Fuli, arriving just in time, caught the severely injured Far Eastern beauty, Yuya, as she collapsed backward. He immediately began to pat her down, meticulously checking every inch.
After confirming that only the naginata she still gripped tightly in her unconscious state was a threat, he manipulated the Trailing Shadow Swords into ropes and bound her.
Running a hand over the sharp blade, he withdrew his gaze from scanning the surroundings and clicked his tongue in amazement. "I thought those guys would lock you, Mei, in a room made of Killing Stones. Looks like the treatment is pretty good?"
"Ah-li, Ah-li! Look at that, look at that!"
Kiana, who had just descended like a demon god, tugged at his sleeve in astonishment, her slender fingertips pointing to the rectangular plaque with black characters on a white background above the desk. "This is Mei's father's office, right? Fck everyone*? He's so bold!"
[T/N: The plaque says 人有所操 (rén yǒu suǒ cāo), meaning "people should have morals." But Chinese plaques are read right to left. Reading it left to right as 操所有人 (cāo suǒyǒu rén) sounds like "fck everyone."]*
"It's People Should Have Morals!!!"
Mei, who was already quite embarrassed, slapped her own face.
Ren You Suo Cao, from the Book of Odes, means that everyone should have their own morals and integrity.
But as we all know, the inscriptions on plaques are generally written from right to left. Reading them from left to right would naturally cause problems.
"Eh? Is... that so?"
The white-haired Tuna scratched the back of her head, a foolish and cute smile on her face.
"See what happens when you don't study? Now you've embarrassed yourself. Good thing there are no outsiders."
Fuli, who had tucked Mikazuki back at his waist, took a step forward. He placed his right hand on Mei's shoulder and formed a simplified version of the Ucchuṣma Mudra with his left. "Om, shuri mari mamari mari shushuri svaha!"
The power of the Purification Mantra spread within the girl's body. After several cycles, he withdrew his hand.
"Looks like you haven't been poisoned with any Gu worms or anything like that."
"I've been wondering for a while now, why does what you say when you chant sound so... gibberish?"
Kiana, who had been obediently following beside him, muttered under her breath. In her opinion, Fuli's enunciation just now could definitely be described as "silver-tongued," his tongue moving even more excessively than a native Russian's.
"That's how it is with magic-type skills. Combat techniques just need to be used according to the situation, but a caster has a lot more to consider."
Fuli held up a finger. "The simplest example is that the accent when chanting must match the era in which the spell was created. For example, Baopuzi by Ge Hong, one of the Four Heavenly Masters of Taoism, is a work from the Eastern Jin Dynasty. To make the spells recorded in it effective, you have to use an Eastern Jin accent. Even a slight deviation will cause problems."
What? Many masters in reality say that spells are effective as long as one is sincere, and reciting them in modern vernacular also works?
Of course they'd say that! Otherwise, what would happen if ordinary people could actually use them (laughs)?
In the past, to ensure the continuation of the spells they had painstakingly researched, many powerful individuals would often turn their incantations into nursery rhymes or poems.
At first glance, this seems like a great method, but it has been explicitly banned in modern times.
Otherwise, there would always be one or two gifted mothers or storytellers who would cast fireballs or ice arrows while singing, and kindergarten group activities would often be a shower of sparks and lightning.
"I see!"
Kiana crossed her arms and nodded vigorously, her confident appearance suggesting she had completely understood.
"I think you don't understand at all!"
Did Fuli not know her?
The two finished their conversation, and their two pairs of eyes, of completely opposite colors, simultaneously shifted back to Mei.
The girl, under their gaze, broke out in a cold sweat. It was true that she had hastily left a note in the courtyard before leaving, but leaving without a word was still leaving without a word.
This feeling of being confronted by the wronged parties made the ruthless Queen of Thunder more timid than a little girl. She averted her gaze, her small hands behind her back, the tender tips of her feet under the panda suit tapping the ground intermittently. "Th-that, the message I left (in the courtyard)... you all saw it, right?"
It would have been better if she hadn't spoken. As soon as she did, Fuli, recalling the contents of the note, was instantly filled with guilt.
He secretly glanced at Bronya, still strapped to his back, and felt like a scumbag who wanted them all.
