Honkai Diary: Start With Picking Up A White-Haired Treasure

"My lord, after entering the effective communication range, I received 13 missed calls from the manor, with the most recent one made 17 minutes ago. Dialing the manor's communication channel... Connected."

Zeke composed himself and directly asked, "Is this Robbins? What happened in the city?"

"Boss... finally... finally connected... Hurry... back... save... Vera..."

The intermittent voice was accompanied by gasping breaths, as if on their last breath, along with occasional sounds of coughing up blood.

Not good—it's the worst-case scenario.

"I'll be there within 20—no, make that 17 minutes. First, hide in the cellar; it's the strongest fortified area."

"We're already... already in the cellar... Boss, please look after Vera..."

No further voices came through the communication channel, even Robbins' faint breathing ceased.

Zeke's teeth gritted audibly, and with suppressed anger, he coldly commanded:

"Icarus, connect to the manor's mainframe data. I want to know what happened after I left."

"Yes, My Lord."

A series of images then displayed before Zeke's glasses:

Firstly, although Zeke didn't have time to fully explain, Robbins sensed the extraordinary nature of the situation. Consequently, utilizing the capabilities of Icarus within the manor, he summoned an armed force.

Logically, this was correct, even deemed highly reasonable by Icarus itself.

However, Honkai cannot be predicted by conventional reasoning.

Robbins was unaware of one crucial fact, and due to its mechanical thinking and limited associative abilities, Icarus overlooked it as well—the reality that under suitable conditions of high Honkai Energy concentration, deceased infected beings transform into aggressive zombie-like creatures. Superior hosts may even become equivalent to Honkai Beasts as Zombies.

Then, the Honkai Beasts launched their assault on the city.

It seemed that when the Honkai Beasts emerged from the snow-capped mountains, they split into different groups. One wave headed towards Uru Town, while another directly attacked Yordle City; there might also be additional unaccounted-for branches.

In any case, some Honkai Beasts had reached the manor gates.

Initially, the manor's formidable firepower repelled the assault. The briefly panicked troops swiftly regained their composure under Robbins' guidance and actively joined the defensive efforts.

With ample defenses, they successfully pushed back three successive waves of Honkai Beast attacks. As a result, even more Honkai Beasts continued to gather around the manor.

As the pile of Honkai Beast corpses grew, the manor's mainframe clearly recorded a gradual increase in the surrounding Honkai Energy concentration until it surpassed a certain threshold.

Following that, instances of infection leading to deaths occurred within the forces.

At this stage, the situation was not yet dire. Icarus began utilizing some unrefined technologies, gradually suppressing the Honkai Energy concentration inside the manor. If things had progressed as such, with the available firepower reserves, holding out for another half day would not have been an issue.

However, among the deceased bodies, a Zombie emerged—one seemingly of relatively high rank.

It mercilessly slaughtered its former comrades, exploiting the weaker internal defenses to tear open a breach in the manor's otherwise impenetrable fortifications.

The ensuing events can be easily imagined without further details.

In any case, recent synchronized data showed that the manor's remaining firepower was down to just 7%, and its ground-level structures were almost entirely razed. Guided by Icarus, Robbins and his daughter Vera had taken refuge in the cellar, but even this last safe zone has now fallen and collapsed.

The surveillance cameras, microphones, infrared sensors, and all other observation equipment have malfunctioned. At present, not even the manor's mainframe, located nearby, knows the situation within the cellar. All it can do is use its remaining firepower to clear approaching Honkai Beasts as best as possible—nothing more.

"Dammit!"

A pulsating vein bulged on Zeke's forehead.

Why hadn't he considered the internal defenses of the manor? Why didn't he anticipate Robbins making such a decision? Why hadn't he clarified the characteristics of Honkai beforehand with Robbins? Why does Icarus lack such associative thinking abilities... There are too many "whys," regardless of whether there were valid reasons or not, ultimately leading to the fall of the manor and making Zeke feel like a fool.

"Calm down!"

"Perhaps it's not too late..."

"At least, we must rescue Vera."

Zeke convinced himself of these thoughts, forcefully maintaining composure as he continued rushing back to the manor at full speed.

