Collapse Iron: I'm a Succubus in the Universe

Chapter Thirty-Eight Clara: Big brother, are you... looking at my feet?

The three arrived at their destination and, after some effort, obtained the supplies from Eric before continuing their journey.

But the further Bronya walked, the more familiar her surroundings felt, yet she couldn't remember where she had seen them before.

The feeling intensified, especially after arriving at the orphanage, but now is not the time to talk about that; the immediate priority is to find supplies.

But the boxes here are empty; the supplies have been taken away by someone else.

Just then, a commotion suddenly came from behind. It was a monster whose entire body was made of ice crystals, and it was a huge creature.

Without a word, it launched an attack, targeting Bronya and Seele, with several sharp ice spikes shooting towards the two girls.

"careful!"

Qiong stepped in front of the two, raised her baseball bat and smashed all the ice spikes into pieces. At this moment, Bronya and Seele also reacted.

"I've only ever seen this kind of monster on the front lines of the penalty area..."

"Hmph, I don't care who you are, daring to attack me from behind, I won't let you get away with this!"

Seele gripped her weapon tightly and, together with Qiong, launched an attack on the outer cosmic ice, while Bronya fired her gun from behind.

"Ha, it's nothing special."

Seele clapped her hands, and without even breaking a sweat, she dealt with the monster. Seeing this, Qiong couldn't help but speak up.

"We are the righteous three against one."

"Hmph, I can handle it all by myself. But... it's really exhilarating to fight alongside you guys."

She shrugged as she spoke, then prepared to continue searching for supplies in the surrounding area, while Bronya's gaze swept across the surrounding buildings.

"...It's not a hallucination."

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

“I’ve seen this building and these children’s play facilities before.”

Bronya's tone was certain, which surprised Seele. Could it be that, as Qiong had just guessed, Bronya had been here before the upper and lower levels were sealed off?!

"That might be true. Only that could explain why my memory is so hazy. Let's go, I need to look around more to be sure..."

Accompanied by the two, Bronya surveyed her surroundings, attempting to awaken more memories.

During this time, Seele found a brooch and gave it to Bronya, saying that it seemed to be a handmade item made by a child, but there was something that Sora didn't know whether she should say.

Because he saw Seele take the brooch out of her pocket, which was obviously something she had made herself.

"Ah, found it! That's amazing! It's almost intact. Nata probably never imagined that supplies stored up several years ago would be preserved so well."

At the last storage location, Seele finally found the supplies. During the inspection, Seele found a special crystal ball.

Inside, a snowy owl was catching a rabbit, and its appearance deepened Bronya's memory of something from her childhood.

It was this stimulus that awakened the memories in her mind, confirming that she had indeed been a member of the orphanage in the lower district.

This undoubtedly dealt a significant blow to Bronya, especially after witnessing the current dire state of the lower districts, which caused her immense anguish.

"Don't be like this, Bronya. This is not your fault. Besides, instead of blaming yourself, what you need to do now is think about how to save the situation."

Qiong gently placed her hand on Bronya's shoulder, and Seele nodded in agreement with her words.

"Qiong is right. It's annoying when you cry like this. Don't always blame yourself when something happens. No one will always have time to comfort you."

Although her tone was somewhat impolite, Seele's intention was genuinely to prevent Bronya from continuing to be sad, and it's understandable that she found it difficult to accept the truth at first.

After taking a deep breath, Bronya's mood calmed down briefly.

"You're right. I'm sorry, I lost my composure. Let's continue searching for supplies and finish what we need to do first."

Now all that was left to find was painkillers, so the three of them decided to split up and search. Qiong followed a small path and searched around, vaguely hearing some kind of sound.

"Found it! It's right here! Thank you, Perkins."

"That voice is...?"

Qiong felt like she had heard it somewhere before, and it seemed very familiar.

Sure enough, as he followed the path down to the bottom, he saw the white-haired, red-clad girl from before—Clara.

She, who was originally searching for supplies, also noticed Qiong here, as well as the machine next to her that looked like a traffic light.

"Warning! Warning. Threat detected—"

"Wait a minute, I meant no harm!"

Qiong hurriedly waved her hand, trying to explain, but seeing this, Clara also stopped her companion's actions.

“Perkins, no! Stop! I’ve seen this man before, he… he’s not a bad guy, right?”

Clara looked at Qiong with her beautiful eyes, which seemed sincere and innocent. No one would have the heart to deceive such a cute girl.

"That's right, I'm not a bad person!"

Hearing Qiong's statement, Perkins temporarily stopped his attack. Clara breathed a sigh of relief and then spoke softly.

"This place is dangerous, big brother...wait, big brother, are you...looking at my feet?"

Clara's tone was somewhat uncertain as she looked at Qiong, whose gaze was fixed downwards.

Of course, don't misunderstand, he was just wondering if the other person was really okay.

After all, those bare little feet seem to have no protection, but that's not the time to worry about that.

"Ahem, actually... I came to find medicine for the wounded. Speaking of which, why did you come to such a dangerous place?"

"Hmm, so you came for these supplies too, brother? That makes sense. There must be quite a few injured people on the mining team as well. It would be great if everyone could get along peacefully..."

Clara was a little down and was briefly lost in thought.

She then offered some potions to Qiong, and Qiong happened to run into her at that moment, so she asked Clara about Schwarz.

Clara answered Sora's question very well, which made Sora feel a little worried about this kind little girl.

