Where's the Promised Third Honkai?!!

Yes, World Serpent surfacing two years later was what made this thing seem commonplace without anyone noticing—an exaggeration—but they had forcibly activated it through massive-scale human experimentation.

At least for now, there were fewer than a thousand natural Stigmata awakeners in the entire world. It was something that truly only had a chance of appearing once in tens of millions of people.

Not to mention that natural Stigmata came in different grades. Unconditionally ignoring 80% of Lightning attribute effects and gaining increased combat power in Lightning attribute environments—no matter how he looked at it, this was already among the very best.

Have Fu Li take it from Mei for free?

Besides, the girl did not know he was the one behind it, right?

No way.

One of Fu Li's principles in life was: "Friends can owe me things, but I can't owe my friends anything."

So he turned back halfway, pondering what excuse he could use to fool Mei into spreading apart those delicate, beautiful, snow-white legs so he could examine her.

Fu Li was speechless at the location of this Stigmata. Of all places, why did it have to grow at the base of her thigh?!

Thankfully, he knew the awakening location of these things was random. Otherwise, people might mistake it for those silver markings that often appeared in that kind of awful plot!

Still, despite saying that, now that he had seen poor little Mei sitting alone with her knees hugged to her chest and her head buried in them, Fu Li, who was secretly watching from behind the door, really could not bring himself to interrupt her.

After a brief moment of thought, he rose onto his tiptoes, activated Breath Concealment, and backed away.

When he reached the first floor, he suddenly made his footsteps heavier.

His shoes naturally made a patter against the wooden stairs. At the same time, the clear voice of a young man rang out casually. "Mei, I left in a bit of a hurry just now and forgot to ask what you wanted for breakfast. You're not in the bathroom right now, are you? Would I disturb you if I came up?"

Mixing eating and using the bathroom the moment he opened his mouth—truly, it could only be him.

"Fu, Fu Li?"

Mei, curled up in the corner, raised her head in panic. Her fingers instinctively brushed over the damp corners of her eyes.

After hurriedly wiping away the little pearls that had fallen, she quickly stood and straightened her wrinkled white shirt.

"Wait! Give me one more minute!"

"Okay."

A Li was exceptionally obedient.

One minute later—

"Okay, Fu Li, y-you can come in now!"

"Then I'm coming in?"

"Come in."

The girl took a deep breath. A simple smile, no different from usual, hung on her pale lips.

Holding the Crescent Moon, Fu Li stepped onto the second floor amid the pattering rain.

He naturally did not look at Mei's pure and pretty face. Instead, he went to the other corner of the room and sat down cross-legged with a huff. "Kiana talks too loudly in her sleep. I don't want to sleep with her anymore!"

That was the truth. That bastard did not just talk in her sleep—she snored, ground her teeth, scratched the walls, and flailed around. Fu Li had barely lain down before a flying kick nearly went straight into his mouth. It seriously made people wonder whether she had been pretending to sleep just to get revenge on him.

Hearing that, Mei, who had still been wondering whether she had been discovered, let out a laugh. "You said you came to ask what I wanted to eat, but you actually just wanted to sleep somewhere else, didn't you?"

"Hehe."

Fu Li did not deny it. He set the sheathed Crescent Moon on the ground as a pillow, then tilted over and rested his head on it.

The girl continued teasing him. "You already think she's too noisy. When you get married later, won't you be sleeping in separate beds every day?"

"Marriage? With her? Heh!"

Fu Li, half-closing his eyes, sneered. "My assessment is that she's not worth a single one of Mei's fingers."

"Oh? Does that count as a confession?"

"Not really. I'm just evaluating things from the perspective of a third party looking at the perfect woman?"

"That's very rude. Kiana and I aren't ingredients with clearly marked prices in a supermarket."

"Sorry, I was wrong!"

"Fine, I forgive you."

Mei tucked a strand of dark hair behind her ear. Curiosity glimmered in her picturesque eyes. "Back to Kiana—why did you suddenly decide to give up? You clearly chased her all the way from Shenzhou to the Far East before."

