What a pity... kitten videos...
"So, Miss Rita, don't tell me the two of us are supposed to watch every single disc in here next. That's practically murder. Repaying kindness with spite."
More than thirty animal videos—whoever wanted to watch them could go right ahead!
"Ghostly Gentleman, those are rather unpleasant words. Is it gentlemanly to make a lady buy such indecent discs?"
Although Rita had brought this upon herself, she showed no guilt whatsoever in terms of bearing.
"Let's call it a draw?"
"I don't recall the two of us ever starting a bet."
Liu Bai made it clear that she shouldn't even think about fooling him. That wicked woman had clearly docked his benefits!
"Men who are too shrewd aren't popular with girls."
"But I'm a ghost... well, a male ghost, anyway."
"That really gives me goosebumps. I do hope Ghostly Gentleman can show some leniency toward a frail lady who has been haunted by a ghost and suffered tremendous psychological damage."
"You mean the frail lady who can split a solid iron door in two with one swing of her scythe?"
Liu Bai retorted.
"Or do you mean the frail lady who, after negotiations failed, killed the other party with a single slash?"
"Has anyone ever told you that you're terribly unromantic, Ghostly Gentleman?" Rita's lips twitched slightly.
It had clearly been a clean and decisive operation. Why did it sound like some dark history when Liu Bai said it?
Even she herself began to feel as though it really was dark history.
"Have they? I think I'm quite popular."
Though saying so was a little conceited, Liu Bai still felt that quite a few people liked him.
"Very well. How about becoming a gentleman by starting with abandoning that inexplicable confidence of yours?"
Rita Compatibility +5%
Ding—! Today's simulation attempts have been restored. Please conduct a simulation promptly.
At midnight, the notification that the simulation had refreshed rang out in Liu Bai's mind. This time, however, he did not rush to begin. He secretly poked his head in through the doorway and, after confirming that Rita was already sound asleep, found himself conflicted.
Should he simulate first, or switch hosts and check on Einstein and the others first?
If he remembered correctly, Einstein and Tesla were currently hanging around with Theresa and the others. Now that Rita had returned, he did not need to worry too much about them for the time being.
And the simulation... honestly, its sense of the unknown and novelty was incredibly tempting.
Simulation first!
The instant Liu Bai made his decision, the simulation interface appeared before him, and the scenery around him began to turn hazy.
However, having already gone through three simulations, Liu Bai had developed some resistance to this change.
Please note: the simulation is about to begin!
Simulation location: Shenzhou, Canghai City
Simulation host: Fu Hua
New story segment discovered: Fu Hua · Growth
Uh... the Immortal?
Liu Bai froze when he saw this simulation's target.
The next moment, the scene before him became clear again, and Liu Bai found himself in a dim bedroom.
Liu Bai looked outside. The sky was pitch-black, making it impossible to tell whether it was midnight or the early hours of morning.
The clothes and furnishings in the room had all been arranged with meticulous neatness. It was obvious that their owner was a highly meticulous person.
And the host of this simulation—Fu Hua—was currently sleeping soundly in bed without the slightest guard up. The dashing hair Liu Bai remembered was now spread over the pillow, much like her defenseless sleeping face.
What a coincidence.
He had just met Fu Hua in the previous simulation, and this simulation turned out to be Fu Hua herself.
And this was Fu Hua from the Previous Era, back when she was still a student.
Although Fu Hua had merely been a passerby in the previous simulation, the way she had seemed capable of seeing Liu Bai had left an indelible impression on him.
Looking at the future Immortal sleeping peacefully, Liu Bai revealed a contemplative expression.
Fu Hua · Growth... what did growth mean for Fu Hua?
The Honkai outbreak in Canghai City?
Or... the deaths of her friends?
Or perhaps something related to Himiko, who was both her teacher and friend?
Liu Bai had no intention of waking Fu Hua. Instead, he sat quietly in a chair and began to think.
The prerequisite for an S-rank evaluation was perfection.
Aponia wanted to protect the children in the sanatorium.
Mobius wanted a happy childhood.
The survival of everyone connected to Anti-Entropy.
As for Fu Hua...
Liu Bai rubbed his temples with a headache.
Fu Hua... the difficulty of her simulation was truly hard to define.
Liu Bai gazed at Fu Hua's sleeping face, sighed, and took a book from the shelf to read.
...He would just consider it a way to pass the time.
Chapter 56: Hua and Liu Bai, the Girl and Her Teacher
Four in the morning.
The sky outside was nowhere close to being "bright." The entire city remained silent, yet Hua was already awake.
