Honkai, why do you only play high-end games?

So the young man gritted his teeth, suppressed the sadness and pain that was boiling in his heart, closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and when he opened his eyes again, he had replaced his smile with an extremely complicated one, and said in a soft but firm tone,

"Brother only has one arm left, so I can't carry you anymore. But it doesn't matter, I can still hold your hand and walk slowly with you. As long as there are family members, our home is still there."

"Don't worry, sister. I can help you escape from that place and will protect you and help you grow up safely. Do you trust me?"

"Um……"

The little girl didn't even raise her head, but buried her face in her brother's arms and said in a muffled voice,

"I believe!"

……

In this vast camp and on this devastated land, there are countless broken families like the Chen brothers and sisters. Even they are considered quite lucky.

Many people, after surviving, are left alone and without relatives;

Although many people temporarily survived, they were already severely eroded by the collapse and could only watch each other die in fear and pain;

Many more people had already died in the previous disaster, vanishing without a trace like smoke and dust...

The ubiquitous sadness and silence made the air here seem heavy and frozen. Even the rescue workers mobilized from all over the world by Tianming felt extremely uncomfortable in this extremely depressing atmosphere. They had to send more people to maintain order and disperse the survivors as soon as possible in order to put an end to this tragedy as soon as possible.

In such a depressing and chaotic situation, Gray Snake, who was wearing a black hoodie as usual and a white mask with a crossed black dagger pattern on his face, suddenly came out from somewhere, holding a plain gray box in his hand, and strolled leisurely in this huge camp as if no one was around.

"pat, pat..."

His footsteps were crisp and steady, openly announcing the presence of his master, but no one stood up to question his existence, as if he were just a shadow, and they ignored him.

Of course, even if someone came out to question him, Gray Snake would not panic at all - as Tianming's strategic partner and a representative of Shencheng Medicine, he naturally arrived with Tianming's support troops, carrying all kinds of documents on him, enough to deal with any questioning and questioning.

Such a temporary survivor camp didn't have a very strict security system. With most of the Valkyries, including Rita, still fighting on the front lines, the Gray Snakes were able to move freely here.

"pat, pat..."

The gray snake walked silently towards the tent where Chen Tianwu and his sister lived without looking around.

Just like he had fallen in love with Natasha on the snowy plains of Siberia, he had fallen in love with the young man named Chen Tianwu in this wasteland today. The moment he rushed out from the sea of ​​corpses and blood, he had officially entered the snake's sight and showed his shining value to the snake.

So now he came to bring him "back" to the organization to undergo further tests.

"who are you?"

When Chen Tianwu saw such a strange-looking guy suddenly appear at the door, he hurriedly protected his sister behind him and questioned him harshly.

"I think you understand in your heart that if the collapse can happen once, it will happen a second time and a third time... Do you want to experience something like today a second time?"

Gray Snake didn't even look at his sister. His scarlet artificial eye exposed outside the mask stared straight into Chen Tianwu's eyes and said in a muffled voice,

"I think you know the answer in your heart, right?"

Although it is a question, the tone is very affirmative.

"…who are you?"

Chen Tianwu's heart sank, and his tone became even more hostile. Since the other party spoke like this, it was obvious that he had some intentions towards him. How could he feel at ease?

"I'm just here to make a deal with you, young man. Or rather, an invitation."

The gray snake laughed and didn't take it as an offense.

"I can offer you a job, and the pay will allow you to do what you want to do better. For example..."

As Gray Snake spoke, he raised the box in his hand in front of him and gently opened it facing Chen Tianwu.

The young man took a closer look and his heart sank - he saw a robotic arm quietly displayed in the box. It was dark and low-key in color, but it looked very technological upon closer inspection.

Obviously done enough homework.

"Oh, it seems you came here well prepared and determined to win."

The young man was puzzled and stared at the uninvited guest, asking bluntly,

"I'm just a stray dog ​​running on the side of the road. How could you possibly go to all this trouble?"

"Haha, no matter how much effort or deliberate it is, if there isn't enough value, why would anyone do such a thing?"

Gray Snake closed the suitcase again, placed it quietly at his feet, and said calmly,

"He was able to escape from Manila and had contact with Lin Wei before. If my guess is correct, he has already used that serum on you, right?"

So much time had passed since the incident, and with Gray Snake's pervasive intelligence capabilities, it would be easy for him to investigate and understand such a small matter.

"Do you know Mr. Lin Wei?"

Chen Tianwu's heart skipped a beat.

"Haha, it seems that my guess was correct."

Gray Snake laughed and asked,

"Where do you think the serum in his hand came from?"

When the young man heard this, his heart suddenly turned cold.

"But Mr. Lin Wei said that the serum he gave me was stolen!"

"Oh? So that's what he told you?"

Gray Snake laughed and made no rebuttal.

"Haha, that's not wrong."

"..."

Chen Tianwu couldn't help but pull his sister closer to him, although he knew that this would probably be of no use.

He didn't understand why such a strange guy appeared in Tianming's camp?

"Who are you?"

The boy asked again, already mentally trying to figure out if he could rush out of the doorway he was standing in with his sister.

"A businessman."

Gray Snake changed his usual riddle-telling habits and answered very directly.

"Of course, you can also treat me as a headhunter, or... an interviewer?"

"..."

Of course, to Chen Tianwu, this was also a mystery...

What interviewer? Whose interviewer? What was the interview about?

