Xia Ling said with certainty, "I don't know what went wrong, but I have a feeling this might actually be Hua."
"If that's the case... all I can say is, I hope Flame Willow is okay." Highmore looked equally grave. "Making up lies is easy, but there's a fatal trap hidden in this question."
"Hua carries Feather Dust with her. While she won't actively use it on others, Feather Dust itself has the ability to automatically read the shallow layers of a person's consciousness."
"Just like Sirin, Hua with Feather Dust is basically a weakened humanoid lie detector. She can easily tell whether someone is telling the truth."
However, what Xia Ling and Highmore could think of, Flame Willow could naturally think of as well.
The instant she saw this node, she had already come up with a solution.
Seeing Hua sitting cross-legged in the courtyard, Flame Willow strode over and confidently waved.
"Hi, long time no see, Hua. Why are you spacing out here again?"
"Ah, I'm not spacing out. I'm meditating." Hua opened her eyes and offered an explanation.
Then she asked in slight bewilderment, "Um, who are you?"
"Ah, did you wipe your memories again? Then let me introduce myself again."
Flame Willow wore an understanding expression, as though she had long grown accustomed to this sort of situation.
"My codename is Reed. I'm a member of World Serpent, and I've recently been undergoing trials in Elysian Realm. If you've seen Raven recently, you should know me. We're fairly close."
"I-I see. Sorry, I forgot." Hua lowered her head slightly, looking a little embarrassed.
But soon, Hua grew puzzled again. "But I remember wiping my memories only a little over ten days ago..."
Heading... Heading into the Depths?
"Well, you don't know this, but a major Honkai eruption just happened outside. I went to save people."
Flame Willow did not hesitate in the slightest and answered almost immediately. "Sigh, more than five million people were killed or injured in this Honkai eruption. I spent a whole month running around outside because of it..."
"I see... You've worked hard."
Fu Hua seemed to feel that continuing such a heavy topic would be inappropriate, so she asked, "So, today, are you... here because you need my help with something?"
"Oh, I'm undergoing trials in Elysian Realm. The portal might have malfunctioned and sent me here." Flame Willow answered smoothly. "It's fine, you don't need to worry about me. I'll head back through the portal later."
"Ah, I see." Hua did not doubt her at all. "Then I won't disturb you. Be careful on the way."
"Alright, bye-bye."
Flame Willow waved and headed directly toward the portal outside the courtyard.
In the preparation room, Xia Ling and Highmore breathed sighs of relief.
"Haha, just like I said. What we're best at is this kind of lie made entirely of truths."
"Good thing Hua is such an honest person. She won't overthink things at all." Highmore said thankfully. "Otherwise, with support still on cooldown, facing a Herrscher would have been unthinkable."
"Yeah. Now we can only pray that the system gets its act together. This is only the ninth floor. If every floor from here on has nodes related to Herrschers, then clearing this will really be nearly impossible."
However...
"Huh? What's this?" ×3
The three of them froze as they looked at the portal before them.
This portal had neither a node name nor any Signets. It was pitch-black.
"Th-this..." Flame Willow was at a loss. "Can we even come back out after going in?"
Unfortunately, Flame Willow did not seem to have any other choice now.
Before Hua became suspicious because she had hesitated here for too long, she needed to make a decision quickly.
Suicide to leave was not a bad option, but Flame Willow would definitely be coming to Elysian Realm again in the future. She did not want to leave Hua with a strange impression of her.
After hesitating for a while, Flame Willow gritted her teeth and decided to go in and take a look.
"We've come this far. It's not like I can quit halfway through now."
With that resolve, Flame Willow stepped into the hollow black portal.
In an instant, darkness engulfed Flame Willow's vision. At the same time, the image on the light screen in the preparation room turned black along with her field of view.
Flame Willow's pupils widened slightly as she tried to adjust to the dark environment. At the same time, she lit a flame at her fingertips, trying to use it for illumination.
Unfortunately, no kind of flame could dispel this darkness. It could only illuminate an extremely small area, or perhaps there had been nothing ahead but darkness from the start.
After barely confirming through the flame that the ground ahead was level, Flame Willow took a deep breath and slowly walked forward.
After a while...
