"I can probably guess what that man has in mind."
What else could make Otto work this hard? The answer was obvious...
-----------------------------------
"Auntie, I want to go out of the city and play."
Kiana poked her head out, hands straight on the desk, looking like a kitten at Theresa who was sitting upright across from her.
"No, you still have..." thunk, the pen fell onto the documents. "Don't call me Auntie in the academy!"
Theresa glared at her silly niece in annoyance, directly rejecting Kiana's "dream of going to a amusement park with Mei."
"But I haven't gone out to play for so long." Kiana pouted, feeling wronged.
"If you're really that bored, go take up your test properly. Next time if you fail again, just watch how I deal with you!"
Theresa shook her head.
How did Cecilia's genes end up producing such a big handful like Kiana, really...
"It's all Siegfried's fault!"
No matter what, it's Siegfried's fault!
"Auntie, what are you talking about?" Kiana looked at Theresa curiously, mumbling who-knows-what.
She couldn't possibly be thinking about how to punish her if she failed the next exam, right?
No no, this time she had to get Mei to help her review properly, absolutely couldn't give Auntie a handle to grab.
"Kiana..." While pondering, she looked up again.
Theresa sighed: "Even in this, you're exactly like Siegfried."
Sure enough, it's Siegfried's fault!
"What's going on, just now I saw Kiana entering here in a hurry." Himeko walked in holding two books with one arm, puzzled.
Theresa flared her nostrils slightly, her expression showing it all.
"Drinking in broad daylight, be careful that you don't go falling headfirst into some flower bed."
"Can't you ever hope something good for me? Besides, today's my day off, okay? A perfectly fine holiday wasted being dragged by you to find things, and you don't even show some gratitude, tch."
That last "tch" was extremely effective.
Theresa was furious but powerless. Who asked her to call Himeko on her day off.
Seeing the effect achieved, Himeko coughed lightly, then asked seriously, "So how's that patient doing?"
"Pretty quiet. At first she seemed hard to control, but after Godzilla's second appearance she calmed down a lot."
"Is that so, then her luck's really good."
The child they were talking about was Yuno, whom Himeko had brought back from Chiba Academy along with Mei and the others.
Although she had become a pseudo-Herrscher. She was lucky.
After Godzilla appeared, the will of Honkai sensed something was going to ruin its plans, and found the closest target, Yuno, who was already transforming into a Herrscher.
It tried to make Yuno kill Godzilla and reverse the situation.
But the result was that the Honkai energy just injected into Yuno's body was completely wiped out by a single heat blast from Godzilla.
And in Nagazora City, which had been burned into a crystallized structure by Godzilla, such a large amount of Honkai energy flickering on radar for even a few seconds was impossible for Himeko to miss.
Originally, under the influence of Honkai energy and her past experiences, Yuno was nearly out of control.
But then Godzilla appeared again, and looking at Godzilla crushing the judgment-class Chiyou with absolute violence on the screen, Yuno's eyes instantly became much clearer.
Even the way she looked at textbooks seemed gentler.
"That child seems to have suffered quite a lot before, I wonder if she can return to being human again and experience good things."
Himeko nodded slightly, sighing.
At first when she saw Yuno, she had planned to just finish her off, leaving the past behind, but seeing her shrink in the corner trembling, plus remembering Mei before, a bit of pity made her bring Yuno back.
But Yuno was still different from Mei. Those eyes of hatred that appeared from time to time could not be hidden from her.
Therefore the result was a tiny bomb placed in her heart. All troubles gone.
"That child... let's just take it slowly." Theresa sighed.
Even if sighing made her look older, she accepted it. Day after day, endless work, and each problem worse than the last.
Sigh, she wondered if she could hold on.
...
"Mei."
"Class monitor Fu Hua."
Hearing her name, Mei turned her head, a little startled.
"Just call me by my name. Class monitor only means I help the teachers with some chores."
Fu Hua said, then added, "Are you waiting for someone here?"
"Mm, Kiana wanted to go out and play, she said she was going to ask the headmaster. I wanted to stop her, but she disappeared in a flash, so I had no choice but to wait here."
With what Mei knew of Kiana, she would surely be thrown out by the headmaster within minutes of barging in.
