The second purple little head to poke out exclaimed in shock, "W-what kind of principle is that?"
"As independent scouting units, mechanical dogs have always followed whoever has more intelligence."
Fu Li, the third to poke his head out, explained, "Soth is the master AI that personally dealt with the three of us. With that intelligence advantage, the other doggies naturally have to listen to it."
He asked strangely, "Wait, you don't know about something your own family produced?"
Mei sighed. "I'm only interested in bladed weapons, and Father rarely let me get involved in ME Inc.'s affairs."
"Then didn't he consider what would happen when he stepped down and handed the company over to you?"
As he spoke, Fu Li took out his phone and checked the surveillance feed. Only after confirming that ME Inc.'s people had all left did he run in the opposite direction.
"Father, he said..."
A gorgeous blush spread across her pretty face. Following after him, the girl whispered, "He said he would give ME Inc. to the person I loved, and who could love me wholeheartedly."
"Oh, so he was leaving it for his future son-in-law to manage."
Fu Li nodded in understanding. "That style really does suit traditional Far Eastern families."
"So I actually have such a huge inheritance waiting for me to claim!"
Kiana was greatly startled, only for the boy to chop her forehead with one hand. "Don't talk nonsense in broad daylight."
The force was just right—enough to leave her dazed, but not enough to hurt her brain.
"You wouldn't hear me if I said it at night."
Kiana muttered while holding her little head.
What would happen if he could hear her?
Mei shook her head. "Unfortunately, ME Inc. is no longer my family's property."
"Just find an opportunity to take it back."
Fu Li spoke leisurely. "Let that nest-stealing bastard enjoy it for now. At most three years, and ME Inc. will definitely return to your hands."
He wasn't just talking nonsense. Before his rebirth, Mei had already been S-rank.
If she wanted to, taking back ME Inc. would be a matter of minutes.
Mei froze when she heard that, then casually said in a seemingly joking tone, "Fu Li, will you help me take it back?"
"That's not impossible."
Fu Li felt that, given their relationship of delivering nitrogen to a fire, helping out with something as urgent as adding flowers to brocade would be easy enough.
"But let's agree on this first. When the time comes, you'll have to give me half."
Perhaps because of its many internal technological facilities, ME Inc. was one of the few building complexes that had not suffered much damage during the Third Honkai.
At its scale, getting half of it would ensure Fu Li never had to worry about food or drink for the rest of his life.
"Half?"
Looking at his lazy yet serious expression, an indescribable emotion seemed to flow through Mei's heart. "If you can help me take it back, I could give all of it to you."
She didn't care at all about ME Inc.'s inheritance, but having someone willing to stand by her side and help truly felt wonderful.
But thinking about it carefully, giving half to A Li seemed equivalent to handing the dragon vein over to her future son-in-law to manage...
Realizing this, Kiana hurriedly squeezed herself between the two while the atmosphere was still warm. "That won't do! I don't agree!"
Fu Li replied unhappily, "What I'm discussing with Mei is none of your business, you white-haired female goblin."
"How is it none of my business?"
The running girl shouted loudly, "ME Inc. is the dowry Father-in-law prepared for his son-in-law! If you take all of it, what will be left for me?"
"Go work for it yourself."
Cold and merciless.
"No way! Who would strive when there's ready-made soft rice to eat? If that Austrian painter had gotten accepted back then, there wouldn't have been a World War II!"
"You have no ambition!"
"Nonsense! My frontal armor is way bigger than yours!"
"You don't understand. Men's chest circumference has always exceeded that of women the same age."
"That's just the average! Those people have tiny boobs!"
"You say that like yours are all that big."
"If you've got the guts, let's compare!"
As she spoke, Kiana reached out to pull off Mei's jacket.
"Kiana, wait! Why are you taking off my clothes?!!"
Mei, who had been enjoying their bickering, hurriedly protected her collar, doing her best to stop the perverted woman's claws from having their way with her.
This was where the panda outfit served its proper purpose. Kiana unleashed a smooth little combo, yet she still couldn't break Mei's defense. Instead, she herself ended up drenched in fragrant sweat and generously displaying some benefits during the scuffle.
After withdrawing from the battlefield and putting her jacket back on, she glared furiously at Fu Li, who had watched the entire show with great interest. "Pervert!"
The outsider who had enjoyed the beautiful scenery lazily replied, "I think a deviant who mutters all day about 'thirsty but won't drink water, ■■ Mei's legs' has no right to use that word on me."
"I only said I wanted to drink Mei's maiden juice. Why did you expand on it?"
"Isn't it basically the same thing?"
"Seems like it?"
"Power Bank Mei"
After thinking about it, Kiana decided not to dwell on that matter any longer.