Kiana, on the other hand, was fired up. She put her hands on her hips and glared at Mei, growling, "Mei, why did you leave secretly without a word! Even if something happened, couldn't you have discussed it with us before leaving?"
"If she discussed it with us, she wouldn't have been able to leave..." Fuli muttered.
Mei, on the contrary, asked in surprise, "Wait, I carved the reason for leaving on the wall in the courtyard with a knife!"
"Courtyard? Message?"
The boy and girl, feeling that something was off, looked at each other.
"Ah, ahaha, so it was written in the courtyard~"
"S-so the reason was?"
Grass (a plant)! So there was another message!
The sewer-crawling duo looked left and right.
Who was Raiden Mei? Such a clumsy cover-up naturally couldn't fool her.
You rushed over without even seeing the message? You guys are really...
Her heart, already moved to the extreme, softened even more. She raised her fair and beautiful face, revealing a pair of cute and charming dimples.
"They kidnapped my father."
"My baseball bat has long been thirsty!"
"My sword is not without its sharpness!"
"It's alright now."
Mei hurriedly calmed the howling Fuli and Kiana.
"This person," she pointed to the bound adjutant, her mouth gagged with a ball made of Trailing Shadow Sword, "she said my father has already escaped."
"Can you trust the enemy's words?" Kiana questioned with ninety percent doubt.
"No problem," Mei said with certainty. "Her behavior just now was exactly like those rabid fans who desperately try to whitewash their idols. In my judgment, she wouldn't lie about matters related to Cocolia in that state."
Speaking of which, the girl couldn't help but shake her head.
She could, of course, see Yuya's intention to "whitewash" her superior. But in Mei's eyes, no matter how the adjutant tried to explain, Cocolia was just a selfish villain who used the guise of a grand narrative to commit treacherous and despicable acts.
"I see."
Fuli tilted his head and thought for a moment, not delving too deep.
He had heard the name Yuya in his later life. The new adjutant to the leader of the Anti-Entropy reformist faction, who parted ways with Cocolia just a few months after taking office and was never heard from again.
She must have realized that person's true nature. Admiration is the emotion furthest from understanding, after all, he thought.
"By the way, Mei, you take this for now."
Fuli then handed over the spoils of war, the naginata. "I just checked it. A C-class blade, Anti-Entropy standard-issue weapon. A large amount of refined Yuan Shen Ore was mixed in during the process of impact hammer forging the blade's surface. It's a decent weapon for the time being."
Yuan Shen Ore, a special mineral whose unique properties allowed it to absorb and conduct elemental energy. Equipment made from it could channel and amplify elemental attacks such as ice, fire, lightning, geo, and dendro.
"Yuan Shen, activate!" Kiana shouted, pulling out (crossing out "digging out") a super-alloy cable she had swiped while speed-running through ME Corp from her four-dimensional skirt. She walked over and re-tied Yuya.
The latter had previously been bound by ropes made of Trailing Shadow Sword. The girl knew Fuli's energy reserves; Honkai energy should be saved whenever possible.
After tying her up, Kiana returned to the boy and held out her small hand. "Needles!"
"You know this too? Nice!"
Fuli, on the same wavelength, casually condensed a few Trailing Shadow Needles. The girl, in a backhand motion, pierced them into Yuya's body, sealing the Honkai energy circulation within her.
"Hmph hmph, I learned it from a traditional Chinese medicine master who loves hot pot while traveling in Sichuan!"
She clapped her hands and raised her chin, her proud and smug posture both domineering and cute. "But for now, I can only use it on normal-sized adults, and their rank can't exceed B-class."
The master who had taught her was amazing. Not only could he perform acupressure from a distance using force and energy, but he could even paralyze, regulate, and sever the dragon veins flowing beneath the earth.
Unfortunately, his eyesight wasn't very good, said to be a sequela from an attack in his youth.
Mei, on the other hand, hesitated for a moment while looking at the naginata Fuli handed her. She still remembered the pained look on someone's face as he held the chipped Mikazuki Munechika.
But considering how he had just used the Trailing Shadow Sword to cover the blade to increase its attack range, cutting power, and hardness with such fluidity, and that the Hokushin Ittō-ryū could only be used to its fullest potential with a relatively suitable weapon so as not to drag them down, the girl finally chose to extend her beautiful small hand.
