The Art Style of This Chat Group Is a Bit Different Chapter 18

At this moment, Talulah's face instantly froze, revealing a look of wanting to cry but having no tears: "Kiana, I know I was wrong earlier, I shouldn't have dragged you into suffering with me, but this is important, can you please be reliable! Is this really the time to jump to conclusions?"

"I'm starting to wonder if this one looks like Talulah too..." Kiana began to waver.

Then, Xiangzi stepped forward with a confident smile: "No, actually, there's another way to tell them apart."

"What way?" Both Talulahs said in unison, then both froze, and simultaneously added: "Why are you copying me!"

"Koschei! Are you seriously this disgusting!?" ×2

To be fair, the Black Serpent's understanding of Talulah was indeed profound. Whenever it wanted, it could flawlessly mimic every move Talulah made, even nailing the smallest details without a single slip.

It was like the Great Sage Equal to Heaven meeting the Six-Eared Macaque—truth and falsehood blurred beyond recognition.

"Both of you, calm down. Let Xiangzi speak first." Qianyi raised a hand to stop them, then gestured for Xiangzi to continue.

Xiangzi, who already had a plan in mind, said confidently: "We can post in the dimensional chat group. The real Talulah has access to the dimensional chat group. In other words, she'll know everything we discuss in the group, while Koschei won't. If we say something in the group and have the real Talulah repeat it out loud, the truth will come to light."

Customer Service Xiangzi is at your service: 111, Talulah, just say these three numbers out loud later.

Talulah caught on immediately and recited what Xiangzi had sent: "111."

Xiangzi smiled. Just as she thought, Koschei had no way to—

"111, Talulah, just say these three numbers out loud later." The other Talulah followed suit.

Xiangzi froze completely.

Wait, can this thing even see the dimensional chat group? Is this chat group that useless?!

In reality, the Black Serpent couldn't see the dimensional chat group at all. But through the Origin Stone Arts it had left on Talulah, it could precisely track every move Talulah made, including her thoughts.

When a thought arose in Talulah's mind, the first to know it wouldn't be Qianyi, Kiana, Xiangzi, or even Alina, FrostNova, or Patriot—it would be me, the undying Black Serpent, Koschei!

"How can this be..." Xiangzi had thought her method would work for sure.

Had she accomplished nothing again? Failed to help at all?

Qianyi placed a hand on Xiangzi's shoulder, comforting her: "Calm down, Xiangzi. I actually have one last trick up my sleeve."

"If you had such a good trick, why didn't you just use it from the start?" Talulah was exasperated. Why was everyone holding back? Or were you like Kiana, just looking for an excuse to beat me up?

"Because this method is very dangerous. It will cause you great harm, and in severe cases, it might inflict irreparable damage to your psyche." Qianyi's expression turned serious.

"Then you underestimate me, Qianyi. If it means getting rid of the Black Serpent, I can bear any cost, no matter how great." Talulah gave a faint, bittersweet smile, clearly prepared.

The next moment, the other Talulah also spoke: "Qianyi, your understanding of the Black Serpent is far too shallow. Give that old bastard even a moment to breathe, and she'll cling to you like a nightmare. This might be our only chance to destroy her. Miss this opportunity, and she may never show herself before you again. If killing her means dying here, I'd do it willingly."

"Fine, since you're both ready." Qianyi's face turned serious: "Telling a wolf from a dog is simple. Look at their demeanor—a wolf bares its teeth in anger, a dog pants in rage. Look at their tails—a wolf wags slowly, a dog wags frantically. Look at their farming—wolves grow sparse wheat, dogs grow thick rice. Look at their temperament—wolves are busy, dogs are idle madmen. But telling Talulah from Koschei only takes one thing."

"What thing?" Both Talulahs asked at once.

"Femininity. The real Talulah is a bona fide tomboy. You couldn't squeeze a drop of femininity out of her even with a compression driver. But the Black Serpent is different—she's seductive. Still, femininity isn't easy to judge, so we need a little help." Qianyi pulled out two Magical Girl Henshin Devices he'd just borrowed from Hiiragi Tina via private chat. They had no magic power, so transforming wouldn't grant extra strength—just a costume change.

He tossed them on the ground: "Transform. Become evil... no, magical girls. Then dance a little, and all the mysteries will unravel."

Talulah: "You son of a—!"

I thought you were making some grand speech on the battlefield, but this is the vulgar nonsense you come up with?!

What do you mean I have no femininity?!

I'm overflowing with femininity! Do you even know the weight of being ranked first in Reunion's most popular female list?!

My Tower Guards are about to show up and give you a thorough beating for insulting my femininity!