If she followed now, she might even get used as an example by the headmaster to educate Kiana.
At that point it wouldn't just be a simple retreat for Kiana, she might even be forced to stay and make up lessons on the spot.
"Isn't the area around the academy full of entertainment places?" Fu Hua asked, puzzled.
St. Freya Academy wasn't like other schools.
Thanks to their headmaster being the granddaughter of the Overseer of Schicksal, not only was the academy big and beautiful, but the nearby facilities were top-class.
A food street, an arcade street, clothing malls, everything was available.
Valkyries were still human, and most of St. Freya's were still trainees.
Keeping nerves tense all the time easily led to accidents.
Mei gave a helpless expression, sighing lightly: "Kiana thinks the nearby places are boring, she wants to run further out. I don't think the headmaster will agree."
"No wonder, things outside have been unstable recently. The headmaster's concern isn't wrong."
Fu Hua nodded slightly.
By "unstable," she meant the large number of organizations searching everywhere for Godzilla's traces, trying to use Godzilla's power to unify the world.
Mm, a very "simple and honest" dream. Fu Hua thought they had just watched too many movies.
Aside from Schicksal and Anti-Entropy, the two main forces fighting Honkai, other scattered groups popped up everywhere.
These groups often knew a little about Honkai, and with money, recruited scientists to study Honkai technology.
Every time such groups emerged, Schicksal had to do a cleanup.
There was no helping it. Too many people in the world with different ideas, and even Schicksal couldn't forcibly change minds, so they could only use the one language everyone understood, violence.
"Sigh, why isn't Kiana here yet. Ah! That looks like Kiana." Mei muttered, looking toward the school building, suddenly seeing a familiar figure.
Fu Hua stared at Mei's smiling profile.
If she hadn't seen it with her own eyes, she'd find it hard to believe a Herrscher could live in harmony with humans.
In the past, Herrschers, even if they could talk, were often chaotic, and a few words would lead to battle, extremely dangerous.
But this era was different.
The leader of Anti-Entropy, Welt Yang, while burdened with countless responsibilities, still cooperated with humanity.
The Second Herrscher, though siding with the will of Honkai, was no longer a threat.
Now there appeared a Herrscher of Thunder and a pseudo-Herrscher, one curled up in fear, the other timid and weak. Well, a few days ago she did notice that pseudo-Herrscher looking strange, but before long she returned to clarity.
Truly, the world was ever-changing, dragging people deep into it.
"Mei, " Dragging out the sound, Kiana pitifully hugged Mei.
"Auntie won't let me go out and play." Her muffled voice came through. Mei smiled helplessly.
"The headmaster's just worried. Things outside are a bit chaotic now, better to listen to her."
"Oh, alright." Kiana pouted, puffing her cheeks.
She couldn't go out with Mei.
"Eh, why is the class monitor here?"
Fu Hua looked helpless: "Kiana, I've been here this whole time."
"Eh? Really?" Kiana blinked, pretending not to know.
"Don't be silly. Didn't you say you wanted to go out? Even if we can't go far, there's still a lot of fun near the academy. Bronya just went out at noon, if we head there now we'll probably find her in some arcade." Mei said with a smile.
Fu Hua added: "I already agreed with Bronya to play games together."
"After all, the class monitor is really good at games."
"Right, right, I also said that the class monitor is great at games. I even bragged that she could match city-level players."
...
Reality.
The universe of Honkai Star Rail.
The vast cosmos created countless similar yet different ecosystems.
Among them, whether from artificial causes or planetary reasons, some were on the verge of collapse under regional pressures.
Some of them entered the interstellar trade network, and thus could seek aid from higher civilizations.
"This planet's air is just too... ugh!"
"Cough, cough, just endure it a bit longer. As long as we use Miss Ruan Mei's newly developed ecological reconstruction device, no matter what state the planet is in, it can be restored."
"I heard Miss Ruan Mei developed a new model too. How do you think it compares with ours?"
"That's obvious, of course it's better. But too bad the IPC only supplied this version. Still, it's enough. Hurry up, once it's running we can finally take off these helmets and rest."
"Having it at all is good enough, don't be picky. I heard several more teams are waiting for their turn after us."
The uniformed staff quickly set up the ecological reconstruction device issued by the IPC.
