"Oh... let's show the video footage first." Einstein raised an eyebrow slightly.
At Einstein's command, a female figure appeared before everyone.
She was a woman with long black hair, wearing an ancient Valkyrie uniform, her body covered in blood. Behind her were the Yellowstone Ruins.
It was clear that the light of her life was gradually fading.
"...The recording should have started already, right?"
The blood-covered Valkyrie took a deep breath.
"I am H.A. If you can see me, that means you have already solved my riddle... I truly do not know whether I should congratulate you or curse you... I presume you must know of the organization called Schicksal. You may even be one of its members. Oh, perhaps you are Otto Apocalypse himself. If it is truly the last possibility, then I really must thank the gods..."
Drunkard, Oh Drunkard...
"Otto...?"
Welt looked somewhat surprised upon hearing that name.
"Is that the Otto you doctors usually mention?"
"Obviously, yes." Einstein nodded, but she did not explain much to Welt. Instead, she continued watching the image Aida had displayed.
"You must know what Honkai is, and you must also know that Schicksal's belief is to eradicate Honkai from the Earth completely. But unfortunately, that is impossible."
The blood-covered Valkyrie revealed a somewhat miserable smile.
"It is not because negative emotions have clouded my mind, but because..."
The Valkyrie paused and ultimately did not state the reason directly.
"In the 'Last Soul Steel,' you will find irrefutable evidence. Please prepare yourselves mentally... As you might have guessed, this is not the 'Last Soul Steel' I mentioned, but rather a video recording I transferred... as well as an encrypted message. Try to crack it, and prove your technological capabilities to me..."
"This Roger-style way of talking is really irritating."
Liu Bai, floating in the air, curled his lip.
"How about opening up the Great Soul Steel Age next?"
"Dr. Einstein has absolutely no idea what you are talking about." Einstein turned to Aida. "How long would it take to brute-force that cipher?"
"Initial estimates put it at around three months."
"At full capacity?"
"Even at full capacity, it would still take four weeks."
Clearly, Aida's answer did not satisfy Einstein.
"...Then I'll leave it to you. Honestly, it's rare for my curiosity to hold me hostage like this."
"If I remember correctly, wasn't I the one who held you hostage with curiosity last time?" Liu Bai asked curiously as he looked at the displeased Einstein.
"Well, it was not just curiosity that got kidnapped."
"Huh...?"
While Liu Bai was still stunned, Einstein had already turned and left. Tesla made a face at him before following after her.
"Um... not just curiosity? Could it have been her heart, too? Wait, was I just confessed to?"
That night
"Guh... drink!" The red-haired drunkard waved a bottle at the air and shouted. "Liu Bai! Drink! If you don't, you're looking down on Lao Tzu!"
"..."
Liu Bai, positioned behind Tesla, stared at the loudly shouting Tesla with a face full of black lines.
Welt, you head back first. Leave this to Einstein and me.
"O-Okay..."
Welt finally understood why Einstein described drunk Tesla as having astonishing destructive power.
He had a feeling that getting tangled up with her would definitely not end well.
At that thought, the corner of Welt's mouth twitched, and he headed straight back to his room.
As it happened, a pen pal from his old laboratory had sent him a letter, with a photograph enclosed.
—A handsome blond man with blue eyes.
It would not hurt to see what this pen pal had written to him.
Welt hurried back to his room, leaving only Liu Bai and Einstein in the living room to watch Tesla spin in circles as she tried to force Liu Bai to drink.
"Why is she even rowdier than usual today?"
Liu Bai scratched his head in distress.
It was not as though he had never seen Tesla drunk before, but he had never seen her this drunk.
"Maybe she has been holding it in for too long?" Einstein actually smiled at that moment.
"She went on a drunken rampage at the hotel just a few days ago. What has she been holding in?" Liu Bai curled his lip. "Don't laugh. It won't be too late to laugh after Tesla throws up all over you."
"..."
As though she had imagined herself getting vomited on, the smile on Einstein's face slowly disappeared.
"Loser... Who are you calling a loser?! That bastard Edison, who cannot even hear your voice, actually dared to say that—!"
After spinning several circles, Tesla finally made herself dizzy and collapsed onto the sofa.
"What is that guy better than Lao Tzu at?! Isn't it just... guh... that he has a little more stinking money than Lao Tzu, and a slightly better figure?"
