The Strange Adventures of Hearn the Believer

She had just emerged from her bath, wrapped in a thin white towel, the steam rising gently. Her pure silver hair cascaded over her right shoulder, a few dewdrops clinging to the tips of her long eyelashes. Her thin, icy blue eyes held a hint of moisture, and after a brief eye contact, she shyly looked away, only to glance back furtively, appearing uneasy and flustered. The darkness of the room cleverly concealed the blush rising on her almost translucent skin—this somewhat mitigated the superficial awkwardness, but it was ineffective on the woman. His vision was unaffected by such a shallow darkness, especially under these circumstances.

Hmm, we need to think of a way to improve the atmosphere. Mr. Hearn, with his high emotional intelligence, naturally noticed the awkwardness of the situation. So he sincerely extended an invitation, while making a loose handshake gesture.

“Miss Weiss, there’s a monkey downstairs that might give us away. Why don’t you make a decision and we might just go all the way?”

"..." The second young lady of the Xue Ni family held the thin bath towel tightly with one hand, her eyes revealing fear and another complex color.

Mr. Hearn was very familiar with that kind of complex emotion, because when he reunited with his senior, Winter, whom he hadn't seen for several years in the Sky Special Forces, he felt the same way—an emotion called "disillusionment."

"???" The believer Hearn was confused and didn't know what she had done wrong to make the obviously naive young girl in front of her feel disillusioned.

"...Don't you have even the slightest common sense in your head, like letting me put on some clothes first?" After a moment of inner struggle, Miss Weiss hesitated and uttered the question that had been troubling her, her voice barely audible. As soon as she finished speaking, her face turned even redder.

"Oh, I really forgot if you hadn't mentioned it!" The believer suddenly realized, and then snapped her fingers. A subspace rift nearly two meters high and half a meter wide suddenly opened up to the right of the two of them, and chaotic chaotic magic essence, along with a large amount of shadow, gushed out. The next moment, a mountain of women's fashion, with a wide variety of styles from the inside out, completely overwhelmed Miss Weiss, who was shivering from the cold.

“They’re all new styles, take your time choosing, no rush,” the believer said slowly, turning her back to him as she walked into another subspace rift to head to the first floor. Her tone was languid and leisurely. “By the way, I was just joking with you before. The whole thing about you chasing me around the house is now off the table. I won’t tease you anymore. See you in a bit, Miss Ice Cream.”

"Believing woman Hern!" The girl's voice, now filled with embarrassment and anger, abruptly ceased as the warp rift closed.

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Chapter 43 On the Eve of the Convergence

After a harmless little incident, Mr. Hearn calmly walked down the stairs and slowly returned to the first floor.

The fire crackled and swayed, dispelling the chill of the snowy night. The firewood they had brought back earlier was barely effective; the wood they found in the long-abandoned logging camp was mostly wet, and they were only able to start a fire thanks to the little fuel left in the truck.

They had been stranded in the abandoned settlement for two or three hours due to a blizzard and their off-road vehicle breaking down. It was getting late, and the wind and snow were getting stronger.

Unless absolutely necessary, Mr. Hearn really didn't want to consider the feasibility of traveling in such weather and at such a time of day, so he prayed from the bottom of his heart that nothing else would go wrong that night.

Sun did his job quite efficiently. Before he even reached the first floor, Mr. Hearn could smell the aroma of slightly burnt meat in the air, a smell that was just right.

Roasted chicken wings, my absolute favorite food...

Watching the monkey squatting there fiddling with the barbecue and boiling the canned food, Hearn inexplicably had a hallucination that had no logic whatsoever. He shook his head vigorously to banish the hallucination.

I wonder how the other group of companions are doing now?

The believer subconsciously pondered, but according to the law of conservation of team luck and referring to past practices, and considering his own predicament when he opened his eyes on that mine cart—not even having half a coin of common currency—Mr. Hearn felt that the girls' situation shouldn't be too bad, and might even be much better than his own.

"Hmm?" The senses of the Funers were very sharp, and Sun quickly noticed Mr. Hearn's presence as he walked down the stairs. "Finished resting? You've come at the right time, Hearn."

