Chapter 3

After killing the virtual soldiers of the antimatter legion, Kafka seemed pleased but not fully satisfied, and asked with a hint of disappointment: "When did the antimatter legion become this weak?"

The girl said leisurely: "I can only lure this many troops; you don't want to attract the legion's main force, do you?"

With only this kind of trash, we can't hold back those people from the Astral Express.

Don't worry." The girl's voice was very confident, "An apocalyptic beast has also arrived."

Upon hearing those three words 'apocalyptic beast,' Kafka said nothing more and walked straight to a bridge inside the space station, with different paintings placed on either side of the bridge.

She approached the first painting, which depicted a black-haired man, and upon closer look, his name was written below—Zandale.

This is Zandale. Zandale·1·Three Origins, the first genius in history.

The girl's voice sounded somewhat surprised: "The person who, according to legend, created the Omni-Sage?"

It's him; if the legend is true, then he is the man who created the Star Gods.

I hope it's not true—I don't want to be a Zandale hunter." The girl sighed.

——

Creating... Star Gods?

Mavis set down the cup in her hand, took a deep breath, and her tumultuous thoughts remained unsettled.

Because she possesses divine power, she understands the weight of the word 'god' better than ordinary people. Even though 'Star God' is an unfamiliar concept she has never heard of, she can still roughly gauge its significance.

But the more shocking news on the light screen was that, in that world, humans could actually create gods.

God-making... the weight of this term already far exceeds Mavis's comprehension.

She had a vague premonition: the world shown on the light screen might harbor gods far surpassing those of Teyvat... even the power of heavenly principle.

Just as she was lost in thought, the content on the light screen changed; after glancing at the other paintings, Kafka walked straight to the room at the end of the bridge.

Inside the room, a virtual soldier was already on standby; Kafka disposing of it was merely a matter of course, but as the virtual soldier dissolved into a ball of light, another virtual soldier rose behind her and launched a surprise attack, thrusting a blade at her.

Kafka didn't even turn her head, merely smoothing her cuffs with a smile; when the monster's strike was about to land, its blade actually turned into tiny cubes that dissipated in the air.

It was as if an invisible barrier had appeared behind Kafka; anything touching it would be disintegrated until it vanished completely.

Cleaning up after others isn't my job.

As she spoke, the camera in the light screen pulled back, and the girl who had been chatting with Kafka all along finally appeared on screen.

Her silver-gray hair was tied in a single-spiral ponytail, and the little rabbit-ear-like hairband looked exceptionally cute and charming.

The black-and-white patchwork undershirt on her upper body hardly outlined any curves, and she wore a cropped jacket that exposed her midriff, showing off her soft, supple waist and the youthful beauty of the girl.

Below the low-rise fishnet ultra-short shorts, her legs were slender and straight, as light as spring willow fluff; perhaps because of the leg bands, her thighs weren't monotonous, and one could even see a slight tightening of the flesh.

As for the upper-body area that should have drawn attention, at first glance it looked quite... impoverished.

And when this scene appeared, in the Saint Freya Academy of another world, a girl named Bronya found herself in a state of bewilderment and shock.

Is that... me?

They had exactly the same hair color and appearance, even their voices and tones when speaking were completely identical; as for that certain 2A scenic spot, we won't go into it—it's practically as if they were carved from the same mold.

Maybe they just look alike... the world is so vast; having a few people who look exactly alike and sound exactly alike is perfectly reasonable, right?

Bronya took a deep breath, only able to console herself in this way.

Alright, alright, where did you throw it, Silver Wolf?

Just random coordinates I threw together, nothing special—do you really care where that virtual soldier went?" The girl called Silver Wolf shrugged indifferently.

I don't care, but no matter how many times I see your methods, they always seem unbelievable.

Just tweaking reality's data; it's not worth mentioning, a little trick." Silver Wolf shrugged and blew a big bubble.

But when the camera panned to Silver Wolf's smug face, Bronya was stunned, as were those who knew her; they all stared wide-eyed at the 'Silver Wolf' conversing with Kafka on the light screen, wearing an expression of 'I don't get it, but I'm blown away.'

For a moment, the Valkyries in the academy gathered around her one after another.

Bronya, look, look—isn't that you? You look exactly alike, equally cute! Could it be that the last time you went out on a mission... you were actually filming a movie out there?

In other words, this celestial screen isn't really related to the Collapse; it's a new technology from Heaven's Mandate—I never imagined modern technology could actually pull off something like this.

Bronya, you might hide it from others, but how could you hide it from us?" Kiana came over, face flushed with anger.

Kiana, maybe Bronya just wanted to give us a surprise?" Mei said, smiling gently beside them to smooth things over, "If we'd been told beforehand, it wouldn't really be a surprise, would it?"

That's true, but—" Kiana leaned close to Bronya, gave a bright smile, "Bronya, your acting is superb! So natural! I really thought that was another world's you."

The people surrounding Bronya chattered nonstop, all very excited; at first they thought this might be another omen of the Collapse's arrival, but when Bronya's face appeared on the celestial screen, almost everyone's fear turned into delight.

This is really... awesome!

As the person involved, Bronya wore a bewildered expression; she stared blankly at the Silver Wolf in the light screen above, then quickly waved her hands: 'No, no, Kiana, I didn't film that kind of thing, and that person... probably... wouldn't be me... right?'

By the end, Bronya's own voice had dropped to barely audible; she couldn't even convince herself. After all, the girl named 'Silver Wolf' in the image, aside from having a single-vortex hairstyle, could be said to be exactly like her.

Moreover, the girl's name 'Silver Wolf' was what bothered her the most.

'Ural Silver Wolf'—that was her mercenary title in Siberia before she entered the Cocolia Orphanage.

Few people know this, but now that the light screen shows a girl who looks exactly like her and also bears that name, she finds it hard to believe that this 'Silver Wolf' has no connection whatsoever to her.

Her methods also seem to carry a hint of hacking.