"Not hesitating anymore," Fuli teased.
"None of your business!"
Mei shot him a flirtatious glance, took the naginata, and first swung it to test the feel. The whistling sound of the blade cutting through the air made her frown slightly.
Then, she infused it with lightning.
Myriad sharp cries and a dazzling lightning that outshone the sun burst forth simultaneously. The high-temperature electric arc of several thousand degrees instantly carved a burning shape into the "People Should Have Morals" plaque.
The girl was quite surprised. "It's much worse than the Chidori tachi I used to use, even though they're both C-class."
"Can a mass-produced standard-issue weapon be the same as—Hiss!—the weapon Raiden Ryoma specially crafted for you?"
The adjutant's resentful voice sounded, accompanied by the stimulating sound of sucking in cold air from time to time.
Kiana, in front of her, saw clearly. When the naginata in Mei's hand released lightning, a few currents seemed to "unintentionally" bypass her and "coincidentally" electrocute the unconscious Yuya.
Kiana felt that Mei was definitely not doing it on purpose. Her Mei was so kind; how could she do such an excessive thing?
She must have something she wanted to ask this person, so she chose this method to wake her up!
Definitely!
"Hello, you're awake," Fuli greeted Yuya unhurriedly. Judging by his posture, he had clearly already detected Mei's little trick.
He could guess why his friend had done so; it was nothing more than to ask why Cocolia wanted to hunt her down and the reason for it.
He raised his hand to cover Kiana's eyes. "Do I need to leave for a bit?"
Fuli was kind-hearted and couldn't bear to watch bloody scenes like interrogations.
Mei shot him a reproachful look. "Am I the kind of evil woman who resorts to torture at the slightest disagreement?"
"T-torture?!"
The adjutant, tied up like a caterpillar, felt her hair stand on end. She then turned her head away with all her might. "Guh! Kill me! I won't say anything!"
"Is that so?"
Fuli smiled faintly, revealing a set of clean and neat white teeth.
Eek!!!
Yuya, who was secretly sizing him up with her peripheral vision, felt her whole being go unwell. She considered herself a beautiful girl, and her figure was quite well-developed from years of training.
But the way this little monster looked at her had no hint of appreciation for a woman. He had a sunny and peaceful appearance, but his eyes were looking at a piece of meat, trying to figure out which part to cut for this piece of meat to tell the truth.
She felt that if she dared to hesitate, she would definitely get a beating.
Was her style no longer popular with modern people?
Before she dropped out of high school, the line of people pursuing her could stretch for ten streets!
The adjutant, who had just been as tough as the Maginot Line, suddenly became as soft as the Maginot Line. She turned her face back and tentatively asked, "Heh, can we settle this peacefully?"
At the same time, she struggled to expose her chest, revealing the faintly visible northern hemisphere under her custom clothes in an attempt to seduce them.
—I, Yuya, can die with dignity, but I will not accept someone not being moved by my charming body!
"This situation?"
Fuli was stunned. He stood up and looked around:
Kiana grinned, swinging her baseball bat with gusto.
Mei flicked the white blade of her naginata, a piercing lightning cutting through the air.
He sat back down and sighed with sincere emotion, "You must be joking."
"Solving things with violence is so boring. Promise me, don't be a boring person, okay?"
"No."
"But we have to be humane!"
Yuya continued to argue forcefully. "According to the Geneva Conventions, you can't abuse a prisoner of war like me—Iya!"
"Can't abuse prisoners of war? We, the followers of the Blade-ism, don't have such a saying."
Fuli pulled out the Mikazuki that had been stabbed into the ground next to her ear, picked up the golden hair wrapped around the chip, and blew on it lightly. "Our faction believes in old man Maxim. Ever heard of Maxim? If not, I'll make you open a big eye on your chest later."
"Ma-Maxim?"
"That's right. In life, you have to believe in one of them: Marx, Maxim, or Malthus."
"That's true..."
He made so much sense that the adjutant was speechless for a moment.
"Alright, alright," Mei came forward to mediate at this moment. "Stop teasing her, Fuli."
"Miss Mei~"
Yuya was in tears, wanting to kowtow to her as a foster father on the spot.
