Another week, another weekend.
Ya Qing was dragged by Mobius to sit on the sofa. He had realized that Mobius wasn't actually interested in the web series; she was interested in watching it with him.
"So sweet~~~" Elysia cooed, cupping her soft cheeks.
"Hmph," Kevin scoffed. He picked up a piece of cut fruit with a toothpick and lovingly tried to feed it to Mei. "Mei, open up, ah~"
Mei didn't open her mouth. Instead, she just gave Kevin a strange look.
Su held back a laugh.
They had been together for so long, yet Kevin still tried to act like they were in the honeymoon phase, giving Mei goosebumps. Except for not being legally married, they were practically an old married couple.
"Heh."
Mobius made the same gesture as Kevin, but with a completely different result. Ya Qing obediently ate the fruit.
The stark contrast made it impossible to hold back any longer.
"Hahahahaha..."
Amid the laughter, the web series began.
[With Lab 42's supercomputer occupied, Joyce's task for the next four weeks was to arrange entertainment for the two doctors. While thinking, he remembered the letter he had just received.]
[Otto, dressed like a vampire count, appeared on screen as the letter unfolded.]
[In the letter, he once again brought up the story of Saint Kallen. She was as fragile as a mortal, so much so that common people could sentence her to death, and a mere Honkai Beast could take her life.]
[The writer seemed like a crazed seeker of truth. He wanted to banish fear from the human heart. Once the fear of "I am fragile" was removed, the new world that would be born...
"Such a world would protect its Saint."
"And such a world would be more worthy of the Saint's protection."
[At the end of the letter, the writer admitted he might have had a bit too much red wine, which was why he was rambling.]
[Signed: Jester Alpha.]
"Saint Kallen? I remember Otto's goal was to resurrect his loved one, even if it meant challenging the gods." Mei ignored Kevin's advances, leaving him looking dejected.
"Otto himself is a paradox. His sins are unforgivable, yet his achievements are legendary," Ya Qing commented. "He's not a pure villain, but he's certainly no hero either."
"So that's the Otto you wanted to portray?" Mobius asked, curious. She wanted to understand Ya Qing, and by extension, the characters he created.
"He doesn't need my portrayal; that's just who he is." Ya Qing seemed to think of something, casting an imperceptible glance at Kevin with a faint smile. "The fool envies the hero, and the hero is jealous of the fool. That is the requiem of the Honkai."
"Hmm... I don't get it," Elysia said, shaking her head.
"Then is your character a fool or a hero?" Mei's eyes flashed, as if trying to trick Ya Qing into revealing something.
"My character..." Ya Qing instantly caught on. "...is just an ordinary person."
[A drunken Tesla's interaction with Joyce was cut short by Einstein.]
[During the following four weeks of leisure, Joyce accompanied Tesla and Einstein to Highgate Cemetery, the final resting place of many great figures.]
[Joyce was enjoying a moment of peace. When he looked up, he saw a familiar figure standing around a corner ahead.]
"Well, what a coincidence," said the blonde woman. It was one of the Schicksal members he had met at the airport last month. Today, instead of her black pantsuit, she wore a white and blue dress.]
"Uh... um..."
"Don't be nervous. My name is Reanna Brigantia."
[Reanna, sensing Joyce's anxiety, smiled and explained that although she was a Schicksal Valkyrie, today she was just an ordinary person visiting a grave, just like him.]
"No... um... visiting a grave..."
"?" Reanna tilted her head in confusion.
"I... I'm actually here to feed the cats."
"Pfft, I see." Reanna chuckled.
[The two of them crouched down to feed the cats together.]
["Joyce looks so shy."]
["Another beautiful woman, and Joyce is already stuttering."]
["If Einstein saw this, it would be hilarious."]
Crack.
Edison instantly distanced herself from Einstein.
The usually lazy Schrödinger's eyes widened in shock. Following her gaze, she saw a small crack had appeared on the handle of the coffee mug in Einstein's hand.
Planck smiled and backed away.
Tesla, however, dared to get closer, poking the crack on the mug. "Messy-hair, doesn't that hurt?"
Einstein took a sip of her coffee and set the mug down. Her fingers were trembling slightly.
"I don't think there's a Schicksal employee named Reanna. She's probably an original character," Edison said, scratching her head, pretending to think but actually trying to defuse the situation.
In Joyce's nearby office, he was secretly watching the show despite claiming to be working hard. Seeing this scene, he inwardly cursed.
[While feeding the cats, Reanna suddenly mentioned a name: Martha Lili Jacobs. She was the only Valkyrie who died in the Berlin Honkai Eruption and was not buried in the military cemetery.]
"Ber... Berlin? Isn't that..."
"Yes. The incident where you were 'born'."
"..."
"You don't have to feel too guilty..."
[Reanna comforted Joyce.]
[She explained that Martha hadn't died on the battlefield. The "Night Moth" squad she led was wiped out by an Emperor-class Honkai Beast, leaving her as the sole survivor. Unable to bear the psychological pressure, she hanged herself at home.]
[They talked until night fell and the stars appeared. The cat food was gone, and the cats were happily fed, but Joyce felt a heavy weight in his heart after hearing Martha's story.]
"I'm sorry. Martha's story... that's not a sorrow you should have to bear."
"But Miss Reanna, you must be feeling sad too, right?" Joyce forced a smile, trying to comfort her. "Isn't there a saying?"
"A joy shared is a joy doubled, and a sorrow shared is a sorrow halved."
"?" Reanna looked confused.
"Haha... Was that... a bit too cheesy?" Joyce scratched his head awkwardly.
[Reanna's expression darkened.]
"Um, I... was it a bad idea to joke like that?"
"Shut up!"
[Before he knew it, Reanna suddenly lunged, clamping a hand over his mouth and dragging him into the bushes.]
Chapter 144: Tesla, the Shotacon
"What's going on?"
One moment they were comforting each other, the next she attacked. The sudden shift in tone caught everyone by surprise.
But the plot quickly explained everything.
[In a direction Joyce hadn't noticed, a mysterious white floating object materialized in the night sky. It looked like a white sheet and was surrounded by flickering blue will-o'-the-wisps.]
"Wh... what is that? Uh, it's not... that thing, is it?"
"What 'that thing'? Speak clearly! And stop shouting. On the battlefield, that'll get you killed!" Reanna's demeanor had completely changed; her expression was grim.
[The ghost-like figure chanted a phrase from the famous short story The Call of Cthulhu, a spell used by Cthulhu's worshipers, meaning: "In his house at R'lyeh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming."
[Reanna picked up a small stone and threw it at the suspected ghost. It made a crisp clinking sound. The ghost shot out a stream of air from beneath it and fled. She immediately reported to HQ, requesting backup for an unidentified flying object.]
[On the other side of the cemetery, a nervous-looking Tesla was talking to a small boy with brown hair and green eyes.]
"Tesla! Look out!"
"Get out of the way, redhead!"
[Tesla hadn't reacted yet. She looked around, confused. "Red? Redhead? Who's a redhead?!"]
[Reanna summoned the familiar Abyss Flower into her hand.]
"Move if you want to live!" The tip of Abyss Flower's spear pinned the "ghost" into a rock. Reanna held the spear in a reverse grip, looking incredibly heroic.
"Is that... Welt?" Edison said, uncertain.
If that really was Welt, looking to be only seven or eight years old, then wouldn't that make Tesla a...
Edison wasn't the only one who thought of it. Planck and Schrödinger also gave Tesla, who was now blushing, a strange look.
"Tesla, you..." Einstein hesitated.
"Messy-hair, shut up!"
Tesla roared like an angry lioness, her red twin-tails defying physics as they floated in the air.
Edison gave Tesla a "I didn't know you were that kind of person" look. "I remember when Tesla and Welt first met, I think Welt was only ten."
Suddenly, all eyes on Tesla were filled with suspicion.
"Hey, hey, what's with those looks?! Do you all really think I'm a shotacon?!" Tesla's face was beet red with anger.
Schrödinger and Edison exchanged a glance.
Einstein and Planck exchanged a glance.
The four of them nodded in unison.
"I swear to (Anti-Entropy curse), you're all (Anti-Entropy curse) and (Anti-Entropy curse)!" Dr. Tesla completely lost her composure, unleashing a string of Morse code-like expletives and colorful language.
["Are you two alright?"]
[Reanna retracted Abyss Flower.]
[Tesla and the little boy had identical expressions: wide eyes and open mouths. Tesla snapped out of it first, her anger flaring. "Alright, my foot! That was our newest model of levitation robot! You're paying for this!"]
