"Hmm...looking at it this way, you actually managed to absorb quite a few abilities this time, Corruption-chan."
Inside the dorm of the Astral Express, Lynelle placed the dazed Stelle on her lap while examining the long list of ability effects she had just received, a satisfied smile appearing on her face.
Shortly after the recently concluded Fyxestroll Garden journey, Lynelle promptly reported the events to Jing Yuan.
With his permission, she then returned the Heliobi that Corruption-chan had consumed back to Fyxestroll Garden in batches, as per Jing Yuan's requirements.
Of course, a portion of the Heliobi that had committed evil deeds were directly thrown into the Shackling Prison.
With Corruption-chan's help, the Ten-Lords Commission had much less trouble with transportation.
Now that the incident was successfully resolved, it was naturally time for the routine inventory of gains—to maximize the verification of this learning outcome, Lynelle, after a not-so-difficult internal struggle, resolutely chose to make some "great sacrifices."
Thus, on the second floor of the Astral Express's Party Car, the limited-time event for the train's exclusive furniture, the "Artificial Fountain," made a comeback.
After the event ended, a refreshed and rosy-cheeked Stelle was dragged by Lynelle to serve as the test subject—after all, the effects of mental abilities usually require real human testing.
Compared to March 7th, who has Evernight in her mind, and Dan Heng, who is protected by the power of the Aeon of Permanence, Stelle was undoubtedly the most suitable candidate.
"Hehe, it's all thanks to Mama~"
Hearing Lynelle's praise, Corruption-chan wore a somewhat shy expression, but soon, the young girl grew puzzled again.
"So, Mama, why did you want me to gain so many abilities by consuming Heliobi? If it was just to develop me in the direction of an energy lifeform, isn't this scale of action a bit too hasty..."
"Oh, I didn't expect Corruption-chan's observational skills to have sharpened too..."
Hearing the girl's question, Lynelle showed a hint of surprise, then gently stroked Corruption-chan's bluish-purple hair, smiling.
"That's right. The reason I gave you earlier wasn't the full story behind why I sent you to Fyxestroll Garden for that 'all-you-can-eat' buffet."
"But due to certain restrictions, I can't tell you my true purpose right now. It's out of caution, and also a little personal desire of mine…"
"In short, in the future, I might need you, Corruption-chan, to become a special kind of existence to help me carry out a plan."
"A special existence?" Corruption-chan tilted her head. "What...form would that be? I know Mama would never harm me, but I'm still a little curious..."
"Hmm..." Lynelle fell silent for a moment, then said, "If it's just this, telling you shouldn't hurt. Consider it a little spoiler. What I meant by a special existence just now was..."
Both Corruption-chan, who was listening intently, and Stelle, who was lying dazedly on Lynelle's lap after suffering too much mental impact, pricked up their ears.
"I might need you to become [me] at a specific moment."
"Eh?!"
Regarding Corruption-chan's development direction, Lynelle had actually planned it out long ago.
This plan even took shape when she truly understood Corruption-chan's lifeform from Ruan Mei. However, she couldn't tell others the basis for this plan.
Because the basis for this plan was the future plot.
As someone aware of the general trajectory of Honkai: Star Rail's subsequent story, Lynelle could make some advance preparations in many situations.
The plan for Corruption-chan was for the most distant scene—a foreshadowing Lynelle laid for the subsequent Amphoreus.
After all, as the most "wholesome and sunny" plot in this current "space comedy," the despair of Amphoreus was far from something that could be changed by a momentary stroke of inspiration.
Even under the most optimistic scenario—if by the time Lynelle went to Amphoreus, all matters on Earth were already resolved, and she could call Kiana over—the cycle of Amphoreus wouldn't be easy to alter.
Moreover, early on after crossing over, Lynelle discovered that she only had impressions of certain key points in the Star Rail plot, while her memories of other parts were extremely vague—whether this abnormality was due to the meddling of [Equilibrium] or interference from some Pure Children of Anāsrava, Lynelle couldn't determine.
But undoubtedly, this phenomenon meant Lynelle couldn't carry out particularly precise layouts.
So, under these circumstances, all Lynelle could do was increase her margin for error.
And Corruption-chan's current development direction was one of the "margins for error" Lynelle had prepared.
If Corruption-chan could progress far enough in the direction of an energy lifeform—far enough to "inherit" Lynelle's Herrscher authority or the corruption virus—then during future journeys, whether Lynelle was sidelined for some reason or needed to be in two places at once during specific moments, it could be resolved by relying on Corruption-chan's highly similar abilities.
She could even use the element of surprise from this trait to set a trap for a certain mechanical fellow, buying herself some time.
However, these thoughts couldn't be spoken aloud.
After all, this universe had too many strange abilities.
Not to mention the all-calculating Nous or the omnipresent HooH, even just the geniuses of the Genius Society (not specifically referring to the Simulated Universe quartet) could potentially see right through Lynelle's plans.
So, it was better to keep these secret plans to herself.
Externally, Ruan Mei's diagnostic report on Corruption-chan served as Lynelle's best cover—the child's body is unstable and could explode at any time, so isn't it reasonable for me to have the child specialize in energy lifeforms, so even if her body is gone, she can still stay by my side?
"But, given Corruption-chan's current progress, it's still lacking. Energy lifeforms aren't omnipotent; in fact, they might be even more severely countered in certain aspects…"
"Indeed, we'll have to give Corruption-chan another boost on Penacony."
Looking at the calendar on the table as another page turned, Lynelle murmured to herself.
"Less than four days until we head to Penacony. Factoring in warp time and the initial stabilization period on Penacony, it should be enough to deal with the next Herrscher incident over in Honkai Impact 3rd…"
"This actually works out well. Going in order, if the Herrscher of Rock was really skipped, then the next to appear would be the Herrscher of Dominance. If left unchecked, that thing is definitely a huge hassle."
