Fuli didn't hold back; he shared the data of Joyeuse directly with Bronya.
The little sister's expression lit up with a whoosh, and she walked over silently, grabbing the hem of his clothes and refusing to let go.
"You want it?"
"Mhm! Bronya wants it!"
She didn't hide her desire at all. If she really grows up into 'Big Duck', she'd probably be pestering 'Prisoner Li' for a private party every day. (Judging intensely).
"But I planned to take this back for Mei."
"Raiden Mei is fine, but Bronya is not incapable!"
True enough.
As a girl who had learned "Matrix of Prescience", she was already comparable to a supercomputer. Add in the support of Project Bunny's onboard Soulium computer, and she could indeed unleash the power of the Holy Sword Armament to a considerable degree.
Having made up his mind, Fuli deliberately pulled a long face. "In that case, I assume the Brave Hero Bronya has already thought of the price she must pay to seize the treasure from the hands of the Demon King Brother!"
"Bronya is Brother's treasure. What is the problem with putting Brother's treasure together with Brother's prized treasure?"
The girl argued with righteous conviction.
"Are you reciting tongue twisters?!"
Pinching her cheek, Fuli naturally leaned his head in close. "Let's get this straight first: I'm only lending it to you temporarily. Once we get back, it still has to be handed over to the public treasury."
Bronya stood on her tiptoes, skillfully planted a mwah on his cheek, and accepted the Holy Sword Armament with joy filling her heart.
Yet, her mouth remained stubborn. "Yes, yes, Bronya knows Brother is the number one henpecked husband on the Hyperion. If Raiden Mei says go East, you don't go West; if Raiden Mei takes a bath, you don't wear a vest."
"Who asked my little sister to have zero feminine charm?" Fuli sighed dramatically. "I also want to play a 'Raising Sim', you know? Cultivating a cute, non-blood-related adopted sister starting from 'Brother! I don't like this toy, change it!', going through 'Brother! I don't like this schoolbag, change it!', 'Brother! I don't like this room, change it!', 'Brother! I don't like this sister-in-law! Change her!', 'Brother, this bed is too hard, I don't like it, change it~', until the final 'Brother... this position... hah... I don't like it... change it...' Tsk tsk tsk, just imagining that scene after the cultivation is complete fills me with a sense of accomplishment."
Fu Hua, standing to the side, was startled. Do people on the Hyperion always joke this explicitly?
"Quite the vivid imagination. If you have the guts, come at Bronya from the front."
Bronya shot Fuli a sideways glance and lightly kicked him in the shin.
Fu Hua was startled again. Such a rude joke and that's the only reaction? And why did I detect a hint of impatience in your tone? Wait, this is already a raising sim, isn't it? Project Bronya Cultivation!
She hurriedly tugged at Kiana beside her. "What do you think of this?"
"How do I think? With my eyes," the white-haired girl responded as if it were obvious.
The power of normalization is terrifying. Everyone had lived and eaten together on an isolated aerial battleship for over four months; some things had gradually become the norm.
Next, Kiana and Fu Hua displayed the items they had looted. The vast majority were historical artifacts; there weren't many Honkai-side devices.
They distributed the latter among themselves, agreeing to return them to their original finders after the battle, and then arrived before the large gate in the center of the underground palace.
Kiana pressed her hand against it, sensing for a moment before opening her eyes. "There is chaotic spatial power behind the gate. It leads to a total of six Imaginary Spaces. These spaces intertwine at a certain node to form a teleportation array. After teleporting, we can reach the World Bubble where Smelly Dad and the enemy are."
"A trap within a trap within a trap, huh? Do these six Imaginary Spaces have trials?"
Fuli, rich in archaeological experience from previous loops, saw through the essence at a glance.
"Correct."
Bronya interpreted the data Kiana sent back. "Theoretically, we must pass six trials simultaneously to open the door to the True World—originally, that is."
"And now?" asked Fu Hua, who was inspecting her gauntlets, Grip of Taixuan.
"Bronya detects traces of molecular movement at an astonishing rate in Imaginary Space No. 3. It is highly likely that Mr. Siegfried, who arrived early, ignored the trial content and used the Judgment of Shamash to brute-force the door open. This caused irreversible damage to the junction of the spatial nodes. Now, as long as we pass any one of the six trials, we can open the door to the battlefield."
"Smelly Dad actually did something good for once, though it's unnecessary this time!"