"Of course, I knew it," Kevin said, crossing his arms with a wise look.
"Knew what?" Mei asked, puzzled.
"That the ghost was just a robot under a sheet!"
"Wasn't that obvious to everyone?" Elysia said bluntly.
"Huh?!"
"Hot-headed idiot," Ya Qing muttered.
[The two guests at Lab 42 tonight were Reanna Brigantia and Joachim Nokianvirtanen. The former was a high-ranking Valkyrie from HQ, and the latter was the son of a certain flippant Finn.]
"Blondie! Bring me my Sword of Raging Fire!" Tesla demanded with a serious face.
"Blondie... are you talking to me?" Reanna pointed to herself, confused. "And what's a Sword of Raging Fire?"
"Valkyrie-oneechan, I think she wants you to pass her the welding torch..." Joachim whispered an explanation.
[After Reanna handed her the welding torch, Einstein sighed. "I'm sorry, our idiot here doesn't speak proper human when she gets frustrated."
"Hey! Messy-hair! Who are you calling an idiot?!"
"Besides the most esteemed Lady Tesla, who else could it be?"
"Taste my Sword of Raging Fire!"
[Joyce quickly dodged. "Hey, that's dangerous! And why are you swinging it at me?!"]
Sirin's Live Stream
["What a Sword of Raging Fire! Not as good as my 'Fire of Joy'!"]
["LMAO, she's yelling at Einstein but swinging at Joyce."]
"Is that little Joachim, Teacher Welt?" Kiana had a gut feeling.
"Really?" Sirin, who was eating ice cream, leaned over. "I don't think they look alike."
"You don't?" Kiana scratched her head.
["Hahaha, of course they're sisters. Didn't we already see young Welt in the first movie? Isn't it the same character model?"]
["High EQ: They're truly sisters. Low EQ: They're equally dense."]
["Also... I think Tesla already called him Joachim before."]
"Did she?" Kiana scratched her head, still confused.
[The scene shifted to Joachim. As a child, he often visited Lab 42, where he saw Tesla and Einstein, got to see things he normally wouldn't, and even rehearsed stage plays with the computer lady.]
["I love the onee-chans the most!"]
[So, a few days ago, when Tesla contacted him, he instinctively knew something fun was about to happen.]
"Hey, kid! Want to pull a Halloween prank with me?!"
[But Tesla couldn't have predicted that the robot she had prepared in the cemetery would be mistaken for a UFO and blown to bits by a Valkyrie who just happened to be visiting a grave.]
"Ah... I... I really didn't know! I'm so sorry! I'll compensate you for everything."
[Remembering the Valkyrie's deep bow of apology, Joachim felt bad, thinking he had done her wrong. Faced with her insistence on compensating them, he had a sudden idea.]
"Reanna-oneechan, I want your autograph."
[Of course, the red-haired tyrant wasn't about to let it go so easily.]
"Seriously!" Tesla complained as she repaired the robot. "What is that 'Abyss Flower' of yours anyway? How did it manage to sever every single wire from the inside?"
"Abyss Flower is a Divine Key that embodies both creation and decomposition," Reanna stated frankly. "When its destructive power is activated, its target disintegrates from the inside out into a more chaotic and disordered structure..."]
Chapter 145: The Untold Story of Ya Qing and Kevin
"Abyss Flower? Isn't that Mom's weapon?" Kiana asked, munching on the delicious pastries Mei had brought.
"The timeline is too early. Mom probably wasn't even born yet. Reanna must be the previous wielder of Abyss Flower," Sirin analyzed, pinching her chin thoughtfully.
["???"]
["You're not Queen Sirin. Who are you?!"]
["Whoever you are, get out of the Queen's body right now."]
"Hey, hey," Sirin deadpanned.
"Pfft," Kiana couldn't help but laugh.
"And you're any smarter?!" Sirin retorted, pushing Kiana away.
[In the conversation between Tesla and Reanna, Abyss Flower's functions were further explained. Tesla, who compared the Divine Key to the Philosopher's Stone, was mocked by Einstein again for being a doctor who believed in alchemy books.]
[Furious and embarrassed, Tesla called Joyce over.]
"Ow!" Joyce yelled, rubbing his chest, which was probably already red. "That hurt! Why is it always me?!"
"Because hitting you is more fun, of course!" Tesla said playfully.
[Tesla and Einstein joked about how to punish a bystander like Joyce.]
"The death penalty should do it," Einstein said flatly, a smile playing on her lips.
"Wait, wait, wait?!" Joyce was stunned.
[Reanna chuckled. "You really are a 'sinful' man," she said, her tone suggestive.]
[Joachim looked up at the adults, curious.]
"What a harmonious scene," Edison said with a smirk, her tone hinting at something more. The plot was taking a strange turn.
Einstein and Joyce were a given, that was set in stone. But the atmosphere between Tesla and Joyce always had a "playful banter" feel to it. And now, with the newly introduced Reanna...
"Don't tell me this is turning into a harem plot," Schrödinger said with a strange expression.
"No way. Because Tesla is obviously with..." Planck trailed off with a smile, deliberately looking at Tesla.
"What's it got to do with me?" Tesla waved her hand dismissively.
"It won't be a harem plot, otherwise Welt wouldn't have approved it," Einstein said, sipping her coffee.
How is she so calm?
Edison and Planck exchanged looks.
I don't know. Maybe she already talked to little Joachim on the phone.
Planck winked.
["Um..."]
[Joachim suddenly spoke up.]
[Joyce, as if grabbing his last chance, quickly said, "L-little buddy... you have to speak up for me! For the sake of our shared masculinity."
"...My condolences?"
[Hearing this, Joyce nearly coughed up blood. "You little brat, is your last name Brutus?" he retorted.]
[Brutus was Caesar's adopted son and also his assassin. Before he died, Caesar famously said to Brutus, "Et tu, Brute?"]
"You're not his godfather. How does that make him Brutus?" Tesla said, exasperated.
"Well, we could just get the paperwork done now, couldn't we?" Einstein joked.
"Though I'm sure he wouldn't want to be his heir, hahaha."
[Amid Tesla's laughter, Joyce shouted, "That's enough, you guys!"]
"A great prophet," Kevin marveled.
"Shakespeare's historical play, Julius Caesar," Mei said, glancing at Ya Qing. "I'm surprised you've even read Shakespeare."
"I've read some. I was forced to read as a child." Ya Qing had no desire to recall his childhood. If he had been comfortable at HQ, he wouldn't have secretly run away to the Far East.
"So that's why you came to the Far East and gave Kevin a grand 'Dragon King's Return' moment?" Su teased.
"Su, it's been so many years. Can we please not bring that up?" Kevin said, exasperated.
"Pfft."
Even after all these years, Ya Qing could still clearly remember the look on Kevin's face that day. To be fair, he had been just as embarrassed at the time.
"What happened?" Elysia's beautiful eyes were filled with curiosity. Seeing Kevin's exasperation and Ya Qing's embarrassment only fueled her curiosity further.
"I'll tell you guys about it sometime," Su said with a smile.
Kevin and Ya Qing exchanged a look, both thinking the same thing.
This man must be silenced!
They both stood up. Ya Qing grabbed Su's arms from behind, and Kevin grabbed his legs, as if to carry him away.
But in the next second, Su easily broke free and pinned both of them to the sofa. The short sleeves revealed his perfectly toned arms.
He didn't even have to open his eyes to deal with them!
"Stop, stop, I surrender!" Kevin frantically slapped the sofa.
"I was wrong, I was wrong, Brother Su," Ya Qing pleaded, tapping Su's arm that was wrapped around his neck.
Seeing the two of them so easily "subdued," Mei sighed and facepalmed. Mobius, on the other hand, watched the "struggling" Ya Qing with great interest.
Elysia, who had somehow produced a whistle, blew it and acted like a referee. She walked up to Su and raised his hand. "Three, two, one! And the winner is... Su!"
[The scene shifted to the underground laboratory of the Edison Tower in New York. Schrödinger was wearing a cat-themed protective suit. On the other side of the reinforced glass were Edison and the Finn.]
"Harry, don't add the reflection module yet! Look, the reaction scale is already getting dangerous." Schrödinger instinctively tried to wipe the sweat from her forehead, but it was futile through the thick protective suit.]
[Schrödinger was extremely serious. Only when the core temperature rose to a point where the conversion to normal internal energy was highly efficient did she finally relax a little.]
[In the observation room, Edison could no longer hide her excitement. If this invention succeeded, Schicksal would lose its reason for existence and its power.]
"What?!"
