Sky Striker Princess, but the swan song of Valkyrie.

It should be said that Elfnein's deduction was correct. As an outsider, the price that a musician would have to pay to unleash their power in Zero Clothes Spirit's home turf was quite high.

Even now, a player like Hibiki Tachibana, who considers herself to have strong mental strength, becomes unable to take any action after the battle and needs to be taken care of.

"That's not good. Why don't you go rest outside when we get in touch with Elfnein next time? You should be able to see what's going on here from outside."

Seeing Tachibana Hibiki's state, Kohinata Mirai made this suggestion with some difficulty.

"No, no, we can't give up this opportunity that we finally got!"

"It's okay. I'll work harder in the future, and it definitely won't affect my next actions."

Upon hearing this, Tachibana Hibiki immediately sat up with all her might, indicating that she was completely unwilling to listen to this suggestion.

She firmly believes that without experiencing that stinging pain from a first-person perspective, it is impossible to achieve 100% communication and understanding.

"Alright then, good luck, good luck."

Faced with her close friend's insistence, Kohinata Mirai stopped trying to dissuade her and chose to offer silent encouragement.

"I absolutely can't miss anything related to Rei-chan. Ugh, I'm so tired, I have no energy left... Hmm, Rei-chan, what are we going to do?"

Hibiki Tachibana, who had propped herself up, glanced at the location where Rei was, and then asked a question.

Suddenly, Lingyi, who had been organizing the moving work, heard an alarm sound from the electronic device she was holding. Then, she turned around with a normal expression and quickly walked away in a certain direction.

"They probably have something to do. Do you need me to go and take a look for them, Hibiki?"

"Ah, then please, future."

"It's alright, I was just a little curious too."

After a brief exchange, Kohinata Mirai left Tachibana Hibiki, who had regained consciousness, behind and silently followed Rei as she left.

A moment later, following Lingyi's footsteps, they passed through several ruins and gradually entered the back door of a half-collapsed building.

"Um? "

As she followed them inside, Kohinata Mirai was unable to find Rei's figure.

"Here you are, Hinata. Why did you follow me?"

Then, in an instant, Lingyi's voice rang out from behind her, startling her.

"Lingyi... well, I was just a little curious after seeing you leave."

After calming down, Kohinata Mirai truthfully answered the question about her purpose.

"...Are you curious? If that's all there is to it, go back. This is not something you should know."

When faced with Kohinata Mirai's explanation, Rei pondered for a moment before expressing this attitude.

"Why, Zero, is there something you're hiding from me...? I don't want there to be anything you don't know about Zero."

Kohinata Mirai did not back down from Zero's attitude, but instead expressed her own thoughts.

They came here for Lingyi, so they shouldn't miss anything important and must get to the bottom of it.

"...Oh, is that so? Alright then, do as you please. Just stay here and don't make a sound. Just watch. And if you have nightmares tonight, don't blame me for not warning you beforehand."

[If we let her act recklessly, it might cause problems. It's better to keep her in check to maintain control of the situation.]

Lingyi, on the other hand, simply gave up on the argument, adopting an indifferent attitude, and turned to walk slowly upstairs.

............

Meanwhile, Kohinata Mirai quietly followed along, ready to see what Rei was going to do.

Then she saw Lingyi, who had come upstairs, walking casually up the stairs, the rhythmic patter of her footsteps echoing in the empty, dilapidated building.

"Hey, who is it? Is anyone there... gurgling sound 〓1琦丝焐究四咎?y/u ?*〥e〓-已——"

Immediately after, when Lingyi's voice disappeared around the corner and only footsteps could be heard, a rude male voice and the sound of someone walking in suddenly came from upstairs.

Pupi-Shi-

Before Kohinata Mirai could even think about what was going on, she heard something gushing out and a sound like a pig bought during a holiday collapsing to the ground.

"What's wrong? What happened? Hmm, why is there a little devil here..."

Snapped--

The next moment, after the collapse, a shrill woman's voice rang out, but before she could finish her sentence, a sound like a firecracker exploding followed, silencing her.

"What? Oh, calm down, no, don't come any closer, uh... um—"

Finally, after the male voice, trembling with fear and about to scream, was abruptly cut off, the place returned to silence once again.

"Zero Clothes..."

Hearing this obviously ominous commotion, Kohinata Mirai was very concerned, but due to Rei's orders, she still did not move.

Then, a man covered in scarlet liquid, wiping the dark gun in his hands, appeared at the bottom of the stairs.

"Yes, it's safe now. Hinata, feel free to come up if you want. I'm going to search these people to see if there's anything useful on them."

Then, leaving behind those words, Lingyi's figure disappeared once again.

"...call s two dark er er shan zero pull 3."

Taking a deep breath and preparing himself mentally, Kohinata Mirai embarked on the upward climb.

The first thing to notice is the adult male corpse disguised as a human lying at the stairwell. The fatal wound was a swift cut to the neck that brought him to an end.

Stepping over the corpse, what came into view was the body of an adult woman, who instantly lost consciousness without pain through a hole right between her eyebrows.

"Ugh, vomit..."

Upon suddenly seeing the gruesome corpse, Kohinata Mirai felt a pang of nausea, even though she didn't actually possess that ability now.

"Are you here, Zero? Are you there?"

Finally, enduring the unease in her heart, Kohinata Mirai reached the top floor, entered through an open door, and saw the last corpse.

It was a corpse whose face still showed signs of panic, with a bullet piercing through its mouth and throat, blood spurting from behind. At that moment, Lingyi was right next to him, rummaging through his pockets.

"Did you do all of this... Zero? Who are they?"

