HIA VOL.6 CH51-80 (Patreon)

HA VOL 7 CH56-80

Chapter 51: Change for Me! (Pointer)

Ragnar struggled to adjust her expression and cautiously posed his question, "If I heard correctly... Jingwei? That legendary Celestial from the ancient times of Shenzhou, is that you?"

Fu Hua smiled bitterly and nodded, "Yes..."

"Wow..."

The former captain drew in a sharp breath, glancing again at the image on the projection screen—a slowly moving "active volcano." She muttered, "No wonder that Jixuanyuan could live until now..."

Fu Hua hastily waved her hand, "It's because of my unique physique; it's different from Jixuanyuan's situation..."

"Hmm."

Ragnar wore an expression of "whatever you say."

As for Theresa, she was already showing a dead fish expression from the overload of information, her gaze fixed on the Book of Fuxi nestled against Fu Hua's chest.

Bianka relaxed her guard, and at some point, the Eternal Silence Helel appeared in her hand, hanging silently behind her.

As for the ELF herself, she wore a face of pure happiness, almost shedding tears.

Fuxi rubbed her cheek against Fu Hua's chest, murmuring, "You elm head, you haven't grown up at all in all these years, huh?"

"...?"

Fu Hua was still in a daze, but suddenly hearing this from someone who might be an acquaintance snapped her out of it, causing a burst of agitation in her mind. She involuntarily clenched her fists.

Jingwei chuckled and asked, "Um... I haven't asked for your name yet."

Fuxi's eyes welled up with tears, "Have you forgotten even that? Jingwei, how many times have you used Fenghuang Down..."

"Uh... I don't know..."

Fu Hua subtly averted her gaze and touched her empty nose.

"Then let me reintroduce myself."

The Book of Fuxi sat back on the soulium levitator and addressed everyone present, "My name is the Book of Fuxi, an ELF created by Fuxi and Nuwa—according to your terms, I should be considered a robot, responsible for taking care of Jingwei's daily needs..."

Everyone was shocked, "A robot!?"

When it came to robots, the first things that came to mind for the Valkyries were AE Titans and Aesir Mechs, one being the mass-produced battlefield mainstay (albeit expensive), and the other being the finely crafted elite (even more expensive).

But both of these robots/mechas were quite large, and it was well-known that in the field of technology, making something extremely large or extremely small was very difficult.

So the Valkyries stared at the small figure of the Book of Fuxi, speculating about what might be inside her.

Luo Lin was also surprised, but not in that regard. The Valkyrie couldn't help but question, "You're like that? Responsible for Fu Hua's daily needs?"

It was hard to imagine that this little guy, who spent all day lounging on a levitating ball, had such a function.

"Don't look at me like that! I only behave like that to save energy!"

Luo Lin raised an eyebrow, "Oh...?"

Fuxi blushed, feeling a bit embarrassed, and started counting on her fingers, "When my energy was still abundant, I took care of at least half of Jingwei's daily needs... tailoring clothes, cleaning, handling food, building houses... oh, I only provided blueprints for that. Of course, the most important thing was being a bridge between Jingwei and ordinary people..."

At this point, Fuxi placed her hands on her hips, glaring at the somewhat bewildered Fu Hua nearby, "You, elm head, living alone in the deep mountains for years, worrying that your identity as a Celestial would affect human development... so I had to step in as Jingwei's proxy, communicate with people, purchase food, cloth, ironware…"

Luo Lin smirked, feeling a sense of familiarity... Did the Book of Fuxi act as the mouthpiece for Jingwei?

The girl glanced at Fu Hua, who was wracking her brain to extract clues about the Book of Fuxi from her memory—obviously with no success, as the cognitive strain from Fenghuang Down was well-known.

Fuxi seemed to sense Luo Lin's disbelief and said, "Wait... let me show you some evidence!"

The ELF tapped on the soulium levitator under her buttocks, and amidst the flickering of faint light, several guns and cannons fell down. Luo Lin immediately recognized these weapons as artifacts manufactured with pre-era technology.

Wow, weren't these the weapons that the Book of Fuxi mentioned, the ones Jingweiý used instead of fists and feet because they were too powerful?

Fuxi's body stiffened as she looked at the weapons, embarrassedly muttering, "Oops, sorry, it's not these... How did I forget to change back after using them?"

With that, the ELF reached out and lightly tapped on the firearms, causing them to twist and deform in front of everyone's eyes, turning into a pool of metallic liquid.

The little ancestor then waved her arms like a conductor guiding an orchestra, scattering the radiance of Honkai energy. The liquid metal reassembled, forming a very advanced... uh, sewing machine?

"This is what I use to make clothes for Jingwei! As long as you input the raw materials, the data, and use Honkai energy as an aid, you can make very good clothes!"

Fuxi raised her nose proudly, "My database contains many patterns of clothes, enough to make Jingwei different styles of clothes for hundreds of years!"

"So, does that mean you made Azure Empyrea set for her?"

Luo Lin expressed her respect, "Thank you for giving Fu Hua such a beautiful outfit!"

The graphics of Honkai 3 are really something. At least Fu Hua's Azure Empyrea can be said to be a very representative set of Battlesuit, perfectly matching the aesthetics of the Shenzou people—perhaps it just lacks white hair?

No, no, Luo Lin felt that Azure Empyrea had to have that flavor.

However, before the transmigration, the graphics were excellent, but after arriving in the Honkai world, who actually provided Fu Hua with such ahead-of-its-time clothing?

The answer is now revealed—it was the Book of Fuxi.

But Fuxi was a bit puzzled by Luo Lin's words, "What is Azure Empyrea?"

Luo Lin clapped her mouth, realizing that she had brought Honkai 3 terminology with her.

After a moment of thought, the Valkyrie extended her hand and used her Edge of Taixuan to create a one-to-one projection, forming a figure—a person with wide sleeves and an ethereal aura, exactly like Azure Empyrea

The only problem was that this figure was glowing with a translucent white light, like an unpainted model... After all, this was a projection formed by Luo Lin's Taixuan Ki, and she hadn't yet mastered the technique of coloring her Ki yet...

"This is the outfit, remember it?" Luo Lin asked.

Of course, Fuxi remembered. She hurriedly opened her scroll and found a picture of Fu Hua wearing this outfit, walking on the land of Shenzhou.

At that time, Fu Hua had already left the secular world and lived alone for many years, busy exterminating the Honkai beasts that emerged all over Shenzhou. With sharp eyes and a fierce aura, she exuded a forbidding presence, with a face that said "don't come near," paired with this obviously surpassing the contemporary aesthetic and clothing production technology...

Just wearing this flowing outfit alone would probably make people think she was a deity!

Not to mention, Fu Hua was indeed the genuine Jingwei Celestial!

Theresa widened her eyes, comparing this image with the one of Fu Hua in her training clothes and fake glasses from Saint Freya Academy before. She couldn't help but feel admiration.

—No wonder she's in the intelligence business, she really nailed that rustic girl look before!

If Luo Lin knew what these two were thinking, she would probably retort harshly: Is it possible that Fu Hua is actually a rustic girl at heart?

At that moment, among those present, the brainiac Ragnar Lothbrok supported her chin.

When the Book of Fuxi said she was a robot, she had some strange guesses in her mind.

When Fuxi touched her little ball and dropped those guns, she recognized the characteristics of the previous era on those weapons, strengthening her confidence in her speculation.

When the ELF projected the image into the air using the scroll, Ragnar turned her head to look at the projection screen floating beside her captain's chair, squinting her eyes.

"Previous Era...?"

Chapter 52: Super Transformation!

Ragnar double-checked, the projection technology used by the Book of Fuxi was identical to the technology excavated from the ancient era of the Schicksal, even the particle effects were the same.

"Artifacts from the previous civilization... So, the so-called Celestial Jingwei..."

The old captain focused her gaze on Fu Hua beside her, clearing her throat meaningfully, and attracting her attention.

"What's wrong, Captain Ragnar?" Fu Hua asked after a moment of thought, "Fu Hua, you actually have a connection to the previous era, don't you?"

"That's correct," Fu Hua responded succinctly, "I am actually a survivor of the previous era..."

Theresa's dead fish eyes widened again in disbelief as she pointed at Jingwei, "The previous era was at least fifty thousand years ago compared to us, and you've actually lived for so long?!"

"To be honest, most of the time was spent in a hibernation chamber, just waking up to a new world after a nap." Jingwei scratched his chin and said with a bitter smile, "If you really want to know, the time I spent active outside was only a few thousand years..."

"A few thousand years is long enough, Celestial Jingwei... The history of the Schicksal organization is only over a thousand years, right? If we start from the reign of Archbishop Otto, it's even shorter..."

Ragnar rubbed her cheeks, easing the numb muscles caused by repeated shocks, "By the way, since there is already hibernation chamber technology capable of spanning fifty thousand years, why didn't the people of the previous era just hibernate directly to the new world?"

Fu Hua remained silent for a few seconds before answering, "Because we didn't fully master this technology. The so-called hibernation chamber is actually based on the creation of the Divine Key by the Core of the Herrscher—the Stagnation Key - Dormancy of All Things..."

She took a deep breath and continued slowly, "Moreover, by the time we decided to activate the Stagnation Key, the number of remaining humans from the previous era was not enough to sustain our civilization."

The atmosphere inside the soundproof shield became extremely heavy.

Theresa opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but after a few seconds of thought, she only managed to utter two words, "Fu Hua..."

The warriors from the previous era raised their heads and took the initiative to comfort everyone, "There's no need to worry about this. I've long accepted this fact... Besides, hasn't the 'seed' of civilization already been passed down and integrated into the new war against the Honkai?"

Fuxi wiped her eyes with her sleeves, "Jingwei, I will continue to accompany you!"

Durandal stood straight, her face full of respect as she said to Fu Hua, "Thank you, Celestial Jingwei!"

"Jingwei..." Fu Hua shook her head, "Forget it, everyone just call me Fu Hua. I'm not a Celestial anymore."

The others glanced at each other, shrugged, and agreed to Fu Hua's request.

She shifted her gaze to the Book of Fuxi, which was floating not far away on a levitating ball.

The armed puppet placed her hands on her hips and grumbled, "Fu Hua... Hmph, I feel like this doesn't roll off the tongue without 'Jingwei', and the meaning of the name 'Jingwei' is different... I'll still call you Jingwei!"

Ragnar sat back in the captain's seat, pointing at the giant Honkai Beast moving on the projection screen, "Fu Hua, you should know how this thing came about, right? Tell us about it."

"Well, we have to start with the 'Project Ember'..."

Fu Hua subconsciously rubbed Theresa's head, who was standing beside her, making the principal feel a little like she wanted to get angry, but seeing the heavy expression on Jingwei's face, she restrained her emotions.

Theresa asked, "Project Ember?"

"Yes, it's about using the Stagnation Key to pass through fifty thousand years and then letting the pioneers pass on technological knowledge to the new era of humans, just like igniting a new flame with a Ember—using the reserve materials and supplies, we wanted to directly rebuild the industrial system of the previous era... The 'Ember Base' was set up in Shenzhou."

The old captain rubbed her chin and said, "There must have been some problem, right?"

"Yes..." Fu Hua opened her mouth, fragmented memories swirling in her mind, she frowned, pressing her forehead, "Wait a moment, let me think..."

"Let me explain, Jingwei, don't trouble yourself."

The Book of Fuxi floated a bit higher, taking on the responsibility of narration, "The beginning of the Project Ember went smoothly. We trained a batch of workers proficient in using machines, and soon established a 'small but complete' base. However, the speed at which Honkai Beasts were born around the 'Ember Base' gradually increased, and their intensity also rose... We didn't pay attention to this situation."

After all, the guards were pioneers from the previous era, fusion warriors capable of fighting the Herrschers like Fu Hua, one of the Thirteen Flame Chasers, these newly generated Honkai Beasts were no match for the ones from the previous era era, Fu Hua could easily crush them with a breath, posing no threat at all.

"Later, we realized that the Honkai would become stronger according to the development of human civilization, and the advanced technology we provided led to the birth of the Honkai Beast, 'Chiyou'!"

The Book of Fuxi lowered her head, her voice gradually becoming softer, "It far exceeded the limits that the 'Ember Base' could handle. It destroyed all our efforts at once... After that, Fuxi, Nuwa, and Ji Lin sacrificed themselves, using the Divine Key to seal 'Chiyou' under the 'Nine Underworlds'..."

Bianca Yulandier looked serious, "The Honkai still has such characteristics?"

Fu Hua nodded, "Yes, at least in the past few thousand years, I haven't actively intervened in the development of human technology, and the increase in the intensity of the Honkai in the world is nowhere near as exaggerated as it was during the execution of the 'Project Ember'..."

Theresa crossed her arms, "I see... What happened next?"

"Next? What you see is what happened—finally, the seal couldn't hold, and 'Chiyou' was released..."

The Book of Fuxi looked at the giant "volcano" moving on the projection screen, squinting her eyes, "Wait, it seems like there's movement on it..."

Everyone turned around at the same time, and they saw a glow emanating from 'Chiyou,' and the thick purple lines gradually spread to the erupting volcano.

In the next moment, with the piercing whine of the Hyperion's radar, the volcano erupted violently, accompanied by billowing smoke, dozens of huge lava balls came crashing towards the Hyperion!

Ragnar hammered the panel in front of the captain's seat and shouted, "Activate the secondary cannon array, lock onto the lava balls, intercept them!"

The scorching "fire whips" crossed and splattered out, within a few seconds, most of the lava balls were explosively shattered in mid-air, and the remaining two balls landed on the floating battleship's shield, causing little damage...

The operators shouted anxiously, "Captain! There are several Honkai Beasts hidden in the lava balls! They have now landed on the deck!"

Chapter 53: Cannon Defense, Observational Shooting

Ragnar immediately withdrew the shield that isolated sound and sight, and the field of view suddenly widened.

Everyone could directly see the scene on the deck of the Hyperion, where there were two Templar-class Honkai Beasts and a large pile of dead soldiers, emitting billowing heat.

"Chiyou" hit the Achilles' heel of the Hyperion. The powerful weapons of the floating battleship's turrets were restricted in their firing range, who were unable to aim at the deck, rendering them helpless against the monsters landing on the ship.

Luo Lin took a closer look and noticed that these Honkai Beasts and dead soldiers were different from the regular versions. Their colors were Vermillion, and their weapons were covered with a layer of high-temperature "enchantment," evaporating the downpour into billowing vapor...

The Valkyrie was shocked, "The ones on the deck are all flame-specialized Honkai Beasts and Zombies. Don't use Fire or Heat Based weapons to attack them, and also be careful of the opponent's fire attacks!"

"In that case, these monsters are just right up my alley!"

A hearty voice appeared on the communication channel, and the gate leading to the deck of the Hyperion quickly opened. Instructor Himeko Murata from Schicksal HQ, wearing armor unfamiliar to Luo Lin, led a group of Valkyries out.

The overall tone of the armor was gray, similar in style to Fu Hua's "Shadow Knight," but the inner lining tightly wrapped around Himeko Murata's body.

But it also had a small cape, just like the "Vermillion Knight," which fluttered as the combat instructor ran, and the energy pipelines on the armor and cape shimmered with light, illuminating her solemn face.

Himeko Murata raised her arm, and her technologically advanced giant sword gleamed with a deep blue light, rapidly lowering the temperature, even forming scattered frost around the blade!

The next moment, Himeko Murata's figure flickered and disappeared in full view of everyone.

When Himeko Murata's figure reappeared, she had already bypassed the Templar-class Honkai Beasts responsible for interception and broke into the depths of the Honkai Beast group, directly targeting the long-range squishy dead soldiers!

The chilling glow of her slashing attacks bloomed like flowers, her greatsword seemed weightless, lightly falling like snowflakes on the surrounding enemies, tearing them all apart in an instant!

—It was ice attribute attacks!

The agility and speed Himeko Murata displayed were completely different from what Luo Lin remembered... If the "Vermillion Knight" was a front-line assault fighter, then Himeko Murata now was an assassin, precise, fast, and deadly.

The only problem was that this assassin wielded not traditional weapons like daggers, but long double-handed swords...

This brought Luo Lin a strong sense of shock. She stared with her mouth agape, unable to close it for a long time: "W-what is this?!"

Theresa, who had been intimidated by Luo Lin before, now saw the girl's expression and felt the same way.

The principal finally felt she had regained some majesty and took the initiative to explain, "That is the prototype fourth-generation Valkyrie Battlesuit, Lunar Knight·Moon Lich. Originally designed for stealth infiltration missions, it's now being used by Instructor Himeko Murata."

The black-haired girl looked at Himeko Murata, who was slaughtering the Honkai Beast group, leaving behind a series of Honkai energy fragments imbued with coldness, speechless for a moment.

It seemed that the definition of "stealth infiltration" was not much different from that of a certain unorthodox, already dubbed "creed of berserkers" in "sneaking."

As long as I kill all the enemies, no one will notice that I've infiltrated!

The two fiery Templar-class Honkai Beasts, specialized in flames, were originally the vanguard of the remote dead soldiers, responsible for intercepting enemy assaults and attacks. Unexpectedly, Himeko Murata, wearing Lunar Knight · Moon Lich, briefly disappeared and bypassed them.

But now they couldn't turn around to deal with Himeko Murata directly because Himeko Murata wasn't alone; there was also a group of Hyperion Valkyries holding weapons, glaring not far away.

They almost began covering Himeko Murata the moment she launched her assault. Bullets rattled on the shields of these two Honkai Beasts.

They found themselves in an extremely awkward position, with nowhere to retreat.

At this time, the ship's radar sounded the alarm again, and the operator immediately reported, "Detecting Honkai energy gathering, Chiyou is launching the second round of magma ball projection!"

"Continue interception!" Ragnar said, "We need to increase speed—Valkyries fighting on the deck, get ready, brace yourselves!"

"Yes!" "Understood!"

The Hyperion's engines increased power, coordinating with the firepower of the close defense cannons and secondary guns, perfectly avoiding the second round of Chiyou's projection.

"We can't just take hits!"

Ragnar waved her hand, "Fire control officer, tell me, can the close defense cannons alone completely intercept those magma balls? I need the secondary gun group to fire at Chiyou!"

The fire control officer immediately responded, "The close defense cannons cannot completely intercept the magma ball attacks! Currently, we need a secondary gun group to complete the interception!"

"Leave one group of secondary guns to participate in interception work, and the remaining secondary guns fire at Chiyou!"

The gun turrets quickly changed targets, a series of shells pierced through the wind and rain, flying towards the massive "volcano" moving slowly.

Chiyou raised its head, emitting a huge roar, and a bright purple protective shield suddenly appeared, intercepting the gunfire.

Ragnar clicked her tongue, "Tsk, I knew it, a Honkai Beast of this level must have a protective shield—continue firing! Radar department, observe the direction of the Honkai energy!"

As the second and third rounds of gunfire sounded, the clamor on the deck had already ended.

With the help of Himeko Murata wearing Lunar Knight · Moon Lich, only two Valkyries sustained light injuries, and all the Honkai Beasts and dead soldiers boarding the ship were eliminated.

They even only managed to leave a few scratches on the deck's paint. If aesthetics were not a concern, these scratches wouldn't even need repair.

"Captain! The analysis results are out!"

Ragnar waved her hand towards Bianca Yulandier and Luo Lin, motioning them to come over, "Come and take a look!"

Everyone gathered around, and the three-dimensional model of Chiyou, carrying a volcano like a turtle, slowly rotated. On the image, the Honkai energy on the Honkai Beasts was marked with varying shades of red.

There were two huge, blurry Honkai energy gathering points inside Chiyou, and one more obvious one was in the middle of the volcano it carried on its back, transporting Honkai energy throughout its body.

The Book of Fuxi raised its short little hand and said, "Chiyou has three cores inside its body. As long as these three cores are sealed, its actions can be stopped..."

Ragnar said decisively, "We can't seal them anymore, this time we have to completely destroy it!"

"Ragnar is right, sealing is only a last resort!"

Theresa crossed her arms, "According to our detected data, the main cannon of the Hyperion is sufficient to penetrate Chiyou's defense. We have the ability to solve this problem now!"

Yulandier calmly pointed out the problem, "But we must confirm the specific locations of these three cores. The approximate range detected now is several kilometers, and the main cannon of the Hyperion doesn't have such strong destructive effects..."

The principal said with great momentum, "Then, we intercept Chiyou first, and then send people to penetrate the Honkai Beast's body for marking and guidance, using the main cannon to completely destroy its three cores!"

Chapter 54: Communication and Intercepting Assault

Miss Pink Elf turned to the Herrscher of Sentience and asked, "Senti, where do you think we are now?"

"Well..." The Herrscher looked around. Compared to when "Chiyou" was still underwater and the space they reached by swimming, this place was much narrower.

"I think we might have entered its stomach."

Senti replied with some distress, "When we were chasing Dark Jixuanyuan before, we fell for quite a long distance."

Miss Pink Elf tilted her head, casually grabbed a piece of shining Honkai energy shard from the air.

Even an amateur like "Helix" could easily create Honkai energy shards, which fully demonstrated the high concentration of Honkai energy in the environment—they eroded the surrounding rocks, leaving glowing traces on the cave walls.

However, the light emitted by these traces was not very bright. Helix estimated that this brightness wouldn't be enough to prevent the monster respawn mechanism in Minecraft.

Of course, in this Honkai world, they wouldn't encounter creepers with green camouflage suits making hissing sounds at corners, nor would they encounter skeleton archers, let alone zombies...

Oh, they would still encounter zombies. zombies could barely be considered a type of zombie.

Just like the dozen or so zombies blocking the intersection not far away, accompanied by several Honkai beasts, both melee and ranged, with a fairly balanced mix.

These zombies even built anti-cavalry and fences at the intersection, using materials they mined from nearby walls and large pieces of Honkai energy crystals.

Obviously, this was the handiwork of Dark Jixuanyuan again. Monsters generated by Honkai were not very intelligent; they acted on instinct. It was very easy for them to wreak havoc on human structures, but it was much harder for them to build defensive works.

Senti and "Helix" glanced at each other. Following the previous action plan, they released illusions to attract the attention of the brainless monsters and quickly passed through the intersection using the Herrscher's abilities.

However, this time they found that compared to the previous monsters, these enemies, who were busy building fortifications, quickly gave up chasing the illusions and returned to their workstations.

Senti frowned, "Do you think Dark Jixuanyuan might be involved in this behavior of giving up chasing?"

"I don't know, but we'd better be more careful."

The two continued tracking in the direction where Dark Jixuanyuan left traces. Along the way, they encountered several battles between Honkai beasts and quantum monsters in addition to regular patrols.

"Encountering enemies more frequently."

"Helix" said softly, "And their reaction speed is getting faster. I feel like the closer we get to Dark Jixuanyuan, the smarter the enemies become... I estimate that after walking a little further, we'll encounter monsters that the illusions can't fool completely."

Senti's guess was very accurate. The two soon encountered unusual monsters that remained motionless at the intersection even after seeing illusions.

As a precaution, Miss Pink Elf and the Herrscher chose to retreat and take a detour around these stubborn foes. At least for now, they didn't want to reveal their position.

During the detour, "Helix" remembered something and asked, "How is the situation on Luo Lin's side?"

Senti calmly replied, "Theresa interfered with my abilities using 'Oath of Judah' earlier, so the connection signal is not very good now. Remember to ask several times, in case Luo Lin doesn't hear you."

"Oh, I see..." Miss Pink Elf rubbed her chin, snapped her fingers silently, and then shouted in a strange tone through the mental link, "Hello? Anyone here on this channel? Got any rabbit fur?"

After calling several times, Luo Lin finally responded, "I'm here, c... cough, I'm here."

"On the bridge of the Hyperion?"

Faced with this question, Luo Lin was momentarily stunned. She looked around, "It's quite handsome."

"Helix" sighed, "I remember we were always curious about what the scenery looked like when we looked down from the railing after coming out of the elevator at the landing interface..."

"I remember visiting other floating warships before, right? Even though the Hyperion is a new type of warship, the layout here is basically the same..."

"Not quite the same. Other floating warships are other warships, but the one you visited is the Hyperion, understand? You've had a pilgrimage to a holy land!"

Miss Pink Elf gestured excitedly, "And you still have the 'Vermillion Knight' character card now. When you get to the elevator behind the bridge, take the 'Godslayer Spear' serum we had left before, directly recreate the animation CG..."

"Then find a strongman to dismantle one of the Hyperion's secondary guns, smash it onto the glass of the bridge, and after that, drop it into the imaginary space or the Sea of Quanta, right?"

Luo Lin's mouth twitched, and she casually sent her the "compressed file": "Here, the bridge picture you wanted..."

Senti was even more speechless, "Didn't you say you wanted to ask about the current situation on the Hyperion? How did we end up on this tangent?"

"Helix" scratched her head somewhat embarrassedly, stuck out her tongue, "Oops?"

"Do something productive, El... 'Helix'!"

Luo Lin ignored Miss Pink Elf's protest (you seem quite happy playing along), and proceeded to describe the situation on her end, "Now the Hyperion is preparing to intercept 'Chiyou.' Theresa and Ragnar want to use the Hyperion's main gun to break its legs..."

"How's the effect?"

"The first shot was quite effective, causing considerable damage to 'Chiyou's' legs. It's now continuing to move forward with its remaining three legs... but the second shot was not effective because the shield strength near 'Chiyou's' legs suddenly increased."

The Valkyrie paused for a moment and continued, "We found strange crystals forming near the connection between 'Chiyou's' legs and body, and a large amount of Honkai energy is escaping from the crystals. This should be what's enhancing the shield strength."

"Helix" nodded, "Then destroy them!"

Luo Lin smiled bitterly, "Ragnar also thought so, so the third shot aimed at the crystals, but it seems the shield has adjusted to counter naval gun attacks specifically. The artillery didn't work well, and even the damaged crystals were able to repair themselves..."

"And then?"

"Durandal said she would lead a team to directly assault 'Chiyou' and smash the crystals with close combat. They plan to attack using small transport ships. 'Chiyou' can easily hit big ships like the Hyperion with its long-range magma balls, but it can't reach nimble things like transport ships."

Senti narrowed her eyes, "But transport ships also struggle against units like Chariots and Seraphs, right? Given the concentration of Honkai energy around 'Chiyou,' it's sure to generate enough flying Honkai beasts to give you a hard time."

