Chase had once heard a saying:
As long as there is a possibility of an accident, no matter how small that possibility is, the accident will eventually happen.
This Murphy's Law, widely circulated in his previous life, roughly manifested itself as the bread slice always landing sauce-side down, and the queue he chose always being the slowest.
Two indispensable conditions were: nothing is as simple as it seems, and things that can go wrong will go wrong.
Chase now probably understood.
The Gem of Haste wasn't just a Gem of Haste. The time he had to react was much shorter than he imagined, and he would still have accidents when he was supposed to.
"Hime... Himeko-sensei?!" The white-haired girl's expression was still stunned, with tears shimmering in the corners of her eyes, her voice trembling with uncertainty.
Chase made a gesture for silence and pointed to the matter at hand, then pointed to the mimicry white flower in his hand.
Kiana quickly closed her mouth, approached cautiously, and crouched down beside Chase, staring at Himeko lying on the ground with the eyes of a young beast.
Why was Himeko here? How did Chase do it?
None of that mattered anymore.
Kiana only knew one fact—Himeko-sensei was alive and back. That was enough.
Sitting obediently on the side, Kiana watched Chase's healing process attentively, not uttering a word, as if afraid of disturbing him, and also afraid of upsetting the unknown injuries of Himeko.
So the girl squatted there, waiting, watching the mimicry white flower in Chase's hand emitting a soft white light continuously, watching time turn into amorphous liquid, enveloping her like amber, until the knocking on the door outside broke the amber shell.
Chase also noticed this situation. He stopped the treatment with the white flower and turned to Kiana, asking, "Kiana, can you open the door?"
After all, the mimicry Abyss White Flower was just a mimicry, unable to achieve the same healing effect as the true Divine Key.
He looked at the red-haired woman lying on the ground and sighed softly. Although Himeko's injuries had improved somewhat after his treatment, her complexion was still pale, and her body was covered with cracks caused by the erosion of Honkai Energy. These were temporarily beyond Chase's ability to heal.
All Chase could do was preserve Himeko's life, fragile like a candle in the wind, just that.
Kiana looked at Himeko, then at Chase, and saw the slight nod from the boy. She then relaxed and hurried to open the door.
"White Dove, is something happening on your end? The World Serpent's Honkai Energy monitoring device reported that the Honkai Energy here is exceeding the standard..."
The door had barely opened when the voice arrived before the person.
Kiana looked puzzled, while Chase understood.
Then, the door was pushed open, revealing the figure of the person knocking.
A mature lady with purple-tinted white hair walked in from outside, her blue-purple eyes curiously assessing the white-haired girl in front of her, feeling quite familiar.
Kiana maintained the action of opening the door, staring blankly at the mature lady standing in front of her.
For some reason, seeing Kiana's dazed appearance, the mature lady smiled lightly, leaned down slightly, and brought her face close to Kiana's, their eyes meeting like this.
"...?" Kiana felt uncomfortable and averted her gaze, looking at the decorations on the wall, her eyes never moving again.
The mature lady showed a playful smile, winked lightly at Kiana, then briskly walked over to Chase's side, leaving Kiana alone staring blankly at the mature lady's back, lost in thought.
To be honest, Kiana's mind was almost overwhelmed at this point. After all, you couldn't expect a single-celled tuna to handle too complex information.
If we were to use a computer as an analogy, then the most appropriate would be—Kiana's CPU had been fried.
"White Dove, it seems like you've caused quite a stir again..." The mature lady walked to Chase's side, looking at the still lying Himeko with a curious gaze.
"Shirotori, you know, I like fishing."
"Sorry, I really didn't know that~" The mature lady smiled lightly. "But why bring that up? Do you need me to bring you a set of fishing gear?"
"You know, the master fisherman never comes up empty-handed. Besides fish, they can catch anything," Chase shrugged helplessly. "As you can see, this is my catch."
"As far as I know, Himeko and the Gem of Haste should have fallen into the Quantum Sea during the last major Honkai." The mature lady was full of distrust.
"The Quantum Sea is also a sea," Chase said seriously.
"???"
"I can see that you are indeed a master of your craft," Kevin said, looking at Chase beside him outside the World Serpent's professional medical room, his face full of emotion.
"We've only just parted, and you've already stirred up such a big fuss for me."
"First of all, I don't deny the fact that I'm a master of my craft. Rather, all the cadres of the World Serpent are masters of their craft, not just me," Chase said seriously. "Secondly, although this task is big, it's a good one."
"I've brought the World Serpent a Blank Key."
As for the Haste Gem, it was a case of first come, first served. Kevin didn't care about it. He and Chase were no longer in a simple superior-subordinate relationship; their relationship was more like cooperation.
The Holy Stigmata Plan indeed required all the Stigmata Gems, but for now, time was still ample, and there was no need for him to break this unbreakable alliance with Chase for a Haste Gem.
Moreover, the two of them were trying to improve the Project Stigma Kevin promised that if Chase could come up with a better plan, he could also provide assistance when necessary.
Both of them had clear goals—to drive the Honkai out of the Earth.
"Blank Key, it's so damaged, how can it be used again, it still needs repair." Kevin rubbed his forehead, somewhat helpless.
"How is Himeko's condition?" Chase noticed Kiana, whose face was already pressed against the monitoring room's glass, and turned to ask.
And upon hearing Chase's question, Kiana also turned her head, looking at Kevin with a hint of hope in her eyes.
"It's not optimistic. The Honkai Energy has heavily eroded her, but at least she's saved her life for now. There's no immediate danger," Hulang pushed open the door of the ward and walked out, speaking indifferently. "The artificial stigmata is a heavy burden for her, and forcibly using the Blank Key, surviving is already a blessing for her, although I don't know how you brought her back."
Chase just smiled and remained silent.