Recalling the tragic journey she had taken, Kohinata Mirai subconsciously asked the question that had been on her mind.

"From their words and their identities, we can tell that they are defeated soldiers who are turning into bandits. They gathered together during their retreat after the defeat at the front and eventually came here."

"When I came over, I heard them talking about how to provide some supplies."

After safely removing the grenades from the corpse that hadn't been used due to the rapid impact of the attack, Zero and Kohinata Mirai gave a brief explanation.

"So, Lingyi, you came here because you discovered their whereabouts and wanted to kill them?"

Kohinata Mirai realized why Rei had left.

"Yes, I put some alarms around. After all, if possible, it's better to deal with such dangerous factors on the outside."

Lingyi replied, while simultaneously sorting and packing the usable items from the corpse in front of her.

"Is that so..."

Having understood what had happened, Kohinata Mirai was speechless for a moment.

"A knife, a walkie-talkie, clothes, medical gauze, and a drone—not a bad haul... Hinata, you're done. Let's go back. Hmm, what's up, Hinata? Is there anything else?"

Soon, the supplies were packed, and Lingyi got up, picked up her package, and prepared to return home.

But at that moment, she noticed that Kohinata Mirai was silently looking at her, her eyes filled with worry and doubt that were easy to see.

P.S. I really need to work harder...

Chapter Seventeen Breakthrough

It's impossible not to worry. No matter how you look at it, the girl in front of you is not someone you can't be worried about.

"...Zero, I want to know, are you really okay now?"

Ultimately, without much thought, Kohinata Mirai asked the question.

Even though she knew that this problem couldn't change anything, couldn't change the suffering Lingyi had endured in the past, and couldn't change the current situation Lingyi was facing.

"No problem."

Then she received this answer, an immediate, unequivocal, and unwavering response.

"This……"

Kohinata Mirai didn't sense any change in emotion from her words. It was as if her words were like a feather hitting a piece of concrete, causing no reaction at all to Rei at that moment.

As mentioned before, in this spiritual space, they can sense Zero's inner thoughts to some extent, thereby experiencing Zero's state of mind.

But right now, she can't see anything.

In her current perspective, everything Lingyi is showing is so clear and obvious; her actions are exactly what she thinks and desires.

That's not right, because no matter what, the human mind is ultimately a chaotic entity, and selfish thoughts are something that no normal person can avoid. Even the most capable person will have some distracting thoughts.

Just like before, she could see Lingyi's active mind and the sparkling and joyful emotions that occasionally burst forth when she was thinking about the future.

But now, those things are completely out of reach for Kohinata Mirai.

This shows that Lingyi completed all the actions just now without any distractions, just as if she were an electronic calculator simply following a set procedure.

There was no joy in defeating anyone, nor any sorrow for the current situation; there was only the established procedure of collecting and providing solutions to the problems at hand.

"What's wrong, Hinata? Is there some oversight in the operation?"

Seeing that Kohinata Mirai was in a daze, Rei asked her a question.

"Phew...no, it's nothing."

In the end, Kohinata Mirai did not say anything further.

As things stand now, her words have no effect on the current situation. In this space of memory, everything is already set in stone, and any attempt to change it is futile.

"Lingyi, let me help out too. I can't let you carry it all by yourself."

After a moment's thought, Kohinata Mirai suppressed her recent discovery.

She understood that her current task was to explore and understand, so that she could use the best methods to achieve better results.

So she stepped forward and, under the pretext of helping Lingyi move unwanted items, touched her fingers and moved closer to her.

"Although I can manage on my own, well... it's good to conserve some energy."

At this moment, Zero clearly had no reason to refuse Kohinata Mirai, and allowed her to help, sharing half of the weight in her hands with her.

Soon, the two returned to the place where they were carrying out the moving work.

"Big sister, you're back."

"How is the moving going?"

"They've almost all been loaded onto the trucks."

"Alright, let's get ready to go."

Soon, under Lingyi's command, all the supplies were successfully loaded onto the trucks.

With the roar of engines, the truck, fully loaded with supplies and people, slowly started and headed outwards along the wasteland.

.............

The road ahead will inevitably be anything but smooth.

Minefields buried along key routes, multiple parties bombarding each other relentlessly, drones appearing and disappearing in the sky, and blockade lines used for defense—all these are obstacles to progress.

It's fair to say that every kilometer of the journey was extremely difficult.

But it was only because she was feeling unwell.

[This is Reconnaissance Team 3412. At point 325 (114, 514), at an elevation of 191.9 meters, we have spotted an enemy artillery position. Requesting air support.]

[This is Reconnaissance Team 9527. Enemy support forces have been spotted at point 196 (214, 215) at an elevation of 32 meters. Requesting bombardment.]

Two messages were sent out in two directions through special encoding. A short while later, the army blocking the way was blown up and thrown into chaos.

Modern military relies on electronic communications, and therefore, there is no need to verify identities. As long as the corresponding password is obtained, it is possible to disguise oneself as a squad whose true nature has been integrated with Mother Earth and is carrying out a mission.

As for how to obtain that intelligence... due to the internal strife, the country's hierarchy had been thrown into chaos in a short period of time. With just a little help from hacking techniques combined with social engineering methods, Lingyi easily obtained what she wanted.

[Drone signal detected... Hmm, intrusion complete, privileges seized. Thankfully, although the tools used were advanced, the person using them wasn't very skilled. Even a beginner like me was able to gain access in the end.]

After guiding the multi-party battle, Zero glanced at the signal monitor, noticed the drone signal, and casually rewrote its internal permissions, turning it into his eyes.