"Slurping noodles?"
Elysia blinked her large, watery eyes, staring at the girl inside the cabin who was holding a bowl of noodles, chopsticks suspended at her lips, her eyes wide with shock. Her small mouth was agape in bewilderment.
Good grief.
Outside, they were using holographic dynamic projections for concealment while a swarm of drones was spraying them.
And here she was.
Hiding in the lowest deck of the ship, enjoying a delicious bowl of braised beef noodles.
Sniff, sniff. It was even the Red Elephant brand.
However...
Elysia's watery eyes lit up. It was a beautiful girl, just as cute as Elysia herself!
The cabin was packed with all sorts of equipment—monitoring facilities, living amenities, and so on. It was quite well-equipped.
The girl had originally been sitting in front of the screens, watching the monitors while slurping her instant noodles.
Suddenly, a "skylight" had been burned through the ceiling above her head, and she was now looking up at him with a face full of astonishment.
(This is a 90,000-ton bulk carrier, 22 meters deep, and it was burned through with just one punch?)
Ryuga was also sizing up the girl before him.
She wore a uniquely styled magic top hat, intricately inlaid with copper gears of various sizes.
She was dressed in mechanical-style leather clothing, with gear decorations adorning the dark brown leather.
Her waist was tightened by multiple leather straps, outlining an astonishingly exaggerated curve of her waist, hips, and thighs.
Thin where she should be thin.
Full where she should be full.
She possessed a tension that was almost theatrical in its explosiveness.
What caught Ryuga's attention the most were the girl's eyes.
Vill-V's beautiful grey eyes, hidden in the shadow of her gear-adorned top hat, showed not a hint of cowardice or panic.
Instead, within her almost burning curiosity, there was a hidden touch of shy introversion.
An aura of pure contradiction.
Truly one of the Thirteen Flame-Chasers, the contradictory "The Helix."
"..."
Suddenly, the corners of Vill-V's mouth curled into a sly arc, and a glint of triumph flashed in her large grey eyes.
As if everything was under her control, she pressed a small hand to her face, her fingertips slightly curled, and waved playfully at Ryuga.
"Goodbye, honey~"
The lazy and playful trailing note was drawn out exceptionally long.
It was as if she were inviting Ryuga and Elysia to appreciate a grand exit performance.
Then, the cabin shook violently, and the wall cracked open.
Vill-V was launched backward like an arrow from a bow, "whooshing" out.
Almost at the same instant, all the hidden weapons within the shipyard were activated.
Strange-looking mechanical weapons powered up.
Blue electric arcs flickered at the muzzles, instantly locking onto the bulk carrier beneath Ryuga and Elysia's feet.
Boom—
Arc guns, tracking missiles, and various other weapons fired simultaneously, pouring down toward their position and weaving a web of death.
"..."
Skirk felt somewhat impressed.
This Vill-V was indeed formidable; her various "magic" tricks were linked one after another.
An ordinary person would certainly not be able to withstand it, but unfortunately, her opponent was Ryuga.
Before absolute power, no matter how many tricks one has, they are in vain.
At the same time the armory opened, a low, violent roar of a motor sounded from beneath the ten-thousand-ton bulk carrier.
A completely black speedboat rushed out, whistling as it broke the water's surface and sped toward the distance.
The same old trick.
The dynamic holographic projection film was activated, and like ripples on water, the speedboat vanished from the trio's sight at an extremely high speed.
"Interesting."
Watching the torrent of weapons flying through the sky, the corners of Ryuga's lips curled up as he smiled.
He slowly raised his right hand, his fingers forming a claw.
In an instant, centered on his palm, an illusory light-blue clock face appeared out of thin air.
On the dial, the hands were slowly flowing backward counter-clockwise.
Time began to rewind.
Under the stunned gazes of Elysia and Skirk, the whistling missiles, shells, arc guns, and various other weapons weirdly froze in mid-air.
Then, following the trajectory they had come from, they retreated inch by inch!
The electric current vanished.
The missiles returned to their launch ports.
The open ground closed up.
The entire shipyard's attack system was "rewound" in an instant to its state before activation.
And Vill-V's black speedboat, which had been making its escape, reappeared on the sea.
Then, its speed reversed.
Like a videotape being played backward, it sailed back toward the bulk carrier, finally hitting the mooring spot with a heavy "thud." And Vill-V herself returned to the lower cabin once again.
A small breeze blew past...
"I... you... what's wrong with you?"
Vill-V rubbed the back of her head, looking around in shock. Why was she back again?
Previously, she had only felt that she was being rewound.
"You, you, you..."
Vill-V's eyes widened as she stared at Ryuga in horror.
It couldn't be that pink-haired woman's doing.
Otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to slip away so many times.
She had actually conducted weapon simulation experiments; her weapons were easily capable of blowing up a Templar-class Honkai Beast.
That was her trump card.
She hadn't originally wanted to activate it because those were prepared for the Honkai in Shenzhou City.
But she had used them anyway, because if she didn't, she couldn't escape.
She had also compared her strength to Ryuga's and knew very well that those weapons weren't enough for Ryuga to take seriously.
Moreover, she was targeting the ship.