"So the Hyperion plans to get as close to 'Chiyou' as possible while ensuring its own safety, using close-range guns and secondary guns to cover the transport ship's landing."

The Herrscher remained very concerned, "I don't think the secondary guns of the Hyperion can cover everything..."

"I think so too..."

Luo Lin touched the assault rifle in her hand, stood steadily at the side hatch of the transport ship, and swept her sharp gaze towards the Honkai beasts flying nearby.

"So, I'll engage in the form of a humanoid close-range defense cannon!"

Chapter 55: Is This a New Game?

In an unknown world, at miHoYo headquarters, a man pushed open the door, leading a group of people into the meeting room. Da Wei gestured towards the laptops and controllers in the office. "You've all heard about the chaos with 'Garbled Brother', right?"

"Is he really that amazing? It all sounds so mysterious..."

"Even more amazing than that," Da Wei chuckled helplessly. "I've arranged a few test qualifications for everyone. Everything is set up on the computers in the meeting room. Feel free to try it out—Fanship, why don't you go first?"

"Sure." The handsome guy named Fanship picked up a laptop and effortlessly connected it to the projector. A few minutes later, everyone in the meeting room was speechless as they stared at the cutscene animation projected. Da Wei placed a hand on the shoulder of a broad-shouldered staff member and asked, "Ah Ji, what do you think of this CG?"

"Using my eyes to see," Ah Ji, the chubby teacher, rolled his eyes and softly replied, "I can only say the technical level is extremely high, the modeling precision is astonishing, and the rendering and special effects are perfect, truly impressive."

"At first glance, I thought it was live-action!" Another 3D modeler chimed in. "But then I realized, finding so many people who resemble the game characters in both temperament and appearance... even if they find someone similar, it would be a massive undertaking to use makeup and Photoshop to achieve the same effect, not to mention it would be very costly... it's better to just use modeling."

Someone whispered, "Do you think Garbled Brother's production team lacks money?" Da Wei turned his head towards the direction of the voice. In the corner of the meeting room, the formerly handsome Fanship's face was twisted in agony, making him look like he had a toothache.

"Every level is accompanied by at least two minutes of CG, each CG is at the level of a movie, comparable to promotional videos, and even every expression is so exquisite," Fanship's voice grew quieter, and he even choked up at the end, "I secretly watched the players' reactions in the group. They all said these cutscenes are extremely well-done, praising the developers—they actually wanted to show off the plot so boldly..."

"Even without considering the cost of making short films, you shouldn't think about adding so many cutscenes. After all, Honkai Impact 3 is fundamentally a mobile game, and the storage space can't be too large. Besides, our game's main body is already quite hefty," a nearby programmer scratched his head, "We're constantly optimizing the code, we even replaced all the old main story cutscenes with low-quality ones, only keeping the high-definition ones from the latest events and main story... but the game still ranks high in terms of storage space on mobile."

Fanship raised an eyebrow, set down the controller, and manipulated the computer, "But why is Garbled Brother's installation package less than a 1 GB?"

"That's what's baffling me!" The programming enthusiast grabbed his head, wailing, "How did he manage to fit all these clearly 4k60fps ultra-clear videos into such a small installation package?! Even after decompression, it's just a bit over 1GB... it's not scientific!"

Another programmer added quietly, "Don't forget, the installation package also includes new event maps, character models, and textures... adding all those makes it a bit over 1 GB."

"Stop, stop, save the children!" Da Wei and Ah Ji, who were watching from the side, exchanged glances, not knowing what to say. Finally, Ah Ji sighed, "Seriously, Da Wei, aren't you planning to leverage our miHoYo's excellent tradition and recruit this Garbled Brother?"

"I'd like to recruit him, but we don't even have his contact information."

"Not even a clue?"

"It seems Garbled Brother doesn't care at all about players being able to play the games he makes. He just releases the qualifications, sends out the download links, doesn't interact with anyone, and even lets the players create their own testing QQ groups... I can't imagine why he's spending so much money making games."

Da Wei scratched his head and quipped, "Plus, Garbled Brother is a hacker with profound skills. Even the experts we hired from Alibaba couldn't find any traces of him hacking into our systems—I'm starting to suspect he's popped out of an alternate dimension."

"Still wanna play? Fanship, I wanna give it a try!" One of the old friends of the players, often seen in previews and special programs, Burnt Chicken Teacher, was eager to go, raising his hand.

Fanship scooted his chair over, slumping to the side, "You go ahead, I'll take a break."

Burnt Chicken Teacher took the controller, ruffled his hair, and grinned, "Obviously, we can't compete with their graphics, so let's see how the plot and gameplay are, shall we?"

Fanship struggled to raise his hand, "I feel a strong sense of déjà vu, like one of the siege battles in that classic 2D action game with a 'D' at the beginning..."

"Anton?" Burnt Chicken Teacher snorted, "Back then, why didn't we make Chiyou as high-profile as this?"

Da Wei interjected, "Back then, we didn't think Honkai Impact 3 would come this far."

"Indeed." As an artist, Ah Ji watched the activity interface, sighing, "The UI design is also top-notch..."

"1-1 Naval Gun Defense, 1-2 Observation Shooting, 1-3 Communication, 1-4 Intercept Assault... There's even a side mission afterward, which seems to suit our style," Fanship counted the activity stages and started playing level 1-4.

The beginning was a CG animation burning through funds, with Durandal, Himiko, and the original character named "Luo Lin" advancing through the steel corridor, followed by several Valkyries in Immortal Blades uniforms.

The group quickly boarded a transport ship.

Then, accompanied by cool sound effects and a thrilling background music, the transport ship launched from the Hyperion towards the gigantic Chiyou.

Luo Lin leaned against the side door of the transport ship, aiming her gun forward. The camera then shifted to behind Luo Lin, adopting a third-person shooting perspective similar to Genshin Impact's archery view. Seamless transition from the original Honkai Impact 3 team's gaze to the slightly lower-quality, with operation buttons and joysticks, actual gameplay interface.

"Is this a new mode...?" 【Use the joystick to adjust the angle, hold down the attack button to continuously shoot】 Two small Honkai beasts flew over, Burnt Chicken manipulated the joystick and effortlessly dealt with them. 【Press the ultimate skill button to switch weapons, hold down the ultimate skill button to consume SP for a powerful attack.】 【Gyro aiming function can be activated in the options】

Wave after wave of enemies emerged on the screen, eliciting a happy smile from Burnt Chicken Teacher, "This is fun!"

The programmers watching this scene exchanged glances, sucking in a breath of cold air. "Can you do it?"

"It's... difficult... the technical complexity of this seamless transition is too high... and this gyro aiming, we need to ask the Genshin Impact development team next door..."

Not being a programmer, Burnt Chicken Teacher didn't dwell on these technical challenges. He kept pressing the attack button, easily overheating himself and unable to continue shooting for a short time. Durandal said, "The Hyperion's firepower support is ready! Luo Lin, guide them!"

【Press the support button to guide the Hyperion's firepower support】

Suddenly, a string of aggressors emerged from the side of the screen, attacking the transport ship. Burnt Chicken Teacher lightly pressed the controller, activating the "firepower support." "Boom!" Just like traditional flight shooting games, this "firepower support" instantly cleared all the monsters and enemy bullets on the screen, leaving a refreshing feeling.

The overheating state ended quickly, and more enemies flew in from various parts of the screen.

At this moment, the game's camera shook slightly, the transport ship began evasive maneuvers, and the sea surface in the distant background tilted, causing Luo Lin's hair to flutter.

With the increasingly thrilling music, it even gave off a Hollywood blockbuster vibe.

Burnt Chicken Teacher chuckled, "Impressive, really impressive. Garbled Brother's skills in game performance are also top-notch! I'm looking forward to what's next!"

Chapter 56: Life is Like a Dream

This third-person shooter level isn't long, but playing it feels incredibly satisfying. Flying monsters kept appearing one after another, crumbling under Luo Lin's gunfire. Even at the end of the level, a huge mutated Seraph-class Honkai Beast emerged.

- It floated in the sky, releasing several small monsters that needed to be defeated before attacking the main Boss.

However, with the support firepower from the Hyperion and the powerful SP-consuming attacks, it didn't last long either. It wailed and crashed into the sea, causing exaggerated splashes.

Afterward, the third-person shooting perspective suddenly switched back to the animated CG.

The transport ship, leaving behind a long trail, passed through the purple crystal mist formed by the death and disintegration of the Honkai Beasts. With several assault ships following closely, they almost threw all the Valkyries they carried onto the back of Chiyou in a dive-bombing manner.

Unfortunately, the transport ship failed to retreat successfully because it was too close to the volcano constantly spawning flying Honkai Beasts.

Soon, the small transport ship was engulfed by the enemies with white shells and purple patterns, exploding into a ball of fire.

"The driver failed to escape..."

The camera focused on the advancing Durandal, the golden-haired knight with a determined look: "Execute the plan! Destroy the crystals!"

All the Valkyries responded in unison: "Yes!"

When the settlement interface popped up, Teacher Barbecue smacked his lips: "The monster configuration is reasonable, the teaching process and plot are perfectly integrated, full voiceover throughout the process, and most importantly, the shooting feels smooth. Aiming isn't as difficult as imagined... Maybe because I'm using a controller, the feedback feels more realistic, right?"

"Not necessarily."

As Barbecue was playing on his laptop, Sailboat handed him a phone from the side, also loading into a shooting level, and the experience was equally good: "It feels smooth for me on the phone too... seems like they added that common aim assist feature found in shooting games."

Teacher Barbecue was a bit speechless: "Are you showing off, Sailor?"

"Obviously."

Sailboat glanced sympathetically at the programmers studying the code nearby and asked, "Have you figured out anything yet?"

The programmers wore peaceful smiles on their faces: "In such a short time, how could we possibly figure it out... Besides, the installation package is encrypted, forcibly opening it mostly results in gibberish—given Hacker Bro's skills, I think we can rest early."

Barbecue and Sailboat exchanged glances and chuckled.

"Alright, let's continue watching the plot."

Teacher Barbecue raised his hand and pointed to the side story that lit up after completing 1-4.

[Interlude: Life is Like a Dream]

"Alright, Theresa, Durandal, and the others have already set off."

In the corridor next to the operational meeting room of the Hyperion, Fu Hua pinched her nose and glanced at the small figure leaning against the wall not far away.

She whispered, "Are you ready to deal with the memory issue?"

"... I never thought I'd have to deal with such a problem. And, it was my grandfather who personally did this to me."

Theresa stroked the golden cross standing beside her, her eyes complicated: "Jingwei... no, Fu Hua, after so many years of getting along with my grandfather, would he really do this?"

"Otto is a... very complex person. He can be the motivational speaker who inspires Valkyries to bravely fight enemies, the schemer who secretly deals with enemies, and the political powerhouse who dominates international affairs..."

Jingwei's gaze lowered: "Of course, he can also smile and call you a friend, but turn around and betray you completely..."

The headmaster showed a bitter smile: "I understand what you mean."

The two looked at each other and fell into silence.

The Book of Fuxi was also present. She wanted to speak, but seeing the heavy expression on Jingwei's face, she involuntarily swallowed her words back.

One minute later, the Hyperion was once again bombarded by the magma balls of Chiyou, and the sound and vibration of the explosion came from a distance, breaking the deadlock.

Theresa took a deep breath, put down the Oath of Judah beside her, sat on the chair, and said, "Let's continue. It's best to solve my problem once and for all."

"I'll do my best."

Fu Hua replied cautiously, extending her hand, and the golden-red Divine Key floated in her palm.

"Relax, don't resist, so I can exert less effort. Later, we'll have to go out and confront Chiyou..."

Accompanied by the radiance of Fenghuang Down enveloping Theresa, the headmaster felt Fu Hua's voice becoming more and more distant, as if entering a tunnel, gradually accompanied by echoing reverberations, and finally weakened and disappeared.

The girl closed her eyes, feeling the power of the divine key stirring the ocean of her memory, and her consciousness sank along with it.

At this moment, many "fragments" buried in the mud surged up, the headmaster reached out and randomly grabbed one, and a slightly blurry image appeared before her.

"Where... where am I? Who am I?"

"A-310 subject born, experiment... successful."

The bewildered girl raised her head, reaching out to touch the thick glass of the cultivation tank, meeting the gaze of the cold-faced blond man outside.

"A-310? Is that my name? And who are you?"

"Can a newborn engage in semantic analysis and dialogue?"

The man raised an eyebrow, muttering a few words that the girl inside the cultivation tank couldn't quite hear, so she leaned forward, pressing her face against the glass.

The blond man made a decision, speaking loudly: "A-310, if you can pass the trials I've arranged for you, I'll tell you my name. And, I'll bestow upon you, your name."

--- This was the first encounter between Otto and Theresa... no, it should be called A310 at that time.

Soon, more bubbles surged from the depths of the sea of memories, tainted with bloody memories following this scene.

A girl identical to A310 stood opposite, staring at herself with lifeless eyes.

"I..."

Theresa could feel her rapid breathing at that moment, along with her chaotic thoughts. At that time, she could already engage in physical combat and wrestle with the beasts, but now she couldn't even grip a dagger.

"Just kill her, and you'll complete all the trials. Then, you'll get your name..."

"But, she's a person! I can't do something like killing a person!"

"There can only be one ultimate victor. If you don't kill her, she'll kill you. Although I'd prefer to let you live, because you're more like..."

Otto shook his head. "Enough! Hesitating now will only get you killed."

"Wait!"

The expressionless sister raised the dagger, ready to strike at A310.

The following scene was like a dizzying special effect, with the clash of steel, cutting blades, and heavy breaths mixing together, ending with a sobbing cry:

"I... I won't kill anyone!"

A310 restrained her sister, forcefully throwing away the dagger!

Theresa watched this memory, along with the slightly blurry, almost surreal face of the blond man because of her tears.

At that moment, the headmaster finally noticed that Otto's face was full of surprise, as if he had seen... another person he had longed for.

"Grandpa..."

Theresa reached out and picked up another piece of memory.

"Direct subordinate of the bishop, B-rank Valkyrie Theresa, about to arrive at the battlefield!"

"Here is the commander of the Far East Branch's First Squad, A-rank Valkyrie Shingalari."

A hearty voice replied, "Ten hours ago, we observed a never-before-seen giant Honkai beast nearby, temporarily named Parvati. Now, my squad is advancing to the target area for annihilation."

"Understood, please send me the coordinates so I can coordinate with you in combat!"

... The scene seemed to fast-forward, flashing incessantly.

"Theresa, the mission is terminated, prepare to move to the evacuation point!"

"Grandpa, why?"

"According to the data returned by the Valkyrie who made contact with Parvati, its energy level is emperor-class... It seems that the data sent back by the intelligence team at the beginning of the mission was incorrect."

"But, Miss Shingalari's squad has already made contact with Parvati! No, I can't accept this, I have to go save them!"

"Wait, Theresa! Come back, this is my order!"

... The scene of memory changed, and Theresa found herself on a hill, overlooking the battlefield below.

"Don't come over! Theresa, while my squad can still hold it off..."

Every time I close my eyes, I hear a voice making a promise to me, asking me to protect everyone... Now, let me fulfill this promise!

"I won't let anyone die in front of me!"

Then, the white-haired girl raised her weapon and charged forward!

...

The headmaster still remembered this battle, December 24, 1973, the battle against Parvati, it was her debut.

In this battle, B-rank Valkyrie Theresa Apocalypse was severely injured, while the target, Parvati, was confirmed dead.

"It's been such a long time since that happened..."

Theresa didn't expect herself to remember it so clearly. She pondered for a moment, guessing that it might be the effect of Fenghuang Down.

She continued to swim in the ocean of memories, occasionally picking up a piece to reminisce about the scenes from that time.

Until the crisp sound of shattering broke the silence, Theresa looked in the direction of the sound, surprised to find a large memory fragment bound by chains deep in the ocean.

Fine cracks spread across the surface of the chains, gradually leaking golden light.

After a few seconds, the chains couldn't bear it anymore, bursting open, and the long-bound memory fragment flew towards Theresa's consciousness like a shell, piercing straight into her mind.

"Cecilia, why are you in such a hurry to build a Valkyrie Academy? Is it because of Kiana?"

"Ah, not exactly. Rather, if she doesn't want to be a Valkyrie in the future, I would actually be happy... I hope that before they become warriors, they can first be a 'person' and freely explore the world..."

Cecilia smiled. "I hope that when they shout 'fighting for all that is beautiful in the world,' beautiful memories will come to mind, and they can truly understand the meaning behind it."

--- Yes, St. Freya was actually Cecilia's wish, but I seem to have forgotten...

Before Theresa could sort out her thoughts, more images jumped out.

"Let me introduce, this is Fu Hua. And this is Theresa."

"Hello."

Fu Hua smiled and reached out her hand. "I've heard Cecilia mention that Theresa is her good friend for a long time..."

"Ahaha, hello hello..."

Cecilia wrapped her arms around the shoulders of the two, smiling as she led them away.

--- Did I know Fu Hua before? But why don't I remember her now...

As if hit by a flashbang, Theresa's vision suddenly flashed, and the scene changed again.

With a towering black tower in the background, a man wearing a windbreaker and glasses exuded a highly oppressive aura as he spoke softly, "Ladies and gentlemen of Schicksal, I am Welt Yang, the Leader of Anti Entropy. The events unfolding in the Babylon Tower right now are crucial to the fate of the world."

The man reached out his hand. "For the sake of this world, please temporarily set aside past grievances and accept our help to resolve this incident together."

--- This is the Second Honkai Eruption, are the people from Schicksal here...? But I remember clearly...

The scene flickered again, Otto holding an apple, sitting on the edge of a sickbed, using a small knife to peel the apple.

"Lord Siegfried and Lady Cecilia, engaged in battle with the Second Herrscher. During the battle, the energy reaction of the Second Herrscher continued to expand, eventually engulfing the entire Siberia."

On the other side, the bishop's trusted assistant, Amber, spoke with a heavy voice:

"In order to prevent the situation from deteriorating further, Lady Cecilia ordered us to launch the Honkai Fusion Bomb, but she herself..."

"Enough!"

Theresa sat up in bed, staring sharply at the blond man. "Grandpa! Is what Amber said true?!"

"Theresa..."

Otto Apocalipsis sighed. "What people believe, is what is called the truth."

With his words, golden feathers fell in the room, and Theresa felt her thoughts gradually solidify—

"Theresa, I've found the problem in your memory, hold on!"

Fu Hua's voice reached the headmaster's ears, making her shiver, suddenly waking up, staring at the blond man who was speaking confidently.

"Our Schicksal forces, independently fought against the Second Herrscher without any assistance. In the battle, Lady Cecilia and numerous outstanding Valkyries unfortunately perished... But for the sake of protecting humanity, all of this was worth it."

Otto cut a small piece of apple and fed it to the stunned girl.

"Amber, record this in the Schicksal's database. In Siberia, flattened by the fission bomb... let me construct a truth that is most beneficial to Schicksal."

The next moment, countless complex voices and images exploded in front of Theresa!

Fu Hua put away Fenghuang Down and sighed in relief. "Alright, I've unlocked the shackles... there shouldn't be any problem... Theresa? Theresa!"

Theresa looked up, her eyes bloodshot.

Seeing the headmaster like this, Jingwei was shocked. "What's wrong with you?! I'll call the Valkyrie medical team immediately..."

"No, it's fine, my old friend."

Theresa Apocalipsis smiled, her deep blue eyes filled with profound sadness.

"I... just feel like, my life is nothing more than a dream."

Chapter 57: The Big Bang!

Durandal found that the operation was proceeding more smoothly than imagined, with the most crucial reason being Luo Lin's continuous control of the airspace.

For the golden-haired knight, the ordinary Honkai beasts on land were no match for her, and the only ones capable of troubling her were the flying Honkai beasts launching aerial assaults.

Currently, Luo Lin, with her assault rifle in hand, had set up an exaggerated anti-aircraft net above the landing team, single-handedly dealing with nearly ninety percent of the flying Honkai beasts.

The Valkyries accompanying her watched the black-haired Valkyrie with admiration, marveling at her formidable abilities as they casually dispatched the few stragglers that slipped through.

Even Luo Lin herself was surprised by this achievement.

From the moment she boarded the transport ship, the black-haired Valkyrie felt her condition was excellent and her focus heightened.

The positions of the flying Honkai beasts were clearly exposed in her "radar," and she even marked their upcoming flight trajectories. Luo Lin only needed to raise her gun, follow her combat instincts, and pull the trigger at the right moment, and the beasts would fly into the bullets on their own.

The black-haired girl initially thought she was experiencing a temporary surge in combat prowess, expecting it not to last long. But to her surprise, she maintained this effect all the way from the transport ship to the spine of Chiyou, feeling like she had an "auto-lock" effect activated.

"What's going on?"

If the girl were just a newcomer to the Honkai world, she might have been excited about her excellent condition and used her abilities bravely to fight enemies without delving into the related principles and details.

But having experienced so many events, especially her time in the Imaginary Tree, Luo Lin was different.

Mobius and Vill-V, as top scientists, had a strong desire for knowledge, always seeking to get to the bottom of things. Luo Lin, with her various special abilities, excited them greatly. In pursuit of rigorous experimentation and details, the two scientists had put the girl through countless trials.

This also affected Luo Lin herself; she became more cautious about the things happening to her, especially in cases like now, where she maintained an exceptional state for a long time, which was naturally a kind of anomaly that needed attention.

At that moment, contact came from Sentience: "Luo Lin, are you on the back of Chiyou now? The signal of the mental link has improved a lot."

"Yes, we are now destroying Chiyou's... shield enhancement crystal?"

Not far away, a huge purple-red crystal stood amidst the raging storm, with a vast amount of Honkai energy dispersing from the top of the crystal, directly enhancing Chiyou's shield.

Luo Lin looked around; there was not only the large crystal, but also crystalline patterns on the ground, with many small crystalline blocks spreading along the lines, growing visibly.

The closer to the giant crystal, the more Honkai beasts there were around, and the fiercer the resistance. Moreover, during the battle, the Honkai beasts made many targeted adjustments.

This included but was not limited to calling more heavy units to intercept Durandal, using knight-class Honkai beasts to flank the team from both sides, attempting to separate Durandal from the other Valkyries.

Unfortunately, Durandal's combat power was too strong. She was like Zhao Zilong at Changban Slope, shuttling back and forth on the battlefield, breaking through the formations set by the Honkai beasts.

Under the almost ferocious attack of the golden-haired knight, all tactics against her failed.

The manipulator behind the scenes changed tactics, beginning to target people other than Durandal—two knight-class Honkai beasts took a big detour and launched a sneak attack from behind Luo Lin's team.

However, standing at the back of the team in Night Knight Moon Requiem armor, Himeko Murata watched the knight-class Honkai beasts charging with a formation, silently raised the great sword in her hand, and fiercely slashed towards the enemy!

A deep blue shockwave blossomed from the position where the sword landed, and layers of sharp ice crystals rose up like a moat, blocking the knight-class Honkai beasts charging forward.

But this sword was far more than that. The chilling tide full of Honkai energy swept along the direction of Himeko's strike, freezing a large area of the ground into a crystal-clear "skateboard."

Even the raindrops along the path condensed into sharp ice chips, splattering on the knight-class Honkai beasts with a crackling sound, covering the enemy's bodies with a layer of frost.

The speed of the knight-class beasts visibly slowed down, and it even took some time to deal with the ice "obstacles" blocking the charging path, allowing Luo Lin and the other Valkyries to deal with these enemies very calmly.

After dealing with these attacking knight-class Honkai beasts, Luo Lin's team finally arrived next to the shield enhancement crystal.

Another round of fighting ensued as the Valkyries cleared the guards around the crystal. Now, there were no defensive forces here.

Durandal shook Eternal Silence, dropping the Honkai beast corpse that had just been pierced by her spear on the ground.

The golden-haired knight then stuck her lance into the crystal, gathering her Honkai energy, and forcefully stabbed it inside, creating a hole several meters deep.

The golden-haired knight commanded, "Install the bomb!"

Two Valkyries in the team immediately stepped forward and took out a bomb from their backpacks:

This thing looked like a huge thermos, with yellow and black warning signs on it, forming a three-petal fan-shaped pattern radiating from the center.

Just seeing this symbol, Luo Lin's heart began to race wildly, and she even felt her voice becoming somewhat strange: "Is this a Honkai fission bomb?!"

"Yes, Captain Ragnar believes that conventional explosives probably won't cause enough damage," the Valkyrie installing the bomb answered very honestly, "so we took eight small fission bombs from the arsenal of the Hyperion."

Mother of god! Does the Hyperion still have this thing?!

Luo Lin looked in horror at the cylindrical projectile in the other's hand, with a transparent window on its side, directly showing the flickering core inside.

The Valkyrie installing the bomb pulled out the handle at the top of the cylinder, gave it a slight twist, then stuffed the entire bomb into the pit dug out by Durandal.

The bomb slid smoothly into the bottom of the pit, making a clinking sound as it landed, causing Luo Lin's heart to skip a beat.

Watching the expression on the black-haired girl's face, the Valkyrie added, "Don't underestimate this thing; it's tough. Ordinary Honkai beast attacks can't even break its shell."

Durandal gave the command at the right time: "Move to the next target!"

The Valkyries hurriedly left the area, running into a group of Honkai beasts coming to support from the volcano.

Because the powerful bomb was right behind them, Durandal didn't dare to linger, leading the Valkyries through the enemy's front line, quickly moving away from the detonation point.

The Honkai beasts coming to support were somewhat confused, watching Luo Lin's team leave.

"Didn't they want to destroy the crystal? Why did they just leave directly...?"

Just as the manipulator behind the scenes was puzzled, the bomb's countdown reached zero.

A light emerged from inside the shield enhancement crystal, instantly depriving nearby Honkai beasts of their vision. The light was so intense that it even illuminated half of the sky for a short time!

The huge crystal was completely shattered in just a few seconds, and the shockwave even blasted debris several kilometers away.

Chiyou howled, swaying several times before barely stabilizing. The slender mushroom-shaped smoke rose up, competing with the volcanic smoke.

Now, Dark Jixuanyuan understood why Durandal had left so hastily.

The corrupted warrior gritted her teeth, caressing the core of Chiyou embedded in his chest, and silently issued reinforcements.

