A little while later, on the Astral Express.
"You've been standing here staring for half an hour. It's rare to see you so worried."
Seeing Dan Heng standing by the window, gazing at the Xianzhou with a furrowed brow, Himeko asked with gentle concern:
"Want a cup of my special blend to relax? I'm quite confident in my coffee. It's good for refreshing the mind and relieving anxiety and fatigue."
"No, there's no need!"
Dan Heng knew Himeko was just concerned for him, but when he saw her approaching with a smiling face and a cup of coffee, he instinctively took a step back, a cold sweat breaking out on his forehead.
Himeko was indeed very confident, whether it was in brewing coffee or making trailblazing nutritional meals. As for the coffee's effects…
It certainly could relieve anxiety. After one cup, you'd be on the floor, out cold, and naturally, you wouldn't be anxious anymore.
"I'm just worried…"
"Welt is with them. And generally speaking, nothing too chaotic should happen on the Xianzhou. They have a living, breathing Emanator presiding over things there."
Himeko tried to comfort him, but Dan Heng's brow remained tightly knitted as he shook his head.
"I went through Kafka's communication logs again. At the time, everyone's attention was drawn to Stelle and Caelus, and we overlooked a key dangerous individual."
"A dangerous individual?" Himeko raised an eyebrow.
"One of the Stellaron Hunters, Blade. That person is extremely dangerous."
Fragments of past memories fluttered through his mind. Dan Heng didn't want to touch them. He wanted to run, but there was no escape.
Himeko took a small sip of her coffee.
"Who doesn't have burdens? Even silly little March, despite having forgotten everything, doesn't she still carry a lot on her shoulders?"
"And as for the seemingly unreliable Stelle and Caelus…"
Himeko had intended to say that with Stellarons sealed inside them, their relationship with the Stellaron Hunters was an inseparable, tangled mess.
But then she thought about how Stelle would sometimes proclaim herself to be 'a Stellaron that gained sentience, this baby is invincible,' and recalled Caelus's reaction when facing Kafka, and she suddenly couldn't continue.
No matter how she looked at it, those two kids didn't treat the Stellarons inside them or their complicated relationship with the Stellaron Hunters as a burden.
"I think you could learn a thing or two from Stelle and Caelus."
Himeko felt that, if anything, Caelus and Stelle had turned the tables and become a burden to the Stellaron Hunters instead.
"Learn from Caelus and Stelle?"
Dan Heng fell silent. He briefly pictured himself rummaging through trash cans, and his vision went dark, but he could grudgingly accept it.
But when he imagined himself making those freakish poses Caelus and Stelle did, he shook his head violently. Perhaps being stabbed to death by Blade would be preferable.
"Don't overthink it, Dan Heng."
Like a life coach guiding a lost teenager, Himeko suppressed a strange expression and said earnestly:
"The best way to eliminate fear is to face it."
Look at Caelus and Stelle; they had even scared off the fearsome Stellaron Hunters.
"Pom-Pom and I are enough to watch over the Express. Go do what you want to do. It's better than having regrets later."
As the navigator of the Astral Express, Miss Himeko not only possessed formidable scientific research and professional skills, but she also moonlighted as a psychological counselor for the passengers.
"To not have any regrets, huh?" Dan Heng let out a breath, gazing at the forbidden homeland he could not set foot on.
Rather than hesitating now and being left with nothing but regrets later, it was better to press forward bravely.
Himeko was right. How long could he keep running?
Those who cannot face their past cannot walk into the future.
Having made up his mind thanks to Himeko's life coaching, Dan Heng resolved to violate the prohibition and set foot on the Luofu once more.
He packed a simple bag and strode toward the teleportation carriage with decisive steps.
...
Cloudford.
The Mara-struck crisis, triggered by the Stellaron, had a wide-reaching impact. Cloud Knights were still scattered throughout the port, fighting Mara-struck soldiers and rescuing civilians and foreign merchants unfortunately trapped at the docks.
Amidst the clamor of chaos and clashing weapons, a graceful figure, like a plum blossom in the winter snow, seemed utterly out of place with the tense atmosphere.
"Not bad, not bad. At this rate, I'll hit 1600 soon."
Li Sushang clenched her delicate hand into a small fist and punched a treasure chest that could only be opened through brute force. She bent down and picked up three crystals from inside.
"But this area is pretty much searched clean. There probably aren't any more."
Her short boots tapped the ground as she leaped lightly, landing atop a shipping container and surveying her surroundings.
She tossed a crystal up and caught it, rubbing its cool, smooth texture for a few moments. With a thought, the crystal vanished.
In the top right corner of the system interface in her mind, the number 1569 jumped to 1572.
"A pity. I should have done another lap around Cloudford before leaving," Li Sushang sighed softly.
Treasure chests would only respawn centered around Caelus's main body and Stelle. The female avatars could open them, but none would respawn nearby.
"Let's see…"
Sitting on the edge of the container, her slender legs dangling and swinging gently, Li Sushang reached up and adjusted the long, brown hair tied into twin tails.
Seele and Raven both had practical, short hair, which was fine. Thankfully, Li Sushang's waist-length hair had taken Caelus a few days to get used to.
This Sushang's ankle-length hair was still something she wasn't quite accustomed to.
"I should probably just call in the substitute driver."
Over in the Honkai Impact 3rd world, Li Sushang was still in a deep sleep, so there was no need to worry about Otto discovering anything.
It wouldn't affect any of the arrangements on Earth either.
