Chapter 376
"No." Li Pu hardened his heart and shattered Sakura's hopes, saying, "At least not now! You can think of my relationship with the Goddess as being like that of a human host and Ultraman, except that I can't become Ultraman for the time being."
Hmm, this explanation should be acceptable, right?
There should be Ultraman in this world, right? Li Pu remembers that there are tokusatsu shows in this world, so Sakura should know about tokusatsu.
"Ultraman?" Sakura seemed to understand now. She looked at Li Pu curiously and said, "So you are Ultraman's human form?"
"Yes." Li Pu nodded.
"Liar! Liar! You big liar!" Sakura shouted loudly, "Goddess would never choose you as her human form!"
Sakura disappeared through Li Pu's door, crying and shouting. After Sakura left, Matou Kariya, with his white hair, came in and said, "What did you say to Sakura? She seemed to be crying quite badly."
"It's nothing," Li Pu shrugged. "Just some facts, but they seem hard for kids to accept."
Aren't you going to comfort her?
"I'm not going." Matou shook his head and said, "Sakura might need some time to adjust, and I haven't seen her like this in a long time. Although she cried, it's still a good start."
Crying is also a form of emotional expression, and being able to express one's emotions is always better than being the way things were before.
"But..." Matou looked at Li Pu and said, "I have to say, this... you... are indeed hard to accept in many ways."
"If it's hard to accept, then it's hard to accept," Li Pu said. "By the way, do I remember the Matou Family has a very large basement?"
"Insect warehouse?" Matou Kariya immediately understood what Li Pu meant and asked, "Are you asking about that?"
"Yes!" Li Pu didn't know what the basement was for, but Matou Kariya it.
"Take me there to take a look; I want to make use of that place."
If you want to conduct research, you need a research base, and the Matou Family's huge insect warehouse seems to be the perfect place.
Let's go over there! Let's build a base!
Chapter Forty-Five: The Base
The Insect Warehouse was once the heart of the Matou Family.
Now that Matou Zouken has vanished into thin air, all the Engraved Worm here have also vanished along with him. Apart from the enormous underground space where spiderwebs have begun to form, there is no trace of Matou Zouken his Engraved Worm left.
Matou Kariya led Li Pu into this underground insect warehouse.
"It really does look a bit eerie and scary," Li Pu said, looking at the dark space. "If you were to shoot a horror movie, this place would practically be a natural film set."
"You're right." Matou Kariya didn't deny it at all, and even agreed wholeheartedly. "This place used to be a place so terrifying that it made people despair. To be honest, if it weren't for your request, I would never have set foot in this place again in my life."
"I understand." Li Pu nodded in agreement. "If it were me, I don't think I would ever want to set foot in this place."
"However," Li Pu suddenly changed the subject, "I plan to make significant improvements here, which may involve some major changes. As the head of the Matou Family, do you have any objections?"
Opinions? How could there possibly be?
"Of course not," Matou Kariya replied without a trace of psychological pressure.
He even seemed a bit like someone selling off their ancestral land without a second thought, saying, "I'm not the head of the Matou Family. Theoretically, my brother is the head of the Matou Family. However, he took my nephew with him when he went to the Holy Grail War, but it doesn't matter. Change it however you want! Change it however you want, I absolutely won't say a word."
"What if I need financial support?" Seeing that Matou Kariya answered so readily, Li Pu went a step further and made his own request.
If Kariya's previous answer stemmed from his intense hatred for Matou Zouken, Matou Kariya left him without any psychological burden, then when it comes to his own interests, a little bit of heartache creeps in, and his answer becomes far less decisive and straightforward.
Matou Kariya pondered for a long time before finally making a decision, saying, "Okay, but there's one condition: I want to know what you're going to do."
"What are you doing? Is this a sign of distrust?" Li Pu asked, a little doubtful. "Are you afraid I'll do something bad?"
"No." Matou shook his head, but then quickly nodded and said, "You could say that. If you want to turn this place into your Magecraft workshop and continue participating in the Holy Grail War, I won't be paying for it!"
"I've had enough, and I don't want Sakura to get involved in this Holy Grail War anymore."
"I see~ I see." Li Pu understood Matou Kariya very well. Wasn't he the kind of character who often appeared in stories who was 'tired of war' and 'yearned for peace'? He didn't want to continue fighting, nor did he want the people around him to be involved in the conflict again.
