Upon returning to the bustling sovereign sector of the Reunion Movement, Remilia turned around with an elegant sweep of her night-colored cloak, only to find that Flandre was absolutely nowhere to be found behind her.
After inquiring with several nearby, she learned to her irritation that the younger vampire sister hadn't followed their grand aerial procession back to the mobile fortress at all.
What exactly was Flandre doing at this very moment?
She was currently crouching down by the muddy banks of the pristine southern lake, happily flash-freezing wild frogs alongside Cirno.
The precise mechanics of their little competition were childishly simple: the two of them would each pick a live frog from the reeds, channel their respective sub-zero energy, and instantly freeze the creature solid into a block of ice. After exactly one minute, they would completely thaw the frogs out using a gentle touch. Whichever frog managed to kick its legs and move first after being revived from the deep freeze would be declared the absolute winner of the round.
The game was entirely basic, but a massive swarm of hyperactive nature fairies had already gathered in a tight circle around the duo, jumping up and down while screaming and cheering them on at the top of their lungs.
On the other side, a green-haired shrine maiden was frantically holding both of her hands over her deity's eyes, her face flushed with a mixture of panic and embarrassment.
"Lady Suwako, please don't look at that horrific display! It's completely fake! It's unscientific!"
Sanae Kochiya gasped, desperately trying to shield the goddess's vision, but Suwako Moriya merely giggled, reaching up with her small hands to gently pull Sanae's fingers away from her face.
"Oh, don't worry about it so much, Sanae. I won't get genuinely angry at these hyperactive children for playing with a few amphibians," Suwako reassured her, her wide brimmed frog-hat tilting slightly as she watched the game.
In truth, native gods were by far the demographic most profoundly interested in the structural layout of this alien world. After all, native gods fundamentally relied on the steady accumulation of mortal faith to sustain their divine power. According to the strategic intelligence report gathered by their faction so far, the barren world of Terra certainly possessed various deep forms of cultural faith and religious devotion, but it completely lacked any physical, manifested "deities"—or at the very least, most native gods of Terra rarely manifest before the public.
Therefore, Suwako Moriya and Kanako Yasaka fully intended to meticulously observe the socio-political climate of Terra through the magical television screen back at the mansion before officially deciding which one of them would step through the gap to scout the territory when the next migration wave crossed over. If the Moriya Shrine could successfully establish a permanent theological home on the other side of the dimensional barrier and gather fresh mortal faith from the local Infected populace, then completely moving the entire shrine structure to an alien planet was not out of the question at all.
Meanwhile, by the rushing riverbank not far from the frog-freezing arena, Hong Meiling leaned her back lazily against a sturdy, moss-covered tree trunk, letting out a massive, jaw-cracking yawn.
She had been explicitly assigned by the Eldest Miss to strictly look after Flandre and ensure her absolute structural safety in this unknown wilderness. However, watching the little girl effortlessly manipulate high-tier destructive magic while laughing with the fairies, Meiling realized that Flandre didn't seem to require her physical protection whatsoever.
Faced with such an easy assignment, the gatekeeper decisively made the executive choice to begin slacking off, closing her eyes to take a brief, refreshing afternoon nap in the warm shade.
Yet, the moment she blinked her eyes open what felt like only a second later, she suddenly realized with a jolt of sheer panic that the immediate clearing was entirely dead silent. She was the only person left leaning against the tree.
Instantly, a cold, freezing sweat broke out across Hong Meiling's entire body.
"Oh no, oh no... I'm dead, I'm absolutely dead!" she whimpered, her martial arts discipline completely evaporating as she took to the sky with an explosive leap.
She soared across the canopy, desperately scanning the dense foliage for a few frantic minutes before she finally spotted the colorful cluster of elemental fairies hovering by a bend in the river. However, as her feet touched the dirt, her eyes darted through the crowd only to realize she had found the fairies, but the primary target was missing.
"Where on earth is Flandre?!" Hong Meiling shrieked, lunging forward to grab Cirno by her small shoulders, shaking her back and forth.
"Flandre?" Cirno blinked, her blue eyes wide with confusion as she pulled herself away from the guard's grip. "She already went back a while ago! She said someone from that 'Revival Movement' or whatever it's called sent a message saying they had some important business for her, so she took off toward the sky first."
