The twists and turns of the Eternal Heaven incident officially came to an end, and the time arrived at the evening of July 8th.
Leaving the Great Lake World Bubble, the trio drove the Haval H6 rented by Dr. Zhou back to the hotel. The old man, adhering to the belief of "looking a bit more before memories are deleted," stayed behind alone to camp by Kanas Lake, making Fuli feel just a tiny bit guilty.
"Brother, hug."
As soon as they got into the car, Bronya, the veteran driver who usually dominated the driver's seat, collapsed into her brother's arms.
"Zzz..."
Even breathing sounds were heard within three seconds; she had clearly fallen into dreamland.
Between the mausoleum trials and overloading her brain with calculations, tossing and turning for so long, the little sister wasn't a stamina monster like Fuli and Kiana. Being exhausted was completely normal.
Helpless, Fuli had to hand over the burden of driving to the eager white-haired dumpling beside him. He carried the curled-up little girl to the back seat, letting her sleep soundly with her head on his lap.
While it was true that Siegfried and the Eternal Heaven fought inside the World Bubble, the aftershocks of the clash between Shamash Unsheathed and the Spiral of Creation and Destruction still spread to reality.
Even just a tiny fraction caused mountain roads near the scenic area to collapse and be damaged, leaving debris scattered across the road.
Despite this, as a high-level player who had wandered alone from Siberia to the Far East, ignoring the trivial matter of not having a driver's license, Kiana's driving skills were quite good. The car drove steadily, as if on flat ground.
"Actually, I used some small tricks, like sensing road conditions in advance through the sounding circuit, and phasing through unavoidable obstacles, stuff like that."
"Really convenient, huh, Herrscher Authorities."
Fuli lamented while pulling out a wet wipe. He wiped the cold sweat from the forehead of Bronya, who was muttering in his arms, "Seele, I didn't! Listen to my excuses!", "Bronya and his relationship hasn't reached uh, hasn't reached that stage yet?"
He added, "So when can you let me hug your thighs? Miss Future-Wife Herrscher of the Void."
"We may be close, but making jokes like that, be careful this young miss doesn't sue you for sexual harassment, ow."
"Joke's on you. I'd like to see which judge can try the great Fuli."
"Will Judge Durandal do?"
"Sentence away. That would be quite a sentence."
Hearing her mention Bianca, Fuli recalled the blonde Knight Princess's style of doing things. Subconsciously, he exerted force, and his hand accidentally poked Bronya's flat chest.
"Hatchet! Nice boat is forbidden! My heart is going to escape!"
The little sister, whose heart suffered an external 'attack', opened her eyes wide and shouted, then fell back asleep instantly.
Kiana glanced at the rearview mirror with a weird expression. "What on earth did she dream about?"
"Maybe getting hatcheted by a yandere girl for two-timing?"
Anyway, let's rule out the tragic Shura field between the childhood friend and the transfer student first (lol).
Fuli activated Momentary Blade: Forgotten River Guard. His slender fingertips drew a pitch-black sun/pseudo-black hole the size of a coin, swallowing the wet wipe used to wipe sweat, and continued staring out the window in a daze.
A moment later, a banner with white characters on a red background approached from a distance:
[Fellow villager, join the church and get married without a dowry]
"Isn't this that church we encountered when we first arrived in the Kanas region?"
The boy was puzzled. The church and the city area were in completely different directions. How did the car end up here?
"I'm not very proficient at carrying people through Imaginary shuttles yet. I accidentally teleported to the wrong location."
Kiana was unapologetic about her mistake. She parked the car by the roadside and pushed open the door to get out. "Since we're here anyway, might as well go take a look."
"You go ahead then, I'll catch up on some sleep first."
Saying that, Fuli was about to close his eyes, hugging the Duck-Duck pillow to sleep.
Creak. The rear door was pulled open from the outside with brute force.
"Let's go, let's go! It's boring walking around alone!"
Kiana pulled the boy's hand and shook it, incidentally pushing Bronya's small head off his lap.
Fuli clearly had no defense against her coquettish offensive. Who could refuse a cute girl who could tear apart a T-Rex with her bare hands?
"Alright, alright, let's go. Don't touch people's stuff when they're not around."
He guessed Yanqing had evacuated the residents nearby long ago.
And indeed, it was so. The boy and girl stepping into the church looked around. The huge front hall was unusually empty, echoing only their light, almost soundless footsteps.
"Here, go look at whatever you want."
Pushing open the main door, Fuli looked to his side, but the person beside him had disappeared at some point.