Chapter 58: It's Either All or Nothing

"...The second fission bomb has been deployed, expected to detonate in two minutes." Luo Lin's voice came through the mental link, accompanied by some background noises of collisions and explosions. "It's estimated that Chiyou will stumble again, so be careful."

"Thanks to the blast you set off earlier, Chiyou's insides were shaken like an earthquake. The enemies guarding the intersection were shaken off balance, giving us a chance to sneak in."

Luo Lin received a compressed file from Helix, taking a few seconds to unzip it while still shooting down the collapsing beasts. Then, the black-haired Valkyrie furrowed her brows.

In the tunnel traversed by Senti and Helix, there were already noticeable changes. The temperature inside the tunnel rose rapidly, and the air carried a pungent smell of sulfur, indicating that they were very close to the volcanic activity on the back of the Judgment-class Honkai beast.

Listening to the sounds of battle in the background, Senti asked, "You're really something. Chatting with us through the mental link while fighting?"

The black-haired Valkyrie sighed softly, "Mainly because I feel like I'm divinely assisted right now. My body reacts faster than my mind, taking care of all the enemies that need attention as if it's on autopilot."

Helix comforted, "It's okay, at most, it's just auto-aiming, not cheating."

"If I didn't still feel like I have full control over my body right now, able to stop this autopilot behavior at any time... I would have thought I was being controlled by something."

Luo Lin sighed, "Obviously, this is related to that new event the system launched before—especially the situation you encountered inside Chiyou, similar to summoning reinforcements... We need to study this."

Helix chuckled, "I'm sure Mobius and Vill-V are very interested in this thing!"

"Speaking of them... Damn, should I take out the detector now and record all the nearby data?!"

Miss Pink Elf was stunned, "You haven't recorded it yet?"

"I attached a small detector to myself as Mobius and Vill-V requested, set to activate round the clock... but I feel like the data it's collecting isn't enough."

Senti's eyes flickered as she said, "Luo Lin, I remember the Hyperion has a high-power detector, right? I'm sure it's running at full power now."

"Firstly, I need permission to copy these things from the Hyperion's database... Secondly, the Hyperion is for long-distance detection. I'm already on Chiyou and in contact with those strange shield enhancement crystals. Later, I'll definitely need to go deeper into Chiyou... These close-range detection data must have their value."

The black-haired Valkyrie looked visibly conflicted, "The environmental changes on Chiyou are currently unpredictable— if I tell Mobius and Vill-V that the series of data from this thing is not comprehensive due to the small size of the detector, do you think they wont rub me on the ground repeatedly?"

Helix didn't even need to think, "It's not a question of whether they will or not, but how hard they'll rub you— besides, according to what you're saying, it's not that there's no recorded data now, but that it's recorded, but not comprehensive..."

Miss Pink Elf said meaningfully, "Some things are either absent or well-prepared. Being stuck in the middle like this, just like some authors who like to cut off chapters, will make you rubbed harder on the ground."

"Hiss~" Luo Lin took a deep breath, "Now that you put it that way, I'm even more panicked..."

A few seconds later, Helix asked, "If I'm not mistaken, are you planning to take out the detector that Vill-V made for you, which looks like a small floating tank...?"

"After all, this is something personally crafted by Vill-V, with all the necessary detectors, and it even has an incredibly tough shield experienced in battles where the pleasure index increased exponentially, just looking at it makes people feel at ease..."

Helix nodded, "Alright, since you're prepared to face Otto head-on, right?"

"We've already been on Otto's list for a long time— and there's a saying, isn't there? Too many debts never worry? "

Luo Lin shrugged helplessly, "When you owe enough debts, it's the turn of the creditors to hope you don't run into trouble... I'll try to make Otto something fierce at this level."

Miss Pink Elf gave a thumbs-up, "Ambitious! I support you in making something fiercer than climbing the Imaginary Tree!"

"Well, that's a bit difficult..."

Luo Lin looked around at the Valkyries fighting, took a deep breath, and shouted, "Everyone, I'm going to release a detector around me, don't panic!"

Himeko looked at the two things Luo Lin conjured up and asked, "These are...?"

"A detector and an ELF— similar to the one around Fu Hua," Luo Lin replied.

"Impressive."

Himeko immediately thought of the small figure she saw next to Fu Hua before departure and nodded, "But this detector looks a bit bizarre..."

"No choice, blame the maker's twisted sense of humor."

On the communication channel, Durandal asked, "Is this quantum teleportation technology?"

Luo Lin smiled, "Probably, I'm not sure."

"Tsk, another relic from the previous civilization."

The next moment, the second fission bomb exploded, and Senti and Helix, inside Chiyou, broke through several lines of defense again during the tremors, sneaking deeper into the volcano.

Now, the target was within reach!

Chapter 59: Let's Explore the Front Area Later

Helix and Senti finally departed from the winding tunnel and entered an extremely vast space. Golden-red magma surged like waves, flowing everywhere, dividing the ground, which was full of melted and condensed traces.

Terrifying toxic smoke emanated from every surge of magma, rapidly rising and dissipating from the top of the volcano, forming the spectacular giant smoke column outside.

Of course, there were still two other smoke columns besides the volcano's smoke column—those were the traces left by Dark Jixuanyuan and Durandal's team using the fission bomb.

It could be foreseen that two more smoke columns would rise soon.

"Boom! Boom!"

At this moment, a dull heartbeat suddenly sounded, echoing in Helix and Senti's ears. They looked up and saw a huge heart made of rock, supported by extending brackets on the rock wall, with massive amounts of Honkai Energy flowing through the brackets, bursting into every corner of Chiyou's body with each heartbeat.

Dark Jixuanyuan was right below this heart, in the center of this molten world.

She rode a warhorse, holding a black giant sword in one hand like a lance, while the other hand rested on her chest, with a few flickering red lights leaking through her fingers, flashing at the same frequency as the giant heart's heartbeat.

Behind the warrior, the gateway to the imaginary space continued to pour out Honkai Energy without stopping.

Helix could feel that the concentration of Honkai Energy nearby was already terrifying. Even low-level Valkyries would not be able to move normally here, and their bodies would suffer irreversible Honkai erosion within minutes.

Fortunately, this didn't affect Helix and Senti. After all, Senti was a Herrscher, and in a sense, the role Helix was currently using was also a Herrscher...

"Coming so fast."

Dark Jixuanyuan turned her head, staring at Senti and Helix, who emerged from the gateway. Her complexion was as gloomy as the "Dark" in her code name, and the madness conveyed in her gaze even made Senti uncomfortable.

The corrupted warrior sighed, "It seems that the guards I arranged have no effect on you... Neither the ones inside nor the ones who just arrived on Chiyou."

Senti sneered, "Those minions? They are just delivering food..."

Miss Pink Elf pinched her bangs, "But they did give us a bit of a headache."

"But it doesn't matter, we can still change our strategy now."

Dark Jixuanyuan put down the hand covering her chest, exposing the core embedded in her body. A dangerous red light burst out, connecting her with the giant heart above her head.

"I need something stronger... more powerful..."

In the warrior's murmurs, the flow of Honkai Energy from the gateway behind her became more intense, rapidly spinning and expanding.

This special effect made Helix's scalp numb—this was how the "Husk·Mysticism" emerged earlier.

"Interrupt her!"

Miss Pink Elf immediately opened the "Flawless Dome" and aimed her war bow at the core of the Herrscher of Domination, intending to inflict as much damage as possible before its shell was fully constructed—preferably to kill it directly!

"Got it!"

Senti shouted in the mental link, "But that countdown popped up again!!"

"?!"

Helix's eyes narrowed as she looked at the countdown of one and a half minutes in her field of vision, and the scene where crystal arrows exploded into brilliant fireworks on the core, but without much substantial effect, made her grit her teeth in frustration.

"Damn it, why is it as tough as that bull before..."

Senti's emotions were also unstable, "Dark Jixuanyuan, you should fight less in the Abyss and on the battlefield from now on!"

Dark Jixuanyuan: "That's absolutely not possible."

Amidst the laser beams spraying from the giant flower and the drills wildly thrown by the Herrscher of Domination, ninety seconds passed in an instant, and a prompt box with the words "Challenge Failed" appeared in front of Helix and Senti.

Then, they were thrown a short distance away, staring numbly at the scars on the Husk·Mysticism and the Herrscher of Domination, all fully restored.

Helix shot an arrow angrily at Dark Jixuanyuan, but it was blocked by a shield, and she shouted, "Shields, shields everywhere!!"

This scene made Dark Jixuanyuan smile, and she rode her horse forward to pat the shells of the Husk·Mysticism and the Herrscher of Domination, "That's more like it! You guys deal with these two, I'll go kill the bugs jumping around on Chiyou."

Dark Jixuanyuan turned around, slapped her horse's neck rather gracefully, and sped up—

"Oh!"

Then she collided with the barrier just like the arrow from Miss Pink Elf earlier.

"Huh...? Why?"

Dark Jixuanyuan rubbed her head, reached out to grope forward, and the shield faintly lit up with her fingertip touch, still standing firm, giving her no face at all.

"Hey, unlock this thing for me..."

Dark Jixuanyuan turned her head somewhat displeased, intending to lecture the two Imaginary units she summoned, but found that the two huge entities had disappeared silently, leaving her alone trapped inside this Honkai Energy field barrier.

—Am I trapped?!

Outside the shield, Helix and Senti stared at each other in surprise.

Because just now, they watched the two Imaginary bosses disappear into the vortex, then gritted their teeth and touched this shield, only to have the system pop up a strange prompt:

[Need to pass Stage 2-5 Azure Heart, Challenge Task - Mysticism, Challenge Task - Existentialism, Challenge Task - Herrscher of Domination to unlock this level]

"...?"

Chapter 60: Gear Explosion

"Damn it, Luo Lin, what are you always thinking about?!" The pink elf slapped her own forehead. "You don't learn from the good things and follow along with planning events in segments! Now we're stuck!"

"Look!" Senti grabbed Helix's hand as she was about to slap herself and pointed at the figure riding a horse inside the barrier. "She seems to be trapped by this barrier!"

The sudden appearance of the barrier was not within Dark Jixuanyuan's expectations, and she couldn't control it either. Despite several attempts, she couldn't pass through or manipulate the barrier.

"Annoying!" The corrupted warrior's face was full of anger as she gave up thinking and raised her sword to strike the shield.

At this moment, the Honkai Energy carried by the "Black Xuanyuan Sword" was much stronger than before, even making Senti feel a hint of danger. However, despite such immense power, it couldn't affect the barrier in any way, not even causing the slightest flicker or ripple.

"The barrier seems to be fixed with the space, unmoving..." Helix touched the shield in front of her, pondering. "Could this thing be an indestructible environmental object?"

Senti breathed a sigh of relief. "Phew, it seems we don't need to rush like before, since Dark Jixuanyuan is already trapped inside the shield... What do we do next?"

"Anyway, we'll have to figure out how to open the shield in the end. Let's first study this prompt box."

Miss pink elf turned her head back to the prompt box that had appeared in front of them. "If I'm not mistaken, these three challenge tasks are the stubborn Imaginary Constructs we've dealt with before—the Imaginary bull, Imaginary flowers, and the remaining Herrscher of Domination..."

"I guessed that too. It's like playing a game, we need to clear these prerequisite levels first..."

Senti widened her eyes. "Wait, what's a Herrscher of Domination?! Are there other Herrschers here?! Why didn't I sense them?"

Helix paused. "Huh? The abstract thing I asked you to focus fire on earlier was the Herrscher of Domination..."

"You mean that abstract thing was the Herrscher of Domination?" Senti's face was full of shock. "But I didn't sense any Herrscher authority at all..."

Miss pink elf quickly asked, "No Herrscher authority? Are you sure?"

Senti nodded. "I'm sure, at least within my perception, there were no new Herrschers."

Helix rubbed her chin. "Then what was that Herrscher of Domination that ran away just now?"

While Miss pink elf pondered life, Dark Jixuanyuan fired Honkai Energy beams towards Helix and Senti's position.

The beams were intercepted by the shield as expected, remaining steadfast without any disturbance, although the attack's brightness made them squint a bit.

Dark Jixuanyuan shouted angrily, "Humans! What are you up to?!"

Helix scratched her head awkwardly. "Sorry, I have no idea either."

Dark Jixuanyuan glared at them hatefully, then inserted her sword into the ground and began absorbing the surrounding Honkai Energy, making the blood-red glow on her body more intense.

Miss pink elf exclaimed, "She's strengthening herself?!"

"Yes, Dark Jixuanyuan's power is already quite formidable." Senti's expression was grave. "And don't forget the three Imaginary Constructs we encountered earlier—they were all enhanced by the world's rules. I think Dark Jixuanyuan is no exception and can enjoy this enhancement as well."

"How... how do we deal with this?"

Chapter 61: Intercepting the Vast Sea

"Huh?! Expansion Chips?!" Luo Lin exclaimed as she looked at the long string of prompts that appeared, emitting a puzzled sound.

It had been quite some time since the black-haired girl received the "Moon Ring," and later, Bronya (Secondary Silver Valkyrie) even gave her two blank "Moon Rings" as gifts.

Let's highlight the key point— "blank." After all, when the Adult Bronya from "Post-Honkai Odyssey" arrived at St. Fontaine, it immediately followed Luo Lin, leading to a series of events, leaving no time to acquire the matching amplification chips for the "Moon Rings"...

In other words, besides the inherent Honkai conversion and amplification capabilities equipped on Luo Lin's "Moon Ring," there weren't any other fancy skills.

Now, out of nowhere on the back of the Chariot Xuanyuan, several so-called "Expansion Chips" suddenly emerged, even forming a connection with the "Moon Ring," which truly puzzled the black-haired girl.

Luo Lin quickly opened the system panel and her finger tapped on the newly added "Activity" button. Sure enough, she found a brand new, shining column inside, displaying the chips she had just obtained.

Luo Lin carefully observed the names of the Expansion Chips, feeling a strong sense of déjà vu, reminiscent of something called the "Core Space."

—The "Core Space" is a relatively new, periodically activated activity. The girl remembered that it seemed to replace the old "Sealed Zone," providing Hyperion Cores, Hydrogen Kasei, and some other nurturing materials.(Also have no idea, seaeched ans no cigar.)

In this activity, there happened to be a series of "chips" available for selection. After activating three of the same type of "chips," it would provide a relatively powerful core skill.

Thinking about it carefully, it seemed that Honkai Impact 3 had an inexplicable affinity with the number 3: teams consisted of three characters, there were three regular Seals of the Apocalypse for activating Core Seals, Tri-Polar Crystal... Just by looking at the names, you know these things need three to work...

As for the "Expansion Chips" Luo Lin had just obtained... they seemed similar to those in the "Core Space."

"Basic Attack" and "Initial Energy" directly boosted the panel's attack power and SP value. The "Versatile" series chips required meeting the condition of "using different types of attacks" to trigger enhancement.

And by "different," it meant regular attacks, charged and branched attacks, QTEs, Ultimate Skills, and weapon skills, each of which was a different type of attack.

Luckily, the "Dark Feather" character card that Luo Lin was currently using could perform all attacks except for QTE skills, making it relatively easy to trigger the "Versatile" chips.

You may ask why there were no QTE skills?

It wasn't that Luo Lin thought the QTE skills of "Dark Feather" were useless and affected the output cycle, so she actively turned off this function (calling out Yun Mo Danxin here), but because there simply weren't any QTE skills on the panel of "Dark Feather"...

Perhaps she hadn't learned it yet.

Luo Lin quickly activated the chips she had just obtained, and the "Moon Ring" flickered a few times, emitting scattered starlight, drifting onto the body of the black-haired Valkyrie.

In a trance, Luo Lin felt a strange fluctuation.

The next moment, the bullets shot by the Valkyrie exhibited far greater lethality than before—

The Chariot-level Honkai beasts that would have been shot down turned into fireworks in the air. Even the warship-level ones were pushed back uncontrollably, and even the shield held by the Seraph-level Honkai beast was shattered and fragmented in the barrage...

Himeko ran to the side of the black-haired girl. "Luo Lin, did those light spots affect you just now?"

Luo Lin replied earnestly, "Hmm, thanks to those light spots just now, I'm even more awesome now."

"Ah? Be a little more serious, don't joke around!"

"I'm not joking, those light spots are actually an amplification chip that effectively enhances my combat power."

Luo Lin's gaze swept over Himeko, finally focusing on her wrist, where there was also a circular device emitting an icy blue light — it was the "Moon Ring."

Obviously, Himeko Murata was using a replica made by Otto Apocalypse.

The girl touched the "Moon Ring" on her wrist, and with a flick of her finger, pulled out a translucent crystal-like chip from it.

Luo Lin stared at the word "Versatile" engraved on the chip, pondering, "Perhaps, you can also use these things..."

————————————————————

"Warning! Shield remaining at 35%!"

On the Hyperion, Ragnar's expression was solemn.

After the battleship paralyzed two legs of "Chiyou" with its main cannon, the resistance of the Seraph-level Honkai beast became more intense. The frequency of the volcano it carried erupted abruptly, with more and faster lava balls flying in the sky.

This also meant that the Hyperion was in a dangerous area.

Facing this sudden change, the old captain commanded the aerial battleship to start maneuvering, while distancing itself and adjusting the positions of the Hyperion and "Chiyou," attempting to attack the remaining two legs.

Despite the fact that the pilots of the Hyperion were all carefully selected, highly skilled Valkyries, they still couldn't fare well under attacks akin to "firepower coverage."

"Warning! Shield remaining at 30%!"

"Warning! Shield remaining at 28%!"

The alarm of the shield being hit continued incessantly, and with the constant hits from the lava balls, more and more Honkai beasts fell onto the deck, even destroying two secondary gun turrets.

"Ragnar, leave it to me."

Just then, a familiar voice sounded on the communication channel.

The old captain turned her head in astonishment, finding Theresa Apocalypse walking towards her.

Theresa held "Judah" in one hand, still wearing the black and white nun's habit, but she looked completely different from a short while ago.

Under the ship's lights, the tear lines on the headmistress's cheeks were particularly distinct, her eyes boiling with anger, lips pursed, corners of her eyebrows showing worry and fatigue—of course, there was also an indescribable impatience and killing intent...

"Ah, oh..."

Faced with the imposing Theresa, Ragnar didn't even utter half a word of dissuasion, only able to watch as she opened the door leading to the deck, striding into the storm.

Ragnar turned her head and looked at Fu Hua, who had appeared beside her at some point, whispering, "What's wrong with Theresa?"

"She's just a little shaken..." Fu Hua smiled bitterly, "I guess she wants to vent a bit now."

Then, the old captain witnessed what Theresa called "venting."

The petite nun smashed "Oath of Judah" onto the deck, then, as if she was using a whip, fiercely struck the chain she was pulling.

"All units, attention! This unit will now carry out Anti-Honkai Energy Suppression—please prepare for the reduction of Honkai activity according to the plan!"

The cross unfolded with a clang, and the anti-Honkai energy field instantly suppressed the Honkai beasts still active on the deck. They howled, their movements slowed, only able to watch as the golden javelins descended from the sky, piercing them like hedgehogs.

As for the Valkyries on the deck performing interception tasks, according to the plan they had practiced before, they quickly withdrew from the anti-Honkai energy field, leaving the front-line battlefield to Theresa, to coordinate with her in battle.

Theresa stretched out her hand expressionlessly, pulled out a short spear from "Judah", as she made a standard throwing motion, and hurled it towards the lava balls whistling from a distance.

The golden spear turned into a stream of light, accurately hitting one of the lava balls.

Then, the spherical anti-Honkai energy field burst open in the air, enveloping three lava balls that were relatively close to each other.

In an instant, the crimson projectiles collapsed and disintegrated, and the Honkai beasts and zombies hidden inside also fell together.

Those Honkai beasts that were considered "transporters" with flight capabilities were completely immobilized and unable to move, causing them to fall straight into the sea, only to be swallowed by the waves a few seconds later.

Theresa continued to throw light spears non-stop, intercepting several lava balls each time, greatly reducing the anti-aircraft pressure on the Hyperion.

Finally, for the fourth time, Ragnar ordered the main cannon to fire, and the aerial battleship projected its terrifying firepower onto the last intact leg of "Chiyou."

Amidst the smoke and the roar of the Seraph-level Honkai beast, the massive volcano helplessly ceased its movements.

"Chiyou can't continue forward—interception mission successful!!"

Ragnar shouted excitedly, "Fu Hua, now we can find a way to penetrate the interior of Chiyou and destroy it in one fell swoop!"

"Understood, proceeding!"

【Seeking Help】Can't Beat the Challenge Mission of that Flower in the Test Server

Yansanbo 【lv3】- Posted in: 【Deck】

Reads: 3782/Comments: 22/Likes: 37/Saves: 0

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I've been AFK for a year, only recently picked up the game again, and most of my characters are outdated.

A few days ago, I received a message saying I qualified for the test server. I've tried it a couple of times, but I just can't beat that challenge mission. Can any experts teach me how to pass this difficult imaginary flower challenge?

These are the Valkyries I have, do I have to use those trial characters to beat it?

【Image Load Failed】

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All Comments--Sort: Earliest⬇

Xingchen Nanxi【lv5】2nd Floor

Isn't the test server supposed to give you a bunch of character fragments and stigmata? Can't you just randomly put together an SSS Valkyrie and crush the stage?

—Yansanbo Reply to Xingchen Nanxi: Huh? Is that so? Where are the characters and stigmata they give?

—Xingchen Nanxi Reply to Yansanbo: Check your email to see if there are any unopened messages. The test server sends characters and stigmata directly to your inbox.

—Yansanbo Reply to Xingchen Nanxi: Senior, I don't have it【Image】

—Xingchen Nanxi Reply to Yansanbo: ? It doesn't seem like you're on the test server.

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Riemannfunction【lv4】3rd Floor

OP, your picture is broken, can't see what Valkyries you have.

—Yansanbo Reply to Riemannfunction: 【Image】Can you see it now?

—Riemannfunction Reply to Yansanbo: It doesn't seem like you've missed just a year of logging in, there's basically nothing you can use to beat it. You'd better use the trial characters from events; they're guaranteed to have attributes to counter it.

—Yansanbo Reply to Riemannfunction: 【Crying】How do I assemble a team with trial characters? Help me out, Senior【Image】

—Riemannfunction Reply to Yansanbo: I see, you're not in the official test server for this version! You've entered the server of the Garbled guy!

—Yansanbo Reply to Riemannfunction: 【Confused】Who's the gibberish guy?

—Riemannfunction Reply to Yansanbo: 🔗Link "Bilibili Exclusive, Garbled Guy Incident Overview, The Most Arrogant Hacker in China's History?"

—Yansanbo Reply to Riemannfunction: ... So, my luck is still pretty good?【Can't Decide Whether to Laugh or Cry】

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Kuqiqiqi【lv11】4th Floor

Boss, can I pay you 100 bucks for a test qualification? I also want to play the gibberish guy's event!

—Yansanbo Reply to Kuqiqiqi: No, this is my own account, not for sale.

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Chuiluichangan【lv7】5th Floor

Upgrade the chip level like in APHO. If you really can't beat it, wait until the second phase of the event opens and the chip level cap is raised before trying again. If you want to clear it using trial characters, check this out-🔗Link 【YYGQ Zoo】Fierce Fire, Xuanyuan Returns-All Mission Trial Team Challenge

—Yansanbo Reply to Chuiluichangan: Thanks, boss. That new character feels quite impactful to play.

—Chuiluichangan Reply to Yansanbo: I feel the same way. Unfortunately, it's not an official character, I can only play in the gibberish guy's server.

—Yansanbo Reply to Chuiluichangan: The animation is really well done. Mihoyo should hurry up and hire this author and their production team! I want to see them make a long animated series for Honkai!

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Abaijun【lv4】6th Floor

I remember a lot of posts related to the garbled guy being closed before. Let's see how long this post can last.

—Yansanbo Reply to Abaijun: It's been offline for a long time, is there still etiquette for this?

—Yansanbo Reply to Abaijun: The second phase of the event has started, the post is still here, going to play the new event.

Chapter 62 BGM: Packing Up Your Bags

"The Hyperion received a message," Ragnar said, "【Chiyou】 has now redirected the majority of its energy towards the volcano. It seems intent on launching a major attack against the Hyperion—we cannot allow it to occur."

Durandal retrieved her personal terminal and projected the energy distribution map of 【Chiyou】 detected by the Hyperion into the air. Luo Lin could see several bright lines extending from the two sub-cores of the Honkai Beast, winding and connecting to the volcano.

Pointing to the two very conspicuous large bright spots, the golden-haired knight said, "Our next objective is to enter the interior of 【Chiyou】, destroy these two cores of the Honkai Beast, and sever the volcano's power supply..."

Ragnar also suggested, "The cores will undoubtedly be heavily guarded. We can disrupt the energy transmission channels along the way to reduce the volcano's energy absorption efficiency."

Durandal nodded in satisfaction, "A very good suggestion."

Himeko turned to Luo Lin and asked, "Luo Lin, how did you enter the interior of 【Chiyou】 before?"

"【Chiyou】 was dormant underwater before. We followed the signal scanned by the radar, dove down, and swam through a tunnel..."

Luo Lin replied with a wry smile, "But now that the Honkai Beast has awakened, the surrounding environment has changed too much. I can't reconfirm the position I entered before. Sorry."

Himeko scratched her head, "I see... Then how do we get in?"

Durandal manipulated the projection map, enlarged the model, and found her position on it, "The radar detection data shows that there is a passage used by 【Chiyou】 to release the Honkai Beast nearby. That should be a weak point in defense..."

The black-haired girl was taken aback, "Are you suggesting we charge in from there?"

"No, there's no need to be so complicated—today we have the support of the floating battleship, so we should make full use of its presence."

Durandal greeted the Valkyrie who had just taken out the Honkai Fusion Bomb and flashed a strange smile, pulling out a strange device the size of a flashlight from her magical backpack.

The golden-haired knight gestured with the "flashlight," "This is a signal indicator. We'll use it to guide the Hyperion to launch missiles and blow open a path."

"Awesome!"

Luo Lin grabbed Durandal, who was ready to charge with her spear, "Durandal, wait a moment, I have something for you."

She casually handed two 【Omni】 chips to Durandal.

The golden-haired knight, holding the two crystal chips, looked puzzled, "Teacher Luo Lin, what is this...?"

Luo Lin said in an uncertain tone, "It's barely considered an amplification chip for the【Moon Ring】, I guess?"