"Hmm? Is there something good happening?" The believer couldn't help but ask curiously when she saw his excited expression.

"Come and see what I've got!" The Funa people not only had keen senses, but the golden-haired guy, who was born in the Year of the Monkey, was also agile and nimble. Seeing the woman's curious question, he immediately leaned back in his squatting position and replied casually, "Let's have barbecue tonight!"

“Okay!” The believer Hearn paused for a moment, then smiled and walked over happily.

……

In the Kingdom of Cold Winds, a haven, in the affluent Gaoling district, a suite in a top-of-the-line hot spring hotel.

Inside the warm Japanese-style room, Yukino Yukinoshita wore a soft, comfortable white mink bathrobe adorned with an ancient painting of a bluebird crying blood. Her long, flowing black hair was tied up high at the back of her head, embellished with an exquisitely patterned antique wooden hairpin. Looking at herself in the mirror, Yukinoshita resembled a noblewoman from the East on a long vacation. A pang of guilt suddenly shot through her heart. Outside, the wind and snow raged. Mr. Hern was still missing, likely suffering from hunger and cold, wandering through the icy wilderness, unable to sleep peacefully. Meanwhile, her companions were squandering money, living in luxury, staying in top-of-the-line suites, soaking in hot springs, drinking sake, and enjoying the snow-covered mountains…

I feel really guilty about it.

Yukino Yukinoshita turned around and asked the two other girls, who were dressed similarly to her but with different styles, who had just come out of the bath and were also in the viewing tea room on the second floor of the suite, with unease in her voice, "Are we really not going to go find Mr. Hern? It's been a long time since night fell, and the situation outside is probably very bad. You all heard it when you were soaking in the hot spring, right? The howling of the beasts coming from the distant mountains."

Kuroyukihime lay slumped on the sofa like a corpse, seemingly not fully recovered. Her bathrobe was painted with a picture of a black lotus floating in the water. She murmured, "It's because the situation outside isn't optimistic that we've settled here and are waiting for scones. If he's in the Kingdom of Coldwind, he'll definitely come all the way to the Coldwind capital, the safe haven. If he's not even in the Kingdom of Coldwind, then there's no point in us going out to look for him."

“Your intentions are good, but the facts are just as Kuroyuki said, so instead of overthinking, you should calm down and wait for good news.” Touma walked up from behind Yukinoshita, put his hand on her shoulder, signaling her to wait patiently, and at the same time analyzed the pros and cons earnestly, “Besides, with our current group, it would be easy to fall into an awkward situation if we rashly went to the wilderness.”

Yukino Yukinoshita turned around and looked directly at the person in front of her who was now the de facto leader—Touma's yukata was decorated with a snowy landscape of thousands of mountains, and then asked questioningly, "Why?"

"Miss Yukinoshita, are you proficient in survival skills in cold-weather forest and snowfield terrain, or do you have relevant knowledge?" Touma asked, looking directly into her eyes.

“…No.” Yukino Yukinoshita was very self-aware. In civilized society, she might be able to be a jack-of-all-trades, but in places far from the world, she was indeed struggling. After saying this, she couldn’t help but feel a little down.

“No need to blame yourself, neither did I.” Touma patted Yukinoshita’s shoulder again, then pointed to the surfboard lying dead on the sofa. “As for this clueless girl, it would be fine to let her recklessly break through a heavily guarded modern military facility, but expecting her to lead you to survive on the ice field and find people—that’s giving her too much credit.”

Upon hearing this, the surfboard on the sofa raised its head and bared its teeth at Touma, only to be glared back at by Touma.

"The current situation is that the three of us are all a bit unbalanced in our studies. Going into the wilderness rashly will only make us suffer. Moreover, this is not a trip that we can just take on a whim. Purchasing supplies and procuring transportation will also cost a lot of money. Yukinoshita, you are currently in charge of the accounts, so you should be aware of this aspect."

“I understand.” After a brief moment of thought, Yukinoshita nodded, gaining a deeper understanding of the team members. However, she still offered her personal suggestion, “How about we try posting a missing person notice in the harbor’s police system tomorrow morning?”