Gray Snake looked at his forehead dripping with sweat and couldn't help but chuckle and said,

"A year ago, Lin Wei was not much different from you now—although you have one less arm than he did back then, he was also eroded by the Honkai and was in imminent danger."

Chen Tianwu was silent, waiting for him to continue.

"But he's much more unscrupulous than you. He's so bold as to step into the abyss and choose to dance with the snake."

Gray Snake is amazed when he thinks about it now.

It's always been the World Serpent that threatens others, but this is the first time in all these years that someone has provoked and threatened them in return...

Fresh!

However, the more a snake can do what others cannot do and what others cannot do, the more it appreciates such a guy.

This time, Lin Wei once again defied all expectations and truly became an irrefutable savior. From then on, Gray Snake knew clearly: the shell had been broken, and the soul curled up within had once again broken free, standing proudly in the wind and rain, shining brightly even in the real universe...

Since then, Lin Wei's ranking on the list has once again risen significantly - although the number of places on that list is destined to be very small.

"Are you saying that Mr. Lin Wei has also done a similar deal with you?"

Chen Tianwu didn't know those things, but he remembered what the gray snake had just said.

"Similar? No... At that time, the person standing in your position was me."

Gray Snake smiled lightly and pointed at Chen Tianwu.

"He was the one who approached me to make the deal. The price he offered was higher, so the reward he received was also incredibly generous—equivalent exchange. This is the true meaning of everything in this world."

"Has Mr. Lin Wei ever had such an experience?"

An image of a frivolous person who broke through doors and plundered without restraint emerged in Chen Tianwu's mind. He quickly shook his head, putting that image behind him, and asked,

"Do I have any choice?"

The gray snake chuckled and said nothing.

"What about my sister?"

The gray snake remained silent.

"...Equivalent exchange, I understand."

Chen Tianwu paused, then asked himself,

"Can you guarantee that my sister will be safe and sheltered if I go with you?"

"elder brother!"

The little girl behind me was very anxious and cried out,

"No, I won't let you go!"

"Haha, when it comes to raising children, snakes are quite professional. Some are extremely passionate about it, and some have even adopted a bunch of orphans created by the Honkai and volunteered to be the director of an orphanage for free."

Gray Snake said calmly, seemingly answering a question that was not relevant to the question.

"Of course, if you want to get such 'service', you need to show the corresponding value."

"Equivalent exchange, I understand."

Chen Tianwu interrupted him, took a deep breath, and then said firmly,

"What do you need from me?"

………………

At dusk, Rita, who had returned from the battlefield, came to visit the Chen sisters at Anna's request, but learned that they had been taken away as part of the first batch of resettlement recipients.

"is it?"

After all, they are survivors who have made contributions on the battlefield, so it is reasonable for them to be the first group to be resettled.

Rita pondered for a moment, and just in case, she checked all the documents again. After confirming that everything was correct, she felt relieved and did not ask any more questions.

After all, he is just an ordinary person. Since he is about to start a new life, it is better not to disturb him rashly.

Chapter 220: End

As time went by, the situation improved visibly little by little, but Rita still didn't dare to relax.

In fact, even though Lin Wei stepped forward to resolve the crisis, Rita was still frightened by the fact that she had faced a disaster of collapse before; therefore, she made a lot of extra arrangements this time to deal with more accidents that might come at any time.

After all, if possible, she still hopes that everything she is responsible for can be completed beautifully, rather than being in a dilemma and in a mess like before.

But it turned out that most of the extra arrangements made by Rita were ultimately useless, and no new surprises or challenges appeared on the battlefield.

There were no more huge waves on the sea, and no new tremors were heard from under the earth.

All the Honkai beasts that were able to crawl out of the sea were being wiped out by the Valkyrie troops; and those Honkai beasts that had not yet had time to crawl onto the shore were evaporated along with the large areas of sea water nearby under the large and small gun muzzles on the Destiny Skyship.

As the Honkai beasts were knocked down and killed one by one; as the concentration of Honkai energy detected in the area began to decrease little by little; as the thick, almost impenetrable dark clouds in the sky finally dispersed little by little with the wind, allowing more and more survivors on the land to once again enjoy the sunshine during the day and the starlight at night, the battle gradually came to an end.

Rita didn't feel angry or regretful about her own unfounded worries; instead, she breathed a sigh of relief. After reporting to headquarters and the bishop, she announced on the radio that the massive battle, dubbed the "Manila Collapse" and involving tens of millions of people, had ended in victory.

Then, after arranging several Valkyrie teams including the Snow Lotus Team to carry out the subsequent clearing of sporadic enemies and necessary surveillance work, Rita began to leave with the rest of the Valkyrie troops.

After saying goodbye to Anna who came to see her off, Yuno boarded the Eos, the exclusive transport ship of the Undying Blade, with Rita, and returned to the Destiny headquarters, which she was a little anxious about at the moment.

"Miss Anna has changed so much that I almost don't recognize her..."

Rita, having taken off her armor and donned an elegant lady's outfit, walked over and stood side by side with Yuno at the porthole. Together, they gazed at the distant land below and the girl on the land who was still looking up with one arm raised high. She said with some emotion,

"You too, Team Yuno, I'm surprised by your performance these past few days."

In the previous battle, Rita was once worried about what would happen if Yuno lost control, but it turned out not to be the case. Not only that, she also cooperated very well with Anna and the Valkyries of Xuelian's team.

This surprised Rita very much. Even the members of the Undying Blade could not trust Yuno to this extent.

Every time Rita thought of this, she even felt sorry for her.