Chapter 24: Part (1): Man-made Disaster

“Your Majesty!”

A hoarse shout cut through the distant roar of artillery, making Lin Lan, who had been skulking along the wall, come to an abrupt halt.

Exposed?

How could it be…

Optical camouflage was one of the Valkyrie’s most advanced systems…

Even the latest thermal imaging devices could only detect a blurred distortion in the air…

Her heart tightened involuntarily. The wrist blade on her arm slid out silently, and she lifted her head without a sound to look toward the source of the voice.

—A well-known officer was scrambling out of the sentry post, rolling and crawling toward her.

His face was smeared with soot and sweat. Panting heavily, he stopped a few meters away from Lin Lan, saluted the shadow that seemed empty, and said:

“Your Majesty! You’ve finally returned!”

“……”

She quickly realized and suppressed the faint urge to kill rising in her chest.

I see now.

Lin Lan understood—

They had mistaken her for Seraphina.

Of course.

Apart from that woman, there was no other Valkyrie in Aisenberg.

So she really wasn’t in the city…

“The west and south walls… those fanatics in the Divine Court have gone mad! The generals are barely holding!” The officer’s voice cracked, and the communicator on his wrist crackled with static.

Lin Lan didn’t speak. She quietly retracted her wrist blade and continued to maintain her optical camouflage.

She mimicked the impression she had of Seraphina—tilting her helmeted head slightly, coldly and indifferently, toward the officer.

The officer felt an inexplicable pressure but, as if receiving a divine pardon, seemed to find his anchor.

He pounded his chest heavily. “Yes! The general is still at headquarters! I will deliver your orders immediately…”

Before he could finish speaking, the blurred outline in the thermal imaging flickered past him, leaving only a faint trail of displaced air in its wake…

The officer froze, then straightened up, saluted again toward the direction of the south wall where the Valkyrie was heading, and turned back to the sentry post.

Crisis averted.

Lin Lan wasted no time. She turned a corner and headed quickly toward the Queen’s Palace, which had been rebuilt from the old-era museum.

The route was unexpectedly clear…

The explosions and fires from the south wall had drawn the city’s attention; most of Aisenberg’s forces were firmly tied up there. Only a few scattered patrols hurried past nearby.

The closer she got, the emptier it became.

Using the detailed deployment map provided by Mofisia, she skillfully avoided all sealed routes, leaping down from the garden wall behind the palace.

She landed silently. The garden was full of dead vines and collapsed statues—things she should not care about…

Yet strangely, what seemed like a desolate garden was actually full of exotic flowers and plants.

Her gaze swept over it. Potted plants swayed in the dust stirred by her armor.

Amidst the rubble, a few carefully cultivated plots held flourishing crops that gleamed oddly, out of place with the surroundings.

A vegetable garden?

Lin Lan froze in place.

Damn it…

“Wait for me… I’ll be there soon…”

The thought of her name ignited the fire in her chest even more.

Lin Lan plunged into the museum, moving down the dim corridors.

Oil paintings and sculptures twisted under the harsh light of emergency lamps, appearing like ghostly figures.

Finally, Lin Lan stopped before a heavy alloy door at the deepest part of the palace.

This was it.

—Intelligence indicated this room had the highest security level and was the most secretive.

The safehouse in the underground dungeon had already been handled. That little grain… must be in here.

No password…

No key…

Not even needed.

Lin Lan deactivated her optical camouflage. Her tall, black armor appeared in the dim corridor, terrifying in its original form.

She raised her right arm, fingers forming a claw. Taking a deep breath, she drove the armored fingers into the door seam…

Screech—

Creak—

The nauseating sound of metal twisting and breaking rang out…

The alarm did not trigger. It seemed Mofisia’s informant had tampered with this system as well.

“Don’t be afraid…”

Lin Lan roared, forcing the reactor into overdrive. Muscles tensed, the floor cracked beneath her feet. Using all her strength, she tore the multi-ton alloy door from the wall!

Crash!

The heavy door fell, raising a cloud of dust.

“Mi Li!”

She stepped into the room, desperate to see the figure she had longed for day and night.

But the sight before her froze her in place, as if dropped into an ice cavern…

The room was empty.

The luxurious, soft bed in the corner was perfectly made; the covers smooth, showing no sign anyone had lain there.

Dining table, wardrobe, bookshelves…

Everything was arranged meticulously, coldly, like a showroom.

The balcony directly opposite the door was sealed tightly with anti-theft nets, thick wires, and bulletproof glass.

She wasn’t here…

She wasn’t here…

A wave of overwhelming loss gripped her, making it hard to breathe.

Lin Lan turned, scanning the room, stumbling forward in search of any trace of the girl, until a strange “texture” on the wall caught her eye.

It wasn’t wallpaper…

Her tactical visor analyzed the wall, which was giving misleading signals—

It was composed of countless small squares, a living nightmare that made her scalp tingle…

Up close, she could see clearly.

—Each square was a photograph.

Crowded, dense, plastered across the wall, all of them…

Mi Li.

“……”

Her breathing inside the armor became irregular.

She could hardly describe what she was seeing…

This wasn’t mere voyeurism.

The gaze seemed to cling like a parasitic disease…

Above her head…

Beneath the bed…

Through keyholes…

In mirrors…

Behind her.

Angles were disturbingly intrusive…

Some photos were even taken right in front of the girl, yet showed no reflection of her, as if the photographer did not exist in this world…

Each one radiated the obsessive, frightening surveillance of a stalker…

The eyes behind the camera, in a way she could not comprehend, had become an invisible mold, infiltrating everything…

How she ate, how she pressed her lips in thought, even the emptiness of her gaze when she was daydreaming…

Every detail had been captured, enlarged, cropped, categorized…

And finally, framed into this terrifying wall of display.

These photos recorded every change in her.

From the ragged clothes of a homeless child to the exquisite robes of the saintly girl…

Lin Lan’s armored fingers trembled uncontrollably. She grabbed one photo heavily and tore it down—it showed the girl sitting on the steps, looking into the distance, her dark blue eyes reflecting a melancholy sunset…

On the white border was a neat line of handwriting…

“Missing home?”

But “home” had been scratched to shreds with something sharp, leaving deep marks almost through the paper…

Then, in the same neat handwriting, a grotesque new word covered the destruction—

“Mine.”

Compelled by some strange force, she tore down another photo.

Taken from directly above the ceiling, the girl lay on the bed, hair spread like spilled ink…

“Dreaming of what?”

Another photo, taken from under her drinking cup, showed her slightly parted lips and the rolling throat as she swallowed…

“Why do you smile at others?”

One more, the reflection in her pupils showed her own startled face—no one else…

“Why fear me?”

She tore down photo after photo, a growing pile in her hands:

“Who are you thinking of?”

“Don’t like it…”

“No, you like it.”

“Don’t leave”

“Don’t laugh”

“Don’t cry”

The ink grew more vivid, red as blood, soaking the paper…

“Look at me”

“Love me?”

“Mine.”

“Mine”

“Mine mine mine mine mine mine mine mine…”

The writing grew sloppy, frenzied…

Finally, it became indistinguishable scribbles, covering every inch of the girl’s skin in the photos, leaving only her deep blue eyes untouched…

“Reply”

“Answer”

“Mine”

Holding the scattered photos, she snapped back to reality, a suffocating sound escaping her throat, half-laugh, half-cry.

She finally understood why the palace had no surveillance devices…

They weren’t needed.

Those eyes were everywhere.

This was not a prison…

It was a sanctuary…

A shrine.