Someone thought heartlessly.
"Just as I thought!"
Mei's eyes lit up, and her expression became a little eager.
She lowered the hand resting on her sword hilt and strode over at a rapid pace.
A figure quickly blocked her path.
"No! Mei! Do you believe him, or do you believe I'm Qin Shi Huang?"
Kiana was utterly dumbfounded. Fu Li's excuse couldn't even fool a three-year-old, okay?
"I believe him." The girl answered without hesitation. "Qin Shi Huang was male. Kiana, you can't possibly be Qin Shi Huang."
"What if I'm not?" Kiana pleaded earnestly. "And Mei, look, isn't it popular these days to confiscate historical figures' stuff? Even King Arthur became a cute blonde girl, so why can't the First Emperor be a woman?"
"Aren't you getting off topic?" Fu Li remarked coolly from the side. "And how dare you assume Qin Shi Huang's gender? Maybe the First Emperor on some world line was genderless, assimilated with Afang Palace and ascended into a machine, with the Satellite Great Wall and orbital kinetic cannons as Noble Phantasms."
"Gasp—!" Kiana sucked in a cold breath. "Whose general is this now?!"
"Whose general he is isn't important." Fu Li pushed past her and stopped in front of Mei. "We're going somewhere to explore next, and we're gathering teammates for it."
"I'm in!"
Mei's declaration rang out clearly, without a trace of hesitation in her eyes.
"Mei, aren't you going to think it over a little more?"
She had been eagerly looking forward to Mei joining them before, but when she saw Mei agree to Fu Li's invitation so decisively, Kiana instead felt a little jealous.
She grunted as she shoved Fu Li aside and met Mei's crimson-purple gaze herself. "I know A Li pretty well. If something can make even him think about finding teammates, then it definitely won't be some minor affair!"
Last night, this girl had personally watched Fu Li scheme against Miko Ling from beginning to end. His calm, effortless demeanor had already been deeply imprinted in her heart.
Mei was, in the end, merely a relatively outstanding C-rank. The chances of something going wrong if she joined an adventure like this were absolutely not small.
The Three of Us Together Are Invincible! "With Mei by My Side, It's Like Having the Strength of a Hundred People"
The sky was high and the clouds were pale; the breeze was clear and the day mild. The clouds were as soft as a girl's legs, and one glance at them was enough to lift one's spirits.
Of the three on Senba Academy's rooftop, the crimson-purple-haired girl and the pure white-haired girl stood in confrontation, while Fu Li had apparently grown tired of standing around for so long and condensed a plastic chair from Shadow Blade, sitting on it with his sword in his arms.
Faced with her friend's concern, Mei smiled faintly. "I remember you saying this, Kiana. If Mei is by your side, it's like having the strength of a hundred people."
Someone made a snide remark from the side. "That's right, that's right! With ten Meis by your side, you'd have the strength of a Herrscher of Domination!"
"Shut up! Let Mei talk!" The white-haired little ball glared at him furiously.
"What else is there to say?" Fu Li propped up his chin in boredom. "It's just friendship, passion, bonds, and all that. After a whole speech full of grand principles, the two sides smile at each other, call a truce, and face the battles ahead together."
He spread his hands. "The outcome won't change anyway, so why waste so much breath?"
"Uh..."
Mei was left speechless by his theory of cutting things off right before the climax. After all, what he said did make sense, and it completely matched how things would unfold next.
Kiana was not as easy to deal with as Mei. "What do you know! This is love!"
She threw her arms around Mei, kicked one leg up like a little deer, and pressed her face hard against the pair of breasts far fuller than those of girls their age. "Hmph hmph, A Li definitely doesn't understand how important Mei and I are to each other! Even if we have the tiniest doubts, we'll communicate seriously to avoid misunderstandings!"
Mei pushed at her twice, but she used too much strength and failed to move her.
She could only sigh and shake her head at Fu Li, indicating that she was not a lesbian.
"I really don't understand love, nor do I understand what dating is like." Fu Li apologized quite honestly. "To me, dating without marriage as the goal is just playing hooligan. Monsters like us could die at any time. Even if we truly start a family, it would only be irresponsible toward the other person."