Although it wasn't the original matching chip, since it could be used with the 【Moon Ring】, there shouldn't be a big problem saying so.

Durandal blinked, "Isn't this the new cutting-edge product that Bishop Otto just developed and tested on a small scale... Why does Teacher have its amplification chip?"

"Just now, 【Chiyou】 dropped gold coins... um, because the 【Moon Ring】 that Otto initially obtained was brought back from me..."

Looking at the increasingly confused face of the golden-haired knight, Luo Lin said somewhat helplessly, "There's no time to explain so much now, just use these two things first."

Durandal nodded, and said seriously, "Teacher Luo Lin, please help me install them."

"Okay, it's not difficult to install..."

Luo Lin held the golden-haired knight's hand and gently pressed the side of the【Moon Ring】worn by Durandal, and a small lid opened, revealing the slot for installing the chip.

The slot of the【Moon Ring】was larger than the crystal chip, and the size didn't match.

But Luo Lin calmly stuffed the crystal chip in. After the chip blinked slightly, it matched the card slot of the 【Moon Ring】 by itself.

It's really worthy of being an equipment that can be related to the system, huh?

"Okay, it's done."

The golden-haired knight felt it, "Hmm... I don't feel anything?"

Luo Lin explained, "This is a combat amplification chip. You'll see its effects when you're in battle later. It can significantly enhance your combat power."

"Okay, let's continue forward."

Durandal nodded. She believed that her teacher wouldn't deceive her in this regard, and this chip would definitely work... but she was reserved about the "significant enhancement of combat power" mentioned by Luo Lin.

After all, Durandal had undergone strict training since childhood, and later obtained the power of the Bubble World by coincidence. Coupled with the 【Bright Knight Excelsis】armor, the 【Eternal Silence Helel】spear, and the ultimate means hidden away, some sort of divine key...

This series of opportunities and abilities earned Durandal the title of the strongest Valkyrie of her generation, and also proved that the golden-haired knight herself was strong enough. The amplification of the 【Moon Ring】 was just icing on the cake.

But Overseer Otto didn't care about this. As long as the time and money spent did not exceed an extremely exaggerated ratio, he was willing to provide such "icing on the cake" activities to all elite units under his command—even if the overall index only increased by a few tenths of a percent.

A few tenths of a percent was quite satisfactory. So, let's see how much the enhancement of the 【Omni】 chips is?

【Omni A (Lv1): Doubles the number of layers of Omni obtained. The higher the savings level, the more layers are doubled. When the savings value reaches the maximum level, all Valkyries' total damage dealt is increased by 62%, physical and elemental damage is increased by 83%, and enemies' physical and elemental damage received is increased by 42%, lasting 20 seconds, with repeated triggers refreshing.】

【Omni B (Lv1): Every 5 layers of Omni obtained reduce the cooldown time of Ultimate by 50%. Damage bonus is the same as Omni A and can be stacked with Omni A.】

Look at these eye-catching percentages, and the word "stackable"...

Durandal, as before, took the lead and charged into the herd of Honkai Beasts.

The 【Moon Ring】 was in full operation, emitting the same golden light as Durandal's hair.

"What is this...?"

The golden-haired knight only felt the energy surging in her body, so she subconsciously raised her spear.

"Click!" "Boom!" "Splash!"

In the dumbfounded eyes of the Valkyries, Durandal smashed a Temple-level Honkai Beast with just one spear.

Within a dozen meters behind it, the other enemies on a straight line were also torn apart by the shadow of the spear in an instant, and Honkai energy fragments flew everywhere.

And this was not the end yet. The momentum of the spear did not diminish, and it only disappeared after lifting a large piece of rock ground.

Durandal looked at the damage she caused, half opening her mouth, once again turning into a dumb goose, "Gah?"

Even the Honkai Beast was intimidated by this situation, paused for a moment, and then hurriedly launched an attack towards the golden-haired knight, looking very panicked.

Luo Lin said, "Ah, is this what it feels like to use percentage amplification on a basic panel? I like it."

Chapter 63: Yesterday Revisited

The golden-haired Knight dispatched the enemies blocking the path with ease, leading the landing team to their destination—the passage where Chiyou released the Honkai beasts.

Durandal spent two minutes clearing out all the nearby enemies, then ventured deep into the passage, suppressing the Honkai beasts so they couldn't even stick out a head.

Himeko Murata inserted a beacon-like marker directly at the entrance of the passage. The device's exposed part bloomed like a flower, sending positioning information to the Hyperion.

"Captain Ragnar, we've placed the signal beacon!"

"Received, location locked."

Luo Lin pressed the communicator and shouted, "Durandal! Retreat!"

"On my way!"

A low whistling sound echoed in the passage as the golden Knight, her skirt trailing blue particles, flew back to the team.

The landing team immediately retreated, creating distance for safety. Only then did Durandal communicate with the Hyperion to launch missiles.

Seconds later, missiles with long tails of flame launched from the Hyperion reached the mouth of the cave.

Luo Lin watched as the steel-cast projectiles accurately poured into the passage, continuing to fly along the passage for about two or three seconds. This made her marvel at the superb guidance technology of the guided weapons.

Next moment, the passage erupted with surging shockwaves and flames, accompanied by the sound of massive destruction echoing in everyone's ears.

"I'll go check the situation!"

Durandal maintained her suspended posture and swiftly darted into the smoke and dust.

Luo Lin blinked, "But... it just exploded in there..."

Himeko Murata patted her shoulder, "Durandal's Battlesuit can handle this kind of situation. Don't worry."

The girl nodded helplessly, "Alright..."

Soon, Durandal transmitted a message, "I've successfully reached the interior of Chiyou. The Hyperion's missiles did a great job! Teacher Himeko, Teacher Luo Lin, bring the team down here!"

"Understood."

At this moment, a steady voice suddenly sounded in the Valkyries' communication channel, "This is Fu Hua. I'm on my way to support you."

"Is it a transport airship?" Himeko asked.

"No, I'm flying over myself."

In the stormy weather, the wing-like device around the waist of Fu Hua's suit unfolded, dispersing particles like those in her Shadow Knight Battlesuit, maintaining her flight posture.

However, Fu Hua's posture was somewhat awkward at the moment because she was holding Book of Fuxi in her arms, with the ELF nestled against her broad chest.

Originally, Fu Hua didn't intend to bring this ELF with her. However, when the Book of Fuxi saw Jingwei planning to intercept Chiyou, it immediately suffered from PTSD.

Seeing this scene, the Book of Fuxi couldn't help but immediately associate it with the experiences of Fuxi, Nuwa, and the others, fearing that Jingwei would repeat the same mistakes.

Having just woken up from a deep sleep and reunited with Jingwei not long ago, Fu Hua didn't want to be alone again!

Even if she had to die this time, she wanted to die with Jingwei!

So, the ELF used all its tricks, not only attacking Fu Hua's conscience with tearful eyes but also displaying its weapons and various explosives hidden in the soulium ball to show that it would not be a burden on the battlefield.

Of course, these things were all handed to her by Vill-V.

The Great Magician had said, "Life always needs some art and surprises, doesn't it? I believe Fu Hua will be very excited to see these things."

Indeed, Fu Hua was quite "excited," but in the end, she still brought the Book of Fuxi, declined Ragnar's arranged transport ship, and took off directly from the deck, heading towards Chiyou.

"Fu Hua, do we need to wait for you?" Himeko asked on the channel.

"No need, continue your mission. What we lack most now is time—of course, I'll catch up later."

"Understood."

Luo Lin numbly stared at the scene not far away, where the style suddenly changed from Honkai Impact 3 to the neighboring Dynasty Warriors series, featuring the golden-haired Knight.

With every move, enemies scattered like newspaper blown by the wind, even disintegrating in mid-air and crashing heavily to the ground as they shattered into purple fragments like cheap glassware.

Boosted by the chip, Durandal's combat power had skyrocketed, becoming even more dominant and fierce than before! With such a formidable Valkyrie, what in the world could resist her?!

Durandal finished off the last Honkai beast in her sight and let out a long breath.

"Scan the surroundings with the portable radar!"

"Yes!"

The golden Knight assigned a task to the nearby Valkyries and then briskly walked over to Luo Lin.

"Teacher Luo Lin..."

Luo Lin was surprised, "What's wrong?"

"This chip... feels a bit strange."

Durandal gestured helplessly with her hand, "Its amplification isn't stable, fluctuating between strong and weak outputs. Although it doesn't affect dealing with these ordinary monsters, I'd rather not have this uncontrolled amplification when facing strong enemies."

"Huh? Really? When I use it, it's always... wait a minute..."

Luo Lin paused, then realized something—given Durandal's combat power, dealing with ordinary Honkai beasts was a piece of cake, hardly requiring much effort.

The main requirement for stacking layers of the 'Omnipotent' chip's amplification was to use different types of attacks in combat. Durandal's straightforward shooting would probably be considered just using basic attacks... let alone branch attacks or finishing moves.

And so Durandal found herself in the awkward predicament of "activating amplification with normal attacks, not using other types of attacks resulting in buff failure, and having to start over."

Luo Lin coughed and explained to the golden Knight, "Actually, using this chip requires some skill. You have to use various moves during the amplification duration to keep stacking the buff..."

"A usage technique that goes against intuition..."

Durandal tried to ponder the principle behind it, but her inherited brain from the Kaslana family (and even improved with the bloodline of the Shanxiats) did not support such high-end operations.

She could only give up thinking, scratch her head, smile helplessly, and even find herself an excuse: "Such a powerful amplification equipment, even effective for Valkyries of my level, it's reasonable to have some trouble using it."

"Well, as long as you're happy."

However, just as the two were chatting, a slight ripple generated at this spot, passing through the Valkyries' team.

Almost all the Valkyries in the team had a moment of trance, and in unison, they saw a scene where a girl in Shenzou clothing, with a determined face, held a golden longsword, bravely stepped forward, slew the Honkai beasts, and saved a young boy.

The girl nodded to the boy, "Shennong, I need your help."

Luo Lin looked at the familiar face of the girl and couldn't help but shout, "Jixuanyuan?!"

Chapter 64: Thinking in a Planned Way

In the slightly dim corridor, a Valkyrie rubbed her temples and murmured, "Is this just pressure causing hallucinations?"

"You saw it?" Another Valkyrie replied, Himeko Murata, with pointed ears, heard the other's murmuring and then directly asked, "Was it the scene where that strange girl saved the boy?"

Another Valkyrie hesitantly raised her hand, "I actually saw it too..."

"So, it wasn't just a hallucination! That girl looked really cool, and her sword was impressive too!"

"I saw the wreckage of the Babel Beast in the background!"

"The clothes seemed to be in the style of Shenzhou..."

The other Valkyries chimed in, creating a flurry of echoes in the tunnel.

Durandal lifted the spear "Helel of Eternal Silence" and vigilantly scanned the surroundings, "What was that just now? Was it a mental attack?"

After all, there was still a Herrscher on Chiyou's side who was running amok and skilled in mental manipulation. The first thing Bianka thought of was that she was up to something, so her gaze fell on Luo Lin.

Luo Lin felt sensitive and quickly noticed Durandal's gaze. After a moment of thought, the girl realized what Durandal was worried about.

She patted her chest and said, "It wasn't a mental attack. I know very well what it feels like to be mentally attacked."

Luo Lin said this firmly, after all, none of the mental defense measures left by Senti in her mind had reacted, and the only designated indicator for mental attack judgment—the "Mental Maze" installed by the system—was also calm and unchanged.

"As for the Herrscher's side... I can ask."

Luo Lin called out in the mental link, asking what Senti and "Helix" were doing over there.

"After watching Dark Jixuanyuan's incompetence and rage for a while, she finally accepted reality after chopping at the protective shield that trapped her for half a day, closing her eyes and starting to remotely control the monsters outside... But before the shield was broken, we couldn't do anything about Jixuanyuan."

Senti sighed, "It's a waste of time to stay there now. Helix and I have already circled out of the volcano and are going around searching for challenge stages and the location of that thing, 2-5 Azure Heart."

"Oh, I see... By the way, I've also discovered something over here..."

Luo Lin briefly explained what had happened on her side, emphasizing the drop of the "Omnipotent" chip and the situation where the scene of Jixuanyuan saving the son of the head of the Shennong clan suddenly appeared in the minds of all the Valkyries.

—By the way, for some reason, the term "Shennong" was replaced with "Lianshan" in the Honkai Impact 3 game...

"Is this kind of thing happening too? Wait a moment, let me check the defense measures left in your mind..."

The girl was speechless, "Are you also starting to keep records as a backup?"

"Just in case... It's inspired by Vill-V and Mobius."

Senti chuckled and then said with interest, "I've checked it, and it's not a mental attack, but rather more like... resonance? Your activities triggered some kind of residual echo, reproducing past events in your minds..."

The girl murmured in surprise, "So sophisticated?!"

"Helix" listened for a while and suddenly blurted out, "Um, Lulin, I have an irresponsible guess..."

"You said."

"It's just that, didn't you see the activities popping up in the system earlier, and we even saw 'live-action' CG... and the system dialog box that popped up when I touched the shield trapping Jixuanyuan, there was a glaring '2-5 Azure Heart' in it—did you think of something?"

Listening to Helix's words, Luo Lin's mind was a mess, "Um, not at all...?"

"Of course, you have to look at it from the perspective of the plot of the activity!" Helix said with a smile, analyzing with his fingers crossed, "Now, let's consider ourselves as the plot planners of Honkai Impact 3... Suppose, just suppose—turning everything we've experienced into activity plotlines, from the sudden intrusion into the Hebelein to the bombing of the shield crystal on 'Chiyou'... "

"These are all Hollywood-style thrilling scenes, both in terms of plot and climax are very sufficient, completely seamless transition to activity stages."

Helix said confidently, "But when it comes to infiltrating 'Chiyou' and searching for the core inside, there's not much to see on the way except for killing, right?"

"Um..."

Actually, watching Durandal's big killings was quite interesting, wasn't it?

"At this time, you can't just dryly put in some stages where you just kill monsters to pass, can you? People can't just eat steamed buns, they have to match with some other flavored side dishes..."

"Are you saying that thing is actually a CG used in activities to fill in transitional scenes?" Luo Lin finally caught up with Helix's train of thought and was greatly shocked.

Miss Pink Fairy nodded in satisfaction, "This young man is teachable indeed."

Luo Lin complained, "You and I are essentially the same person, it's so weird for you to say that!"

Helix coughed awkwardly a few times, "If my guess is correct, you will encounter several more CGs like this in the future, and it's highly likely that they will be related to Jixuanyuan... maybe scenes from ancient times, when she fought against 'Chiyou'."

Miss Pink Fairy touched her chin, "After all, many players haven't seen that old 'Stigmata Mystery' comic for some reason, so it's very normal and reasonable to use some stages in the activity to supplement and expand the plot for players who haven't encountered this comic in the activity."

Helix paused for a moment and asked cheerfully, "So, does my speculation make sense?"

Luo Lin could only admire, "You really understand miHoYo."

Durandal looked at Luo Lin, who was silent on the side (communication in the mental link did not require speaking, just thinking), her expression changing constantly, and couldn't help but ask, "Teacher Luo Lin?"

The black-haired Valkyrie blinked and replied, "Ah, I was just communicating with Senti just now... Maybe our activities triggered some kind of resonance, projecting past scenes into our minds."

"Senti...?" Durandal's expression also became somewhat strange, this nickname should refer to the Herrscher, right?

It seems that Teacher Luo Lin's relationship with the other party is not ordinary...

Luo Lin continued, "There may be several more situations like this in the future, but it should be the same as this time, without causing any other effects on us."

Himeko Murata hoisted her greatsword again and said loudly, "Since it doesn't have much of an impact, let's hurry up and move forward!"

Bianka sighed, "Alright, let's keep going!"

Chapter 65: Past Events in Shenzhou

As the landing team continued to advance towards the depths of Chiyou, the mysterious resonance effect once again manifested, projecting the stories of ancient Shenzhou into the minds of the Valkyries—

The boy saved by Jixuanyuan, Jiangu, was the son of the chief of the Shennong clan. Just by looking at the name of this clan, one could tell that Jiangu was well-versed in the knowledge and techniques related to herbs.

Therefore, Jixuanyuan asked him to find a herb named "Water Lung Grass." This herb grew in the area of Panyu, where local fishermen used it to breathe underwater by holding it in their mouths while diving deep.

This was probably in preparation for the upcoming battle with Chiyou...

Luo Lin hadn't revisited the plot of the comic for a long time and her memory of it was somewhat fuzzy. When this illusion appeared, the girl noticed something strange and widened her eyes in rare surprise: "Can there really be such a thing in the world? Are you sure this isn't some kind of magical herb from Harry Potter next door?"

"As far as I know, there is no such thing as 'Water Lung Grass' nowadays..." Himeko Murata coughed, "I think it may be a plant that mutated with special functions after being influenced by Honkai."

"Eating plants affected by Honkai energy? Were the people of ancient Shenzhou so fierce? Honkai energy isn't friendly to humans at all; even a slight exposure could seriously affect their lifespan..."

Durandal said in a very flat tone, "The average lifespan of humans in ancient times was not high to begin with. Even if it was related to Honkai and shortened their lifespan, so what?"

"Well, that's true... back then, life was random, death was transparent."

Luo Lin sighed and continued to recall the scene projected in her mind—

For Jiangu, finding this herb wasn't difficult, but Water Lung Grass only grew in autumn, and it had to be used fresh after picking it; the longer it was stored, the less effective it became.

Therefore, Jixuanyuan could only wait for autumn to arrive.

During this time, the Shennong clan joined the tribe led by Jixuanyuan, and Jiangu used his knowledge of herbs to treat others' illnesses.

At that time, Chiyou, due to the "Project Ember," had already been active for some time. Its "Honkai beasts brewed by ancient methods" had spread throughout Shenzhou, causing chaos and unrest everywhere.

As a Stigmata Awakener, Jixuanyuan, wielding the Divine Key, the Xuanyuan Sword, and guided by survivors from the previous era such as Fuxi, Nuwa, and Jingwei, had enough power to confront these Honkai beasts and protect herself, naturally attracting other tribes to join her.

Jiangu, saved by the heroic Jixuanyuan, naturally developed feelings for her and spent his days serving her attentively.

Not only did he search for materials everywhere and make a dessert known today as "Horseshoe Cake," but he also helped take care of Jixuanyuan's beloved pet, the Nian Beast, just to see the smile on Jixuanyuan's face...

"Wow, what a handsome Nian Beast!"

Luo Lin saw this and immediately leaned back—she couldn't imagine how the graceful, bright-eyed bird in the picture could be associated with the plump, chubby, fat chicken on Taixu Mountain.

Just by appearance, who could think that these two things were actually the same type of creature!?

It could only be said that Fu Hua raised them well... Wait, it seems that Fu Hua usually doesn't actively feed those fat chickens, so how did they get so fat?

The girl couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

Back to the story in the projection, Jixuanyuan felt the affection in Jiangu's persistent actions and felt ripples in her heart.

However, as a Stigmata Awakener, Jixuanyuan had to deal with tribal affairs on weekdays, lead the team to fight against Honkai, and didn't spend much time with Jiangu. Overall, she actually spent more time with another pair of twins with very different styles.

Naturally, Luo Lin recognized them at a glance—Fuxi and Nuwa!

"Jixuanyuan, you're here!"

"Lady Fuxi, Lady Nuwa..."

The twin scientists smiled and nodded at Jixuanyuan, welcoming her into the room... and the scene ended there.

Himeko waited for a while again and found that there was no continuation of the image, feeling somewhat disappointed: "It actually stopped here? It's so itching... who are those twins?"

"Why do I feel like the dressing style of these two is a bit familiar?"

Durandal squinted her eyes, a small figure suddenly rising in her mind, unable to help but say aloud, "The Book of Fuxi...?"

Luo Lin raised her thumb: "Exactly, the Book of Fuxi is indeed related to them."

"Oh, so that's it, survivors from the previous era..."

"??"

Himeko Murata looked around, raising a few question marks in her mind, "Did I miss a part? Why do you two seem to understand..."

Luo Lin patted her on the shoulder: "You just lack some information, but it's okay, I'll explain it to you when we get back."

"Tsk, permission issues, I see."

Himeko wasn't stupid. She guessed the reason in a few seconds, pursed her lips, lifted her sword, and followed Durandal towards the depths.

Soon, the Valkyries encountered another group of enemies.

This time, not only were there combinations of Honkai beasts and Zombies, but there were also many surreal monsters with black shells and strange movements mixed in.

A long-range Valkyrie launched an attack tentatively, her face somewhat ugly as she said, "This group of enemies has been significantly strengthened. I'm not sure if the opponents we encounter later will be even stronger..."

Durandal: "Oh."

In the next moment, the invincible Dudu took action, but this time, when she dealt with the enemies, she unexpectedly needed an extra shot—the surreal monsters had a special shell separation mechanism, forcing the golden-haired Knight to swing her spear a few more times...

Durandal swung her spear like playing baseball, smashing the core of the last surreal monster. She said to the Valkyrie next to her, "Record this new breed of Honkai beasts; they need to be completely shattered after breaking their cores... Mm."

As expected, the images arrived as scheduled, but this time the main subjects were not Jixuanyuan but Fuxi and Nuwa.

The twins seemed to have just finished a conversation and watched as Jixuanyuan left their room.

The two scientists exchanged a glance, Nuwa's face full of contemplation, and gestured twice with her fingers, "Fuxi, do you think that... Water Lung Grass... is useful?"

"I don't know. If you want to try, it's no problem."

Fuxi sighed, "But, we have underwater breathing apparatuses in our warehouse, so why not just take a few sets out?"

Nuwa slapped her forehead

suddenly, "Oh! Oh!! If you hadn't said anything, I would have almost forgotten!"

Fuxi shook her head, "You, do you think of yourself as a local? We have so many advanced devices..."

Nuwa fell silent for two seconds and asked, "Sister, can those advanced devices really be used? Think about the Project Ember, think about how Chiyou appeared in the first place..."

"But... sigh."

Fuxi pursed her lips and smiled bitterly, "Let's talk about it later. If it doesn't work out, then we can only hope that the Water Lung Grass will be effective."

Chapter 66: Encounter of the Second Team

Fu Hua's journey to the back of Chiyou proceeded smoothly. Perhaps it was because she was alone and relatively small in size, which didn't attract much attention, or maybe it was because Dark Jixuanyuan's attention was focused on the Valkyries who had already infiltrated Chiyou's interior. Fu Hua encountered only a dozen or so interceptions from flying Honkai beasts.

Relying on the high-speed performance of the Shadow Knight, Fu Hua effortlessly defeated all the intercepting Honkai beasts in the air, sending them crashing into the turbulent sea.

The rest of the journey was unimpeded, and Fu Hua soon found the passage leading to Chiyou's interior, which had been created by the explosion of the Hyperion.

Adjusting her posture, the Valkyrie landed in the passage and followed the markings left by the landing team.

Unfortunately, halfway through, Fu Hua found that the marked passage had collapsed.

The Book of Fuxi floated down from Fu Hua's shoulder, and she observed the collapsed passage blocked by rubble and dust. She said, "The collapsed section is over fifty meters long; we can't directly dig through."

Fu Hua's gaze fell on a new passage exposed by the collapsed wall nearby, and she called out on her communicator, "Durandal, this is Fu Hua. I've reached Chiyou's interior, but the passage you used earlier has collapsed. I'll try to find another way around to catch up with you."

"Hiss... Understood... The concentration of Honkai energy inside Chiyou is high, communication is being interfered... Hiss, be careful!"

"Understood, I'll try to join you as soon as possible!"

Fu Hua ended the communication and continued walking towards the depths.

A few minutes later, the Valkyrie put away her weapons and rubbed her wrists. The ground around Fu Hua was littered with the bodies of Honkai beasts and quantum monsters gradually disappearing into specks of light.

It was a skirmish, but not a difficult one for Fu Hua.

She scratched her head. "Are we getting farther away from them?"

"Yes... This passage deviates significantly, and there isn't a route that leads directly to Durandal..."

The Book of Fuxi struggled to set down the smoking machine gun. She had also provided some degree of support in the recent battle, but it was limited.

"Book of Fuxi, are you alright?"

"I'm fine! Fine... Hmhm..."

The little ancestor was unusually excited, causing Fu Hua to even utter words of concern, which made the ELF truly feel the passage of time and the changing era after centuries of slumber...

The Book of Fuxi looked around, asking, "Where do we go next, Jingwei?"

"Uh, let's just continue along this path...?"

Before Jingwei could finish her sentence, Fu Hua saw two figures emerge from around the corner not far away. One of them looked familiar, a face she saw every morning when she looked in the mirror.

The other one had pink hair, wore a distinctive combat outfit, held a longbow, and waved at Fu Hua with a smile.

At the moment Fu Hua saw the pink-haired girl, her thoughts momentarily slowed, and she felt a strange emotion stir in her heart.

"Um..."

Fu Hua knew that anyone who could evoke such a reaction from her probably had deep connections with her.

Recognizing the cue, Senti took a couple of steps forward to Fu Hua and said, "Old timer, how did you end up here? I don't remember you getting lost?"

"I didn't get lost, but the passage Durandal used earlier collapsed, so I had to take a detour, and then I ended up here."

Fu Hua rubbed her temples. "But what about you, Senti? Didn't Luo Lin say you went to chase after Dark Jixuanyuan?"

"Ugh!"

Senti made an exaggerated gesture. "Dark Jixuanyuan locked herself in a hard, exaggerated shield under the volcano. We can't get in, and she can't come out—now we're trying to figure out how to break her shield!"

"Helix," added Miss Pink Elf, "Specifically, we need to find two guards first before we can go bother Dark Jixuanyuan."

Fu Hua looked at the pink fairy lady. "And who is this...?"

"Hi! Hello~ My name is Elysia! I'm a beautiful girl like flying flowers~"

Senti's mouth twitched. "Actually, she's Luo Lin..."

Fu Hua widened her eyes. "Ah? Isn't Luo Lin supposed to be with Durandal and the others?"

The pink fairy lady put her hands on her hips. "I'm a projection, you know? Do you know about projection? My main body is still with Durandal."

Jingwei took a deep breath. "Luo Lin, you have quite a few tricks up your sleeve..."

"Or call me Helix, so it's clearer."

