Kiana spoke with a hint of embarrassment. That mysterious disappearance of Building No. 11 had nothing to do with the IPC.
Because that place had been her foothold when she first arrived in Belobog. She had left a little something of Ruan Mei's there, something that interfered with people's cognition, causing those nearby to instinctively ignore it and refrain from investigating.
The original intention had been to reduce trouble.
For Seele to notice something was wrong clearly meant her mental strength had improved.
"No, it absolutely has something to do with it!"
Seele firmly believed in her judgment. "You might not believe me, but I'm telling the truth. That residential area has Building No. 10 and Building No. 12, but no No. 11. That doesn't make sense!"
"What's even stranger is that before this, not a single person felt anything odd about it!"
"I asked some people and even tried to look for Building No. 11 myself, but I discovered that in the eyes of those around me, Building No. 11 simply doesn't exist. When they discuss it, they unconsciously skip over the topic, like it's some kind of taboo."
"The more you talk about it, the creepier it sounds," March 7th said with an awkward laugh as she shuffled a few steps closer to Stelle. "Could something have happened during construction? Maybe there was never a proper Building No. 11 to begin with?"
"If that were the case, why didn't the people living nearby just tell me there's no Building No. 11?" Seele frowned. "They were surprised for a moment, and then it was like they forgot about it entirely."
"That does sound strange."
"...Stop guessing wildly. That place has nothing to do with the disappearances or the IPC." Seeing their speculations growing more outrageous, Kiana couldn't help sighing. "If you don't believe me, I'll take you there to see for yourselves."
"You know where Building No. 11 is?"
Facing Seele's doubt, Kiana walked ahead to lead the way. "Of course. It's right between No. 10 and No. 12."
"That's impossible!" Seele shook her head immediately. "If it's right there, how could I have missed it?"
It wasn't some tiny object that could be hidden away. It was an entire building—something so conspicuous she couldn't possibly have overlooked it.
"You'll understand when we get there."
Originally, she had planned to follow them and deal with the missing persons case first, but from the way Seele described it, Building No. 11 was on the verge of becoming an urban legend.
It was better to take them there now.
Otherwise, Seele would never give up. She would stubbornly insist it was connected to the disappearances.
Kiana led them to their destination.
There was nothing unusual here. Building No. 11 stood right between No. 10 and No. 12. Its door was tightly shut, nothing special about it.
"Ten and Twelve... it really is just like Miss Seele said!" March 7th was clearly standing right in front of the entrance. She pointed left and right before grabbing Stelle beside her.
"Don't tell me there really is something weird going on?"
"There's nothing weird, and it's not a ghost story. Your cognition was interfered with by a device."
Kiana clapped her hands.
To their astonishment, a building suddenly appeared before their eyes.
It looked identical to the ones beside it.
Except the number hanging on the door was 11.
"This—!" Seele was stunned. After realizing what had happened, she looked at Kiana.
Acheron spoke up. "Don't be nervous. There's no danger. This used to be our temporary residence."
"How did you do that? That's amazing!"
"Ruan Mei made it. We didn't want to be disturbed, and we didn't want people to know we'd been here, so after buying this house when we first arrived, she placed a little gadget here that makes people directly overlook it."
Kiana had already opened the door. As for anything important, she usually tossed it into the system inventory, so there was no fear of losing it.
"Since we're already here, come in and sit for a bit."
She waved at them from the doorway, inviting them inside to talk.
Seele hadn't expected that the place she had suspected for days had absolutely nothing to do with the disappearances.
She was half a beat slow to react.
"Kiana!"
The moment they stepped inside, a ghostlike figure draped in a white priestess robe suddenly appeared before Kiana.
Her eyes were filled with delight.
"You finally came back to see me!"
"Jyahnar, long time no see!"
Hearing the faintly aggrieved tone in Jyahnar's unhurried voice, Kiana couldn't help feeling guilty. Her gaze drifted slightly.
"Thank you for guarding this place."
"You've become the true Herrscher of Finality. You've finally officially stepped onto this path." Jyahnar had been unable to sense her condition, which was why she only noticed Kiana when she reached the door.
