Petting the Fox

"It's nothing serious." Liu Bai with a dark face. "Use your Herrscher ability to pray that Sakura and I can meet."

"Hey hey hey! Asking your girlfriend to pray that her boyfriend runs into another woman? Liu Bai is so heartless~~"

"Seriously, but don't be too serious... Well, just offer a symbolic prayer, I'll offer one too."

Liu Bai felt that relying solely on randomness was a bit unreliable. Bringing Elysia along with his own wish-granting ability as the Herrscher of Origin might allow him to deliver the desired result on the first try.

"Oh, alright, since Liu Bai said it's a serious matter, I'll reluctantly believe him~"

Elysia closed her eyes, then opened them again a moment later.

"Hmm... it should be done? I feel like I activated my ability a little? But it doesn't seem to be fully activated?"

Elysia stroked her chin. "As expected, things get weird when it comes to Liu Bai kissing you."

"It's okay, I was mentally prepared for this, I'll pray too..."

That said, was Pardo's involvement this time truly a stroke of luck, or was it Elysia's wishful thinking coming true?

Well, the two don't conflict, and in the end, Pardo got into the zone.

(Start simulation)

[Simulation location: Yae Village]

[The host in this simulation: Sakura]

[New Story Clip Discovered: Cherry Blossom - Another Twin Flower]

[Simulation begins——]

"... Eh, Liu Bai disappeared? Was it at the world level, or was it a direct form of time travel?"

Elysia stroked her chin, a thoughtful expression on her face.

"As expected, Liu Bai's true nature is truly extraordinary."

"Snoring..."

Liu Bai had just transmigrated when he heard the roar of a wild beast, which sounded like thunder.

Wild beasts have come to the cherry blossom's hiding place?

But isn't this sound too loud?

Liu Bai looked in the direction of the sound—inside the cave, a huge, cherry-white fox was restlessly asleep.

Chapter 527 Rubbing the Fox

"This is..." Liu Bai stared at the enormous fox in front of him, which was at least as tall as two people even when it was lying down, and fell into deep thought, "Did it sleep itself to the point of collapse?"

Liu Bai looked down at the fox's belly and found that there were indeed some electronic components that were faintly visible under the fox's fur.

Poor Stasis Pod...

Liu Bai took another careful look at Sakura in her fox-like form.

She slept restlessly, as if she might wake up at any moment... So, how long did Sakura actually sleep?

Liu Bai didn't stand on ceremony. Although he had lost his power as the Herrscher of Origin in the simulated world, as a Great Ghost—assuming Ghosts really have such a hierarchy—it was still easy for him to wake up a big fox that was about to wake up.

Liu Bai used his ability to haunt to start scratching Ying's body, and soon the big fox began to react even more.

Five minutes later, the big fox rolled over and instinctively rubbed its back against the ground.

Ten minutes later, with a deafening sneeze, the fox slowly opened its eyes.

"Hmm... what am I doing?" The fox's mouth didn't move, but it made a sound like cherry blossoms.

Because she had just woken up, Sakura's voice was still groggy.

Good morning, Sakura.

"Ah... good morning, honey. Is it my turn to cook today?"

Sakura, still in a daze, replied almost instinctively.

"..." That's a tough question to answer.

How about taking a few steps to clear your head a bit?

"Oh..."

The big fox shook its head and stood up.

Looking at the world before her, Sakura finally realized the problem.

"Eh eh eh!"

I'm so tall.

Head down.

Furry paws and the boss standing next to him?

"Master! What am I doing?"

Sakura's voice clearly betrayed her panic.

"Collapse, or rather, Artificial Honkai Eruption, does this term ring a bell?"

Looking at Ying's reaction upon waking up, Liu Bai roughly understood the current situation.

Sakura has probably been in a state of collapse for a long time—at least in terms of action, Sakura's fox-like demeanor shows no signs of slowing down at this moment.

It takes time for a person's body to adapt if they suddenly grow more than ten centimeters taller.

Although Sakura is an expert, her problem is not a minor issue like being "ten centimeters taller." Rather, it's that she has changed from walking on two legs to walking on four legs, not to mention the changes in her body structure itself.

Even so, Sakura's movements were incredibly smooth.

"Collapse... Oh, I remember it was a research project that Dr. Mobius did back then, it seems to be a method for further developing Fusion Warrior."

Sakura had only been told once in her life that she lacked combat experience, so even though she was a little groggy from sleeping, she still remembered it.

"This stance... is indeed very strong. It feels like the difference in strength and agility between me and a human is like heaven and earth... However, in this case, I can't use my weapon."

Sakura now feels a surge of power throughout her body, with both the total amount of Honkai Energy within her and her ability to control it greatly increasing.

In other words, Sakura's most proficient combat skills can no longer be used.

This is a huge boost for warriors like Su who primarily use Honkai Beast abilities, but for warriors like Sakura who use their abilities as a secondary means, this form is somewhat subtle.

After all, Sakura uses Yaksha's abilities to rush in; to truly kill him, she would need either the freezing slash of the Frozen Hell, Icy Sky or the atomic-level destruction of the Purging Thunder.

Although Yaksha's spatial attack power is not bad, without using the freezing ability of the Frozen Hell, Icy Sky and her own spatial power to achieve a slash that freezes space, the hit rate of "Dimensional Slash" is quite worrying... Otherwise, Yaksha would not have been killed.

