After briefing Welt, Lynelle returned to her room and deftly locked the door behind her.
No particular reason—it's just that she hadn't slept for two days again, and now she desperately needed to catch some shut-eye before heading back to the other side, the Honkai: Star Rail set.
But before crossing over to the Star Rail side, there was one last thing Lynelle had to take care of…
"This thing… no matter how I look at it, it's pretty suspicious."
Lynelle tossed a data card in her hand a few times, lost in thought.
She'd found this little item in Cocolia's lab, but she hadn't turned it over to Anti-Entropy along with everything else.
Mostly because she had a hunch that this card might have been left specifically for her by Gray Serpent.
And why was she so sure? Well, the answer was simple—she'd already peeked at what was on it.
Let's just say… it was pretty shady.
She slipped the card into a card reader she'd grabbed earlier, plugged it into her computer, and immediately, a compressed file popped up on her terminal.
As the Herrscher of Corruption, Lynelle didn't have to worry about viruses or malware when downloading stuff like this.
After extracting the files, her terminal automatically redirected to a web address.
"'Golden Courtyard Tenant Recruitment'… Hah, does Mobius know Gray Serpent's using this as a front for World Serpent?"
Seeing the familiar title screen, Lynelle let out a snort of laughter and quickly took a screenshot.
Another piece of blackmail material against Gray Serpent—check.
"But… why is Gray Serpent trying to recruit me? I haven't exactly been on his radar, have I? Could it be that he confirmed my identity as the Herrscher of Corruption through Cocolia and decided to make a move?"
"But that doesn't make sense—if I meant harm to World Serpent, a mechanical life-form like Gray Serpent wouldn't stand a chance against me…"
"Unless… this is Kevin's idea. But how does Kevin know about me? Through Gray Serpent's intel?"
Feeling like there was a missing link in her intel chain, Lynelle scratched her head in confusion.
"Mmm… whatever, better not engage with Gray Serpent for now. Not only are his motives unclear, but I'm heading to Oceania soon—no time for a three-front battle over here. Still…"
Even if she wasn't planning to accept Gray Serpent's invitation, that didn't mean she wouldn't make contact with World Serpent at all. She just had no intention of joining them.
After all, at this point, World Serpent lacked Kevin's direct leadership. It was full of problem children, not to mention people like Jackal, who really ought to check herself into St. Elizabeth's.
Lynelle had just finished dealing with a growling Cocolia—she wasn't in a hurry to provoke a snarling Jackal so soon.
"But since Gray Serpent served himself up on a platter, it'd be a shame not to use this. Perfect—I can try to locate the Elysian Realm's server. Even if I don't join World Serpent, I still need to pay a visit to the Elysian Realm."
Following the web address Gray Serpent provided, Lynelle quickly used her Authority to pinpoint the nearest World Serpent base.
Then, using that base's communication logs, she located another one nearby.
"Doing it this way is way too inefficient… Ugh, fine, I'll let the system's auto-manage function handle the search."
"The Elysian Realm server must consume a massive amount of energy anyway—there can't be many bases capable of hosting a server of that scale. If I just check them one by one, focusing on energy flow levels without digging into the data, they won't notice me."
"By the time I come back next, I should have found the Elysian Realm's location…"
With that hope in mind, Lynelle peacefully (?) closed her eyes.
[…She's already looking for the Elysian Realm, huh? And even waiting for the auto-manage function to help~?]
Once Lynelle's consciousness had fully transferred over to the Star Rail side, the voice of customer service rep Kiana-chan drifted faintly through the system.
[Got it, got it~ We won't let our dear Kiana waste time on this task. For Miss Fairy, finding the Elysian Realm server is as easy as going home~]
Another voice chimed in within the system space.
[Isn't that just going home, then…?]
[It's not the same, you know~ Because, honestly, I don't know where the Elysian Realm server is either… After all, back then, Lynelle just packed us up and took us all away.]
The sweet, pleasant voice held a light laugh.
[But… Miss Fairy has her own ways~]
[If you want to find your past self, all you need is a little resonance using the Authority of Origin—easy as pie~?]
[It's just… my past self might be a little bit shocked?]
--+--
On the other side, Lynelle—who had just woken up at Svarog's base—had no idea that back in the Honkai Impact world, Elysia had already set a wild chain of events in motion.
Right now, Lynelle was probably still adjusting as her consciousness settled back into her body.
But… clearly, a certain familiar do-gooder was eager to help speed up the process.
"Lynelle, you're awake?"
Her blurry vision gradually cleared. Through the sleep pod's cover, Lynelle could vaguely make out the gray-haired figure leaning over outside.
Then, the pod lid slid open automatically, and a slender, gloved hand reached in to check on her.
"Don't just grope around—I'm fine. I just woke up, my senses haven't fully come back yet, so I can't control my body properly."
"Really?"
Stelle's eyes instantly lit up, a mischievous grin spreading across her face. "So that means, no matter what I do to you now, Lynelle, you can't fight back?"
"Hey now, I don't remember teaching you to take advantage of people like this!"
"This isn't 'taking advantage'—it's 'seizing the opportunity.'"
Stelle looked utterly unapologetic. "When you have the chance to make a choice, you can't let yourself regret it later!"
"Is that really what Kafka meant when she taught you that?!"
Though Lynelle was trying her hardest to get her body to recover faster, according to Madam Herta's earlier explanation, the recovery speed was probably tied to her physical fitness. And Lynelle's physique was, unfortunately… kind of wimpy.
So, weak and limp-limbed, the girl could only watch helplessly as Stelle leaned in close beside her, a faint blush of excitement on her pretty face, gradually drawing nearer to her cheek…
And then… she drew a five-pointed star on Lynelle's face?
"You… that's all you're doing?"
Lynelle's voice was full of confusion, with just a hint of something almost undetectable… disappointment?
"Yep, yep! I found this in the Overworld. Don't worry—the ingredients are edible and harmless. It's probably supposed to be used for decorating cakes and stuff."
Stelle nodded, her expression brimming with the innocent charm of someone who's just figuring out human nature.
"…Alright, just make sure you help me clean it off later."
"Clean it off?"
Stelle scratched her head. "Well, this stuff is actually pretty tasty. If you really want it gone…"
Without warning, she leaned in again, her soft pink tongue gently licking Lynelle's now blazing-red cheek a few times, sweeping all the edible paint into her mouth.
"There, all gone~"
"…"
Outside the room, Svarog—who had detected Lynelle's awakening—silently covered Clara's eyes with his hand.
"Mr. Svarog, what are Big Sister Lynelle and Big Sister Stelle doing?"
"This is a common human courtship behavior, Clara. You are still too young to watch this."
--+--
T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.