Honkai, why do you only throw me into high-level battles?

"For the Bishop to actually lower himself to personally contact a mere A-rank Valkyrie like myself, it's truly an honor I'm not sure I deserve."

Fu Hua's expression and tone were as calm as usual, speaking words that seemed like flattery, but with undisguised sarcasm.

"Or is it that so many A-rank Valkyries have died in your inhumane experiments that you've run out of people to use?"

Having done so many dirty deeds for the man over the years, she naturally knew how vile the man on the other end of the communicator was, yet he could still wear a spring breeze-like smile on that disgusting face.

Because of this, Fu Hua utterly loathed his hypocrisy.

But personal feelings never swayed Fu Hua's reason; she always executed the tasks assigned to her perfectly.

Otto knew this well, and therefore he didn't care.

What's more, he already had her weakness firmly in his grasp; Fu Hua knew what she should do.

"Isn't Schicksal what it is today precisely because of the admirable self-sacrifices of these Valkyries? You shouldn't harbor animosity towards me, but rather respect for them."

Otto chuckled, stating his defense. But his emphasis on the words "self-sacrifices" and "respect" seemed to convey the opposite:

He didn't care at all.

Fu Hua was unmoved; she was waiting for Otto to explain his purpose.

She didn't believe Otto would come calling for no reason.

"Don't be so tense, my old friend. K423 was just recovered, and the experiments are still in preparation. It's not yet time for you to be on high alert, even if she does have an unexpected surprise with her."

Otto's voice was unhurried, as if what he was saying wasn't important at all. He just offered a leisurely blessing, "Enjoy your rare vacation, the vigorous enthusiasm of young children is a great balm for a weary soul. The wonderful school life is always something to yearn for and reminisce about, isn't it?"

Fu Hua frowned slightly. When would he get to the point?

She didn't believe Otto would actually have good intentions.

"Alright, alright, let's change the topic then." Otto said helplessly, before swiftly changing the subject and cutting to the chase, "Rita recently sent me some interesting information. I'd like you to help me investigate it."

"Before the Third Honkai Eruption, some rumors suddenly appeared on the internet about Nagazora City. The intention could have been a whimsical attempt to drive people away, or perhaps to simply cause chaos, but that's not important. As you know, the Honkai in Nagazora was caused by Anti-Entropy. Their purpose is unknown."

"This doesn't match their usual MO. Combining this with the near-simultaneous appearance of the internet rumors, Rita believes it may be related to Anti-Entropy's recent factional infighting, while, upon reading the information, I see a different possibility."

As Otto spoke, he sent a compiled report to Fu Hua's personal terminal.

It contained Lin Wei's resume, ID photo, casual photos, birth date, parents' dates of birth and death, educational background, work experience, the places he had lived, along with his transportation records, spending records, and communication records.

Everything looked so ordinary, just like everyone else.

Fu Hua frowned as she looked at the highlighted information, while listening to Otto's eloquent speech. She could also see that Lin Wei's behavior was too abnormal.

The information showed that in the half to one month leading up to the Honkai, this person had suddenly called all of his relatives and friends, while also quitting his job and getting rid of all his assets, as if he had suddenly received some information and was fleeing in a panic.

And his past experiences were so ordinary; it was impossible for him to have known about the Honkai.

And the final destination of his last travel record was St. Freya, where she happened to be, after which he cancelled all his communication accounts, and vanished like a stone dropped in the sea.

This person happened to escape the eye of the storm before the Honkai erupted, and he also happened to arrive at St. Freya Academy before K423 and the Third Herrscher. Everything was so perfectly timed, putting him at a safe point in time where he wouldn't be suspected.

After all, it was difficult to suspect an ordinary person who had been living there before everything happened, right?

But with such a perfect start, this person had absurdly and blatantly exposed himself, even attracting the attention of Otto himself.

It was too abnormal, and it was difficult to understand his motives.

Could it be that he simply saw the impending Honkai disaster, felt a pang of conscience, and chose to give a subtle warning in this way?

Impossible!

Fu Hua scoffed at her own ridiculous thought, silently digesting the information. Her conclusion was similar to Rita's.