"This is bad. I think I know where this is." Xia Ling rubbed her head, her face revealing an indescribable expression. "This looks like the Depths."
"Hiss—" Highmore drew a sharp breath. "Then what do we do? None of us should have the ability to resist a Mental Perception-type Fusion Warrior, let alone Aponia."
"And if we ended up here, doesn't that mean we've basically been completely discovered?"
"Not necessarily..." Xia Ling looked troubled. "If they really wanted to deal with us, there'd be no need to guide us here. There are plenty of Herrschers far more suitable than Aponia among the Thirteen Flame-Chasers. Besides..."
"Besides, I haven't done anything bad. Even if Aponia can look through my memories, she probably won't do anything to me... right?"
Flame Willow thought this as she cautiously moved forward.
She had also noticed something strange. Unable to judge accurately in the darkness, her path had shifted slightly.
After straying far enough in that direction, she discovered railings rising from the roadside like a prison.
Darkness, prison... these elements quickly made Flame Willow realize the nature of this place.
"Forget it... Don't think about anything... Just stay calm and adapt to whatever happens..."
As everyone knew, when you did not want someone to think of something, all you had to do was tell them not to imagine it, and that thing would immediately appear in their mind.
The same was true for Flame Willow. Because of her own earlier suggestion, her thoughts seemed to be gradually drifting in a bizarre direction.
For example, some strange memes from her previous life, descriptions like Mommy Aponia, and...
"Hello, stranger. Although this is our first meeting, it seems you have some... peculiar misunderstandings about me..."
"Then, could you 'please' tell me your name?"
Only then did Flame Willow suddenly realize that she had reached the end of the path. Before her stood a massive prison, and behind its bars sat a woman whose face she could not make out.
"Xia Ling."
Flame Willow answered instinctively, but the moment the words left her mouth, her gaze immediately turned alert.
How? I clearly wanted to say... Is this what a Mental Perception-type Fusion Warrior is like?
"Xia Ling... What a warm name. It's a pleasure to meet you, Xia Ling."
"It seems you're very wary of me. Is it because you fear my Discipline?"
Seeing Flame Willow remain silent, Aponia seemed to have seen through her little thoughts.
"Perhaps you don't believe me, but I bear you no ill will. I appeared before you this time only because I wanted to help you."
"Help me?" Flame Willow finally spoke, but considering that the more she said, the more likely she was to slip up, her words remained very brief. "Why?"
"There are many reasons. The most important is that you carry Elysia's aura... As for the others, perhaps it is because I can see a portion of your near future, or perhaps because I can sense the goodwill you radiate."
At this point, seeing Flame Willow's wary expression, like a young beast bristling upon encountering a natural predator, Aponia could not help but chuckle softly.
"It seems you still remain wary of me. Unfortunately, your time is precious, and it appears it can no longer be wasted here."
"Then perhaps we can continue our conversation the next time we meet."
"But before that, as a small gesture of help, 'please' remember my advice..."
As Flame Willow's eyes widened sharply upon hearing Aponia use the word "please" once more, she almost instantly went fully on guard.
"My meeting with you here was actually meant to help you avoid a danger... However, this calamity is a future you cannot avoid. So, when danger descends upon you once more, please remember the following words."
"Do not attempt to flee. 'Please' reveal your 'true self.'"
As her words fell, Flame Willow felt an almost irresistible drowsiness wash over her.
"Wait, this isn't the time to sleep... Ah..."
The Three of Them Couldn't Scrape Together Even a Trace of Mental Resistance
When Flame Willow slowly regained consciousness, she discovered that she seemed to have reached the next node.
No, that was perhaps putting it too mildly. More accurately, she had been impaled on the lance of a Knight-class Honkai Beast.
Her current pose was probably similar to the scene of a certain Schicksal bishop being pinned to a wall by Durandal. The difference was that this Knight-class Honkai Beast, which had taken advantage of her vulnerability, apparently had failed to break through her defenses.
Even so, the growing pressure in her chest had awakened Flame Willow from her sleep.
"I'm... already at the next node?"
Though there was still some confusion in her eyes, Flame Willow immediately grabbed the lance at her chest. Crimson flames spread along the weapon, forcing the Knight-class Honkai Beast back.
