***
“…The 4th Research Department, huh.”
Regarding MEI’s suggestion, the pink girl sitting on the reef touched her chin and instantly had a goal.
“That’s fine, I didn’t have any particular target anyway.”
Although Jiang Qiao came to New Zealand to search for the imaginary dark side at the epicenter of the Fourth Honkai Eruption.
But—
Unlike Nagazora City, because the old game’s documentation was complete and Nagazora City was just a single city, he was able to quickly find MEI while also locating that epicenter… Speaking of which, it’s quite funny that the eruption center was located in the airspace above the rooftop of Senba Academy’s main building.
The Fourth Honkai Eruption in New Zealand was different though. Due to overly vague documentation, there simply weren’t many clues. As for asking Kevin and Su, who had experienced it firsthand? This method was never viable from the start.
Su belonged to Fire Moth’s 5th Research Department located in Europe at that time and hadn’t participated in this incident at all. Kevin only arrived in New Zealand after the Fourth Honkai Eruption had already broken out.
At that time, the scope of the Fourth Honkai Eruption covered all of New Zealand.
Even Fire Moth’s post-incident records could only document — The Fourth Honkai Eruption broke out in New Zealand.
As for the epicenter location that Jiang Qiao needed…
They weren’t the Herrscher of Origin who could observe The Cocoon manipulating the imaginary dark side!
“MEI, where is the 4th Research Department located? I’ve never been here before.”
If it were Elysia, she probably would have visited this place before. After all, as a top-tier wanderer, that fatty had traveled all over the world and encountered all the Flame-Chasers during their childhood.
Unfortunately, he wasn’t Elysia — though even if Elysia herself came, after so many years she probably would have forgotten most of it anyway.
“I’ve sent you the location of the 4th Research Department. I’ve already given Mobius a heads up, so you can go directly there.” Like a caring mother worrying about her daughter, MEI, who had arranged everything perfectly, responded to someone Jiang this way.
“Mm-hmm~ I knew you were the most reliable~”
The pink girl smiled sweetly, but MEI on the other end didn’t buy this flattery and replied irritably:
“Don’t just casually order people around like it’s natural…”
“Oh right, about that ticket…”
“Eh… hello, hello? The signal here doesn’t seem very good, sorry MEI, let’s stop chatting for now.”
Saying this, the pink girl’s movements were quite vivid, constantly moving around, as if… well, the signal really wasn’t good~
“How unfortunate, I still wanted to chat more, but why did the signal cut out?”
With a troubled expression, 【Elysia】 smiled as she fiddled with the terminal:
“Let me check the address, hmm… the location of the 4th Research Institute is in, is in… Queenstown.”
“That’s quite a distance.”
The girl who had used the unreliable navigation looked at her current position on the map and the distance to Queenstown, her beautiful eyebrows slightly raised.
Should she fly over? Or just have the Spirit of Origin give her another ride…
Forget it, if she pulled another stunt like that, she might really get strangled by Dr. Mobius when she returned.
Someone Jiang sighed and gave up the idea of taking shortcuts.
Although it would indeed be very interesting and convenient, this was no longer the ocean but already New Zealand.
If she leaked the Spirit of Origin’s Honkai energy reaction or a Herrscher’s Honkai energy fluctuations here, the entire Oceania branch probably wouldn’t have any peace.
“I’ll just take a taxi.”
Jiang Qiao patted his head and casually snapped his fingers. The swimsuit on his body gradually dissipated and changed back to the autumn jacket he wore on the boat. Then he touched his chin and pondered an extremely crucial problem—
He seemed to have no money!
Although 【Elysia】 as a Fire Moth warrior had quite a good salary, that money couldn’t be used in New Zealand.
He could trouble MEI to help solve this problem.
But…
Having no signal one moment, then asking for money the next…
He’d really get beaten up!
Just as someone Jiang was feeling troubled, his gaze was gradually drawn to a small alley.
At this moment, the pink girl’s lips curved into an arc.
— Looking somewhat mischievous.
…
At the harbor, as an international metropolis, this place appeared quite prosperous.
Watching Mei see them off, Kiana reluctantly held the former’s hand:
“Mei, are you really not coming with us?”
Savoring… hehehe, Mei’s body smelled so nice and her hands were so soft.
“Mm, I still need to continue school, and someone has to watch the house, right?”
Regarding this dishonest behavior, Mei imperceptibly withdrew her hand and moved slightly further away, wearing a somewhat forced smile on her face.
When refusing, she felt her heart bleeding, but even so, she couldn’t willfully say that she wanted to go together.
She could only use — watching the house, such an excuse to reluctantly comfort herself.
“I’ll wait here for you all to come back.”
Suppressing the somewhat bitter feeling in her heart, the girl said this.
Elysia smiled, then looked toward Raven on the side and said sincerely:
“Mm… we will definitely return safely. Natasha, while we’re away, please take care of Mei.”
— Miss Dodo didn’t plan to join this trip to New Zealand.
As mentioned before, she was an executive of World Serpent.
And what Elysia and Kiana were going to do was contrary to World Serpent’s interests.
Helping them prepare boat tickets and such was already the limit of what Raven could do.
If she went along, what if Gray Serpent ordered her to betray them and stab them in the back? With her principles, to avoid being hunted by World Serpent, she would definitely have to choose to return to World Serpent’s side.
But Raven really didn’t want to stand on the opposite side of Elysia.
For this reason, she chose to stay behind.
However, regarding Elysia’s request, Miss Dodo was somewhat speechless:
“I’m not a babysitter.”
Muttering quietly, but seeing the other’s serious expression, she still nodded and said irritably:
“I know, I’ll look after this young lady.”
Normally, she should only be responsible for that pink rogue.
After all, this was Gray Serpent’s order.
If the pink rogue ran away, she wouldn’t have any meaning in staying either.
But since this was the other’s request, purely out of wanting to extend her vacation.
Miss Dodo chose to comply.
She wasn’t losing out anyway!
“Hey, don’t die!”
When Elysia was boarding the ship, such words rang in her ears. She turned to look at Raven who was making eye contact with her — although this way of expressing concern was perhaps a bit too rough, for a mercenary who constantly walked the line between life and death, this was already the greatest care.
Miss Elf, who had spent some time with Miss Dodo, naturally understood the meaning behind it and smiled.
“— Mm.”