"Let's reserve our opinion for now. Based on past experience, official forces are a double-edged sword. Getting involved rashly can sometimes be a good thing, and sometimes a bad thing." Touma lowered his hand from Yukinoshita's shoulder with a subtle expression, his eyes darting away. His assertive attitude was gone, and he returned to the sofa and sat down without saying a word.

"???" Yukinoshita looked completely bewildered.

"Let me tell you something stupid, about that silly woman." The surfboard girl, who had been lying dead on the sofa, suddenly sprang to life again. She chuckled and beckoned to Yukinoshita with her finger, gesturing for her to come closer.

"Shut up!" Miss Touma said, somewhat embarrassed and annoyed, but her tone wasn't forceful.

Upon seeing this, Yukinoshita became very curious.

“Once, it was like this. Scones got separated from us at the beginning, and that silly woman was just as worried about Scones as you are now, no, much more so than you are now. She couldn’t sleep at night—that’s just her personality, I can understand. In the end, she couldn’t stand it anymore and went to the police station for help the next morning. And guess what?” Kuroyukihime smiled mysteriously, while her gaze kept darting to Touma across from her, as if she was observing his expression.

"And then what happened?" Yukinoshita asked instinctively.

"As a result, Scone was unlucky enough to be associated with a spy who was wanted throughout the city. He was the kind of person who would be executed on the spot if discovered. Miss Loyal Dog went to the police station to look for him, but she was almost arrested on the spot by the cops who were double-crossing her because they thought she was related to Scone. Luckily, Scone had a unique way of thinking, and she escaped.

"A peculiar thought process?" Yukinoshita noticed a strange word.

"All the hostile forces in the city thought he would hide in the sewers and escape to the countryside by waterway, so they had set up checkpoints at the suburban border to wait for him. Who would have thought that he would drive a fully loaded heavy-duty tanker truck westwards and directly into the cops' hideout to set off fireworks? The stupid woman escaped unharmed." Kuroyukihime spread her hands.

"Ahem, in short, official power is a double-edged sword," Miss Touma across from me cleared her throat affectedly, a faint blush on her cheeks, her gaze drifting to the window. "We still don't know what the Nobunaga's background is this time, so we shouldn't rashly provoke the Cold Wind authorities. If conditions permit, why don't we open that [White House] tomorrow and see what our cheap old classmate is really up to?"

"..." Just mentioning this topic sent a chill down her spine. She really didn't want to open the White House in Mr. Hern's absence, as it made her deeply worried about her personal safety, even though the White House was located within the haven and its address had already been discovered.

“No need to worry, I just contacted my friend [up there], and we’ve located Mr. Hearn’s position.” A fourth voice sounded in the room. Little Red Riding Hood, wearing a black and white bathrobe, descended the stairs from the third floor, heading towards the suite’s bedroom.

"Well done... uh, not again?" Touma Kazusa's awkward expression brightened, and she subconsciously praised her. However, the next moment, a familiar palpitation suddenly rose in her heart. She slowly turned her head and then understood.

"...You idiot, turn that off right now! I'm about to have a heart attack! Turn it off now!" Kuroyukihime slumped on the sofa, her expression indeed not looking good despite her protest.

Upon hearing the words, Yukino Yukinoshita was initially delighted, but then instantly sensed something was wrong. A familiar yet completely different sense of oppression enveloped her without warning, making her feel as if she had been transported back to that rainy night on the back of a scooter. Although it was far less crazy and violent than before, it was much colder and more suffocating, as if she were in a life-threatening situation deep in the Arctic permafrost.

Yukino Yukinoshita turned around stiffly, and there she saw the usually well-behaved, adorable, and taciturn Little Red Riding Hood slowly descending the stairs. A crest that Yukinoshita found strangely familiar hovered at an angle above Little Red Riding Hood's head, slowly rotating. It was a ring composed of several complex, irregular geometric shapes, similar in style to the blasphemous crest she had seen on the personal terminal panel of Nobunaga Hernen when she failed to install the AI ​​module, yet it was not blood-red, but a clear distinction between black and white, as if symbolizing two opposing wills, or perhaps something else entirely. A faint golden ripple spread across her eyes and hair, and almost in the blink of an eye, the girl before Yukinoshita transformed back into the taciturn, seemingly drab Little Red Riding Hood, with her gray hair that didn't look warm at all, and her pupils, as beautiful and captivating as ever.

