Chapter 62: Hope
…..
After failing to contact her White Witch avatar, Luo Ling tried several more times.
But unfortunately, the result was the same every time.
Just like the first time, her consciousness couldn’t directly descend onto her White Witch avatar.
However, the avatar wasn’t destroyed. Luo Ling could still sense its existence, but couldn’t connect with it mentally.
Moreover, although Luo Ling could sense the White Witch avatar’s existence, she couldn’t pinpoint its location.
In other words, Elsa, along with the White Witch avatar, had disappeared without a trace.
What… was going on?
After the initial panic, Luo Ling quickly calmed down.
First, what was certain was that Elsa wasn’t in danger.
Not only was the White Witch avatar intact, but the subtle connection between Luo Ling and Elsa still existed, unaffected. It was just that, due to some unknown circumstance, they were separated and couldn’t contact each other.
Confirming this, Luo Ling gradually calmed down.
It was somewhat reassuring… that Elsa was currently safe.
Besides this, what puzzled Luo Ling was Elsa’s final state.
She carefully recalled and confirmed that Elsa, before disappearing, had taken on her grown-up form, although it should have just been an avatar form.
“An unseen form…” Luo Ling pondered.
Elsa had always been special. Even now, Luo Ling didn’t fully understand her, even her sister, after a thorough examination, was puzzled by Elsa’s existence.
Her connection with a certain mysterious being seemed too strong.
“However, judging from the current situation… this should be a good thing, right?” Luo Ling’s eyes flickered, her mind gradually stabilizing.
This crisis was resolved because of Elsa’s final action.
Although Luo Ling could contend with Doomsday’s remnant and wouldn’t suffer the same tragic fate as Jingwei, there was still a gap between her and the remnant.
If it were just her, it would be difficult to escape through the “past” with Elsa.
Continuing to confront Doomsday’s remnant would only result in the hard-won “past” completely dissipating, and the White Witch avatar and Elsa returning to their original predicament.
But at the last moment, either influenced by Doomsday’s remnant or because of Luo Ling, Elsa revealed a new form.
Even more incredibly, Elsa’s new form clearly carried a divine aura.
Not a false god like a Taboo or a High-Risk Grotesquery, but a true deity, similar to Doomsday and Transcendence, or even more complete.
It was with the blessing of Elsa’s divine aspect that Doomsday’s remnant’s gaze was forced to dissipate, allowing them to take the final step.
However…
Elsa’s influence wasn’t limited to Doomsday’s remnant. Even Luo Ling’s Transcendence ability was inevitably affected, causing a deviation from her original plan.
The “past” they finally entered seemed different from ordinary “past” events. Even Luo Ling, using her “past” ability now, couldn’t find any trace of Elsa.
In other words, Luo Ling had temporarily lost contact with Elsa.
“Given the current situation… I don’t know if this is good or bad.”
Luo Ling rubbed her forehead, feeling a headache.
She still wasn’t at ease letting Elsa wander around alone, even with a White Witch avatar, almost identical to herself, accompanying her.
After all, in this situation, the White Witch avatar could only act based on her memories and emotions, equivalent to an AI with her personality.
“Xiao Ling, how is it?”
Su Wan’s voice came from behind, along with a warm and gentle embrace.
“The situation… is somewhat unexpected.”
Although being hugged by her sister was comfortable, Luo Ling couldn’t hide the worry on her face.
She told her sister everything about her and Elsa’s experience, including Elsa’s final transformation and disappearance.
After pondering for a moment, Su Wan said, “Can you send it to me again with a memory packet?”
“But, sister, didn’t you say…”
Luo Ling hesitated.
“Silly, I want to see the grown-up Elsa through the memory packet… to fully understand the situation at that time.” Su Wan turned Luo Ling around, scratched her nose, and said dotingly, “It’s not like I’m telling you to never use memory packets again, just use them less. Such a convenient ability should be used when necessary—even I can’t achieve your level of detail.”
Su Wan’s Puppet Ballad and Luo Ling’s Puppet Ballad were still somewhat different. Luo Ling’s Puppet Ballad wasn’t good at combat, excelling more at lurking and hiding, while Su Wan had no obvious weaknesses, only slightly inferior to Luo Ling in lurking, hiding, and intelligence gathering.
The same Authority could produce different effects in different hands.
“Oh, oh.”
Luo Ling nodded repeatedly and sent the memory packet to her sister.
Su Wan closed her eyes, quickly opened them again, shook her head, and shrugged.
“Unfortunately, Xiao Ling, my judgment is the same as yours. We still know too little about little Elsa.”
She paused, as if thinking of something, her tone changing slightly as she stroked her chin.
