"Can't say anything now, can you?! Then hurry up and tell me... where is this?"
Haxxor Bunny looked around at the place, which resembled a clinic, feeling somewhat puzzled.
The moment she opened her eyes, she saw a man standing in front of her. Then she realized she was in an unfamiliar place, which made things even stranger.
"How should I put this? I need to prove it."
"Prove it?"
Bronya looked doubtfully at Liuge, who was apparently about to provide proof.
The next moment, Liuge reached out and stroked a Trash Can beside him.
The Trash Can instantly changed shape, growing to the height of a person and sprouting thick, muscular limbs.
At that sight, Bronya felt as if something had burned her eyes.
"See? This is what I'm capable of summoning."
Standing to one side, Liuge introduced the muscle-bound Trash Can beside him with his arms spread wide.
"This... is called King Trash Can!"
"King Trash Can..."
Bronya's mouth twitched. She truly wanted to just gun this guy down.
Yet a voice deep inside seemed to tell her not to do that, forcefully suppressing the thought.
The moment that thought was suppressed, Haxxor Bunny had actually already believed him. It was just that King Trash Can before her made her deeply uncomfortable.
My eyes! My eyes!
When Liuge saw Bronya lower her weapon and even lose the suspicion in her eyes, he secretly sighed in relief.
He gave himself a mental pat on the back for his cleverness.
Amid the awkwardness, his thoughts rapidly opened the Stat-Stick Library. After sweeping his gaze through it, he selected several Stat-Sticks and combined them.
Trash Can, Muscle Power, and Trial unexpectedly combined into King Trash Can's Stat-Stick Character Card.
However, under these circumstances, King Trash Can's appearance better demonstrated how extraordinary Liuge's abilities were.
Sure enough, just as Liuge had expected, Bronya truly stopped doubting him.
Having calmed down, Bronya was about to open her editor when she suddenly discovered that her abilities seemed to have stopped working.
"What's wrong?"
"I found that... my abilities don't seem to work anymore."
Although she still did not trust Liuge, Bronya told him about her situation.
"Your abilities can't be used?"
Liuge looked at the submachine gun in her hands, then at the two little floating creatures beside her, his face plainly saying, Are you kidding me?
However, Bronya's expression did not seem fake, leaving Liuge somewhat at a loss.
He had clearly been able to use his abilities normally when he equipped Haxxor Bunny, so why...
Suddenly, Liuge fixed his gaze on the Aether Edit floating in midair.
An inexplicable thought suddenly surfaced in his mind.
Could it be...
Thinking that, Liuge reached out toward Aether Edit.
The next moment, Aether Edit flickered in front of him, and the entire panel seemed to shrink by a third.
Yet a brand-new Stat-Stick appeared in Liuge's hand.
Aether Edit
Quality · Gold
Effect: Aether Edit. You know what it does.
"..." Liuge stared at the golden sphere of light in his hand for a long time in silence.
"Hey, what are you..."
"Fuck! Are you messing with me? That's a thing?!"
Liuge's expression went numb.
He would bet anything that the Aether Edit ability he had been using was actually a Stat-Stick as well, except it had already been equipped when he transmigrated.
He had always thought his post-transmigration ability was the Stat-Stick ability of Aether Edit, only to discover now—
This was not the Stat-Stick ability of Aether Edit at all. Aether Edit was clearly a Stat-Stick manifested through his Stat-Stick ability!
The whole thing was completely backwards!
As for who could come up with such a setup, Liuge felt that a certain Aeon was the prime suspect.
At the same time, Liuge began to seriously doubt something.
Could his Stat-Stick ability also be something some Aeon had cooked up just for entertainment?
Liuge took several deep breaths and calmed himself down.
No matter how much he thought about it, this was already the situation. Was there any better option?
Obviously not. Since there was not, he might as well enjoy whatever came next.
"Um..."
"Hmm?"
Liuge turned to look at Bronya, then slapped his forehead.
"Look at me, getting so mad. Wait a moment."
As he spoke, Liuge opened Aether Edit and combined the Aether Edit Stat-Stick into the three-dimensional model of Clone.
Just as Liuge was about to speak, his gaze caught sight of another Stat-Stick in the Stat-Stick Library.
Liuge looked at Bronya before him. Though she no longer doubted him, she was still on guard against him.