[Seeing the Finn's shock, Edison explained that this invention could, under controlled conditions, convert Honkai energy into normal energy. If this invention were widely disseminated, absorbing Honkai energy from every corner of the Earth...
Then the Honkai itself would cease to exist, wouldn't it?
"As for Schicksal, it's just an organization that uses the Honkai to fight the Honkai. Without the Honkai, it would be nothing," Edison said, her excitement a stark contrast to her usual demeanor.]
[Finally, Edison decided on a name.]
[The Moonlight Throne Project!]
["Moonlight Throne? Isn't that from the Previous Era? Why is Edison naming it?"]
["What if this project was already dead in the water? Or maybe Edison never even mentioned it to Einstein and the others."]
["After all, if what Edison said was true, the Queen of the Void would never have even appeared, and the Honkai would have been over by then."]
Chapter 146: Planck: Did My Ship Just Sink?
[About a month passed. During this time, Joyce's life was quite eventful, being dragged all over the city by Tesla.]
[Today, at Tesla's insistence, they drove to a seaside resort. It's worth noting that Joyce was the one driving, but his driver's license was as questionable as his passport.]
[After checking into a seaside villa, Joyce stood alone by the window, gazing at the coast. He couldn't help but think about many things, from the relationship between Schicksal HQ and the North American Branch to Einstein and Tesla.]
[He recalled what Planck had told him a month ago: after discovering the Soulium at the bottom of Yellowstone Lake, friction with HQ was inevitable.]
[When Joyce pulled his thoughts back from his memories, the beautiful sound of a piano had, at some point, started playing behind him.]
[He turned around.]
[Einstein's fingers danced skillfully across the keys, the piano's crisp notes seeming to flow from her fingertips.]
"I've never learned any folk songs, so why does this melody feel so strangely familiar?" Joyce wondered aloud, his confusion evident.]
[Accompanied by Einstein's piano, he began to sing the folk song that Planck had sung when Karl left.]
"See, Joyce and Karl must be connected. Why else would he know the folk song Planck sang for Karl?" Tesla nodded sagely.
"But Planck... you were deliberately flirting with Joyce, weren't you?" Schrödinger deadpanned.
"What does it matter?" Planck was unfazed, hugging Schrödinger and nuzzling her soft cheek. "Schrödinger, you're so cute, let me hug you~"
"Planck, get off me!" Schrödinger pushed her face away.
"So, in the story, we left Schicksal because of... that makes sense," Edison said with a smile. "Using the excuse of sponsorship to pry information out of them... that's so me, I'm a genius."
"Show-off," Tesla pouted.
"Tesla, are you jealous of me?" Edison's eyes crinkled into a smile.
"You're joking! Why would I be jealous of a nouveau riche like you!" Tesla shot back, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.
"Hahahaha."
"Stop laughing!"
[The red-haired owner of the hotel, who shared a name with Rita, stood in a room, her gentle smile gone, replaced by a grim expression. She seemed to be reporting to someone.]
"This is the 'Countess'."
"I was planning to entertain 'Adam', but it seems 'George' came along instead."
"How should I prepare the 'main course'? Please advise."
["Alright, the villain has already revealed herself."]
["Get out of here with your riddles!"]
["So is Joyce Adam or George?"]
[In a restaurant near the hotel, Joyce and the others had chosen a table. What caught the viewer's attention was the woman in a trench coat sitting at the bar behind them.]
Instantly, the comments section exploded.
["It's Class Rep!"]
["Class Rep has been alive for 50,000 years. Is it really that strange to see her 50 years ago?"]
["It suddenly occurred to me that Class Rep is also gone..."]
["You're a real jerk."]
["Damn you, Otto! Give me back my Class Rep!"]
"It's Class Rep!" Kiana exclaimed, excited. She had thought they wouldn't see Fu Hua again.
"It's a shame. I didn't dislike her, but getting shot in the head by an ally is a pretty rough way to go." Despite saying she didn't dislike her, Sirin's smirk was wider than an AK-47's muzzle when she mentioned the headshot.
Fu Hua, who was currently training, suddenly felt a chill run down her spine.
["Wow! This is a feast! I can't even tell which one is the main course!"]
[Tesla's voice echoed the hotel owner's words.]
[Joyce kept his head down.]
"What's wrong with you... you seem so down," Tesla asked.]
"I... I can't stop thinking about Berlin three years ago." Joyce's expression was somber, his bangs hiding his eyes.]
"Karl..."
"Martha..."
"Innocent people like them..."
"And on that day, there were 300,000 more, 300,000! Can you even imagine that number?" Joyce's voice grew more agitated as he spoke.]
[Tesla was silent for a moment.]
"You should be with me, you fool."
When the Tesla in the show said this, Einstein spat out her coffee. She turned her head mechanically to look at the real Tesla, her eyes glowing red.
Even Planck, who shipped Welt Yang and Tesla, started to have doubts.
Tesla was so scared she wanted to shrink into the sofa.
"Hey, hey, messy-hair, I swear on my life, I would never have those kinds of feelings for Joyce! If I do, may the lights go out, and may I go out with them!"
Just as Tesla finished speaking, the lights went out.
The curtains completely blocked the sunlight, plunging the room into darkness.
"???" Tesla was even more confused.
"Tesla, you..."
Before Edison could finish, the lights came back on.
They instinctively looked towards the switch and saw Joyce grinning mischievously.
"JOYCE!"
Joyce's appearance instantly drew all the fire.
Einstein and Tesla lunged at him.
"Help! Edison! Planck! Schrödinger! Save me!"
[After that suggestive line, Tesla added, "Our lives don't have much worth remembering... no need to cling to the past."
[Tesla then translated a line from a Meng Haoran poem into English.]
[Under Tesla's gentle comfort, Joyce emerged from his gloom and smiled. Tesla, like a mother caring for her child, served him food.]
"Good boy good boy here, have some meat~"
"Tesla..." Einstein began.
"What? Aren't you going to praise me?"
"Pfft." Einstein couldn't help but laugh.
"Wh-what's so funny! I-I can be serious sometimes, you know."
"You're so cute, Miss Tesla," Einstein said with a gentle smile.
"What do you mean, cute?!" Tesla said, embarrassed and angry.]
The comments section exploded again.
["This is not the Dr. Tesla I know!"]
["I don't care what kind of demon you are, get out of Dr. Tesla's body right now!"]
["So Tesla sees Joyce as a child. I really thought..."]
["How dare you! Have you forgotten about me, the Second Herrscher of Reason, Welt Yang?!"]
In Edison's office, Tesla pointed at the screen and shouted, "Messy-hair, you're not even as good as your character in the show!"
"So, Dr. Tesla admits she's cute!"
"You're asking for it!"
"Why are you hitting me?" Joyce said, exasperated.
Planck breathed a sigh of relief. Her ship hadn't sunk; it had survived.
Chapter 147: Bathhouse of Heroes (4K)
[After enjoying a hearty lunch, Tesla went back to her room and immediately fell asleep. Einstein and Joyce took a stroll on the winter beach, the quiet atmosphere calming.]
[On the endless white sand, a figure in a trench coat sat quietly, gazing at the blue sea.]
"That person over there... I think I saw her during lunch." Joyce noticed the lone woman on the beach.
"Yes... what's wrong?" Einstein asked, puzzled.
"I can't quite put my finger on it..." Joyce frowned. "I just get this feeling... that this person is dangerous."
[Fu Hua turned her head and looked in their direction.]
"Oh no, she heard me..."
[Fu Hua walked up to Joyce. She recited the second half of the poem Tesla had mentioned in the restaurant and gave him a book of poetry, while also telling him the story of Fuxi.]
[Since they were speaking in Chinese, Einstein couldn't understand a word.]
[Joyce explained, "She just gave me this book of poetry and told me a myth."
["Nein, ist es nicht (No, it's not)," Fu Hua explained in English. "That's not a myth. The legendary dragon veins are caused by the natural leakage of Honkai energy."
"Who... are you?" Einstein became vigilant upon hearing the mention of Honkai energy.
"Valkyrie, Fu Hua."
"Class Rep's character model at this time is still a bit chubby-faced. She's kinda cute!" Kiana's eyes sparkled.
"I thought she was some old relic. I'm surprised her English is so good," Sirin said with a pout.
"Kiana! I'm here to play!" Senti's voice came from outside.
"It's Senti!" Kiana's head perked up.
"Bella, open the door!" Sirin called out.
Bella, who was washing dishes, wiped her hands on her apron and went to open the door.
"Bella!" Senti gave Bella a big hug.
Bella was clearly taken aback.