"However, given the current state of the human faction, as long as we take extra precautions, the Herrscher of Dominance shouldn't be able to cause much trouble, right?"
"After all, even if the Herrscher of Dominance really is a Herrscher specialized against other Herrschers like Ana, Earth currently has enough high-tier non-Herrscher combatants to fill a basket…"
"No matter how you look at it, for the upcoming battle, it's three major factions against one Herrscher—the advantage is ours!"
--+--
"The London subway accident, the Belgrade vendetta incident, the Frankfurt financial mishap... five cases in total."
At Anti-Entropy's Salt Lake Base, Einstein spread out several case files in front of Lynelle.
"These cases seem unrelated to Honkai on the surface, just ordinary social incidents, but traces of Honkai lie behind each of them."
"According to Schicksal, aside from the vendetta incident, which local police proactively contacted us about, the other four were only discovered because Schicksal personnel were involved by chance, uncovering clues."
"If your conjecture is correct, these... are likely the most suspicious cases of the Herrscher of Dominance's activities we've collected recently."
"Hmm..." Lynelle fell silent for a moment, then asked, "After I shared the intelligence, what did Schicksal say?"
"Nagamitsu highly approves of your conjecture, but not because she found something in the files... rather, it's an inference based on psychology." Einstein shrugged.
"A while ago, Otto returned to headquarters briefly. Besides replenishing experimental equipment, he made a baffling appointment."
"He assigned Li Sushang to the Glory Blades, as acting captain, while the original captain, Ana, was transferred to the Far East Branch."
"Wait... where?" Lynelle's voice rose a few notes.
"No way, is Otto really turning St. Freya into a Herrscher training academy?!"
"His motive isn't important. What matters is that Nagamitsu believes Otto's transfer wasn't without reason."
Einstein struck a classic Commander Ikari pose.
"Under normal circumstances, he wouldn't need to appear in person for such a transfer. The transfer itself is reasonable; he could just send a message to Amber, and no one would stop it."
"The fact that he risked getting caught and beaten up by you all to personally go to headquarters for this appointment must mean he wanted to convey something through this seemingly reasonable move."
"Combined with the anomaly of Ana's recently appearing anti-Herrscher abilities, Nagamitsu believes this move is likely related to the next Herrscher to appear."
"I see... Otto probably detected traces of the Herrscher of Dominance early, maybe even already clashed with them, which is why he specifically made this move..." Lynelle now understood.
"If that's the case, aside from sending a signal, what's his core purpose in transferring Ana?"
"Maybe to use Ana's ability to freeze other Herrscher authorities to protect St. Freya?" Einstein guessed. "But regardless, one of Otto's goals is clear: he wants Herrschers to stick together."
"So..."
Following Einstein's gaze, Lynelle saw a location—Oceania.
"I understand." Lynelle immediately stood up. "I'll personally go to Oceania right now and bring Wendy back."
"No need to rush too much." Einstein advised.
"Currently, the Herrscher of Dominance is in the shadows, we're in the light. If we move too conspicuously, we might alert them."
"So, don't be too hasty with your trip; you can even spend a few days playing with Wendy. In short, don't give off an intentional vibe."
"Don't worry... I can guarantee that." Thinking about how long it had been since she last saw Wendy, Lynelle's eyebrow twitched involuntarily.
"If my guess is right, the Herrscher of Dominance definitely won't spot any flaws."
Thus, Lynelle, who set off in the morning, successfully arrived in Oceania that very night.
And, as expected, received Wendy's "enthusiastic welcome."
How enthusiastic, you ask? Well... to convey how much she missed Lynelle after so long apart, Wendy specially expanded the usual single high-speed vibrating air vortex into three.
And this directly resulted in Lynelle, who originally planned to tour the area with Wendy the next day and return to St. Freya on the third day... being completely unable to get out of bed the next day.
"Hehe, how can you blame me for that? It's just because I haven't seen you in so long, my longing was like an endless torrent—"
"Then don't use that 'endless torrent' to manifest through my body!"
Lynelle lay limp on the table, radiating the aura of a salted fish.
"Sorry, sorry, I got too excited yesterday, lost control a bit... And I didn't know three vortices would increase the stimulation that much..."
"Stop talking about it!" Lynelle quickly covered Wendy's mouth. "Great, now the original plan is messed up... We were supposed to return to St. Freya tomorrow."
"So, what exactly is so urgent that we need to rush back?"
Wendy asked curiously.
"Remember that Ana who came to work with you for a while?"
"Of course I remember. Didn't you tell me back then to have her and me exchange notes on using incompletely activated Herrscher cores?" Wendy quickly replied.
"But after we looked into it, we found her core's operating logic was completely different from mine, so we dropped it."
"Right. Actually, the reason I'm calling you back to St. Freya this time is because..."
At that moment, Lynelle's voice abruptly stopped.
The previously weak and limp Lynelle instantly stood up from her chair.
The bracelet on her wrist, the Seventh Divine Key, transformed into a greatsword in a flash, and she slashed a bolt of lightning toward a certain spot.
"Exposed, we're exposed!"
"It's all your fault, all your fault! We just got to the most crucial part..."
"Hey, it's fine. Even if we didn't hear, we can just dig the information out of their brains later~"
"Th-this is..."
Watching as the surroundings outside the room suddenly darkened, Wendy drew a sharp breath.
"How could anyone get this close to me without my sensing them? Impossible!"
"Nothing's impossible."
Lynelle shook her head slightly. "If my senses are correct, they probably came through imaginary space... Haven't you noticed? Our current location isn't in the base world anymore either."
--+--
T/N: I have a Patreon! Webnovel will get 2 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.