The air inside was still humid and warm, and the atmosphere was relaxed and comfortable, as if the previous abnormality was just an illusion.

“Mr. Hearn is in an abandoned settlement in the wilderness, less than 300 kilometers from the safe haven,” Charlotte explained softly to the three of them. “By the way, I personally think it would be better to wait for him to come over on his own—his current situation and his identity this time are a bit troublesome.”

……

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Chapter 44 is never-ending.

Where there are people, there is a world of its own; where there is smoke and alcohol, there are stories to tell.

On a snowy night, two men ate meat and drank wine by the dim firelight, chatting idly and sharing harmless bits of their past.

Slightly intoxicated, SunWuKong expressed his dissatisfaction and incomprehension regarding the actions of extremist organizations like White Fang in the Eastern Kingdom. He believed that the negative influence of White Fang was indispensable in the reason why the Funar people were still driven to the edge of the world by mainstream society eighty years after the end of the Great War, barely surviving in places like the Sanus Desert or the Beastland Wasteland.

The believer listened silently to the young man from the Vacuum Kingdom of Sanus complaining, nodding in agreement from time to time. In reality, she secretly slipped some light food, such as hot honey drinks, yellow peaches, or canned beef, into the second-floor bedroom through the open, palm-sized subspace rift behind her. The portions were small, enough to keep her in the dark.

After the subspace rift had been open for a while, a pair of slender hands would occasionally reach out and grope his waist, moving up and down as nimbly as a black snake. The touch was smooth and slightly cool, and he was so startled that he almost jumped up, but he managed to hold back. When Sun saw his strange expression, he stopped his speech and asked him if he was feeling unwell. He only said that a mouse had run past his butt.

“Sun, I don’t have a strong positive or negative opinion about the organization [White Fang]. In fact, I treat humans and Funar equally. In this dangerous world coveted by too many dark creatures, I only have one standard of judgment.” The woman paused, tilting her head slightly as if in thought. Sun felt she was carefully choosing her words, so he sat up straight and listened attentively. After a moment, the woman added, “On this planet, whether human or Funar, as long as they want to continue being human, I generally won’t have any dealings with them. But if someone is tired of living and doesn’t want to be human anymore, then my story with them begins.”

On this planet, 99.9999999% of the population are Muggles, and the remaining small group, if they misuse magic and inadvertently communicate with the warp, will inevitably face catastrophic consequences such as the invasion of Grimm and the descent of demons, as well as hordes of Skybreaker witch hunters arriving to kick down the door in an emergency.

Magic is a forbidden substance on this planet, without a doubt. Besides magic, various forbidden blasphemous rituals are also effective channels for communicating with the subspace. Kicking down doors to deliver warmth, disrupting ritual sites, and cleaning up humans or Furnar who don't want to be human are among the jobs of witch hunters. Due to her special professional experience, the believer has developed a value system that treats the two equally.

As the believer Hearn recalled her past experiences, she grabbed the "black snake" that had already reached below his waistband and chased it back.

Then he completely closed the subspace rift. Anyway, Miss Xue Ni on the second floor should have had enough for her midnight snack. If he let the rift open any further, he couldn't guarantee that the Sun brand light bulb in front of him would be able to walk out of this room alive.

The young man from Verna actually left a good impression on Mr. Hearn; he was straightforward and knew his limits, unlike those slutty women in the city.

Vacuum Kingdom is a place where everyone is treated equally, with simple and honest people who respect each other. As long as you can survive, the desert oasis will always welcome you.

“I’ll go tidy up. Mr. Hearn, you should go and rest.” Sun pointed to the few empty cans on the ground, some of which still had chicken bones inside.

"Sorry, I don't have the shamelessness to accept the kindness of a young person younger than me without feeling embarrassed," the woman joked, then picked up the empty cans on the ground without further ado. "Give these to me."

“But I’m a hunter, and Mr. Hearn is a civilian. Protecting civilians is a hunter’s duty.” Sun still seemed to be considering taking over.