“However… I didn’t expect little Elsa to look like that when she grows up… Seems quite good, quite a match for you.”
“Hmm?”
Luo Ling looked up, puzzled.
“Anyway, Xiao Ling, you don’t have to worry too much about Elsa.”
Su Wan didn’t seem to intend to continue this topic and quickly changed the subject. “You’re always worrying about this and that. There’s no need. Little Elsa is very capable, much more than you think.”
“…Really?”
Luo Ling whispered. Thinking about it carefully, Elsa’s track record was indeed quite impressive.
In the battle against Educator, she provided crucial control, making Educator lose three crucial seconds, ultimately leading to his defeat.
And in the battle against the Fairy, she displayed a terrifying Authority, destroying the Fairy’s hope of escape.
Not to mention the final step she took when facing Doomsday’s remnant.
It could be said that Elsa’s actions were always crucial.
“But she’s still just a ten-year-old little girl…” Luo Ling sighed.
“But Xiao Ling, you’re only seventeen,” Su Wan said cheerfully. “Leaving aside the situation in Victoria, you also handled those hundreds- and thousands-year-old geezers in Great Xia Imperial City with ease, right? Like… that Sister Linglong?”
Although that was true, Luo Ling felt something strange in her sister’s tone.
“However, sister is right. I should trust Elsa more.” Luo Ling took a deep breath and put the matter aside for now.
At least she could sense whether Elsa was safe or not, not completely in the dark.
Perhaps, in the near future, she would meet Elsa again?
Just as Luo Ling had this thought, Elsa’s grown-up form appeared in her mind, but for some reason, she suddenly felt a little worried.
Could it be that next time they met, she would only see the adult Elsa?
Sigh, why did the cute and adorable little Elsa, after growing up, have this… queen-like, intimidating aura…
A faint melancholy flashed through her mind, and Luo Ling quickly recovered. She still had many things to do.
However…
Luo Ling looked around, puzzled, and asked, “Eh, where’s Delusion? Why don’t I see her?”
“She’s cultivating. What, you didn’t miss your sister after coming back, but you miss that little vixen?” Su Wan winked and said.
“That’s not…”
Luo Ling coughed slightly, embarrassed by Su Wan’s words.
But Su Wan was just teasing her sister and didn’t notice her embarrassment.
“By the way, sister, next, my main body will stay in Starry Victoria for a while,” Luo Ling pondered for a moment and said. “If Miss Iris comes looking for me during this time, please let me know.”
Miss Iris was currently nurturing Jingwei, who had just been saved from the brink of death. After Jingwei fully recovered, she would definitely come to Starry Victoria and join their family.
By then, Twilight Victoria and Starry Victoria could merge, and the scale of the Divine Kingdom would reach an unprecedented level, giving them even more leverage.
“No problem.”
Su Wan nodded slightly, having no objections to this matter.
With her sister by her side, Luo Ling didn’t have many worries, and she could fully focus her attention elsewhere.
Almost a month had passed since her last return.
Her Black Kite puppet was still with the Xuanyuan clan’s forces, hunting down the Doomsday Messengers with Xuanyuan Mu Yan.
Her Luo Ling puppet was still being carried by Miss Linna, fleeing with Mao Ke—because the branch station where Mao Ke was previously stationed was destroyed again.
There was no helping it. With the Luo Ling puppet, an undetectable informant and tracking device, any branch station she went to would inevitably suffer.
Meeting Mao Ke’s “cunning rabbit” squad was truly their misfortune.
This branch station was much luckier than the Rabbit Station. After all, their fighting force was still relatively intact, and twenty percent of the Carrier Pigeons and one Relay Horse managed to escape, not completely annihilated.
Ironically, this branch station originally didn’t have a Messenger stationed there, so they welcomed Mao Ke’s arrival, thinking she was a pillar of support, but she turned out to be a lightning rod.
…A lightning rod attracted lightning wherever it went.
Of course, neither Mao Ke nor the unlucky station manager realized that these misfortunes were caused by an unconscious, unknown Carrier Pigeon.
“I’ll go check on them first.”
Luo Ling nodded slightly to Su Wan, then closed her eyes, her body instantly collapsing.
Su Wan immediately reached out and caught Luo Ling, feeling the warmth of her sister’s body and her steady breathing, a faint smile appearing on her lips.
“Xiao Ling, really… she doesn’t even have time to spend with her sister…”
But, just like this… was already good enough.
After carrying her sister to her bedroom, Su Wan pondered for a moment and looked up slightly.
“It seems… the previous lesson wasn’t enough.”
