Where Was the Promised Third Honkai?!!

"Yeah."

"This thing was disguised, right? Its actual form was just a seamless skintight bodysuit that completely covered everything below the head from every angle, right?"

"Yeah. So?"

Kiana stroked her chin. "Then what if this little runt needed to pee? How was she supposed to take off her pants in a hurry?"

"Hiss—!"

Fu Li sucked in a sharp breath upon hearing that.

He thought he already understood just how offbeat this girl could be, but he had not expected her to come up with something new.

Mei hesitated before guessing, "Maybe... she wore diapers under the bodysuit?"

Bronya, who had been eavesdropping on their discussion, could not help opening her eyes. "Bronya does not wear diapers!"

The moment the girl protested, an eerie silence fell over the villa.

After a moment, Fu Li coughed lightly. "True. You have the perkiest butt among the newcomers this time."

"That is not what you should be saying!"

Kiana swung the Galaxy Bat. "Hurry up and knock her out again! If you cannot bear to do it, I will!"

"There is no need."

The girl said calmly, "Bronya has lost all normal means of resistance. Bronya will not court death when the chance of successfully escaping is practically nonexistent."

"What about abnormal means?"

Mei narrowed her crimson-purple eyes.

Bronya answered with silence.

It was a very sensible choice. Compared to putting a devastating weapon on the table, concealing something appropriately was more likely to make the girls wary and vigilant.

Fu Li curled his lips into a smile but said nothing.

Of course, he knew the girl had no trump cards left. She was merely putting on an act.

True Word of Purification (C), a mantra of Ushusama Myo-o, also known as the Fire-Head Vajra or Purification Vajra. It was a type of barrier technique activated by forming the Ushusama Myo-o hand seal. Its primary purpose was to pray for peace and good fortune, remove filth, and purify oneself.

Note: Om shuri mari mama mari mari shushuri svaha!

Quite a few skills were not as simple and crude as their descriptions made them seem. There were no useless abilities, only people who did not know how to use them.

The True Word of Purification was one such skill. Many people believed its effect was simply removing negative statuses from oneself or others.

Little did they know that, when applied properly, the technique also had the special effect of severing external connections.

For example, the connection between Bronya and Heavy-duty Rabbit.

No matter how one put it, Heavy-duty Rabbit 19c was external equipment, not a part of Bronya herself. Broadly speaking, it was a form of filth invading the human body.

Bronya had been scrubbed squeaky clean by the True Word of Purification, so demons and monsters like Heavy-duty Rabbit naturally could not get close to her.

Because of the angle, only Bronya saw the amusement-seeker look on Fu Li's face as he sat at the very back, practically saying, I'll just quietly watch you keep pretending to be badass.

Panic flickered in her heart. As she secretly contacted Heavy-duty Rabbit for the eighth time, she continued warning them, "Bronya advises you to recognize the situation. Anti-Entropy's army has already surrounded Changkong City so thoroughly that not even water can pass through. Your resistance is no different from a mantis trying to stop a chariot. It is not too late to abandon darkness and come over to the light."

Yet that fierce display only revealed her weakness. Kiana flexed her fists until they cracked, her eyes brimming with ill intent. "What is this? The more panicked a little dog is, the louder it barks?"

"I am not doubting that you have the resolve to sacrifice yourself to take us down. I just want to see what sort of trump card could possibly achieve that."

Mei stepped forward with a cold laugh and, in no time at all, removed the little one's final defensive measure—the skintight bodysuit.

Then she stood up and looked over Bronya, stripped into a little white lamb, with a faint smile. "It seems taking all your clothes off is still not enough to make you reveal your trump card."

The dark tone in her voice made even Kiana shudder. The little hand covering Fu Li's eyes trembled slightly, allowing him to glimpse something white through the gaps between her fingers.

If anyone present hated Bronya the most, it was without question, absolutely and certainly Mei.

The debt of her family's bankruptcy and the bullying she had suffered at school had yet to be settled, and the culprit behind all of it even wanted to take the last life Raiden Mei had left! Worse still, she wanted to drag down Mei's two most important friends as well?

The only reason Mei had not immediately taken out a dagger and minced Bronya into meat paste was because Fu Li seemed to have some sort of relationship with her.

"Sisters United, Their Strength Cuts Through Chickens!"

"..."

Stripped completely bare, Bronya gritted her teeth in silence, unable to respond to Mei's provocative words.

The girl was not stupid. Heavy-duty Rabbit had remained unreachable for so long, so Fu Li and the others must have tampered with her body while she had been unconscious.

She cursed them in her heart. Those despicable bastards had only succeeded because she had lost consciousness.

If she had been awake, with the quantum-entanglement-level bond and connection between her and Heavy-duty Rabbit, even an A-rank skill would have struggled to achieve a similar effect.

The lights flickered uncertainly amid the arcs of electricity that occasionally burst from Mei. The oppressive atmosphere in the huge living room was terrifying.

Of everyone present, Fu Li was actually the least accustomed to this scene.

In his memories, the relationship between Raiden Mei and Bronya Zaychik could be summed up in four words: sisterly friendship and mutual respect.

During one drunken chat, the latter had even draped herself drunkenly over Fu Li's back and whispered in his ear, "It was Sister Mei who saved Bronya in the past."

That was right, drunken.

For Bronya, who came from a great northern nation, underage drinking was forbidden? What kind of Slavic joke was that?

When someone was dead drunk, everything they said came from the heart.

If a childhood friend with a split personality had not appeared out of nowhere later on, along with familiar faces like the Olenyeva sisters, Bronya—surrounded by beauties on both sides—might even have fought Kiana for Mei.

