Chapter 308

They represent the pinnacle of human combat power without using Honkai Energy or undergoing physical enhancement.

Redhead's ability to defeat multiple Marines simultaneously goes beyond mere individual combat prowess. While one-on-one combat might depend on subtle tactics and on-the-spot judgment, dealing with multiple opponents demands a strong sense of the big picture and battlefield awareness.

A single Marine is one person, but a group of Marines is a small organization.

Given the military prowess of our army, or rather, the military qualities of modern professional soldiers, they certainly wouldn't be like the disorganized mob and poorly drawn lines depicted in movies, where the protagonist would then take them down one by one and slaughter everyone in sight.

Orderly advance and retreat, cooperation and coordination—these are the basic qualities of a modern soldier.

So, under normal circumstances, Redhead can beat one or two people in a one-on-one fight, and has a certain chance of winning against two, but his win rate against three is very low. Ai-chan didn't explicitly say how many Redhead could take on, but it's certain that his physical abilities are beyond human comprehension; he's most likely at the pinnacle of human physical capabilities. Just how high exactly is this pinnacle?

That's hard to say.

"So what can he do in the future?" Li Pu pondered this question, rubbing his chin. If he could have ignored this Redhead before, thinking he could just squeeze him out and then find a way to become the captain himself, now it seemed that this Redhead guy must be quite capable to become the captain.

Therefore, I really should carefully consider the relationship between him and myself in order to facilitate long-term cooperation in the future.

"Oh, you look pretty good."

Just as Li Pu was considering how he would deal with that Redhead man in the future, another person came in.

"Yae Sakura..." Li Pu could recognize the voice, but before he could react, he found himself spinning and lying on the bed.

A large face loomed over him.

It's Yae Sakura!

She...

She...

She's so... bold! Wait, what the heck is this? What is Yae Sakura trying to do? Why would she want to push me down? She... she... she... she! This doesn't fit her character at all!

Does that mean she was trying to sexually assault me?

Sigh... there's nothing I can do, being handsome is just so troublesome. Since there's no way to resist, please don't pity me, don't be pitied because of my good looks.

"Your eyes look quite nice." Although Yae Sakura had Li Pu pinned beneath her, and her warm breath was even blowing directly on his face, she ultimately didn't do anything. She simply gently touched Li Pu 'Li Pu right cheek and said, "The eyes of Herrscher."

"You've finally come to this." Yae Sakura seemed to have expected this all along.

"Are you talking about me? Or Kallen?" Li Pu asked, looking into Yae Sakura's eyes.

Li Pu remembered that before Yae Sakura was redeemed, she wanted to make Kallen her own. This "making" can be explained from the perspective of paid content. Of course, there is also another, more realistic perspective to explain it.

The Herrscherization.

It might be a bit inaccurate to say that Kallen Herrscherization a Herrscher. Yae Sakura's idea might not have been to turn Kallen into Herrscher, but rather to simply bring her into her camp.

So now that Li Pu has become Herrscher, it's roughly equivalent to Kallen becoming a Herrscher, according to the equation they've always adhered to.

"You're quite an interesting guy." Yae Sakura climbed off Li Pu and sat down on the edge of her bed. "If you really want to know the answer, I can tell you. But do you really want to know?"

"Why don't you want to know?" Seeing Yae Sakura get up, Li Pu also sat up and leaned against the wall behind him, saying, "Anyway, the real answer is that you saw Kallen in my eyes, right?"

Li Pu knew deep down that he wasn't the one receiving attention. The reason he was valued and received so much from this world—the Valkyrie's attention—was more for the characters themselves than for him. Each of them was focused not on themselves, but on the characters intricately connected to them. This was undeniably tragic.

But Li Pu had gotten used to it, and he no longer got angry or sad about such things.

Because those characters are very likely not simply a character card.

"You only got half of it right." Yae Sakura said calmly but sincerely, "I do care about Kallen, but I also care about someone else right now."

"Another person?" Li Pu was a little surprised. He had thought he had completely guessed the answer. But now this answer seemed quite unexpected. He looked around but didn't see a second person pointing at him and saying, "You mean me?"

Yae Sakura smiled without answering, but her eyes already conveyed her agreement.

"Huh?" Li Pu was even more surprised and incredulous. "Why do you care about me? Shouldn't you care more about Kallen?"

"Ah~" Li Pu looked at Yae Sakura and suddenly seemed to understand something, saying, "I know because I am Herrscher. From the perspective of faction division, you and I belong to the same faction, so I am someone you can ally with."

"So that's why you noticed me?"

