"Mm, if I don't come back either, then I'll have to trouble you to find Misteln for help… I'll inform you of the method to contact Gray Serpent. At that time, you just need to convey to Gray Serpent that I encountered a difficult situation and urgently need her assistance."
Misteln had always disliked being disturbed by outsiders. Shun respected this, so he didn't directly reveal the specific way to contact her. The reason for choosing to seek help from Misteln was quite straightforward — after all, this matter involved the spiritual level. He might also fail, and in that case, they could only rely on her, the person with the highest spiritual attainments in contemporary civilization, to lend a helping hand.
"By the way… Contact Otto and have him clone a body using Sirin's genes, then send it here." Before preparing to start, Shun turned his head and instructed the two.
"Then wish me good luck." Shun said with a slight relaxed smile, then activated the power of the Stigmata and extended his hand toward the location of the Herrscher Core in Kiana's chest.
In an instant, he felt the world spinning. All the scenes in the ward seemed to rapidly recede until they disappeared. Immediately after, his eyes were pitch black, as if he had been swept into an endless void. When he opened his eyes again, he found himself on a vast snowfield with snowflakes drifting down.
Snowflakes drifted once more, as if inextricably linked to him. Shun stood on this silver-clad snowfield, surrounded by whiteness, as if the entire world was covered in pure snow.
He couldn't help but ask himself: "Where should I go next?" Looking around, there was nothing else in his field of vision besides the endless snowscape. Shun even began to worry that if he stayed in this environment for too long, he might really develop snow blindness.
Just as Shun was falling into confusion, he suddenly felt a weak yet firm guidance, like a lighthouse in the fog, pointing the way for him in this vast white snowfield. Although this guidance wasn't strong, it was enough to allow him to identify the path forward in this monotonous white world.
"It's over there." Shun silently thought to himself. He decided to follow this mysterious guidance. He took a deep breath, adjusted his direction, and then began to step forward slowly through the knee-deep snow toward the guided direction.
In this snowfield with no reference points, time seemed to have lost its meaning. Shun no longer knew how long he had been walking. However, just as he was almost about to be swallowed by this endless whiteness, a forest and a small wooden cabin suddenly appeared before his eyes. But Shun's gaze didn't linger on these structures; instead, it was drawn to the small figure in front of the wooden cabin.
He quickened his pace, walked up to that figure, squatted down to bring his line of sight level with hers, and asked softly: "Kiana, how did you end up here?"
The girl before him was Kiana, or rather, Kiana from when she was a child, looking only about 12 years old.
"You know me?" Kiana blinked her big eyes, her gaze revealing a clear yet innocently foolish look. She asked foolishly.
"Of course I know you. Otherwise, how would I know your name?" Shun gently patted Kiana's head and then said.
"Kiana? Is that my name?" Kiana muttered to herself, as if here, even her own name had become blurry.
"That's right. Your name is Kiana Kaslana." Shun patiently repeated it word by word, ensuring the little girl could hear it clearly.
"My name is… Kiana Kaslana?" Young Kiana's eyes were full of confusion. She seemed to be trying hard to recall something. "But… I also seem to hear someone calling me Sirin."
When Shun heard Kiana say this, his expression immediately turned serious. He gently placed his hands on her shoulders and said: "Listen, you are Kiana Kaslana, the daughter recognized by Siegfried, the sister loved by Bianca, the daughter acknowledged by Cecilia, the niece doted on by Theresa… You are not someone else. You are not Sirin. You are just yourself, Kiana Kaslana. Understand?"
"I understand." Kiana nodded heavily, her small face full of seriousness.
"Then what about little Shun?" Kiana suddenly asked.
"What? How do you know this name?" Shun was somewhat surprised.
"Call me cousin-in-law. Don't be so rude." Seeing that Kiana looked very small now, Shun couldn't bear to knock her on the head and just vigorously rubbed her head a few times.
"Little Shun!" Kiana said persistently.
"No, either call me by my name or call me cousin-in-law."
"Little Shun!"
"Forget it. Call me whatever you want." Shun had no way to deal with this stubborn child and had no choice but to agree for now.
"Little Shun!" Kiana called out very happily this time.
"Alright, alright, Kiana. I'll ask you a question."
"Little Shun, go ahead and ask."
Shun had already given up on making Kiana change how she addressed him. He guessed it might be because in this space, Kiana was influenced by Sirin's memories, which was why she called him this way. He secretly decided that if Kiana still called him this way outside, he absolutely wouldn't go easy on her.
"Do you know how to leave this space?" Shun asked.
Kiana shook her head. Her confused gaze indicated that she knew nothing about it.
Shun extended his hand, and a cluster of pink feathers appeared in his palm. He handed the Fenghuang Down to Kiana.
"Listen carefully. From now on, just follow the guidance of this feather. It will lead you to the way out." Shun carefully instructed her. Fortunately, the Kiana here was quite obedient. Except for being a bit stubborn on the issue of how to address him, she would listen to Shun's words at other times.
"Then, what about you, little Shun?" Kiana suddenly turned back while preparing to leave and asked Shun with concern in her eyes.
"I need to pick up a sister. I accidentally left her alone for a long time, and I have to bring her home." Shun answered, his voice carrying a trace of self-reproach.
"Then little Shun, you go quickly. Being forgotten alone for so long, she must be very sad." Kiana said empathetically, her voice full of sympathy.
"Yeah, I forgot about her for so long. She must be very sad…" Shun patted Kiana's head and said with emotion, "But it's okay. Since I'm here now, I will definitely bring her back."
Kiana nodded heavily, her eyes sparkling with trust: "I believe little Shun. That sister must feel the same way too."
"Is that so? Thank you, Kiana. You go back first." Shun said with relief, a slight relaxed smile appearing on his face.
Shun quietly watched Kiana's figure staggering forward in the snow. Every time she accidentally fell, he would feel an impulse in his heart to go forward and help her up. But in the end, he still suppressed this impulse.
Only after Kiana's figure completely disappeared from his view did Shun slowly turn around and step forward with a firm gaze and steady pace.
"Sirin, I'm here."