svetikya Page 215
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Unlike the Moths that see Honkai as an enemy that must be eliminated.
The Church of the Apocalypse, a new religious sect that originated in Eastern Europe, believes that the Collapse is a trial for humanity and a means to help humanity evolve, just like Darwin's theory of evolution. They believe that this is an aid for humanity to open the door to a new world.
This inevitably led to them being targeted by those who followed the trend and even by various countries.
However, the factions fighting against the Honkai are not monolithic—just as the Mu Continent faction has Dr. Mebius, who proposed combining human and Honkai Beast DNA to create 'Fusion Warriors,' the European faction is the same.
Perhaps because the first Honkai outbreak occurred in Europe, after witnessing the power of the beings known as 'Herrschers' for the first time, they have been trying to steal this power belonging to 'gods' through research on the relic left by the First Herrscher—the Herrscher of Reason Core.
But as mentioned earlier, for every person who agrees, there is someone who disagrees.
Even though the European factions were more corrupt, it did not prevent the existence of people who had witnessed the harm caused by the Herrschers and opposed attempts to 'artificially create Herrschers'.
Needless to say, they have faced all sorts of suppression.
Among them, Dr. Henry, who was the leader, was assassinated.
Thanks to this deterrent, although they dared not act openly due to the influence of the Moth of Fire headquarters, they did so in a seemingly blatant manner.
"Secretly, the Fifth Research Department has reached a cooperation agreement with the Church of Apocalypse." In the agreed-upon café, a silver-haired girl wearing a magic hair ornament held a ladle, adding a spoonful of fresh milk and two sugar cubes, stirring evenly. The classic coffee, made from dark roast beans, carried a distinct aroma of caramel and chocolate, a favorite among most residents of the British Isles. She spoke casually:
"A more accurate way to put it is that the so-called Church of the Apocalypse was actually a force supported by European factions."
After the establishment of the Fire Moth, the 'Fifth Research Department' that joined it and emerged naturally could not do anything that went against the direction of headquarters in the open—therefore, many experiments that were taboo had to be carried out in secret.
For example—human experiments.
Without a doubt, the most effective way to study Honkai is to use people, and coincidentally, the Eastern European region, where the Church of Apocalypse is located, has no shortage of 'people'.
Religious faith can stabilize order to a certain extent, and it can also obtain a stable source of "guinea pigs" through the method of "believers". What could be better than this?
"..."
Sakura didn't show much expression. There was only a glass of plain water in front of her. For Sakura, who came from the Far East, she really couldn't get used to coffee with its Western flavor. She probably preferred things like black tea and plain water.
On the way here, she had learned some of this information about Merlin.
It wasn't anything to worry about—but she was now certain that the girl in front of her probably did have something she desperately needed.
For example--
"This is a hidden base of the Church of Apocalypse. You may find what you are looking for and the answers there."
As for the specifics, I don't know either.
Looking at the address Merlin sent, Sakura didn't move, but instead asked:
"What are the conditions?"
Although she could simply take it and leave without any consequences, and the other party couldn't do anything to her, she was very concerned about the true purpose of the girl who had approached her, whether it was for the sake of so-called integrity or simply out of curiosity.
The answer is—no conditions!
"Well, if I put it that way, I doubt you'd feel at ease, would you?"
"Let's just say this for now—we're friends when it comes to being 'enemies' of certain people."
"Well then, I wish you good luck on your journey."
A mysterious, enigmatic silver-haired girl with a smile on her face picked up the parrot magic wand that was placed aside and slowly walked away.
Sakura, all alone, glanced at the note.
—It seems to be somewhere in the suburbs.
Sakura did not easily trust Merlin—after all, she had seen betrayal many times in her past life.
However, now that we have a clue, we can't just leave it there.
...Let Pado take a look first.
Knowing just how skilled her friend was at stealth, Sakura decided to send Pado to the address above to investigate first.
If it were me—unless I was determined to wipe them all out... or even if I did take that approach, it would easily alert the European factions and prompt them to take countermeasures.
After all—the name 'Forget-Me-Not' hidden inside the poisonous pupa is quite famous.