"Of course~" Yae Sakura seemed to be mimicking Li Pu's way of speaking as she said, "No."

"I care about you," Yae Sakura said. "It's not because you became Herrscher and I am Simulated Herrscher. We are natural allies here. What's more important is that feeling. It's your heart that brought me and Hi-Fyūmaru from there."

"Huh?" Li Pu seemed not to understand.

"Hi-Fyūmaru knows you," Yae Sakura said. "You should know her name, a name from the past."

"Ling."

"I don't understand." Li Pu shook his head.

"MEI!" Yae Sakura said with a slight smile, "You should know one of your poses, right?"

"What's wrong?" Li Pu certainly knew, and he had only succeeded in subduing the Hi-Fyūmaru and resolving the crisis thanks to the MEI form. So what did that form have to do with him? Could it be because it was one of his forms? Had he shifted his focus to his true form?

Yes, that's a possibility.

"She knows MEI," Yae Sakura said. "She is also familiar with MEI. MEI is a woman who has devoted her entire life to fighting the Honkai. She doesn't have much energy or emotion to care about other people's feelings and fears. She is also a woman who will stop at nothing."

"If there is any regret, it is not regret for Rin." Yae Sakura looked into Li Pu's eyes and said, "It is regret for not being able to research her secrets and for not being able to turn her into Divine Key to fight against the Herrscher of Finality. If it is really MEI, the reason that drove her into the box can only be the continued research on Rin, and nothing else. She would not want to save Rin, nor would she want to save me."

"So the person who was willing to give their own life to save Rin, to save me," Yae Sakura said in a calm voice tinged with gratitude, "Wasn't actually dependent on your remaining Kallen, nor on your Mei. It was you! Li Pu. It was you who was atoning for Mei's sins with your own life and your own heart."

"Perhaps the word 'atonement' is a bit inappropriate, and MEI wouldn't agree with it," Yae Sakura said. "But you are the one who truly used love and warmth to make Rin no longer afraid, fearful, and able to let go of the past."

"It's neither Kallen nor MEI."

"It's you, Li Pu."

"Put yourself in someone else's shoes." Yae Sakura placed her hand on her chest and said, "Treat others as you would like to be treated."

"Eh..." Li Pu scratched his head, genuinely feeling a little embarrassed by what Yae Sakura had said.

"Actually..." Li Pu chuckled sheepishly, "Actually, I wasn't that kind-hearted. Well... I... hehehe... I had my own little scheme. That..."

He's a man... and a former captain too. He knows a lot about things, he's old enough to understand. Maybe that's a bit much, but from a personal, even selfish, perspective, choosing this method and personally taking action was definitely driven by a certain lewdness.

"Everyone has their own little schemes." Yae Sakura said, seemingly unconcerned. "There are no perfect people in this world. If you don't have any selfish motives, that would be strange, wouldn't it?"

"But what does it matter?" Yae Sakura said, "I'm also selfish. I'm happy to see you like this. You made all these choices, you reciprocated my feelings, and you were the one who chose to warm Rin and me with your sincerity back then. So I care about you a lot now."

"From a selfish point of view..." Yae Sakura suddenly pounced on Li Pu again and said, "For me, only Mr. Li Pu who has become Herrscher is the best."

"Because only in this way will Mr. Li Pu belong to me forever."

'Huh?' Li Pu was stunned.

What... what's going on here?

Is it R-rated?! You have to pay to watch it!

Chapter 339 Oh, no restrictions.

Well, in the end, nothing that Li Pu had hoped for didn't happen...

Cough cough cough, there's no paid content available.

Yae Sakura didn't leave as Li Pu had expected, which made the situation a bit awkward.

I can't quite put my finger on what's awkward about it, but it's just really awkward.

"Why would you want to become Kallen?" Yae Sakura asked, looking at Li Pu, who had become Kallen. "Oh~ is this the legendary innocent virgin who can't get it up at the last moment of his breakthrough?"

"No! You're overthinking it!" Kallen said without hesitation, "The reasons are complicated, and you're not being sincere!"

Isn't Yae Sakura supposed to be like this... cough cough?

"Kallen! What do we do with Kallen?" Kallen said, "What about me right now? Where do you plan to place me?"

"You are Kallen's present life, Kallen is your past life." Yae Sakura said, seemingly completely unconcerned, "So you are mine, Kallen is mine too. As long as you are mine, Kallen is mine, and similarly, as long as Kallen is mine, you are mine too."

"I want both of them, and they are both the same person, so why would I put Kallen in a different position?"

"..." Kallen was speechless.

Why did we apply this equation at this point?