"Stop nagging. Didn't your teacher tell you that hunters get paid for providing services to civilians outside of school?" The believer reached into her pocket, pulled out a pure energy dust crystal, and tossed it to the young man from Funa.

"Wow, I've never seen an energy dust crystal of such high purity, and such a big one too! Even the shops at Sunshade Academy rarely have such high-quality goods! With this, I can create at least thirty-six clones at once." Sun clearly knew his stuff. He nimbly caught the emerald green crystal. The light emitted by the high-purity, attribute-free energy dust crystal made his dashing blond hair look vibrant and lush.

Nonsense, those were military goods I intercepted from the treaty train bound for Hanfeng. Their condition was naturally shockingly good. Plus, given that old devil Jacques's long-standing market monopoly strategy, it's perfectly normal that such good stuff is hard to find in Vacuum...

Hearn rolled her eyes, inwardly grumbling, then laughed heartily, “Hunters should use their hands to fight Grimm and extremist cultists. Let me, a commoner, do the cleaning. By the way, this is my deposit to you. Please take care of me along the way.”

"Then I'll take the night watch!" The monkey seemed to be in a good mood. After speaking his mind, he stopped stopping the believer from cleaning up the mess and instead raised two fingers to volunteer.

"Okay, okay, but if you can't hold on any longer, please let me know with the scroll and I'll take over." The woman replied, still a little worried, as she started walking towards the main entrance of the house to throw the trash outside.

"No need. Let me show you the steely willpower of the hunters at Sunshade Academy. Besides, energy dust can replenish your energy. It's getting late, Mr. Hern. You can go upstairs and rest after you're done. I'll go check the kitchen. I noticed there seems to be another room over there when I was getting things."

"Be careful."

Sun made an "ojbk" gesture with his back to Mr. Hearn, then skipped and hopped towards the kitchen, disappearing around the corner.

The believer silently watched his retreating figure, turned back and shook her head, secretly sighing how wonderful youth was, and also reminiscing about her student days at Qingtian.

thump.

Ok?

Hern's reverie about the past was interrupted by a short, muffled thud. The sound was very soft and fleeting, and the collision between the sound-producing bodies was not strong at all. Otherwise, it would not have been such a faint sound, mixed in with the howling wind and snow. If Mr. Hern had not possessed the dynamic hearing of a ninja, he would have had no chance of discovering it.

The voice came from directly in front of him, from outside the main entrance of the refuge house.

A shimmering azure flame appeared in the believer's hand, just as it had when he evaporated the Red Spider mech. The empty cans he was holding vanished into thin air. He freed his clean hands and symbolically scratched his head.

"...Don't tell me I won't be able to sleep tonight." He whispered, then stopped hesitating. The expression on his face was no longer the Buddhist-like amiable one he had to put on in front of the young man from Funa, but a slight upturn of his lips revealed a wicked smile, a smile that was filled with pure killing intent.

He strode forward, opened the mansion door, and went outside. The winter night wind, carrying snowflakes, rushed into the house, and the embers in the fireplace flickered, as if they might go out at any moment.

The cold of winter enveloped him.

The believer, Hearn, froze on the steps of the stairs in front of the house, the cold wind brushing against his neck, but he remained unmoved.

He remained silent for about ten seconds, then rubbed his eyes and scratched his head, as if finally convincing himself that he wasn't seeing things.

Then, he walked silently down the steps to the snow in front of the door. He looked around, his ninja-like dynamic vision allowing him to see very far in the night, ignoring the darkness, but he found nothing.

His gaze returned to the snow beside him, and he pondered for a moment, resting his chin on his hand. Then, as if he had finally figured it out, he squatted down and began to examine it.

The next second, the woman, like a little girl who had stepped on a mouse, was lifted into the air from her crouching position and landed on the steps in front of the refuge house, her face full of disgust and loathing.

He made a move to leave, then took a few steps back, stepped inside, and the doors of the refuge closed, blocking the cold wind and restoring warmth to the interior.