Seeing Fu Li occasionally lower his head to fiddle with his phone while running, she couldn't help reminding him, "Watch where you're going while looking at your phone, hey! If you fall, this young lady will have to carry you!"
"Waaah, how did I never realize Miss Kiana had such a bodhisattva's heart?"
Fu Li wiped away tears in gratitude. "How about you carry me now?"
Then he pushed his luck.
"In your dreams!"
Seeing that he knew what he was doing, the girl stopped nagging.
Mei, however, had caught a glimpse of the screen and saw that he seemed to be video calling someone.
"Fu Li, what are you doing?"
"This?"
Since it was Mei asking, Fu Li's tone became much gentler.
He handed her the phone.
Mei took it and saw a real-time aerial view.
"This is..."
"A simple little map-revealing app."
Fu Li said, "I made a VX video call with a spare phone, then had the white dove transformed from Shadow Blade carry it into the sky and film downward."
A mechanical unit was extremely conspicuous in a nearly deserted city district.
As for phones, in modern society, you could buy plenty of secondhand ones from roadside vendors for a hundred bucks.
Of course, the registration names were random.
Mei said in surprise, "You can do that?"
"Let me see, let me see!"
Hearing there was something interesting, Kiana hurriedly leaned closer.
Her pretty little face pressed against the phone screen as she excitedly shouted, "It's actually real! The one leading them toward the lake is Soth! And that one! Ugh, damn it! That's the Titan that injured my arm!"
That Titan was easy enough to identify. When Kiana had been attacked, she immediately shot it.
Now, not only was its right arm missing, even its chest was battered and broken. It looked like a single gust of wind could wreck it badly enough to send it back to the factory.
Then Kiana saw a crystalline blue humanoid appear in the video feed. Holding Shadow Blade, it rushed forward, fought valiantly, and ultimately sacrificed itself to perish together with that Titan.
"Huh?"
Kiana scratched her head stupidly. "What's that blue thing?"
"A phantom made by Shadow Blade. Why are you saying it like a question?"
Fu Li snatched back the surveillance feed, his eyes half-lidded. "Soth alone can't completely restrain Anti-Entropy's movements. No matter how slow those people are, they'll notice something's wrong eventually. That's why I sent out plenty of phantoms to confuse them."
Flowers blooming everywhere, too much to take in; when the enemy held position, he harassed them, and when they were exhausted, he attacked.
That way, the enemy naturally had no time to distinguish real intelligence from false.
The phone surveillance was also just for expanding his field of vision. The phantoms had no self-awareness, and without Fu Li personally controlling them, they would only lie on the ground without moving.
As he spoke, he condensed another phantom and sent it out.
Just like Seven Swords Nuclear Blast, Fu Li could currently only freely control seven phantoms at once.
One had been used up taking down that crippled Titan, so he naturally needed to send another one out.
"Okay."
Kiana obediently responded, then furrowed her delicate brows in thought. "This operation feels like I've seen it somewhere before..."
"Where?"
Mei asked at just the right moment.
The girl glanced at Fu Li and said uncertainly, "It seems like... that eunuch novel I follow, the one that hasn't updated for two or three days?"
Fu Li felt a faint tremor three inches below his navel, as though his second brother had suddenly turned sharp.
He swiftly removed the ring from his left pinky and handed it to Mei, who was closest to him. "Stop muttering and pour some Honkai Energy into this first."
A faint blush rose to Mei's face. It was the first time in her life that a member of the opposite sex had handed her a ring, and she was a little flustered. Only after hearing the latter half of his words did she reach out and accept it. "What is this?"
"It's a Spirit Gathering Ring."
Kiana openly took the ring from Mei's hand. "I was wondering where you got enough Honkai Energy to control so many Shadow Blades. So you were prepared all along."
The Spirit Gathering Ring was a C-rank item, kindly provided by Angel Investor Ms. Susanna. As its name implied, it was used to store Honkai Energy.
It could be drawn upon at any time during battle to replenish energy and prevent the user from running out.
It came in C, B, and A ranks. Generally speaking, the storage limit of a C-rank Spirit Gathering Ring was equivalent to the total Honkai Energy inside an A-rank Valkyrie.
"I see."
Mei placed her hand on it, and the Honkai Energy within her body poured out like a tide.
A moment later, she opened her eyes. "Done."
"Then it's my turn."
Kiana did the same, but quickly furrowed her brow.
She asked in surprise, "It's full?"
She hadn't put even a tiny bit of Honkai Energy into it!
"It's full?"
Fu Li took back the Spirit Gathering Ring. After sensing it, he sucked in a breath of cold skin. "Holy shit! You really filled it up!"
Fu Li and Kiana exchanged a look, then simultaneously turned toward the person in question.
"An A-rank level of Honkai Energy reserves?"
"Mei, you've been pretending to be weak!"
"Not to that extent."
Before you continue