By the time she recovered, Senti had already stormed into Sirin's room.
When Senti appeared on screen, the viewers in the live stream immediately mistook her for Fu Hua due to their striking resemblance.
["It's Class Rep Fu Hua!"]
["Class Rep! Class Rep! Class Rep!"]
["Fu Hua is so cool and beautiful."]
Seeing the comments, Senti put her hands on her hips, annoyed. "What Fu Hua? I'm not that old relic. My name is Senti! Call me Sister Senti!"
As the streamer, Sirin explained to the audience, "Senti isn't Fu Hua. They're twin sisters, so they look alike. But don't mix them up! If Senti yells at you, don't blame me."
["Got it, Senti-babe. Understood, Senti-babe."]
["Senti-babe is so cute, especially when she's pouting."]
"What Senti-babe?! Call me Sister Senti!" Senti stomped her foot in frustration.
The comments section was filled with "hahaha" and "Senti-babe."
[At the end of their conversation, Fu Hua gave Joyce and Einstein a near-explicit warning that they might encounter a rather troublesome and dangerous person today, but it wouldn't be life-threatening.]
["Adieu (Farewell)," Fu Hua first bid farewell to Einstein, then said in Chinese, "Mr. Walter, it's better to forget each other in the martial world than to rely on each other."
[Fu Hua's last sentence meant that it was better to avoid disaster from the beginning and live in peace than to go through hardships together.]
"As for the future, you should take care of yourselves." Fu Hua turned and left.]
[Joyce was lost in thought.]
"Old relic, when did you become a riddle-master?" Senti's eyes widened in disbelief that the straightforward Fu Hua would also speak in riddles.
"It's normal. Class Rep's character is supposed to be an immortal. Aren't immortals always mysterious when they talk?" Kiana said nonchalantly.
"When she fought 'me' back then, she also said a bunch of inexplicable things," Sirin said through gritted teeth.
[Late at night, after watching the stars with Einstein on the beach, Joyce went to the hotel's hot spring bath to warm up. There, he unexpectedly encountered a certain handsome blond man.]
[The following scene was the one that was released as a promotional clip.]
[Otto leaned against the edge of the hot spring, propping his head up with his hand and twirling a lock of his hair with his fingers. "Getting straight to the point, I must have given you quite a shock," he said with a smile.]
[Otto explained that the Apocalypse family was never bound by oaths. Throughout history, they had continuously recruited talented individuals from all over the world.]
[If Joyce was willing, he could change his name to Walter Apocalypse and become Otto's brother.]
[Joyce was still completely bewildered.]
[Otto moved closer. "I, as the head of the Apocalypse family, have been observing you for a long time. I believe that you, unlike me, will become a true leader."
"That aura... it's a bit familiar." Kevin silently looked at a certain someone who was leaning against the sofa, propping his head up, twirling his flaxen hair, and smiling faintly.
The others also found it familiar and looked at Ya Qing.
Seeing everyone's gaze on him, Ya Qing stopped twirling his hair. "We're watching the show. Why are you all looking at me?" he said, confused.
"Ya Qing, you're not Otto, are you?" Kevin asked cautiously.
"Kevin, did working overtime break your brain?" Ya Qing retorted bluntly.
"Little mouse, you're not also..." Mobius had a strange expression.
"The President did once suggest that I change my last name," Ya Qing nodded, but quickly added, "But it wasn't in a bathhouse, it was in his office."
"And you agreed?"
"Kevin, how can you even ask such a question?" Ya Qing was speechless. "If I had agreed, you would be calling me Ya Qing Apocalypse right now, not Ya Qing Shariac."
["Unlike you, what does that mean?" Joyce's focus was on a strange point.]
[Otto laughed. He didn't consider himself a qualified Overseer. He had become the Overseer purely out of personal desire.]
[But Joyce was different. Otto believed he possessed the greatest talent.]
[Otto raised his index finger. "I heard you've read a lot of books these past two years. In your opinion, in the thousands of years of human civilization, who can be called great?"
[Joyce thought for a moment and listed several famous figures, from Newton to Shakespeare, from Siddhartha Gautama to Peter the Great, from Florence Nightingale to Darwin, but Otto rejected them all for various reasons.]
"Do you think I can do what they couldn't?" Joyce couldn't understand what Otto meant by him having the greatest talent.]
"Of course, I can't guarantee that you can," Otto shook his head. "And intellectually, you are indeed inferior to them."
"???"
"But... you have a quality that none of them possess."
"What a 'Bathhouse of Heroes'. Otto is quite arrogant, isn't he? Every figure that ordinary people would look up to is nothing in his eyes," Kevin said, surprised.
"Interview time! As the scriptwriter, who do you think is the great person in Otto's heart?" Elysia playfully held out her live-streaming microphone.
"I don't know who the great person in his heart is," Ya Qing shook his head. "But if I say one name, he definitely won't object."
"Who is it?" Elysia was curious.
Not only her, but Su, Mobius, Mei, and Kevin were also curious.
Ya Qing smiled mysteriously. "Kallen."
Otto in his office at Schicksal HQ and Kallen in her dorm at St. Freya Academy both sneezed at the same time.
["A quality that none of them possess...?" Joyce was lost in thought, unable to believe it himself.]
"Think about the people you've been dealing with recently," Otto prompted.]
[Einstein, the person with the highest recorded IQ.]
[Tesla, the most destructive inventor in history.]
[Planck, the most unconventional physicist of her time.]
[Reanna, Schicksal's strongest Valkyrie.]
[Including the "immortal from beyond the world," Fu Hua.]
"Their evaluation of you is quite good, isn't it?"
"Is... is it...?" Joyce was a bit unsure.]
"Hahaha, you're really unaware." Otto laughed. "Let me put it this way: you're the first person we know of who has managed to talk to all five of them."
"Why is messy-hair the one with the highest IQ, and when it comes to me, I'm the 'most destructive inventor'? Damn you, Otto." Tesla took out her iron fists again. If Otto were in front of her...
"That's good enough. Schrödinger and I weren't even mentioned," Edison said deliberately.
"Hey, Planck, that guy said you're the 'most unconventional'. Don't you have anything to say about that?" Tesla called out to Planck.
Planck thought for a moment. "I think he's right."
"Overseer Otto's judgment, at least on this, I agree with," Einstein said with a smile, sipping her coffee.
"Aaaahhh!!!"
Tesla screamed, then looked at Joyce with a gaze that was both threatening and gentle. "Joyce~~, do you think I'm the 'most destructive inventor'?" she asked with a sweet smile.
Seeing the cold glint of her iron fists, Joyce swallowed hard.
["Uh..."]
"You don't understand what I mean?"
[Otto raised his index finger again. In his view, it wasn't about being outstanding in various fields that made someone great, but about uniting them and bringing out their respective abilities. That was a true leader.]
"And you are the one I know who is suitable to be cultivated into such a great existence."
[Joyce still didn't believe him.]
[Otto gave him another example, about herbivores and carnivores.]
[If Otto was a carnivore, then Joyce was a herbivore. A person's inner self was not just determined by their temperament and personality, but by their essence.]
"Essence?"
"Essence is not something mysterious." As he spoke of essence, Otto's smile faded, and his eyes filled with a look of reminiscence, as if he was remembering something.]
"I have lived for over five hundred years... and my essence, from beginning to end, has been nothing more than the shadow of a 'Saint'."
"F-five hundred years?" Joyce was shocked.]
"It's nothing... just a pact made with a demon." Otto propped his head up, his expression full of a broken beauty. "Besides, for you... it wouldn't be that much trouble."
"Uh... what do you mean?"
"I mean, it would be much easier for you to live for five hundred years than it was for me. Much easier. But that's not the main point today. What I really want to say is that your essence, if guided correctly, is a hundred times stronger than mine."
"Me? Than you?"
"Yes, you. Than me."
[Otto suddenly quoted Karl Marx, as if he was enlightening Joyce, or perhaps expressing his own inner thoughts.]
"Is Otto really trying to make Joyce his successor at this point?" Einstein frowned, not understanding Otto's actions, unable to tell if he was being sincere or not.
"It must be fake. If Otto was really sincere about making Joyce his successor, then how could Anti-Entropy have been founded later?!" Tesla put away her iron fists.
"Joyce, what did you think and feel about taking a bath with Otto?" Edison teased.
Joyce shook his head.
[As Otto was pontificating, the lights in the bathhouse suddenly went out. His mood interrupted, Otto sneered, "Hmph, the World War has been over for ten years, and the power supply in the London suburbs is still so unromantic."
[Otto stood up. "You stay here and don't move. I'll go ask the owner for something to light the place up."
