Offer your allegiance to Chaos!

She turned and walked towards the door.

Ai Xi held hands and feet a little nervously, and followed her into the dormitory.

Probably because they were the senior executives of Rhine Life, the dormitory of Hemer and Ifrit is much larger than that of Ashe and Laplande, almost a standard size of three bedrooms and one living room, with meals in the kitchen The aroma, thinking that before Ashe knocked on the door, Hemer was cooking.

"I'll turn off the fire first." Hemer whispered, "Sit on the sofa first."

Ashe was sitting on the sofa, sitting upright, not looking sideways, until Hemo's back walked into the kitchen, he took a long breath and relaxed slowly.

"Really, what am I nervous about..." He sighed with a wry smile.

In the kitchen, where Ashe couldn't see, Hemer turned off the stove, but didn't go out, but leaned against the wall and stared blankly at the ceiling.

"Seriya..." she murmured.

Chapter 4 Walls and Tears

When Hemer walked out of the kitchen, she already had two cups of coffee in her hand.

Ashe took a cup and took a sip. The bitterness and sweetness in the mouth was a familiar taste. When he was living in Rhine, the coffee that Hemer made him had this taste... The sugar content was subtly high, specially catered to Children's taste.

The familiar smell evokes long memories, and Ashe's eyes become dazed again.

Hemo also sipped his coffee lightly, watching Ashe from the corner of his eyes with complicated eyes.

There was no speaking between the two for a long time.

She didn't speak softly until half of the coffee in Hemer's cup was gone:

"Where have you been all these years?"

Ashe left Rhine Life back then, considered running away from home, and only left two letters, one letter was left before leaving, apologizing to Hemer and Seria, and the other letter was just after settling down, It was sent to Hemer through a secret channel, and it was reported that it was safe.

And after that, because of Rhine's life-saving search, and because of the delicate feelings in Ashe's heart, he has not been in contact with the two of them, and it has been seven years.

Faced with Hemer's question, it is naturally impossible for Ashe to tell all the magnificent experiences of these years, which will only make her more worried. He simply said: "I have traveled a lot and met some friends...don't worry, You know my ability, and I have never encountered any danger."

After a pause, he couldn't help asking his own question: "What about you? Why did you leave Rhine Life? What happened to the child named Ifrit?"

For some reason, he didn't mention Saria's name.

And Hemer's answer was not what he expected, and it was equally vague as his answer: "In the past seven years, I have been living in Rhine, and I have changed several project teams. Ifrit is the experiment of the last project. The body... there was an accident in the end, I took her away from Rhine Life, her ore disease was very serious, so we came to Rhodes Island to treat her."

Saying it is tantamount to not saying it, it's all news that Ai Xi already knows, Ai Xi can only smile wryly.

There was silence again between the two.

The atmosphere at this moment was a bit condensed, whether it was Ashe or Hemer, in the two short conversations, they all understood a fact - after all, the past has passed, and seven years can change too much. It is impossible for him and her to return to the days of intimacy seven years ago. Both of them have secrets and deep hearts that they don't want to reveal.

A wall called time separates the two.

Ashe's heart was a little blocked, and he regretted this rash behavior again, he should prepare again... He didn't want to fall into such an awkward silence with Hemer, even if he couldn't go back to the past, he and she at least They should also be able to talk together in harmony and talk about interesting things over the years.

But fortunately, he still has a means to break through the barrier.

I didn't want to use it, but now I have to.

Ashe took a deep breath, and asked the question that had been buried in her heart for a long time:

"What about Selia? Where is she? Why didn't she come to Rhodes Island with you?"

The simple three words and one name seemed to ignite a fuse in this silent atmosphere, igniting the chemical reaction on Hemer's face, and her solemn expression suddenly collapsed and became shaken .

"What are you asking her for?!"

Ms. Ribery's voice became so sharp and turbulent for the first time: "Do you still want to meet her again?!"

Ah... that's right.

Ashe smiled wryly again.

The power of time seemed to disappear suddenly again at this moment, and a clear memory emerged in his mind—seven years ago, when he was about to leave Rhine's life, he asked Hemo to see Serena again for the purpose of saying goodbye At that time, she also made such a sharp voice.

I thought seven years could erase the gulf between the two, but I didn't expect that nothing would change...or maybe it changed, but something happened, so that their relationship returned to normal. Origin?

Ashe had many thoughts in her heart, but she didn't stop, "Yes, I want to meet her."

