Chapter 601 - 601: Turned Into Gacha?! - 601

"It's fine! I made some other things too. These should be a lot more to most people's taste!"

Firefly quickly changed the subject. Kiana gave an awkward laugh and stopped forcing herself to play the supportive audience. Once they sat down, she still couldn't understand why dinner consisted of desserts like cake, but considering how little she'd eaten lately, even this counted as a feast.

She cautiously cut into a round strawberry cake with her knife and fork. Once she confirmed that the texture seemed normal, she relaxed and took a tentative bite.

It was delicious.

It was even better than the cakes she'd had from actual bakeries. "You're way too good at this. I don't think I've ever had cake this good." Since Kiana genuinely meant it this time, her excitement sounded much more real.

"I'm glad you like it! This is actually the first time I've made something for someone else. I'm just glad nothing went wrong." Firefly smiled in satisfaction at the praise.

"You've never made anything for your friends before?" Kiana glanced at the cake in front of her. If she could make something this good, she'd have baked piles of them just to show off to everyone she knew.

"Ah... I never really had the chance before."

Firefly stiffened for a moment, then immediately changed the subject. "Anyway, Kiana, why were you lying in a place like that? Your symptoms were also much worse than everyone else's."

"I..."

The moment the subject came up, Kiana's expression darkened. She soon took a deep breath, though, and brushed it aside with an awkward laugh. "My situation's a little unusual..."

Both of them had avoided talking about their pasts. That unspoken distance left the room in silence for a few moments before Kiana finally broke it.

"About earlier... thanks for saving me."

"It's fine. You were right there in front of me..." Firefly shook her head, refusing the thanks. "Besides, you don't really need to thank me. You weren't the only one who benefited from it."

"Huh?"

'I'm not the only one?'

Kiana remembered what Fu Hua had told her—that Firefly had absorbed the Honkai energy from her body. Curiosity stirred in her. "Firefly, how exactly does your ability work? How can you absorb Honkai energy from other people and show no signs of corruption at all?"

Could it simply be that Firefly had an absurdly high resistance to Honkai energy? That didn't seem normal. Even Kiana, a Kaslana, had struggled to endure that level of corruption.

Of course, if Firefly really did possess even greater Honkai resistance than a Kaslana, then Kiana would simply have to admit she'd underestimated what was possible.

She hadn't expected to get a clear answer, but Firefly explained herself without hesitation. "I wouldn't really call it an ability... It's more like an illness."

"An illness?"

That answer caught both Kiana and Fu Hua off guard.

"Yeah... It's a strange genetic disorder. As far as I know, I'm probably the only case in the entire world." Firefly nodded, a quiet heaviness entering her expression.

"They call it Entropy Loss Syndrome. It causes a person's physical structure to undergo irreversible, chronic dissociation. The only way to slow it down, or even stop it for a while, is to stay inside a special medical cabin."

"But... not long ago, I discovered another way to suppress Entropy Loss Syndrome."

Even Kiana could put two and two together by then.

"Is it... Honkai energy?"

"Yeah..." Firefly nodded. "Entropy Loss Syndrome breaks down Honkai energy before it starts breaking down my body. The Honkai energy disappears much faster than my physical structure does, but if I can keep replenishing it, I can stay outside the medical cabin for long periods of time... I just haven't found a way to maintain a constant supply yet."

Firefly gave a helpless smile. "It's like a deadly virus to everyone else, but for me, it's actually my hope of staying alive. Funny how that works."

"The Honkai energy I absorbed from you just now is enough to let me stay out of the medical cabin for two or three days. Normally, I'd need to absorb energy from dozens, maybe even over a hundred patients, to get that much."

'So that's how it is.'

'Even the state I'm in right now can actually help someone else...'

Kiana stared down at her own body in a daze.

Then a thought struck her.

"Firefly, where are you getting treatment for your condition?" Kiana suddenly asked, her eyes sharpening as she stared at the girl across from her. "A normal medical facility shouldn't be able to diagnose something this unusual in so much detail."

"Hm? It's at..." Firefly stopped halfway through her answer. "Kiana, what are you planning to do?"

She seemed to realize what Kiana was thinking. Her gentle expression turned serious.

Kiana hesitated at her reaction. She really didn't want to drag anyone else into her problems, especially someone like Firefly, who looked like an ordinary girl with no real way to protect herself.

A girl who already had to fight just to stay alive shouldn't be dragged into something this dangerous.

But Kiana had a reason she couldn't ignore.

She'd already been in Arc City for some time. At first, she'd assumed the Honkai Beasts appearing throughout the city were being drawn here because of her, but Fu Hua had rejected that theory.

A Herrscher could certainly trigger a Honkai disaster, but Kiana was consciously keeping her power under control. Even if some energy leaked out, it couldn't explain Honkai incidents appearing in such huge numbers across completely random locations.

That meant the Honkai incidents in Arc City had another source.

And there was no way Kiana could knowingly leave that source alone. If this was an accident, she'd stop it. If someone had caused it on purpose, she'd put an end to whatever they were planning.

Silence fell between them again.

Maybe it was because Firefly had been so open with her just moments ago, or maybe Kiana simply couldn't bring herself to lie to the girl sitting in front of her. In the end, Kiana spoke first.

"I... actually handle incidents like this. The number of Honkai incidents happening lately isn't normal. I think someone, or something, in this city is causing all of them."

"Firefly... what you know could be really important. It might help me find whoever's behind this."

Silence lingered for another moment after she finished.

Kiana hadn't explained everything, but her sincerity was clear. At the same time, there was something complicated behind her words.

After all, Firefly had just told her that Honkai energy was the main reason she could walk around outside instead of spending all her time inside a medical cabin. By absorbing Honkai energy from infected patients, Firefly could temporarily live a normal life.

If Kiana found and stopped the person behind everything, the number of people suffering from Honkai corruption would drop sharply. There might even come a day when Firefly couldn't find a single patient to draw energy from.

Under those circumstances, it'd be perfectly understandable if Firefly refused to help her.

Yet Firefly didn't look hesitant at all.

Instead, surprise crossed her face. Then she fell into thought before finally looking straight at Kiana with a serious expression.

"Actually... I've been thinking something similar. The source of everything that's been happening lately might be Heliopolis Life Sciences."

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T/N: If you want advance chapters, you can find it at [email protected]/AspenTL