"Don't call me for something this easy~"
"...It was indeed easier than I expected."
Bai Ge was a little surprised as well.
He had thought the building would be heavily guarded, but there was hardly anyone inside. After Kiana knocked out the security guards at the entrance, no one stood in their way.
But Bai Ge quickly understood why.
Although Cocolia had taken over ME Corp after bringing down Raiden Ryoma, Changkong City was merely one of its branches, and it was within the area where she planned to trigger the "Third Honkai Eruption."
To that old fox, this branch had been meant for abandonment from the start. Once the Great Honkai struck, all of Changkong City would be finished, let alone a branch office building.
So lax security here was perfectly normal. There were only a dozen or so armed guards, without even a single Titan.
After the two investigated for a while, they found a door that was obviously out of place.
"Bai Ge, this door looks really suspicious."
"Mm, it really does. It's way too obvious."
The door was made entirely of carbon alloy, carrying the distinctly technological feel of Anti-Entropy. Even a tuna could tell at a glance that some huge secret had to be hidden behind it.
"Kiana, kick it open."
"Alright, I love the direct approach!"
Kiana, who hated puzzle games more than anything, wholeheartedly approved of Bai Ge's idea. She lifted a foot and kicked the titanium alloy door, sending it flying away.
The corner of Bai Ge's eye twitched wildly. As expected of someone from the Kaslana family. That's insane.
He even seemed to vaguely hear someone say, "Neko Kawaii," but that was just a hallucination.
And once the door had been broken open, Bai Ge finally found what he had come for.
Kiana beside him widened her eyes as well.
"Th-these are weapons?"
Fifth update! Bonus chapter complete! Please send flowers and rewards!
I suddenly realized an awkward problem. I seem to have written things a little too carefully. The current stockpile has already reached nearly a hundred thousand words by the end of the Second Honkai Eruption.
I'm only twenty thousand words away from the word count needed for premium release. Hiss, hiss, hiss... Forget it! I won't overthink it. Any extra words will count as free content for everyone.
No matter what, I have to write Bronya's exclusive storyline! You must have seen it in the synopsis—I absolutely have to make Duck Duck call the protagonist Daddy.
If Duck Duck doesn't call the protagonist Daddy, I won't release it as premium! Anyone who agrees, please send flowers and votes. Hehe.
This Day and Age, Whose Battleship Doesn't Have a Few Herrschers?
After violently breaking open the titanium alloy door, Bai Ge and Kiana finally entered the room within.
It was completely different from outside. The interior was filled with a futuristic atmosphere, and Bai Ge's eyes lit up. As expected of a force connected to Anti-Entropy. Cool~
At the very depths of this hidden space, three extremely conspicuous weapons floated in midair.
Kiana said, "Are those... Honkai Energy weapons?"
Bai Ge nodded, recognizing them at a glance as well.
Three-star weapon: Pulse Katana Type 19.
Three-star weapon: Ion Resonance Sword.
Four-star weapon: Plasma Shadow Show.
There were two katana-type weapons and one greatsword-type weapon. Bai Ge had owned them in the game before, so they did not feel unfamiliar. Aside from the last one, which he had tossed into storage to collect dust, he had dismantled the other two immediately after pulling them.
Because all three had been developed by Raiden Ryoma himself, or secretly developed on Welt's orders, Cocolia did not know they existed.
Bai Ge happily collected all of them, looking like a child who had received his favorite toys.
Though they had only been low-star weapons in the game, they were still full of sci-fi flair. More importantly, these were not cosmetic models—they were real weapons that could actually be used in combat!
As a guy, Bai Ge would be crazy to turn down weapons this cool.
"Th-these are all Honkai Energy weapons? What is going on here? Why are there weapons related to the Honkai in this place?!"
The tuna beside him had long since lost her composure. Kiana's eyes were wide, and her little brain, which had been offline for so long, could not comprehend what this meant at all.
As far as she knew, she had merely infiltrated Mei's father's company with Bai Ge to find proof that her father had been framed, only to "accidentally" uncover traces of the Honkai.
Kiana's brain, which had been shut down for ages, was practically starting to smoke. It was clearly overloaded.
"Bzzzt!"
Just as Bai Ge was wondering how to fool—no, how to explain things to Kiana, the display screen beside them lit up.
"W-what's happening?"
"Don't be scared. It's not a ghost, it's my father-in-law."
Kiana nearly fired a shot in fright, but Bai Ge pulled her back in time.