In 17 minutes, just as Zeke had hoped for at maximum speed—no sooner, no later—he arrived at the manor, only to find it reduced to rubble.

"My lord, my apologies—Icarus failed to defend the manor."

From amidst the ruins came intermittent and faint electronic sounds, originating from the Icarus system on the manor's main server. Using its nearly malfunctioning audio equipment, it reported to Zeke.

Zeke did not respond.

Holding Kiana, he searched through the wreckage and located the entrance to the cellar. The basic exoskeleton he wore provided him with the strength to clear away debris blocking the entryway.

With caution, he descended into the cellar, still carrying Kiana.

Some lights flickered, but the primary illumination remained stable. Contrary to his expectations, the collapsed cellar was not completely shrouded in darkness.

Zeke encountered numerous pieces of unusable equipment and instruments, but these losses failed to capture his attention.

For he had found Robbins's lifeless body.

Pierced through the abdomen by steel rebar, with skin as pale as paper—a telltale sign of Honkai Energy corruption—Robbins died from excessive blood loss combined with Honkai affliction.

Gently placing Kiana aside, Zeke approached Robbins, knelt down, and carefully moved his body away.

Beneath him lay unconscious Vera.

While there were hardly any visible wounds on her, both hands exhibited an abnormal grayish-white hue, and eerie peach-colored patterns covered half of her face. Zeke abruptly clutched at his heart, taking considerable effort and several seconds to regain his composure.

It's alright, she's still alive. As long as she lives, there is hope, Zeke reassured himself before cautiously lifting Vera in his arms.

Just as cunning rabbits have three burrows, Zeke naturally had preparations outside the manor.

He left the estate and arrived at his backup base—an abandoned factory's underground area on the outskirts of town.

However, since Zeke subdued Robbins and officially began researching and climbing the technology tree, barely a month had passed even if counting every day. With such limited time, managing to maintain the manor well was already challenging. Consequently, the backup base primarily held various materials, far less convenient than the manor itself.

But the manor facilities were utterly destroyed, and the pile of Honkai Beast corpses made it too conspicuous. Moreover, the organization likely responsible for blocking signals in the restricted zone was Schicksal. Zeke wasn't in the mood to confront Otto just yet, so he chose to depart first.

Saving lives, awakening Kiana and Vera—these were now his sole objectives.

Kiana woke up as night fell.

"Mm..."

Struggling to open her eyes, she felt a burning sensation in her throat.

"Water..."

Cool liquid poured down her throat, easing much of the discomfort.

"Z-Zeke?"

"It's me."

"Where are we?"

"The backup base."

In Zeke's calm voice, Kiana detected a weariness she hadn't heard from him in a long time.

With great effort, she blinked, clearing her vision. She saw Zeke busy at work on the table, seemingly adjusting some medicinal concoction.

Next to it, on another bed, Vera lay quietly with glowing peach-colored patterns covering her face. Her small body barely showed any signs of breathing.

"Vera!"

Kiana tried to sit up, but her body refused to obey her mind. Realizing her weakness and the intense pain coursing through her entire being, she gasped sharply.

"Vera... What happened to Vera?" Kiana asked shakily.

"Honkai Energy corruption. I'm trying to find a way to save her. Also, you should worry about yourself first—how do you feel?"

"I'm fine! Save Vera first!" Kiana exclaimed anxiously.

Zeke seemed to freeze momentarily before slumping over abruptly.

"I've been trying...but it's no use... I can't do this..."

Zeke slumped back onto his chair and gently stroked Vera's icy forehead.

The once kind-hearted, intelligent little girl now lay still like an inanimate doll. Only her tightly furrowed brows hinted at the pain she was enduring.

Tears streamed down Kiana's cheeks.

"What do you mean 'can't do this'? Don't joke around at a time like this! Zeke, pull yourself together—you have to save her! Vera, Vera is just a child; she can't die like this!"

Sobbing, Kiana tried to get up and reach out to Zeke, to touch Vera, but her effort resulted in falling off the bed, intensifying the pervasive pain throughout her body.

"Zeke!"

Ignoring her body's protests, Kiana attempted to crawl over to Vera's bedside.