Helix shifted her gaze to the Book of Fuxi standing beside Fu Hua. The ELF sensed Helix's gaze and quickly hid behind Fu Hua, trembling.

"Don't come near me!"

Fu Hua raised an eyebrow. "You know... Oh, right, you were repaired by Luo Lin and sent over."

Helix chuckled. "Your reaction is a bit exaggerated, isn't it? I'm not really Elysia, I won't do anything to you."

The Book of Fuxi pointed out bluntly, "You're lying! Just now, you clearly wanted to hug me and pinch my cheeks!"

Fu Hua and Senti turned their heads to look at the pink elf lady.

"Uh..."

Helix awkwardly adjusted her bangs, forcibly changing the subject, "Let's not forget that we still need to find that challenge mission. Let's move quickly."

"Hehe."

Senti couldn't help but laugh, then beckoned to the two to start moving. "Let's go. According to what you said earlier, the challenge mission should be near the two cores of Chiyou..."

"Isn't that a matter of course? The cores must be guarded by the boss, so naturally, it's the challenge mission."

Helix sighed. "But we don't have external chips here. There's a high probability that we'll fail to defeat the boss... Maybe we have to wait for Durandal to come over before we can complete the challenge mission?"

"I'll ask Luo Lin." Senti pursed her lips and opened the mental link. "Hey? I've met Fu Hua, who came as reinforcement. How's the progress on your end..."

Luo Lin sounded puzzled. "Why did Fu Hua come over to your side?"

Senti pulled Fu Hua and the Book of Fuxi into the mental channel and explained to Luo Lin.

"Oh... I see. According to the radar, we're very close to the core. However, we triggered a cutscene on the way just now, delaying us a bit. I'll send you what I saw..."

Fu Hua was still pondering what "sending to you" meant when a series of images were transmitted into her mind through the mental link.

"Haha... Sister... I, I can't walk anymore..."

Nuwa was panting, her hair drenched, clearly exhausted.

Fuxi didn't look much better, leaning against the wall. "Hang on... Hang on... Wait for Jixuanyuan to come back..."

Nuwa sat directly on the ground. "I think... dropping the multifunctional hoverboard halfway was a fatal mistake..."

"You wouldn't have been able to bring it anyway—Chiyou has extremely strong interference capabilities against our current equipment, even the diving equipment is only half functional..."

Fuxi pulled out a clump of herbs emitting a strange smell from her pocket. "Thanks to the Water Lung Grass, we were able to safely reach Chiyou's interior—do you want another bite to refresh yourself?"

Nuwa's face changed drastically. "No, no, I'd rather walk a few more steps than eat this thing again..."

Just then, Jixuanyuan, carrying a golden longsword, returned to the team. She looked relatively relaxed, after all, she was a Stigmata Awakener who fought Honkai beasts all year round, and her physical strength was incomparable to the two couch potatoes scientists who stayed at home.

"I've killed all the chasing Honkai beasts... You guys..."

Jixuanyuan looked at the two exhausted scientists and said, "Fuxi, Nuwa, we can take a two-minute break..."

"Thank goodness."

The twins immediately collapsed on the ground, panting.

Two minutes later, Fuxi and Nuwa tried to help each other up from the ground, but ended up falling into a heap.

Seeing this, Jixuanyuan sighed helplessly, walked up, grabbed the two by their clothes, and carried them on her shoulders like sacks of potatoes, striding into the darkness.

Chapter 67: Only Three Allowed In

After the lifelike and cool CG cutscene ended, Luo Lin found several chips in her Moon Ring.

"Universal C and Universal D, I'll give them to Bianka later... Huh? There's also High-Frequency A and High-Frequency B. The second type of chip is actually a high-frequency category?"

This chip is similar to the combination Signet of "Bodhi" in "Elysian Realm" as both rely on reaching a certain number of combos to clear the combo count and then provide amplification.

For example, characters like Haxxor Bunny, Eden, Himeko, and Fallen Rosemary who can quickly cause multiple combos are best suited to use the "high-frequency" type of chip.

Luo Lin looked at the submachine gun in her hand, showing a relieved smile, and kept the "high-frequency" chip for herself.

Durandal led the Valkyrie squad out of the passage and into a very spacious area.

The blonde knight looked around and found that there were debris of buildings everywhere, and even the ceiling and walls were embedded with many things resembling beams, brick walls, tiles, and the like.

It looked as if a city had been kneaded like "clay" by an invisible hand, randomly placed here, leaving behind this extremely eerie and frightening scene.

At the top of this space, there was a huge crystal emitting a cold blue light, and the dense waves of Honkai energy were dissipating from inside, being transported to other parts of Chiyou's body along the energy channel formed by erosion.

Below the crystal, a golden pillar rose from the ground, firmly supporting it above.

That should be the core of the Honkai beast they were looking for.

Himeko approached the broken wall on the side of the road and observed for a while, even taking the initiative to pick up a few pieces of stone, and concluded: "It's the style of ancient Shenzhou architecture."

Luo Lin sighed, "It's probably the city swallowed by Chiyou... According to legend, it can turn the land it swallows into its own use, and this should be its achievement. If it continues to act and devour the material of the earth, it will be a terrible disaster."

"Such a dangerous ability... No wonder it's classified as a Judgment-Class Honkai beast."

Himeko nodded. She could imagine such a scene and sighed, "Thanks to Fuxi, Nuwa, and Jixuanyuan, they sealed Chiyou in ancient times, making it impossible for Judgment-Class Honkai beasts to act, otherwise humanity would have been finished long ago."

"Indeed, we should thank them." Durandal shook the spear in her hand and said, "I think the best way to repay them is to completely eliminate this Judgment-Class Honkai beast, right?"

The words of the blonde knight drew responses from the other Valkyries in the landing team, encouraging each other and adjusting their state as they moved forward.

Using the grappling function of the Moon Ring, Luo Lin jumped onto a protrusion embedded in the wall, and looked down from above, as she found a familiar figure in the place covered by the light pillar.

"Husk - Mysticism."

Luo Lin scratched her head, "Hey, isn't this Imaginary Cow Cow? Wasn't it in another place before? How did it end up next to the core now..."

But this result isn't bad, at least the "Challenge Mission - Mysticism" that opens the endgame protective shield has a lead.

"Durandal, I found a large Imaginary monster that looks like a cow ahead."

"Imaginary... This thing doesn't seem to be the same type of existence as the Honkai beast."

Durandal naturally thought of the black-shelled, gold-bordered monsters encountered inside Chiyou's body. This was the first time the Valkyries of Schicksal encountered these strangely shaped enemies.

But Luo Lin was very familiar with these guys, not only calling them by their nicknames but also succinctly telling everyone about their attack moves and methods.

The blonde knight glanced at the black-haired girl who hung herself in the air with the Moon Ring, frowning.

"Teacher Luo Lin, it seems like you haven't been idle during your disappearance..."

The blonde knight had already arranged for team members to collect data so they could better study the enemy.

However, Durandal was looking forward to the floating tank hovering behind the team... well, the floating detector, and couldn't wait to let Luo Lin operate it when they returned to the headquarters of Schicksal, uploading the detected enemy information to the database immediately.

Believing that soon, these monsters that liked to separate their shells, shoot lasers everywhere, and have arms would appear in the Memorial Arena, becoming another "feast" in front of the Valkyries...

Durandal led the landing team cautiously forward, passing through one broken wall after another, and finally arrived at a place that looked like a square.

There, the "Husk - Mysticism" leisurely walked around, as if it didn't care at all about the Valkyries appearing on the sidelines. Its huge and burly body gave a strong sense of oppression, even causing some Valkyries to break out in a cold sweat.

A Valkyrie lowered her voice and asked, "What, what is that thing!?"

"It's so big, much scarier than the monsters of the same type we encountered on the way..."

Durandal tightened "Helel" of Eternal Silence and took a deep breath, "Himeko and I will be the main attackers. Everyone, be careful."

With that said, the blonde knight and Himeko went to the front of the team, followed closely by Luo Lin, and the rest of the Valkyries were behind them.

They remained vigilant and stepped into the square...

"Bang!"

Luo Lin heard a dull collision sound from behind her. She turned her head and saw a Valkyrie holding her head, her other hand exploring the air as if blocked by an invisible wall.

This scene seemed familiar, causing Luo Lin's heart to feel a little uneasy.

"What's wrong?"

Durandal also noticed what happened behind, asking softly.

"It seems like the three of us are separated..."

Luo Lin quickly turned her head to glance at the direction of "Mysticism", fortunately, what happened here didn't attract the attention of the Imaginary Cow Cow. It was like an old man with dull senses, leisurely walking in the middle of the field.

"Can't use support firepower?"

Durandal poked with her spear, but didn't feel that kind of obstruction. When another Valkyrie outside tried to bring her weapon over, she clearly touched the barrier.

Seeing this, Luo Lin propped her chin, lost in thought.

"...I have an idea, let's try it."

Luo Lin took the initiative to step forward, walked outside the barrier without any hindrance, and then let another Valkyrie take her place. When the black-haired girl tried to enter the square again, the invisible barrier appeared again, blocking everyone else outside.

Imaginary Cow Cow seemed to sense something, stopped in place, and aimed its head in the direction Luo Lin entered and exited.

"It seems that only three people are allowed in here..."

Durandal and Himeko exchanged glances, their faces solemn.

"An unprecedented situation..."

Luo Lin probably understood what happened and smiled bitterly, muttering to herself, "Tsk, it actually reverted to the game's three-person team setup. It feels really strange... Selune, come over here, we're missing one more person, and we'll start the fight soon!"

"Coming!"

Chapter 68: Miracles Happen

As Selune's Elegy echoed through the arena, the Imaginary Bull finally confirmed the presence of enemies in its domain, lifting its head and letting out a mighty roar!

"Roar—!"

"Hum—!"

Glancing at the sidelines, Luo Lin saw the previously invisible barrier solidify instantly, emitting the same blue light as the core above.

---They probably can't leave now.

In the next moment, a translucent dialogue box popped up in front of Luo Lin, Durandal, and Himeko.

[Challenge Quest - Mysticism]

[Defeat "Husk - Mysticism" within the time limit]

[1:30]

[1:29]

"?!?"

Himeko was startled, immediately raising her greatsword and slashing towards where the dialogue box appeared.

The chilling ice edge spread across the ground for quite a distance, even extending to the feet of the Imaginary Bull.

Himeko instantly realized, "This thing has no physical form!"

"Be quick and decisive!"

Durandal was more focused on the rapidly decreasing countdown, instinctively sensing that this holographic-like projection popping up was no joke.

A sense of urgency gripped the Golden Knight as she looked towards the center of the arena where the Imaginary Bull stood.

"Mysticism" seemed to be "activated" by the slash Himeko just made, dashing around wildly and even causing the ground to tremble, its target directly aimed at the trio of female warriors at the edge of the arena.

Himeko repeated her previous slashing motion, layering a bright frost on the path of the Imaginary Bull's charge, intending to impede its movement.

But the skills that were previously effective against Honkai Beasts and Zombiez didn't trouble "Mysticism" much. It merely shook off the ice shards hanging on its body and cracked the frost-covered ground with its hooves, almost unaffected.

Not surprised by this, Himeko calmly dodged to the side, ready to find opportunities in the upcoming battle—her Night Knight battlesuit was agile and not meant for direct confrontation with heavy units like the Imaginary Bull.

But Durandal was different. When she saw "Mysticism" charging towards her, she remained unfazed, softly calling out the names of her self-propelled phantasms:

"King! Queen!"

Then two blue and white armored figures, one wielding a giant sword and the other a giant shield, appeared beside the Golden Knight, guarding the strongest Valkyrie of the Schicksal.

The Moon Ring also lit up, the Honkai Energy in the environment being absorbed by the whirlwind-like device on Durandal's wrist and injected into her body, weapon, and armor.

In just a moment, Durandal adjusted herself to the optimal state, exuding a chilling aura not inferior to that of the Imaginary Bull, giving off a feeling of being as sharp as a needle against wheat.

But Durandal's actions were not as aggressive as her aura suggested; instead, they were cautious.

She didn't intend to engage "Mysticism" head-on right away but rather attempted to use Queen's shield to deflect the opponent's charge. Through this method, she could safely assess the strength of the Imaginary Bull and whether it fell within her ability to confront head-on.

Two seconds later, the clash between Durandal's shield and the Imaginary Bull's horn occurred. After the ear-piercing screech, the Golden Knight used the force of the impact to gracefully float to the side of "Mysticism" and thrust her spear into its shell.

The opponent's strength wasn't as terrifying as she imagined, well within Durandal's acceptance range. She was sure that if the opponent didn't have any "explosive" skills, she could completely engage it head-on!

The Imaginary Bull halted its charge, engaging in a skirmish with Durandal, while Himeko timely launched an attack from the flank, coordinating with the Golden Knight to mount an offensive.

As for Luo Lin? She was well aware of her role, playing as a support.

She kept her distance from the start, preventing herself from falling victim to unidentified AOE (word of experience).

Immediately afterward, Luo Lin began executing the Abyss/Arena support process that had become ingrained in her muscle memory—holding down the trigger of her submachine gun, causing the continuous burst of gunfire to fill the air, while flying swords and projectiles glided across the battlefield, adding flashes of light to the dim surroundings.

The High-Frequency chip was smoothly triggered by Luo Lin, amplifying her passive skills as well.

Luo Lin felt like her SP bar was like something out of a nonsensical martial arts film, her feet seemingly lifting off the ground with each step. She decisively activated "White Heat Mode"—the amount of energy she gained per second far exceeded the consumption of her ultimate skill, effectively creating a scene of "infinite ultimates."

The girl even wondered if, in this fully charged state, she could put the "Judgement of Shamash" into "Might of An-Utu" mode just by pouring energy into it, without relying on the Herrscher Core.

Luo Lin felt like she had become a perpetual motion machine, the Moon Ring on her wrist flashing madly as the Honkai Energy she emitted formed into two lines, with Durandal and Himeko on the other end.

Both of them not only sensed an increase in their attack power but also strangely found that their Excelsis and Lich Battlesuit entered a charging mode during the intense battle, forming a scene of "reversed meter" with Luo Lin's support.

Even more frighteningly, Durandal even felt the slight "damage" and the accompanying prickling and numbness from clashing head-on with the Imaginary Bull, all of which were healed by Luo Lin's strange power in an almost gentle manner.

---A familiar feeling, is it "Black Abyss White Flower"...? No, it's even further, even more fundamental...

Durandal and Himeko had never seen this type of "support Valkyrie" in Luo Lin's breed before. She provided various levels of assistance to the two main attackers and even acted as a healer...

So they boldly engaged "Mysticism" in battle, with Durandal going all out!

Side dodges, horn jabs, war tramples... The Imaginary Bull's attacks were all skillfully dealt with by Durandal, using her floating shield and the protective phantom Queen, and then countered with enhanced attacks from the Eternal Silence Helel against the offensive phantom King.

For a moment, the arena echoed with clangs, the sound of "metal hitting metal" incessant, almost making Luo Lin suspect she had entered the set of a neighboring game, just missing Durandal to perform a stance after depleting the Imaginary Bull's posture gauge...

"Clang!"

Wide-eyed, Luo Lin watched as the Imaginary Bull staggered backward, looking unbalanced after its defense gauge was completely depleted.

Speak of the devil?!

Just now, the Imaginary Bull attempted a low startup short-distance charge, only to be stopped by Durandal lifting the Eternal Silence Helel like an axe and smashing it on the Imaginary Bull's head, cleverly interrupting its skill.

Durandal immediately shouted,

"Himeko!"

A dazzling figure shot out from the side, skillfully flipping onto the back of "Mysticism"—Himeko's charge ability with Moon Lich fully displayed. Taking a deep breath, she coated her greatsword with a blue light.

Without hesitation, Luo Lin called out, "Selene! Use your ultimate!"

"Got it!"

The ELF appeared in response, her scythe carrying her petite figure transforming into a stream of light, leaving traces of slashes like blooming flowers covering "Mysticism's" body, shrouding it in frost.

Himeko, who was already riding on the Imaginary Bull's back, seized the opportunity. With a flick of her wrist, she made her greatsword stab into the gap in the Imaginary Bull's shell with pinpoint accuracy, aiming straight for its clearly exposed and undisguised core.

Crack!

Chapter 69: Take a Look at the Red Circle

With a crisp sound, a clear crack appeared on the core of "Mysticism", and the overflowing destructive energy spewed out from the crack, blowing Himeko Murata, who was squatting on the back of the Imaginary Bull, away.

The red-haired Valkyrie adjusted her posture in mid-air like a nimble cat, silently landing on the ground, vigilantly watching the damaged core of "Mysticism".

Luo Lin widened her eyes: "Penetrating Shell Attack?!"

You see, the most important and annoying thing about Imaginary monsters is their "shell/core" mechanism, simply put, it's the "shield/true health".

Under normal circumstances, to eliminate Imaginary monsters, you must first penetrate their shell to expose their core, then deal enough damage before their shield recovers, preferably taking out the core in one fell swoop to prevent future troubles.

Too many players have had this experience: after painstakingly breaking through the opponent's shell, if the output isn't enough, they can only watch as the long shell health bar lights up, locking the core with its last shred of health, almost silently mocking them.

Luo Lin had seen Durandal try to use the "Eternal Silence Helel" to stab the Imaginary Bull's core more than once, but it had no effect—all the damage was absorbed by the shell, quite unreasonable.

After all, Durandal is currently just a "Excelsis +1", still having to honestly attack the shell, but in the future, when she evolves into a "Palatinus Equinox", she'll have another means.

Yes, you guessed it right, the "Palatinus Equinox" is a noble character capable of directly penetrating the Imaginary shell and damaging the core.

While others are still trying to figure out how to attack the shell, the "Palatinus Equinox" is already riding on Krishna, stabbing the opponent's core, then watching the core health bar plummet...

This ability to penetrate the shield and attack the core is extremely rare and noble, with few owners.

And just now, Luo Lin watched as Himeko Murata ignored the shell, making a slash on the opponent's core...

Himeko seemed unsatisfied; she rushed forward a second time, but this time didn't achieve as significant results as before, leaving only a clear frost mark on the hard Imaginary core.

Seeing this, Luo Lin was shocked: "Could Himeko's armor be Imaginary goods?"

"What are you mumbling about?" Himeko Murata flashed back to Luo Lin's side again, shouting loudly, "Put more effort! It seems like this guy is about to collapse!"

Luo Lin snapped back to reality and found Durandal had already shattered the shell of "Mysticism" with terrifying force, cracks covering it, even giving it a somewhat translucent feeling.

Then, Durandal delivered a heavy blow to the shell, causing the Imaginary Bull to step back, the burdened shell completely crumbling, leaving only a semi-transparent shadow to maintain its structure.

"Mysticism" roared, a faint golden light emanating from its body. The powerful destructive energy overflowed from the still "leaking" Imaginary core, condensing into a purple, galaxy-like nebula, swiftly lifting the Imaginary Bull to a high point on the battlefield, shoulder to shoulder with the core of "Chiyou".

The next moment, countless "meteors" fell from the sky!

---It's time to use the transformation stage ultimate move!

Luo Lin immediately began to dodge frantically, stealing a glance at the countdown.

[0:58]

The black-haired girl couldn't help but gasp—she had to endure the first stage of "Mysticism" for half a minute, all because she was a super dull goose!

Facing this situation, Durandal didn't hesitate. After taking the hit with her shield, she forcefully threw her weapon with a powerful posture, the spear made by Destiny Engineering Company reversing its course and heading straight for the Imaginary Bull floating in the purple nebula!

Clang!

Nice, right? A good weapon sounds good!

Unfortunately, the boss in the middle of transformation had invincibility status, leaving the golden-haired knight's counterattack lonely.

Durandal grimaced, reaching out as the "Eternal Silence Helel" automatically returned to her hand. She gripped the spear and swatted away the falling meteor like she was hitting a baseball.

Luo Lin warned, "Don't block! This thing is draining your energy!"

"Is that so?"

Durandal fired another meteor, feeling her destructive energy being dissipated and reduced. Even her Bright Knight was drained... then replenished by Luo Lin's passive skill.

Luo Lin herself hadn't expected this kind of operation: "Um... We absolutely can't block the next move!"

"Understood."

Durandal wasn't stupid... at least in terms of combat intelligence, surpassing many others. Naturally, she could see that the "Mysticism" overhead was brewing a big move.

She gestured to Luo Lin and Himeko Murata, "Let's create some distance! Valkyries outside the barrier, move back!"

So the Valkyries watching the scene scattered, while the three inside, along with the ELF, dodged the bombardment of meteors, running to the edge of the battlefield, tightly focused on the Imaginary Bull.

More and more destructive energy overflowed, the more terrifying momentum gathered.

Durandal's sixth sense was frantically warning her. She gritted her teeth, infusing the shield and defensive phantom Queen with destructive energy, even letting the electric charge of the Bright Knight Battlesuit bottom out for a moment.

Himeko Murata could naturally sense the danger of this move as well. She grabbed Luo Lin and Durandal, took a quick step between them and the shield, using her body to shield the two Valkyries.

In case the shield couldn't hold, she could at least cushion the blow with her body!

As for Luo Lin, she also looked shocked, her mouth hanging open.

But what shocked her wasn't how powerful or terrifying the transformation move of "Mysticism" was, but...

"Can you see that red circle on the ground?!"

Durandal tersely replied, "I didn't see anything."

"You can't see it?"

Luo Lin frowned; just a few seconds ago, a bright red circle appeared in her field of vision—yes, it's the one in Honkai Impact 3, used to indicate enemy attack range and timing.

The blood-red filling inside the circle was rapidly expanding, indicating that the Imaginary Bull's transformation ultimate move was about to land.

Fortunately, the three of them were positioned just half a meter outside the red circle...

"Oh, this..."

Just as the red filled the circle, "Mysticism" finally crashed to the ground with a thunderous roar, filling the entire space with dazzling light.

Himeko Murata's mind began to race, she glanced at the two people behind her, and smiled gently.

Durandal was anxious, but she didn't dare to pull Himeko back, after all, the amplification effect of the chip on her body was still active. What if she accidentally hurt or knocked away the red-haired Valkyrie?

The golden-haired knight let out a mournful cry, "Teacher Himeko!"

The earth shook, sand and rocks flew, and the powerful destructive energy burst forth, forming a wave nearly ten meters high, carrying shattered rocks and rushing towards Luo Lin's group!

Then, this horrifying move dissipated less than half a meter in front of Luo Lin's group, leaving behind some inconsequential stones or other debris flying through inertia, landing on the shield with a clatter.

Durandal & Himeko Murata: "?"

Chapter 70: Different Perspectives, Connecting...

Himeko took a deep breath, then unexpectedly burst into laughter. She shouted cheerfully, "Haha, this guy talks big but delivers little! Making us so nervous..."

Luo Lin glanced at the sweat on her forehead and decided not to comment on it.

The explosion's high temperature heated the air, slightly distorting the Valkyries' vision.

The "Husk - Mysticism" that landed stood up, its shell exhibiting a strange translucent color, fully exposing the previously concealed core.

The essence of collapse gathered around the Imaginary Bull, forming energy clusters resembling small thunderclouds in the blink of an eye, projecting towards the Valkyries at a relatively slow speed!

Himeko didn't dare to be careless. She fired her gun from afar, hitting one of the energy clusters. When the bullet touched the energy cluster, it instantly turned into a massive meteorite, smashing down directly below, triggering a series of explosions.

The golden-haired knight estimated the power of the meteorite and warned, "Don't stand under the energy clusters! Luo Lin, deal with these!"

"Understood!"

Reliable anti-air firepower emerged, accurately triggering those clouds, thus opening a safe attack route for Himeko.

Himeko immediately assumed an offensive posture, particles jetting out from her skirt, turning her into a blue shadow, fiercely piercing the core of the Imaginary Bull.

"Got it!"

Himeko Murata flipped her wrist, following closely behind with her greatsword, supporting Himeko, who was already entangled with the Imaginary Bull.

As for Luo Lin, she solemnly asked Selune, "Selune, did you see the attack circle just now?"

The armed puppet tilted her head strangely, "Attack circle? Doesn't this open world lack attack prompts? It took me some time to adapt..."

"Hiss..."

Luo Lin blinked, her gaze shifting back to the "thunderclouds" floating in the air, each with a conspicuous white circle beneath it.

Obviously, stepping into that circle would trigger an attack.

The Valkyrie then cast her gaze towards the battlefield between Himeko and the Imaginary Bull, where similar things appeared, including rectangular, fan-shaped red range frames, and white flashes on the Imaginary Bull's body before it attacked.

The last time she saw such a scene was before she transmigrates, back when she was playing Honkai Impact 3 on her phone.

At that time, Luo Lin would still play with extremely low quality effects, where character and monster textures were blurred, making it hard on the eyes. Only the red attack range circles and the "ding-ding" sound prompts when monsters attacked could help her.

Luo Lin couldn't help but feel emotional.

Now, the abyss and Arena provided by the system weren't as "game-like" as before. She had to physically dive into the abyss and fight monsters, even if she wanted to predict enemy moves, she had to observe the opponent's actions herself...

A sense of mystery arose in the girl's heart. She even felt like with the Imaginary Bull's attacks, she could hear the classic "ding-ding" sound prompts.

"Ding!"

Luo Lin's eyes widened suddenly. "Wait, is it not an illusion?! Do I really hear the sound prompts?!"

In that instant, everything in front of the girl blurred like a broken monitor, and more things appeared in Luo Lin's field of vision:

Countless blurry Valkyrie figures gradually appeared—Kiana, Raiden Mei, Bronya, Seele... They soared and danced on the battlefield, their splendid moves bombarding the Imaginary Bull.

Fortunately, these figures didn't affect Luo Lin's observation of Himeko's battle. Moreover, she found herself once again entering that "divine assistance" state, with her gun naturally aiming at the Imaginary Bull.

Even if Luo Lin's mind was divided, it was completely fine to observe these strange phenomena while supporting the battle.

The girl noticed that the movements of these figures were surprisingly uniform. If the same characters were overlapped, the trajectories of their sword swings, arrow shots, and even their movements could perfectly align, giving a strange sense of rigidity.

What's even more exaggerated was that many figures kept changing. Overall, they formed systematic teams: physical team, lightning team, ice team, fire team, quantum team (who's messing around with the Imaginary?), Imaginary team...

---Just like in a game.