He had not made that up on the spot. It was his genuine thought after entering the Honkai side.
They were all desperadoes licking blood from their blades, so they should not waste someone else's peaceful years.
"Ah, this..."
After hearing such heartfelt words, Kiana's actions of taking advantage of Mei became awkward.
She let Mei go and scratched the back of her head sheepishly. "S-so that's how you see things, A Li..."
Sincerity dealt critical hits. If Fu Li had answered with something like, "Love my ass, love is bullshit," Kiana could have treated him like a defeated dog and let him bark away.
Yet when he said that, it instead made Kiana seem petty and narrow-minded, caring only about enjoying the present without considering others' feelings.
Besides...
Did he stop pursuing me because of this?
That thought filled the girl's mind, leaving her dazed and muddleheaded for the next stretch of time.
No, it did not.
Because Fu Li, whose strength was unknown and who only grew stronger against stronger opponents, had started up again with that mouth of his—a mouth with a guaranteed floor at the heavens and no upper limit.
"I wasn't saying that to needle a certain Kiana, you know? Nor was I trying to elevate myself by putting others down." He spoke pointedly. "I stopped pursuing her simply because I don't think much of who she is now. Even if I hadn't inherited the ancient Sword Saint's legacy, I was planning to give up on that stinking white-haired lesbian whose mind is full of muscles after being ravaged by the Scarlet Emperor's corrosive influence."
"You stinking A Li! You!"
Although Fu Li never named her outright, Kiana was still furious!
She wanted to beat him up badly! To sink her sharp teeth into his most vulnerable spot!
Seeing these two archenemies about to wage war on the rooftop again, Raiden Mei, the supposedly aloof young lady, hurried over like an old mother to separate them.
"Alright, alright, stop arguing. Let's discuss the details of the expedition."
Unfortunately, as the fuse that had started this all, her intervention could only have the opposite effect. It was like black powder and gasoline standing at daggers drawn, only for a lighter to rush over and insist on mediating.
Thus, their verbal dispute officially escalated into a full-blown brawl.
27 March, 10:04 A.M.
"Hey! A Li!"
Kiana pulled the Galaxy Bat from the space beneath her skirt and slung it over her shoulder.
She beckoned to him, her fighting spirit surging. "Your days of swaggering around are over. I've always been curious—which of us is stronger now?"
"Hard to say. After all, we've only ever worked together to drive back the sealed Kikyo."
Fu Li rose to his feet. Beneath him, the plastic chair formed from Shadow Blade degraded in the wind.
"But I believe I'll still come out slightly ahead in the end."
Kiana gave a wicked smile. "I knew you'd say that."
(Unidentified drumbeat)
"It's time to end this, Kiana. Once and for all."
Fu Li picked up Mikazuki Munechika. With a push of his thumb, the blade slid free of its sheath.
(Unidentified drumbeat)
"Hmph~"
"Hmph~"
"Huh?"
The unidentified drumbeat was interrupted by a soft sound of surprise from a third party. Mei walked up to Fu Li, who had drawn Mikazuki Munechika and assumed his stance, and traced the patterns running along the blade with her fingertips.
"That stance is... a single upward slash to sever all?"
As the daughter of ME Inc.'s president, Mei possessed a certain standing in the Far East and had once moved through the so-called upper-class circles.
Thus, she recognized at a glance that Fu Li's weapon was Mikazuki Munechika, the famed blade that ought to have been kept in the Far East National Museum.
But compared to that, what concerned the girl more was the opening sword stance Fu Li had instinctively assumed when drawing his blade.
It was the Raiden family's secret ultimate art, the opening move of Hokushin Itto-ryu—Three Thousand Floating Worlds, One Slash to Sever All.
Above the rooftop, beneath white clouds.
Mei raised her flawless face and stared curiously at the boy standing so close before her, as if asking why he knew the Raiden family's extraordinary ancient swordsmanship, passed down through a single line.
The girl was rather tall. At 1.72 meters, she was only half a head shorter than Fu Li.
Now that she had leaned closer on her own initiative, Fu Li did not even need to lower his head to see her exquisite eyelashes fluttering lightly like butterfly wings.
