Sky Striker Princess, but the swan song of Valkyrie.

"Is that so? What a terrifying ability."

Even though Kazanari Genjuro had overestimated the other's abilities as much as possible and made what he considered the most correct decision, it seemed that apart from Tachibana Hibiki's rampage, every step they took was within the other's plan.

Even when faced with the unexpected outburst of Hibiki Tachibana, she managed to weaken her own forces to the maximum extent possible, and may even have gathered some intelligence.

"Is it scary? I think it's just normal thinking: setting goals, making plans, abandoning the plan if it can't be implemented, and then compromising. It's a very normal thought process."

Unlike Commander Fengming's assessment, Lingyi herself didn't feel there was anything wrong with it; it was just her basic thinking when she dueled with others in her previous life.

"...So what exactly do you want? According to what you've said, you have no reason to continue talking to us here."

Kazanari Genjuro's breathing became somewhat sluggish. The more he learned about Rei's abilities, the more terrifying he realized that her abilities seemed to have no end.

By now, he had no intention of being his enemy, because he didn't know what else was hidden beneath the other party's seemingly effortless demeanor.

"Let's get this straight, I'm not chatting with you guys; you all rushed up to me and started talking to me on your own. And I'm here because I have work to do. Once I'm done, I'll go back on my own." 27

Faced with Commander Fengming's questioning, Lingyi II Yi #鷗漆陆2群·聊 replied with an indifferent expression.

Her plan for Section Two was basically completed when Kazanari Tsubasa performed her final song. Now, she is simply retrieving the dozens of airspace components that she had set up here to deploy the Sky Slash airspace for the purpose of the battle.

"Of course, if you're willing to continue fighting with me, I can fight with you. Although my equipment is almost used up, I still have a lot of noise left, so you can give it your all."

Lingyi then added calmly.

However, despite saying that, for various reasons, Lingyi actually has no desire to fight anymore.

There are three main reasons.

First, even if noise is used to severely damage the Second Section's personnel here, it won't take much effort for a country to assemble a completely new and stronger makeshift team. It's easier to deal with familiar old friends than to face new enemies.

Secondly, even without considering the above factors, she used noise with Chris's help to severely injure the members of Section 2. Tachibana Hibiki is also a Valkyrie who can use her ultimate song. If the battle situation is very unfavorable, it is hard to guarantee that she will not use her ultimate song under so much stimulation today, leaving Zero with nothing.

Third, even if Zero is lucky enough to severely injure the Second Division members and take away Tachibana Hibiki, she will lack the equipment she needs for her return. With only Noise, who is like someone broadcasting her presence through a loudspeaker, and Chris, whose stealth abilities are completely unreliable, the probability of her base being discovered on her return journey is greatly increased.

Once the stronghold is discovered, no matter whether the Japanese use military force to encircle and suppress it or bomb it with various long-range military weapons, the stronghold, whose defenses are not yet fully in place, cannot withstand the attack.

Therefore, Lingyi had no intention of continuing her actions.

"Is that so? I understand. But I will still be here monitoring you until you leave."

Back to the present, although Rei said she had no hostility, Kazanari Genjuro, who had no trust in her whatsoever, did not let his guard down at all and still faced Rei in a fighting stance.

"If you want to watch, go ahead. Anyway, as long as I'm in a place with a signal, I can do my work."

Lingyi didn't intend to say anything about it. She wasn't afraid of a fight anyway. Making him focus on her would reduce his attention to his surroundings, making it easier for her to carry out the operation of retrieving airspace units.

"However, now that you've discovered my hiding place, there's no need for me to continue pretending." 59

Lingyi continued, and then, in front of the two of them, she first manipulated the clone next to her, reverting it back into the shape of a Bumblebee floating unit and placing it back into the portal.

Then, without any suspicion, she did something and took out a computer desk, an ergonomic chair, a laptop, and a mouse from the portal.

"?"

Seeing what Lingyi took out, Kazanari Genjuro was momentarily confused about what she was trying to do.

"Don't be too surprised. Although I can also control it directly with the Flash Blade, it's very troublesome and requires memorizing a lot of things. It's much more convenient to control it by category using a computer. What distinguishes humans from animals is their ability to use tools."

Seeing the other party's strange look, Lingyi continued operating the device while explaining some trivial questions to them.

Then, in front of the two of them, Lingyi found a flat spot, assembled the aforementioned items, and then took out something that looked like a data cable from somewhere and connected the laptop to the flash sword in her hand.

"That's good. Hmm... As you can see, I need to get to work now. Do you want to continue observing?"

After finishing all this, Lingyi clapped her hands, sat comfortably in the chair, pressed the power button on the computer, and said to the two people watching her.

"Lingyi, you... forget it."

Faced with his opponent's relaxed demeanor, which seemed completely genuine, and knowing that the initiative was now entirely in his opponent's hands and that his opponent didn't take the Second Division seriously at all, Kazanari Genjuro finally gave up on this futile standoff.

"It seems you understand the current situation. Well, having the two of you just standing there watching me is a bit of an eyesore. So..."