Gritting his teeth, Liuge silently combined Stat-Stick · Childhood Sweetheart into Clone as well...
Damn!
Just as Liuge was preparing to combine the Childhood Sweetheart Stat-Stick into the "Clone" Stat-Stick Character Card, just like he had done with Aether Edit, in order to improve the trust between himself and Haxxor Bunny—
Something unexpected happened.
The originally azure, nearly transparent Aether Edit Interface instantly turned bright red, and flashing exclamation marks appeared all over it.
"What... what's going on?" Liuge was completely baffled. Before he could react, another line of text appeared on the interface.
"Your current operation violates Stat-Stick Rule 666."
"Your operation has violated the Fabrication Clause of the Women's Act. You may not manipulate any Stat-Stick involving memories, emotions, or similar concepts into an existing female Stat-Stick character with Self-Awareness."
"First warning. In accordance with the Stat-Stick Punishment Act, you will be randomly relocated to an unknown location in five minutes."
Liuge stared blankly at the series of notifications, a bad feeling rising in his heart.
The messages looked intimidating, but simply put: you fucking broke the rules.
Immediately afterward, Liuge noticed a faint smiley mask icon in the lower-right corner of those notifications.
"Fuck!"
Liuge cursed. He finally understood what was going on.
Taking a deep breath, he closed Aether Edit.
Then he looked at Bronya before him.
"Try and see if you can use your abilities now."
"Hm?"
Bronya paused slightly, then gave it a try. To her surprise, her abilities had returned. In fact, she could even faintly sense that they had subtly improved.
Only then did Bronya sense that a subtle connection seemed to exist between herself and Liuge.
At that moment, she also confirmed that she really was, in some sense, a clone character summoned by Liuge.
But after realizing that, a new question surfaced in her mind.
She possessed Self-Awareness now, so what exactly was their relationship?
"You..."
Just as Bronya was about to ask, she suddenly discovered that Liuge's figure was gradually fading, as if... as if he were about to vanish.
Liuge noticed his condition as well, but he did not pay it much mind.
Being randomly moved to an unknown location would most likely still mean somewhere on this planet.
If he got lucky, could he be sent directly to Everwinter Hill?
Besides, this was not the first time he had dealt with something like this.
Remembering how he had opened his eyes at Herta Space Station, Liuge curled his lip.
Then he looked at Bronya.
"If anyone asks who you are later, tell them you're my long-lost cousin, Liuge's. Then stick with March 7th from the Astral Express crew."
That was right. Liuge did not want to directly dismiss Bronya's clone state. Wouldn't it be fine for her to remain like this?
"Tch..."
Bronya could tell that Liuge was planning to run off and leave her here.
But she had no intention of objecting. Instead, she was rather excited.
She had spent all her time in Sky Dome City. Now that she had finally come somewhere else, it would not be like her not to have some fun.
Besides, she still did not know what exactly was going on.
Thinking that, she looked at Liuge.
Only to find that Liuge had already vanished from before her eyes.
"He disappeared?"
Bronya fell silent for a moment, then began using her abilities to search for information on her current situation.
To her surprise, she was not in some enclosed city at all, but on an entire planet.
After thinking briefly, an idea suddenly surfaced in her mind.
"Should I scan the entire planet?"
The moment that thought arose, she could no longer suppress it.
Moreover, she had a feeling that her scanning ability could actually accomplish it.
Even she found that feeling absurd.
Still, Bronya chose to act.
The next moment, an interface nearly identical to Aether Edit appeared before her, displaying the terrain of every region across the entire planet.
Yet Bronya was not the least bit surprised by the screen before her. Instead, her fingers began to swipe across it.
As she continued looking, her attention was drawn to a massive mechanical humanoid.
It was the Creation Engine at Everwinter Hill.
"What is this?"
Bronya's eyes lit up. By instinct, she felt that this big guy seemed like it could still move.
She immediately began operating it. Although establishing a remote connection was somewhat troublesome, it was child's play for a top hacker like Haxxor Bunny.
The only troublesome part was that unlocking the giant machine's internal main control program was rather complicated.
After roughly half an hour of operating it, Bronya sensed the connection between herself and Liuge reappear just as she cracked the Creation Engine's main control program.
Before you continue