Luo Lin was taken aback. She seemed to have caught onto something, but her attention was quickly drawn to something else.

"Isn't that me?!"

That's right, the figure of Valkyrie - Dark Feather also appeared among them. Many of her were holding assault rifles, pouring ammunition onto "Mysticism", throwing grenades, then activating "White Heat Mode", and then...

Switching to other main DPS in the team.

A twitch appeared at the corner of Luo Lin's mouth, and she nodded resignedly. "I understand, after all, I'm just a support..."

After all, except for SPs, dealing with mechanisms, and providing buffs, many players really didn't want the support role to stay on the field for even a second longer, and even staying in the background all the time wasn't a problem (this specifically refers to a certain ER runner), it's best to leave all the time for the main DPS to deal damage.

The girl murmured, "It seems that there are many... 'players' participating in this activity..."

At this moment, a somewhat joyful voice of Himeko came from nearby, "Its defense has weakened!"

The golden-haired knight noticed that the defense of the core of "Mysticism" suddenly dropped sharply. When she used "Eternal Silence Helel" to stab it just now, there would still be a clang of collision, but now it smoothly pierced through like poking tofu, and the collapse energy poured out eagerly like a leaking balloon.

Luo Lin's eyes narrowed. She realized that the Valkyrie shadow she saw seemed to be able to help in battle, so she focused more on analyzing those shadows, letting her body "act".

---Luo Lin, you have to think more!

The girl took a deep breath, and her brain began to work rapidly.

Watching these familiar character switch actions and classic output processes, behind them must be players operating.

How did they become related to this world?

Before messing with the Array earlier, Luo Lin complained about messing up the underlying rules of the world, and then the system jumped out to announce that a new activity had started... Obviously, this matter should be closely related to Luo Lin herself.

The girl learned a long time ago from the system that her Honkai Impact 3 game account became a special "link".

Whether it was the Dirac Sea Dirge, or character cards like "Dark Feather" and "Vermillion Knight", they were all related to that special account. The abyss/battlefield rankings in the system should also be constructed based on data from the special account.

Wait a minute, "link"...

Luo Lin's pupils contracted, recalling the state she could transform her emotions into Honkai energy before.

In those threads of consciousness that entangled her consciousness like balls of yarn, there seemed to be one extending towards the boundless darkness, linking herself to an unknown distance.

Luo Lin swallowed her saliva.

Could that be the world where these players are...?

Chapter 71: Nuwa, Goodnight

This speculation was indeed astonishing, but upon careful consideration, it didn't seem so far-fetched.

Why were the Imaginary Tree and the Sea of Quanta so attentive to Luo Lin? Was it just because she was a transmigrator?

Luo Lin now had an idea—what they were more interested in should be this "link"...

That represented new possibilities. Luo Lin raised her head and saw the Herrscher of Flamescion floating in the air, wearing a skin of Temporal Glint, forming a brilliant purple dial; below the dial, Durandal held a long spear, coordinating with an offensive and defensive pair of autonomous Valkyrie spirits, relentlessly attacking the core of Mysticism.

The crows created by Raven's ultimate circled and danced, while Himeko, clad in Lunar Knight: Moon Lich, created a freezing storm in the field, overlapping with the music symbol area formed by Eden's specialized weapon...

There were more Valkyries, more skills, their outlines gradually blurred in Luo Lin's eyes, finally merging with the attacks of the golden-haired knight and the crimson-haired Valkyrie who were fighting, pouring onto the core of Mysticism together.

—In this scene where illusion and reality intertwined, which was true, and which was false?

Soon, the Husk - Mysticism fell in battle against the Valkyries.

Not only did the Imaginary Bull endure the attacks of Luo Lin, Durandal, and Himeko, but it was also besieged by at least a hundred players on another "level," protruding a breach of sportsmanship.

Its death was neither peaceful nor swift. Generally, when the core health of an Imaginary Construct drops to twenty percent, its health bar would be enveloped in a conspicuous red light—indicating that the core had reached the "kill line."

If there was a character in the team with a "kill" ability, such as Raven, Eden, or Bronya, who had the corresponding means to directly clear the remaining health in one go, greatly reducing the time needed for the battle.

At this moment, Luo Lin thought of Himeko—judging by her previous style of piercing through the shield and hitting the Imaginary Bull's core in one blow, Himeko's Night Knight: Moon Lich was likely of the Imaginary attribute.

The girl proactively spoke, asking Himeko to try various ways to output damage to the core, to see if any skills with a "kill" effect could be triggered.

Unfortunately, Himeko's set of Moon Lich seemed to lack this function, and until the end, no other surprising skills were released.

Durandal unleashed her full firepower, and the offensive autonomous spirit King wielded its exaggeratedly sized greatsword to smash down on the core of the Imaginary Bull, causing the golden orb to creak and emit a mournful sound.

The Imaginary Bull's core barely held on for a few seconds, then, together with its gigantic divine bull shell and the barrier intercepting other Valkyries, it crumbled and shattered, melting into purple dots in the air.

Luo Lin looked at the paused countdown, letting out a long sigh of relief.

[0:19]

[Mission Completed]

The Valkyries of the landing team quickly rushed over, forming a defensive formation around Luo Lin and her companions.

"Captain! Do we need to install Fission Rounds next?"

Facing the inquiry from the Undying Blade team member, Durandal made a quiet gesture of silence, then raised her head to gaze at the azure core of Chiyou suspended in midair.

"No, this place isn't suitable for it to exert its power."

The light pillar supporting it disappeared along with the death of the Husk - Mysticism, and the huge core slowly descended to the center of the battlefield, within arm's reach.

"Then..."

"Your captain is in excellent condition right now, rest assured."

Durandal lifted Eternal Silence Hella, simultaneously giving instructions to the offensive autonomous spirit King floating behind her, the humanoid armor wielding its greatsword, following the golden-haired knight's lead to launch an attack on the blue crystal.

At that moment, Luo Lin saw more shadows appearing behind Durandal. They weren't Valkyries but numerous people with indistinct faces, all cheering for the actions of the golden-haired knight.

"So cool CG! So cool, Durandal!"

"Burn money! Burn it hard for me!"

"That's right, that's how you should fight!"

"@Honkai Impact 3's number one idol, come out and learn CG!"

"Ah ah ah, darling!"

"Don't stab that core, come stab me instead!"

"Rita, Rita, help me!"

Luo Lin widened her eyes, watching the long spear and greatsword fall on the azure core, accompanied by the sound of glass shattering, something shiny and resembling a soldier's ID card fell to the ground, emitting a crisp sound.

"This is... soulium? There are words on it!"

Durandal immediately recognized the material of the object. She cautiously sensed the concentration of Honkai energy on the ID card, then carefully bent down to try to pick it up.

When the golden-haired knight's fingers touched the ID card, the resonance effect that had occurred before manifested again, projecting a story that happened in ancient Shenzhou into the minds of the Valkyries—

Nuwa, with a red hairpin, pursed her lips. Behind her stood her sister, Fuxi, holding the Xuanyuan Sword, while Jixuanyuan, holding a sword, stood farther away.

In front of the twin scientists, the core of Chiyou flickered with brilliance.

Fuxi's face was no longer calm, trembling slightly, she asked, "Nuwa, are you sure you want to seal it first?"

Nuwa replied softly, "Yes, Sister... because, I'm afraid to be alone... at least now, you can accompany me."

Fuxi paused for a moment, she grabbed her sister's hand, revealing a fragile smile, "Really, do you think Sister isn't afraid? Sigh..."

"Sis... sniff... we..."

The girl with the red hairpin sobbed, wiping her tears with her other hand, but no matter how she wiped, she couldn't clean them completely.

Fuxi sighed, "Okay okay, it's just like a long time ago when we entered the hibernation chamber... here, this is for you."

She took out a small item made of soulium from her pocket and stuffed it into Nuwa's hand, "This is... my lab's ID badge, this way we can be together, right?"

Nuwa, with tears on her face, snorted, she also took out a similar ID badge and exchanged it with Fuxi. However, the girl with the red hairpin accidentally hiccupped, making her a little flustered.

Fuxi maintained that delicate and fragile smile, looking at her younger sister.

Soon, the final moment arrived.

"...I'll go to sleep first, sister."

Nuwa held the piece of soulium ID card and walked resolutely towards the core of Chiyou.

"Nuwa, goodnight," Fuxi said softly, "Sister will follow shortly."

Nuwa took steps forward, getting faster and faster, then couldn't help but start running.

—She didn't give herself a chance to look back.

Fuxi watched her sister, her body and tears merging into light, melting into the azure core.

Jixuanyuan couldn't help but ask, "Fuxi... you..."

Fuxi turned around, her eyes devoid of light.

"Alright, don't let my sister wait too long, let's continue forward."

Chapter 72: I Feel Like There's No Cure

Luo Lin blinked, and the scene projected by resonance had ended. She noticed Durandal not far away, maintaining the posture of bending down, fingertips touching the soulium.

"Nuwa..."

After a long time, the golden-haired knight sighed, closed her fingers, and picked up the identity card from the ground.

The blue debris formed by the shattering of the "Chiyou" core was blown by an unknown breeze from somewhere, spinning and fluttering into the air, passing through the team of Valkyries.

It seemed like nostalgia, like reluctance.

So she reached out proactively, opened her fingers, letting the debris pass through her fingertips, caressing the wind swirling around the team.

Deep down, Luo Lin felt she could do something.

The girl savored this feeling, her thoughts gradually emptying, her vision changing again, as if she could see the strings that make up the world dancing on her fingertips, connecting to the distant unknown.

Many voices came from there—

"So touching..."

"Wuwu, why did you stab me..."

"Stab harder, stab faster!"

"Good good good, that's how a seasoned player should do!"

"Welcome to the Theater of Domination!"

"Healthy and positive!"

Luo Lin: "…?"

Wasn't one... a bit off?

With the accompanying blurry voices, the strange feeling in the wind carrying the blue debris gradually became more apparent.

Finally, Luo Lin found the weird feeling, clenched her fist suddenly, and when she opened her hand again, a crystal-clear red fragment appeared in her palm.

[Stigmata Fragment - Nuwa's Glory (Middle)]

[The fragment of the Stigmata, perhaps it can be restored through some means.]

Luo Lin paused for a moment, then smiled, "…Hah, not bad."

Durandal, not far away, didn't notice Luo Lin's small movement. She was examining the identity card she had picked up, which neither big nor small, with great seriousness.

On the front of the soulium identity card, there were finely engraved strange characters. Durandal had some impression of this type of writing; Overseer Otto had once taught her how to identify relics of ancient civilizations, and this type of writing was the most widely spread language of the ancient civilization.

A Valkyrie curiously asked, "Captain, do you recognize these characters?"

"What strange expectations do you have for me? Although I've learned many languages, they are all modern languages." Durandal looked somewhat helpless, "I haven't actually come into contact with relics of the ancient civilization much, at most recognizing one or two words."

The golden-haired knight flipped her wrist and did not find more information on the soulium card.

"Does anyone here understand the characters related to the ancient civilization or ancient Shenzhou?"

The other Valkyries shook their heads in unison.

Himeko Murata smiled bitterly and said, "Perhaps it's more suitable to ask someone from the Black Gold Team about this question. They run into the ruins of the ancient civilization all day long and must have received relevant education—however, there's no one from their team in the landing team..."

Just then, an arrogant voice came from below, "Hehe, ignorant humans, let me decipher these things for you! Ohohoho—"

Durandal lowered her head and saw Selune, the ELF, standing on the ground, arms crossed, with her nose so high it was almost in the sky.

A flash of insight crossed the golden-haired knight's mind; this ELF was obviously a creation of the ancient civilization, and she must recognize what was written on the soulium identity card.

But, why did her manner of speaking seem so strange... was it chuunibyou?

Thinking of this, Durandal propped her chin, her eyes somewhat wandering—seems like she also had a period of time when she suffered from chuunibyou, but was soon cured by Bishop Otto.

If Luo Lin knew her thoughts, she would probably express her confusion:

Then why does "Bright Knight Excelsis" say things like "Awaken, defenders of glory" and "Glory, be with me" when activating her skills...

Moreover, Durandal herself speaks strangely when she's a battlefield boss, saying things like "Still not using your full power?" and "Heh, showing a bit of skill..."

—Has this illness really been cured?

The golden-haired knight coughed, glanced at Luo Lin standing beside her, and said with a deep meaning, "This creation of the ancient civilization, I feel like she has been influenced by someone..."

"Impossible! I'm very serious!"

Luo Lin read the profound meaning contained in the golden-haired knight's gaze, who almost want to dig a villa out of the ground with her toes, overflowing with embarrassment.

She squeezed out these words from between her teeth, "Selune! Selune!"

"Huh? What?" Selune's Elegy scratched her head, "Master, rest assured! This kind of small matter absolutely won't stump me!"

Luo Lin covered her face and sighed deeply.

Durandal pondered for a moment, recalling a method to deal with these types of characters from her memory.

So she bent down, solemnly placed the identity card in Selune's hand, and said earnestly to the ELF, "Alright, let's entrust this to the Shadow Reaper to help us."

Luo Lin couldn't help but mock internally:

Selune's interrupted self-introduction scriptures were interrupted by me halfway through, and you still remember it so clearly?!

"Humph, you have good taste!"

Selune's Elegy, picked up the soulium identity card, looked it up and down, and began to read aloud, "Fuxi, Fire Moth Science and Technology Research Institute, Mobius Laboratory... Huh, there are traces of erasure here?"

"Erasure?"

"Yeah, everything behind it is newly written—this world is about to be destroyed, but the human spark will burn again."

The ELF scratched her head, continuing to read, "Fuxi, after a long sleep, you will awaken in the new era of civilization. You possess foresight and wisdom beyond mortals and will surely guide the new generation of humans to a different future from ours."

Himeko Murata narrowed her eyes, "This should be a message left by Fuxi, a senior of the ancient civilization."

Durandal remained silent for two seconds, nodded heavily, "Nuwa was a respectable warrior, she walked to the end of the road against the Honkai... naturally, we cannot lose to her."

"Yes, so next..."

The two of them turned their heads simultaneously, looking at Luo Lin, who seemed to be daydreaming.

The black-haired girl pointed to her ear and said, "I'm communicating with Fu Hua over there, in a 'special' way."

Ji Lin blinked in confusion, "Special?"

Durandal suddenly understood what Luo Lin meant and asked softly, "The Herrscher?"

After waiting a few seconds, Luo Lin replied, "Yes, they've discovered another core and are marching towards it with great momentum!"

Durandal asked eagerly, "Can you locate it? Lead us there!"

"Sure."

Luo Lin stepped forward, heading towards the distance.

By the way, when she transmitted her guesses and discoveries to "Helix" through the mental link just now, the other party seemed to "oh" as if they suddenly realized something and said they had a conjecture to test...

Nothing could go wrong, right?

"How could it? My name is 'Helix,' after all, and all those whimsical thoughts are mine! Moreover, your discovery has completely opened the door to a new world, making me itch to explore!"

Miss Pink Elf looked at the second "Chiyou" core and the "Herrscher of Domination" lingering below, licking her lips, "I feel like, we might not need to wait for Durandal to bring her chips over here. We can directly break through this guy!"

Chapter 73: Plucking the Strings

"What's the piercing method?" Facing the inquiry from the Herrscher of Sentience, Helix made a gesture, smiling, and said, "Just some little tricks."

What Helix wanted to do now was to call out the power belonging to the "players" from the distant beyond and then firmly attach it to the forehead of the Herrscher of Domination.

According to Luo Lin's previous experience, this thing could significantly reduce the defense of the Herrscher of Domination, turning it from being impenetrable to a reasonable degree of vulnerability.

Of course, all of this had to start from the intermediate state of transforming into that character.

"Thanks for the system's help~" Helix, inheriting the power of the Signet from Vull-V, had quite a talent in research and experimentation, only taking a blink of an eye to find the transition feeling. She even entered the state faster than Luo Lin's main personality.

Before leaving, Helix said to the Herrscher of Sentience, "Don't worry, I have some things to take care of first."

As soon as the words fell, the expression in the body of the pink elf became hollow.

Empty brain.jpg

Fu Hua was stunned, "What... is going on?"

"Tsk, this guy is up to something again."

Senti could guess that this matter was related to the strange system on Luo Lin's body, so she sighed and used her hand to support the body of the pink elf, "Just wait a moment."

Fu Hua looked at the interaction between the two, her expression strange.

Not only because the Herrscher of Sentience now had the same face and voice as hers in action but also because the Herrscher of Sentience did not show much "uniqueness". If it weren't for the clearly evident collapse energy swirling around her, the Herrscher of Sentience would look almost no different from an ordinary human.

Perhaps her gaze was too blunt, or perhaps Fu Hua appeared calm on the surface, but her inner emotions were turbulent, which happened to make the Herrscher of Sentience feel something was off. The Herrscher of Sentience spoke up:

"Alright, old timer, don't look at me like that with those eyes."

The Herrscher of Sentience glanced at Fu Hua, impatiently waving her index finger, "I'll say it again, I promised Luo Lin long ago not to casually use the abilities of the Herrscher of Sentience, and I have no interest in destroying the world or exterminating humanity according to the Will of Honkai... Sigh, I just want to go against it! That's the fun part."

"Huh?"

What kind of rebellious adolescent speech was this?

Seeing the increasingly puzzled expression on Fu Hua's face, the Herrscher of Sentience excitedly added, "And you, old timer, always worrying about this and that, don't even know how much strength you've lost, living so uncomfortably... Why not come out and relax with me?"

Fu Hua sighed, "I appreciate your kindness, but I have my own mission."

"So I call you old fossil, you're so inflexible." The Herrscher of Sentience said frivolously, "I'm different. At least I don't want to live as dull a life as you."

Dull life? Fu Hua didn't think so.

The two fell silent for a moment, Fu Hua sighed, "You are indeed different from what I imagined... I now have some trust in you."

The Herrscher of Sentience blinked, lost in thought, "I didn't say anything nice to you just now, why did you suddenly get swayed... uh, enlightened?"

Fu Hua replied softly, "Because I feel you are a straightforward and sincere person."

Supporting the body of the pink elf, the Herrscher of Sentience inserted one hand on her waist, "Although I feel that what you said wasn't nice, it's still a good start. Please take care of this very very good and awesome Herrscher of Sentience in the future."

"These good Herrschers of Sentience..." Fu Hua said somewhat numbly, "I'll try my best..."

Finally, the eyes of the pink elf became lively again, she patted the hand of the Herrscher of Sentience supporting her, and said with a smile, "Senti, I found it—I mean, I found a way."

The Herrscher of Sentience smacked her lips, stretching her arm towards the nearby Herrscher of Domination, "Please begin your performance."

The pink elf took a bold step forward, then squinted her eyes, staring fixedly at the Herrscher of Domination not far away.

"So this is the feeling..."

Muttering to herself, she reached out her hand, touching the air as if plucking a string.

The Herrscher of Sentience watched the fingertip of the pink elf, with a faint fluctuating light, but this still made the Herrscher of Sentience behave very seriously.

"Are you trying to touch the rules of the structure of the world?"

Helix nodded reluctantly.

After all, the "strings" of the world were not something that could be seen or touched so easily, which consumed a lot of the pink elf's energy.

Her fingers moved, looking extremely stiff, even a bit ugly, but with every attempt from Helix, the shock in the heart of the Herrscher of Sentience kept rising.

Not far away, the Herrscher of Domination, who had not yet entered combat mode, became restless.

This pseudo-Herrscher of Domination, which had the appearance of the Herrscher of Domination but was just a Imaginary Construct, walked around with its black-bordered long legs, trying to figure out what was happening around it. However, it couldn't venture too far from the core of Chiyou due to the limitations of the "rules."

Finally, the pink elf found the right position, she smiled, gently plucking her fingers, and a certain "string" visibly trembled.

The Herrscher of Sentience was in a daze for a moment, but the next moment she woke up, shouting with joy, "You did it!"

"Mhm!"

Countless Valkyrie shadows unfolded before Helix's eyes, rushing towards the direction of the Herrscher of Domination.

"Let me try my sword! Just one strike!"

"Give me back my teacher!"

"Boss, I'll backstab you now!"

"Haha!"

In the lively chaos only Helix could hear, the glow of the shell of the Herrscher of Domination dimmed noticeably, and even the collapse energy surging on its virtual core seemed much calmer.

"Now's the time!" The pink elf commanded, "Let's burn it to ashes!"

Helix cheered and rushed out, "It's time to do it!"

---

At the Schicksal Headquarters, a blond man stared at a sudden surge of special waves on the instrument, squinting his eyes.

"The Imaginary Tree... and the Sea of Quanta?"

At St. Freya Academy, Welt Yang closed the book, casting worried glances towards the direction of Shenzhou.

On the other side, in the Valkyrie dormitory, Kiana, who had been dozing off on the sofa, suddenly shivered, woke up rolling off and landing with a thud on the floor.

"Clumsy Kiana fell asleep on the sofa."

Bronya nudged the butt of the white fur ball with her foot, "If you really want to sleep, you can go back to bed."

Who knew Kiana, contrary to her usual behavior, asked very seriously, "Bronya, did you sense something wrong just now?"

The silver-haired twin-tailed girl paused for a moment, hesitating before replying, "Bronya did not sense any abnormalities."

"Could it be that I'm hallucinating...?"

Just as the white fur ball was doubting life, Raiden Mei pushed the door open and walked out of her room, a few strands of hair still standing up due to static electricity.

Kiana burst into laughter when she saw Raiden Mei's appearance, but quickly restrained herself upon seeing Mei's gloomy face.

"No, it's not a hallucination, I also felt something happened."

She had just been conducting experiments related to her Herrscher power, and as a result, there was a mishap halfway through, which caused her to end up like this.

Raiden Mei turned her head, looking towards the direction of Shenzhou.

Sister Luo Lin...

Chapter 74: Strange Occurrences

The dazzling interplay of pink and dark red shadows traversed the battlefield, while the crystal-made dome refracted barrages, bathing everything within in a pink glow.

Fu Hua observed as Helix and the Herrscher of Sentience gracefully maneuvered through the battlefield, effortlessly evading the lasers and drill-like attacks from the Herrscher of Domination, barely grazing their edges...

Wait, that pink guy even had a somewhat wicked smile, seemingly flaunting as it actively brushed against the attacks, causing Fu Hua's eyelids to twitch involuntarily.

The pink elf suddenly exclaimed, "Poke it!"

"Here I go!"

The Herrscher of Sentience hurled a long spear, its Honkai Energy spreading around the Herrscher of Domination, stealthily penetrating the Imaginary Construct's shell, weakening its defense.

—According to the game, this was akin to inflicting a "vulnerable" state.

The pink elf's crystal arrows and darting stars followed one after another, the weakened shell emitting a dreadful creaking sound as it burst into sparkling crystals.

The Herrscher of Sentience followed up with another spear throw, just enough to extend the duration of the "vulnerable" state: "Go on, old fossil!"

"..."

Fu Hua felt increasingly uneasy.

Not only because Helix and the Herrscher of Sentience seemed familiar with the Imaginary Construct's attack patterns and tactics, but also because Fu Hua felt their coordination was too perfect!

They relentlessly assaulted the Herrscher of Domination, creating openings for Fu Hua to exploit. And Fu Hua, living up to expectations, seized every opportunity, causing her to leave deep marks on the Imaginary Construct's shell with her flickering fists.

Yet, Fu Hua couldn't shake the feeling of being like a third wheel, shining alone on the sidelines—if she weren't there, they seemed like they could fight even more freely and comfortably.

Actually, there was someone even more pitiful than her: The Book of Fuxi.

The ELF held a mechanized gun made of soulium, staring blankly at the dizzying battle in the center of the field.

"I... I can't intervene at all!?"

The Book of Fuxi had vowed to provide combat support for Jingwei, only to find upon arrival that this was completely different from beating up the Honkai beasts hundreds of years ago.

The intensity of the battle here was too high, and the combat module of the ELF couldn't handle the situation, let alone dare to open fire indiscriminately for fearing bullets hitting her allies.

After all, according to Fuxi and Nuwa's thinking, Jingwei was already one of the strongest of the previous civilization. If faced with a situation she couldn't handle, adding an ELF wouldn't change anything. It would be better to install more life modules to help her deal with daily trivialities.

So now, the Book of Fuxi could only mourn silently on the sidelines, chewing on the words "I can't do anything".

On the other side, Fu Hua's lips tightened, her attacks becoming heavier.

The Shadow Knight Battlesuit responded to her will, the miniaturized collapse engine humming and buzzing as many small components rotated and deformed, exposing dangerous, crimson energy pipelines. The goggles previously mounted on her forehead also automatically lowered, covering Fu Hua's eyes.

The Honkai Energy wrapped around Fu Hua, forming a visible field around her, with lightning-like flashes wandering and surging within!

This was the "Eclipse Form," which could elevate Fu Hua's combat power to a higher level, even allowing her to unleash moves similar to those in comics where countless fists strike simultaneously.

The only drawback was that the "Eclipse Form" required extra energy and couldn't be sustained for long—but at this point, Fu Hua didn't need to use her ultimate move for too long.

Under the barrage of attacks, the shell of the Herrscher of Domination crumbled, revealing its core.

Helix drew her bowstring taut, her crystal arrow transformed into a stream of light, fiercely piercing into the core.

—That's how fragile it was!

The pink elf glanced at the empty space, where the effects created by the player-controlled Valkyrie shadows were still dazzling, but she had learned how to ignore these effects and observe the real world.

Helix murmured, "Focus, patience..."

Fueled by excitement, the Herrscher of Sentience dropped the weapons in her hands, rolled up her sleeves, and rushed out with Fu Hua. In her hands, the "Key of Dominion" from the Taixu Mountain emitted a different light, as if responding to something.

Feeling a surge of emotion from the fused warrior beside her, the Herrscher of Sentience glanced at Fu Hua, who had a tight grip on her fists enveloped in lightning. She couldn't help but inhale sharply and immediately cleared a path for her: "After you!"

"Thank you."

Fu Hua assumed a standard stance of the Cujin Fist, the Shadow Knight Battlesuit emitting intense crackling sounds of electric arcs.

She enveloped her fist with the Edge of Taixuan, carrying her complex emotions of anger, regret, sadness, and resignation, striking the core like a storm!

"Ahhhh!!!"

Fu Hua roared.