Seeing Kazanari Genjuro give up, Zero nodded, and then, as if she had thought of something, reached into the multi-tasking sword machine that had been running all along.

"These are folding chairs. Please feel free to sit wherever you like. Standing here is also possible, but I don't feel comfortable with it." 27

"Oh, speaking of which, you must be low on energy after that battle. Would you like something to eat? I only have some chocolates and cakes here, which are snacks that others gave me. If you don't mind, you can help me clear out my stock, since I'll have to throw away anything I can't finish."

Before Kazunari Genjuro could even be on guard because of Rei's words, he was nearly knocked off his feet by what Rei took out from the portal. It was truly indescribable that the person who had beaten them up would do such a thing.

"Lingyi, you..." "Xuanju Langjun!"

Just as Commander Kazunari was about to say something, Sakurai Ryoko, wearing broken glasses and covered in dust, stumbled over from somewhere.

"Liaozi, what were you doing before? Why did you get yourself into such a mess?"

Seeing Sakurai Ryoko's state, Commander Kazanari temporarily diverted some of his attention to her and inquired about her condition.

"Ugh, don't even mention it! When I was driving Hibiki home, we ran into Noise. Hibiki got out to chase Noise, and I followed. Suddenly, I ran into Rei, who tied me to my car. Just when I was finally trying to break free, an explosion from who-knows-where flipped my car over. I struggled to climb out..."

I came out and saw you here.

Sakurai Ryoko tearfully explained her very painful experience to Kazanari Genjuro.

"Is that so? I'm glad you're alright, Liaozi."

Seeing that the other party still had the energy to act silly, Commander Fengming felt relieved and said this.

"Well, well, although I'm not really in any serious trouble, I can't say I'm completely fine. My glasses are broken, so my vision is super blurry right now. By the way, did you guys win the battle and then rest here? Oh, and there are so many snacks and treats. Ah, they're pretty tasty. They taste like they're from America."

After explaining her condition, Sakurai Ryoko, whose glasses were broken, noticed a small pile of snacks next to her. She then sat down on the table and naturally took a piece of chocolate from the pile and put it in her mouth.

"Ryoko, well, we did not achieve a complete victory in the battle; we were utterly defeated."

Seeing Sakurai Ryoko's carefree actions, Kazanari Genjuro's lips twitched, and then he said this.

"Hey, we didn't win, but there are so many snacks here. Isn't this preparation for a victory celebration?"

Sakurai Ryoko looked puzzled, then popped another piece of chocolate into her mouth and adjusted her position to find a comfortable one.

"Hey, you can have your snack, but don't step on my mouse cable. Also, there are folding chairs over there. If you want to sit, sit on those, not on the table."

Just as Sakurai Ryoko was moving, a girl's voice rang out from the side. The next moment, Sakurai Ryoko, feeling that the voice sounded somewhat familiar, turned her head and looked at the source of the voice.

"Linglingling... Lingyi, what's she doing here? And what is she doing?"

Upon seeing the platinum blonde girl staring at the computer, seemingly doing something, Sakurai Ryoko leaped off the table like Tom Cat whose tail had been stepped on.

"Let me explain, it's a long story."

Exhausted by the previous battles, his worries about Tsubasa's situation, and the current chaotic situation, Kazanari Genjuro pulled Sakurai Ryoko away and began to explain what had happened to her.

At this moment, after Kazanari Genjuro and Sakurai Ryoko left, all that remained was Tachibana Hibiki, the girl targeted by Zero, who stood there blankly, seemingly doing nothing, lost in thought.

However, as mentioned before, Lingyi is not prepared to capture her now, so even if she delivers herself to her door with no power to resist, Lingyi has no mood to do anything extra to her.

"Hmm, we've recovered almost half of it. At this rate, it shouldn't be long before we finish. Speaking of which, this operation has recorded a lot of valuable data. After analyzing this data, I should have a deeper understanding of The Last Song. Maybe then I can try to create a countermeasure device specifically for The Last Song..."

Ignoring the standing Tachibana Hibiki, Zero continued to retrieve and inspect the airspace components. They were comfortable to use during airspace battles, but the process of preparing and deploying the components beforehand and retrieving them afterward was quite troublesome.

“…”

Just then, Tachibana Hibiki, who had been standing silently to one side, raised her head, and after thinking for a moment, looked at Rei, who was focused on her work.

"why?"

Hibiki Tachibana sat down on the folding chair that Rei had placed on the table, looked at Rei, and made a questioning gesture.

[She probably sat down next to me now because she wanted to vent some of her emotions, after all, what I did to her crush and her friend.]

Rei noticed Tachibana Hibiki's actions and then made this reasonable guess: she couldn't think of any reason why Tachibana Hibiki wouldn't do that.

Oh well, let me vent. I'll still do what I'm supposed to do. If all else fails, I can always turn off the subtitles.

With that in mind, Lingyi focused some of her attention on what this first case of fusion syndrome was trying to do.

