The promised third collapse, where is it?!!

"Yeah, yeah, because everyone who truly understands you just wants to beat you to death."

Kiana said with a grin, "So, could the great Lord A Li give this humble servant a chance to understand you thoroughly?"

"No way, I quite care about my shining image in Miss Kiana's heart."

"But I really want to understand A Li inside and out!"

"I'll pass on understanding you by smashing you into a pulp, and the guitar belongs to someone else."

"Hmph."

Kiana put down the guitar she had already swung up.

Seeing the boy and girl's playful banter, Mei couldn't help but smile.

"How's it going?"

She asked softly, "Did Bronya say anything?"

Seeing this, Fu Li secretly winked at Kiana:

It's working well, bug!

Of course! Who do you think I am!

The girl blinked her bright and dazzling eyes, and proudly strummed her broken guitar again.

Look at you, so capable!

Fu Li withdrew his gaze and said, "I've already pried out the crucial information that she's Cocolia's goddaughter."

Mei nodded. She knew who Cocolia was; the blonde beauty who now ruled ME Inc.

Considering that the magnetic card that originally belonged to her was now in Bronya's hands, this didn't surprise Mei.

Kiana said excitedly, "And then? And then?"

"And then? Then it's your turn!"

Fu Li slapped her on the back and said righteously, "I can't interrogate her all by myself!"

It's just that nothing else was revealed.

"Oh yeah? You're willing to?"

"Not really! That's why I'm here now?"

Fu Li was a kind-hearted person and couldn't stand seeing others interrogate Bronya.

"Then you're truly a kind soul!"

Kiana rolled her eyes at him and stood up, stretching her shoulders.

She confidently made her fists crackle and pop, saying, "Then let me show you my excellent interrogation skills!"

The girl strode forward, heading downstairs with great vigor!

After a couple of steps, she retreated: "A Li, you're not allowed to tease Mei while I'm gone!"

I work hard, and my friend gets stolen by the neighbor! I don't want that!

Fu Li didn't say anything, but Mei retorted with a blush, "Kiana!"

"Hehe~"

The white-haired girl stuck out her tongue and disappeared in a flash.

Fu Li retracted his gaze from her retreating figure and, with great initiative, turned to suggest, "Since she's gone, why don't we actually do something behind her back?"

Knocking on the other's door while Kiana and Mei are out working! That sounds so exciting!

"Stop fooling around!"

The young girl glared at him, embarrassed and annoyed.

Perhaps her favorability wasn't high enough yet, or perhaps she disliked the boy's blunt words.

Meanwhile—

Kiana ran upstairs with a pata-pata sound and immediately saw Bronya, her eyes vacant and her gaze hollow, leaning against the coffee table in silence, looking utterly broken.

If one listened closely, one could hear her muttering things like, "I'm not clean anymore," and "Bronya must kill that idiot Hentai lolicon Fu Li, chop off his hands and feet," the words of a yakuza princess.

Kiana walked over calmly.

She turned off the idol practice video that was playing on repeat and sat cross-legged opposite Bronya, saying, "Cut out that act. I won't misunderstand A Li because of this."

"..."

Her reaction was clearly beyond Bronya's expectations. After a moment of silence, the girl raised her hand and pulled the sleeve that had slipped off her shoulder back into place, then used the cuff to wipe the drool from her lips.

"Use this."

Kiana handed her a pack of tissues.

"I've already wiped it."

"You were quick."

She picked up the remote and asked, "Want to watch TV?"

Without waiting for Bronya's response, she turned it on herself.

"...The Sky Fleet concluded its annual joint military exercise involving multiple factions at 8:00 PM local time. The carrier Belobog is proceeding as planned to the upper skies of the Far Northeast for a pilgrimage..."

The broadcast was still about the exercise, indicating how seriously the officials regarded it.

It made sense. This carrier wasn't named by the Far Easterners who liked calling aircraft carriers "sky carriers." It was a legitimate integrated strategic formation centered around a sky carrier—a fortress of war soaring through the heavens—equipped with multiple coordinated combat units.

Searching through all of Anti-Entropy, there were only eleven such formations, each capable of rivaling a legendary Judgment-class Honkai Beast.

For the past half-century, Anti-Entropy had dominated the world with these sky combat groups, reaping global benefits under the "S-rank Restriction Treaty."

With such a Sword of Damocles hanging overhead, anyone would be uneasy.

"Looks pretty impressive, doesn't it?"

Kiana rested her chin on her hand, staring listlessly at the exercise footage on the screen.

"But fragile," Bronya said.

"Yeah, going to their doorstep to cause trouble. Aren't you afraid their rocket force, which is practically the best in the world, will just blast you away."

After saying that, Kiana turned to look at Bronya. "Just like you are now."

Her icy blue eyes, usually lively, cunning, spoiled, and radiant when with Fu Li, were as calm as a pool of cold water.

Raiden Mei undoubtedly wanted to kill Bronya with her own hands, but because of Fu Li, she had been suppressing her anger.

Kiana could see this. If her dear friend truly intended to act, she would only offer silent support.

The Kiana Kaslana of today was no longer the naive, pampered grass-burr who had been spoiled after two years in the warm, big family of St. Freya. She had just spent four years traveling from Northern Europe across the Eurasian continent to the remote Far East.

Raiden Mei was also no longer that gentle and considerate homemaker. Without the time spent together at St. Freya, Bronya was merely the daughter of the enemy who had framed her father.

