
With this thought in mind, Kirataka took a step forward.
But changes always happen faster than planned.
An unexpected figure blocked his way.
It was a cherry-colored figure.
Before Kirataka could say anything, the cherry-colored girl spoke:
"Human, I have a favor to ask of you."
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