Considering the time it would take to fool… ahem, to explain the situation to Li Sushang and let her get familiar with everything, now seemed like a suitable moment.
No time like the present.
"Heave-ho~"
Stretching her body and confirming no one was around, the brown-haired girl leaned forward and landed gracefully on the ground.
Leaning her back lightly against the container, she smiled and closed her eyes.
[Auto-Battle System, activate!]
The moment of the switch, this part of Caelus's consciousness smoothly receded into the body's background, and the curve of his lips straightened.
Another girl's consciousness slowly began to rise from a darkness like a bottomless abyss.
Unlike when activating the auto-battle for Seele, Bronya, or Raven, Li Sushang, whose mind was in a state of deep slumber, did not open her eyes immediately.
Jade Knight - Moon Shade established a mental link with her, actively awakening the real Li Sushang's consciousness.
The most powerful memory of her life was the first to appear in Li Sushang's mind.
It was the image of a blond man, covered in wounds, lying in a pool of blood. He struggled to lift his head, looking behind him with vacant eyes.
The first thing Li Sushang felt was a sense of guilt, but then, she heard a familiar, cheerful voice.
[LMAO, there's a dead Otto here too.]
[...]
A subtle sense of amusement caused the guilt rising in Li Sushang's heart to slowly fade, leaving only confusion.
[Wake up, wake up!]
The familiar voice came from somewhere both very far and very near.
That was… her own voice!
Li Sushang struggled to open her eyes.
The external world was clearly transmitted to her central nervous system through her retinas, and her brain received it normally, but Li Sushang's mind was like a computer that hadn't been used in years; it didn't boot up right away.
[Are you awake? You must be, I can sense your mental fluctuations.]
Moon Shade continuously sent telepathic messages to Li Sushang.
After a full several minutes, a glimmer of clarity finally coalesced in Li Sushang's utterly bewildered eyes.
"I… I… Where am I? Who are you?"
Her body was perfectly healthy, but five hundred years of slumber still left her feeling groggy and disoriented.
[I am Li Sushang.]
The voice that echoed in her mind made the clarity in Li Sushang's eyes waver again.
"You are Li Sushang, then… who am I?"
[If my perception is correct, you are also Li Sushang. Calm down, take a deep breath, and remember slowly…]
The mental fluctuations were reassuring. Li Sushang followed the voice's instructions, and soon, like someone waking from a daze after a nap, her consciousness gradually returned, memories flooding back like a tide.
During this process, Moon Shade also used the mental link to learn many things that Caelus didn't know before his transmigration.
From a young age, Li Sushang's life had revolved around the sword. Her mother taught her to recite the Sword Heart mantra, and her father taught her the Twelve-Route Mind-Recollection Sword Style, move by move.
The girl's talent was truly exceptional. To ensure it wasn't wasted, her mother requested that the greatest master in the martial world, Cheng Lingshuang, take Sushang as her disciple to learn Taixu Sword Ki.
In just ten years, she cultivated her Sword Heart to the realm of [Bright Mirror], second only to [Taixu]. Her Sword Form was perfected, and her Sword Soul was nascent.
Upon coming of age, she ventured out to test her sword and comprehend its intent, where she ran into that blond mutt from Europe who carried a coffin.
After a series of events, the girl and Otto could be considered friends, and she owed him her life.
The girl was also very interested in Otto's dream of reviving his beloved. Later, she was gravely injured and fell into a coma after a battle with the Immortal Phoenix. Before losing consciousness, the girl made a pact with Otto.
She wanted to witness the moment Otto achieved his dream, and she would definitely repay him for saving her life.
Afterwards, Otto used technology from the Previous Era to freeze the girl in time, waiting for a future where technology capable of healing her would emerge before waking her.
Of course, at this moment, Li Sushang's memories only went up to the point before she fell into her coma.
"Did I not make it? Am I dead? Or not?"
Li Sushang looked down at the unfamiliar clothes she was wearing.
[Of course you're not dead.]
"You said you're also Li Sushang? What's going on?"
[I'm the Li Sushang from a parallel world. Here's what happened…]
Moon Shade began the same old spiel used on the little ducky and Raven. It's not about having many tricks, as long as it works.
Listening to the explanation, Li Sushang gradually grew stupefied.
What was all this about 'parallel worlds,' the 'Tree of Imaginary Numbers,' and other such inexplicably obscure and difficult terms.
"Uhm…"
Li Sushang blinked, her eyes so clear they seemed entirely unpolluted by knowledge.
This was perfectly normal, considering she lived in the 15th century.
However, by giving up on understanding the extremely complex process and focusing only on the result, Li Sushang was able to grasp it.
"In other words, you are another me, and you used your ability to bring my consciousness into your body. Is that right?"
[Correct.]
As expected of the Honkai Impact 3rd Sushang. If this were this world's Sushang, it would be a different story.
Although she would be easier to fool, she'd be too dumb to be of any use!
"I see. This is truly a wondrous Daoist art… It's almost like an immortal technique."
Li Sushang clenched her fists, sensing a physical condition better than any she had ever known.
Just as she was trying to digest the information and accept the current situation, a voice called out from a distance.
"Hey, Big Pillow Li, what are you doing over here? Go help evacuate the people!"
Li Sushang followed the voice and saw a squad of soldiers in armor. One of them was waving in her direction.
"?"
A question mark appeared above Li Sushang's head.
She looked left and right, saw no one else, and raised a finger to point uncertainly at herself.
Big Pillow Li, are they calling me?
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