39: Chapter 36: Xiubalian

Kaiwen silently reached out, pulled Miyuki's opened collar back together, and zipped it all the way up to the top.

"Kiana!" Kaiwen called out toward the neighboring room.

After a few seconds, Kiana walked out from behind the doorframe.

Her eyes still carried a hint of fatigue. First, she checked to make sure Kaiwen was fine, and then she looked at the others in the room. "What's wrong?"

Kaiwen motioned with her chin toward Miyuki.

Miyuki bit her lip, lowered her head, and silently reached out to pull her collar open a bit more.

Upon seeing those dark purple veins crawling along her blood vessels like spiderwebs, Kiana's originally somewhat lazy expression instantly darkened.

"Honkai Energy erosion…" Kiana walked over quickly, crouched down, and stared at the lines on Miyuki's body.

Bronya brought up Project Bunny's screen from the side.

"The erosion is already spreading. Sister Miyuki won't last much longer. There are no medical facilities here, so we must find a relief serum as soon as possible."

"My father's ME Corp," Mei thought for a moment and said in a deep voice, "In the underground research center of ME Corp, if the freezer hasn't been destroyed yet, there should still be experimental serum inside."

Kiana immediately tightened her grip on the iron rod in her hand. "Then what are we waiting for? Let's hurry."

Miyuki hurriedly stood up, although her voice was a bit weak: "Actually, it's fine, I'm still…"

"Shut up!"

"Oh…"

Supporting each other, the group walked out of the building and hurried along the long-shattered streets toward the city center.

Not long after they set off, everyone suddenly felt as if something in the distance was vibrating.

The sound came and went, sending a numbing sensation through everyone's hearts.

Kaiwen looked up, but the sky was dark and gloomy, and she couldn't see a thing.

"A flying monster?" Kiana clutched her iron rod tightly.

Project Bunny emitted a faint crackle of electric sparks: "No aerial biological reactions scanned… It's possible that a Honkai Beast above the Chariot-class is operating in the distance."

Suppressing the odd feeling in her heart, Kaiwen lowered her voice and said, "Don't stop, let's walk close to the wall."

Mei closely followed by her side. Although she didn't speak, Kaiwen could still feel her presence.

Sometimes when encountering obstacles along the road, Mei would stealthily reach out to pull Kaiwen's sleeve, terrified that she might trip.

Kaiwen glanced at her grabbed sleeve and let out a long sigh inward.

This Miss Raiden obviously hadn't recovered from her previous guilt yet, and it felt as if she was practically treating her like fragile glass in the palm of her hand.

The street ahead was completely cut off by a collapsed high-rise building. Giant concrete slabs and twisted steel rebars piled up in the middle of the road into a ruined slope over two meters high.

Detouring would take too much time, so the group had no choice but to grit their teeth and climb over.

When Kaiwen climbed to the top of the slope, heavy and icy breathing suddenly came from behind her.

She looked back and saw Miyuki using both hands to claw desperately at the edge of the concrete blocks, struggling to move upward.

Kaiwen's heart tightened. Without any hesitation, she immediately crouched down and reached out her hand:

"Give me your hand!"

Gritting her teeth, Miyuki raised her head and desperately stretched out her hand to grab Kaiwen's palm.

Kaiwen exerted strength to pull her up, while Kiana behind her gave a push from below, and together they managed to pull Miyuki to the top of the ruins.

After returning to flat ground, Miyuki truly seemed to have no strength left.

But her mouth was still stubborn.

"I'm fine… I can still walk…"

But before she could finish speaking, her entire body suddenly pitched forward.

Kiana was quick-witted and fast-handed, catching her from the front.

Leaning against Kiana's arm, the color on Miyuki's face had almost completely vanished.

"Miyuki!" Kiana hugged her tightly and patted her face with her hand, but the person in her arms had her eyes half-closed and could barely make any response other than rapid, heavy breathing.

Kaiwen also immediately stopped and stepped forward. Glancing at the increasingly obvious purple veins on Miyuki's neck, her eyebrows knitted tightly together:

"No good, she's completely exhausted. We can't force her to keep traveling anymore."

The empty streets were too dangerous. Once they attracted Honkai Beasts, they wouldn't be able to spare any hands to protect the completely defenseless Miyuki.

