Chapter 40: A Miracle That Happens Only Once
***
Trust me, this was not intentional.
It was merely an accidental mistake that Jiang Qiao made without paying attention.
“This is…”
Picking up the extremely tiny fragments from the ground that were still continuously dissipating, Fu Hua stared at this incredibly familiar material and froze.
The price of using Fenghuang Down during the Second Eruption had caused her to forget even her beloved disciple Cheng Lixue who had been by her side, and her memories of the past had been burned completely clean in that single sword strike.
Even after Otto shot her in the head and retrieved her body for treatment, her more distant memories never recovered.
By all logic, she should never have been able to recognize who the owner of this object was.
But wasn’t the owner of the crystal originally a person of miracles?
Perhaps influenced by that miracle, as Fu Hua gazed at these remaining crystal fragments, a miracle that happened only once appeared in her fragmented, already burned-out memories.
It was an extremely blurry face, and the only thing she could make out clearly was that impressive… pink.
“E…ly…”
The fragmented memories couldn’t allow the girl to recall the name of that flower-like beautiful pink owner. In her utmost effort to remember, there would be no lucky breaks.
Being able to recall that burned-out face was already a miracle for the girl named Fu Hua in this lifetime.
But miracles don’t happen often. No matter what, she couldn’t remember the complete name belonging to that girl.
Fu Hua slowly touched the corner of her eye. The moist sensation was transmitted to her mind through her tactile nerves.
She was crying.
Why?
Was it because of this crystal fragment that was about to evaporate completely?
The girl kneeling on the ground clutched that vivid crystal tightly in her palm, unable to speak for a long time.
Until—
“Old friend, have you discovered something?”
A familiar voice rang in her ear. That magnetic male voice full of British gentleman style came through the Shadow Knight battlesuit’s system.
“Hmm, it seems your condition doesn’t look very good? Did you remember something sad?”
Noticing Fu Hua’s abnormality, Otto, who was far away at Schicksal, was somewhat surprised, but knowing his old friend’s situation well, he wasn’t particularly shocked, just casually inquiring.
In response, Fu Hua slowly stood up, wiped away the moist traces at the corner of her eyes, and said calmly: “I seem to have remembered someone important, yet I can’t remember anything about them no matter what.”
“Oh? Do you need my help?”
The Overseer far away at Schicksal suddenly became interested.
Don’t misunderstand, he really just wanted to help his old friend as a friend.
Of course, Otto wouldn’t deny that he indeed wanted to use such an opportunity to see if he could obtain any information useful for his plans. After all, Fu Hua’s memories, having lived through unimaginable ages, were truly a treasure trove.
He had done similar things in the past, such as using Fu Hua’s memories to search for those Soulium spheres buried in various places.
But regarding more distant memories, that was completely beyond Otto’s reach.
“No need.”
Fu Hua rejected outright.
Although she could vaguely feel that it was someone very important, she would no longer trouble herself over some past event.
For the life of the girl named 【Fu Hua】, what she needed to do was not reminisce about the past, but look toward the future!
However, she did do something she wouldn’t have done in the past.
For example…
Fu Hua did not inform Otto about the existence of the crystal fragment that had already completely disappeared from her hand.
If it were the past, with her honest personality, she would definitely have told the truth.
If Otto could get the crystal fragment, he would definitely be able to analyze many things from it.
But somehow, Fu Hua felt strange about the emotion that spontaneously arose in her heart.
She was unwilling to let this pink crystal fall into the hands of someone like Otto, even if it was just a tiny crystal fragment.
If she had to describe it, it was like wanting to protect something.
“Alright, alright, if you don’t want to, I naturally won’t force you.”
Before touching upon his plans, the man named Otto Apocalypse was quite true to his word and wouldn’t force his old friend.
— Even though he was really curious.
“Let’s talk about something else, for example… that energy fluctuation from earlier—”
“That Herrscher-level energy fluctuation.”
Far away at Schicksal headquarters in the Mediterranean, when saying this sentence, a trace of gloom flashed through the eyes of this smiling Overseer.
With Jiang Qiao’s completely undisguised display of power, the various factions naturally weren’t blind either.
Even after losing contact with Fu Hua, Otto, who was far away in Europe, had received reports from his subordinates.
Although extremely brief, that fluctuation was undoubtedly Herrscher-level, and according to the monitoring instruments, the peak value of this fluctuation exceeded that of the Herrscher of the Void Sirin from the Second Eruption in an instant!
By all logic, after losing the four gems, even if K423 awakened early due to a Honkai eruption, it should be impossible to produce fluctuations of this level.
Moreover, from reports from all sides, Nagazora City was extremely stable, with no signs of a Honkai eruption at all.
In other words, with neither the 3rd Herrscher’s vessel Raiden Mei nor the experimental subject K423 awakening,
Nagazora City had a peak-level Herrscher energy reaction appear out of nowhere.
After realizing this point, Otto’s previous composure turned into restless anxiety.
Having waited for 500 years, he had zero tolerance for variables that might disrupt his plans.
As a result, aside from that ordinary person named Jiang Qiao, now another completely unknown high-intensity Herrscher reaction had suddenly appeared—
“Those rats really know how to cause me trouble!”
Otto covered his face, his emerald eyes revealing bone-chilling coldness and killing intent.
He had originally thought that fool Cocolia’s smug plan would let him sit back and reap some benefits.
As a result, she really gave him a great “surprise”!
— Regarding this issue, Fu Hua didn’t continue to hide anything and reported truthfully.
After all, she wasn’t very clear about what this energy fluctuation was about either.
“…”
Otto wasn’t very satisfied with Fu Hua’s report.
Because there was really too little useful information.
But—
A red-haired spear-wielding girl?
From Fu Hua’s mouth, he learned about Sakura Kyoko.
Otto fell into brief contemplation.
There were too many changes in Nagazora City. Even he was having trouble understanding the situation.
However, all of this seemed to have happened after this man named Jiang Qiao appeared, right?
Looking at the projection before him, Otto narrowed his eyes, revealing a dangerous gleam.
“Old friend, come back first.”
— In this situation, it would be most appropriate to have Rita handle this, right?