"No need."
"Hmm?"
[Joyce stood up and, guided by the moonlight, walked past Otto in the darkness.]
"If you really plan to persuade me to do something, please don't be so self-absorbed next time." Joyce didn't even look at Otto's expression. "You don't understand anything at all, Lord Overseer."
"...Did I... say something wrong?"
"No, you didn't say anything wrong. But that's precisely why—" Joyce's tone was firm. "—I cannot... at this moment, trust you."
"Is that so?" Otto smiled faintly. "Then... I hope time will give you the answer."
"Farewell."
"Goodbye, my friend."
"Joyce, that was so cool, especially when you rejected Otto!" Tesla seemed to have forgotten how she had just threatened Joyce, sitting down next to him and laughing heartily.
"Was it?" Joyce was a bit clueless.
"It was a little cool," Einstein said with a smile.
"Hehe." Unlike his reaction to Tesla, Joyce scratched the back of his head and chuckled.
"Joyce, don't you feel like Otto took advantage of you?" Edison suddenly said.
"Did he?"
Planck shook her head and stood up. "You all stay here and don't move. I'll go buy you some oranges."
"Planck, I'll go with you," Edison quickly stood up, not wanting to be included in the "you all."
"Planck, remember to pick the sweet ones," Joyce said, not understanding the hidden meaning of her words.
Chapter 148: The Previous Era's Corrosion Tragedy (4K)
[After leaving the bathhouse, Joyce ran into the hotel owner, Margarita Aete, in the hallway and was pulled into a room.]
[The red-haired owner looked apologetic, explaining that because of the power outage, his clothes hadn't been dried yet. And since Joyce was returning to Lab 42 tomorrow...
"I didn't bring any extra coats!"
[She produced a man's coat from behind her back, apologizing for her mistake. When Joyce put it on, he found that it fit him perfectly.]
"Oh, by the way, another guest left a gift for you."
"Another guest?"
"Um... her name was Fu Hua, I think? She said she was your friend."
[Joyce looked at the pepper spray Fu Hua had left for him, completely bewildered.]
"Pfft," Senti couldn't help but laugh. "The pepper spray that old relic left for Joyce, is it to use against Otto?"
"That's very likely! I mean, who would have thought Otto would 'ambush' him in a bathhouse, and even call it 'being frank and open'." Kiana agreed.
Sirin's mouth fell open in surprise. "Kiana, you actually used an idiom correctly?! The sun didn't rise from the west today, did it?"
"What are you talking about!" Kiana retorted, pushing Sirin.
["Queen Sirin, I think there's more to this!"]
["Fu Hua wouldn't be so bored as to give Joyce pepper spray to use against Otto, would she?"]
["This hotel owner is definitely suspicious. How could the coat fit so perfectly?"]
["Could she have been sent by Otto?"]
"Bella, I'm thirsty~" Sirin called out.
Bella, who was washing clothes, wiped her hands on her apron, took some ice from the freezer, and poured ice-cold cola into three tall glasses.
She picked up the tray.
If not for her slightly dirty apron, she would have looked like an elegant maid.
[The vacation was over. Back at Lab 42, they went straight to Ada. With Ada's decryption of the Soulium's encrypted information complete, the first thing they saw was a line of English.]
"Follow the Freedom Trail, then visit Lexington in the midnight."
[The video that followed showed a slightly older "H.A." revealing her identity to them across the barrier of time.]
[Her surname was Motier, a descendant of Marquis de Lafayette, Gilbert du Motier, and also a "godfather" in the business world.]
[Following "H.A."'s latest clue, they had no time to rest and immediately headed for the "Freedom Trail." Through Ada's translation, they analyzed an audio recording left by the Previous Era.]
["If people from another civilization discover this information in the future, I hope to leave them a complete story."
[It's worth noting that this audio file from the Previous Era was recorded by Ya Qing himself, in his own voice.]
["The more human civilization develops, the stronger the power of the Honkai becomes."
["Every time the Honkai creates a Herrscher, humanity has to pay a huge price to defeat it."
["Herrscher of Reason, Herrscher of the Void, Herrscher of Thunder, Herrscher of Wind, Creation and Destruction, Domination and Restriction."
["Before the most recent event, after more than ten world war-level devastations, nearly seventy percent of our cities had already been destroyed..."]
["But... compared to the event I'm about to record, everything before was just child's play."
[The rest of the recording was unsettling. In a certain base, a young girl with a strong Honkai energy reaction in her body was being held captive. Unlike other Herrschers, she had no desire for destruction; she just wanted to go home.]
[But one day, some people took matters into their own hands, broke into her cell, and brutally murdered her. However, no one could have expected that the Twelfth Herrscher's power would only manifest after her death.]
["The Herrscher of Corrosion, a self-aware infectious virus, not only biological, but also electronic."
[The Herrscher of Corrosion's power infiltrated various electronic systems and networks, controlling all the missiles in the base and launching them at their remaining cities.]
[In the longest period of time humanity had ever endured, they finally managed to seal this terrifying Herrscher in a black box using a certain doctor's plan. The price... was the end of their civilization.]
"Hmm?" Mei looked at Mobius with a half-smile.
Mobius felt uncomfortable under her gaze. "We're watching the show. Why are you looking at me?" she said irritably.
"Mobius, did you forget something?" Mei reminded her with a smile. "Like, a bet?"
"What bet..." Mobius didn't remember at first. It was only when Ya Qing nudged her that she remembered the bet she had made with Mei while watching Honkai Impact 2nd: if a Herrscher who could control nuclear missile silos appeared, she, Mobius, would wear the pink outfit Elysia had given her, and she wouldn't go back on her word.
Thinking of this, Mobius silently reached out and pinched the soft flesh on Ya Qing's waist.
Ya Qing's face remained impassive, but if you looked closely, the corner of his mouth was twitching slightly.
"Oh, that's right Professor Mobius, you promised you wouldn't go back on your word~" Elysia also remembered.
"Senior Mobius, you're not thinking of going back on your word, are you?" Mei smiled at Mobius.
"Hmph, don't try to use such a simple trick on me." Mobius crossed her arms and snorted. "I'll wear it. But I have no idea where I threw that thing."
"I think I've seen it," the cunning Ya Qing said, rubbing his waist. "When I first came back, I saw Pardofelis's collection in the closet, and I happened to see that outfit."
Mobius gave him a sharp glare.
"We'll find that little outfit when Pardofelis comes back~" Elysia clapped her hands, clearly very happy.
"By the way, where is Pardofelis?" Su, who had been unable to find a way to join the conversation, finally asked.
"I think she went to help out at Sister Nia's sanatorium."
"I heard Pardofelis is doing online shopping recently?"
"I think so."
[In the slow narration, the 15,626 people who died in this incident at the base, most of them heroic sacrifices, each number representing a living person.]
[And the remaining six sets of data were the information that "H.A." had discovered in the Yellowstone ruins back then, and she had deliberately left them on the Freedom Trail. She had listened to hundreds of death cases all by herself.]
[As a Schicksal Valkyrie, "H.A." had been framed by Schicksal before, which made her distrust them. She believed that neither Schicksal nor the Overseer could truly defeat the Honkai.]
["In Lexington, I have left you a weapon powerful enough to fight that Overseer."
[Without a moment's rest, the Rolls-Royce sped for over ten miles on Massachusetts Avenue before coming to a screeching halt in front of a triangular park.]
[Ada quickly located the target.]
[Even without Ada's search, a yellow-white sphere of light appeared out of thin air under the moonlight as its hyper-dimensional camouflage disengaged, slowly descending in front of them.]
"Open it, Ada," Einstein ordered.]
"Understood, Dr. Einstein."
[The yellow-white sphere, like a falling leaf, slowly revealed its shell, about the height of a person, like a blooming lotus, exposing a transparent display case inside.]
[Inside the transparent display case, a blue sphere with a diameter of about ten centimeters floated quietly.]
"This is..."
[Ada suddenly spouted a string of what sounded like garbled code.]
"Huh?! Ada, what are you saying?" Tesla asked, puzzled.
"A Divine Key! Dr. Tesla, it's a Divine Key!" Even as a high-tech computer, Ada couldn't hide the excitement in her voice. "The identification code of the target object is the Ninth Divine Key, Star of Eden!"
["It's the Star of Eden!"]
["So that's how they got the Star of Eden. I thought they would have to go through a life-or-death struggle in some mysterious ruins and take the divine weapon from a skeleton!"]
["You... you've read too many novels, haven't you?"]
"Otto is such a villain!" Kiana said indignantly.