She revealed what she knew so easily. Luckily, I'm not a bad person, or I would definitely have lied to her.

"By the way, Clara, is there something I can ask you?"

"Um, what does big brother want to ask?"

Clara blinked, her clear, ruby-like eyes looking up at him, while Qiong pointed down at her feet.

"Is it okay for you to run around like this without shoes?"

"Oh? Thank you for your concern, big brother. But Clara is fine. Clara doesn't wear shoes because she's prone to twisting her ankle when she wears them."

"But like this... won't I get hurt easily?"

"No, nothing will happen."

Clara shook her head, and then, as if to put Qiong at ease, she deliberately raised one leg and tilted it forward slightly, revealing her pink sole.

Her smooth, tender feet were spotless, with even the lines on her palms clearly visible. Her fair skin was free of any wounds, making her look like a work of art.

(The power of fate, isn't it amazing?)

Chapter Thirty-Nine Clara: Wait, wait a minute... Big brother, stop touching me, it's so itchy!

"Really? But how did you do that?"

Qiong squatted down to observe carefully, and curiously reached out to poke it. Her fingertips lightly touched her pink palm, which was soft and even slightly sunk in.

"Wait, wait a minute... Big brother, please stop touching me, it's... it's so itchy!"

Clara's face flushed slightly as Qiong's fingertips gently slid across her palm. The sensation was strange, causing her to involuntarily shrink back.

He instinctively tried to pull his outstretched leg back, but at that moment, Perkins next to him lit up with a red light.

"Warning! Warning! Dangerous action by the target! Activating defense mode!"

"Huh? Perkins, big brother means no harm, please don't... Ouch!"

Before Clara could finish speaking, she lost her balance due to her panic and slipped. Seeing this, Qiong instinctively reached out to steady her.

Clara still fell down, her little bottom landing lightly on the ground, but her raised leg instinctively kicked forward.

Clara didn't miss; she felt something soft hit her. When she looked again, she was startled.

"...Big brother! Clara didn't mean it...Are you...are you okay?"

Clara sounded flustered, but she first calmed Perkins down, who was about to launch an attack.

As for Qiong, after feeling the softness and fragrance on his face being withdrawn, he subconsciously pursed his lips, but there was no taste.

But this action made Clara's face turn even redder.

"Big, big brother..."

"Cough cough!"

Qiong didn't say much. To cover up his embarrassment, he got up and helped Clara, who was still shy, to her feet.

"Th-thank you..."

"No need to be so polite. I should be the one apologizing."

"It's okay, Clara believes that Brother Qiong isn't a bad person..."

Clara's face flushed slightly, and the scene became somewhat awkward because of the accident just now.

Qiong then inquired with Clara about Swaro. After learning the details, he couldn't help but think that Swaro was just like the Great Guardian.

Even though the rift will eventually swallow up the underground, they still guard this place and prevent everyone from going up, believing that it will be safer underground.

"Clara? What are you doing here?"

Just as Clara and Sora were talking, Seele's voice came from behind, followed by Bronya.

"You are... Seele from 'Earthfire'? I'm here because..."

She relayed the content of their conversation, but Seele was somewhat puzzled as to why Clara wanted to help the homeless find medicine.

But in reality, Clara was acting on her own initiative, wanting to help those homeless people. After explaining this, she looked at Seele with a slightly pleading gaze.

“Sister Seele, did this batch of medicine originally belong to Sister Natasha? Then... could I have some? The wanderers are also badly injured.”

"I understand. Then let's split these painkillers equally."

Seele sighed softly, not refusing the kind girl's request. After all, even if Natasha knew about it, she would definitely agree.

Before leaving, Bronya kindly offered to take Clara back, but was refused, since Clara had Perkins with her, and ordinary Rift monsters were no match for her.

"Goodbye then, Seele, Bronya, and Qiong!"

After Clara left, Seele checked the current supplies and, after confirming that everything was complete, returned to Rockrock.

The supplies were delivered to Natasha on time, and the reason why some of the painkillers were missing was explained to her. After learning that Clara had taken them, Natasha guessed that she wanted to help the homeless.

As expected, Natasha fully approved of the decision, but she now needs to carefully plan the dosage of her medication.

However, now that this commission is complete, it's time to get back to business. Meanwhile, on the other side, Xiao Sanyue and Danheng have already approached Oleg.

"Hey! They're finally back."

Hearing March 7's call, Qiong thought of how she had promised to stay with him overnight, but then disappeared halfway through.

"I'm sorry for disappearing without saying goodbye."

"Ha, so what? The record holder for disappearing without a word is right here!"

March 7th stood with her hands on her hips, not caring about the matter. After all, she was only scared before going to sleep, and she didn't care after waking up.

"I don't know what you're so proud of."

Danheng sighed helplessly, and Qiong couldn't help but wonder what exactly March had done during the past pioneering journey.

Now that everyone was present, they could finally get down to business. Oleg, representing "Earthfire," supported the three's actions.

Both sides want to know the whereabouts of the "Star Core" and want to lift the blockade of the lower zone; their target is Schwarzro.

Bronya also chose to stand on their side, and without delay, she set off to find Schwarz.

To avoid misunderstandings, "Earthfire" would wait at a distance, while Seele would accompany the group. However, when they saw the guide arranged by Oleg, they were all dumbfounded.

"Hook, is that you?"

"I really didn't expect this..."