Teyvat.
"Come in, Xianyun. The master has already left."
Inside the private room of Xinyue Pavilion, the fragrance of tea wafted gently. As Xianyun pushed the door open and entered, Zhongli was seated by the window, holding a cup of clear tea in his hands, gazing distantly at the myriad lights of Liyue Harbor.
"Sovereign." Xianyun quickly stepped forward, her sleeves stirring a gentle breeze. "The scenes in the Celestial Screen—have you seen them? That Wind Glider is an essential item for adventurers across the continent, yet now it appears inside Herta Space Station. Sovereign, could it be that... visitors from beyond Teyvat have already arrived long ago?"
Zhongli's fingertips lightly rubbed the edge of the teacup. After a moment of silence, he slowly spoke: "In more than six thousand years, Teyvat has indeed been visited by 'visitors from beyond the heavens.'"
Xianyun's eyes lit up: "You have met them?"
Zhongli raised his gaze, his eyes deep as rock: "I have. Apart from that Traveler, I have also met a lady from another world. That lady once traveled across all of Teyvat, and she may still be working for this world even now."
"As for that Wind Glider—" Zhongli shook his head, "If it was not taken away from Teyvat by that lady from another world... regrettably, what I know now is probably no different from what you know."
"Then... in your opinion, Sovereign, will the worlds beyond the heavens bring threats to Teyvat—to our Liyue?"
Zhongli nodded. His tone remained as mild as ever, yet carried an added seriousness that brooked no argument: "...It will bring threats, but there is no need to worry excessively."
"Oh? What do you mean by that, Sovereign?"
"In the blink of an eye for an Aeon, half the cosmos collapses, and myriad worlds are extinguished like dust. Such mighty power—even the authority of Archons or the principles of Heavenly Principles—can hardly compare."
"When calamity has not yet arrived, there is no need for needless worry; but when calamity does arrive..."
Zhongli did not continue. His fingertips gently stroked the rim of the cup, his gaze slightly lowered, as if staring at the floating tea leaves in the cup, or perhaps peering through the tea broth toward even more distant pasts.
Silence was the best answer, and Xianyun understood without further questions.
Outside the private room, the storyteller's voice drifted faintly, recounting the ancient legend of the Geo Archon subduing sea beasts. From the corner of her eye, Xianyun glimpsed a barely perceptible bitter smile on Zhongli's lips, but it vanished in an instant, as if it had merely been her imagination.
——
[Leonard enthusiastically introduced Herta's collections to Stelle, such as the Determinism Gun and so on, but Stelle's mind was completely elsewhere.]
[She saw in another display case the wreckage of a red greatsword placed there, suspended in midair, drawn into the outline of a broken blade by some unknown force. Its mottled surface resembled a wasteland after raging flames had burned out, narrating its former glory.]
[A faint warmth suddenly brushed through the air, grazing her cheek and lingering at Stelle's ear.]
——
Honkai Impact 3rd.
"This sword..." Himeko quietly gazed at the shattered greatsword, her brows slightly furrowed. An inexplicable sense of familiarity surged in her heart, as if this broken weapon had once trembled in her hands, cleaving through desperate darkness.
"Eh—" Kiana let out a surprised sound. "Aunt Himeko, the design of this greatsword actually matches your Valkyrie armor quite well."
"Kiana... Just from a few fragments of a broken sword, how did you figure out it matches Teacher Himeko's armor?" Mei quietly examined the remaining scraps of the sword. "And broken to this extent, the one who wielded it must have gone through an extraordinary battle, right?"
"Indeed, if Aunt Himeko's weapon ended up like this..." The girl thought about it for a moment, then immediately shook her head: "Never mind, never mind, that's way too ominous!"
Watching the girl's twin tails sway left and right, Himeko suddenly burst out laughing with a "pfft," reaching out to ruffle Kiana's head: "Who can say for sure about the future?"
"But—"
Her hand slowly moved down, resting on Kiana's shoulder instead, her tone firm: "As your instructor and captain, no matter how broken my weapon becomes, I will do everything in my power to protect each and every one of you, and keep you out of danger."
"Eh?! Aunt... Aunt Himeko, don't say things like that!"
"This is my principle." A smile curved at the corner of Himeko's lips. "Let's go, the next class is practical training. Kiana, since you said to worry less about you, then for this practical session, I'll be your opponent, okay?"
——
[While Stelle was admiring Herta's curios on the side, Leonard was busy deducing on his own. As he reasoned, he actually figured out some clues. He recalled that among Herta's curios was a game cartridge called "Punklorde Mentality," and that item was also on the list of missing curios.]
[Leonard deduced that Silver Wolf's actions at the space station were just a smokescreen. She didn't take the Stellaron at all—it was that "Punklorde Mentality" game cartridge she took!]
[Stelle nodded. The Stellaron Hunters indeed didn't take the Stellaron, because Stelle herself had taken it.]
["The Stellaron Hunters' actions will instead become a smokescreen for our investigation. Impressive, as expected from a Punklorde guy." Leonard clicked his tongue in wonder.]
[Although Stelle felt this guy was overinterpreting things, she was still willing to go with him to the monitoring room to check. But after some investigation, reality slapped him hard on the spot—Leonard discovered that this curio had never left the space station at all; it had been sent to Madam Herta's office.]
[This was the only clue left. Leonard refused to give up, so Stelle had no choice but to accompany him to Herta's office.]
[But the moment Stelle pushed open the door to Herta's office, a chill ran down the back of her neck—the room was filled with a subtle smell of gunpowder, and unfortunately, the fuse had already been lit. Herta and Screwllum were staring each other down, the atmosphere tense and ready to explode.]
["Don't even think about it." Herta's puppet suddenly crossed her arms, her voice rising several notches: "I'll say it again—I don't care what nonsense Ruan Mei whispered in your ear. Shut down the Simulated Universe? Over my dead body!"]
["Herta, this is my decision." Screwllum's tone remained calm and gentle: "Question: What have we invested in this project? Hundreds of system-hours, the resources of an entire planet, and the most advanced technology in the universe. And what have we gained? Unknowns, doubts, and a string of error reports."]
["You yourself said the Simulated Universe needs errors. The current situation perfectly fits that—why aren't you satisfied?"]
["I appreciate the flow of knowledge, but Herta, think about it—how many surprises has this project given you? And how many disappointments?"]
["The Simulated Universe has never disappointed me. The one who disappoints me is you... Screwllum. Do you think you're so great? Right now you're just like a, a... a member of the idiot club."]