His words were extremely frank, and his eyes were calm and calm: "Hemer, calm down, it's been seven years, and everything has passed. I said it a long time ago. It was my fault in the first place. You shouldn't blindly blame it. Serena... You can't stop me from looking for her, you were all my guardians, since I saw you, I should see her again."

Ashe's words didn't seem to have much effect at first, Hemer's face darkened, his brows were locked, and he stared at him firmly. From the stiff jaw, it could be seen that she was clenching her teeth at the moment.

But as time passed by, her aura gradually deflated like a leaking balloon, and her eyes became tired from anger. Finally, she let out a long sigh:

"I don't know... After that incident, we had a big fight. I snatched Ifrit away. She didn't stop me, but just left..."

In just a few sentences, Ashe read out a lot of useful information—it seems that the relationship between Hemer and Saria has indeed been repaired to some extent after he left, but after a recent incident happened, , and completely collapsed, and the fuse was obviously Ifrit.

Ashe tactfully didn't ask any more questions. He mentioned that Saria's purpose was more to break the gap between the two. Now that the purpose has been achieved, there is no need to provoke Hemo's emotions.

What should be done, is another matter.

He stood up, walked to her side under Hemo's dazed eyes, squeezed on the same sofa with her, and hugged her gently.

Hemer's figure is very petite, not far from the figure of Ashe's 15-year-old boy. From a distance, the hug between the two seems to be an ambiguous relationship between a teenager and a girl crossing taboos, but in detail, it is far from that.

In a completely relaxed, baby-like position, Ashe put her head on Homer's shoulders, her hands wrapped tightly around her back, while Homer patted his head reflexively, With dazed eyes, she gently rubbed his hair.

The body temperature blends, the heartbeat touches.

In the familiar posture, both of them regained their old feelings.

"sorry."

Ashe said softly: "I'm back."

Accompanied by his whispers, Hemer's trance eyes gradually woke up, but it seemed that a certain sensitive nerve had been touched. Ever since he heard the name at the doctor's place in the afternoon, the long-suppressed emotions had been released from the dam of time. A gap was washed out, and then surged down.

She closed her eyes, a tear dripping from the corner of her eye.

She choked up.

Then it turns into real crying.

Chapter 5 Serea

Hemer's crying lasted for a long time, her tears wet Ashe's hair and back, she choked up and whispered in Ashe's ear:

"I... I thought you would never come back..."

"Seriya and I have been looking for you for a long time, really for a long time, for many years..."

"I often have nightmares, dreaming that you are lost on the street and can't find your home..."

"Why don't you contact us? Even if it's just a letter, one letter a year is fine, as long as you tell us that you are still safe..."

"Your childhood clothes, toys, ID cards and everything we can find, Serena and I keep them. We often take them out to look at them. When we are apart, we don't want to split these things in half, so we keep them together. Into the Rheinbank vault..."

Ashe buried herself in her arms, listening silently, feeling the moisture on his back, he couldn't help feeling a strong sense of guilt in his heart.

Just like all wanderers who travel far away, he doesn't have an overly nostalgia for Hemer and Saria, at least not to the same extent as they miss him. He may think of their faces in a sleepless night , may hesitate to write a letter during various festivals of a certain year, but in the end this nostalgia will always be washed away by the various affairs in reality.

He had been away for seven years, how many times did he think of them?

If it wasn't for the chance meeting when he returned to Rhodes Island, maybe many years later, he wouldn't have thought of contacting them.

"Feel sorry……"

He could only keep repeating this sentence: "I'm sorry..."

Finally, Hemo was tired from crying, she hugged Ashe tightly, and fell asleep on the sofa.

Ashe broke away from her embrace lightly, stared at the woman's peaceful sleeping face for a long time, looked at the clock, and it was not far before Ifrit's return time, he hesitated for a moment, without waking Hemo, and left Go to the kitchen, continue the work that Hemer stopped before, and cook for the two of them.

He is familiar with Hemer's taste, and cooked some of Hemer's favorite meals in his memory seven years ago, but he didn't care about Ifrit.

He didn't intend to confess his relationship with Hemer to Ifrit yet, so after cooking, he watched Hemer silently for a while, then kissed her lightly on the forehead before tiptoeing Leaving the bedroom, he closed the door.

After the violent emotional catharsis, both of them needed a certain amount of time and space to calm down. He was going to come back at night.

And when he closed the door, Hemo quietly opened his eyes on the sofa, and stared blankly at the door for a long time.

Then, let out a long sigh.

……

Leaving Hemer's bedroom, Ashe walked towards the doctor's office.

Rhodes Island's working hours have already ended for an hour, but the doctor has always been a workaholic, and she can often see her office lights on after ten o'clock at night, and Ashe is not worried about finding her.