He blinked, his gaze sweeping across the church again.
The marble floor was polished enough to reflect people. Cyan-white stone pillars supporting the dome stood on both sides of the front hall. The indentations on the pews symbolized the marks of time. The stained glass on the ceiling had faded from its former intensity, reflecting a few wandering rays of cold moonlight penetrating obliquely from the high rose window.
"Ah-Li!"
But all of this paled in comparison to the breathtakingly beautiful figure bathing in the moonlight, holding a blue rose, slowly walking towards him.
A floor-length dress, pure white as fresh snow, wrapped around the girl. Exquisite ice crystal patterns at the hem flowed with a faint blue shimmer in the light.
A veil interwoven with silver threads covered her shoulders, and ice-blue ribbons hanging from her chest fluttered gently with her steps.
Most eye-catching was the small crystal tiara slanted in her smooth, silver-white long hair. The translucent ice prism decorations refracted specks of starlight, as if condensing the coldness and purity of the entire winter night here.
Snowflakes fell silently, adorning the tips of her hair and the hem of her dress, making her figure appear even more holy. Only the warm smile rippling in her azure eyes when she looked at the boy melted the surrounding chill and loneliness.
"..."
Fuli's heart skipped a beat uncooperatively, his crimson eyes widening slightly.
Until Kiana, changed into that "Winter Princess · Wedding Dress," arrived in front of him, he was still in a daze.
The girl was quite satisfied with this. She took out her phone, opened the camera function, affectionately put her arm around his shoulder, leaned their heads together, and said playfully:
"You are a shark."
"I am a shark."
"You are unconscious now."
"I am unconscious now."
The boy repeated blankly.
Click click click—
The sound of photos being taken rang out.
At this moment, Fuli finally snapped out of it. Looking at the photo of himself and the bride-girl on the phone screen, he scratched his head. "What are you doing?"
"Hehe, this young miss is taking photos of the unconscious shark (hun sha -> hun sha zhao / wedding photos)~"
Kiana burst into laughter, even the crystal hairpin on her head unable to hide the starlight.
"Puns get you fined," the boy glanced at her sideways, looking down at his own tattered sportswear, and said somewhat uncomfortably, "Besides, if we're taking wedding photos, I should at least get a white suit on my side."
Kiana took an exaggerated step back, her eyes curving as she deliberately turned her face away. "I didn't say these were wedding photos! A certain shrimp-headed (disgusting/perverted) man shouldn't have unauthorized expectations."
"Yes, yes, yes. Even if I'm disappointed on my own accord here, the cold Eldest Miss Kiana will definitely not take responsibility." Fuli sighed, holding his head and muttering, "Speaking of which, the Qixi Festival is in a month. Sigh, I really want to find someone to spend it with this single dog."
"Heh? Any requirements?"
"Seven in total." The boy counted on his fingers. "Gender: Female. Height: 163cm. Personality: Lively and cute. White hair. Blue eyes. Is a cat. Named Kiana Kaslana."
He nodded. "Mm, not difficult."
"Pfft! Not difficult my foot, you practically named the person directly!"
Kiana laughed so hard she leaned back and forth.
"Just say if you'll do it or not."
Fuli raised his head, feigning impatience.
"Do it, do it, do it!" The girl muttered softly, "Besides, everyone is on the Hyperion all the time anyway, saying yes or no doesn't really make a difference..."
"True." The King of Hyperion nodded solemnly. "Who let everyone be part of my, Fuli's, harem? Of course we have to be together forever."
"Woah, this person is starting his shrimp-headed speech again."
Kiana pointed and criticized.
The two looked at each other and smiled tacitly.
Bang!
Bang! Bang!
At the horizon where night fell, a spot of silver light exploded without warning.
In the next moment, patches of streaming light emerged from endless heights, carrying long or short trails of light, scrambling to tear through the sky. Like countless fireflies suddenly rising and then extinguishing, freezing this night in a dynamic, breathtaking brilliance.
Yes, this was exactly the meteor shower caused by Raven and Mei sniping at each other.
"Ah-Li, look! Meteors!"
Kiana's voice rang out joyfully. Before her voice faded, she had already grabbed Fuli's hand. Like a wind wrapped in fragrance, she pulled him out of the porch, looking up eagerly for that gorgeous sky curtain.
"Woah—so beautiful!"
The white-haired girl looked up at the falling stardust, her eyes lit up by the splendid colors filling the sky, involuntarily intoxicated by it.
"Mm, very beautiful."
The black-haired boy gazed at her bright, starry eyes reflecting the galaxy, his eyes filled with unconcealable tenderness.