Incidentally, this is also why the Frozen Hell, Icy Sky is mainly used to fight the Honkai. It's a quick, powerful attack that controls and kills people. If Sakura targets someone and gets hit by this combo, even if they don't die on the spot, they'll be half dead. Taking the head of a general in the midst of a massive army is no joke.

Therefore, it's really hard for Sakura to say how much this collapse has actually improved her in actual combat—of course, the improvement in terms of data is definitely enough.

The enhancements to vitality, Honkai Energy, energy efficiency, and control are no joke. If she maintains her human form, Sakura is confident she can cut down two of her normal forms. Well, if she can hold off two of them head-on, she'll be backstabbed by the other two.

"It has nothing to do with beast transformation. Beast transformation is just because you can't control the collapse. Once you can control it, it will be fine." Liu Bai expressed his understanding of Ying's concerns.

The problem is that this is your first collapse, so it would be strange if you didn't turn into your beast form!

"Is that so?" A hint of embarrassment appeared on the fox's large face.

"And you were wild, entering the Collapse state without anyone supervising you... Hmm, I have a guess, do you want to hear it?"

"Is it... good news?" Sakura asked cautiously.

"No." Liu Bai revealed a gentle smile. "My guess is that you, Sakura, entered a state of collapse a long time ago, and before that, your body was controlled by bestiality."

"Eh?!"

Sakura started to panic.

"Beastly... beastly instinct? Would I indiscriminately kill innocent people during this time?"

"Hmm... all things considered, no." Liu Bai pondered for a moment before replying, "It should just be occasional hunting behavior with wild beasts, and the prey is more likely to be Honkai Beast. And while it's called bestiality, there's also a subconscious element involved—for example, you're still sleeping here right now."

After all, the beast form is essentially Honkai Beast, and unless it lacks energy, it has little hunting instinct.

The collapse and killing of Mobius in the original timeline was also due to being backstabbed by Klein, who had become Herrscher of a Thousand, and then being unable to revive due to a lack of energy.

In this era, is there anything more suitable than Honkai Beast to replenish Honkai Energy?

"Oh... that's good. It wouldn't be good if we accidentally hurt people from this era." Sakura breathed a sigh of relief.

As for hunting Honkai Beast, Sakura felt a little nauseous at the thought, but considering how many Honkai Beast she had killed, hunting a few was nothing to complain about.

"Um... but speaking of which, can you change me back to normal, sir? This state really feels weird."

Sakura tried to scratch her head, but her claws couldn't reach it.

"I'll give you an enhancement, you control it yourself. Only Mobius understands this collapse thing, I'm just talking theory."

Because of Liu Bai, the pressure in the later stages of the Previous Era was more about civilization pressure than combat power pressure, so collapse was not widespread at all. The only one who encountered the threshold of collapse was Mobius, who liked to die repeatedly.

There was a plan to use discipline to guide the collapse, but Aponia that, Aponia was in a period of being rendered useless after suppressing the bell, making it impossible to implement.

Liu Bai immediately cast a buff on Ying, and the fox's aura began to rise rapidly.

The nearly fourfold improvement in all aspects allowed Sakura to quickly master her beast form. Just five seconds out of ten, the giant fox in front of her shrank dramatically.

"The head of the household..."

Having returned to human form, Sakura, completely naked, blushed and covered her private parts.

"I... you... do you want to see it?"

As a loyal and devoted girlfriend and a Yamato Nadeshiko (ideal Japanese woman), Sakura simply couldn't bring herself to raise her voice to Liu Bai, and in the end, she could only weakly ask Liu Bai.

"... Is it really okay for you to ask me this question?"

Liu Bai's lips twitched.

Fortunately, I am currently in a state of tranquility and detachment—after all, as a ghost, I have to be tranquil and detached most of the time.

Upon hearing Liu Bai's words, Ying's face turned even redder.

"Do you have any spare clothes? If not, you'll have to turn into a fox to go out."

"Yes! I prepared several sets of clothes and put them in the Stasis Pod as pads, but I don't know if I can still wear them." When Sakura left, she also thought about the possible life problems that might result from waking up early.

As for turning into a fox... I didn't realize it before, but now I realize that turning into a fox is no different from being naked, so I don't want to turn into a fox at all!

"Is it possible that the Stasis Pod has already been shipped?" Liu Bai looked at the parts scattered all over the ground with a pained expression.

Sakura's lips twitched, realizing that the problem seemed a bit serious.

I was so embarrassed that I didn't even notice about the Stasis Pod.

"Fine, I'll fix it for you."

Liu Bai looked at the tattered clothes on the ground, which were unrecognizable. Fortunately, Ying hadn't been in the Stasis Pod for long, otherwise these clothes would have weathered away completely over tens of thousands of years.

There's not much to say, just possess the target and farm the keywords.

Nanorobotization

[Self-replication]

[Super malleable]

Ah... do I feel like I've stumbled upon some super rare keyword on a rag?

Self-replication... If this kind of keyword could be found on high-tech items or super materials like Soul Steel, it would be incredibly powerful, completely eclipsing science...

It's a pity... and these three terms complement each other.

"Sakura, what kind of clothes do you want? You can name a few more."

"Martial arts uniform, kimono, casual wear, underwear... Ah, my headphones are broken too, can you make them, honey?"

Sakura feels unwell if she can't hear hellish heavy metal rock.

"Um... did I ask for too much?"

"A minor issue—but the lack of headphones."

Hellfire heavy metal is out of the question. Although Liu Bai can restore the wreckage of the headphones, what's the point of restoring those music headphones that have an instant-death effect on Eden?