Even the perfectly replicated Fu Hua of the Herrscher of Sentience couldn't make out her movements at this moment. In the blink of an eye, the core evaporated into thin air, leaving only Fu Hua standing there alone, clutching a soulium identity card.

"What does it say?"

The Herrscher of Sentience asked cautiously.

"Nuwa, Research Institute of Firemoth, Mobius Laboratory... This is my sister, my pride—my name is Fuxi, and I borrowed my sister's identity card to leave a clue."

Fu Hua paused for a moment, then continued, "We used the power of soulium to isolate most of the Honkai Energy within Chiyou, but these seals cannot completely stop Chiyou. The seals will eventually be lifted, and I will leave the method to reconstruct the seal and resolve the Honkai beast. To future generations, I hope it's not too late when you see it..."

Too late? Perhaps it was indeed too late. Fu Hua had lost three respected friends for thousands of years, and even their memories in her had been recently recovered with Luo Lin's help.

But it seemed not too late either. Chiyou hadn't caused major disasters after waking up, and she had the chance to see the last moments left by her old friends through resonance, and even had the opportunity to permanently eradicate the enemy.

Fu Hua's lips trembled as she forced out an imperfect smile and whispered, "Fuxi, Nuwa, Jixuanyuan, I have brought friends... to complete our mission."

The pink elf watched Fu Hua's figure, quietly opening her fist, a piece of azure fragment lying in her palm.

[Stigmata Fragment - Fuxi · Glory (2)]

"...Helix, Herrscher of Sentience, Fu Hua, have you finished? Something strange is happening on my end..."

At that moment, Luo Lin suddenly popped up in the mental link channel, sounding rather strange.

"What strange thing?"

"That virtual flower, Existentialism... It came looking for trouble on its own..."

Helix paused, "But that thing doesn't even have legs, how can it actively come looking for trouble?"

"What's even weirder is that after we knocked out its core, it should have had a second stage, but it didn't even enter it. This guy actually blew itself up! It even counted as us completing the challenge..."

"Huh?"

Chapter 75: Playing Dirty Along the Ethernet Cable

To be honest, the operation of Existentialism's "Husk: Existentialism" left Luo Lin somewhat bewildered.

The appearance of the Virtual Flower was sudden. It created a domain that only allowed three-person teams to exist, casually flicking away all the Valkyries except for Luo Lin, Durandal, and Himeko Murata, then forcing them into battle mode.

Fortunately, with the Super-Goose Man's super state and the friendly assistance of the Valkyrie shadows, a thrust from the "Helel of Eternal Silence" made the Virtual Flower of Existentialism "lose its armor and flee in embarrassment," making the first stage seem like a breeze.

Luo Lin had been prepared to face the "laser rain" that Existentialism was supposed to unleash upon transitioning to the next stage, only to find it suddenly exploding into a firework display. Its black-and-gold shell scattered all over the place, leaving behind only a crater where it had been.

In the bewildered gaze of the black-haired girl, the countdown to the challenge stopped, and a translucent prompt box with "Mission Completed" appeared as expected.

Seeing this bizarre scene, Luo Lin had a slight foreboding.

Durandal was also puzzled. She cautiously looked around to confirm that Existentialism's Virtual Corpse was truly defeated, not planning any tricks with the explosion.

Himeko Murata used her greatsword to poke at the remnants of the black outer shell on the ground, which were gradually melting into bright spots and dissolving into the air.

The red-haired Valkyrie stood up straight, watching the other Valkyries who had been flicked away returning somewhat disheveled, and breathed a sigh of relief.

"It seems that thing is really dead, Durandal."

"But... I feel like it still had some power left."

Durandal hesitated for a moment, then gave up thinking. "Well, let's hit the road..."

As the golden-haired knight adjusted the formation, a very obvious collapse reaction came from a distance, causing the Valkyries to instinctively turn their heads and look in that direction.

"Fu Hua's moving fast over there, the second core has already been destroyed," Luo Lin said, breaking the silence, "now, we just need to deal with Dark Jixuanyuan and the Chi You main body."

Durandal nodded. "Good, let's meet up with Fu Hua first."

Himeko Murata raised an eyebrow. "Meet up with them?"

The golden-haired knight coughed awkwardly, looking at Luo Lin, hoping she would understand the meaning behind her gaze.

Luo Lin understood and called Helix and Senti through the mental link.

A few minutes later, the subtly expressioned Fu Hua emerged from the corner of the passage, holding the Book of Fuxi in her arms.

Durandal approached, first patting her on the shoulder encouragingly, then asking in a low voice, "Fu Hua, where's Senti?"

With the same volume, the Jingwei replied, "…According to her, she's gone back into Luo Lin's consciousness."

They both turned their heads, looking at Luo Lin somewhat uncomfortably, but still followed Senti's instructions, gently touching their temples and then nodding to indicate that the Herrscher was indeed in place.

Durandal fell silent for a moment before saying, "Do you think we need to confirm with Feather Dust?"

Fu Hua sighed. "No need."

Though she hadn't spent much time with Senti, she could still confirm that the latter was not the type to casually break promises or go back on her word—quite similar to Fu Hua herself.

"I'm back, folks!" Senti returned with Helix to her loyal system space (not really).

Yes, both of them had special identities, and there were too many ordinary Valkyries around Durandal who lacked the necessary permissions, so they had to hide from them for now.

Helix rubbed her chin. "The feeling of remotely lifting the summoned body is a bit strange... but the feeling of returning is much better than I imagined."

As for Senti, she skillfully circled around and lay on the sofa in the system space, fishing out some snacks she had prepared earlier and munching on them.

Helix stared at Senti, who simply smiled and offered the snacks, "Want some popcorn?"

Helix politely declined the invitation, as she still had more important things to research now, such as why Existentialism's Virtual Corpse exploded on its own...

She began to peruse Luo Lin's memories, gradually finding some anomalies within.

It seemed that after Existentialism exploded, the speed at which the player-controlled Valkyrie shadows dissipated was unusually fast...

Meanwhile, outside, following Helix's tracking from earlier, Luo Lin led the Valkyries quickly to the shield trapping Dark Jixuanyuan.

There was a pungent smell in the air, lava flowed at their feet, and most importantly, the huge, pulsating heart hanging above their heads gave the landing team of Valkyries a shock!

Durandal directly raised her spear high and threw it at the heart. As a result, the Helel of Eternal Silence hit an invisible wall in the air with a clang, bouncing back into the hands of the golden-haired knight as if nothing had happened.

The golden-haired knight lowered her head as if nothing had happened.

Luo Lin stood in front of the shield with a complex expression. The shield had changed from its previous translucent material to a frosted glass shape that made it hard to see the inside clearly, but the girl felt that Dark Jixuanyuan was indeed inside and not going anywhere.

Luo Lin took a deep breath and said, "Everyone, get ready. Dark Jixuanyuan is inside..."

With that, the girl placed her hand on the frosted glass shield.

【Pass through Level 2-5, Cyan Void Heart; Challenge Mission - Mysticism; Challenge Mission - Existentialism; Challenge Mission - Dominator, to unlock this level】

【All tasks completed! Opening level now!】

The shield disappeared lightly, exposing Dark Jixuanyuan, who was sitting on a high horse, her face so dark that it seemed almost dripping with water, in the center of everyone's vision.

"So it's you who's been causing trouble? I'll kill you, I'll kill you, I'll kill you..."

Dark Jixuanyuan's gaze focused on Luo Lin, and it was clear that she was furious and had little left of her rationality.

Fu Hua opened her mouth, "Ji...?"

Hearing this call, Dark Jixuanyuan's body suddenly trembled, and she turned her head like a rusty robot, looking towards Jingwei.

"You're still alive... Jingwei... But you're too late, too late..."

Just then, the domain that only allowed three combat Valkyries suddenly descended once again, and the other members of the landing team calmly accepted their fate of being flicked away.

—including Luo Lin, and a certain innocent Book of Fuxi.

"Waaaah!"

"Eh!? Why am I being flicked away too!?"

The black-haired girl looked at the Valkyries standing in the domain, Durandal, Fu Hua, and Wu Liang.

Helix said, "Is it possible that there's still me living in your head right now, so the count is higher?"

As for the Book of Fuxi being flicked away... um, maybe it's because only one puppet can participate in a battle?

Selune's Elegy, currently sitting on Durandal's shoulder, rubbed its nose and became even more excited.

But for the Book of Fuxi, perhaps this could be considered a good thing. She wasn't specialized in combat, so letting Selune take the stage was just fine.

The furious roar of Dark Jixuanyuan came from a distance, followed by a series of clanging noises, indicating that the battle had begun.

"Since I can't charge up everyone myself, I'll just play with the player's account."

Luo Lin thought this and snapped her fingers coolly—only, nothing happened.

Huh? Where's my bretheren playing with Valks? Why didn't it summon them?

Just then, Helix suddenly shouted, "Oh no, Luo Lin, the Imaginary Tree is about to crawl and smack us across the network cable!"

Chapter 76 Alibaba Cloud: Hm?

Not far away, dreadful roars and furious howls echoed from the battlefield, with the clang of weapons resounding through the volcano. This battle had no time limit, yet several individuals had escalated it to the point where even ordinary Valkyries would hesitate.

The black and crimson radiance on Dark Jixuanyuan grew stronger, but facing the siege from three top Valkyries—Durandal, Himeko Murata, and Fu Hua—she inevitably fell into a disadvantage.

However, this battlefield couldn't hold Luo Lin's attention; the girl was trying to deal with another enormous trouble.

"System, what's going on?"

After a long silence, the system finally spoke: [Perhaps due to our frequent use of the "linking" power before, the imaginary tree has captured some characteristics of the "link". Now, it's trying to capture the "links" and trace them back to us and... to that world.]

Not good, not good at all.

Luo Lin looked up and saw the "strings" of the world trembling uneasily. The colossal Imaginary Tree extended its golden branches into every corner, showering the world with golden light.

Seconds later, the gaze of the imaginary tree seemed to lock onto the girl like a searchlight.

This scrutiny brought a far greater sense of oppression than before, perhaps because most of the imaginary tree's attention had been focused on battling the Sea of Quanta, and Luo Lin's attention had been relatively insignificant.

However, this time, with the advantage of the Judgment-class Honkai beast "Chiyou," it suppressed the Sea of Quanta, gained a slight upper hand, and had the leisure to carefully scrutinize the "target" it had been eyeing for so long.

The corners of the girl's mouth twitched: "...hello?"

It didn't reply, just shed more golden radiance.

In an instant, Luo Lin's vision was overwhelmed by the warning pop-ups from the system.

[Warning! System error: 0xB00...]

[Warning! System error: 0x490...]

Her consciousness felt like it was being struck by a heavy hammer. The defenses set by the Herrscher of Sentience in Luo Lin's mind struggled for about half a second before shattering, and finally, the consciousness maze intervened, intercepting this overwhelming onslaught.

With a splitting headache, the girl clenched her teeth, quickly retreated, found a relatively safe corner with a few Valkyries, and then closed her eyes, heading straight for the consciousness maze.

As soon as she entered, Luo Lin saw the Herrscher of Sentience somewhat flustered, "What was that just now!?"

"The imaginary tree, your old employer, came knocking at the door."

Following behind the Herrscher of Sentience, Helix pointed to the ceiling of the consciousness maze. Luo Lin raised her head and saw golden cracks appearing in the sky above the maze of skyscrapers, expanding continuously.

The Herrscher of Sentience looked bewildered, staring at the crack in the sky, at a loss for words for a moment.

Luo Lin could sense that there was no falsehood in what Helix had said; the golden crack did indeed evoke a restless sense of familiarity.

Helix tapped the warning panel in front of him irritably and asked, "Is there any solution? System?"

"There is. Simply put, find a way to evade the imaginary tree's tracking and then hide ourselves."

The system cleared its throat and explained, "For example, if we consider the imaginary tree as a person, we're like something within the cells of its body—currently, the imaginary tree can't directly detect our location."

"Of course, if you leave the imaginary tree's system and swim around in the relatively empty Sea of Quanta, it will be much easier for both the imaginary tree and the Sea of Quanta to find you."

Listening to the system's cryptic words, Luo Lin could only smile wryly and scratch her head.

"Previously, our use of the 'linking' power made the imaginary tree, this giant, feel somewhat itchy in certain areas. So, it reached out to scratch roughly where it felt the itch, relieving its discomfort."

"However, unlike ordinary people who can only scratch a couple of times, the imaginary tree can gradually locate the itch in a certain way, even down to a specific cell—we're currently in that stage."

"So, how do we stop the tracking?"

"As soon as possible, eliminate the 'probes' that have directly connected the imaginary tree in this world—namely, Dark Jixuanyuan and Chiyou. This will help weaken the imaginary tree's detection capabilities..."

The girl breathed a sigh of relief, "I'm not too worried about that. With the super-enhanced Dudu with chips, Dark Jixuanyuan and Chiyou won't last long."

"Indeed, but we still need to find a way to help them and expedite this process."

The system seemed to have no objections to this: "At the same time, we need to eliminate and cover our traces, mislead the imaginary tree's exploration direction, and hide ourselves again."

"How do we do that?"

"We need crystals."

Luo Lin sarcastically commented, "I knew it, system, you're getting greedy with crystals, aren't you?"

"Host, it's not that I'm getting greedy with crystals, but crystals, as a 'currency,' have very special abilities."

The system said meaningfully, "In a sense, crystals can do anything."

Luo Lin waved her hand dismissively, "I have a headache, just use them as you see fit."

"Okay, then let's split up. Helix, who's better at manipulating 'links,' will help me deal with the problems here. You and the Herrscher of Sentience go out to help Durandal and the others beat up Dark Jixuanyuan..."

识宝 finally came to her senses and asked, "But isn't it only allowed for three people to enter the battle on Dark Jixuanyuan's side?"

The system replied with its unique electronic sound: "It depends on Luo Lin—she needs to learn to summon the Valkyrie phantoms she called before and give Dark Jixuanyuan a blow from another dimension to weaken her defense."

"Another dimension... I think I understand."

Luo Lin nodded thoughtfully, pulled the still confused Senti out of the consciousness maze, and left.

Helix scratched his head and knocked on the system panel with his knuckles, "Well, what should we do next?"

"Of course..."

Chapter 77 By Your Side

Helix sat on the edge of a skyscraper inside the Maze of Conciousness, much like a certain grass deity next door, framing the scene with her hands like a camera, capturing the golden branches in the sky, resembling a second sun.

According to the system, this was the method the imaginary tree used to detect Luo Lin and the others, but due to the vast difference in their strengths, this kind of detection was already considered an attack for Luo Lin.

She took a deep breath, carefully adjusting the "strings" in her eyes to deflect the attacks of the imaginary tree and guide them in another direction.

There was a huge system panel there, with an envelope-like icon on it, glaringly displaying two big characters: "Mail."

Just now, the system swiftly unlocked this "Mail" module and moved it into the consciousness maze, instructing Helix to redirect the attacks of the imaginary tree inside.

This scene looked extremely mysterious, even absurd.

"Is this move reliable? I mean... what we're doing now is like the shifting of the universe. After receiving the attacks created by the imaginary tree, we're throwing them all over to the 'links' other side..."

Helix still had some doubts. "Although it indeed effectively alleviated my pressure, won't this expose the position of the other side?"

The system assured confidently, "You can rest assured about this; our level of concealment is very high..."

Helix glanced at the frantically operating "Mail" module and sighed, "But judging by your style, you're just a cat system—cat-related systems are never reliable."

This remark from the girl directly silenced the system, and it was several seconds before it weakly responded, "At least, you should believe in the power of crystals, right?"

"Hmm, if what I'm doing now really improves our situation, otherwise, I might think you're deceiving me."

Helix maintained the posture of deflecting attacks, a behavior that consumed a considerable amount of energy. She even began to feel somewhat numb and couldn't stop strange thoughts from popping into her mind.

Is what I'm doing considered spamming? What would the contents of the received emails be? Will the storage space occupied by the emails be large enough to explode those players phones... uh, or would it really make the phones explode?

She continued to ponder like this, unaware of how much time had passed. Helix felt the attacking force from the imaginary tree start to weaken, which lifted her spirits.

"Is Luo Lin's side ready?"

Yes, Luo Lin had successfully entered a state similar to controlling Valkyrie phantoms as a player.

The specific method was to open the system panel, press the "Surging Fire, Xuanyuan Reborn" button, scroll to the end of the level interface, click on "2-6 Defeat of Dark Jixuanyuan," select the Valkyrie lineup with "Elysia" and then launch the attack...

The next moment, she and Senti were teleported inside the protective barrier, facing a seemingly intact enhanced version of Dark Jixuanyuan.

At the same time, they could see Durandal and the others beating up the real Dark Jixuanyuan in the real world, giving them a sense of double operation.

Senti sighed, "Are we in a parallel dimension..."

-Perhaps for players, it truly is.

Luo Lin carefully inspected the additional glowing decorations on Dark Jixuanyuan's body. The horse in battle was draped in thicker armor, and even the Black Xuanyuan Sword had many strange patterns added to it. It looked like a greatly enhanced SSS form, raising her vigilance.

"Alright, let's charge in and start the fight, right?" Senti clenched her fists, revealing a healthy smile. "I feel annoyed now and need to vent my emotions by fighting something."

"Me too, be cautious."

Luo Lin raised the assault rifle in her hand, nodding at Senti. "As usual, I'll control Elysia and Anling, and you can act freely!"

Both of them exerted force under their feet and launched an attack towards Dark Jixuanyuan.

Although Dark Jixuanyuan appeared to be very formidable, when Luo Lin actually swung her sword at her, she found that the sensation wasn't as terrifying as expected, at least within her range of response.

This should be considered as weakening the numerical values, meant for players to experience the storyline. Most people would probably just taste the new mechanics and when they officially enter the battlefield, things would become normal.

Soon, Durandal found that the defense of the authentic Dark Jixuanyuan they were facing had weakened significantly.

"What's going on?!"

Luo Lin did indeed lend a hand to the Super Dudu, making it easier for her to fight. Almost simultaneously, both sides emptied the first bar of the boss's health, and with a neigh, the horse carrying Dark Jixuanyuan retreated in embarrassment.

Luo Lin glanced at the opponent's health bar and nodded, "It's time for a phase change."

-Just like all SSS bosses, Dark Jixuanyuan had a cool phase change, which not only dragged out the battle, but also made things difficult for those who were not accustomed to the phase change mechanism.

She raised the Black Xuanyuan Sword, and for a moment, black clouds covered the sky, sand danced in the wind, and countless black and red lights descended from the sky, wandering towards Luo Lin and the others.

【If attacked more than 5 times, energy supply and damage boost will be lost.】

Classic evasion to gain buffs, Luo Lin knew there would be such a mechanism.

Seeing this scene, Senti couldn't help but smirk, "Wow, isn't this the technique of Edge of Taixuan? Luo Lin, follow behind me, I could defend against it even with my eyes closed!"

After a clang of iron hitting iron, Herrscher of Sentience put down her fist and said provocatively, "Hmph, an old antique like you definitely can't do it like me..."

Fu Hua indeed didn't have the same level of power as Senti, so she chose to hide under the shield held up by Durandal and occasionally make moves to block a few tricky attacks.

"Sigh... not even the thought of throwing an extra punch?"

Senti put her hands on her hips, looking a bit frustrated. Luo Lin could probably guess Herrscher of Sentience's awkward thoughts: Although Senti kept criticizing Fu Hua, she still hoped that the other party would perform actions beyond her predictions.

If Fu Hua didn't perform well, she would get angry, that kind of unreasonable anger.

Fueled by this anger, Senti engaged in the second phase of attacking Dark Jixuanyuan.

In the second phase, Dark Jixuanyuan had more tricks, terrifying giant sword qi, more golden arrows, powerful horse charges, and a tough collapse defense shield.

But these were all deciphered one by one by the Valkyries, and Dark Jixuanyuan appeared more and more embarrassed, even the madness in her eyes was filled with exhaustion, her armor cracked, and the horse collapsed after a neigh, throwing the black-haired warrior to the ground, rolling several times in a sorry state.

Finally, Dark Jixuanyuan lay on the ground, looking up at the giant heart of Chi You pulsating in the volcano, her murky eyes showing a hint of clarity.

She suppressed her chaotic thoughts and voluntarily dissipated the collapse energy gathered around her, leaning on the counterfeit Black Xuanyuan Sword as she got up from the ground.

"...Long time no see, Jingwei." Fu Hua's fist stopped, and she looked at the warrior not far away with a complicated expression.

--She had regained herself and become Dark Jixuanyuan again. Durandal and Senti also sensed the change and cautiously grasped their weapons, watching the black-haired warrior emitting a completely different aura not far away.

"Ah, it feels like I've had a very long dream." Dark Jixuanyuan looked at Fu Hua, staggering as she spread her arms, exposing the core pulsating with the heart of Chi You to the Valkyries' view, smiling gently as she did thousands of years ago.

"Come, while I can still control myself..."

Jingwei was stunned, "I..."

Durandal softly said, "Fu Hua, seize the opportunity." Fu Hua took a deep breath, clenched her fist, assumed her most familiar stance, and launched an attack towards Dark Jixuanyuan.

Her fist shattered the core without any hindrance, and the purple fragments shattered and scattered, along with Dark Jixuanyuan's figure becoming illusory.

She gently touched Fu Hua's cheek, letting out a deep sigh

 -You've worked hard, Jingwei, my mission is over.

...

Fu Hua almost didn't remember how she left Chi You, she followed the Valkyries in a daze, and when she came to her senses, she was already back on the bridge of the Hyperion.

She watched as Ragnar issued orders, and the main guns and missiles launched by the floating battleships tore through the raging storm, heavily bombarding its heart, completely silencing the still erupting rock husk.

Delia was still not at ease and fired all the Collapse Energy Fission Bombs carried on the ship, breaking Chi You into many pieces, watching them sink to the bottom of the sea, never to move again.

"Jingwei?"

Fu Hua turned her head and found Book of Fuxi carefully tugging at her clothes, "What's wrong with you? Are you hungry?"

The armed puppet thought for a moment and took out two buns from the soulium ball, presenting them to Fu Hua like treasures, "I brought meat buns from the floating battleship cafeteria, I remember this is your second favorite."

First? Of course, it was Fu Hua's own Spring of Eternal Youth, which she could eat for thousands of years without getting tired...

"Hmm, thank you." Fu Hua took the meat bun and took a bite. The logistical department of the Schicksal was still top-notch, even these ready-to-eat meat buns, when eaten in the past, were delicious and juicy.

However, the meat buns that used to be delicious now tasted only of endless bitterness to Fu Hua.

Memories surged in her mind, scenes of the past replaying in Jingwei's mind. Fuxi, Nuwa, and Jixuanyuan sat around a stone table, with game hunted placed on the table, oh, and of course, homemade fruit wine, some wild vegetables...

"Come on, it's time to eat!"

"Jingwei!"

"Stop calling, little sister, she's still thinking about today's battle."

"What a martial fanatic!"

The aroma of the food lingered around Fu Hua's nose, laughter filled her ears, and the girls looked at her expectantly, inviting Fu Hua to sit down and enjoy the lavish feast.

Obviously, it was such a happy scene, but it made Fu Hua grit her teeth, murmuring almost painfully.

"But what about me, what about my mission... what should I do..."

She wouldn't grow old, just leave; she wouldn't die, just part ways.

Honkai...

"I don't remember the old antique being so self-pitying."

A voice sounded in her heart, somewhat resentful. "Alright, let Fu Hua take it slow, she's just a person, not a god."

Someone gently defended her, then sat next to Fu Hua, holding her hand. "Luo Lin..."

Fu Hua raised her head and met Luo Lin's starry eyes, the gentle gaze inconceivably dispelling the darkness in her heart.

"I'll borrow the words of a friend—when you don't want to move forward, just stop for now. Then, look around you, look behind you..."

Jingwei looked around and found that everyone was already surrounding her. Durandal crossed her arms, her face very conflicted, seeming to want to talk to Fu Hua, but not knowing what to say.

As the heads of the Far East Branch, Theresa and Ragnar stood together, sketching on the tablet. Their post-battle work had just begun, but they still sneakily glanced towards Fu Hua.

Himeko Murata didn't know where she found a can of beer, placed it next to Fu Hua, patted her on the shoulder, and left gracefully.

"Yar Vette! What's wrong over here?"

"I didn't do it, Captain Ragnar."

More Valkyries peeked around the corner, scolded by Ragnar, ran away, and then a few more little heads popped out from the same place.

Luo Lin squeezed Fu Hua's hand and finally concluded, "We're always by your side."

Fu Hua lowered her head and took another bite of the meat bun. Although it had already cooled down, it had become delicious again. It really warmed the heart.

Chapter 78: Ship's Work

After Chiyou's death, the abnormal thunderstorm that had enveloped the surrounding sea area dissipated, revealing a clear sky.

Sunlight streamed down onto the hull of the Hyperion, casting a rather bleak sight. Several secondary cannons of the floating battleship were damaged, the armor was in tatters, and there was even a hole smashed out by a rampaging beast, with dangerous electric sparks flickering inside.

Fortunately, these damages did not affect the fundamental structure of the Hyperion, but it definitely needed to return to the base for major repairs. It wouldn't be able to come out for at least three to four months.

However, for now, the Hyperion couldn't directly withdraw to the base for repairs. Chiyou was dead, but the Honkai Beasts it created did not die with it. Instead, because they lost control from the higher-tier Honkai Beasts, they scattered and fled, spreading across this vast sea area.

The floating battleship would rely on its large-scale Honkai energy radar to scan the surrounding sea area and use the overwhelming firepower advantage of the ship to deal with these remaining Honkai Beasts, tying up loose ends.

On the bridge, Ragnar patted Theresa's shoulder, saying, "The casualties this time are not many. Our operation against Chiyou can be considered a great success..."

"Mm."

The petite figure in nun's attire shifted her gaze from Fu Hua, who was eating buns not far away, and said in a plain tone, "After all, there are three S-rank Valkyries here. It would be strange if we couldn't achieve such results."

"Are you worried about the budget?"

Ragnar scratched her head. "I think Archbishop Otto will definitely allocate more funds once he knows about this."

"Mm, we'll do some simple repairs at the Far East Branch for now. When the time comes, we'll have the Hyperion return to the headquarters' base for major repairs..."

Ragnar turned her head, looking at Theresa with a strange look.