Kiana was always sensitive to gazes, especially from that person.
Reluctantly turning around, she met those crimson eyes that were so gentle she wished she could drown in them.
"Um, Ah-Li."
As if making some kind of resolve, driven by strong emotions within, Kiana summoned her courage to take a step forward, involuntarily whispering, "Actually, I've already remembered—"
A hand landed on her head, interrupting her words.
"It's okay. If you really haven't remembered, you don't need to lie."
Fuli gently stroked the girl's satin-like long hair, a light chuckle escaping his throat. "I'm not in a hurry."
"..."
A phantom suddenly flashed before Kiana's eyes:
A heavily injured 'self' lying on the bed, posing coquettishly, smiling charmingly at the black-haired youth holding thick medicine, expressing that she had remembered everything.
She even stripped completely clean, signaling that the engagement made in childhood could be fulfilled now, closing her eyes and waiting for the other party to do whatever he wanted with this body.
Who would have thought? Despite showing near-obsessive attachment to "the engagement with Kiana" in the past.
This time, the handsome youth with black hair and crimson eyes only forcibly poured the expensive and extraordinary medicine into 'her' mouth, saying coldly, "If you can't remember, forget it. Is pretending interesting to you?"
Then, he turned and left without hesitation.
"———Kiana? Kiana?"
A hand waved in front of the girl lost in hallucinations.
"Time to go."
Fuli said with a smile, "It's getting dark too. Better hurry back to the hotel. If we meet robbers on the way, I still have to control my strength not to beat them to death, right?"
"Ah? Yeah!"
Recovering her senses, the girl nodded vigorously, following the boy's steps and chirping around him.
Just like in the past.
...
The next day at 8 AM, Hotel Lobby—
"Bye-bye Big Orange, I'll come back to see you when I have time."
"Meow..."
"I know, I know, I'll video call you on WeChat when I'm free."
"Meow!"
After hugging and fiercely rubbing the reluctant Big Orange Cat, Fuli, having packed his luggage, put down this little gas canister and spoke solemnly to Auntie Wang at the front desk: "I leave Big Orange in your care."
"Child, what are you saying." Auntie Wang tapped him grumpily. "Big Orange has long been a member of my big family."
"That's right, that's right! Long been a member of our family!"
The energetic Dr. Zhou chimed in from the side.
"What business is it of yours, you wretched old man!"
Unsurprisingly, he got yelled at.
Kiana and Bronya whispered to each other on the side, "How did the old man get energetic again?"
"The OPBI came to notify him that his memories won't be erased."
The OPBI Bronya mentioned stood for Odd Phenomenon Bureau of Investigation.
It was Shenzhou's first officially established investigation agency for paranormal phenomena, and also one of the vests (aliases) of Project Nantianmen in different periods.
Theoretically, any Honkai-side faction appearing within Shenzhou's borders fell under this organization's jurisdiction.
Kiana thought about it and agreed. Not only did he successfully prove the legend of the Kanas Lake Monster he was obsessed with all his life, but he also found a large number of precious animals long extinct. With two joys superimposed, anyone would be flushed with success.
The only small regret was that Auntie Wang still hadn't agreed to Dr. Zhou's proposal.
But in Bronya's view, the matter between these two was probably in the bag.
Women are ruthless creatures. If she really didn't like you, without the premise of benefit exchange, she wouldn't waste so many words on you.
Fuli thought so too. Thus, before leaving, he planned to give the two of them a gift.
He walked to a corner, activated Presence Concealment, and took out a longbow and two arrows from the system space.
Curio: Cupid's Bow and Arrow. Obtained from the third system ten-pull. Effect: Allows two people who truly love each other to overcome all difficulties and get married.
"At this age, stop tossing and turning. Hurry up and get the marriage certificate if you like each other."
He drew the bow and nocked the arrows, aiming at the two respectively. "Summer will come again, but the summer of eighteen will not return."
Release. The arrows broke through the air, 'pierced' into their hearts, and disappeared.
"Let's go."
Then, he turned around and strode away dashingly.
Kiana and Bronya looked at each other and stepped forward to follow his back.
"Are we riding Bronya's motorcycle back this time?"
"Relax, relax. The reward for this mission has already hit the account. We'll go buy a handsome new car that catches the eye in a bit!"
"Bronya likes SUVs, and also likes manuals with more sense of operation."
"Manual transmission is already the tears of the times!"
The sunlight of the rising dawn fell on the boy and girls walking on the street, casting shadows far behind them.
...