"This… where are we?" Theresa felt the surrounding environment was somewhat familiar, but for a moment she couldn't tell exactly where they were.
All she remembered was that after Shun placed his hand on her shoulder, everything spun wildly before her eyes. The scenery changed in all sorts of ways, and then they arrived here.
"The outskirts of Kolosten. You could say this is your old home, right, Theresa? How is it? After not coming back for a few years, you can't recognize it anymore?"
"Are you an idiot? I stayed here for a long time, but that doesn't mean I can recognize every random building without any landmarks, okay? At most, the vegetation and natural environment here feel a little familiar to me."
Theresa reached out and rubbed the bark of a nearby tree. This type of tree was indeed commonly seen near Kolosten.
"How did you do it? Traveling from Nagazora City to Kolosten in such a short time?" If there was anyone in this world who could achieve this, it would be the Herrscher of the Void, but she had already seen that the Herrscher of the Void was still inside Kiana's body.
"Do you know about the Second Divine Key that Schicksal has never been able to find?" There was no need to explain further; Theresa immediately understood what Shun meant.
"The Second Divine Key? I really didn't expect it to be in your hands…" If she remembered correctly, her grandfather had been searching for the Second Divine Key all this time.
"Shun, you must never let Grandpa… Otto, know that you have the Second Divine Key. Otherwise, I don't even dare to imagine what he might do to you."
Out of goodwill, Theresa reminded Shun. Shun naturally understood this logic. Although he knew that Otto had already noticed him and he might not necessarily be afraid of him now, if the Cosmic Juggernaut caught the attention of a schemer like Otto, it would inevitably bring a lot of trouble.
"That's why I chose to stop in the suburbs of Kolosten, in a place without any Honkai energy detectors—so we wouldn't be discovered by your grandfather."
Theresa nodded. "Since you already have a plan in mind, I won't say anything more." With that, Theresa followed Shun out of the woods.
Because Kolosten was Schicksal's former headquarters, the Honkai energy detectors here could still scan an area dozens of kilometers in radius.
Therefore, Shun and the others were still a bit far from Kolosten itself. The area near Kolosten was sparsely populated. After all, near some of the safest places in the world, everyone would definitely crowd inward. The siphon effect here was far stronger than in Shun's original world.
Theresa had originally wanted to deploy Judah's skateboard mode and ride Judah all the way to their destination, but seeing that Shun was still honestly walking, she felt too embarrassed to slack off.
"Huh? Shun, why are you looking left and right?" Theresa noticed that Shun's eyes kept glancing toward the side of the road, as if he was searching for something.
"I'm checking if there are any cars parked around here."
"A car? Do you want someone to give us a ride?" Although Theresa had no such experience, hitchhiking culture was quite common in Europe and America.
"No, I just want to be a five-star good citizen." Shun found his target and walked up to a black SUV. With one elbow strike, he shattered the driver-side window, pulled open the door, and got into the car under Theresa's shocked gaze.
"What's wrong? Get in. I'll start the engine…" Shun said calmly to Theresa while fiddling with the car's accelerator.
"You… how are you so skilled at this?" Although she was shocked and confused, what was done was done. There was no turning back now, so Theresa obediently sat in the passenger seat.
In fact, for Valkyries whose moral bottom line was quite flexible, requisitioning a roadside vehicle during missions was quite common. So Theresa was actually quite familiar with this kind of thing.
She watched Shun fiddle around for a while without managing to start the car. Unable to stand it any longer, Theresa pushed him aside and started the engine in less than three seconds.
There was no other reason—it was simply because she was experienced. So said the former S-rank Valkyrie, Theresa Apocalypse.
After leaving behind twice the value of the car in cash at the spot, Shun drove off with Theresa, eating hotpot, singing songs, and leaving the area.
"Hmm? Theresa, why are you going through their stuff?" In the car, Shun saw Theresa rummaging through the center console and glove compartment.
"Idiot. Of course I'm looking for their ID. Schicksal will definitely have to compensate them officially later. Or did you think we Valkyries just casually requisition vehicles without any procedures?"
Shun, who only wanted to experience being a five-star good citizen, naturally hadn't thought that far. He only knew that with his current condition, walking dozens more kilometers would be unbearable.
Fortunately, it wasn't his legs that were injured. Even if his hands weren't fully functional, he could still hold the steering wheel. If only one foot was usable, driving would have been much harder.
This was how Shun thought. Theresa only needed to consider how to handle the matter properly and minimize any negative impact. Shun had to consider far more things.
"Ah? Why is it him!" Theresa looked at the familiar photo on the driver's license she found in the center console and was instantly stunned.
"What's wrong? You know him?" Shun was driving and couldn't spare the time to look right away.
"This world really is small…" Theresa smiled awkwardly and handed the driver's license to Shun.
Shun glanced sideways at the photo on the license and was also momentarily stunned.
"Damn, this world really is small. But since it's that old man's car, there's no need to worry. We can just make a phone call later."
At this point, Shun no longer felt even the slightest guilt. If it had been a stranger's car, it would have been a bit troublesome. Since it belonged to an acquaintance, it was completely fine.
Theresa silently closed the driver's license and put it back in its original place. On the small license, the owner's name was clearly written:
"Friedrich von Schariac."
The perspective returned to the place where Shun had requisitioned the vehicle. A male voice that sounded like a pig being slaughtered rang out from there.
"Wife, our car was stolen!" The couple who had just gone to the nearby convenience store to buy a bottle of water returned to the parking spot and saw only broken glass on the ground and a box.
"Stop yelling, let me take a look." Elena helplessly glanced at her loudly complaining husband, walked to the scene, and opened the box. Inside was a considerable amount of cash.
"Looking at the method, it should be a Valkyrie requisition, right?" Elena, a former A-rank Valkyrie, stated her opinion.
It definitely couldn't be a car thief. After all, the money in this box was enough to buy at least two of these cars.
"Then what should we do? My fishing rod is still in the car!" Friedrich felt reluctant when he thought about his new energy fishing rod. Without the fishing rod, how was he supposed to fish?
"I'll just buy you a new one later. You already got such a good deal in the past—do you still dare to complain about the car being requisitioned?"
Elena gently patted her husband's shoulder and said. So many years had passed, and encountering this kind of thing again made Elena recall the past.
"I didn't say anything, wife." Friedrich awkwardly scratched his head. In his heart, he thought, "If I don't act pitiful, will you really buy me a fishing rod?" Having gotten used to the new energy fishing rod, he really didn't want to go back to the days of constantly "air force" fishing.
But that matter back then…