Well, the past was the past, and the present was the present.

Pulling his thoughts free from old memories, Fu Li hurriedly patted Kiana's hand covering his eyes. "Take Mei next door to cool off. I'll interrogate Bronya first."

His sudden movement made the girl jolt, but the meaning conveyed by his words made her sneer. "You messed it up, huh?"

Loyalty that was not absolute was absolute disloyalty!

Trying to have both Bronya and Mei, hopping back and forth between them? A mere A Li like you still had a long way to go!

"Go on, go on."

Fu Li impatiently jabbed her in the waist.

"Hmph."

Kiana gave a light snort and coquettishly pleaded with Mei, "Mei, put some clothes on that little runt first. My hand is getting sore from covering A Li's eyes!"

Of course her hand would not get sore. She was merely giving the two people nearby an excuse to back down.

Realizing something, Mei cooperatively nodded and began dressing the clean little duckling.

Seeing that, Kiana leaned close to Fu Li's cheek and whispered into his ear, "Once she is dressed, I'll find an excuse to take Mei out to the balcony for some air. Do not get handsy with that little girl while we're gone."

Fu Li spat at her on the spot. "Pah! She is as flat as a board. Why would I get handsy with her? I am not a lolicon!"

It was rather comfortable, though. Kiana was no flat pillow.

"Who knows? Boys your age are good at using innovative and pioneering spirit to study how double-stranded DNA can be preserved in cellulose and virgin wood pulp, right? Besides, the one in front of us is an absolutely gorgeous little robot girl."

Kiana was speaking honestly. Bronya was stunning enough, with pale gray hair and light silver eyes. Even Kiana was tempted to put thought into action.

"Hey, your drool is dripping onto my face!"

Fu Li truly had no words for this idiot. She really had no qualms about anything.

"Just wipe it off with some paper."

The girl spoke indifferently.

Everyone present was at least C-rank, while the living room was only thirty or forty square meters. Their so-called whispers could not possibly be hidden from the other two.

At first, the little duckling did not understand what Fu Li meant by "flat as a board." After savoring it for a moment, she flew into a rage.

Who was he calling flat-chested?

Go to a spa, you bastard!

"Do not move."

Mei's chilly voice came from beside her.

"Okay."

The girl lay back down.

It was not that she was scared. She simply had to give the dagger resting against her neck some respect.

After a while, Mei came over holding the stripped-off nano armor. "Done."

As she spoke, the girl gave Fu Li a thoughtful glance. The nano armor had been worn beneath Bronya's outer clothing, and Fu Li had said earlier that he had removed the EMP generator and personal terminal from it. Did that not mean...

Mei gently shook her head at the thought, but did not point anything out.

The situation had been critical in wartime. She understood that much.

Kiana, on the other hand, did not think so much. She released the hand covering Fu Li's eyes, looked at the armor Mei handed over, and waved her little hand. "We might run into danger later, so A Li, you should wear this!"

"I cannot wear it."

Fu Li shook his head in refusal. "First, this equipment was custom-made one-to-one. At nearly one-eighty, I cannot fit into it. Second, when Miss Kiana standing behind me says that, please let go of the arms around my neck. I am not the kind of pervert who likes wearing clothes women have worn."

Though it did feel quite nice. Kiana was hardly flat-chested.

"Huh? So Mei and I cannot wear it either?"

"Mei might have trouble, but you can try."

Kiana was around 163 centimeters tall, while Bronya was 147 centimeters.

Compared to Mei's tall 172-centimeter figure, Kiana clearly had a better chance of fitting into it.

"Okay, then I'll try it."

After saying that, Kiana grabbed Mei's hand. "Mei, come with me~"

As she walked away, she winked at Fu Li, meaning that she was taking Mei away now, and he could handle things here himself.

"Kiana! Slow, slow down!"

Dragged along by her, Mei seemed to have returned to being that gentle and considerate young lady?

Her crimson-purple eyes glanced at the two people left behind, but in the end, she allowed Kiana to drag her away.

Once the girls' backs vanished around the corner leading to the underground entertainment area, Fu Li withdrew his gaze and focused on Bronya.

"Now it is just the two of us."

"Is that not exactly what you wanted, Mr. Boob Lover?"

The girl sneered repeatedly, clearly holding a grudge.

"Indeed."

Snap!

With a snap of his fingers, the Shadow Blade handcuffs binding Bronya's wrists and ankles disintegrated in the wind.

She rubbed her wrists but did not stand up.

The X-10 experiment in the Sea of Okhotsk had given the girl Stigmata-level Honkai Energy adaptability, but it had also destroyed her ability to walk upright.

Ordinarily, she could rely on Heavy-duty Rabbit and her leg armor for support. Now, she could only crawl along the ground.

Even so, she did not lose the upper hand in her battle of presence against Fu Li.

"Bronya advises you to be rational and give up Raiden Mei."

She said calmly, "Anti-Entropy's objective has always been Raiden Mei alone. As long as you stop protecting her, Bronya can remain in your hands as a hostage until you leave the Far East Territory safely."

"That sounds nice, but I happen to like young girls like you."

Fu Li deliberately put on a lecherous expression. "Are you not afraid that I might do something improper to you during that time?"

"..."

The little duckling said nothing. A trace of disdain appeared on her angelic little face.

It was as though she were saying that this C-rank weakling should just try it if he dared, and see whether Bronya would take the chance to bite off his chicken and crush his dog head!

"Whoa, that expression looks really scary!"