"I understand." Li Pu said with considerable understanding, "Don't worry, I don't intend to use this place as a Magecraft workshop; I hope to use it as a research base."
"Don't underestimate me, I'm a scientist too."
"A scientist?" Matou Kariya looked at Li Pu with a very curious expression.
"You probably don't quite understand." Li Pu knew perfectly well why Matou Kariya was looking at him like that, and he explained nonchalantly, "The technology of the God Race is far superior to that of humans. Moreover, science itself is a philosophy, a way of thinking, and it's not simply a specific category. If we're being precise, alchemy and Magecraft are both categories of science."
"So what's so strange about me being a scientist?" Li Pu said. "Anyway, putting everything else aside, can you or can't you provide me with some financial assistance?"
"If it's really as you say," Matou Kariya said, "It's not impossible."
That's fine.
The Matou Family's large insect storage facility is perfect as a research base. With Matou Kariya's help, he should be able to complete this underground base very quickly.
After Matou left, Li Pu quickly activated his own Inherent Domain.
"Oh? It seems I, the Goddess, haven't shown up?"
Everyone except the Goddess herself was already present within the Inherent Domain, as expected due to the excessive power consumption. They were temporarily unable to appear, but it didn't matter; the Goddess's absence wouldn't affect anything.
"Is this your plan?" Saber suddenly asked, "Like this now?"
"Plan?" Li Pu quickly answered Saber's question, "No, my personal plan may have to wait until after the Holy Grail War ends before it can be implemented. Because I didn't expect that the seal could be broken ahead of schedule now."
"I've always felt that this seal is likely to be broken only at the very end."
Li Pu was quite honest about this; she really hadn't planned on it happening so quickly. But unexpectedly, Kiritsugu's wish allowed Li Pu to break the seal directly, breaking the system's seal along with it.
This was something Li Pu hadn't anticipated at all, given that the seal had been broken and what happened afterward.
In general, it's best to let things take their natural course.
"And what about the others?" Saber seemed dissatisfied with the answer. "Are you really going to withdraw from the Holy Grail War?"
"Others?" Saber's question startled Li Pu for a moment, but he quickly realized what she meant. Li Pu sighed and said, "Saber, let the fate of the others decide for themselves. I personally did my best to save those innocent people who died because of me. And I also gave Matou Kariya and Sakura Matou a better ending than the original one."
"As for others, I'm willing but powerless to help them now, and of course I don't want to interfere," Li Pu said. "We should just mind our own business."
"Indeed, King Arthur," MEI agreed with Li Pu's opinion, "We just need to mind our own business for now."
Saber wanted to say something but didn't say much; she moved her lips but ultimately held back.
"However, this location is quite good." Seeing that no one spoke, Soul of the Underworld said, "It is very secluded and spacious enough for us to hide here for the time being and conduct our research."
"Hmm." MEI nodded and said, "By the way, speaking of which, I think I can vaguely hear Kevin's voice."
"Kevin?" Li Pu said in surprise, "Hear his voice? How is that possible! Mei, how did you hear his voice?"
"I don't know...it's hard to say..." MEI said, seemingly having some difficulty explaining, "You could think of it as telepathy. Kevin and I were comrades-in-arms and lovers. Maybe we have a little bit of a connection between us."
"And if Kevin were in the Sea of Quantum, he might indeed have the potential to convey his own ideas."
"Telepathy?" Li Pu asked immediately.
Mei nodded and said, "You could say that, but it's impossible to communicate further. We can only hear a tiny, very faint sound at most; the rest is practically nothing."
"I think Kevin probably wanted to tell me about his current situation."
"Is that so?" Seeing this, Li Pu didn't press further, since he hadn't heard anything anyway. However, he might have heard it, but the sound was too faint for him to notice; only Mei noticed.
"Let's not discuss this," MEI said, adjusting his glasses. "There's no point in discussing it now."
"Now that the seal is fully open, I personally suggest you try to improve your DIY skills."
"Improve my DIY skills?" Li Pu was a little confused.
"Do you know why you always manage to make things look punk?" MEI said with a hint of disdain, "You don't think it's my problem, do you?"
"Isn't that right?" Li Pu scratched his head and said, "If it were Mamiya, at least overall it would be passable."