And a better personality and drinking behavior...
Liu Bai and Einstein silently added in their hearts.
"Did he ever stop to think whether that bastard could hear your voice? Hic... What makes him think Lao Tzu is a loser? Was his brain soaked in formaldehyde?"
"She is surprisingly vindictive."
If Tesla had not brought it up, Liu Bai would have almost forgotten about the loser thing.
"And Einstein..."
Tesla's topic suddenly shifted to Einstein.
"That girl, sure, she is pretty cute, but she is just a short, messy-haired little chicken coop with no chest and no butt."
A smug smile suddenly appeared on Tesla's drunken face.
"And she is not honest at all. She is always trying to sneak off on her own!"
Einstein: ...
Einstein pointed at Tesla, who was flailing around on the sofa, and looked toward Liu Bai. "Go on, Liu Bai. Give Dr. Tesla two slaps and sober her up."
"And me." Tesla let out another drunken hiccup. "Frederica Nikola Tesla... That name sounds exactly like some German pig."
Liu Bai looked at Einstein strangely.
Einstein shook her head. "Dr. Einstein believes that is an insult to German pigs."
"I actually think that name is pretty cute, though?"
"Tch, I knew men would say that." Tesla reacted to Liu Bai's voice. "Anyway, hic, men are not interested in 'Nikola,' a unisex name, at all, are you?"
Indeed, Frederica did sound much better than Nikola.
"Dr. Einstein's recommendation is to give Dr. Tesla two slaps and sober her up."
"...Forget it."
Liu Bai helplessly helped Tesla up.
This woman even insulted herself when drunk. Better not provoke her.
Come to think of it, he had learned quite a few things during the eighteen years he had spent living with Mobius—such as how to look after drunks with terrible drinking habits.
"Come to think of it... hic, although people call me Doctor, I have not graduated yet."
"I know, I know. You told me that a year ago."
Liu Bai soothed Tesla like he was placating a child.
"Hic, what? So I already told you..." Tesla struggled symbolically a few times. "Hic... By the way, have you decoded that thing yet?"
Tesla unexpectedly brought up something serious.
That was probably good news. It seemed her ability to reason was returning.
"Weren't you standing right there at the time...? It still needs four weeks."
"Four weeks?" Tesla, whom Liu Bai had just helped up, immediately sat back down and giggled foolishly. "So that means we can play all night tonight?"
"..."
No, I do not think anyone wanted to play with you.
"Four weeks! A whole month! Vacation time!"
Tesla suddenly began dancing around.
"Wine and women! Dates! Leave Liesel in the laboratory!"
"Dr. Einstein reiterates once again that the best solution right now is to give Dr. Tesla two slaps and make Dr. Tesla face reality."
Cemetery and Reanna
"Ah... ow, ow, ow."
The next morning, Dr. Tesla came downstairs with dark circles under her eyes, clutching her head.
"Damn it, why does my head hurt so much?"
"That is what hangovers are like."
Liu Bai spoke as if nothing had happened.
"No, why do I feel like I was... Ugh, this does not feel like a hangover headache at all."
Tesla narrowed her eyes suspiciously.
"I am pretty experienced when it comes to hangovers."
"...I do not think that is something to be proud of." Liu Bai curled his lip. "Maybe you hit your head on something while you were drunk?"
"Dr. Einstein believes Dr. Tesla's head may have been caught in the door to her own room."
The naturally curly-haired culprit sat on the sofa as if nothing had happened.
"Huh? Liesel, what are you talking about?"
"I am merely making a reasonable deduction about drunken Dr. Tesla."
You really have the nerve to say that...
Liu Bai's eye twitched as he looked at the unruffled Einstein.
Last night's farce had ended with Einstein bringing down a dictionary.
Yes, one dictionary. Smack, and the world went quiet.
If Einstein had been stronger, she might even have tested Liu Bai's lethal protection ability...
"Is... is that so?" Tesla's hungover brain slowly turned over the thought. "Last night... uh..."
Tesla's face instantly flushed crimson.
"Uh... Ughhhhhhhhh—!"
Having probably remembered what happened last night, Tesla immediately covered her face.
"Do not stop me! Let me live under the sofa for the rest of my life!"
"Hah, still so innocent."
Before you continue