However, perhaps because she had just done too many things that were unexpected by others, what Tachibana Hibiki said and did next exceeded Rei's expectations.

"Why, Miss Lingyi, do you do such painful things? What reason is there? Can't you understand and communicate properly? Why do you have to fight each other and make things turn out like this?"

With tears welling in her eyes, Tachibana Hibiki asked Rei, who stood before her, in a question filled with emotion.

"..…ha?"

Looking at the text displayed on the screen in her right eye, Lingyi's brain short-circuited for a moment before she came to her senses and understood what Tachibana Hibiki had said.

P.S. Goodnight.

Chapter Sixty-Seven: Conversation and the Truth

Sometimes, Lingyi can't help but marvel at how diverse humanity is, with people of all kinds of personalities found within this vast population.

Even though the enemy who caused them so much loss was right in front of her, and even though she was very worried about the physical condition of the armored man, her first thought was not to hurl insults and curses, but to ask herself, as the enemy, why she was fighting.

That's quite a unique personality, but I don't dislike it.

Rei noticed Tachibana Hibiki's problem and thought of it.

"What are you thinking, asking the enemy such a question? And even if you knew, what could you possibly do about it?"

Turning her thoughts back to the present, facing Tachibana Hibiki, who was looking at her with tears in her eyes but still determined, Rei casually asked her a question while operating the computer.

"If we could understand, perhaps we wouldn't need to fight, and perhaps such painful things as today wouldn't happen again."

"It's Hibiki Tachibana!" Hibiki said loudly.

The wounds on her body caused her immense pain, and Feng Mingyi's severe injuries were like a knife twisting in her heart.

The pain, both physical and mental, made her realize that this couldn't go on; she had to do something. Everyone in Class Two had suffered this blow because they were protecting her, and she couldn't allow herself to do nothing.

"So please, if we can have a proper talk, maybe we won't have to create such a painful situation like today in the future."

Hibiki Tachibana spoke in a pleading tone, and it was clear that she really didn't want to go through the same thing that happened today again.

After all, this time it was her beloved Miss Tsubasa who sacrificed herself, and now that Miss Tsubasa is seriously injured, if there is a next time, who will be the one to sacrifice themselves next time?

"Alright, since you're so eager to know, I'll tell you. My reason for fighting is simply because I'm employed by some force. Since I've received payment from them, I have to provide good service. That's perfectly normal, isn't it?"

Looking at the text displayed on the screen in front of her, Lingyi thought for a moment and then casually stated her reason for fighting.

"So, if Tachibana Hibiki wants to do something, what she should do is not to persuade me, but to persuade the power behind me that once I lose my employer, I will no longer be your enemy."

Lingyi said slowly and deliberately.

"Alright, I've said all I need to say. What can you do even if you know all this? As long as the employer doesn't disappear, I still won't hold back in the upcoming battle."

Lingyi continued, while also diverting some of her attention to Tachibana Hibiki's movements, wondering how she would respond.

No, that's not how it is.

Hibiki Tachibana shook her head, seemingly sensing something amiss with what Rei had said.

"Although I don't know why, I feel that Miss Zero isn't the kind of person who needs to do such sad things to survive."

"If that's the case, there must be another reason why you, Miss Lingyi, would do such a thing and hurt others. Please tell me that reason, Miss Lingyi."

Perhaps the pain made Tachibana Hibiki grow a little. She was no longer fooled by Rei's superficial words, but continued to ask questions and try to understand the enemy in front of her more deeply.

"...Hmm, Hibiki Tachibana, you really surprised and even shocked me."

Hibiki Tachibana's questioning made Rei pause for a moment. She hadn't expected that Hibiki Tachibana, who had always seemed so silly in the intelligence reports, would actually do something like this.

"Although I could find other reasons to cover it up, well, you're right, I do have my own purpose, and before I achieve that purpose, I will use every means I feel is appropriate to get closer to my goal."

Afterwards, Zero also gave up the struggle and said this, which can be regarded as an admission of Tachibana Hibiki's statement.

"What exactly is it? If we all work together to find a solution, we might be able to resolve it and stop fighting each other."

Upon hearing Rei's statement, Tachibana Hibiki immediately spoke excitedly, placing both hands on Rei's computer desk and staring intently at Rei.

"I'm sorry, I can't tell you about that."

Lingyi, continuing to operate the computer, lightly aroused Tachibana Hibiki's desire to explore, and then uttered words that seemed to be fragmented from a story.

Zero's words shattered Tachibana Hibiki's illusory fantasy, plunging her into the cold reality.

"Ah, why?"

Hibiki Tachibana asked reflexively.

To be honest, she had lost count of how many "whys" she had asked today, but there was nothing she could do; there were just too many things about Lingyi that she didn't understand.

"If I were to tell Tachibana Hibiki my purpose, it would affect the realization of my purpose. Therefore, I do not intend to explain. You should understand that everyone needs to have some secrets, right?"

Lingyi explained it casually.

"A secret, is that so? So, all my attempts were in vain? Even if I mustered up the courage, I still couldn't accomplish anything in the end."