"See him?"
Lin Wei pointed at the one-armed, white-haired man not far away and sneered,
"Beat him up!"
As soon as his voice fell, before Yuno or Siegfried could react, Lin Wei held his hands facing each other, conjuring a pitch-black "train model" in the air. Then, a white light flashed on the model, and Lin Wei, Yuno, and Siegfried instantly vanished.
"What's this?"
Tesla's face paled, and she shouted,
"Mophead, what just happened?"
On the other side, Einstein, in the deepest part of the base, analyzed the energy data detected just now with a cold expression. After a moment, she sighed softly and announced the answer to the anxiously waiting Tesla,
"It's spatial folding."
"What?"
Tesla was stunned.
Einstein pointed to a location on the screen, but knowing that Tesla, who was also on the screen, couldn't see her action, she briefly explained,
"It means that they are probably still in their original location, but in another folded space, unreachable by ordinary physical means."
"How could Lin Wei... Damn it, is it a Divine Key again? Mophead, think of something quickly, we can't let him pick us off one by one!"
Tesla was only momentarily at a loss, but with a simple prompt, she quickly understood the cause and effect, saying anxiously,
"Concentrated bombardment of high-frequency energy beams on one point should be able to penetrate the folded spatial barrier!"
"That's a good idea, but..."
Einstein's voice was still unhurried, making the already anxious Tesla even more frantic,
"The area you're in has just been ravaged by a fierce battle, and most of the facilities have been destroyed. To implement your combat plan, you must first clean up and rebuild."
"What? Damn it!"
Tesla wanted to get angry, but felt a chill,
"Could this also be part of his plan?"
...
Meanwhile.
"What?"
Siegfried had just heard Lin Wei say "Beat him up" and hadn't had time to react when a burst of intense white light enveloped him.
The white light vanished in a flash. Siegfried quickly lowered the arm covering his eyes and was stunned.
He was now in a strange space. As far as he could see, there was no left or right, up or down. He felt like he was in a void.
Visually, he was undoubtedly floating, but the feeling from his feet clearly told him that he was standing on solid ground.
But this disorienting sensation didn't make Siegfried panic. After a very short period of confusion, he quickly adapted.
"Where is this...?"
Siegfried asked in surprise. Everything here seemed somewhat familiar.
Soon, two other figures walked over from another direction in the "void," their footsteps crisp and clear, like echoes. It was Lin Wei and Yuno.
Yuno obediently followed closely behind Lin Wei, looking around curiously at the magnificent, even fantastical scenery.
The sudden change had also startled her. If not for Lin Wei's timely comfort, she would have been triggered instantly.
"Heh, esteemed Mr. Siegfried, welcome to my 'Infinite Corridor.'"
It was comfort for Yuno, but for Siegfried, it was the exact opposite. Lin Wei asked with a smile that wasn't quite a smile,
"How does it feel to revisit this place?"
"Revisit?"
Siegfried was stunned, his gaze at Lin Wei becoming more hostile. He had clearly understood where the inexplicable sense of familiarity came from.
During the Second Honkai Eruption, the Herrscher of the Void had trapped him in a similar spatial maze. Later...
Siegfried remembered that painful memory, and his heart sank.
The guy across from him had clearly come prepared.
"Heh, saying 'revisit' shouldn't be a problem, right? After all, this was inspired by the Herrscher of the Void, Sirin. Even the way to break it is exactly the same—oh, by the way, the Herrscher of the Void… is your daughter now, right?"
Lin Wei's smile was still full of mockery, and he clicked his tongue,
"A mortal enemy you once fought to the death with has now become your own flesh and blood... tsk tsk tsk, this is truly a twist of fate, isn't it?"
Lin Wei was tap-dancing all over Siegfried's minefield.
"Shut up, Kiana... she's different!"
As expected, the old father was instantly enraged. He raised his fist and punched at Lin Wei, wanting to shut his damned mouth.
Yuno was furious and wanted to intervene, but Lin Wei raised his hand, signaling her to stay back. Then, the Stigmata on his back glowed slightly, he twisted his body, nimbly dodging Siegfried's furious punch, and with a flash of his feet, he circled behind Siegfried, pointed at the empty sleeve, and chuckled,
"You're right, she is different!"
"Damn it!"
These undisguised words further enraged Siegfried. He turned and kicked at Lin Wei. Lin Wei covered his arms with pitch-black gauntlets, crossing them in front of his chest to block, and was kicked away.
Seeing this, Yuno quickly extended her vines to catch him in mid-air. Then, the vines spread wildly, sweeping towards Siegfried.
"Die!"
With Lin Wei around, Yuno didn't dare to be too reckless, and she didn't dare use her toxins.
But Siegfried didn't dare gamble. Seeing Yuno attack again, his heart tightened. Judgment of Shamash shot out, and raging flames surged again, incinerating the invisible toxins that might be present in the air, along with the sweeping vines.