"It's the Reunion Movement!" the Daiyousei standing nearby immediately corrected with a helpful sigh.
"Oh, whatever! Who cares about the specific name? It's that moving movement thing anyway! Dai, don't be such a strict stickler for minor vocabulary words," Cirno grumbled, waving her hand with an expression of complete, casual indifference.
"Ahhhhh!"
Compared to the completely unbothered, carefree fairies, Hong Meiling's face had now violently contorted into the exact, horrifying likeness of the famous historical painting 'The Scream'.
If the Eldest Miss discovered that she had lost track of the Second Miss because she fell asleep under a tree, Sakuya would personally turn her into a pin-cushion before the sun could even set. After frantically getting her bearings, Meiling kicked off the ground with a massive shockwave, flying swiftly toward the absolute north with every single ounce of spiritual energy she could muster.
Thanks to her immense physical speed, she finally managed to catch a glimpse of the little vampire's trailing crystal wings just as Flandre was about to arrive at the perimeter of the mobile fortress.
Having successfully caught up to her target, Hong Meiling looked entirely as though she were about to physically collapse from sheer, muscle-tearing exhaustion. Her chest heaved violently as she staggered through the air.
"Second Miss~~~ Second Miss~~~ Please... huff... huff... wait for me..."
Hearing the frantic, wheezing commotion echoing directly behind her, Flandre turned around in mid-air just in time to see the green-clad martial artist dive headfirst into her open arms, hanging onto her waist like a drowning person clinging to a liferaft.
"Eh? Why are you flying behind me from over there?" Flandre asked curiously, tilting her head as she looked down at the utterly spent guard dangling from her shoulders.
"Because... because the Eldest Miss explicitly commanded me to be held personally responsible for maintaining your absolute safety..." Hong Meiling wheezed, wiping a layer of sweat from her forehead.
"To protect my safety?" Flandre tilted her head further, her crimson eyes staring at her with a highly skeptical look.
If Meiling was truly supposed to be protecting her from the dangers of the wilderness, why did she distinctly remember not seeing a single trace of the girl's green qipao during the entire three hours they were playing by the lake?
Hong Meiling's face turned a deep, embarrassed shade of crimson; she could instantly read the underlying meaning behind Flandre's unblinking look.
"Cough, cough! Well, you see, I was intentionally protecting you from the absolute depths of the shadows! Yes, exactly, tactical observation from the shadows! That is structurally the only efficient way to identify which hidden enemies truly harbor malicious intent toward the Second Miss!" Hong Meiling declared, her voice growing increasingly confident and loud as she fabricated the lie on the spot.
"I see! Then thank you so much for your secret protection, Meiling!" Flandre chirped, completely believing the elaborate explanation with a bright, innocent smile. She reached down and pulled the guard along by her hand as they flew the final stretch toward the Reunion Movement's headquarters.
Although Hong Meiling felt a sudden, heavy pang of immortal guilt for so easily tricking a naive child, the terrifying mental image of Sakuya Izayoi's cold, flashing silver daggers instantly snapped her right back into a state of focused obedience.
The moment their boots touched the metallic deck of the mobile module, Flandre quickly navigated the corridors, finding Alina inside the central administrative sector.
"Sister Alina!" she called out happily, dropping down from the ceiling to stop directly in front of her.
Hong Meiling followed closely behind her like a towering, completely dutiful bodyguard, standing perfectly at attention with her arms crossed.
"And this person is...?"
Alina blinked in surprise. Although they had technically crossed paths briefly during the massive, chaotic arrival ceremony on the flight deck a few hours ago, there had been far too much administrative chaos regarding Yelena's critical condition, so they hadn't been properly introduced. Alina now carefully sized up the tall girl standing behind Flandre, noting that her traditional attire and martial posture looked remarkably like someone originating from the far-off land of Yan.
"This is Hong Meiling! My older sister sent her across the boundary to protect me while I'm out playing," Flandre introduced cheerfully, gesturing toward her guard.
Hearing Flandre's description, the expressions of the nearby Reunion staff turned distinctly strange.