"If he's not Schicksal, then he can only be Anti-Entropy. The infighting within Anti-Entropy has been fierce in recent years, it's possible someone wants to cause trouble for the opposing faction."

Fu Hua pushed up her glasses. She knew her conclusion was wrong; Otto's call was proof of that. He must possess information she was not aware of.

Otto wasn't disappointed with this result; this woman he was talking to had long forgotten everything.

Perhaps some interesting things would still happen. Otto's lips curled slightly, feeling quite pleased with his malicious thoughts.

"Rita obtained a lot of invaluable information during her pursuit of the Second Divine Key, which vaguely points to a mysterious organization."

"Just as Shenzhou has its own myths and legends and heroic tales, many other places in the world also have their own mythology and heroic epics." Otto said to a slightly dazed Fu Hua, his tone serious and matter-of-fact.

"Much of the information proves that these myths and legends all vaguely point to a mysterious organization, one that is even older than Schicksal, and similarly possesses the legacy of the Previous Era. It has been hidden deeply enough that it has almost become one with human history, and it was only recently, due to the Second Divine Key, that we managed to get a glimpse of it."

"This person's behavior is detached from both Anti-Entropy and Schicksal, after all it's just laughable to explain this person's behavior with factional infighting. If a faction of Anti-Entropy were so desperate as to use online rumors to attack another, then their internal strife would be about over, but intel shows that's not the case at all. The two factions are fighting fiercely."

Otto clicked his tongue in wonder, "How interesting, was Welt killed by his own people? How can he allow his subordinates to kill each other like this?"

"Therefore, I don't think this person belongs to Anti-Entropy, so we need to consider other possibilities."

"Is this them showing me their strength, indicating that they have everything under control, or are they also interested in my Second Herrscher?"

"The experiments with the Second Herrscher are about to begin; K423 is crucial to Schicksal's future, and we cannot afford to lose her. As for the Second Divine Key, I, Otto Apocalypse, am determined to have it, and it is also not to be lost." Otto's tone gradually became fierce.

Then his tone switched back to gentle, as if the previous ferocity had been an illusion, "This person is clearly just a pawn deliberately exposed, obviously not of much value, but I still hope you can investigate him for me to see if you can dig up anything more valuable."

Back to the present.

Fu Hua sat on the sofa in the living room, looking at Lin Wei, who was clearly a little flustered, and then glanced at the tea he had poured for her. Hmm, it was still in a disposable paper cup.

Thinking about the encounter just now, she suddenly felt that perhaps Bishop Otto was overthinking things by making such a fuss over this guy.

That man is just like that.JPG

Although she was still shocked by Lin Wei's keen awareness of her being in an illusion, and he had even been able to accurately identify the Feather of the Azure and the simulated void-type Divine Key, "Void Archives" which could have allowed him to do that. It was enough to show that this man wasn't ordinary, and it made her very vigilant, feeling like she had fallen into a dangerous trap.

But that vigilance was quickly shattered by Lin Wei himself.

He was no threat at all.

"This is so embarrassing..."

Lin Wei covered his face with both hands, letting out a silent cry. He didn't care what kind of image he had in Fu Hua's eyes, he was already pretty much socially dead anyway.

What on earth was going on...

Originally, everything was going so smoothly.

Lin Wei knew that his actions would attract the attention of some people, especially Cocolia and Otto.

But in the eyes of the arrogant Cocolia, there was only Raiden Mei, and she wouldn't pay attention to an insignificant ant like him. She certainly wouldn't risk coming to Schicksal to silence him.

He didn't deserve it.

But Otto was different; this man with a twisted desire for control wouldn't allow anything to happen beyond his grasp, not even the slightest bit.

There was great terror between life and death, and under the threat of death, discarding all distracting thoughts and desperately seeking a way to survive, Lin Wei found his "cheat," which was his familiarity with the plot, or rather, his familiarity with the settings.

The plot wasn't reliable, after all, this wasn't the start of the story yet. The future hadn't happened, and who knew whether that predicted future would even be the future. He couldn't pin his hopes on that.