Mei looked back around, and her gaze fell on a convenience store with a half-open rolling shutter at the street corner ahead.

"There's a convenience store over there!"

The convenience store's rolling shutter was stuck diagonally mid-air, and the gap below was just enough for a few people to crawl through.

Kaiwen and the others squeezed in first, followed closely by Kiana carrying Miyuki.

The interior of the store was still relatively intact, and there were still quite a few various foods and simple daily necessities inside.

After a brief inspection of the store and finding no Death Soldiers,

the group placed Miyuki down leaning against the cash register.

Kiana looked at Miyuki, who didn't even have the strength to be stubborn anymore, and said helplessly: "Miyuki is in no condition to move. I'll stay here to watch over her; you guys continue on to ME Corp."

Hearing this, Miyuki wanted to open her mouth to say something, but Kiana pressed down on her shoulder.

"Stay put obediently."

Mei nodded, and then turned her gaze to Kaiwen, her eyes carrying undisguised hesitation: "Kaiwen, why don't you stay behind too? You just woke up…"

Looking at Mei's expression, which looked as if she desperately wanted to worship her like an idol, a sense of helplessness rose in Kaiwen's heart.

Although her Stigmata had been depleted, making her look somewhat weak, her already enhanced physical fitness didn't lie.

Furthermore, if Mei and the others suffered harm because she stayed behind to rest, she would never forgive herself.

Thinking of this, Kaiwen patted Mei's hand, her tone light and casual:

"I'm doing great, don't worry about me."

Mei looked into those eyes of hers and ultimately didn't try to persuade her further.

As the rolling shutter closed once more, the footsteps of Kaiwen and the other two gradually faded away into the silent street corner.

The store returned to silence, leaving only Miyuki's shallow and rapid breathing.

Kiana squatted beside the cash register and draped a jacket scattered on the floor over Miyuki.

Miyuki curled up her body, her breathing growing shallower and shallower, and a layer of cold sweat gradually oozed from her forehead.

Just at that moment, the intermittent buzzing sound overhead rang out once again.

Only this time, it was no longer a vague noise from afar.

The sound rapidly grew louder and closer, sounding as if some colossal behemoth was descending at high speed.

The convenience store's remaining few panes of glass shook violently, and even the gravel on the ground began to bounce along.

Kiana grabbed her iron rod, turned sideways to shield Miyuki, and stared intently out the window.

Immediately afterwards, a harsh light shone directly through the damaged window, illuminating the previously somewhat dim store completely.

Then, a voice amplified by a loudspeaker cut through the wind and transmitted in:

"This is the Schicksal Far East Branch, main warship hyperion. Life signs have been detected in this area. Search and rescue forces are landing; survivors are requested to remain in place."

Kiana froze for a second, her hand holding the iron rod slowly loosening.

Schicksal…?

Before she could figure it out, rapid and orderly footsteps had already sounded outside the convenience store door.

Several Valkyries wearing combat suits cordoned off the entrance. Following closely, a tall, red-haired figure pulled up the rolling shutter and walked in.

Murata Himeko's gaze swept across the store, finally landing on the purple veins spreading across Miyuki's neck, and her brow immediately knitted tightly.

"The infected, the situation is not optimistic. Medical squad, bring the serum over."

Two medics carrying first-aid kits quickly ran in, crouched beside Miyuki, and began treatment.

Confirming that the other party was here to rescue people, Kiana didn't stop the medical squad, but instead grabbed Himeko's arm.

"There are three more people!"

Himeko lowered her head to look at her.

"My friends went toward ME Corp in the city center!" Kiana spoke at an extremely fast pace, her finger pointing rigidly in the direction the three of them had left.

Himeko nodded at her.

Then she pressed the communicator by her ear and said in a deep voice: "Headmaster Theresa, two survivors have been confirmed at the convenience store search and rescue point, one of whom has severe erosion and has been handed over to the medical squad for treatment. There are three other survivors heading toward the city center; requesting the hyperion to proceed immediately for rescue."

A voice that sounded like a little girl but was exceptionally capable came through from the communicator:

"Received. hyperion, correcting course, heading to the ME Corp area."

Soon, the roar of the engines overhead suddenly spiked, and the huge shadow of the warship swept across the sky above the convenience store, flying toward the city center with a deafening sonic boom.