"You bastard..."
Lin Wei's provocative words, rubbing salt into his already bloody wounds, made Siegfried furious. With his blade in hand, fueled by boundless rage, he was about to teach that hateful guy a lesson.
But before he could make a move, a black flame tore through the wall of fire, sweeping towards Siegfried like a storm.
"Boom!"
Siegfried raised his sword to block. The two similar-looking great swords, each entwined with red or black flames, collided violently, the resulting shockwave shattering the surrounding fire walls.
In just an instant, this folded space had become a fierce arena—or perhaps, it was for this purpose that Lin Wei had gone to great lengths to pull Siegfried in.
"What, are you angry? Heh, you asked for it!"
Lin Wei held the great sword in both hands, using the momentum of his charge to push forward with all his might, but he couldn't make Siegfried, who was wielding the sword with one hand, retreat half a step. But Lin Wei didn't care, still sneering,
"To tell you the truth, Siegfried, I've been holding back this attack for a long time!"
"Hmph! Is this your revenge?"
Siegfried swung Judgment of Shamash forward, forcing Lin Wei back, but Yuno immediately pressed forward, making Siegfried give up the pursuit. While dealing with Yuno's entanglement, he still angrily reprimanded,
"If you're dissatisfied with me, what does it have to do with the scientists? Why drag them into this?"
"Drag them into this? Ha!"
Lin Wei, wielding the black flame-wreathed, pitch-black Judgment of Shamash, charged forward again, also shouting angrily,
"Look at Nagazora City! Look at Manila! Look at the good deeds your Anti-Entropy has done, and you dare call it 'dragging them into this'?"
"Boom!"
Siegfried had just barely repelled Yuno's attack and was caught off guard by Lin Wei, staggering back,
"They were all..."
But before he could finish, he was interrupted by Lin Wei's overhead attack.
"Of course, I know, and I've given you leeway. Siegfried, otherwise, why do you think I let you off so easily last time when you drew your sword on me?"
Lin Wei waved his hand, dissipating the pitch-black great sword, which was now covered in cracks after several collisions with the genuine Judgment of Shamash, and sneered,
"Too bad, you've disappointed me too much! In that case, then... pay your debts!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Lin Wei switched to a narrow longsword wreathed in leaping electricity, thrusting straight at Siegfried through the gaps in Yuno's vines!
Siegfried quickly dodged, and Yuno's vines seized the opportunity to entangle his one arm. Siegfried glared,
"Ha!"
From the muzzles on either side of the sword hilt, which was still in pistol form, two scorching beams shot out.
One beam easily severed the vines binding him, and the other beam forced the relentless Lin Wei back.
"As expected of Siegfried Kaslana, even with only one arm, your moves are still so clean and efficient!"
Lin Wei clicked his tongue in wonder,
"It seems Durandal really did heal your injuries quite a bit!"
"Ha... Ha... Ha..."
Siegfried panted heavily, glaring at Lin Wei,
"You bastard, just like Otto, full of high-sounding nonsense!"
He even suspected whether the Manila incident was really his doing.
Judging by the strength Lin Wei was displaying now, it was nothing special, not at all as powerful as the rumors made him out to be!
Moreover, at that time, besides the people from Schicksal, there were no eyewitnesses. Even the so-called "testimony" came from Otto.
"Deceiving the world!"
Thinking of Otto's actions after the Second Honkai Eruption, coupled with Lin Wei's hostile words and actions, Siegfried's disgust towards him intensified.
"Don't compare Otto to me! If you want to talk about 'high-sounding nonsense,' Mr. Siegfried, you're the one who deserves that title the most, right?"
Lin Wei's voice turned cold, and he sneered,
"After the Second Honkai Eruption, you, whose family was destroyed by Otto, still obediently submit to him... heh, Siegfried, you're really good at enduring humiliation!"
"Shut up! What do you know?"
Lin Wei's relentless attack on his most painful wound made Siegfried cry out in anguish,
"I've already lost my wife, but my daughter, Kiana, she's still controlled by Otto... I can't let her get hurt again!"
In the years after the Second Honkai Eruption, Siegfried had lived in torment. On the one hand, his enemy was right in front of him, as sanctimonious and disgusting as ever. But he couldn't act rashly, lest his last concern, his young daughter, suffer any harm.
Just...
Thinking of what happened later, Siegfried felt even more heartbroken.
"Tsk tsk tsk, what a great fatherly love!"
Lin Wei seemed to ignore the man's grief, twisting the knife further, and mocked,
"So where is your daughter? Oh, could it be... K-423?"
"You!"
Siegfried's eyes were bloodshot. He raised Judgment of Shamash, flames surging, and slashed down at Lin Wei, shouting furiously,
"Don't call her that!"
"Boom!"
"Clang!"