Although the future was uncertain, the past was set. Finding a path to survival from the already happened past was feasible.

Moreover, the world settings and character settings that supported the future development of the plot were predictable, and together, those two were Lin Wei's reliance for breaking out of the situation.

Lin Wei believed that Otto wouldn't allow an unexpected variable like him to stay in St. Freya, he would definitely investigate him. And to ensure nothing went wrong, he would definitely come out personally, or send out a capable subordinate.

Even though Lin Wei suspected that there was a good chance that one of Otto's Soulium clones was present at St. Freya Academy at the moment, after all he had to make breakfast for his granddaughter. But he didn't think that he was important enough to make Otto come out personally.

He didn't deserve it.

It was precisely because of his insignificance that he was given a chance to breathe from within the cracks.

Durandal seemed unconventional, but in fact was very thoughtful, but her work schedule was full and she shouldn't have been able to spare the time;

Rita should have been chasing after the Second Divine Key all over the world at this time, and also couldn't get away.

Theresa was fine just as long as she didn't make trouble.

Therefore the only possible candidate was Fu Hua, and she just happened to be doing nothing at St. Freya, and her public identity was still a student, making her mobilization less conspicuous than those of other S-rank Valkyries.

Since they were going to investigate him, they would meet sooner or later. Therefore, Lin Wei had made preparations to welcome Fu Hua from a long time ago.

It sounded nice, but in reality, none of this was under his control. It all depended on Otto's mood. Maybe he had come personally? Maybe he had already shapeshifted into one of the neighbors?

So, what else could he do? Just give up.

There was no chance of survival if he fell into Otto's hands, so there was no need to consider that. Lin Wei only needed to bet on the other possibilities and prepare for them.

First, he needed to be able to distinguish between reality and illusion.

Therefore, he started keeping a diary.

From the beginning, Lin Wei hadn't considered the spinning top method [reference to the movie Inception].

He had to find his own path to survival.

Each diary entry was nothing special, but when put together, the entries of a single day formed a code only he knew, and every day for two days, three days, four days, five days, a different code would be formed.

The formation process was completely random, only determined after finishing writing.

Therefore, Lin Wei needed to review them frequently to make sure he didn't forget.

He knew that Divine Keys could weave illusions and also read memories, but he was betting that the Eighth Divine Key could not read his thoughts and ideas from every second of his memory.

People's memories were often accompanied by the emotions and feelings of that moment, but thoughts were only instantaneous.

Since they were only instantaneous, they couldn't be stored.

And if they couldn't be stored, they couldn't be read.

Lin Wei wasn't sure if his ideas were reliable, nor did he know if the environment woven by the Divine Key could be so detailed that even every stroke of every character in the diary was perfect. But this was the only strategy he could think of.

Might as well give it a try. He wouldn't be worse off if he failed, and it would be a huge win if he succeeded.

Lin Wei decided to take a gamble.

If his preemptive strike succeeded, his subsequent plans would be feasible.

He had even prepared backup plans. If it was Rita, or Theresa, or even Durandal who had taken time out of her busy schedule, he had backup plans ready to go.

Lin Wei knew each of them extremely well, even better than they knew themselves.

But they knew nothing about him.

This information gap itself was an advantage!

Lin Wei was confident in his victory!

But why did it end up like this?

Lin Wei was on the verge of tears.

He had calculated everything, but he hadn't calculated that he would screw up himself!!!

o(╥﹏╥)o

Originally everything went perfectly according to plan. At the moment when the illusion was dispelled, Fu Hua was clearly shocked.

She had never imagined that the Eighth Divine Key could be so easily broken by an ordinary person who was so deeply eroded by Honkai.

This person was not simple!

Then, like Otto, he could put himself in an advantageous negotiating position, and then, relying on his understanding of the other party, take control of all the following procedures.

And finally reach a win-win consensus.

Lin Wei would win twice.

That was how it was supposed to be...

But...

...

"Alright, alright, stop crying!"

QAQ

This is too embarrassing...

Might as well die, this malicious world really isn't nice at all!