But Theresa just crossed her arms, gazing steadily at the sky outside the bridge.

The old captain blinked, magically pulling out a can of green drink. "Bitter melon juice, want a cup? I brought it from St. Freya's..."

"Um..."

After a few seconds, Theresa belatedly took the drink, opened the can with one hand, took a sip, then placed the bitter melon juice aside.

Strange, it's really damn strange.

The old captain cautiously asked, "Theresa, are you feeling unwell?"

"Uh... I'm fine."

The young nun waved her hand, revealing a wry smile. "I... well, I'm just thinking about some things, about the Far East Branch, about St. Freya's, about... the future."

After hearing this, Ragnar almost stared her eyeballs out in astonishment.

Theresa was actually using her brain?!

This was an incredible change!

The school principal wrinkled her nose, feeling like she wanted to sneeze.

She pinched her nose bridge hard, muttering, "The sudden appearance of Chiyou today makes me worry. Are there any other Honkai Beasts hidden on Earth..."

"Indeed." Ragnar nodded, supporting his chin. "It seems like we need a more efficient way to detect Honkai energy, don't we?"

"In fact, I believe that the current Honkai energy radar of Schicksal is already sensitive enough. But we can't dispatch personnel to investigate every detected signal—there are too few people resistant to Honkai energy."

Theresa spread her hands, turning her head to look at Durandal. Her gaze locked onto the circular device on the blonde knight's wrist. "However, it seems that headquarters has already found a solution to this problem."

After listening to Theresa's analysis, the old captain breathed a sigh of relief. At least, from a logical standpoint, the school principal's brain wasn't fried.

Maybe she just wanted to use her brain for once.

Thinking of this, Ragnar nudged Theresa's shoulder with her elbow. "Theresa, aren't you planning to get a batch of those... Moon Rings?"

"Of course I want to, but..."

"But what?" Ragnar smiled. "With your relationship with Archbishop Otto, a little coquetry should be enough to get them, right?"

Theresa fell silent for a few seconds, complex emotions flashing in her eyes. Ever since Fu Hua used Fenghuang Down to remove Otto's memory block on her, she had been haunted by those scenes.

Babylon Laboratory, Sirin, Siegfried, Cecilia, and even Fu Hua fighting...

Of course, she couldn't forget the group of entropy opposers, Tesla, Einstein, and the Herrscher Welt Yang... and so on...

Theresa furrowed her brows, recalling the ordinary yet determined face of the Herrscher. She vaguely felt a strange familiarity from that face.

But as she continued to ponder, Theresa's mind became chaotic again.

Perhaps it was because she had just been dealing with aftermath work not long ago, with countless numbers swirling in her mind. The principal rubbed her temples, deciding to think about this matter after resting.

Theresa gathered her scattered thoughts and answered Ragnar's question, "Um... let's forget about coquetry... I'm already an adult..."

"Only children would deliberately emphasize that they're grown up, you know?"

The old captain teased, causing Theresa to feign annoyance. "What do you mean children?! I'm smart!"

The two of them bantered for a while before returning to work, until the sun set and Theresa's rumbling stomach interrupted their progress.

"It's already this late?"

Ragnar stretched lazily, proposing, "Let's go, let's go to the cafeteria for a bite. After we wrap things up here, we'll have a big meal when we return to the Far East Branch."

The school principal pondered for a moment. "I'll treat you then."

"Are you willing to spend your private money?" The old captain chuckled. "Then I won't be polite."

But before they could take a step, the terminal emitted a "beep beep beep" sound.

Theresa looked down and saw four English letters flashing on the communication screen: "OTTO."

She took a deep breath, pressed the answer button, and the golden-haired man appeared on the screen.

Theresa smiled softly, "Grandpa... good afternoon."

"Shouldn't you say good evening, my dear granddaughter?" Otto looked at the petite nun and sighed, "This is truly an epic victory, Theresa..."

"It's all thanks to the collaboration of the Valkyries, Grandpa." Theresa said, "We should also thank Special Envoy Durandal for her contributions during the battle. She contributed the most."

"Haha, she's the strongest Valkyrie of Schicksal after all."

Otto smiled and asked, "Are you interested in telling me the details?"

"Of course, Grandpa."

Theresa nodded, patting Ragnar's arm to signal her to leave first.

Ragnar nodded and saluted Otto before leaving the area.

Theresa took advantage of this short opportunity to adjust her breathing, then began to tell Archbishop Otto the story of this mission, thinking and speaking at the same time.

Otto propped up his chin, lost in thought.

Chapter 79: Safe and Sound

Theresa didn't immediately assign tasks to the Valkyries who participated in the battle against Chiyou. Even Himeko was forcibly seated by the school principal.

"I know the landing battle against Chiyou was extremely difficult. What you need to do now is rest well, obey orders, understand? I don't want exhausted people going out to die."

Although the golden-haired knight claimed to be full of energy and could even continue fighting against enemies like Dark Jixuanyuan, under Theresa's stern gaze, Himeko felt a strange sense of relief and ultimately couldn't persist.

She stretched her neck, muttered something, and went to find a place to rest with the Durandal.

When the Valkyries of the landing team saw their leader leave, they dispersed.

Luo Lin found her way to the crew's quarters, entered a random room, and buried herself in bed, drifting into the system space.

She skipped past the faces filled with "satisfaction" and "finally relaxed" in the Hyperion, reached out to grab the Herrscher who was enjoying snacks, and headed straight to the Elysian Realm.

Just as she opened the gate linking the Elysian Realm in the system space, Luo Lin saw Mobius blocking the opposite doorway.

The green-haired scientist sat on a floating crate, looking down at the entrance with impatience and irritation written all over her face.

Luo Lin and Senti exchanged a glance, both seeing the same surprise on each other's faces.

"Her...?"

Senti glanced at Mobius, her expression subtly changing, "She must be anxious."

Mobius's ears twitched as she gazed at the empty corridor, calling out loudly, "Luo Lin? Herrscher?"

She blinked, and Luo Lin and Senti suddenly appeared in the Elysian Realm.

Mobius shifted her body slightly, her snake-like pupils staring at the black-haired girl. A dangerous curve appeared at the corner of her mouth, causing Luo Lin to shiver involuntarily.

She suddenly asked, "What's the outcome?"

Luo Lin knew what Mobius was asking, so she nodded firmly, "We've taken down the Judgment-class Honkai Beast."

"Good! Ah... Meow!"

Cheers from Pardofelis echoed from upstairs. However, the cheers stopped abruptly after two seconds, indicating that Pardofelis seemed to have been gagged. Of course, there were also sounds of dissatisfaction from a crumpled tin can being rubbed.

Luo Lin paused for a moment, then walked into the living room, finding people everywhere. All eyes turned to her as she appeared.

Eden sat next to the bar, the great singer raising her glass towards Luo Lin in a slight salute.

And beside her, Elysia tilted her head, smiling, "I knew our lovely Luo Lin would surely succeed~"

"Hmph, it's nothing..." Kalpas exhaled a breath of hot air, raising the temperature of the living room slightly. He turned around, taking heavy steps as he left.

Sakura, wearing the mask that covered most of her face, nodded at Luo Lin, seemingly wanting to apologize for Kalpas. She quickly followed Kalpas out.

Hua sat properly on the sofa, looking somewhat awkwardly because Griseo didn't know when she fell asleep, and she was now leaning against her, breathing softly and steadily.

As for Kosma, he hung around not far from Griseo like a guardian spirit. Next to him was Pardofelis, tears welling up in her eyes as she covered her nose, with several cat hairs on her face.

There was a crumpled Can on the floor, tangled in a mess, with teeth marks on its bottom, vaguely corresponding to Pardofelis's face.

Luo Lin suspected that Kosma had just grabbed the Can to silence Pardofelis and prevent her from waking Griseo up.

After confirming Luo Lin's situation, Kosma's gaze returned to the side. It seemed that he intended to cushion Griseo a bit more to make her sleep more comfortably. But he was afraid of making too much movement and waking her up.

"Hey, Miss Luo Lin!"

Before Luo Lin could continue to check where the rest of the people were, Vill-V came over enthusiastically, pressing her mechanical arm on the girl's shoulder, entwining around her like an octopus.

The engineer asked eagerly, "You must have collected the data, right? Hurry up and show me the detection device! Hurry up!"

Luo Lin rolled her eyes, taking out the weathered "Hover Tank" detection device.

Vill-V immediately ignored Luo Lin, flipping over to tinker with the device. Countless data were projected into the air, along with large segments of recorded videos...

Luo Lin widened her eyes, "This thing can record videos?!"

The engineer proudly patted her chest, creating waves, "Of course, Vill-V's products are always top-notch. It has many wonderful features waiting for you to discover!"

"...Remember to copy the exported data for me. We still need it over there."

"Sure, sure."

Luo Lin twitched her lips, taking out two boxes of samples collected from Chiyou and holding them in her hands.

Before Luo Lin could speak, Vill-V, at a speed even Elysia couldn't see clearly, "whooshed" over to the two boxes of samples, cradling them carefully in her arms, then carefully opened the boxes to inspect.

"...Wow, such a strong Honkai energy... Oh, this wonderful organization..."

The green-haired scientist slowly approached at this time, looking at Vill-V, who was bubbling with happiness nearby. The blood vessels on her forehead throbbed, and she gritted her teeth in frustration, saying, "You, who only knows mechanical engineering, why are you holding my treasures? Get away! Let me!"

"Why do you say I only know mechanical engineering! I can do anything! Besides, this is the sample we agreed to collect with Luo Lin. If you want, go ask her for it..."

Is that so? Why don't I remember?

Luo Lin was stunned, then noticed the strange smile on Vill-V's face, and Mobius turned around, putting on an innocent expression, and asked in a sweet voice, "Lovely Miss Luo Lin..."

Luo Lin recoiled half a step as if shocked, "Please be normal, I'm scared!"

"...Tsk."

Mobius clicked her tongue, "Little white mouse, do you have any spare samples over there?"

Oh, this is more like it.

Luo Lin rubbed her goosebumps on her arms, then took out two boxes of samples and handed them over, "I prepared these for you a long time ago."

"Well, that's about right..."

Mobius took the boxes, leisurely saying, "We've made new progress in the research of engravings on our side..."

Luo Lin raised an eyebrow, "Oh? That's great. After the battle with the Judgment-class Honkai Beast this time, I've gained quite a lot, including two sets of very valuable Stigmata, a set of Ezpansion chips. We can have a good chat..."

"Valuable... Stigmata?"

"Expansion chips?"

Both Vill-V and Mobius became interested.

At that moment, a hurried step came from afar. It was Raven, holding a tablet, shouting loudly, "The battle on the Schicksal side that you asked me to monitor has ended, and the Honkai beasts' reaction has disappeared... Uh... Luo Lin? You're back?"

The Valkyrie who participated in the battle turned her head, looking at the breathless mercenary and smiled, "You're right, humans won."

"You, you're quite mysterious..."

Raven took a few deep breaths, smiling bitterly, "But, winning is good. I don't want Honkai beasts stirring up trouble and ruining my plan to buy land..."

"You're still thinking about buying a villa island? Forget it... Why not just build a house on the moon?"

"On the moon, are you kidding? Luo Lin..."

Luo Lin shook her head, "I'm not kidding."

It seems that Raven hasn't touched on the matters related to the moon relics yet...

"Thank you, Natasha."

Eden handed Raven a glass of wine, and the mercenary drank it without hesitation.

Further away, Sue and Senti exchanged a glance before leaving the living room.

Luo Lin could faintly hear something brushing against her ears, gently murmuring, "Well done, child."

The Herrscher shivered, scanning around suspiciously, "What just passed by?"

"...Such an experience, it must be Aponia."

Luo Lin rubbed her cheeks, waving to the nearby Elysia, "My dear Elysia! Come here, I might have a surprise for you!"

Eden blinked, smiling and shaking her head, "You still don't sound quite like me."

"What do you mean?"

With her hands behind her back, Elysia hopped over to the girl.

Luo Lin opened her hands, three shining cards floating in her palm, with exquisite patterns mainly in pink, firmly attracting the attention of Miss Pink Elf.

"This... is..."

She exclaimed softly, feeling an inexplicable call. After getting confirmation from Luo Lin, she trembled as she reached for the brilliant cards.

[Elysia (Upper): Physical damage increase, normal/charged/branch attack critical damage increase.]

[Elysia (Middle): Physical damage increase, cooldown of extreme evasion skill reduced.]

[Elysia (Lower): Overall damage increase, critical damage increase, after hitting an enemy with a charged attack, additional critical damage increase.]

[2-piece set skill: Crystal Blessing: Overall damage increase, after hitting an enemy with a charged attack, additional physical damage for a period of time, and reduced damage taken from nearby enemies.]

[3-piece set skill: Divine Land Blessing: Restore a small amount of HP when a charged attack hits (with cooldown), increase in critical damage for ranged attacks. After using a ultimate move, ranged attacks deal additional physical damage for a certain period of time, and each use of a charged attack can extend the duration of this effect (with a limit).]

These were exclusive stigmata for the pink fairy miss!

"How do you feel?"

"I..."

Elysia touched the stigmata cards in amazement, softly replied, "I feel like... I can use this... to truly leave the Elysian Realm?"

Chapter 80: Beyond the Mountains, Beyond the Sea

"Nobody's in the mood for work now, Mophead," the red-haired doctor said to Einstein.

"What exactly happened on Shenzou's side? The reaction from Schicksal was extremely intense. Even the remote Australian base raised its readiness level to an unbelievable extent. Could it be that a Herrscher appeared agEin?"

The sudden appearance of a massive Honkai reaction, Schicksal mobilizing forces globally, this series of actions is hard not to associate with the scene of the Second Eruption's arrival.

Many AE employees were restless, whispering to each other. The coffee machine in the base kept running, and the stored sugar and milk were consumed by the restless people in just a few hours.

"...The Leader sent a message earlier, saying that the Hyperion from the Far East Branch has been dispatched. Theresa, Ragnar, and Durandal from Headquarters also went with the ship."

Ein pursed her lips. "Siegfried has already set off from the Far East. He borrowed the invisibility transport aircraft of the Raiden Ryoma to approach the incident site..."

Tesla was taken aback for a moment, then said with a strange expression, "He no longer cares about the Schicksal arrest warrant on him, does he?"

The blue-haired doctor shook her head. "Schicksal's attitude towards the warrant is ambiguous, and this time, Theresa is supporting him at the incident site. Nothing will happen for sure."

"Beep beep beep~"

Tesla pressed the connect button, and Siegfried's hearty voice came through the speaker, attracting the attention of everyone present.

"This is Siegfried, can you hear me?"

"We can hear you."

"I've arrived at the destination and now transmitting live video footage."

Einstein projected the video onto the big screen, and the footage captured by Siegfried was transmitted back:

The azure sea was littered with Honkai beast corpses, floating and gradually disintegrating into fragments with the waves.

A little further away, many rock-like fragments emitting green smoke could be seen, with obvious traces of Honkai erosion.

Then, something huge, enough to make everyone hold their breath, appeared in the field of view. Einstein could clearly hear Tesla gulp down saliva.

The red-haired doctor trembled and asked, "What is... that?"

"Obviously, it's part of some kind of Honkai beast..."

Siegfried was also uncertain. He manipulated the invisible transport aircraft to circle around a few times and said, "Not long ago, I sensed several intense energy reactions, most likely Schicksal's people fighting this Honkai beast... The results are impressive."

Einstein murmured, "So, did they win?"

"They won."

A calm middle-aged male voice inserted into the channel, and the distinctive insignia appeared on the screen, exciting all the AE employees present.

"Alliance Master!"

"Mr. Welt!"

The leader of AE, Welt Yang, cleared his throat and continued after everyone quieted down, "Not long ago, the Hyperion, a new warship of Schicksal, carrying Theresa Apocalypse, Durandal, and a group of Valkyries, battled against the Judgement-class Honkai beast codenamed 'Chiyou' and successfully killed the enemy..."

Upon hearing this news, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Siegfried whistled, "Theresa did a great job."

"Siegfried, you better turn around and leave now. I've interfered with Hyperion's detection of you through my abilities, but this interference won't last long."

"Understood, I'll leave right away."

The white-haired man pulled the control stick, letting the invisible transport aircraft draw a graceful curve in the air, then flew in the direction away from the battlefield.

Tesla put her hands on her hips and shouted to the employees, "Alright, everyone saw it, the Alliance Master has spoken. Let's continue today's work."

"Amazing, it's my first time hearing the Alliance Master's voice."

"I've met Mr. Welt before."

"Quick, tell us what kind of person he is?"

As the discussion continued, the stagnant crowd began to move, and the sound of keyboards resumed. Amidst the sounds of instruments and computers operating, Einstein lowered her voice and had a private conversation with the AE Master.

"Welt, it's been a long time..."

"Yeah."

Welt was silent for two seconds, then said, "Thank you for your hard work."

"To be honest, it's not that hard."

Welt's tone sounded somewhat subtle.

In recent years, the whereabouts of AE's Leader Welt had been a mystery, appearing and disappearing unpredictably, constantly changing appearance and identity, providing AE with a large amount of confidential information from within Schicksal.

Many AE members believed that Welt, using the power of the Herrscher, was searching for loopholes within Schicksal on a global scale, which should be very arduous.

But the few who knew the truth understood that Welt had been staying at the SEint Freya Branch in the Far East as a teacher, "utilizing" Theresa's authority to obtain a lot of information...

"When do you plan to come back?"

The blue-haired doctor adjusted her collar, her face full of worry. "The actions of the radicals are getting more and more excessive. Cocolia is pushing forward the exploration plan of that 'Eye of the Abyss' frantically..."

"Not yet time. There are some new developments here that need attention... about the Herrschers."

"Herrschers?!"

"Yes..."

Welt replied helplessly.

He didn't expect St. Freya to inexplicably produce two Herrschers, and they even blatantly stayed in the Valkyrie Dormitory.

Fortunately, these two didn't have particularly strange reactions and just followed their teacher to study knowledge diligently, worrying about how to write their homework every day, and enjoying playing games and cooking...

But these past few days, the Herrschers seemed a bit restless, causing Welt to be more vigilant.

"On Cocolia's side, I'll warn her, but I need your help to coordinate... cough cough!"

Einstein looked worried. "Welt, your health..."

"I'm fine." Welt chuckled, "Don't worry, I already have a solution in mind for the problem of the Herrscher abilities burdening my body..."

"You're not lying to me, are you?"

"Why would I?"

Welt squinted his eyes, remembering the strange circular device he saw on Durandal's wrist before. After observing it, he understood what it could do.

If he could get the Moon Ring and use the Herrscher's abilities for analysis...

It seemed that he needed to contact that mysterious Valkyrie named Luo Lin.

Judging from her attitude towards Bronya, Welt confirmed that Luo Lin's attitude towards AE was somewhat ambiguous. At least he could confirm that after meeting her, there wouldn't be a direct conflict.

Moreover, she seemed to have a strange relationship with those Herrschers...

Welt made up his mind and said, "Let's end the conversation here, Einstein."

"...Take care, Welt."

Einstein hesitated for a moment, then said, "Remember your oath. You cannot die until you fulfill that person's wish."

"I understand. You take care too."

After the Chiyou event, let's chat casually.

After the Chiyou event, let's chat casually.

Mao Xiaohuo [lv16] - Posted on Board: [Deck]

Views: 60,000+/Comments: 800+/Likes: 2887/Favorites: 89

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Some time ago, I received an email. As a strategy UP host who has been cooperating with miHoYo for a long time, I originally thought it was a beta test for the Honkai Impact 3 official project. However, when I opened it, I found that the format was different from what I had received before.

At that time, I didn't care about this error. I just clicked the link step by step, downloaded the resources, logged in to my account—then I saw the huge Chiyou event icon appear before my eyes.

Art resources I had never seen before, and they looked very exquisite...

I joked with my friends in the group, saying that I received the beta test qualification a bit early today, and they replied that there has been no news of the beta test recently. They asked if I had been tricked.

I felt something was wrong. At that time, I even thought I had downloaded a pirated client, and my cultivated account was going to be stolen... Later, I found out that this thing was a beta test server made by the famous Garbled Brother.

Later, I heard that many people also received similar qualifications, and there were no problems with their accounts after playing for a long time. I also consulted some official buddies, they just sent me a bunch of emojis, it seems that there is no big problem... (laughs)

So I went to play, and soon, I was shocked and couldn't close my mouth.

As a half-expert of the gaming industry practitioner, I really can't understand what this Garbled Brother is thinking. Just looking at the high-precision modeling in the CG, I feel like the money in his pocket is smoking and on fire, faster than the stock market crashing...

In short, it's burning money, burning money, burning money very fiercely due to the cost of production.

According to statistics, the Chiyou event has a total of sixteen stages, with seven stages plus one interlude in the first half, and seven stages plus one interlude in the second half. On average, each stage has about 2 minutes of movie-level CG, adding up to a total length of more than half an hour, which is extremely satisfying to watch.

Of course, besides the new CG in the Chiyou event, there are also some new gameplay elements, including the very exciting aerial shooting stage, which is hard to imagine as a design made by a seemingly fan-made production team, and it also uses the framework of Honkai Impact 3 itself.

People often say that you can play all games in Honkai Impact 3. This event can be considered as adding another type to us—officially called [Light Gun Shooting], with typical representatives like "Blood on the Shore" and "House of the Dead". Characters move along fixed tracks, and players only need to control the weapons in their hands to shoot to complete the game.

Reset the models of Valkyrie Battlesuits such as [Moonbeam], [Lunar Crescent], and [Fusion Core], making the characters more detailed, especially [Fusion Core], which looks much better than the dry modeling of the official version.

Of course, when it comes to characters, we have to mention the two new trial characters provided in this event, [Valkyrie Dark Feathers] and [Night Knight Moon Lich].

[Valkyrie Dark Feathers] is an auxiliary character with a universal attribute and additional abnormal effects activated by combo hits. Her data is quite detailed, and you can open the Valkyrie interface to understand the skill actions in detail;

What is a universal attribute, you ask? Well, yes, it means you can choose your own attributes, click on what you need. Everyone will be confused when they see it, it's especially exaggerated.

But fortunately, [Valkyrie Dark Feathers] is very conservative in terms of values, and even some skills only have basic data, it feels like they haven't figured out what to fill in, so they just put it there.(Someone is screaming eternally)

The other character, [Moon Knight], is probably a scrapped design of the former Godsbane Battlesuit that miHoYo released before, and then it was taken out and designed by the Garbled Brother's production team. This character cannot view detailed attributes and skills, and can only roughly appreciate her mechanism through combat and the panel.

--Ahem, I accidentally made an old habit. As someone who has been making guides for years, seeing the new Valkyrie Battlesuit, I definitely plan to go in and test it out... After all, this is not a real beta test server, there are no stages for testing damage by hitting wooden stakes, so it's hard for me to do a detailed evaluation.

The battles with these two Battlesuits are quite interesting, with a feeling of the old-fashioned Honkai Impact 3 skill design, as well as the recent version's strength. It feels like the Garbled Brother is quite accurate in this aspect.

After talking about gameplay and character design-related matters, let's turn back to look at the plot of this event.

We all know that the Judgment-class Honkai beast Chiyou appeared very early in the Honkai Impact 3 game, including Fuxi and Nuwa were not called by this name at the beginning, it was another... I can't say, anyway, it's related to classic mythological figures in China.

Its combat power is also a mystery. After being hit by three shots from the Hyperion in the chronicles plot, it directly disappeared—this is how the early plot of Honkai Impact 3 was, after all, at that time, Da Wei and the others hadn't figured out what kind of game they wanted to make, and later, after thinking about the true direction of the game, they began to frantically dug plot holes after plot holes, and the old plot [Mystery of Stigmata] manga was completely deleted from the IP site of Honkai Impact 3...

Garbled Brother choosing this as an event is a very innovative choice, coupled with the cool CG, and the rearranged, probably parallel world plot, allows us to experience what the Judgment-class Honkai beast really looks like, and how cool its combat power is.

The scene animation of Hyperion fighting with the Honkai beast, Durandal's airborne assault, casually burying bombs with guns, and turning around elegantly in the explosion, gives people a feeling of a historical blockbuster.

Anyway, I saw many MADs (videos that modify, edit, and remix existing materials, generally animations or CG images, and add music to pay homage to related works) with exciting music on Bilibili. At first glance, it made people think that Honkai Impact 3 was a AAA blockbuster game.

Overall, I am very satisfied with this event, I don't know how everyone else feels.

Oh, there are also some little easter eggs in the game that make people smile, such as a shield device in the second half of the event, which looks very similar to a certain steam machine device in [Elysian Realm].

In some stages during battles, you can see the silhouettes of Miss Pink Elf and Senti running in the distance. I don't know what this design means.

Their own dialogue

Luolin: "The system mentioned that when you redirected the attack from the imaginary number tree earlier, you also filled the mailbox with a lot of strange messages..."

【Helix】: "Haha, I did add some stuff... like the essential 'Hello world' for newbie programmers, some flashes of inspiration that came to mind, like 'Cool', 'Pink Fatty', and so on..."

Luolin: "Do you dare say that directly in front of Elysia?"

【Helix】: "Of course I do, especially when I'm possessing you!"

Luolin: "I'm the one who'll get hit, right?! You also want to stay alive, don't you!"

The two of them playfully bantered for a while before finally calming down, panting.

Luolin: "It's hard to imagine that you're just my alter ego. I don't think I'm that detached."

【Helix】: "That reminds me of all those lame jokes you were cracking before you transmigrated..."

Luolin: "Even if I crack a ton of lame jokes, I won't become like this, 【Helix】."

【Helix】: "Then I sincerely recommend finding a psychologist, like Senti."

Luolin: "Haha, I don't want to 'spill the beans' to Senti... Besides, she's not cut out to be a psychologist."

【Helix】: "Are you worried about Aponia's advice, huh?"

Luolin: "...To be honest, about that... the 'String' of the world, and that 'link'... do you have any special feelings about them?"

【Helix】: "...Yes, I do. When I sent the email this time, I felt something. So I inserted some words into the mailbox, it's kind of an experiment."

Luolin: "Truly worthy of 【Helix】, are you planning to stuff yourself directly into the mailbox next?"

【Helix】: "Now that you mention it, it seems worth a try?"

Luolin (excitedly pulling): "Don't be reckless!"

【Helix】: "Alright, alright, I won't."