When Kiana deliberately concealed herself, Jyahnar could no longer precisely perceive her from afar as she once could.
As for Kiana's current state,
She had already learned about it from this woman's own mouth, so she wasn't particularly surprised.
She wanted to say more, but with guests present, some words were not suitable for too many ears.
So she simply smiled and did not continue the topic. Instead, she introduced her, "I brought a few friends. This is Jyahnar, the friend I left on Jarilo-VI to help monitor the Legion."
"You left someone here?"
"Jyahnar doesn't really understand common sense. She's very strong, but if I let her handle the Legion... I'm afraid she'd destroy this world along with it."
The Jyahnar who had just been labeled as someone who didn't understand common sense showed no change in expression. After speaking with Kiana, her gaze shifted to Acheron.
Although they had once exchanged words during Kiana's coma, they still disliked each other at first sight.
Jyahnar didn't like her.
Acheron liked her even less—the Honkai Beast who had prevented her from entering Izumo to search for Kiana and had wanted to remain by Kiana's side indefinitely.
"What do you mean by 'destroy this world along with it'?" Seele asked belatedly. "And what Legion are you talking about?"
Now it was Kiana's turn to be surprised. She hadn't stayed long in the Overworld and had only arrived today. "You don't know?"
Seele pointed at herself. "What should I know?"
"It seems like a lot of news from the Overworld hasn't reached the Underworld," one of the outsiders explained at that moment. "And not many people seem to know about the Legion's return either."
"What do you mean the Legion has returned? Are you talking about the enemies recorded in stories—the ones who invaded this world more than seven hundred years ago?"
Stelle nodded and briefly explained the situation outside to Seele.
"Wait, wait, wait—let me process this!" Seele felt her head throbbing. "You're saying that although the Fragmentum has stopped expanding, our situation has actually become worse, is that it?"
On one side was the IPC, coming to collect debts from the past and wanting to acquire their world.
On the other side was the revived Legion, intending to continue destroying this world.
Compared to that, the frustration she had felt toward those IPC personnel in recent days suddenly seemed insignificant.
This was like two massive mountains.
The kind that pressed down so heavily you could hardly breathe.
"I'll think of a way to help with that. For now, let's focus on the missing residents."
The dangers Belobog was currently facing were no longer something they could solve alone.
But from the very beginning, Kiana had never intended to walk away after cleaning up the immediate mess. She had always been keeping an eye on this world's situation.
On the way here, she had already decided that she would open badge authorization to the Stigmata holders of this world.
"...It's definitely related to those guys in black uniforms!" Seele said after a moment of silence.
One guess had been disproven. The other couldn't be wrong too, could it?
Aside from those sneaky outsiders, she couldn't think of anyone else who would abduct sick patients.
"If you put it that way, the IPC does seem suspicious."
After all, coincidence was a kind of evidence.
"But why would they capture people? They're unfamiliar with the place, and the Silvermane Guards are watching them. They wouldn't have the chance to smuggle people out of the city, would they?"
People eroded by the Fragmentum had no value.
But what about people infected by Honkai?
Kiana lowered her gaze in thought. Seele's suspicion was directed squarely at the IPC, and in truth, Kiana was suspicious as well.
No one else had a reason to do something like this. If it were someone from Belobog wanting to conduct human experiments, there would be no need to resort to kidnapping.
But Topaz didn't seem like that kind of person.
Speaking of Honkai, the IPC had encountered it once before—on Kasbelina-VII.
When she left that world, the IPC had sent scholars from the Intelligentsia Guild to study Honkai energy.
Thinking of that world...
Kiana thought again of the man who had stopped her earlier today, asking for her autograph while actually testing her reaction.
Kado.
Kasbelina-VII...
Could it really be such a coincidence?
Kiana narrowed her eyes. She would never overestimate someone's moral character, nor did she believe in coincidences that convenient.
"Speaking of which, I ran into someone on my way to the Underworld who claimed to be my fan," Kiana said, not hiding the information. With no other leads, investigating this might bring unexpected results. "That guy seemed a bit strange. After hearing you talk about the disappearances, I suspect he might be connected to the case."
