Chapter 1270 Missing

Destiny Headquarters, Bishop's Office.

Otto Apocalypse leaned back lazily in his luxurious chair, his fingertips lightly tapping the table. Amber had just presented a preliminary report on the disappearance of the Valkyrie squad in City B.

At first, he didn't pay much attention. It's not uncommon for Valkyries to encounter accidents during missions, and even if they go missing, clues can usually be found in the subsequent search and rescue or investigation—either the remains of a Honkai Beast or traces of an enemy organization.

He casually flipped through the report, his gaze sweeping over the description of the disappearance:

“……最后通讯信号于当地时间14:03:27发出，为常规巡逻状态汇报。14:03:30，小队成员生命体征监测信号（非紧急情况下为低频间歇传输）同时中断，定位信号消失。间隔：3秒。”

three seconds.

Three well-trained and well-equipped B-rank Valkyries were simultaneously and silently eliminated within three seconds, without even having a chance to trigger an emergency distress signal.

This is something that ordinary Honkai Beasts or hostile human forces could not accomplish. Even an A-rank Valkyrie would find it difficult to suppress or eliminate them so cleanly and efficiently in such a short time.

So it's those things? Or...?

Otto was unsure and did not intend to continue the investigation for the time being.

(Since the leader of Anti-Entropy has "voluntarily" taken on the task of investigating here...)

(Having him share some of the "trivial matters" of maintaining world peace with Destiny, and incidentally test Anti-Entropy's current intelligence capabilities and processing efficiency, seems like a good choice.)

He withdrew his hand and instructed Amber, "Pack up all the known intelligence about City B, including the missing team's specific route of action, copies of communication records, and a map showing the distribution of all overt and covert surveillance nodes in the area, and 'friendly' share it with our anti-entropy allies. Tell them we look forward to their 'good news'."

Let Walter go and scout ahead. If even Reverse Entropy can't find anything, then the problem is indeed tricky; if it does... Otto Apocalypse naturally has ways to provide "necessary" support "in a timely manner" and ensure that the interests of Destiny are maximized.

In City B, the temporary command center for reverse entropy (disguised as a logistics company warehouse).

"You messy red hair! Why won't you let me test drive the new Titan Stalker prototype?! It's the perfect covert urban reconnaissance unit!" Dr. Tesla, with his messy red hair, complained loudly to Einstein on the other end of the communication screen, his face full of displeasure.

Einstein's voice remained calm as always, tinged with a barely perceptible hint of helplessness: "Dr. Tesla, I don't think it's a wise choice to send a 'stalker' that is over five meters tall, weighs over twenty tons, and still produces noticeable vibrations when it moves, even with optical camouflage, to conduct so-called 'covert' reconnaissance in densely populated city streets. The Alliance Leader agrees with me."

"The Alliance Leader has been misled by your fallacies and heresies!" Tesla exclaimed angrily. "It was just that he accidentally damaged a sewer pipe last time! That was a quality issue with the municipal engineering!"

“Tesla,” Walter’s voice came from the side, carrying an unquestionable tone, “follow Ain’s instructions. What we need now is discreet and precise information gathering, not demolition.”

"Hmph!" Tesla angrily cut off the communication, plopped down in front of the monitoring console, and crossed her arms. "Watch the surveillance! Can't this kind of work be left to the local branch? I'm a genius scientist, not a security guard!"

Einstein operated the complex holographic interface in front of him without looking up: "Complaining won't speed up the solution. Destiny's surveillance network has blind spots, and they rely too much on overt public systems. Our Anti-Entropy 'eyes' are everywhere in this city, including some... less-than-legitimate private nodes."

Despite her complaints, Tesla's work efficiency remained astonishing. She quickly retrieved all available surveillance data from the area where the missing Valkyrie was last seen, and used Inverse Entropy's powerful algorithms to integrate and analyze her trajectory.

The image became clearer. It showed three young Valkyries who, after finishing their patrol mission, had changed into casual clothes and were walking along a bustling commercial street like ordinary girls, laughing and talking about the jewelry they had just bought and the dessert shops they wanted to try, completely unaware that misfortune was about to befall them.

"Target enters 'Qiluoshang' clothing store, time 14:01:15," Einstein calmly reported the time.

Surveillance footage shows three Valkyries entering the seemingly well-decorated clothing store one after the other. The transparent glass door closed, swallowing their figures.

“The target did not leave through the main entrance of ‘Qiluoshang’.” Tesla switched between various surveillance cameras, his brow furrowed. “The back door, the fire escape, and even the surveillance cameras in the adjacent buildings did not capture any footage of them leaving. It’s as if they walked in and then… vanished.”

Walter stared at the seemingly ordinary clothing store in the image: "Schicksal has conducted a thorough search of the place, including structural scanning and Honkai energy residue detection, and found nothing. We also conducted a second check, and the results were consistent."

"What about the in-store surveillance cameras?" Tesla asked.

“It’s quite a coincidence,” Einstein pulled up a maintenance record. “On the morning of the day of the incident, all the surveillance cameras in the ‘Qiluoshang’ store were reported for repair due to ‘aging wiring’. The repair was completed at 17 p.m. that afternoon, just a few hours after the Valkyrie went missing.”

"Where's the boss?"

“An ordinary middle-aged businessman with a clean background. He appeared very flustered when questioned, claiming that he knew nothing about it. He only remembered that there weren’t many customers that afternoon, and he had a vague impression of the three ‘customers,’ but he didn’t notice exactly when they left.”

"Coincidence? Nobody believes that!" Tesla scoffed.

Walter adjusted his glasses, the lenses reflecting the cold light of the surveillance screen: "Too many coincidences often indicate meticulous planning. Since the store's surveillance 'just happened' to malfunction at a crucial moment, what happened on the day the surveillance malfunctioned?"

Einstein's fingers slid rapidly across the control panel: "Retrieving all records from the 'Qiluoshang' clothing store and surrounding area within the 48 hours prior to the monitoring system malfunction. Let's see who, or rather what, 'arranged' this perfectly timed 'malfunction'."

On the holographic screen, the data stream scrolls rapidly, new time points are locked, and earlier scenes begin to load.