Protect you? With your terrifying, absolute conceptual power level that can obliterate a mountain with a squeeze of your hand, who on the face of this planet could possibly pose a physical threat to you? However, since the aristocratic leaders of Gensokyo had specifically assigned her to safeguard Flandre, this Yan-like girl who looked a bit sleepy and sluggish must surely possess some kind of extraordinary, world-ending martial capability.
Alina cleared her throat, shaking off her confusion before explaining the urgent reason she had requested Flandre's immediate presence back at the city.
Previously, during her initial wanderings through the lower structural decks, Flandre had accidentally stumbled upon a highly covert operation involving internal embezzlement and resource theft within the Reunion Movement, single-handedly helping the guards capture a localized cell of corrupt 'rats.'
Now, by aggressively interrogating those initial rats, the security force had successfully managed to snare a few more high-level administrative personnel. However, the concrete paper trail and physical clues ended entirely at that point.
Talulah, through her natural leadership instincts, possessed a faint but persistent feeling that there must be an incredibly powerful mastermind backing them from the dark. Otherwise, those heavily monitored, embezzled military supplies and food rations could never have bypassed the border checkpoints and left the mobile city so effortlessly.
Yet, no matter how hard she pressed, Talulah hadn't been able to pry their mouths open. Or rather, the mastermind behind the curtain was extremely cautious; none of the mid-level figures they had caught possessed any direct, physical documentation that could lead the investigation straight to the leader.
At this critical juncture, Alina recalled that Flandre possessed unique, high-tier magical techniques capable of searching through minds, which was why Talulah hoped to ask for her assistance to look directly into the situation.
Speaking of which, when it came to thoroughly investigating someone's innermost hidden thoughts, the single most qualified individual in all of Gensokyo would naturally be the master of the Palace of the Earth Spirits, Satori Komeiji. On the side of Terra, that specific elite lady working within Rhodes Island—the younger sister of a high-tier Djall and the formal Rhodes Island HR Director—also possessed this exact, terrifying psionic capability. The passive mind-reading they specialized in could effortlessly sift through a target's brain without causing a single drop of physical trauma, making it the most convenient ability for this task.
Unfortunately, one of them was currently miles away in the depths of Gensokyo's Underworld and hadn't crossed over with this deployment, and the other was stationed deep within the main landship of Rhodes Island, which wasn't docked at this coordinate. Therefore, the Reunion Movement had to handle this internal security crisis with the resources on hand.
Flandre tapped her chin thoughtfully, stating honestly that while her destruction-based magic could certainly achieve a similar soul-searching effect, her raw power was far too volatile; using it would inevitably cause severe, agonizing, and completely irreversible neural damage to the target's brain.
After hearing this grim technical warning, Talulah and Alina consulted briefly with the lead investigators before finally signaling the guards to bring a bound prisoner into the room.
Alina stated grimly that this specific man possessed the single deepest commercial background among all the white-collar suspects they had investigated so far. He was a high-ranking manager explicitly placed in charge of the Reunion Movement's vital Camel-like Beast Merchant Caravan.
The underlying reason why the financial investigation had completely stalled at his level was simple. The newly formed Reunion Movement's only functional external commercial channel to trade for foreign medicines and steel was this specific merchant caravan. So when the internal corruption was first unearthed, Talulah had immediately utilized her emergency powers to recall all active caravans back to the base for a total audit.
Combined with the fragmented clues gathered from the lower-deck storage rats, the security force had quickly and locked onto this manager. But this man was extremely tight-lipped; no matter what psychological pressure the interrogators applied, he stubborn-ly insisted that he alone had masterminded the entire embezzlement scheme from scratch and that there was absolutely no one else backing him from the outside.
Yet, any discerning person with a shred of administrative intelligence could see through the lie instantly. Without an incredibly powerful, wealthy backer operating on the outside of the territory to buy the stolen goods, a mere caravan supervisor could never possess the structural connections required to support such a massive, multi-million dollar corruption network right under Talulah's nose.
Currently, the entire investigation had reached a complete, frustrating stalemate. But Talulah would certainly never accept such a compromised, dangerous outcome for her people, which was the exact reason she had swallowed her pride to call for Flandre's extraordinary capabilities.