"Kiana, you're really bad at cursing..." Senti patted Kiana on the shoulder and puffed out her not-so-large chest. "Let Sister Senti teach you how to curse!"
Just as Senti was about to speak, Sirin covered her mouth. "I don't care if you curse, but don't get my live stream banned," she said irritably.
In the training gym north of St. Freya Academy.
The gray-haired Fu Hua's fists rained down on the punching bag like a storm. Her tank top revealed her flat stomach and sexy abs, and her tight sports shorts outlined her perky glutes and long, fair, and slender legs.
"Hmph~"
Fu Hua let out a long breath, wiping the sweat from her forehead with the towel around her neck. She looked at the female students who were secretly watching her, feeling a little puzzled.
She sat down on a bench, took out her phone, and came across a live stream called "The Cold and Aloof Queen of the Void." She happened to see the scene where Senti was about to teach Kiana how to curse.
Fu Hua's face instantly darkened.
...
"It's over, it's over!" Kevin stretched.
"Sit down, what's the rush?" Ya Qing said. "They're airing two episodes this week to finish the web series before the third movie comes out."
Sure enough, after one episode ended, there was another, which sparked another wave of discussion online.
[The episode began with Joyce instinctively reaching out. Just as his fingertip was about to touch the Star of Eden, a high-frequency energy pulse hit his body, and an earthquake shook the city at the same time.]
[When Joyce opened his eyes again, he was in the car, his head resting on Einstein's lap. Tesla was driving.]
[Even Ada had been knocked offline by the energy pulse.]
[Tesla was extremely anxious. Fainting from a Honkai pulse meant that Joyce's physical condition had become unstable. She drove while trying to contact the relevant authorities in the midst of the communication blackout caused by the electromagnetic collapse.]
"This is the Emergency Response Bureau, which department are you from?!"
[It actually connected?!]
[Tesla had thought she would have to drive to New York blindly.]
[After giving her name, Tesla took command of the entire Emergency Response Bureau and arranged a meeting point.]
"The situation took a sharp turn. It's probably reaching the climax soon. We all forgot that Joyce is the First Herrscher, and now he's about to lose control?" Edison frowned.
"It's not another tragedy, is it?" Schrödinger was a little worried.
"I hate to say it, but it's definitely a tragedy," Planck said, returning with a bag of oranges.
Joyce picked up an orange, wiped it, peeled it, and took a bite. His lips twitched slightly, but he didn't dare to give it to anyone else.
"This is an unchangeable plot point. At the beginning of the main story, Joyce was already gone. Even we didn't appear, so it's likely we're also dead," Planck added.
"Hey, Planck, don't say it out loud," Tesla said, nudging her.
[The car had a flat tire, but it had nothing to do with Tesla's driving skills. Under the puddle on the road were several huge, sharp, gray-white and lavender "shells" that had pierced the rear left tire.]
[On the empty road, they unexpectedly ran into Reanna.]
[She was now wearing a special combat suit, a white undergarment with gold stripes, like a medieval European countess, and holding that huge lance in her hand.]
"Miss Reanna?"
"A bit hard to recognize me in this outfit, isn't it?" Reanna said with a smile.]
[She had been on vacation, but because of the special circumstances that occurred early this morning, she had put on her Valkyrie combat suit again.]
[It was a perfect match. Tesla invited Reanna to go to their destination with them.]
[Reanna readily agreed.]
Sirin's Live Stream
["They're airing two episodes this week!"]
["Are all the Valkyrie combat suits so... sexy? Who designed them?"]
["Reanna is so beautiful. I'm Reanna's dog!"]
"Could Reanna have been sent by Otto?" Senti guessed.
"I don't think so. I get a motherly and big-sisterly vibe from Reanna," Kiana disagreed.
"That's not a motherly and big-sisterly vibe you're getting, that's the Abyss Flower you're seeing," Sirin said, exasperated.
"Hey, what do you mean? I just think Reanna has a mother's gentleness and a big sister's silly-愣愣 (lènglènglèng - dorky) look."
"You're done for, Kiana," Sirin said mischievously. "This is a live stream, and Mom and Big Sister might be watching. You just called Big Sister silly."
"Ah, Big Sister, I didn't mean it!" Kiana quickly apologized to the camera.
On the other side of the world, due to the time difference, it was late at night in Central Europe. Durandal, who had just finished showering, was drying her long golden hair, wearing a white nightgown.
Back in her rebellious phase, she had dyed her white hair golden, which almost gave Siegfried a heart attack. Cecilia couldn't do anything about it either. It wasn't until Ya Qing beat her up that her rebellious phase ended prematurely.
But she still habitually dyed her hair golden, leaving only a streak of white at the front.
With nothing to do, Bianka opened her little sister's live stream.
And she saw it.
"..."
Chapter 149: Stop It, You're Making Her Cry (4K)
[The central lawn of a nearby university, the meeting point they had agreed on over the phone.]
[However, Tesla didn't see the fully armed troops she had expected. There were only three people and two armored vehicles that looked completely useless.]
[Tesla felt a pang of anxiety, but there was nothing she could do. With their current strength, she could only hastily come up with a battle plan.]
[In Dalíbit Park, the three people sent by the bureau found traces of Honkai beasts and quickly relayed the information to Reanna. Upon receiving the news, Reanna rushed to the scene.]
"I am the all-consuming black, I am the all-birthing white;"
"Born before creation, existing after annihilation;"
"Divine Key, Abyss Flower, First Rated Power—"
"Holy Lance, Bloom!"
[After the holy chant, the Honkai beast dissipated under the tip of the lance. Reanna hadn't even broken a sweat.]
"If this was just an anime, I'd think it was awesome. But if you're in a real fight and you suddenly start chanting something like that, wouldn't it be a bit too cringe?" Sirin's face scrunched up.
"Not at all, I think it's cool!" Senti gestured excitedly. "Look, if I was in a fight, I could just clench my fist and shout 'Grip of Taixuan!' How cool is that!"
Sirin had a strange expression and turned to Kiana. "Kiana, what do you think?"
Kiana was busy secretly eating Sirin's stash of chips. Hearing someone call her name, she looked up, her mouth stuffed like a hamster's. She managed to swallow and said, "I think Senti has a point."
"Huh?" Sirin couldn't quite understand their way of thinking. Her eyes darted to the side and she noticed that half of the snacks in her cabinet were gone. Then she looked at the trash can next to Kiana, which was almost full.
She panicked.
To a shut-in girl, chips and cola were more important than her own life.
"Kiana!!! Stop eating my chips!" Sirin rushed forward and snatched the last bag of chips from Kiana's hand, but it was already empty.
"Burp~" Kiana let out a satisfied burp, her flat stomach now looking like she was several months pregnant.
"You, you, you..." Sirin was so angry she couldn't speak, her finger pointing at Kiana trembling.
"Mom asked me to supervise you and make sure you eat less snacks. I had no choice but to do it for you," Kiana said, rubbing her stomach happily.
"You, you, you..."
Senti discreetly turned off the camera and whispered, "Hey, hey, stop it, you're making her cry..."
The comments section was once again filled with question marks.
["If I saw that correctly, did Kiana just make the Queen cry?"]
["And it was all because of... snacks???"]
["Is this really the majestic Queen of the Void?"]
Seeing that Sirin was about to cry, Bella quickly took out some of her hidden snacks from her bedroom closet and coaxed her Queen like a child.
"Sirin, my Queen, look, these are your favorite chips, and there's also a small cake" Bella knelt down and looked up at Sirin, who was sitting on the bed.
"Bella~~" Hearing Bella's comforting words, Sirin's eyes welled up with tears.
"So sweet!" Kiana's eyes sparkled.
[After dealing with the Honkai beast incident, Joyce and the others had no time to rest and drove to the Edison laboratory.]
[Joyce's heart was pounding. Einstein and Tesla told him to "learn."
"Learn?" Joyce was puzzled.
"Yes, learn how to use the 'Divine Key'," Einstein said.]
[Seeing Joyce's confusion, Einstein introduced the Divine Key in his hand. Its name was "Star of Eden," a weapon forged from the Herrscher core of the Previous Era's Herrscher of Earth.]
[During this time, they all had to learn how to use the Divine Key, while also keeping it a secret from Reanna, who was still under the command of the HQ Overseer.]
[Meanwhile, on the roof of the Rolls-Royce, Reanna was reporting to the Overseer. She rejected Overseer Otto's suggestion, believing it to be pointless and would cause unnecessary sacrifices.]
"By the way, if that little brat Edison is really behind this... I'll twist her head off."
