50. System, Why Have You Let Me Down Again? (Annoyed) / 51. The Latest Masterpiece by Legendary Fictional Historian Kiana

"Ahem... This is a technical problem, a technical problem..." Karnot was speechless this time, muttering something about technical bottlenecks and low-level code, which made Xia Ling boo.

"Sister Xia Ling, are these all the Recruitment Voucher you mentioned before?"

Kiana pointed to two Recruitment Voucher on the counter and asked.

"Huh, I actually used two coupons this time?"

Xia Ling raised an eyebrow and picked up one of the guard Recruitment Voucher.

"Let's buy this too, it might come in handy later."

"After all, Kiana herself wasn't the type of warrior who originally took on firepower."

"Doesn't absorbing all the attacks with a portal count as a form of defense?" Kiana, somewhat unconvinced.

"You're right, provided you can precisely control your portal." Xia Ling poked Kiana's cheek. "I don't want to suddenly get blown up by a self-destructing Originium Slug falling on my head."

"I already said it was an accident..."

After finishing their shop tour, the two entered the next level, where the passageways became even more intricate, and various illusions began to appear on both sides of the passageways.

"Is the temperature here rising...?" Kiana wiped the sweat from her brow.

"Because we're close to the bottom of the furnace... Now there's something here called, Iron Roots?" Xia Ling replied, looking at the map.

"What are these illusions on both sides? I seem to see all sorts of buildings, and some of them seem familiar?"

"This is Chronicle Recall. What you think you've seen before is probably just an illusion... This is a remnant of a past era in our world. The era you are seeing now is the Age of Wonders. Of course, this thing is more than just pretty."

"Influenced by this era, the enemies we face will become more resilient."

"The good news is... we shouldn't have to fight for the time being."

Looking ahead at the Fated Path and the Wish Fulfilled, Xia Ling revealed a faint smile.

"Sister Xia Ling, shouldn't we refresh this node?"

Looking at the green Fated Path before her, Kiana asked curiously.

"You need to balance work and rest... You've already hit two key points, you should take a break."

Xia Ling shook her head and said, "This point in time usually involves some special history... It may not be true, but it might change the final boss we face."

"But considering this is our first time, we can just avoid choosing options that will change the course of the game."

"This is a great opportunity," Xia Ling said, pulling Kiana into the node. "It's a perfect chance for you to see our history..."

"Uh... this is..."

Xia Ling was dumbfounded as she looked at the familiar Imaginary Space inside the node, as well as Sirin floating in the sky and Himeko on the floating platform.

"No, the system?"

"Is this still Fated Path? Where are my two brothers, Little Ther and Little Te? What have you done to me?"

Chapter 50 System, why did you let me down again? (Annoyed)

"Wait, wait, Kiana, don't look yet!"

The memory of Kiana being transformed into Herrscher transformation after witnessing the Heavenly Fire was still fresh in Xia Ling's mind, so she immediately covered Kiana's eyes.

"Sister Xia Ling, I'm not as fragile as you think... You don't need to be so nervous..."

Kiana shook her head in dissatisfaction, but did not pull away from Xia Ling's hand to reassure her.

"Something's not right. Wait for me to see what's going on."

After hurriedly giving a greeting, Xia Ling closed her eyes and began to invoke the system.

"System, where are my Great Ther Little Ther? Isn't this node a bit off?"

[Waaaaah, host, I'm useless. I'm sorry, I messed up again, waaaaah.]

The system's preemptive strike caught Xia Ling off guard. Suppressing her urge to continue complaining, Xia Ling hurriedly asked, "So, what exactly happened?"

[It's actually quite simple... Host, do you remember I said that this module for bringing people into the roguelike was cleverly designed, with a presenter and a supplementary person, right...?]

Well, how should I put it? Now... the main speaker for this meat pigeon game is Sirin...

Xia Ling:!!!

Seeing Xia Ling's bewildered expression, the system quickly explained:

[Host, you played roguelike games all night yesterday, so you should remember that roguelike games have a concept called "mind load," right?]

"Yes, but what does that have to do with the current situation?"

Well... normally, everyone's workload is fixed, and 6-star characters have a higher workload than 5-star characters, and Elite 2 characters.

[During your trials, the impact of individual memories on the nodes depends not only on the identities of the speaker and the supplementary participant, but also on the intensity of thought, which can be quantified by mental load.]

"Wait, you mean Kiana has a higher mental load than me, so the Node Illusion will prioritize changing according to her memories?"

[No, no, no, the Kiana you know, her mental workload is certainly not as high as yours...]

However... because she and Sirin are essentially the same person, and Sirin is currently in the system's punishment sequence, the system has identified them as one person...

[Sirin's mental load is calculated based on her peak performance, which is Sirin with 6 cores.]

This resulted in... Sirin and Kiana's combined mental workload far exceeding the host's. Even with the host's role as the presenter, it couldn't prevent the content of the nodes from converging on Sirin's side.

"So, Sirin is now controlling the node's content and causing trouble?"

Xia Ling suddenly felt a darkness engulf her vision.

Frustrated by the system. jpg

No, no, no, host, I'm not that useless.

The system repeatedly denied it.

[Sirin is still being held in a dark room, and has even fallen into a deep sleep after being used as background material in a trial due to her memories.]

Therefore, the content of these nodes may be taken from Sirin's memories, her delusions, or even mixed with Kiana's own memories and delusions.

But it is definitely not controlled by human factors.

