The girl waved her hands repeatedly. "The total amount of Honkai Energy in my body is about the same as yours, Fu Li's. It's just that every time I use it all up, Honkai Energy from somewhere unknown—the Conquest Gem—refills what I lost."
Simply put, Mei's body was like a cup filled with liquid, with a closed faucet above it.
Once the cup was completely empty, the faucet would automatically turn on and refill it for free.
Fu Li considered it for a moment. "Have you tested the upper limit?"
"No."
The girl shook her head.
She had once lived in luxury, and after her family fell from grace, her "enemies" had only been street punks. She had never even needed to use Honkai Energy, so naturally, she had never had the chance.
Fu Li's expression shifted as he tempted her in a seductive tone. "Then do you want to give it a try?"
Kiana took one look and thought, I know that expression! That was the look this bastard had when he tricked me into screwing over Susanna!
You innately evil little A Li brat, this lady was about to—
Mei interrupted her casting. "If I can help you!"
"Then good."
He tossed his phone into the air and formed sword seals with both hands.
The Honkai Energy within the Spirit Gathering Ring was depleted in an instant. In exchange, dozens of Shadow Blades appeared, hanging upside down in the air and gleaming with cold light.
They functioned similarly to a drone swarm programmed with specific formulas. Several were set as formation anchors, which then guided the other swords in attack or defense.
"Let's go. Time to give them a taste of their own medicine!"
With a wave of his hand, the Shadow Blades sped away under the lead sword's command.
Midway through, they split into seven groups and flew like rain toward the seven Shadow Phantoms directly controlled by Fu Li.
They scattered like rain, magnificent and boundless beyond compare!
And that was not the end.
Mei did not hesitate at all when Fu Li extended his hand. She gripped it tightly and allowed him to directly mobilize the Honkai Energy within her body.
If they could plug directly into the source, there was no need for the Spirit Gathering Ring to act as a middleman and skim the difference.
After cycling through this seven times, the girl serving as the transfer station was drenched in fragrant sweat.
Having her Honkai Energy drained again and again felt little different from climaxing seven times in one minute.
"Mei!"
Kiana hurried over to support her in distress, but Mei instead curled her lips into a happy smile.
She panted weakly. "So... I helped this time, right?"
"You helped a lot!"
Fu Li caught the falling phone and gave the girl a broad smile.
"Leave the rest to the phantoms."
Though he said leave it to them, it was still Fu Li himself who had to shoulder the mental burden.
There was no need to make a point of it. They were all tied to the same rope, so they should not fuss over such trivial details.
"Does Bronya Wear Diapers?"
Time flew by, and before they knew it, the rising moon and stars had joined forces to drive away the sun that refused to set.
Fu Li glanced at the darkening sky before turning back. "With Soth and the phantoms helping draw the enemy away, the next hour or two should be a window where Anti-Entropy has no attention to spare for us."
He suggested, "We should use this opportunity to find somewhere to rest. If it works out, we can stay there for the night."
Before his rebirth, it would not have mattered. But now, he could not continuously divide his attention to control so many Shadow Blades around the clock.
If he crossed a certain limit, he might really turn himself into a schizophrenic.
"Hehe! My Soth really is amazing!"
After receiving Fu Li's approval, Kiana's nose practically pointed at the sky. "Oh, right, and Soth!"
"Don't worry. Once it's safe here, I'll find a way to bring its artificial intelligence back too."
"Okay!"
The girl did not doubt him. "Then where are we going next?"
They definitely could not go home.
Not only could they not return home, but leaving Changkong City was equally impossible.
The instant Bronya was defeated, a hemispherical canopy abruptly rose at the city's edge, covering dozens of miles around it.
The canopy vanished as quickly as it appeared, but the lightning rippling across it did not escape Fu Li and the others' notice.
—The Magnetoelectric Sky Curtain Conversion Matrix. In theory, it required numerous high-tech materials, cutting-edge equipment, and a large number of personnel working over a long period to set it up. But as Anti-Entropy's headquarters in the Far East, Changkong City was guaranteed to have this large-scale energy conversion device.
Once activated, the matrix formed a magnetic barrier covering the urban area, including underground. The high-voltage electricity, enough in total to sustain a small modern city, would be evenly distributed across these invisible magnetic fields.
The barrier normally remained dormant to conserve energy.
The moment any unauthorized person or object tried to foolishly pass through the barrier, the evenly distributed current would instantly converge at the godlike speed of 300,000 kilometers per second and strike down those rule-breaking trespassers with heavenly punishment.
Furthermore, the converted electromagnetic force would massively disrupt the magnetic fields around the barrier. Unless one had a spatial ability above B-rank, they could forget about teleporting out.
Given Fu Li's current circumstances, the non-targeted Escape Dagger was only D-rank and too weak.
The Flying Thunder God Kunai was B-rank and could penetrate it, but it had to be thrown out first to establish a location. The moment it passed through the barrier, it would be reduced to a wisp of smoke by electricity.
That was also the main reason the youths had not mentioned going to the ruins of Yae Village after meeting up. Since they could not get out anyway, they might as well find somewhere to rest first.
Even machines needed lubricating oil after operating for too long. The three of them had been fighting nonstop all afternoon.
But putting that aside, being able to command an A-rank like Bronya was one thing. Having the authority to activate something as excessive as the Magnetoelectric Sky Curtain Conversion Matrix was another. Fu Li became increasingly curious about who exactly was behind this incident.