Although her main area of activity was the Far East, the European faction still occupied a significant portion of the upper echelons of the Firemoth faction, so it was hard to say that no one would notice her presence.
But Pado is different. With her stealthy infiltration abilities, she can investigate the information she wants without the enemy noticing.
Thinking of this, Sakura couldn't help but feel a sense of relief at Alicia's arrangement to bring Pado along with her.
This perfectly compensated for his weakness in stealth investigation.
Alicia, was this something you expected?
...
Pado felt that this place must be incompatible with her birth chart.
Otherwise, why would I be so unlucky?
Yesterday, I was inexplicably arrested by the cops on the street. Luckily, I didn't give anything away and managed to escape. But today, when I was passing by, another accident happened!
As she turned a corner, she was knocked down.
"Pain pain pain..."
Pado cried out in pain, clutching her forehead and baring her teeth. After struggling to get up, she saw the culprit who had bumped into her—a little girl with beautiful white hair, blue eyes, and a height of about 1.45 meters.
She looks cute and exudes an air of wisdom—but she's still far inferior to Ellie (a sharp comment).
"Are you OK."
Although she was a little angry at being bumped into for no reason, when she saw that it was a small child who bumped into her, Pado naturally wouldn't hold a grudge against such a little girl. She took the initiative to help the child up and asked her with some concern.
"N-nothing...it's nothing, I..."
Before she could finish speaking, she fainted.
This change left Pado somewhat dumbfounded. She glanced at the girl; she was still angry, but had simply fainted... It shouldn't be her fault, right?
The cat was having a bit of a headache. What if she had accidentally bumped into someone and caused this... Oh well, she'd better get her to the hospital right away!
Although she was worried about problems arising, the kind-hearted Pado did not intend to run away after encountering this situation. Instead, she helplessly accepted her bad luck and carried the other person to the nearest hospital.
The doctor was a man with gray-white gradient hair, and he looked quite handsome, as the cat commented after one glance—unfortunately, she wasn't a looks-obsessed person and wasn't that interested in handsome men.
"This is..."
Su initially thought the patient had simply fainted, but his expression changed instantly after he examined the patient with the equipment.
The girl seemed to have a genetic disease—he didn't know what it was, at least it was outside Su's knowledge.
The consequences of this disease are unclear, but it is certain that her telomeres are significantly shorter than those of normal people.
Of course, this was not the main cause of the girl's exhaustion—
Noticing some familiar marks, Su took the initiative to lift the girl's clothes and immediately saw the snow-white—no, it should be called pale white marks on her skin.
"It's Honkai disease."
His expression changed slightly.
Honkai disease has always been something Su has tried to study and overcome, and for this reason he even chose to join the Moth of Fire.
But before he could find a cure for Honkai disease, another Honkai disease patient appeared before him.
She was still a little girl...
Su looked unwell and sighed.
He walked outside the ward, where another girl who had brought the patient—Paddo—was waiting by the chair.
Upon seeing him, the latter's eyes lit up, and he leaned closer, somewhat nervously asking:
"She should be okay, right?"
Are you a family member or friend of hers?
"No, that's not it. We just bumped into her." Pado waved her hand and chuckled.
Although she and the other party were not related and had no connection whatsoever—in fact, she was a victim to some extent—Mao Mao was ultimately a kind-hearted person.
Even during the twilight hours, she couldn't just ignore such a situation.
Not to mention that now that he's become the warehouse manager of the moth-to-a-flame operation, and he's been generous with his money, it's even less likely that the cat would just stand by and watch him die and run away.
If that were the case, Ellie would definitely be very disappointed.
Su's gaze softened in response.
Although he treats all patients equally and does not discriminate against their families, after learning about and perceiving the girl's personality, he, who was eager to improve himself, still developed a considerable liking for her.
"Her condition is not optimistic..."
After hesitating for a moment, Su told the truth—in principle, he shouldn't have told Pado these things, since she was just a kind passerby, and such news should be told to her family.
Sending the patient here is already an act of great kindness from the latter.
But because of that affection, he chose to be honest.
"Eh--?"
Upon hearing this result, Pado's eyes widened.