Though she had some intention of changing the subject, the girl truly was curious about why Fu Li's attitude had made such a complete reversal.

Back when Kiana had been pestered to the point of utter annoyance, she often went to Mei, her friend, to complain and ask for advice. While grumbling, she would also show her the chat logs of Fu Li pestering her.

Selected excerpts—

Sunny and Cheerful Fu Li Li: Actually, if you don't like me.

Sunny and Cheerful Fu Li Li: Just tell me. Stop stringing me along.

Sunny and Cheerful Fu Li Li: Your attitude makes me unable to see any hope.

Sunny and Cheerful Fu Li Li: I'm tired. I don't want to keep doing this.

Moonsea Fishy Cat: Aaaah, how many times do I have to tell you?! I don't like you at all, you disgusting loser!!!

Sunny and Cheerful Fu Li Li: I don't believe you.

After reading that, Mei could not hold it in anymore. Without anyone teaching her, she had immediately placed the label "absolute gem" on Fu Li's head.

And this was merely the most insignificant splash among the vast ocean of chat logs.

No wonder even Fu Li, after returning through rebirth, thought Kiana had done nothing wrong. Back then, he really had been kind of... that.

There had certainly been many factors involved, such as "after both his parents died, he returned alone to Shenzhou and treated Kiana as his only support for seven or eight years," and "the joy of their chance reunion mixing with the despair of learning that she had forgotten their childhood promise, nearly causing him to break down." But that was only from his own perspective. The trouble he had caused her was very real.

He had expected things on his own and been disappointed on his own. That was all there was to it.

Thus, faced with such dark history, the person involved gave a self-mocking smile and immediately changed the subject.

"I've been thinking about what happened during the day."

Lying on the floor with one leg crossed over the other, Fu Li looked at the curtain of water streaming down outside the window. "Once Kiana wakes up, let's release Bronya."

"Bronya?... Release her?"

Upon hearing the enemy's name, Mei instinctively gripped the hilt of her knife. Then, after realizing what he had said, her eyes abruptly widened before narrowing again.

In the darkness, the girl tried her best to steady the tremor in her voice, but her heart pounded harder amid her increasingly rapid breaths.

"You... can bear to?"

"Mei: Kiana Doesn't Want Fu Li, but I Do!"

A light breeze carried a trace of chill, and the air was filled with the fragrance of earth.

The dripping beneath the eaves and the occasional sound of distant cars interwove into a pleasant nocturne. On a night like this, everything seemed so peaceful and tranquil that one could not help sinking into the quiet.

Mei could not possibly describe how she felt right now. Tightening her grip on the dagger, she instinctively murmured in a voice nearly like a moan, "Release Bronya? You... can bear to?"

"What's there to bear or not bear? She's just a little burden if we keep dragging her around. Rather than let her interfere with our escape, it's better to let her leave early so she won't get in the way."

Turning onto his side with his back to her and propping up his head, Fu Li deliberately avoided looking at the girl's tear-streaked face. He curled his lip. "Something is about to happen in Changkong City. When that time comes, Anti-Entropy's defensive net will definitely be scattered. We'll take that chance and leave."

The coming Third Honkai would undoubtedly be a world-ending calamity for ordinary people, but that was absolutely not the case for A-rank Bronya.

Not to mention that once she regained her freedom, she would definitely go reunite with Cocolia, the old foster mom commanding heavy forces. Even if she did not, as long as she did not encounter a mobile natural disaster at the Critical level like an Emperor-class Honkai Beast, the girl could still walk sideways through the demon-infested Changkong City.

Fu Li was not blind. He could see the worsening conflict among The Trio.

Rather than forcibly suppress the restless seeds and eventually leave everyone bruised and battered, it was better to separate and give each other time to calm down.

There were always more solutions than difficulties! Maybe the next time they met, things would have changed completely!

They were still young. The future was still long.