Unfortunately, it wasn’t that only the headquarters’ location was known. Su Wan also knew the locations of other branch stations.
However, unleashing a fatal blow with Columbia at the Final Hour was also quite taxing for Su Wan. There was no need to waste her power on these insignificant places.
Zi Ke’s strategy was actually quite sound: dispersing the Messengers and lying low. Even Su Wan couldn’t pinpoint all their locations.
Killing just one wasn’t worth the effort and would increase the risk of exposure.
However, besides directly attacking, Su Wan naturally had other methods.
“In that case, let’s make this muddy water even murkier.”
Su Wan tapped her finger lightly, a faint smile on her lips.
She believed in her sister. Succeeding in chaos was Xiao Ling’s specialty.
Sufficient chaos created sufficient opportunities.
This unnecessary balance had lasted for far too long.
The current world didn’t need peace.
The only outcome of peace was inevitably the most despairing end of Doomsday.
“Let’s begin.”
A faint gray-white light flickered in Su Wan’s eyes, adding a bone-chilling coldness.
She was Su Wan, and also Puppet Ballad.
However, this time, Puppet Ballad wouldn’t bring destruction and demise.
…But the most precious hope in this world.
..
The Luo Ling puppet, leaning against Linna’s back, slowly opened her eyes. After the initial confusion, her eyes regained their usual sparkle.
Linna immediately sensed the movement on her back and quickly put Luo Ling down.
“You’re finally awake, Miss. It’s been months.” Linna seemed relieved, but her mental voice was different. “Mao Ke shouldn’t have suspected us.”
Then she sent all her memories from this period into Luo Ling’s mind, allowing her to understand the details.
Luo Ling didn’t know much before, just the general situation. After all, most of her attention was on other matters and couldn’t focus on the bigger picture.
After quickly reading through these memories, Luo Ling blinked, her gaze shifting from Linna to Mao Ke beside her.
Mao Ke had an amused expression, seemingly anticipating the interaction between this master and servant. Noticing Luo Ling’s gaze, she waved frankly.
“This Mao Ke… seems unreliable.”
Luo Ling couldn’t help but think this. Mao Ke’s recent performance had been abysmal, two branch stations destroyed within a short period. She escaped quickly, but many other Doomsday Messenger members suffered.
If every Messenger was like Mao Ke…
Of course, if that were the case, the Doomsday Messengers wouldn’t have lasted until now…
Luo Ling wasn’t sure if Mao Ke’s betrayal of her teammates would cause any problems within the Doomsday Messengers, but it probably wouldn’t.
Through her understanding of the Doomsday Messengers, Luo Ling realized that Messengers were extremely valuable to them.
Losing any number of Carrier Pigeons wasn’t as serious as losing a Messenger, because Carrier Pigeons were ultimately expendable.
Of course, a Messenger like Mao Ke, who casually abandoned her teammates and fled at the first sign of danger… was probably unique.
Fortunately, whether it was because Mao Ke was concerned about Luo Ling and Linna’s performance, or for other reasons, she brought them along when she escaped, allowing Luo Ling’s infiltration plan to continue.
They were currently in a temporary territory created by Mao Ke.
“Miss Cen, do you… need some private space?” Mao Ke asked, a smile appearing on her face. “If you do, I’ll excuse myself.”
“No need, Master Mao Ke,” Luo Ling curtsied slightly and said, “Your ‘excusing yourself’ just means watching from another location.”
“Ahem…”
Mao Ke, her thoughts exposed, coughed lightly. It seemed this young mistress wasn’t stupid.
This was also normal. If she were just a stupid young mistress, Linna wouldn’t say that everything had to wait for her lady to awaken before discussing it.
“It seems this pair I’m shipping is quite good.” Mao Ke thought, her smile widening.
“…”
Luo Ling was silent. Why did Mao Ke’s smile seem creepy now?
Could this woman also be a stalker?
Good heavens, why was everyone she met a stalker or a pervert?
Little Elsa was still the cutest, but unfortunately, they had to be separated for a while.
Thinking of this, Luo Ling raised her hand, her nose twitching slightly, sniffing the air.
Yes, no strange scent.
Seeing Luo Ling’s action, Linna blushed slightly and turned her head away, lost in thought.
“Miss Cen, since you’re awake now, we can continue what we were doing before.”
Mao Ke said, although she was quite willing to continue watching their interaction, which never got old.
But she still had serious business to attend to. After all, this was a big deal, related to her future position within the Doomsday Messengers.
With their talent, after directly facing Doomsday, these two would at least reach the Relay Horse level.
Especially Miss Cen, becoming a Messenger in the future wasn’t impossible.