A huge black cross appeared out of thin air, blocking the powerful blow. Lin Wei, unharmed, calmly adjusted his collar, sneered at Siegfried, who was once again entangled by Yuno, and said,
"Indecisive fool, besides anger, what else can you do?"
"Boom!"
Siegfried kicked Yuno away, his eyes fixed on Lin Wei, and slashed down again with his sword. Yuno's vines extended rapidly, most of them forming layer upon layer of wooden walls, while several others, like nimble cables, wrapped around Lin Wei's waist, pulling him out of the range of the flames.
"Why are you provoking him so much?"
Yuno asked, seemingly unable to bear it anymore.
Lin Wei's wanton humiliation and provocation of Siegfried with "family being destroyed" made Yuno, who had a similar experience, feel a bit of sympathy for him, and her attacks became slightly hesitant.
Lin Wei smiled slightly, but didn't explain.
If I don't do this, what if you go berserk again? he thought.
He signaled her to calm down, then turned and continued to taunt Siegfried,
"If you had been more decisive back then, destroying K-423 and the other clones while they were still in the incubation tanks, and leaving with only the Herrscher core, none of what happened later would have happened."
Honestly, although Lin Wei hated Otto, he had to admit that the two of them could easily reach a consensus on some issues—for example, on the matter of Siegfried's escape method...
At that time, he had no emotional connection with K-423. If he had just taken the core and left, nothing would have happened. Doing so would have even hurt Otto more.
But why didn't he do it?
Lin Wei couldn't understand.
"Shut up!"
Siegfried attacked with his sword for the third time, but the momentum this time was far less fierce than the previous two.
Seeing this, Lin Wei knew that the previous two attacks had almost depleted Siegfried's strength, so this time he didn't dodge. The Stigmata on his back glowed, and he once again summoned a brand new pitch-black great sword, wreathed in black flames, and met the attack head-on!
"Boom!"
The two swords clashed. With the full-force collision, Lin Wei groaned and staggered back. Siegfried, however, just swayed slightly before regaining his footing.
"Ha... Ha..."
Lin Wei's arms were numb, and he panted,
"Heh, even reduced to this state, you still have such power... Siegfried, you truly shouldn't be underestimated! But..."
Lin Wei paused, his smile turning even more malicious, and sneered,
"But the more you're like this, the more pathetic and ridiculous you seem to me!"
Siegfried wasn't feeling well either, but he still gritted his teeth and said angrily,
"What do you want to say now?"
"Heh, after the Second Honkai Eruption, with Schicksal severely weakened and its high-level combat power almost completely lost, how many people could have stopped you, no matter what you wanted to do?"
Lin Wei sneered,
"That was the time when Otto feared you the most, but you, you fool, missed the opportunity, even willingly putting on the collar Otto tailored for you, crawling at his feet like a dog!"
"You..."
Siegfried was stunned.
"I really envy you! Siegfried, having such powerful strength, and such a perfect window of opportunity to use it freely!"
Lin Wei's smile became even more disdainful,
"And you, esteemed Mr. Siegfried, are now like a stray dog, only able to vent your impotent rage and show off your power in front of me, an outsider!"
"If I had your strength, that perfect window of opportunity, I would have crushed Otto to ashes long ago! Too bad I don't, I have nothing!"
"With your precious daughter, whom you abandoned halfway, protecting Otto, I'm powerless to do anything to him, even if I wanted to!"
"More importantly, the Herrscher of the Void is about to awaken. This is of utmost importance, and I no longer have the time for personal vendettas..."
Lin Wei looked at Siegfried with increasing anger, and said coldly,
"All of this, thanks to you! Tell me, how should I thank you?"
"What did you say?"
At this moment, Siegfried couldn't care less about Lin Wei's insults and mockery. He was struck by a single phrase, his composure completely shattered, as if he had grasped a lifeline, and asked hurriedly,
"You said, Kiana, my daughter… she's still…"
The word "alive" was stuck in his throat, unable to be uttered, as if saying it would break a fragile dream.
After escaping from Schicksal, how could he have truly abandoned his daughter?
But no matter what he tried, how he searched, investigated, even hacking into Schicksal's database with Theresa's help, even risking his life to infiltrate multiple times, the name "Kiana Kaslana," that figure, had vanished from the world, never to be found again.
So, as time passed, he gradually gave up hope...
But now, he suddenly heard completely different news. This simple phrase was like a heavenly sound, and also like a judgment, capturing all his thoughts, making him instantly forget all of Lin Wei's previous vicious words and deeds.
"Yes, that's right, you heard correctly, your daughter is still alive."
Lin Wei looked into Siegfried's helpless eyes and said calmly.
"Really? Where is she?"
Siegfried's eyes lit up, and he asked hurriedly.
"Want to know her whereabouts? Sure!"
Lin Wei sneered coldly. The pitch-black great sword in his hand gleamed, black flames surging on the blade, like a world-destroying fire ready to erupt.
"Beat me, and get out of this maze, and I'll tell you!"