Speaking of the future—

"After leaving Changkong City, if you and Kiana still want to go to St. Freya and join her auntie, I'll take you there. If you want to follow me, then we'll keep our Invincible Trio Squad together. We'll get a Sky Battleship and fly around the world, sticking our noses into anything interesting we come across."

The big boy smiled as he imagined the future. "We might still have to deal with people like Cocolia hunting us down, but she has plenty of people to hunt. A few small fry like us won't make any difference. Besides, Anti-Entropy isn't united either. There's the open and covert struggle between the Reformists and the Conservatives, not to mention all the dirty dealings between the factions of different executors..."

Embarrassingly enough, Mei did not really hear any of that.

The instant she heard Fu Li "abandon" Bronya and "choose" her, the girl's heart seemed to stop beating.

It was as though something had gently lifted her whole body. Even her heavy breathing became faint and indistinct. Her mind was empty, as if she were standing above the clouds, with a soothing wind caressing her face, gentle sunlight embracing her, and the entire world smiling at her.

Choose me. He doesn't want Bronya. He wants me. Hehe~

It was PUA, but neither the initiator nor the recipient was aware of it.

And its effect was unquestionably outstanding.

"Fu Li!"

"What is it?"

The person who had been rambling on looked over after being interrupted.

"Isn't your head uncomfortable?"

Mei came to the boy's side and knelt down, moving the Mikazuki Munechika from beneath his head.

Fu Li did not react at first, until a familiar tight softness once again pressed against the back of his head.

"Tell me a bedtime story. Consider this the reward."

The girl giving the boy the perk of a lap pillow lowered her head. Looking down at the two large troublesome lumps before her, she said, "Your face can only see a little. Adjust your position yourself."

Was it comfortable?

Not exactly.

Just as Fu Li had said before, compared with the feel of a pillow, Mei's lap pillow was far inferior in every respect.

But their meanings could not possibly be compared.

Remembering why he had returned, he instinctively looked beneath her skirt. The instant the corner of his eye caught that familiar Lightning Stigmata pattern, he quickly looked away as if he had committed a crime.

"A story?"

So the Stigmata had been imprinted rather than taken.

Reassured, Fu Li kept his eyes on his nose and his nose on his heart.

"Yes, a story."

Mei tucked back the loose hair by her temple. A captivating light reflected in her crystal-clear eyes.

"Just like you used to do for Kiana."

She smiled sweetly. The corner of her eye caught sight of the scene outside the window, and her smile deepened.

The rain had stopped.

The night sky after a thunderstorm was always clean. Staring for a long time at the stars decorating the quiet heavens gave one the feeling of gazing into a distant abyss, and could even elevate one's thoughts into something like enlightenment.

But no matter how enlightened or elevated he became, Fu Li could not understand why Mei's girlish heart had suddenly gone from a pitiful bundle of grievances to an accelerating mudslide.

"Like I often did for Kiana?"

He repeated it blankly.

"Yes."

The girl smiled faintly, then suddenly raised her delicate brows. "What? You're willing to tell Kiana stories, but not me?"

Mei's coquettish complaint almost numbed Fu Li to the bone. He desperately searched through the tags in his head related to Kiana, stories, and the like. Only after a long time did he find a clue in some inconspicuous corner.

Every confused adolescent boy, both confident and insecure, dreamed of becoming a writer.

Sixteen-year-old General Fu Li, who had not yet escaped the tide of youthful longing, was no exception. Whenever he shared those wild characters and events from his imagination with others through his own writing, an incomparable sense of satisfaction would rise within him.

And immature boys always wanted to show off what made them "impressive" before the girls they liked. Thus, Fu Li would often stop Kiana when she passed by, or actively seek her out, eagerly sharing with her the ideas and plots that had suddenly come to him.

Unfortunately, when someone disliked another person, no matter what that person did, it would only provoke impatience and irritation.

"Yes," "Right," "Mm," and "Oh" became bullet after bullet in the girl's replies to the boy. Even so, the clumsy youth, who had not yet given up hope, still tried to please her through that method.

Little did he know that another girl, who was at the lowest point in her life, had heard it all.