As a martial artist, she had long been accustomed to getting up at this hour.
Come to think of it, she woke even earlier than her father. At this hour, perhaps only street food vendors would be getting up to prepare ingredients. Even workers might not be awake yet.
Getting up, washing up, cooking, eating breakfast, training, going to school, coming home from school, doing homework, training, sleeping.
—That was every disciplined day in the life of the girl named Hua.
Dull, yet unexpectedly fulfilling.
Hua, who had just woken up, opened her eyes blearily and reached toward the desk beside her bed, feeling around for her glasses.
Found them.
Although her nearsightedness was not severe, being unable to see clearly was still somewhat inconvenient when studying.
After putting on her glasses, the scene before Hua's eyes finally became clear—making her even more aware that she was fully awake.
That gave her even less reason to laze around in bed.
Hua propped herself up with her arms.
First, wash up. Then help Father prepare breakfast...
Hua straightened her pajamas, threw back the covers, and prepared to get out of bed.
However, at that moment, she suddenly felt as though there was something extra in her room.
"Good morning, Hua." A male voice that could roughly be described as "gentle" sounded beside Hua's ear.
"Good morning."
Faced with the sudden greeting, Hua responded instinctively.
The next moment, Hua felt as though someone had dumped a basin of cold water over her head, and she instantly woke up completely.
There was only her in the room. How could there be a second person's voice?
An auditory hallucination?
No, no, no. There was no way she would imagine a voice that gentle, right?
"Don't panic."
The gentle male voice sounded again.
"Let me introduce myself. My name is Liu Bai, and I'm your guardian spirit."
After working as a spirit for so long, Liu Bai had accumulated some experience. Although his initial appearance would still give the host a certain degree of fright, he was now much better at grasping the rhythm of getting along with a host.
—After all, constantly scaring people wasn't a good thing.
Of course, Sister Rita, that kind of wicked woman, was an exception. That kind of wicked woman only knew how to toy with his heart.
Only then did Hua notice that a famous novel she had placed on the bookshelf was now lying open on the desk.
"Guardian spirit?" Hua shifted slightly farther into the bed—an instinctively guarded posture.
"Something like a lucky charm that helps you resolve disasters?"
"Something similar to a divine statue?"
Confusion appeared on Hua's face. As a model student, Hua had never believed in gods, ghosts, or anything of the sort.
But now that something resembling the gods and ghosts of legend had appeared before her, Hua quickly thought of an example.
"A divine statue... hmm, there's a huge difference, but it's enough for the sake of understanding."
The book on the desk turned a page.
"Still, there are indeed people who call me Lord God."
There was a trace of nostalgia in the gentle male voice.
Aponia, with her airheadedness and saintly radiance... Although Aponia's compatibility, once as high as 120%, was now dead last, when it came to comfort during conversation, she should have been the most comfortable of all his hosts.
After all, with Persuasion at a full level eight, anyone other than an exceptionally difficult case like Kalpas would feel comfortable talking to Aponia.
...And his own Persuasion was only a pitiful level two.
Perhaps he should appropriately improve this skill, which seemed to have little presence but had the highest "skill coverage rate."
"So... are you a god?" Hua's face remained full of doubt. She believed Liu Bai was definitely a supernatural existence.
But could he really be something as unreachable as a god?
She did not think so.
"No." There was a hint of laughter in the male voice. "I told you, I'm only a guardian spirit. My task is to accompany you as you grow and resolve your misfortunes."
"Misfortune..." This repeated word made Hua pause.
"Are you saying that my future will be very unfortunate?"
"Your future... if judged by fortune, then your future will be unfortunate. But if judged by misfortune, then your future will be fortunate." Liu Bai felt somewhat wistful.
If one called Fu Hua fortunate, then her father had been severely injured, her friends had died tragically, and she could only join the Moth Chasers to Fire as an ordinary soldier. She had even once been injected with a serum by Mei and turned into a lab rat alongside many other "discarded pieces," all to trigger super transformation factors.
A girl who had originally only wanted to live out her life peacefully in her hometown had been forced to shoulder the legacy of an entire civilization.
And in the next civilization... there was no need to even mention it. Her seven disciples and Otto were hardly good things.
But if one called her unfortunate, Fu Hua had nevertheless fought upstream through the Honkai outbreak, an era where human lives were cheaper than grass. Between life and death, she awakened her super transformation factors, successfully became a Fusion Warrior, and survived the tragedy of Binding.
Even in the next civilization, all kinds of setbacks still failed to bring her down.
"..."
Liu Bai's words plunged Hua into silence.
Was her fate... truly going to be like this?
Before you continue