His brows rose.
Not only because of the white-haired Miss Kiana in the distance, continuously radiating black malice, but also because of what Mei had just said.
Many wuxia novels had scenes like this: onlookers could identify the protagonist's master from just a few scattered moves.
At first glance, that might seem hard to understand. Yet the truth was that whenever people saw a middle-parted hairstyle and suspenders, they instinctively thought of the Kun Style that had sprung from Ji Ni Tai Mei.
Even if its user did not wear the idol trainee's iconic three-piece outfit, the instant he turned, bent his knees, slanted his shoulder, and rammed forward with an Iron Mountain Lean, the screen would still flood with cheerful comments like "Missed you, Brother Kun," "Ji ni tai mei," "Hey, what are you doing," and "Why add chicken essence to fried noodles?"
That was why, even though Fu Li had only used the opening move of a slash, Mei still immediately recognized its resemblance to Hokushin Itto-ryu.
And if the girl had not interrupted the "battle" between Fu Li and Kiana, she would have discovered with immense surprise:
Slice, sweep, pare, chop, point, thrust, lift, flick, hook, slash, press, push, stab, burst, coil, wrap, intercept, stir, conceal... Every move and technique Fu Li used bore traces similar to her own.
The reason was simple.
After all, even if it had only been for a few days, Mei's instruction in the previous cycle had been the first time in Fu Li's life that a master had systematically taught him supernatural swordsmanship hand in hand.
Moreover, Fu Li had not yet developed his own combat style back then. Thus, when constructing his sword techniques, he had indeed drawn heavily from the Raiden family's Hokushin Itto-ryu.
How did that saying go? Losing one's virginity... the first time often influenced a person's whole life?
That was roughly the idea.
But Mei herself obviously did not know that. In her eyes, Fu Li had clearly learned her family's secret art from somewhere.
According to the rotten traditions of ancient families and sects, at best, that meant severing his tendons and crippling his martial arts. At worst, he would have to marry into the Raiden family and become Mei's husband!
Eh? The latter actually did not sound too bad?
The Raiden Family Has No Food Today
Marrying into the Raiden family certainly sounded incredibly tempting, but one should not forget that Fu Li had just solemnly declared that people should not waste another person's peaceful years.
How was he supposed to deal with this...
The person involved hugged his sword and sank into thought.
"Hehe~"
As if she had seen through his dilemma, Mei let out a dark little laugh.
She shrugged with an innocent, pitiful look, and a rare hint of teasing superiority appeared in her gaze toward Fu Li. "In the past, the Raiden family did indeed have an old tradition. If an outsider learned Hokushin Itto-ryu's true teachings without permission, they had to be brought back to the main family for handling."
Crack!
A sound rang out—the sound of the stone tile beneath Kiana's feet breaking apart.
At first glance, it seemed she was unhappy that the two stood too close and had accidentally failed to control her strength.
Mei gave her friend, who had voiced that reminder, a reassuring look before leisurely speaking the latter half of her sentence. "But I think that since the only two people in the family bearing the Raiden surname are no longer purely Far Eastern nationals, there seems to be no need to continue this old rule."
Raiden Ryoma graduated from the Department of Electronic Information at the University of Tokyo, then went to the California Institute of Technology in North America for further study. After returning home, he founded ME Inc. and built it into one of the world's foremost multinational corporations.
That was his résumé in the normal world, and it had inspired countless people from humble backgrounds to strive forward.
What those expendables did not know was that, on the Honkai side, the former president of ME Inc. also possessed another prestigious title—
Anti-Entropy Executor, codename Entrepreneur.
It was Anti-Entropy's overt and covert backing that allowed ME Inc. to grow and thrive over little more than a decade. That was also why, when Cocolia framed Raiden Ryoma with fabricated embezzlement charges, he did not have even the slightest chance to resist.
The judges are all my people. What are you going to use to fight me?
But before he was thrown into prison, Raiden Ryoma had been truly formidable.
His wife had been dead for many years, yet Raiden Ryoma had never remarried.
There was no need to say more about this man's love for his wife.
Before you continue