Kiana waved her arm, eager to try. "Move aside, everyone move aside! Watch this young miss use her powerful space manipulation abilities to teleport everyone directly to the destination!"
(Can't do it.)
(Eh?)
The white-haired Tuna, who had rolled up her sleeves ready to go all out, froze mid-action. She hurriedly questioned the Queen in her mind: (Don't drop the ball at a critical moment like this, the other me!)
Everyone was looking at her with that gratified 'this guy is actually reliable for once' look!
(Idiot. Why do you think I let you run through the underground maze instead of sending you to the destination from the start?)
Sirin, in her phantom form, propped her chin on her pristine wrist. After blowing a kiss to Fuli—who couldn't see her—she unleashed a barrage of verbal abuse on Kiana: (The Herrscher of the Void's control over space is absolute, but you aren't the fully ascended Herrscher. With your current amateur skills, being able to open a tunnel to the underground with my help is already worth thanking your lucky stars. And you have the nerve to want to go a step further? Truly overestimating yourself.)
This was a lie.
If the Queen wanted to, she could simply take over the K423 body, replacing Kiana's persona, and use Imaginary Warp to transport everyone to the final battlefield.
The problem was her stance: it would be best if Siegfried and Kiana never met in their lives. Why would she be kind enough to help?
Right now, Sirin's only thought was hoping that the 'Generation's Proud Son' would be a bit more competent—killing Siegfried directly would be best.
It would avenge the beating she took from his Active Honkai Reaction form at the end of the Second Eruption, and the Key of Destruction could be left for herself or Fuli to use.
(Ah, this...)
Kiana had no idea that the 'other self' she trusted so much was scheming to loot her Smelly Dad's drops. Under the trusting gazes of the group, she scratched her head awkwardly. "Uhh, well, it's like this—"
"Let's prepare to clear the levels."
Fuli pointed his sword at the ground and was the first to step into the bronze gate.
Bronya followed.
Then Fu Hua.
"Hey! This young miss hasn't explained anything yet!"
Seeing everyone enter one by one, with Dr. Zhou even patting her shoulder consolingly as he passed, Kiana stamped her foot in exasperation.
Then, she leapt in as well.
Meanwhile, in the outside world, Shuhu seemed to sense something.
"Oh, oh, oh! They're here, they're here!"
She clapped her hands, a joyous smile spreading across her devastatingly beautiful face.
Even her large, fluffy tail wagged unconsciously, making Yunli instinctively want to reach out and touch it.
"Miss Yunli!"
After being prompted by Durandal opposite her, the girl reluctantly pulled back her small hand.
She muttered to herself: White hair implies goodness, Foxians imply goodness—these both hit the strike zone of Shenzhou people perfectly. But why did such amazing attributes have to be stolen by that bastard Shuhu?
The seniors of the High-Cloud Quintet were so lucky; they got to ruffle a lively white-haired fox girl all day long. No wonder they fell apart so quickly after Baiheng sacrificed herself.
Yanqing was more rational. "Shuhu, what are you barking about?"
" eyes see joy, ears hear anger, nose smells love, tongue tastes thought, mind perceives desire, body feels sorrow." Shuhu spoke leisurely. "Taoism calls them the Six Thieves; Buddhism calls them the Six Roots. Essentially, they are the various desires extended from the six senses, and the root cause of life's failure to attain enlightenment."
"I don't understand. Could you speak more clearly?"
Durandal, hailing from the West, spoke coldly.
Shuhu, having been shut down, pursed her lips. "Eight hundred years ago, those people from the Golden Family found me and asked me to help build Genghis Khan's imperial mausoleum... Yes, the kind where they pay zero wages and kill me after the dust settles to prevent leaks."
"Ancient Mongolia did indeed have such customs," Yanqing explained to the two Western friends.
According to records, when a Mongol Khan died, camels were used to carry the spirit. If anyone was unfortunate enough to encounter the funeral procession, they would be killed to be buried with the Khan.
After the body reached the burial site, not only were all the craftsmen who built the tomb killed, but the funeral escort, the camels, and the horses were also slaughtered. The Mongols believed that by doing so, the servants and animals could continue to serve the Great Khan in the underworld.
"Thanks for the explanation."
Durandal laughed and cried internally. As the pilot of the top-tier Fourth Generation Godsbane Battlesuit, Bright Knight: Excelsis, she naturally had a built-in translation module.
She just wanted Shuhu to stop beating around the bush. Who knew Yanqing would take it so literally?