Activate!
As the device started, the once-dead planet gradually regained signs of life. Though faint, at this rate it would take only two or three weeks to erase the disaster.
A genius club creation, quality was of course guaranteed.
...
"Your invention really worked." Receiving reports, Herta said to Ruan Mei, who was just stepping out.
"It's just a small contribution." Ruan Mei replied calmly.
She didn't particularly care what impact the test device had.
Unless it was a topic that interested her, she wouldn't bother, even if it changed the world, if it wasn't her field, she would not devote herself to it.
"How is your research going?" Ruan Mei asked proactively.
Herta and Hanya.
When paired together, it wasn't hard to guess the project.
After seeing Hanya revived, Ruan Mei carefully conducted large-scale examinations.
Unfortunately, apart from Hanya's vitality being stronger than most of the Xianzhou people, and her unusually calm spirit (with only minor fluctuations due to Xueyi's case), there were no signs of falling into Mara like ordinary Xianzhou natives.
This discovery left her both excited and frustrated.
The phenomenon seemed closer to self-repair. And self-repair without leaving any trace. Tracing the source to find out why this self-repair happened was beyond the limits of known science.
Even she, the top figure in the cosmos life sciences, had no way forward.
Just then, the automatic door opened.
A mechanical gentleman walked in slowly.
"Screwllum." Seeing the person they were waiting for, Herta stood up straight.
"Herta. Ruan Mei." Screwllum nodded lightly in greeting.
"Screwllum, you're here for Herta's project too?" Ruan Mei asked.
Screwllum nodded, then gently shook his head.
"Yes and no. After hearing the story of the sisters from Herta, I felt sympathy. The emotions of organic life are something I envy. So, I decided to help them."
"With your help, things will be much easier. Hurry, time waits for no one."
Seeing Herta's usual hurried tone, Screwllum didn't comment.
That was exactly why Herta was Herta. Watching their backs, Ruan Mei returned to her own research.
...
"Miss Herta, and this... Mister Screwllum?!" Hanya's voice jumped up in pitch when she saw Screwllum.
She was clearly surprised.
Truth be told, she knew little about the Genius Society. After all, the universe was vast, and most people would never meet such geniuses in their entire lives. Even in top powers like the IPC or Xianzhou Alliance, only a few ever caught a glimpse.
The world belonged to the many, but was controlled by the few.
Hanya had studied old photos of Genius Society members out of necessity.
Though for some who erased their portraits, she knew nothing.
"Miss Hanya, a pleasure. Herta's project is very much worth testing, so I came. To see if a body entirely gone could live again if an intact consciousness is added to it."
That was what attracted Screwllum to the project.
No one had ever tried it before.
Although it was said that on the Xianzhou Luofu, there had once been a similar attempt.
But that experiment was to use an intact body to revive a lost consciousness. This time, it was the reverse, the body was lost, but the consciousness remained.
Whether this would succeed was highly uncertain.
But before that...
"You need to bring your sister here." Herta said firmly.
...
Godzilla was still pondering in his dream... He refused to believe it!
If someone could block him, then he would pry open it.
It wasn't up to the opponents whims, but to his!
But before that, to avoid another Chiyou-like problem, he decided to ask a friend for help.
A Masked Fool walked leisurely through the Annihilation Gang's spaceship.
Strangely enough, none of the Annihilation Gang noticed him. Even those he tripped over only turned back in confusion, then blamed their own bad luck.
Sometimes, meeting an Aeon wasn't difficult.
They were right next to you in the crowd.
"Ugh, Aha's so bored, there aren't even any dice here."
He strolled into the cockpit, looking sulky, and randomly pressed a few buttons on the console.
Just doing that wasn't fun. Turning on the radio, he began dancing wildly to Miss Robin's melodious singing.
His fingers tapped chaotically on the many buttons in rhythm.
This left the Annihilation Gang members completely dumbfounded.
Chatting, eating, some even in the bathroom, suddenly feeling their ship went wild, pulling off a 360-degree spiral with an aerial spin.
And the ship was parked at a dock, no less.
This sudden display nearly scared the souls out of the other Annihilation Gang members wandering nearby.
Which bastard forgot to turn off the autopilot function after parking the ship?!