They were pragmatic because they hadn't forgotten their hardships.

Therefore, in Kiana's eyes, Bronya was just courting disaster by relying on Fu Li's doting.

She didn't understand what had happened between them for Fu Li to treat Bronya, an enemy, with such an almost doting attitude.

It was so doting that Kiana couldn't help but feel...

Jealous.

In the past, that was the kind of attitude Fu Li only had towards her.

Many things are like that; you don't cherish them when you have them, only realizing how precious they are after they're gone.

This was why Kiana was in a bad mood and felt disgusted by Bronya, who was squandering that affection.

Looking at her, she felt like she was looking at her past self, who had wasted the boy's feelings.

The air conditioner blew warm air, and the TV emitted a cacophony of noise.

Bronya's pale gray eyes reflected the deliberately indifferent white-haired girl, and she suddenly curled her lips.

"I don't know him, and I know my actions are like refusing a toast only to be forced to drink a forfeit. But he dotes on me. What does that have to do with you, a loser with prematurely gray hair?"

Uncharacteristically, the girl didn't refer to herself by name but used "I" directly.

Bronya also had a personality that judged people based on their circumstances.

She truly didn't understand why Fu Li was so good to her, but she would reciprocate with appropriate courtesy.

For example, referring to herself with an adorable term like "Bronya," or ensuring he could leave the Far East safely if he really handed over Raiden Mei as she suggested.

Bronya believed that kindness should be met with kindness; it was only natural.

Kiana's words were another matter.

Just as her own death would be a simple "Oh" to Kiana, it wouldn't matter to Bronya even if Kiana died.

Chapter 59: "The Twisted Trio"

Sub-level Entertainment Area—

Perhaps due to the arrival of night, the Anti-Entropy mecha forces active in Changkong City had become unusually quiet.

This allowed Fu Li, whose spirit had been constantly tense, to finally relax. He sat down cross-legged and began cultivating the Nine Revolutions of Unrivaled he had obtained in the previous cycle.

According to Sister Hua, who had given him this technique, although the prototype for the Nine Revolutions of Unrivaled was the legendary ascended Immortal Crimson Vulture—whose cultivation technique was Void Sword Qi—it had little actual connection to it now.

Its true purpose was to form various pseudo-organs within the human body.

As friends born human know, humans perceive the world through their various bodily organs: eyes see colors, noses smell scents, ears hear sounds.

In reality, the world isn't just about scents, colors, and sounds; it contains much more.

For example, some animals are colorblind, and some can only see infrared. In their eyes, the world is a different place.

What the world is like depends on the observational organs a creature possesses.

If one could grow organs capable of observing time, the world would appear as a four-dimensional space with length, width, height, plus a time axis.

The purpose of Nine Revolutions of Unrivaled is to artificially create or modify internal organs with various supernatural abilities, such as the core within an Emperor-class Honkai Beast, horns that release thunder and lightning, or the special soldiers of World Serpent who have undergone Honkai Beast transformation.

This characteristic is also known as the [Pseudo-Chimera Factor]. If the cultivation technique is mastered to a high level, beyond the seventh revolution, practitioners might even transform into the legendary Fusion Warriors, capable of fighting a thousand against one and ten thousand against one.

Fu Li had heard of the great name of Fusion Warriors, powerful beings created by the civilization of the previous era to be the main force against the Honkai, by merging the genes of Emperor-class Honkai Beasts and above.

But why would a cultivation technique created by referencing Immortal Crimson Vulture's Void Sword Qi allow one to transform into a Fusion Warrior from the previous era? Coupled with the peculiar naming of Chimera Factor, which sounds awkward to ancient Eastern ears, could it be that Immortal Crimson Vulture, who ascended five hundred years ago, was actually a pioneer left behind from the previous era?

Last week, Fu Li had asked this question in confusion, only to be met with a helpless wry smile from his cousin, Hua.

Fu Li deeply respected his cousin Hua, who had introduced him to the Honkai side and even gifted him the A-rank cultivation technique Nine Revolutions of Unrivaled for free. Seeing that she was unwilling to talk about it, he promptly changed the subject.

Of course, this is all a story from before his rebirth. At least now, Fu Li and his cousin Hua, whose full name is Hua, are still in a state of "I know you, but you don't know me."

Their intersection last week was because Fu Li spent more than half a year searching for a way to enter the Honkai side. Finally, through various coincidences, he contacted Hua through the VX group [Old Hua Family Happy Forever], who was said to be a calm cousin, a descendant left behind by an ancestor.

At least, that was the surface story. After all, if Hua wanted to infiltrate St. Freya and act as Otto's spy, she needed a reasonable public identity to pass the background check from the Far East branch (laughs).

"Fu Li, do you think Kiana can find anything out?"

Mei beside him was bored and didn't feel like she was disturbing Fu Li's studies.

Goddesses probably have no self-awareness about this.

"Hard to say, but maybe?"

Fu Li, his thoughts interrupted, didn't mind her distraction. He was holding the girl's soft, fragrant hand.

The Human Immortal Path could absorb Honkai Energy to feed the Nine Revolutions of Unrivaled, which craved vast amounts of energy to construct organs. As for Mei, although the reason was unknown, whenever the Honkai Energy in her body was depleted, the dragon head named Conquest Gem would open its floodgates, quickly filling this parched pool.

This was a perfect match for Fu Li's cycle, and Mei was happy to help him.

"Don't answer a question with a question."