As expected of someone who shares a voice actor with the Goose, he's quite naturally dense in some aspects too. (Crossed out).
"Young Brother Yanqing is correct. Unfortunately, those people made a mistake about one thing." Shuhu waved her hand. "The Mongol Empire during its expansion period was invincible in North and Central Asia. Countless factions fell under the iron hooves of the Kheshig, so they took it for granted that the Gods of East Asia were equally weak and bullyable."
"Little did they know that in the land of Huaxia, Imperial power reigned supreme and myths were suppressed. It wasn't that the Divine Authorities occupying the world's richest East were pacifists or weak, but that hanging over their heads was a 'Sky' named the 'Celestial of Empyrea'."
In other words, the combat power of these Divine Authorities who managed to survive under the Celestial's watch went without saying.
Just as the repeated flooding of the Yellow River tempered the most resilient nation in the world—those who weren't resilient had basically been elbow-dropped by the Mother River and sent to see the King of Hell.
"I originally planned to kill all these arrogant fools who called themselves the Golden Family. Back then, by current standards, I could be classified as S-Rank, so it wouldn't have been a big problem," Shuhu said. "But I suddenly thought I could use the mausoleum for a little experiment, so I voluntarily went back with them and led the construction of Genghis Khan's tomb."
"Experiment?"
Yanqing tightened his grip on his sword.
"Hundun (Chaos) Bore Holes—have you heard of it?"
Pre-Qin · Zhuangzi · Inner Chapters: Response to Emperors states: The Emperor of the South Sea was Shu (Brief), the Emperor of the North Sea was Hu (Sudden), and the Emperor of the Center was Hundun (Chaos). Shu and Hu often met in the land of Hundun, and Hundun treated them very well. Shu and Hu plotted to repay Hundun's virtue, saying: 'Men all have seven holes for seeing, hearing, eating, and breathing. He alone has none. Let us try to bore some for him.' Each day they bored one hole, and on the seventh day, Hundun died.
Recalling the documents she had read as a child, Yunli realized that the person before her could be considered the ancestor of craftsmen.
It's just that what she chiseled was a bit hardcore. They forged objects; she used an ancient God Emperor as material.
"In humanist interpretation, Shuhu boring holes is essentially granting Hundun the means to perceive the world." Durandal read the data sent back by the Bright Knight. "Hundun is shaped like an egg, a unified whole. Essentially, it can be understood as possessing the Body Consciousness and Mind Consciousness of the Six Senses, but lacking eyes (two holes), ears (two holes), nose (two holes), and tongue (one hole)."
"Once it can perceive the world, extending the corresponding desires, it is no longer empty of the Four Elements and loses its original detached heart. This is why Hundun 'died' on the day the seven holes were completed—uh, is that wrong?"
"..."
Shuhu looked away, feeling subtle.
After such a long-winded, philosophical interpretation, she felt a bit awkward admitting that she had simply acted out of good intentions but ended up clink-clank chiseling Chaos-bro to death by accident. To this day, she was still working hard to resurrect him.
"So that's it!"
Yunli, a fellow artisan, had an epiphany. "The trial Shuhu speaks of is essentially similar to boring holes. It draws out Genghis Khan's own obsessions, fuses them with processed Imaginary Space, and finally constructs small 'World Eggs' corresponding to parts of his mental landscape!"
If Bronya from the previous loop were here, she would have realized: Isn't this just the triple trial Welt Yang set up to protect the Core of Reason?
However, Welt relied on the geographical advantage of the Sea of Quanta and Herrscher Authority, while Shuhu relied purely on technology to build it.
"Essentially, yes."
Just ignoring a few minor details. For example, the content of the trial would combine with the cognitive perception of the intruder.
Take Siegfried, for instance. His trial content was simple, just a pure choice:
A prosperous city where everyone is happy and joyful. But the city's prosperity is based entirely on a magical ritual—a ritual that exchanges one person's suffering for the city's flourishing glory.
In a corner of the city, inside a hidden basement, a child less than ten years old is locked up. He is firmly chained, and the guards provide only the bare minimum of food to keep him hungry but not starving.
The filth in the basement is never cleaned, so he lives in an extremely harsh environment, riddled with disease and covered in sores.
If he dies, another replaces him.
If there is no such suffering child in the basement, the ritual stops, the city loses the resources supplied by the ritual, and it quickly decays and withers.
Therefore, in the dirty basement, there is always a sufferer.