After a fifteen-second silence, the mansion door opened again. Mr. Hearn walked out of the mansion with a look of helplessness and annoyance at himself, and casually closed the door behind him. Without further hesitation, he nimbly leaped down the steps and directly opened a subspace rift.

On the second floor of the refugee residence, in the bedroom by the window, Miss Xue Ni had just changed into a pure white trench coat with black trim, black buttons, and small accessories. She was sitting on the edge of the bed, sipping a cup of warm honey water.

Then she saw a dark blue subspace rift open open brazenly from the second-floor bedroom. Because of her previous experience, she knew that it was the work of the believer Hearn, so she only maintained a minimum level of vigilance and even continued to leisurely enjoy her hot drink while casting curious glances at the rift.

Then, the next moment, when she saw the believer Hearn backing away as naturally and with minimal effort as possible, carrying a blood-soaked, black-haired girl with cat ears out of the crevice...

Weiss almost choked to death on the honey water in her mouth.

"Is this ever going to end?" After laying the Funa girl flat on the floor, Shinjo clapped her hands and started a fire to clean the bloodstains off her body. At the same time, she made up her mind that when she returned this time, she would enshrine Yukino Yukinoshita and offer incense to her.

“Cough cough... cough, Hern, Hern!” Weiss, who had finally recovered, was unusually agitated. “It was her! When I was in Port 100, she and another red-haired, horned male Funa were the ones who ambushed and attacked me. In the end, I was no match for them and was stuffed into the life support box.”

“…A minotaur and a wildcat, what a strange combination.” The believer looked at her with pity. “You must have had a hard time.”

……

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Chapter 45 Crime and Punishment

Mr. Hearn now has the illusion that if he stays here any longer, he can throw a party before dawn tomorrow.

Looking back, the random encounters of the past are like smoke. Mr. Hearn has tasted all the hardships of life. Every time he opened his eyes, his origins were mostly unsatisfactory—he had spent time in a deep-sea prison, hunted saber-toothed tigers on the vast grasslands, lived as a savage, guarded the pharaoh's tomb in the vast desert while stealing from it, and went from a free-spirited outlaw to the illegitimate son of Louis XVI who was beheaded in 1793...

In short, Mr. Hearn, who had seen many storms and been heartbroken, had the illusion for the first time that Lady Luck was opening her legs to him.

The blessing of the Golden Witch Yukinoshita, Yukinoshita, is terrifyingly powerful!

The believer moved a chair and sat down in front of the bed, giving Weiss, who had also moved a chair and sat down beside her, an inquiring look.

The large catwoman on the bed was seriously injured. The wounds could be roughly divided into two categories. One category was caused by a sharp object, most of which were superficial or penetrating wounds, and miraculously avoided all vital organs. This could be attributed to the person's luck or agility being exceptionally high—however, the believer thought this hypothesis was invalid, for a simple reason: if there was such a large difference in skill between her and her opponent, she wouldn't have ended up like this. The only remaining answer was that the person who stabbed her was very measured and deliberately avoided all vital organs for some reason, leaving only punitive wounds.

However, the real reason that caused this large cat to fall into a coma was not the external injuries, but the extreme fatigue after the intense battle and the bruises all over its body—it looked like it had rolled down a snow mountain. The reason it was tattered but not completely broken was entirely due to the cushioning effect of the snow.

After rolling down the mountain, it mustered its last bit of willpower and strength to walk out of the snowy forest. And luckily—black cats are usually not too unlucky—it happened to come to the vicinity of this settlement. Then, attracted by the smell of food and the firelight of the fireplace, it came to the only house that might be inhabited. On the way up the steps, it lost consciousness completely due to a relaxation of its will and then rolled back down the steps.

The reason why the believer was so startled downstairs was actually quite simple. He heard a thud, then opened the door and saw a black-haired girl lying unconscious in the doorway, covered in blood. After confirming that he wasn't seeing things, he went over to check on her out of humanitarianism. He then noticed the cat ears on the girl's head and was so frightened that he flew back up the steps. He wanted to give up and pretend he didn't see anything, but after going back inside, he couldn't bear it after taking only a few steps. So, he gave up and went outside again, carefully carrying the large cat to the bedroom on the second floor in a way that would not hurt her.