He did not have to wait long for an answer.
"Let's find an empty house and sneak in. Anti-Entropy is probably putting the entire city under a wanted notice already. Sneak quietly into the village, fire the guns qui—"
Fu Li casually glanced at the surveillance camera looking down from above. In an instant, his indifferent gaze sharpened. "Fuck! That bitch Cocolia?!!"
She wore a Siberian-issue double-breasted military uniform, a white fox-fur cape draped over her shoulders, and a pair of military boots on her feet.
The low collar of her women's uniform exposed a deep cleavage, while the high slits below revealed glimpses of her snowy, plump thighs.
That was right. The beautiful blonde mature woman who entered Fu Li's sight was Cocolia, hurrying back into the city.
On the surveillance feed, she was directing the employees before her and numerous mechanical creations. When Fu Li cursed, she even raised her eyes thoughtfully toward the sky.
Fortunately, he had already ordered the Shadow Pigeon to climb into the clouds, while two phantoms simultaneously exerted themselves and perished together with their enemies. Only then did he barely evade her supernatural sixth sense.
"Mmm..."
Perhaps because she had heard a familiar name, Bronya's eyelashes trembled lightly on Fu Li's back, as though she were about to wake from her dream.
"Take this!"
Kiana moved first, smashing the butt of her gun into the back of Bronya's head.
But she had forgotten that she was supporting the half-conscious Mei. Noticing this, Fu Li quickly stepped forward and took Kiana's place.
The two, each cleaning up the other's mess, stared at one another. Kiana was the first to complain. "Why did you yell so loudly just now?"
"Could you be any gentler?!"
Fu Li set Bronya down and sighed heavily as he looked at the huge bump swelling on the back of the girl's head.
"Hmph!"
Kiana Cat watched coldly. With that reaction, he still had the nerve to say he was not a lolicon!
"What are you hmphing for? Get over here and lend a hand!"
The harem king, holding Mei on his left and Bronya on his right, snapped irritably.
"Just keep holding them. It's not like you'll lose a piece of flesh."
Kiana spoke in a sarcastic tone.
Fu Li rolled his eyes. "I'm warning you, Stupid Bug. I've always followed the principle that you don't ride a friend's wife. But if you insist on delivering defenseless Mei right into my mouth, I wouldn't mind reluctantly taking her in as my first wife."
"Y-you-you-you said you wouldn't get married!"
Kiana hurried over and snatched Mei into her arms, silently repenting at the same time.
Mei should have come first. How had she just focused on mocking that disgusting man instead?
What a sin, what a sin...
But when she thought of Fu Li's reaction just now, she could not help asking, "Who's Cocolia? Why did you freak out the moment you saw her?"
"The Leader of Anti-Entropy Reformists. One of the top dogs among the Executives."
"An Executive?!"
The white-haired girl was stunned. "Isn't that the same as my father-in-law?"
"She's far stronger than Raiden Ryoma. One manages production, while the other actually holds military power. Setting usefulness aside, which one do you think can fight?"
"You can't fight a war without soldiers being produced!"
"That's why I said set usefulness aside!"
Fu Li had a headache. He truly could not understand why Cocolia had appeared in Changkong City.
Though that bitch would be arrested by Anti-Entropy two years later for certain unspeakable reasons, that did not diminish how troublesome she was.
As a militant Executive with enormous authority, Cocolia alone could mobilize a powerful force equivalent to an entire medium-sized faction.
There were super-large organizations like Schicksal and Anti-Entropy, then large, medium, and small ones below them...
As a lone dog who had struggled on the Honkai side for two and a half years, Fu Li knew exactly what the term medium-sized faction meant among those four broad categories.
The Future Fund was too mysterious to discuss for now, so he used Eight Faces of Wrongful Death, the medium-sized faction that had once hired him, as an example.
Eight people, eight faces, every one of them Critical.
That was the weight of an Anti-Entropy militant Executive: a violent institution capable of standing against an individual S-rank or a Judgment-class Honkai Beast.
If the current Fu Li had to fight a top dog like that... well, he could probably make it a three-seven split.
She would throw three punches, and he would be seven days into his funeral.
But very quickly, Fu Li realized something was wrong.
If Cocolia had truly gone all out to capture them, then even if they hid in Changkong City—or at the bottom of the Far East trench—she could sail a warship in and drag them out. She would not be this muddled and unfocused.
Could it be...
"Is a big leader here on an inspection?"
He muttered to himself.
A small, soft white hand waved before his eyes.
Fu Li grabbed it and looked irritably toward its owner. "What?"
"Saving the air that was about to be strangled to death by your furrowed brows."
Kiana grinned. "Why did you suddenly look so serious? If there's a problem, tell this lady about it."
"I really dislike that woman and want to knock her down, ravage her, and beat her to death. Is that not allowed?"
Feeling irritated, Fu Li gave her a perfunctory answer and continued thinking about his own matters.
But the hand he brushed aside grabbed his in return.
He raised his brows and looked over. Those sapphire-blue eyes struck straight at the center of his heart.
"Actually, this lady has taken a liking to her too."
She raised their interlocked hands. "You can give me half of her. Don't think you have to carry everything by yourself."
Her braid, tossed behind her, blossomed open, and her smile remained as bright and sunny as ever.
Don't think you have to carry everything by yourself.
Before you continue