[Reanna added, "Literally."
"Herrscher of Earth, so the Star of Eden's ability to manipulate gravity and black holes comes from earth?" Kevin couldn't figure out how black holes were related to earth.
"Reason, Void, Wind, Thunder, Death, Flame, and then Earth, right?" Mei guessed. "So in the next movie, Bronya will become the Herrscher of Reason, and it's also possible that Seele will become a Herrscher, the Herrscher of Death..."
"So Himeko will come back in the movie after that?" Elysia was deeply moved by Himeko's final lesson and was one of the many who hoped for her return.
"I'm not sure, it's all just speculation. Elysia, you should ask a certain someone."
Ya Qing had hidden himself well, but at Mei's reminder, Elysia looked at him.
Ya Qing silently hid behind Mobius to block Elysia's gaze.
"Hmph!"
Mobius was still angry at him. She snorted, stood up, and moved to the other side.
"Ya..."
"Elysia, stop. I'm not going to give any spoilers!" Ya Qing shook his head. "Even if you put my favorite Black Forest cake in front of me, I still wouldn't say anything."
Elysia nodded.
"Alright, if you don't want to talk, then forget it."
"???"
...
"Kiana, is this the good person who's like a mother you were talking about?"
After being comforted by Bella, Sirin hugged her chips, still wary of Kiana and still angry, so she decided to mock her.
Kiana played dumb, ignoring everything.
Sirin gritted her teeth in frustration.
[The modified Rolls-Royce suddenly braked. In the middle of the highway, a red-haired woman in a western cowboy outfit was limping, and she said excitedly, "Welcome to Hartford, on the banks of the Connecticut River!"]
[As soon as she finished speaking, she coughed violently, collapsed, and lost consciousness.]
"Leave it to me." Reanna knelt down and chanted again.]
"I am the black from the abyss, I am the white from the clouds;"
"Born before creation, existing after annihilation;"
"Divine Key, Abyss Flower, Zeroth Rated Power—"
"Holy Lance, Welwitschia!"
[After being treated by Abyss Flower, the red-haired cowboy woman woke up. Her name was Elaine Gladston, and she belonged to an unofficial anti-Honkai organization. She led them back to her organization's base.]
"There are two chanting lines?!" Kevin blurted out. "Does every Divine Key have such a cringy chanting line?"
"I think it's great. It gives off a heroic vibe," Elysia said, very interested in the chanting lines.
"Heroic? What does that feel like?" Even Ya Qing was a little curious.
"It's just... hey, it's just a feeling, I can't really describe it."
"If Herrscher cores can be made into Divine Keys, then could the Divine Keys of the current civilization also be made into Divine Keys? That way, Welt and Bronya could each have a Star of Eden," Mei said.
"What if Welt gives the Star of Eden and the Herrscher core to Bronya and then dies?" Mobius was not only angry at Ya Qing, but also at Mei.
"Is that really possible? Welt has died so many times in the first movie. And according to the promotional clips, Welt Yang seems to be... the villain?" Kevin retorted.
"Little follower, it's hard to explain to you."
Mobius's pitying gaze left Kevin bewildered.
[Joyce was sitting on a bench in the clinic, having a dream. In the dream, a blond child he didn't know told him a Greek hero story, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't see the child's face clearly, only darkness.]
[The blond child's model had also appeared in the first movie. It was Void Archives, who appeared in the dream of the pseudo-Herrscher of Death that Otto had infiltrated using the mimicry of Fenghuang Down.]
[When Joyce woke up, he found Reanna talking to the clinic's owner, Mikari Morgan. Einstein and Tesla were enjoying breakfast at the clinic.]
[But this peace didn't last long.]
[The back door of the clinic was suddenly pushed open.]
[An injured person was carried in. Reanna guessed from the residual Honkai energy on the person's back that it was caused by a Honkai beast. She picked up Abyss Flower and was about to go out to find the Honkai beast.]
[After Reanna left, there was another knock on the clinic door.]
[The driver went to open the door.]
[A murderous-looking Schrödinger stood quietly outside the door. It was worth noting that her right arm had turned into the shape of a Honkai beast, a huge, sharp, white and purple claw, and her left eye glowed with an eerie purple light.]
"Get out of the way, you weakling."
"I'm here for the pretty boy behind you."
"That's right, I'm talking to you."
"Step forward, 'Walter'."
"And... die!"
"???"
Schrödinger's sudden appearance left everyone speechless, especially her declaration to kill "Walter." Just as their curiosity was piqued and they wanted to see what would happen next, they realized that the two new episodes had ended.
["Damn, that ending gave me goosebumps!"]
["And they even thoughtfully added the words 'To be continued'. I'm so grateful."]
"Huh?! It's over already?" Sirin was just getting into it when it suddenly ended, leaving her dumbfounded.
"I still don't understand why Schrödinger wants to kill Joyce." Kiana's small head was filled with big questions.
"If you could figure that out, you could be a scriptwriter," Sirin glanced at Kiana.
"What do you mean? I'm smart too," Kiana retorted irritably.
["That's right, that's right, Kiana is very smart!"]
["Queen Sirin is the smartest!"]
Seeing the mindless spam in the comments, Sirin yawned, exited the Honkai official website, and opened the game interface. She picked up her headphones and asked the other two, "I'm going to start playing games now. Do you want to join?"
"Yes, yes, yes!" Senti, who had been pestering Ya Qing to play with her in the Golden Courtyard, was instantly excited at the mention of games.
"Games..." Kiana had a conflicted expression. She wanted to play games, but she also wanted to go on a date with Mei. She wanted both, and her heart was torn.
"Kiana!"
Mei's voice came from outside the window. Kiana instantly made her decision.
"I'm not playing! I'm going out with Mei!" Kiana ran off without looking back.
Sirin shook her head with a mature air.
North America, Anti-Entropy HQ
Joyce glanced awkwardly at Schrödinger.
Schrödinger, noticing everyone's gaze, felt uncomfortable and pulled her cat-ear hat down.
"Schrödinger, you..." Edison leaned in, her expression serious.
"Edison, I... I'm definitely not on Schicksal's side," Schrödinger pulled her hat down even lower, almost completely covering her face.
"Is it Otto's doing again?" Tesla's first suspect was Otto, not the real Otto, of course.
"It's hard to say. Schrödinger's arm has turned into a Honkai beast, just like Mr. Siegfried in the first movie." Planck didn't say it explicitly, but everyone knew what she meant.
She suspected that Schrödinger's sudden attempt to kill Joyce in the story was because Schicksal HQ had experimented on her, injecting her with Honkai beast factors, and it was highly likely that they had also brainwashed her.
"It's not that simple," Einstein refuted Planck's guess. "First of all, Edison, as the head of the North American branch, has considerable power behind her. Unless Edison is also dead, it's impossible for Schrödinger to have fallen into HQ's hands."
"Hey, hey, Ein, don't jinx me!" Edison had a bad feeling.
"I'm just stating the facts," Einstein said, making herself another cup of coffee.
"I remember Welt has read the script, right? I can just ask him and find out."
Joyce had just taken out his phone.
Tesla snatched his phone and said irritably, "The fun of watching a show is in the 'watching'. If you just read the script, the fun is gone, you idiot. Aren't you supposed to be going out with Ein today?"
Tesla's words immediately piqued the curiosity of Edison and the other two. Their gazes shifted between Einstein and Joyce. Excluding Schrödinger, Edison and Planck exchanged a look.
"Oh~, Ein, what are you and Joyce going out for?" Planck put her arm around Einstein's shoulder.
Joyce looked a little flustered.
Einstein, however, remained calm and composed.
"We're just going out to help him buy some daily necessities," Einstein said with a light laugh, not showing any weakness despite Planck's teasing.
"Are you really just going out to buy daily necessities?" Edison tilted her head and asked with a straight face.
"Are you coming back tonight?" Planck also asked.
"Of course I'm coming back. Where else would I live?" Einstein asked, feigning ignorance.
Seeing Einstein's reaction, they knew they had been overthinking it. They had thought Einstein had made a move.
"Tsk~" Edison picked up an orange that Planck had bought and left the office to go home.
"Sigh," Planck sighed.
Chapter 150: A Shy Snake in a Pink Outfit
This week was the hardest for fans of the show. The cliffhanger from the last episode, especially the final scene of Schrödinger coming to kill Joyce, left them itching for more.
"Kiana, the show is about to start," Mei called out to the kitchen.
"Coming, coming." Kiana ran over, carrying a pile of snacks.
"I really don't see what's so great about it," Theresa said, sipping her "tea"... or whatever the green liquid was.