"Mei!" Kallen said helplessly, "Mei! You have to think about her, right? This is her body, and she considers Mei her mother!"

"Although this isn't right, at least things haven't changed yet. You have to think about Mei, right?"

"Oh~" Yae Sakura nodded and said, "It seems so, Mei has actually become an obstacle."

"But actually, you're the one who's really scared, aren't you?" Yae Sakura looked at Kallen and said, "You're much more timid than I thought, Mr. Li Pu. In fact, I think you just need to be a little bolder."

"Be a little bolder~" Kallen probably figured it out and said, "Don't tease me. If I were really that bold, I believe you would chase me down with your cherry blossom blizzard all the way from here to Changkong City."

"Hehehe~" Yae Sakura chuckled and said, "I feel like I've been found out."

"Ah~" Kallen breathed a sigh of relief, it seemed she had guessed correctly. She scratched her head and said, "Why did you test me?"

"Because Herrscher are not good at hiding their true nature." Yae Sakura said seriously, "I am Simulated Herrscher, so I know very well. Herrscher don't hide their love and hate too much. So I want to know what Mr. Li Pu's motives are?"

"What do you think it is?" Kallen countered. "Why would you think that?"

"Because you know very little about Kallen and Mei's past," Yae Sakura said. "Perhaps you only know about Kallen and Mei because of the soul fragments, but not much. So to you, we are just strangers who are somewhat familiar. Why would you risk your life for a stranger?"

"Why?" Kallen asked, puzzled.

"They might be lusting after our bodies," Yae Sakura explained. "From a male's reproductive instinct perspective, it's not uncommon for them to risk their lives for reproduction. Lust can be a double-edged sword, and there are always plenty of men who fall for a woman's charms."

"What if I were?" Kallen asked again, "Like when I actually did that just now."

"It's not impossible~" Yae Sakura said seductively, pulling down her top to reveal half of her shoulder, "I will still satisfy Mr. Li Pu."

"Then we can go to the underworld together. I believe Mei can understand."

Kallen was covered in sweat.

Okay, she made the right choice! Luckily, she held her ground and rationally realized that things weren't so simple.

"But I'm still very curious about Mr. Li Pu's motives." Yae Sakura asked again, "Why would he make such a choice?"

"Why?" Kallen crossed her arms and thought carefully. "It might be a bit complicated. It's because of the past. Some past events that I can't talk about, and that past led me to make certain choices."

Let her play games; at least games will serve as a stepping stone for her to understand that doing so is worthwhile.

"I can say a little bit," Kallen said. "The founder of the new dynasty said that it is easy to destroy the enemy's body, but it is difficult to change their mind. For me, it is not easy to destroy you with MEI's wisdom, but it is not impossible either. However, it is very difficult to save you."

Kallen looked at Yae Sakura and said, "I believe that Kallen's choice to save you was the right one, and I believe that you and Rin are both worth saving. So I am willing to try and willing to make sacrifices."

"I'll risk everything, including my life, to save you and Ling."

Kallen looked at Yae Sakura, Yae Sakura looked at Kallen.

This time, Yae Sakura finally showed a genuine smile from the bottom of her heart and said, "It seems I didn't misjudge you. Thank you, Mr. Li Pu."

"As expected, my choice was right." Yae Sakura smiled even more brightly and said, "You and Kallen will definitely belong to me."

"Hahaha~" Kallen burst into laughter and said, "You must be joking, right?"

"Even Simulated Herrscher have the right to pursue happiness." Yae Sakura said very seriously, "Yae Sakura will strive to pursue her own happiness. So Yae Sakura would never joke about this, Mr. Li Pu!"

"Oh, your happiness." Kallen's smile froze as she said, "Well... I don't object to anything... but..."

"It's already halfway done," Yae Sakura said. "Now we can say that you, as Herrscher, don't really have many better options. It's like you're currently isolated here, even if the crew on the ship were willing to accept a real Herrscher on their ship."

"But human society will not accept a true Herrscher," Yae Sakura said with a smile. "So you are right."

"From now on, you and I are natural allies, and we belong to the same camp. Of course, we can also be said to be traitors within the same camp."

"Welcome to the world of Honkai!" Yae Sakura stood up from the bed and approached Kallen step by step, saying, "My lovely little princess Kallen, from today onwards, you and I are truly a community of shared destiny on this ship."

"..." Kallen was almost cornered by Yae Sakura.

That...

That...

"No! Don't come any closer!" Kallen knocked on the door and said, "Hurry up! Let me out!"

This... this! This fox is acting strangely!

Someone come quick! Is this really going to become paid content this time?

Chapter 340 Let Me Out

Paid content never materialized.