"Thank goodness... If you told me now that Sirin was going to cause trouble for me again, I would really faint."

[So what do we do now? Does the host want to leave this trial?]

[If the host wishes, I can assign the host an advanced node, and then wipe out the entire team.]

"Forget it... Kiana probably doesn't want to go back now."

Xia Ling shook her head slightly. "Let's just keep fighting like this for now. It's good for Kiana to learn a little about Sirin's past in advance."

"Otherwise, under normal circumstances, it wouldn't be easy to get these two to reconcile in the end..."

After asking the system, Xia Ling opened her eyes.

"Sister Xia Ling, you... you're done with the checkup?"

"Well..."

Xia Ling grabbed Kiana's hand. "Because of some minor reasons, our pigeon trip will probably turn into a journey of memories for Sirin- chan."

Kiana's expression immediately turned somewhat unpleasant. "I'm sorry... Sister Xia Ling, it's all because of me again..."

"No, no, no, this really has nothing to do with you." Xia Ling shook her head repeatedly. "This time, the blame is on me."

"If you don't want to continue, I can find a way to get you out of here..."

"No." Just as Xia Ling had expected, Kiana gently shook her head. "I... want to see Sirin's past."

"Back when I was in the data space, I came across some of Sirin's past, but at that time my attention wasn't on her past..."

"Now that she's been through so much... I'm starting to get curious about her past." Kiana's gaze was intense. "I want to know what happened between her and Lady Cecilia, and how she became the way she is now."

"Only by knowing yourself and your enemy can you better defeat them."

"Since that's what you think... then fine." Xia Ling gently removed the hand covering Kiana's eyes. "Then... let's continue together."

[The Fated Path]

The Crimson Knight and the warrior facing certain death are charging towards the Herrscher of the Void, but their goal is not to kill her, but to save her. This is an extra lesson, a heroic sacrifice; they fight with their lives, passing on hope. And so, we witness—

The two successfully injected the God-Slaying Spear into the Herrscher of the Void's body (obtaining the Last Wish: Tomorrow's Flame" and "Pure White Wish ")

The two choose to kill the Herrscher of the Void (and obtain a random high-level collectible).

Kiana fell silent as she looked at the options on the screen.

"Sister Xia Ling, I..."

"No."

Kiana had barely opened her mouth when Xia Ling interrupted her.

"I know what you want to say, Kiana." Xia Ling gently stroked Kiana's cheek. "You want to try another possibility, right?"

"Anyway, this isn't reality, Sister Xia Ling ..." Kiana lowered her head. "Besides, isn't this the right thing to do?"

"Didn't you and Teacher Himeko both teach me with unwavering conviction that when you encounter a comrade who has been severely corrupted by Honkai Energy and is about to become Honkai zombie, you should resolutely end her life so that she can die as a human being?"

"Why... do you all break your promises...?"

"Because your future is more than this, you idiot." Xia Ling wiped away Kiana's tears. "Besides, there's no other possibility you mentioned."

"No matter which timeline it is, whether it is me or Himeko, we will choose to save you without hesitation."

"Don't believe me? Look!"

Under Kiana's teary-eyed gaze, Xia Ling clicked on the second option, but naturally, there was no response.

"A person's destiny is determined by their character."

"In this situation, neither Himeko nor I can make a single choice."

That is, to leave you with hope.

Chapter Fifty-One: Kiana's Latest Masterpiece, a Legendary Fictional Historian

As she spoke, Xia Ling glanced at the unchanged screen and secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

The system finally showed some restraint and didn't actually choose the second option.

These are the two things... Looking at the two "last wishes" in option one, Xia Ling had a headache.

"If I take these two things... will they give me an Ending Two?"

"Ending Two?"

"Well, we'll encounter a brand new boss on the Fifth Floor, and judging from the looks of it... well, we'll see when the time comes."

Xia Ling silently swallowed the second half of her sentence, "Probably to fight Sirin." Looking at Kiana with tears in her eyes as she looked at the two last wishes, she really couldn't bring herself to say that she would separate and interpret the two items later and then fight the first ending.

Xia Ling moved her finger to the first option, gritted her teeth, and pressed it directly.

Only one person survived this battle, but the seed of hope was preserved, and what followed, you and I already know.

The scene within the node began to change, and the scenes that had played out in front of Kiana began to reappear. Xia Ling felt several times that Kiana wanted to rush forward.

However, it seemed that Kiana's tight grip on Xia Ling's hand, which constantly reminded her that this was just an illusion, ultimately allowed Kiana to restrain herself.

Finally, two beams of light, one red and one white, flew out from Himeko and Xia Ling in the node, circled Kiana's body a few times, and then disappeared.

Two special "last wishes" instantly appeared in the backpack.

[Tomorrow's Flame (Last Wish): Obtain the collectible "Journey to Tomorrow" after deciphering the Pure White Wish]

(Kiana, you are my pride.)

[Pure White Wish (Last Wish): Obtain the collectible "Journey to Tomorrow" after deciphering the Tomorrow's Flame]

(I will create a better ending for them.)

"Waaah... Sister Xia Ling, how could you all be so silly..."

Kiana looked at the last wish in the backpack, her eyes reddened, and she suddenly hugged Xia Ling, burying her face in her chest.

Xia Ling felt a dampness spreading across her chest. She sighed and gently comforted Kiana.

"Okay, okay, you're making it sound like I'm really dead. But I'm right here in front of you..."