"But it's completely useless, isn't it?" MEI retorted. "Don't think it's our fault, it's because of your mediocre craftsmanship! Because I personally value practicality more. These things can be ugly, but they can't be useless. But Mamiya is different. For her, many things are decorations. They can be useless, but they can't be ugly. So most of the things she makes are useless."
"Huh? Is that so?" Li Pu looked at Mamiya in disbelief.
"Hahaha~" Mamiya scratched his head sheepishly and said, "That's true, because you only need a few essential things to be useful in the kitchen."
"The rest don't need to be functional, as long as they look good."
'That's really true.' Li Pu was truly speechless.
"Even so," Li Pu said, "Can the system upgrade this for me?"
"I think that's perfectly fine." MEI pushed up her glasses and said confidently, "Hasn't the system always hoped that we would ask her for help when we encounter a major crisis? Since she wants us to ask her for help so much, let's grant her wish. After all, we will still need to cooperate in the future, and we can't directly turn against the system in the short term."
"It's perfectly reasonable to ask her for help now."
Is it reasonable? Li Pu didn't think it was reasonable at all.
But since MEI said so, Li Pu doesn't mind doing it.
Moreover, MEI is quite right; he will need to cooperate with this system for at least the foreseeable future.
Directly turning against the system is very disadvantageous to oneself.
But such a requirement...
Let the system suffer the consequences on its own!
Chapter 46 System, you scoundrel!
After exiting the Inherent Domain, Li Pu quickly entered the system.
It's still the same as always.
It was essentially the same as before it was sealed away, with a simple interface featuring three lottery options. Having spent countless hours battling and scheming against the system Li Pu knew perfectly well that these options were practically useless.
The truly useful part is the system's customer service.
"Hey! System, are you there?!" Li Pu shouted.
"Coming~Coming~" As if it had been waiting for him here, the system's voice appeared almost immediately after Li Pu finished shouting.
"Hey~ Long time no see, I thought you'd forgotten me." The system's voice seemed to carry a hint of shyness and reproach, like a beautiful woman looking at herself being left aside with a sense of resentment.
"Forgot?" Li Pu asked, somewhat puzzled.
Is this system unknowingly sealed?
Hmm, that's unlikely. She probably doesn't not know. This is something the system fabricated! She definitely knows she's been sealed away.
"Hmm~" Li Pu coughed and said, "Indeed, I've been quite busy lately and haven't had a chance to ask."
It's just an exercise; you act, I act, and everyone just pretends to be confused.
"By the way, I have something to take care of." Li Pu didn't waste any more time chatting with the system and got straight to the point. "I want to improve my DIY skills. I think you should be able to help me with that, right?"
After they finished speaking, there was silence on the other end.
It wasn't that she fell silent; it was just that, out of Li Pu's sight, a certain big loli looked at the mature woman beside her with a mournful face and said, "Didn't you say he would definitely beg me? Didn't you say he would definitely be in danger?"
"Why! Why! He only asked me for help to improve his DIY skills?!"
"This isn't what we agreed on!"
Yes! This is completely different from what was initially agreed upon. Shouldn't they be urgently begging her for some ability at this point? Shouldn't they be facing danger? According to the script, this isn't how things should be going.
Why! Why did this happen!
"Big Sister!" said the little girl, "Are you sure you didn't make a mistake?"
"Ah... this..." The loli's words stunned the mature woman. This was indeed different from her plan. Everything should have been under control, so why was it going against the plan at this crucial moment?
"Are you sure that's all he wants?" The mature woman was momentarily speechless and could only ask this question in return.
"Of course! What else could it be?" the little girl cried out. "Big sister! What should we do next, big sister?"
'This...' The mature woman had no answer.
Originally, she had anticipated that the transmigrator's situation was extremely urgent, a matter of life and death. As long as they could survive, everything else would be fine. Therefore, all she needed to do was have the big loli say, 'I can give you the ability, but there are some conditions.'
The key at this point is the 'additional conditions'.
The time traveler certainly didn't have much time to pay attention to the additional conditions; with everything pressing, getting the ability was the priority. Once he agreed, the rest would fall into place naturally.
Even if he later changed his mind, there was nothing he could do; he could only let himself be manipulated.
Can...
The script is like this: the beginning, the transitions, basically everything is similar to what I envisioned. But why does it suddenly change from the script here? No! This shouldn't be happening, right? The script shouldn't be like this, should it?