Kiana and the Captain's Bizarre Adventure

Completely baffled, Kiana finally decided to give up thinking about it and discuss it with Danheng and the others later. Having figured this out, Kiana refocused her attention on the food in front of her. Meanwhile, Bronya, who had already ordered, returned and joined Kiana and Pella for lunch.

After a relatively quiet lunch break, Kiana finally couldn't contain herself any longer, grabbed Bronya's hand, and started running towards the shopping street.

Pera wanted to step forward to stop her, but seeing that Bronya did not refuse, she hesitated for a moment and finally lowered her outstretched hand.

Seeing that Kiana and Bronya had disappeared from her sight, Pera sighed softly and began to return to her workplace. She had accumulated a considerable amount of work that morning due to guiding Kiana through the Berlberg process, and if she didn't return soon, she estimated she would have to work overtime to finish it.

As for Bronya, based on her observation of Kiana throughout the morning, nothing unexpected should happen. Pella, on the other hand, hoped Kiana could take Bronya shopping to relax. Bronya had accumulated a lot of stress due to Cocolia's unreasonable orders, but with the situation tense at the front lines, she wouldn't prioritize her own health.

Bronya's current situation is that she gets no more than four hours of rest each day, frequently travels between the front lines and the rear, and has to personally check everything. Among the Silvermane Guards, including Jepard and herself, many people hope that Bronya can be withdrawn from the front lines and return to the rear to rest for a while, even if it's just for a day.

Each time, Bronya would use the precarious situation at the front lines and her duty as commander and successor to the Highguard to set an example as her own to refuse. But Bronya was only human; no matter how hard she tried, she would eventually collapse. It would be alright if she collapsed in the rear military district, but what if she couldn't hold on and fell on the front lines?

Lady Bronya is the symbol of our Silvermane Guard. If she were to fall, morale would probably plummet.

Meanwhile, on the other side, Kiana forcefully led Bronya to the shopping street. After a short stroll, Kiana took Bronya to the Goethe Hotel to reunite with the others.

After confirming which room she was in, Kiana, to the astonishment of everyone present, pulled Bronya into her room.

"What exactly do you want to do?" Bronya asked.

Bronya still didn't understand Kiana's purpose along the way. She had repeatedly said that she had many important things to do and didn't have time to fool around with Kiana.

"I didn't plan to do anything, I just saw that you looked exhausted and wanted you to get some rest."

"Is that why?"

"Yes, that's why."

"Do you know that the entire city of Beloborg is currently suffering from the effects of the rift? Not only is the front line under pressure, but even the city itself has been rifted! At this critical juncture, I have absolutely no time to rest!"

"so what?"

"you……!"

Kiana ignored Bronya's angry expression, led her to the bedside, and forcefully pressed her onto the bed.

“I understand what you’re saying, but that’s not a reason for you not to rest. Bronya, you’re still human, and as a human, you need to rest properly. Otherwise, your body simply can’t support your current high-intensity work.”

"Think carefully, when was the last time you woke up naturally? Even if you force yourself to work at a high intensity every day, has the influence of the rift ever diminished?"

"But what can I do if I don't do something?"

Kiana looked at the somewhat bewildered Bronya and sighed. She knew Bronya's current state all too well. Bronya was already overwhelmed by the immense pressure, and those high-intensity jobs were nothing more than an attempt to numb her, a way to force herself to ignore the pressure.

She was filled with guilt and pressure because she had caused Himeko Murata's death. Unable to bear the understanding and concern of her companions, Kiana ultimately chose to escape alone.

After becoming a human, Kiana felt a strange sense of relief. After many twists and turns, she finally arrived in Sky City. There, with Fu Hua's help, she was finally able to face her own heart. No longer running away, she was finally able to use the powers of the Second Herrscher. With the timely arrival of the Captain, she perfectly resolved the crisis in Sky City.

Perhaps Bronya's current situation is different from Kiana's back then, but seeing Bronya so tense, Kiana still couldn't rest easy. After careful consideration, although she felt somewhat guilty towards Bronya, Kiana chose to use her power of consciousness to forcibly put Bronya into a state of sleep.

Watching Bronya's breathing gradually stabilize, Kiana casually wove a sweet dream before quietly leaving the room and turning to go into Danheng's room.