"Auntie, you say that, but when a new episode comes out, you're always sitting right here in front of the TV," Kiana said, tearing open a bag of chips and popping one in her mouth. The taste was immediately wrong.
"Pfft, pfft, what is this flavor?!" Kiana looked at the bag and saw the words "bitter melon flavor" written on it.
"No taste at all," Theresa said with a pretentious sigh, snatching the bag of bitter melon chips from Kiana.
Kiana took a big gulp of cola to wash away the bitter taste. "Burp~, I'm alive again. Auntie, your taste... never mind. Did Bronya go on a date with Seele again?"
"This morning, Bronya said she and Seele were going to the amusement park," Mei said with a fond smile. Usually, it was Bronya who shipped her and Kiana, but now it was her turn to ship Bronya and Seele.
"Oh, what about Himeko?"
Theresa waved her hand dismissively. "Probably out trying to pick up guys."
When the new episode started, Kiana was surprised. "Is this the finale today?!"
[The episode didn't start where the viewers wanted, with an explanation of why Schrödinger wanted to kill Joyce. Instead, it went back to about seven hours earlier, in Edison, New Jersey.]
[The Schrödinger who appeared on screen was still normal. She seemed to be on the phone with someone.]
"Yeah, that's why we came to New Jersey."
[The person she was talking to was silent, but Schrödinger seemed to hear a reply, as if she was talking to herself.]
[The willful "Princess" had come to the New Jersey laboratory to conduct the experiment mentioned before, the one to absorb all the Honkai energy and put Schicksal out of business.]
"It's fine, Teacher. You just focus on creating the 'surprise'. You were planning to show up in person from the beginning, weren't you?"
[Schrödinger's words revealed who she was talking to. It was easy to guess that it was her teacher, Planck.]
"So, Schrödinger's attempt to kill Joyce was most likely influenced by the Honkai?" Mei was seriously analyzing the plot.
But the others weren't paying attention to Mei's analysis. In fact, their eyes weren't even on the animated web series on the TV. They were all focused on a certain someone hiding behind Ya Qing.
"Hey, Snake Sis, don't be shy. Come out and let everyone see you~" Pardofelis said, sitting next to Su, feeling bold.
"That's right, Professor Mobius, this outfit looks great on you. It was personally picked out by the Pink Fairy~, come on out!" Elysia quickly went behind Ya Qing and pushed Mobius by the shoulders.
"Pink fatty, don't push me!" It was rare to hear such a flustered tone from Mobius.
Elysia pushed Mobius into everyone's view.
Ya Qing watched the "squabble" between Elysia and Mobius with a helpless expression.
"Wow!" Pardofelis was surprised.
The others were also shocked.
A pink diamond hair accessory, her long hair draped over her shoulders.
A slightly tight white short-sleeved shirt, her bare arms were snow-white, crossed in front of her, making it hard to look away from her chest. The tightness of the pink cherry blossom short skirt showed off her slender waist, and her beautiful legs were perfectly proportioned, fair and straight. She wore low heels with transparent straps, and her delicate toes were painted with green nail polish.
A blush on her face made Mobius even more charming. Her green eyes were a little shy, and she tried to push Elysia's hands away with her hand, which wore a pink diamond ring.
But... Elysia was clearly much stronger than Mobius.
"It looks great!" Pardofelis was the first to praise her.
"It does look good," Su nodded.
"Senior Mobius, if the skirt was a light green, it would suit you even better." Mei's gaze also shifted from the TV to Mobius. She then noticed Kevin staring and hit him irritably.
Kevin rubbed his head. He wanted to defend himself. He hadn't been looking at Mobius; he had been looking at the diamond ring on her finger.
Kevin suddenly remembered that he had been with Mei for so long, but he had never given her any jewelry.
"See, everyone says it looks great!" Elysia automatically ignored Mei's comment.
Kevin moved closer to Ya Qing and whispered, "Did you propose to Senior Mobius?"
Ya Qing had a strange expression. "No."
"Then why..." Kevin kept glancing at the diamond ring on Mobius's finger.
Ya Qing saw it and said, "I just felt like giving it to her. It's not worth much."
"How much?"
"Don't ask."
"I'm curious!"
Seeing that Kevin was determined to get an answer, Ya Qing patted him on the shoulder and said, "It's just my quarterly bonus from Schicksal."
"Huh?" Kevin was completely stunned.
Although he didn't know how much Ya Qing's quarterly bonus was, he imagined that for a huge conglomerate spanning three continents, and as the head of a branch, Ya Qing's bonus must be an astronomical figure for him.
[The scene shifted back to the present. Schrödinger's sudden attack was blocked by Einstein's Star of Eden shield. She raised her head, her expression arrogant and dismissive.]
"Hmph, so this is the 'Earth' power of the Ninth Herrscher from 50,000 years ago?"
"It really is a good thing, a trophy from a bygone era, this so-called Divine Key..." Schrödinger sneered. "It can even allow a weakling like you to block me!"
"Schrödinger..." Einstein quickly denied that the person in front of her was the Schrödinger she knew, demanding to know how she knew so much about the Star of Eden.]
"Heh, Dr. Einstein, after seven years as classmates, is that really the most important question you want to ask me?"
[Schrödinger answered Einstein's question with great interest. In this state, she could easily "smell" the information written by the "Honkai" and naturally resonated with the "core" inside the Star of Eden.]
"What... what else do you know?" Joyce asked nervously.]
"Oh my, our protagonist has finally asked a question." Schrödinger had the look of a cat playing with its prey. "Hmm... let me see. I know about the situation in New York, I know about the 'Princess's' situation, I can roughly guess your situation, and just now, I also roughly understood the situation of that Valkyrie."
"So, where do you want to start, Mr. 'Herrscher' of this generation?"
Chapter 151: The Fate of the World is in Your Hands
[Faced with Einstein's reaction, Schrödinger calmly stated, "What? That this guy is a Herrscher? Isn't that obvious?"]
"Oh, right. You guys can't feel it."
"Every single cell in this guy's body is screaming with hunger!"
""I want to devour"... "I want to absorb"... "I want to reshape everything"!"
"No... don't talk nonsense!" Joyce exclaimed in anger and shock.]
"Heh, nonsense?" Schrödinger scoffed. "Your mind may not understand it—but your body has been starving for a long time!"
North America, Anti-Entropy HQ
It was another day of Planck being away on a business trip.
Tesla and Einstein were also preparing to go to the Far East to visit Welt Yang.
In Joyce's office, only a bored Edison and a lazy Schrödinger remained, along with Joyce, who was busy with paperwork.
Joyce looked up and said helplessly, "Edison, can't you guys watch in your own office? I'm still working."
Edison chewed her bubblegum, blew a bubble, and after it popped, she said, "Alright, stop pretending. I know you. It's another task from Ein, isn't it?"
Joyce laughed awkwardly and tried to act serious. "I just feel like there are too many documents that need to be reviewed..."
"How many days did Ein give you?" Schrödinger suddenly asked.
"Three days..." Joyce blurted out.
"Pfft..." Schrödinger couldn't help but laugh.
"Hahahaha." Edison laughed even more openly.
[After revealing Joyce's Herrscher identity, the Star of Eden's energy shield was instantly shattered by Schrödinger's sharp laughter. She didn't attack Joyce right away, but continued to provoke him with her words.]
"Heh, listen up, you pretty boy hiding behind a girl. For reasons you probably don't know, this curly-haired girl will really risk her life for you."
"But, this is probably her limit. She can't even beat me with one hand!"
"If you ask me..."
"What's the point of having Excalibur if it's not in King Arthur's hand?"
"What, are you frustrated?"
"If you want to prove that you're different from the Herrschers in ancient records, if you want to prove that you won't lose to your primal instincts..."
"No, if you want to prove that you still have some guts as a man—"
"Then pick up your weapon and fight me head-on, fair and square!"
[Under Schrödinger's provocations, Joyce hesitated.]
"Is Schrödinger really possessed by the Honkai or not?" Edison chewed her bubblegum, her feet propped up on the coffee table like a delinquent.
"You're asking me? I don't know either," Schrödinger said, thinking for a moment. "But if that little President from Schicksal really knows me well, then I don't think 'I' would be so talkative."
"I, on the other hand, think that Schrödinger is deliberately provoking 'me'. There must be another purpose," Joyce, who had been buried in his paperwork, suddenly said.
"Oh~" Edison teased. "Didn't our little President say he was reviewing documents? Why are you suddenly watching now?"
"If you want to watch, then come over and watch," Schrödinger gave Joyce an out.
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