"Huh? A fan?"
"In the past, while searching for Mei, I performed with Robin for a while. I was fairly well-known back then, but that's all in the past." As she said this, Kiana didn't forget to add, "It's been so long I'm practically forgotten. Yet he happened to carry the album with him and recognized me at a glance, asking for an autograph. No matter how you look at it, that's not normal."
To outsiders, what she had done in that world hadn't been particularly eye-catching. The only noteworthy thing
Was probably her close relationship with Ruan.
March 7th stared at Kiana in shock. "You held concerts too?!"
"I was riding on Robin's fame. We're friends. To find Mei, I had no choice but to come up with a way to raise our visibility."
"But what does that have to do with the disappearances?"
"...It's not completely unrelated. It may be a bit of a stretch, but when there are too many coincidences, the probability of them being coincidences decreases. The world he came from—I've been there. When I left, the IPC just happened to be arranging research on Honkai energy there."
"Other than Izumo and Jarilo, there are other worlds with Honkai energy?" March 7th looked even more shocked.
She still remembered how Welt reacted to the mere mention of Honkai—almost obsessive, insisting on dealing with it no matter what.
"No. Only those two places. The Honkai energy in that world was an accident. After I left, it was quickly diluted and completely disappeared."
"That's good, that's good!"
March 7th let out a sigh of relief.
Seeing this, Kiana suggested, "I suspect meeting that person on the way here wasn't a coincidence. If Mei and I investigate, it'll attract too much attention. So the task of looking into that guy—Kado—will have to fall to you."
"We've been monitoring those IPC people in the Underworld for days and haven't found anything," Seele thought for a moment. "Since you have a specific suspect, let's do it your way."
She had no additional information.
Since they were also outsiders from beyond the sky, it made sense that they would understand the IPC better than she did.
"Alright, we'll take the job of investigating that guy," Stelle agreed immediately. "Even if he didn't do it himself, he definitely knows something. So many disappearances couldn't have been handled by just one or two people."
They agreed without hesitation.
Kiana took the opportunity to tell them his name, distinguishing features, and where she had met him.
They agreed to share any information they uncovered.
Without delay, Stelle and the others stayed a short while before quickly leaving, heading toward the place Kiana had mentioned to see if they could find any clues.
After they were gone, Kiana once again looked at Jyahnar, whose gaze had been glued to her the entire time.
"Jyahnar, you've been here all along. You should know this world's situation quite well, right?"
"You've been gone for so long, and the first thing you do after returning is worry about this world?" Jyahnar revealed a trace of disappointment, as if deeply hurt.
Kiana froze for a moment.
That sentence...
"What else would I worry about?" Acheron placed a hand on Kiana's shoulder, her violet eyes gazing deeply at the Honkai Beast. "Act normal. Kiana doesn't fall for that."
"Ahem. Anyway, let's talk business." Kiana gave an awkward laugh. "Let's focus on the important matter first."
"As you wish."
Jyahnar didn't press further. She had only said that to stir up Kiana's guilt and make her pay more attention to her.
Judging by Kiana's reaction,
It had worked.
"Those things began reviving gradually about half a month ago. Since their numbers weren't large, I didn't pay much attention," Jyahnar said. "They are indeed somewhat special. After being eroded by Honkai energy, they didn't transform into Honkai creatures. Instead..."
She paused, searching for an appropriate word.
"It's more like symbiosis."
"The power sustaining those Voidrangers in battle is called Destruction, correct? The power of Destruction seems capable of forming a cooperative relationship with Honkai. As a result, they don't need to fully transform into Honkai creatures to wield Honkai's power."
"That's not good news."
Kiana felt a headache coming on.
Nihility and Honkai energy clearly had no special compatibility. When faced with Honkai erosion, Nihility behaved in an utterly passive manner, as if saying do whatever you want.
But Destruction...
The actions of Destruction would accelerate the conversion and release of Honkai energy, speeding up its spread.
At present, Honkai energy remained under her control.
But if something went wrong—if Honkai energy rapidly spread across other worlds until it exceeded the scope of her control—
Kiana couldn't help thinking of Houkai Gakuen.