The vast majority of the city's residents have accepted this behavior, finding various excuses to absolve themselves of the evil. Those who don't accept it are physically suppressed—after all, the resources are controlled by the former group.
And Siegfried came to this city.
His choice was to grab the Judgment of Shamash and punch through space, violently arriving at the World Bubble where 'Genghis Khan' resided.
In Shuhu's eyes, this was cheating. She had been very much looking forward to seeing how this great hero would deal with the tyranny of the majority.
Walk away?
Rise up in rebellion?
Or, like herself, try locking up a few more children to see if the supplies produced by the ritual could be doubled?
Of course, the act of breaking through the level itself was just a catalyst. The goal was to create compatriots who could become her assistants.
If she didn't tamper with it, wouldn't she just be following the Golden Family's wishes, working her butt off for nothing just to do free labor for them?
Hurry up and break through, little ones of the Hyperion. And the Celestial of Empyrea, who is now so weak she could be crushed with a single finger.
The white-haired fox girl's tail wagged back and forth, her gaze fixed on the lake surface in anticipation.
Fuli, who stepped into the teleportation gate first, paused as he appeared at the edge of a hall that was entirely white.
The hall was incredibly empty, as if everything existed solely to highlight the object on the central stone pillar.
It was an oil lamp made entirely of gold, inlaid with various gems, so magnificent that anyone would believe it was priceless.
Before Fuli could make any move, the lid of the magic lamp opened under the interference of a mysterious force.
A colossal genie, human from the waist up and blue mist from the waist down, emerged from it.
"Are you the one who released me from the lamp?" He crossed his arms, looking down at the boy from above. "Speak. Three wishes. After that, you must return my freedom."
Fuli scratched his cheek, thinking, Just entering the room counts as opening the lid?
Your trial is truly a bit humorous.
...
In another Imaginary Space, Bronya, who had just arrived, heard a mechanical voice void of any fluctuation in her ear:
[Challenger, please utilize current conditions to achieve the conquest of Europe within one hundred years. Mission Success: Pass. Mission Failure: Erasure!]
"What is this, the God Space? Where exactly have you sent Bronya?"
The little girl sitting on a warhorse couldn't help but retort. But when she looked behind her, she froze.
Under banners that blotted out the sun stood a forest of iron cavalry.
Thirty thousand short, sturdy warhorses draped in leather armor lowered their heads, pawing the ground. Recurve bows on the sides of saddles were dark and heavy like dragon spines; arrow quivers were packed tight as honeycombs.
Knights wore scimitars at their waists, leather robes covered in iron lamellar armor. Beneath iron helmets that covered their faces, only falcon-like eyes were visible.
The entire army was as silent as a wolf pack on the tundra. Only the slight vibration of bowstrings sliced through the northern wind. The earth trembled, seemingly ready to unleash a tsunami of yellow sand.
"'Current conditions' refers to having the Kheshig Army at its peak under my command?" Veteran Paradox Gamer Bu-Lang-Ya stroked the majestic gyrfalcon perched on her shoulder. Under the face mask, the corners of her small mouth curved upward slightly. "Isn't this starting hand... a little too good?"
...
In the center of a virtual world filled with data streams, Fu Hua opened her eyes.
[Ding! Dating Sim God System loaded successfully. System is scanning Host's gender—]
"?"
[Physical characteristics confirmed as: Male. Loading corresponding scenario, please wait...]
"You motherf—!"
The sound of knuckles cracking came from the girl's fist. Her personality of not acting rashly prevented her from making a move when the situation was unclear, so she had to suppress her anger and wait.
[Ding, scenario loaded.]
Fu Hua's vision went black. When it brightened again, she found herself wearing a Japanese-style male school uniform, standing at the entrance of a school building on the first floor.
Outside, a light rain was falling. Cold raindrops brushed past her cheeks. Puddles of varying depths reflected the lead-gray sky and the square outlines of the buildings above—as well as the beautiful maid at the gate, looking anxious but barred from entering.
"Young Master! Young Master Fu Hua!"
[Ding! The stunning maid from home has brought you an umbrella and a bento.]
[Because the prestigious school's gate security stopped her, she had to wait until you came out.]
[Your choice is:]
[A. Promote her to Young Madam.]
[B. Tell the school she can enter in the future.]
[C. Call home and ask why they didn't send a car to drive her in.]
[D. Focus your Chakra and try hard to resist the Infinite Tsukuyomi.]
"Hah?"
Just what exactly is this 'Dating Sim God' trying to conquer?
...