"By the way, all information exchange between the office and the outside world has been cut off by me. So don't think about stalling for time and waiting for outside rescue."
"Rua!"
The adjutant made a disgraceful sound, but secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
"And by the way, I've already decrypted the signal you send out every five minutes, and I just sent one on your behalf."
A trace of electricity sparked at her fingertips. Mei winked at her playfully. "Electromagnetism is a very useful ability, isn't it?"
"Grass!"
This time, Yuya's defense was truly broken.
Giving up on herself, she squirmed and turned her back, putting on a 'dead pig isn't afraid of boiling water' posture, with a smile that didn't reach her eyes. "Fine, fine, you win, Miss, you're awesome, okay—Are you done? If you're done, I'm going to sleep. Kill me or f*ck me, do as you please!"
"Wow, this person's attitude has become so arrogant!"
The white-haired Tuna pointed at her with one hand on her hip, her face full of indignation.
"She's given up," Fuli went to the water dispenser to get a cup of hot water.
Soaking the tea bag he had just taken out of his four-dimensional skirt in it, he said, "Thinking about dying before she's even twenty, anyone would be unbalanced."
"Yeah, yeah, so for the last moment of my life, I'll have to trouble you, little handsome, to deliver the final blow to your big sister."
Yuya barked with her eyes closed. "To die under a peony flower is a romantic way to go. It's not a loss to have you three handsome men and beautiful women accompany me on the road!"
Kiana tilted her head and thought, "Listen to her tone, doesn't it sound like she's saying 'after I die, some mechanism will be triggered to kill the three of you together!'"
"There probably is," Fuli blew on the hot steam rising from the paper cup. "Otherwise, with Cocolia's style, how would she dare to let her guard the precious Mei, whom she brought back after turning Nagazora City upside down, all by herself?"
"Fuli!!!"
Mei, the precious baby, glared at him "fiercely"!
It was super effective!
Fuli, slain by cuteness, clutched his heart and fell to the ground!
"Stop being so sarcastic!"
The single dog, unable to bear the couple's flirting in front of her, said fiercely, "To tell you the truth, I do have a special warning device in my body! Once I die, the phase matrix inside the tower will activate, turning this area into a singularity independent of external space-time to prevent anyone from escaping. After that, a massive number of superweapons, including plasma pulses and physical collapse rays, will activate simultaneously to purge the universe! At that time, you three little mice who dared to pluck the tiger's whiskers can be dealt with however I please!"
This tower of mine is impregnable; you can't get out!
Mei withdrew her gaze. "Electromagnetic interference to block it in advance?"
Yuya said confidently, "Useless! That's my proud and unique skill!"
Fuli thought of the God King Mask. "Even if a critical-level being is trapped?"
"That too!"
"Could be killed?!"
Kiana, who had snatched the teacup from the boy's hand and was slurping from it, was shocked.
"Hot hot hot hot hot!"
She burned her cat's tongue.
"...would take some effort to escape," the adjutant finished her sentence lamely. "But there's no critical-level powerhouse among you! Otherwise, why would you be wasting so much time talking nonsense with a small fry like me?"
Beep—
The projector above their heads turned on without warning, and a figure was projected onto the screen on the opposite wall.
It was a 2D projection of a girl hugging a teddy bear half her height. She looked to be around twelve, with long black hair cascading down her shoulders and a palm-sized, lovely face. The adult-sized light blue pajamas she wore not only covered her upper body but also served as a short skirt, revealing slender and straight legs clad in dreamy white over-the-knee socks that evoked impure thoughts.
In the projection, she was sitting in a duck-like posture on a soft bed, her large, bright eyes scanning the scene in the room.
"I have already disabled all the mechanisms and matrices in the Raiden Tower," the mysterious information broker, codenamed Alice, said bluntly. "Remember our agreement, my Divine Departure (Kamusari)!"
"Got it, got it. Leave the tower, the deal is over."
Fuli made an OK gesture. "By the way, since you already know my real name, why do you still insist on using my codename?"
It was quite chuunibyou.
"You don't understand; this is the unique aesthetic of the chosen one!"
Alice raised her chin condescendingly, the swaying white socks making one's eyes dizzy.
Yuya's face instantly froze.
...