She only wanted to stall for time to escape.
But she never expected that Ryuga was actually a "Superman"?
"You... 'Time Rewind'?"
Vill-V asked, tilting her small head.
"Yep."
"I... I still don't believe it..."
The girl's eyes rounded as she prepared to activate the ejection device again.
Unfortunately, a very soft body jumped down and leaned against her back.
In an instant, she didn't dare to move.
Vill-V lowered her head, allowing Elysia to rest her chin on her shoulder.
(It hasn't reached an irreversible point yet.)
She was thinking.
"Vill-V? I'm Elysia. What a cute name, and you're just as cute as your name."
Elysia chuckled, her breath warm.
Vill-V only felt wisps of heat wandering over her earlobe, like countless tiny electric currents surging into her spinal cord along her nerves, making her scalp tingle slightly.
"..."
The girl didn't respond; her fingertip was already pressed against the ejection button.
The cabin was terrifyingly silent.
But just as her finger was about to press down, a gust of wind struck.
Her neck suddenly went numb, Vill-V's pupils dilated sharply, and her consciousness faded rapidly.
V2V... I'm going to bite the dust today.
After that final thought, her vision went completely black.
Thud.
The girl collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut, falling onto the sofa.
"Eh, why did you knock her out?"
"She wanted to run."
...
After a while, Vill-V slowly opened her sleepy, blurry eyes.
Before her consciousness was fully clear, a low, calm male voice abruptly rang in her ear.
"Awake? Don't worry, the surgery was a success. You're a boy now."
"?"
A bolt of lightning exploded in her not-yet-clear mind.
"Ah!?"
Vill-V shuddered, instinctively raising her hand to reach for her chest.
It was bad enough to reach, but once she touched...
Boom!
Like a rolling thunderclap, it exploded in her mind again.
What she touched was a flat expanse like an airfield; her "bountiful fruits" were gone.
Gone!
Her heart nearly stalled, her breathing became rapid, and her pupils contracted violently.
She snapped her eyes wide, her gaze shooting toward the man in front of her like a knife.
"You, what did you do to me?!"
Wait? How long was I out?
Why is it that as soon as I open my eyes, you've even put on a white lab coat?
And what's with the scalpel you're clutching in your hand?
Is there even blood on the blade?
Did you really cut them off?!
Vill-V felt a wave of dizziness hit her, her limbs went weak, and the scenery before her began to blur and distort.
"I..."
Her lips trembled, and before she could finish her sentence, her vision went black and she was about to faint again.
"Alright, don't panic, your fruits are still there."
"Still there?"
Vill-V's unfocused gaze suddenly brightened, and her IQ began to reclaim the high ground.
That's right, why would this bastard cut her?
What would he gain?
He has a great beauty following him, he's clearly a pervert. The first thing he should think of is how to make good use of me, why would he cut them off?
As she was thinking, she suddenly felt a touch of warmth on her face.
Looking up, she saw Ryuga's "groping hands" unceremoniously rubbing her face. The fire of anger in her heart nearly exploded.
(As expected, the pervert is taking advantage of me.)
"There."
A few seconds later, Ryuga withdrew his hand. Between his fingertips, there was now a purple "mask" as thin as a cicada's wing.
It was nearly ninety percent transparent, with edges swirling like mist.
"What is that?"
Vill-V frowned. You got that from my face?
"Jak'Sho, the Protean. A Curio I made. As long as you wear it, you can change your appearance, physique, and voice at will."
"Furthermore, its changes are free and follow your heart."
"If I want, in the eyes of Elysia and Skirk, two different faces will appear, and there's no limit."
"Even what the monitors capture will be completely different from what the human eye sees."
Ryuga smiled and shook "Jak'Sho, the Protean" before putting it away.
"So powerful."
Vill-V's pupils shook violently.
But the most important thing right now was to confirm her "fruits."
Vill-V abruptly sat up and looked down. Phew. That familiar curve, fullness, roundness, contour, and touch.
Phew. They really, really were still there.
The heavy stone in her heart crashed to the ground, but a lingering fear remained.
"Do you want to work with me?"
Ryuga extended an invitation.
"Geniuses" all have similar personalities; to recruit Vill-V, he had to use the same method he used to recruit Mobius.
"Hmph! If you want me to join an evil organization like The MOTHs, you might as well just kill me."
Vill-V simply lay back down, adopting a posture of letting them do as they pleased.
"Ryu, did you scare her into being an idiot? She looks like she's not very bright," Elysia asked.
"Ha? If she's an idiot, it's because you hit her with that palm strike." Ryuga shrugged and looked at the "lying flat" Vill-V again. "We're the good guys. We won't kill you."
"Tch!"
"The MOTHs sent that woman to catch me precisely because I spread news of the Third Honkai Eruption. Don't you want to kill me to cover up the truth?" Vill-V sneered.
Ryuga looked for confirmation.
Elysia nodded. "A week ago, someone was indeed posting extensively on the internet. So it was you?"
"Tch! What are you pretending for?" Vill-V let out a cold laugh. "Within ten minutes of my posting, all the content was deleted cleanly."
As she spoke, her voice suddenly rose, almost shouting.
