After round upon round of intense "storms," the two little snakes snuggled against a satisfied Luo Hong and fell into a deep sleep.
Luo Hong checked their stats:
Danzhu: Level 1 → Level 3 (NEW!)
Cangxuan: Level 1 → Level 4 (NEW!)
Although Cangxuan was the first to turn on her sister, she had actually tried her best to shield Danzhu during the early parts of the storm. Unfortunately, by the end, a completely "crazed" Danzhu gave as good as she got, showing little gratitude for her sister's protection.
"So they really did recover their health?" Luo Hong noted their status as [Offline].
With Bronya, it made sense—she had a physical body that he just "adjusted" to be healthy. But these two had their physical forms completely obliterated ages ago. He hadn't expected that a mere command from his system would actually allow them to be resurrected with real bodies.
With these two causing trouble from inside Chiyou's core, Bronya and the others would have a much easier time dealing with the beast. Satisfied, he hugged the two sisters and drifted off to sleep.
Honkai World, Inside the Beast Chiyou.
"I... I can't eat anymore..."
Danzhu instinctively tried to push away an imaginary "condensed milk sausage" as she slowly opened her eyes in a dark, gloomy space. The luxurious bed was gone, and so was the "wicked-looking but actually quite gentle" Luo Hong. Her heart was suddenly filled with a cold sense of loneliness.
"S-Sister?" She looked around but couldn't see Cangxuan. "Is this the world of the dead?"
She let out a bitter smile. "So that really was just a dream... but what kind of dream was that?" she self-deprecatingly whispered. "A maiden's fantasy before death, even though I died a virgin?"
She subconsciously touched her stomach. It no longer felt full and pleasant; there was only a sense of emptiness.
However, just as she started wondering why this "afterlife" looked so familiar—
"Foolish sister!" Cangxuan suddenly pounced from behind and hugged her while she was dazed. "We're alive!"
"Huh?" Danzhu looked back in disbelief. One second she was alone, the next she was being hugged... was this a ghost?
"This is the interior of Chiyou. We both turned into cores within its body... did you forget?" Cangxuan explained quickly. "There are spatial tunnels around these two cores. I used one to get over here."
As the former goddess who "perceived all things," Cangxuan's insight was top-tier. After sensing Danzhu's aura through the tunnel, she rushed over, only to hear her sister's self-pitying mumbles.
"Wait... we're really alive? So everything before... wasn't a dream?" Danzhu desperately needed a confirmation to settle the weight in her heart.
"It was real." Cangxuan nodded, her face turning red as she recalled the frantic scenes from earlier. "Otherwise, it wouldn't explain why we have physical bodies again. Our bodies were annihilated during the final battle with Chiyou to form the seal."
"That's good... that's good," Danzhu whispered to herself.
Cangxuan looked at her sister. My foolish sister... she's already fallen for him? For a moment, she wondered if Luo Hong had hypnotized them. But logically, she didn't think so. Even if he hadn't, they had no choice but to submit at the time. Smart people make the "correct" choice when there's no way out.
Besides, Luo Hong was technically their savior, he wasn't physically repulsive, and he wasn't a total scoundrel. If they couldn't repay him in the next life, they might as well do it in this one.
"According to the Lord, we should see Hua tomorrow," Cangxuan changed the subject. "Let's prepare to help the people of this era finish Chiyou once and for all."
They couldn't kill Chiyou alone—they weren't MANTISes. Without Luo Hong, they would have remained as fragments of Soul Steel.
"Yeah..." Danzhu nodded. "Let's go see how Ji Xuanyuan is doing."
They hadn't forgotten their comrade who also sacrificed her life, but they had been afraid to ask Luo Hong. Since they had suffered so much, they feared Ji Xuanyuan's fate would be even worse. But now they had the chance to see for themselves.
As they walked toward Chiyou's heart, they sensed the beast's condition. "It's still sealed, but there are signs of the seal breaking," Cangxuan noted.
Soon, they reached the heart's platform. "I remember Ji Xuanyuan charged into the heart right here..."
Just then, a voice echoed: "Go back, people of the future. Leave now, and no one will get hu—hu... hurt?"
A black-clad figure appeared on the platform, staring in absolute shock at the two sisters. "Cangxuan? Danzhu?!"