Chapter 218: Found It

Chang Ye Yue tipped the Black Umbrella slightly backward, and the freed hand slowly stretched forward, fingers slightly spread, palm down, hovering over the cold air.

She closed those crimson eyes that always carried a lazy smile.

Du Ya held her breath, instinctively gripping the handle of the Handgun at her waist.

For a few seconds, or perhaps longer, there was only the sound of wind.

Suddenly, a faint violet glow, like an ink droplet falling into clear water, silently spread from the point where Chang Ye Yue's palm met the air.

The light was not dazzling, yet it seemed to draw away all surrounding sound and temperature.

The violet light quickly spread, tracing a complex pattern about two meters in diameter on the snow, rotating slowly.

Chang Ye Yue opened her eyes.

In the depths of her crimson pupils reflected the swirling violet light, and the habitual mysterious smile at the corner of her mouth deepened slightly, becoming an almost satisfied curve.

"Found it."

She whispered, her tone like a settled corner of a dusty library, pulling out the long‑sought solitary volume.

"Found… found?"

Du Ya stared blankly, her gaze shifting between the Purple Light Formation and Chang Ye Yue's face, "Found what? A vein? An entrance to ruins? Or treasure buried here?"

She truly could not imagine what "thing" could be worth such a massive effort in this ghostly place of nothing but snow and permafrost, used by Destiny as a forward outpost.

Chang Ye Yue gave no direct answer; she kept her hand hovering in the void, turned her head toward Du Ya and A Xing (who had silently arrived at some point, still holding a half‑eaten energy bar), and her voice carried clearly through the wind and snow:

"Miss Du Ya, and A Xing, please guard the outside and don't let anything disturb me."

She placed a barely perceptible emphasis on the word "thing."

"Disturb?"

Du Ya grew even more bewildered, looking around, "Isn't this camp already…"

Before she could finish, the instinct honed by years of skirting danger suddenly rang the alarm!

It did not come from within the camp, but from outside, from the direction of the white‑blanketed conifer forest shrouded by wind and snow.

A buzzing sound drifted in, mingling with the wind and snow, barely perceptible, yet it made the hairs on the back of Du Ya's neck stand up instantly.

Immediately after, one by one, semi‑transparent, constantly subtly twisting and flickering silhouettes appeared in the view beyond the camp, as if seeping out of the snow.

Their forms varied—some beast‑like, some humanoid—but they shared an unstable, quantum‑superposition‑like appearance and an aura that, while different from ordinary Collapse Beasts, was equally dangerous.

"Quantum Collapse Beast?!"

Du Ya couldn't help but exclaim, eyes wide, "How can this place have that thing?!"

How could a "specialty" of the Quantum Sea end up in Siberia's icy wasteland?

This is completely unscientific! Not even Honkai theory!

But reality left no time for her to complain.

The number of Quantum Collapse Beasts was rapidly increasing, and they collectively locked onto the center of the camp—where Chang Ye Yue stood—or rather, onto the violet‑glowing thing beneath her hand!

Du Ya instantly understood her "role".

Right, Gatekeeper and Cleaner, this job she knows.

"A Xing! The front is yours! I'll find a high point!"

Du Ya spoke at breakneck speed, not waiting for A Xing's reply, and darted like an agile snow fox to the side of the camp behind a makeshift cover of several wrecked armored vehicles and supply crates, where a relatively stable firing angle lay.

She quickly set up the Special Sniper Rifle she carried, the cold metal reassuring her slightly.

Through the high‑magnification scope, she saw A Xing silently moving toward the camp entrance, confronting the gradually advancing swarm of Quantum Collapse Beasts.

Then, under Du Ya's somewhat numb gaze, the bat A Xing always carried vanished, replaced by a rustic, dark‑red long spear whose tip was entwined with an ever‑burning spark.

Flame Gun.

Du Ya's mouth twitched sharply.

(So there really is… a Preservation Flame Gun?)

The battle erupted almost instantly.

A Xing made no hesitation; the Flame Gun in her hand became a scarlet meteor, bearing a scorching shockwave, and slammed straight into the Collapse Beast swarm!

The barrel swept across, sparks flared, the struck Collapse Beasts emitted silent screeches, their bodies flickering violently between material and illusion, some disintegrating directly into drifting Data Light Dots.

Each of her blows was heavy and forceful, unadorned yet terrifyingly efficient, quickly carving a patch of snow into a scorched area of dark‑red ash.

Du Ya crouched behind the cover, the crosshair in her scope moving steadily.

She didn't rush to fire, but observed the battle.

A Xing's combat power was even more exaggerated than she had expected; the Collapse Beasts posed almost no threat before her, and she alone absorbed the vast majority of the pressure.

(So my role is just to plug the gaps?)

Du Ya's mind was as clear as a mirror.

She adjusted her breathing, began to fire intermittently, the Special Corruption Energy penetrating rounds precisely targeting the stragglers attempting to bypass A Xing's defense or strike the camp center from sharp angles.

The gunfire was not conspicuous amid the wind, snow, and the explosions ahead.

But at least most of her attention was not on the immediate fight.

The scope shifted slightly, silently aligning with the camp center, where Chang Ye Yue still held the Black Umbrella, one hand hovering, amid wind, snow, and chaos.

Then Du Ya's finger on the trigger froze, her breath halted as well.

Through the lens slightly blurred by wind and snow, she saw the center of the Purple Light Formation before Chang Ye Yue growing denser and… rising upward!

A hazy, softly white‑glowing silhouette slowly rose from the formation's center, its outline gradually sharpening.

It was a woman.

Her long white hair, even within the energy silhouette, seemed to shine; her face was gentle, eyes closed, as if still asleep.

She wore the attire that Du Ya had seen countless times in reference images, belonging to one of Destiny's fallen strongest Valkyries.

Sai Xi Li Ya Shaniat.

Qiana's mother, Zigfei's wife, the one confirmed dead in the Second Collapse War… Sai Xi Li Ya.

Du Ya felt her throat a little dry, and her heart raced uncontrollably a few beats.

She stared fixedly at the view through the sniper scope, watching the phantom becoming ever more solid, as if it might open its eyes at any moment, watching Chang Ye Yue's slightly upturned mouth, bearing some indescribable meaning.

(What is she doing?!)

A chill, colder than Siberia's snowstorms, silently crawled up Du Ya's spine.

She abruptly moved the sniper scope aside, realigned her sight and crosshair on the twisted Collapse Beasts ahead, forcefully pulled the trigger, shattering the head of a beast‑shaped Collapse Beast that lunged toward her.

(Can't look, can't think too much.)

She admonished herself in her heart, forcing herself to focus on the battle before her.

(The more you know, the faster you die… especially when you learn things that shouldn't even exist in the Plot…)