"Hmph, The MOTHs are truly powerful. 'Honkai' is something you've been driving all along, right?"
"Those so-called 'researches' use humans as experimental subjects!"
"Heh! I personally invaded and destroyed several of your experimental bases. The research inside was sickening!"
Vill-V scolded angrily.
"..."
Elysia didn't refute or explain.
The MOTHs' reputation outside was indeed similar to that of demons.
As for experiments?
Although she hadn't seen them personally, she wasn't entirely ignorant.
From Mobius's experiments, she could already see a glimpse of the whole.
"Since you know a Honkai Eruption is about to break out, why did you stay in Shenzhou City?"
Ryuga suddenly had a doubt.
It was fine not to mention it, but once mentioned, Vill-V gritted her teeth.
"Isn't it because of you hateful 'The MOTHs' executioners! Otherwise, what do you think my weapons were for?"
"I prepared them for Shenzhou City!"
As she spoke, Vill-V became dejected. Gone, all gone.
Wait, no?
It seems everything was time-rewound.
Hearing that the reason Vill-V stayed in Shenzhou City was actually to fight the Honkai single-handedly, the gazes of Ryuga, Elysia, and Skirk instantly changed, becoming filled with admiration.
"Let me declare a few things."
"NO.1: The person who sent Elysia to catch you wasn't The MOTHs, but me. As for the reason, I took an interest in your talent."
"My name is Ryuga. My 'Virtual Universe Company' welcomes your joining."
Ryuga pointed to his own nose and said.
Vill-V froze. "Ah?"
After a brief daze, her chest was ignited by a ball of anger.
Damn it.
Just because of this, you've been chasing me for half a year?
"You should be glad. If Ryuga hadn't notified The MOTHs, given that you destroyed their labs, the person coming to catch you wouldn't have just been Elysia," Skirk said.
Vill-V squinted at Ryuga. This person has a lot of background; even The MOTHs listen to him?
"NO.2: Honkai wasn't caused by The MOTHs; they are an anti-Honkai organization."
"NO.3: Since you've invaded The MOTHs, you should know about the Demon God on the Siberian Ice Plains, right?"
Vill-V waved her hand. "You mean the Inugami? You don't need to invade to know that; his photos have been on the internet for a long time."
"It's the Demon God!"
"Mm, mm, Demon God, Demon God. You're powerful, you have the floor."
"But... the Demon God is my idol! He solved the Second Honkai Eruption all by himself."
Vill-V looked up, a nearly pious light flickering in the depths of her eyes, wrapped in a girl's almost naive longing.
Ryuga: Wait, after all that effort, she's my fan?
Elysia snickered.
Skirk also almost laughed out loud.
"In that case?"
Ryuga folded his arms across his chest.
With a snort, dark shadow flames swirled around him.
Behind him, an illusory silhouette of a giant god slowly emerged from the flames, its stature rising in stages, reaching nearly ten meters in the blink of an eye.
Mighty Spirit form, activate!
Giant God Avatar, appear!
The giant god had a canine head and a human body, its eyes burning with unquenchable demonic flames like molten gold. Its entire body was covered in purple-black flame skin, and its breath exhaled suffocating tongues of destructive fire.
It maintained the same posture as Ryuga, arms folded, looking down at Vill-V from above.
The wind stopped, the fire froze.
"∑q|OДO|p Aaaaah—"
Vill-V felt as if she had been struck by lightning. She looked up, her eyes wide, a towering wave surging in her heart.
Holy mother of...
Her lips trembled slightly.
The Demon God she worshipped was actually the Ryuga in front of her?
"I... I'm in!"
The girl raised her small hand high.
......
Shenzhou City University, evening.
"Hua, let's go see a movie together."
"The academy is on break. You're going home the day after tomorrow, and we won't be able to see each other for a whole holiday."
Carole looked up, her arm tightly clutching Hua's, as she skipped toward the university town.
"Mm," Hua replied softly.
Just then, the low roar of an engine approached from a distance.
A dark SUV sped over and came to a steady stop beside them.
The car door swung open.
"No time to explain, get in the car."
Before the two could react, Ryuga and Skirk reached out, one for each, and cleanly pulled the still-dazed Hua and Carole into the car.
The movements were practiced and professional.
Click. The car doors were locked tight.
The SUV, like an arrow from a bow, quickly merged into the traffic and vanished into the twilight.
Inside the car, it was deathly silent.
After being pulled into the car, Hua and Carole were still a bit dazed. They looked at each other blankly, with only one thought in their minds: We've been kidnapped!
But this?
These kidnappers seemed a bit off?
A car full of beautiful women didn't look like kidnappers at all!
Carole swallowed her saliva and weakly raised her hands, her voice trembling as she pleaded: "Um...Kidnapper sama, let's talk this out. My dad has money, the ransom is negotiable, really!"
"This is my classmate. I... I'll pay her ransom too."
Hua was moved beyond words.
Vill-V raised her hand to her forehead, her heart almost twitching to the point of collapse.
She now seriously doubted whether she had joined the wrong organization.
Lord Demon God, we really, really are the good guys... right?
To be continued…
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