Because he recognized the person on the screen—it was Mei's father, Raiden Ryoma!
And this was not a communication. It was a recording, documenting a father's silent devotion to his daughter.
"Father-in-law? What father-in-law? Since when did you... Wait, is that Mei's dad?"
Kiana finally reacted, and Bai Ge nodded.
"That's right. He's Mei's father, Raiden Ryoma. This video looks like it was recorded before he went to prison. Luckily, it avoided being discovered along with this hidden weapons depot and was preserved."
It had probably begun playing automatically because someone had entered the hidden weapons depot.
The video was entirely about Mei, saving Bai Ge the trouble of making up excuses, because... Raiden Ryoma had truly explained everything in the recording.
He explained that Mei had possessed a stigma since childhood, and as she grew older, it had awakened. But that immense power had caused Mei tremendous harm.
So, in order to suppress the stigma's power and protect Mei, Raiden Ryoma accepted Cocolia's proposal and carried out an experiment called "Project-Mei."
The experiment involved implanting the Herrscher Core known as the Conquest Gem into Mei, whose stigma had awakened, using the Core's power to seal the girl's stigma.
The experiment ultimately succeeded. Mei's stigma was suppressed and sealed by the Conquest Gem, and she completely regained her health, becoming an "ordinary girl."
But Raiden Ryoma later realized that it had all been Cocolia's scheme.
That woman had long been secretly planning to artificially trigger the Third Honkai Eruption, and Mei was the Herrscher vessel she had chosen.
By the time Ryoma wanted to stop everything, it was already too late. Once the Herrscher Core had been implanted in Mei's body, removing it without harming her was nothing short of fantasy.
That was why he had taken the risk of using vast amounts of ME Corp's funds to develop Honkai Energy weapons.
But his purpose had not been to destroy his daughter after she awakened as the Herrscher of Thunder. It was to gain the power to stop and save her.
Yet Cocolia caught him by the tail and sent him to prison under charges of financial fraud.
"...How could this happen? Mei is actually the vessel of the Third Herrscher."
"Tsk, tsk. Looks like we dug up a huge secret. And it doesn't look good."
"Bai Ge, it's not that simple. My old man told me that Herrschers are terrifying. They're the embodiment of disasters, they're the Honkai... Ugh, how am I supposed to explain this to you? There's just too much to explain."
Kiana held her head in both hands, her not-so-clever little brain working hard to organize her thoughts.
Seeing Bai Ge remain so calm, Kiana assumed he did not understand what kind of disaster the Honkai and Herrschers truly were.
After all, Bai had acted like an ordinary person completely unrelated to the Honkai this whole time.
But now that he had come into contact with the truth of this world, Kiana did not intend to keep hiding it from him.
She wanted to quickly explain the gravity of the situation to Bai Ge, then persuade him to leave Changkong City.
The farther away, the better.
And as a warrior of the Kaslana family, Kiana had decided that she would definitely stop the Third Honkai Eruption.
What this white-haired dumpling did not know was that when it came to understanding the Honkai, if Bai Ge claimed second place, only Kevin in this world could claim first.
(Bai Ge: What's the big deal? Herrschers? What's so surprising about Herrschers? What battleship these days doesn't have four or five Herrschers aboard? Tuna, you yourself are the future Herrscher of the Void, plus Flamescion and Finality. Relax~)
As an old captain, he could not have been more familiar with what the Honkai and Herrschers were.
"Alright, Kiana. Try copying the recording, then take the weapons. We should get going."
"Wait, were you even listening to me?!"
"I was. But isn't the situation already clear? Mei is being used by bad people and is turning into some terrifying monster. She might bring destruction upon all of Changkong City." Bai Ge shrugged.
"Since that's the case, what we need to do is obvious... Stop her, help her, save her."
"..."
Those words were so matter-of-fact that even the tuna was stunned. She blinked her wide, innocent eyes... It seemed like that really was how it worked~
Bai Ge played with the Plasma Shadow Show in his hand and drew half its blade from its sheath. The dark-blue plasma blade immediately illuminated half the young man's face.
"Bai Ge, you..."
Kiana's pupils shrank. Only then did she realize that Bai Ge possessed a will and resolve no weaker than her own.
"We're the only ones in this city who are Mei's companions, right? If we don't go help her, then who else can help her?"
Bai Ge said with a smile. His words immediately struck Kiana's heart. Her eyes widened, and she firmly slapped her own cheeks.
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