Time in a collapsing world

This is where Alicia used to live.

Li was completely convinced. Alicia once said that she used to live in an orphanage in a small town, and there was a church next to the orphanage.

The familiar woods, the orphanage next to the church, and the pink-haired girl with a cute smile in the photo all verify this conclusion.

But Li just confirmed it, and gently put the photo back. He had no intention of taking it away, nor did he intend to go back and tell Alicia the news, because a corner of the photo was already stained with representatives. With ominous blood stains on it, if you take this thing back, it will only make Alicia feel sad, right?

After taking a look at the bouquet of withered flowers in her hand, Li stretched out her other hand to hold its petals. In a moment, the bouquet of flowers came back to life again.

Putting it in front of the photo, Li quietly retreated and closed the door, but suddenly he saw Qianjie also coming here. He stood at the door and looked at Li in silence for a long time, but still didn't come in.

Because both the walls and the floor inside the orphanage were covered with dark red blood, the neatly dressed Li looked out of place among them.

"Hey, Qianjie, you're here too? It seems like we really have a good connection." Li walked out and said with a smile.

Qianjie glanced at Li, then looked at the various children's toys placed in the corner inside the house, and said in a deep voice: "Welfare home?"

"Hmmmm~"

Li was noncommittal, "I checked, and there were no survivors. There was nothing left except some relics."

Qianjie clenched his fists, as if he was thinking of the past, and Li also noticed it, so he comforted him: "Let the past be the past, we still have to look to the future."

As soon as he finished speaking, Qianjie suddenly turned his head this way, and his vicious eyes fell on Li, "You said... just let the past go?"

"...Oh, I'm sorry, I made a mistake."

Li raised his hands with an apologetic expression on his face, but the emotion in his eyes was completely inconsistent with his appearance.

"……snort."

He looked at Li for a long time, perhaps seeing something from it, Qianjie just snorted and stopped embarrassing him.

"gone."

After leaving such words, Qianjie turned around and left. Li also took one last look at the interior of the orphanage and gently closed the door.

……

When they returned to the resting place of the team, the others had already gathered and were waiting for Qianjie and Li.

"Sorry for the long wait." Li said sheepishly, scratching her head.

Kevin didn't say anything, just nodded, and then said to all the team members: "The mission continues."

"There is still about 20% progress in this area, please work harder, everyone." Hen also encouraged, quite like a senior, but the slingshot in his hand was a bit out of place.

"Ahem... Pursuing Qilei is a little moody." After noticing Li's gaze, Hen coughed and explained.

Li nodded and expressed understanding. He had also encountered this situation during the trial, so he did not take this opportunity to tease him.

The team left the town and continued to march, but in the middle of the journey, Li saw the opportunity and quickly broke away from the team without anyone noticing, returning to the edge of the cliff before.

Facing the bottomless cliff, Li was not afraid, but jumped, and then after descending to a certain height, he inserted his hand into the cliff to stop his falling body.

Glancing down, Li took out his hand and descended some distance. Sure enough, there was a cave here. It was very wide, but not as wide as imagined. The entrance of the cave was only one person high. Li couldn't imagine that Teofel was How did he move in? According to Alicia's description, shouldn't Theophel be a giant beast several stories tall?

Putting aside the doubts in her heart, Li walked into the cave, but did not find Theophel inside.

Li came to a corner, squatted down, and picked up a handful of fallen white hair. There was extremely rich Honkai energy left on it.

The location was correct, but there was no trace. Either he left after Qianjie left, or he sensed someone coming and hid in the dark, preparing to scare me?

Li leaned her head back, but felt a furry touch.

"Woo..."

A whimper came from behind, and Li let go of her subconscious vigilance.

"It seems that I guessed it right. You are hiding in the dark, ready to scare me at any time." Li turned around and looked at the wolf-shaped creature covered in white fur blocking the door, or should I say it was a Honkai beast?

The white fluff is as pure as new-born white snow. Under the white hair are hidden white transparent crystals. Most of them are distributed on the limbs and back. You can't see it unless you look carefully. The huge and fluffy tail There are also crystals, but they are blood red, which is quite conspicuous under the white hair.

It squatted on the ground and looked at Li with its blood-red eyes. From Li, he saw wisdom and energy that other Honkai beasts had never seen before.

So, is this brought to it by the original self, or is it something that it has retained?

"I'm used to seeing furless species, so it's really strange to see one with fur." ​​Li stretched out her hand and touched its obediently lowered head.

Hmm...not only strange, but also very obedient.

Although she didn't remember it, Li still felt a familiar power in its body, a power that belonged to Li herself.

Alicia said that she had rescued it, but what method did she use? Concept extraction? It doesn't quite look like it. This guy's body doesn't feel like he's lost anything, but rather like he's gained something. Maybe this is how his intelligence was stimulated?

"It's time for you to go. If you believe me, leave here and leave this area, otherwise you may not be able to escape later." Li advised, but I don't know if it listened. It just lowered its head. , and pushed it into Li's arms, showing off her coquettish tone.

"..." Li counted the time, "That's all I have to say, it's time for me to leave."

"Woo..."

Li just wanted to squeeze past Teofel's huge body, but its body suddenly expanded, completely sealing all the gaps.

Okay, Riko finally figured out why Teofel and Alicia's descriptions of sizes didn't match.

"...You don't want me to leave?"

"Woo..."

"Don't make trouble. Since you want to recognize me as your master, you should learn to listen to me, be good and get out of the way."

"Woo..."

Theophel raised his forelimbs and pointed at himself.

"...Let me take you with me?" Li raised her eyebrows.

"Woo!"

Theophel nodded wildly.

"Don't think about it. Not to mention your size, the Honkai energy emitted by you alone is enough to cause trouble on the human side." Li felt the power of Teofel's body that was far higher than that of ordinary Honkai beasts. The concentration of Honkai energy, he said helplessly.

After understanding Li's words, Theophel shut up and stopped whimpering. But just when Li thought it had given up, its body actually shrank rapidly and stopped only after shrinking to about the same size as Li. momentum.

Immediately afterwards, in Zai Li's eyes full of questions, it actually changed again, and its body shape was gradually approaching the human form.