"The timer has only passed thirty seconds... Aponia must have sent me to the next node. Damn it, my head feels a little dizzy. I'll just have Xia Ling and Highmore explain things to me at the next node."
Flame Willow focused and began freely unleashing flames throughout this long-awaited regular enemy floor.
A moment later, after dealing with a wave of zombies and a wave of Imaginary Skeletons, Flame Willow stood before the portal to the twelfth floor.
After waiting for her Honkai Energy to recover a little, Flame Willow entered the twelfth floor and immediately activated support.
"Xia Ling, what happened just now—"
Before she could finish, Xia Ling directly interrupted her.
"Go all out and end this quickly. We need some time to sort out the situation."
Seeing Xia Ling's grave expression, Flame Willow nodded and said no more.
The boss of the twelfth floor was still their familiar old friend, the Schicksal Divine Machine Heimdall. However, the moment Heimdall appeared, it felt as though it had been engulfed by a shadow.
Before it had appeared a jellyfish-like monster that blotted out the sky. Its shell and tentacles were pure white and deep blue, drifting faintly through the void. Beneath the white cage-like chitinous shell covering the jellyfish's upper body, a golden core swayed slightly, as though observing its surroundings.
That was right. This was Highmore's fully unleashed Sea Creature form: Paranoid Bubble.
Accompanied by a burst of warped, indecipherable sound waves, grayish-blue mist shot from the jellyfish's mouth. The highly corrosive liquid directly shattered Heimdall's Honkai Energy shield and corroded deeper inside.
Then, a ring of blue water enveloped Heimdall, making its already lengthy attack wind-up even worse.
At the same time, Xia Ling and Flame Willow attacked as well, immediately opening fire at full power and raining all manner of attacks upon Heimdall.
In just two minutes, the three of them rapidly emptied Heimdall's health bar. Although it had remained in Overload state the entire time, Paranoid Bubble's built-in attack speed reduction and powerful corrosive attacks meant that even with the modifiers, it had barely landed a few hits.
Watching Heimdall gradually turn into particles of light and vanish, Highmore returned to her human form and panted lightly.
Although Highmore did not lose her reason after transforming, the Paranoid Bubble form still placed quite a burden on her. Especially in such intense combat, she could only maintain it for around ten minutes.
"Alright, now let's analyze the situation."
Xia Ling clapped her hands, drawing the other two's attention toward herself.
"First, the conclusion. I originally thought the system had made a small mistake with this trial, but it seems we had too much faith in that cat guest's system."
"I now seriously suspect that this thing has been discovered by one of the Herrschers!"
"At present, we have two main suspects: it's basically either Vill-V or Serpent." Highmore continued Xia Ling's words. "But there's good news."
"At least for now, not all of the Herrschers are hostile toward us, and the system's defenses have not completely fallen."
"Based on the current situation, that Herrscher should have only seized control of some nodes, then interfered with you by directing you toward areas containing the Herrscher's actual body."
"I think making me face a Herrscher directly is already beyond mere interference..." Flame Willow said weakly. "But at least it seems they can't completely control which Herrscher I face. Otherwise, the first one I faced wouldn't have been Hua, but someone like Chijie, Sakura, or Kevin."
"Ah, speaking of that, Flame Willow, take a look at your chest." Xia Ling suddenly remembered something and looked beneath Flame Willow's collar.
"Huh?" Flame Willow touched her chest with a puzzled expression. Apart from softness and warmth, she felt nothing else. "W-what is it?"
"Actually, after you fell asleep, Aponia carried you to the portal, then tossed you into it."
Xia Ling said with a strange expression, "Before sending you through, she stroked your chest."
"Considering this was Aponia, and she had previously used this method to pass along information, we suspect she left something on you."
"I think..." Flame Willow's mouth twitched. "With the three of us unable to scrape together even a trace of mental abilities, even if Aponia really left something behind, we probably have no way to counter it."
"Sigh..." ×3
"Oh, there's one more thing." Seeing that less than a minute remained, Xia Ling hurriedly asked, "Flame Willow, Aponia said you carry Elysia's aura. Do you have any idea why?"
Before you continue