When I came to the door, I knocked on the door, and I heard an indistinct voice: "Who is it? Come in, the door is unlocked."

Ashe pushed the door open and came in, seeing the white-haired girl wolfing down her boxed lunch.

"Ash."

Seeing him, the white-haired girl said happily, "You're back? What's the matter?"

"You can be regarded as the nominal second-in-command of Rhodes Island after all. It's too shabby to eat this every day."

Ai Xi sighed, sat in front of her, looked at the standard canteen dishes in the lunch box, curled her lips: "Queen Kai is too mean."

"I chose this by myself. Let's have a meal. There's no need to be so fancy."

The white-haired girl sighed, just swallowed the last mouthful of rice, and squinted at Ai Xi: "Also, you provoked my relationship with Kal'xi as soon as you came back, maybe you want to be fired again? Tell me, what's the matter?" .”

"I want the file of Operator Ifrit and all the information about Operator Hemer."

Ashe said bluntly: "Why did she come to Rhodes Island?"

"Hemer..." The white-haired girl was taken aback, her expression became strange, "Wait, you really know each other? No wonder she showed that expression when she heard your name this afternoon—"

"Theoretically speaking... no, there is no need for theory, she is my guardian." Ashe sighed: "Like Ifrit, I used to be the experimental subject of Rhine Life, and Hemo is my project leader .”

"Ah..." The white-haired girl's eyes widened in an instant due to the excessive amount of information, she was stunned for a while, her expression changed rapidly, and finally said cautiously: "Well, it sounds like a complicated story... ...But Ashe, you should also know that unless Hemo accompanied you to discuss this matter, I would not be able to tell you the operator's files and confidential information, just because of your few words... huh?"

Her voice stopped abruptly, because Ashe took out the operator ID card that Hemer had on the keychain, and there was a Ribery feather on it.

"She just fell asleep crying in my arms." Ash shrugged: "And she doesn't seem to want to tell me too much. You can understand that the parents want to carry the burden alone, but the children want to help share it."

"Ah this-"

The white-haired girl was caught in a fierce ideological struggle for a while. Based on her understanding of Ashe and Hemo, what Ashe said was obviously true. If Hemo was really his guardian, then it was absolutely impossible for her to Tell Ashe all about the huge crisis that he is facing now.

"And you know my ability." Ashe leaned forward, putting on a rather oppressive posture: "Hemer doesn't know my experience and changes over the years, so she doesn't think I have the means to solve the problem, but you It should be clear how important it is for me to know the truth to change her and Ifrit's situation."

"……All right."

After another long silence, the white-haired girl let out a sigh of relief: "Who told you to go to the island for so long and never do anything bad... Hemer's problem is indeed serious, so I'll take a chance."

She flicked her fingers on the computer a few times, and the printer spit out a few sheets of paper.

"This is Ifrit's files and medical records. It's not confidential, but you'd better destroy it immediately after reading it."

The white-haired girl rubbed her forehead: "As for the reason why Hemer left Rhine Life, this is the key information, and I can only tell you verbally."

Ashe put away the medical records and nodded.

"First of all, before we start together, I want to ask a question."

The white-haired girl asked, "Since Hemer is your guardian, you must have heard of Seliya's name, right?"

"Nonsense, she is also my guardian, Hemer's partner." Ashe was taken aback, "What? Do you have any news about her? Hemer said that she disappeared after leaving Rhine Life."

"It's not just that... Even Hemo doesn't know the following news, you have to keep it a secret from her."

The white-haired girl sighed:

"Three days later, Serena will also join Rhodes Island."

Chapter 6 white photos

"Rhine Life... the Balrog incident?"

After leaving the doctor's office, on the way back, Ashe was still chewing the term carefully.

According to the doctor, about two months ago, an "accident" occurred at the Rhine Life headquarters. A research institute was destroyed by fire, and elite researchers suffered heavy casualties. Rhine Life did not release detailed information to the public, but there are many forces involved More or less captured the key word called "the Balrog incident".

As for Saria and Hemo, it was after the Balrog incident that they left Rhine Life.

"According to my speculation and Kelsey's, the so-called Balrog in this code name is most likely related to Ifrit... But this is not important to us, there are more operators with extraordinary backgrounds on Rhodes Island No, we only treat her as a patient."

The doctor said: "And Ms. Sereya seems to have been running around for the past two months about Ifrit's problem. She seems to have found some kind of solution, so she is going to come to Rhodes Island. An advanced treatment for ore disease will bring Ifrit back to health...or at least lead a normal life."