When Dan Heng saw that it was Kiana who came in, he turned the book he was holding upside down on the bedside table and then gestured for Kiana to sit down.

"Now that you're here, it means your investigation has yielded results, right? And what's the situation with that Miss Bronya?"

Yes, Kiana had secretly communicated with Danheng using her consciousness powers long before they separated. She was responsible for finding a way to leave the main force to conduct an investigation, while Danheng was negotiating with the Great Guardian. Now was the perfect time to exchange information.

"Let me start with my side," Kiana said.

"First of all, the entire Beloborg is divided into an upper zone and a lower zone. The upper zone is where the wealthy live, while the lower zone is the foundation upon which the entire Beloborg depends for survival. The residents of the lower zone are all miners. They exchange goods with the upper zone by mining a mineral called 'earth marrow,' and this 'earth marrow' mineral is the energy source for the entire Beloborg heating system."

"However, due to the current Grand Guardian, all the Silver Mane Iron Guards in the lower district have been withdrawn to the upper district, and the passage connecting the upper and lower districts has also been blocked. Only the passage for exchanging supplies is still operating normally. The two districts have not been in contact for more than ten years now."

"Moreover, due to the expansion of the rift in recent years, not only has the frontline battle become more intense, but the city itself has also begun to experience rift erosion. Most importantly, there have been rumors circulating in recent years that the situation on the front lines has deteriorated due to the repeated misjudgments of the High Guardian, Cocolia. Therefore, the calls for Bronya to quickly succeed as the High Guardian are growing louder."

"So, this is why you brought her back? Because she's the next Great Guardian?"

"No, it's just that I saw she was under too much pressure, so I forced her to come over and rest properly. As for how I figured it out and how I made her rest, I think you can guess."

Dan Heng nodded thoughtfully. He had indeed been startled when Kiana's voice suddenly appeared in his mind, and he almost screamed. Fortunately, he managed to hold back. After Kiana's explanation, he roughly understood that Kiana possessed a consciousness-related ability, and that Kiana had probably used this ability on Bronya.

"Let me tell you about our situation," Dan Heng said.

"First of all, our negotiations with the Great Guardian Cocolia went very smoothly. She not only quickly believed in our identities as extraterrestrials, but also readily agreed to our request to help seal the star core. However, if the rumors you've heard are true, I'm worried that things might not be so simple."

“Cocolia… this name always gives me a bad feeling. Perhaps she only agreed to our request on the surface, but is probably already plotting to betray us. I even suspect that she knew about the existence of the Star Core all along, and may even be using the power of the Star Core to do something shady.”

"Why do you think that way?"

"Perhaps it's because there's someone named Cocolia in my hometown as well as Mr. Walter's. You should know that in every world there are individuals who look similar to us, have similar names, and even similar experiences. Although Cocolia in our world can't be considered an absolute villain, she did a lot of bad things, which led me to have some bad impressions of people with that name."

"Although your guess is based on your knowledge of Cocolia's deeds in your world and is not very credible, it is always good to be cautious. I will relay our conversation to Xing and March 7 later."

"..."

After exchanging information briefly, Kiana turned and left Danheng's room.

Back in her room, Kiana looked at Bronya lying on the bed with a peaceful sleeping face, and finally couldn't control herself.

After taking out his phone and snapping a few photos of Bronya, he quickly edited them and sent them to the captain, who was nowhere to be found, and Welt, who was on the train with Pam and Himeko.

Not long after, Kiana received replies from both of them.

After showing slight surprise, Welt began to lecture Kiana about not taking photos of others without their permission. As for the Captain, he sent a funny emoji and then said nothing more.

At this moment, the captain was in the middle of a snow-capped mountain, and standing next to him was a woman with long silver-gray hair, the ends of which were split into two spirals, dressed in an office lady outfit.

"How does it feel to see yourself sleeping, Bronya?"

"I don't feel anything," the woman, whom the captain called Bronya, said, waving her hand.

"Let's hurry up and continue searching for that damn star core. I still have a bunch of code waiting for me to go back and improve."

"It's as if you typed all of this code yourself."

"Did you say anything, Captain?"

Looking at Bronya's oppressive gaze, the captain silently felt indignant for the Heavy Bunny once again, and then shamefully gave in to his feelings.

"It's nothing! Let's set off now!"