Talulah waited for someone in Reunion or the group to jump out and slap Qianyi's face, but after a long wait, no one appeared. Instead, a crowd whispered among themselves, nodding in agreement, clearly endorsing the statement.

In an instant, Talulah's eyes went dead. She mechanically picked up the yellow star-shaped Henshin Device from the ground and said with a face full of 'joy': "Transform..."

Both Talulahs transformed simultaneously, and their appearances diverged dramatically. One remained in a military uniform, now adorned with a skirt that symbolized strength and a military cap. The other wore an elegant, understated black dress, her long legs faintly visible beneath the hem, black stockings wrapping her shapely calves and tracing graceful curves. A collar with a yellow star ornament encircled her pale neck. The pride and beauty in her eyes, paired with the collar symbolizing submission—a contrast of two opposing auras—instantly outclassed Talulah by a hundred thousand miles.

"Take down the one in the little skirt and stockings!"

Qianyi had already summoned Susanoo-no-Mikoto, aiming at Koschei, and said coldly: "Give Talulah a hundred years, and she still couldn't put together an outfit this feminine! Tens of Thousands of Proverbs! Like the Act of Nation Founding!!"

"Brothers, against this kind of evil, we don't need to follow the rules of the martial world—let's all jump in together!" Kiana waved her hand grandly, ready to follow up Qianyi's attack, but before she could charge, a heavy halberd had already been thrown ahead of her.

At the same time, ice-based Origin Stone Arts sealed off Koschei's escape route.

It was Patriot and FrostNova!

Without giving Koschei any time to react, after the two launched their initial assault, a dark tide of Reunion members surged forward.

Koschei barely had time to do anything before the overwhelming crowd trampled her underfoot.

Talulah, who had been the most eager to take down Koschei, stood motionless, staring blankly at the scene, muttering to herself:

"Do I... really have no femininity at all?"

She felt something inside her—something called a woman's dignity—shatter.

Chapter 36: Koschei, You Really Only Think About Yourself

I was such a fool. Truly.

I thought the great harm he mentioned was physical damage. I never expected it to be an assault on my dignity and psyche.

Why... why did I have to run my mouth? Why did I have to stop Qianyi's plan?

Being recognized as her true self by her comrades, and finally dealing with that old bastard Koschei—two joys overlapping should have brought even more happiness. But why... why... why did it turn out like this!

She desperately wished someone would speak up, question whether she was really the Black Serpent, question why they didn't hit her if she supposedly had no feminine charm, question how ridiculous Qianyi's logic was for judging her by that standard. But not a single member of Reunion raised a doubt—not even her closest friend FrostNova, who silently accepted the claim.

It was as if this had become an unspoken consensus in everyone's heart.

If I'd known it would come to this, I might as well have... I might as well have taken a beating alongside Koschei!

"Of all things... I refuse to lose to him!"

Talulah dropped to her knees with a thud, tears of regret streaming down her face. "Why... why am I inferior to Koschei in this..."

A woman losing to her own adoptive father in feminine charm—was there anything more humiliating than this?

"Heh, my daughter, you're actually agonizing over such trivial nonsense? How laughable. Ask yourself—did you deserve to win? Did you deserve to win? Did you deserve to win?"

At this moment, the Black Serpent's hands and feet were bound by Void Bands, kneeling like Louis XVI about to mount the guillotine. Yet instead of regret, her face was filled with indignation. If she weren't tied up and unable to move, she would have reached out and mercilessly tousled Talulah's hair.

"Black Serpent, shut up!" Talulah snapped.

"Why should I shut up? I schemed for this plan over countless years. You were under my control the entire time, dancing to my tune with no chance to fight back. And yet here I am, kicked aside like a stray dog on the roadside, unable to even imagine how I could have beaten you."

Koschei had witnessed the Khan's cavalry trampling the earth, heard the sharp screech of Nightmare Kheshig sabers scraping against skulls, listened to the thunderous roar of warship broadsides that deafened tens of thousands of Rus Warriors, and watched the once-arrogant Gauls dissolve into blood and mud until they vanished without a trace.

Her identity as an immortal granted her a perspective and experience far beyond ordinary people, but none of it worked against this group.

In the end, she could only offer this verdict: "Ridiculous Susanoo-no-Mikoto, ridiculous Herrscher of the Void, ridiculous Patriot. Without them, Talulah, would you deserve to win?"

"No way, the Herrscher of the Void is cheap?" Kiana retorted.

"No way, Susanoo-no-Mikoto is cheap?" Qianyi countered.

You're the cheapest one here!

Koschei wished she could kick that underhanded bastard Qianyi to death. If her opponents had only been Talulah, Kiana, and Patriot, even if she couldn't win, she'd still have had a chance to escape.

As a soul entity, even if they could attack her, as long as she wanted to flee, none of them could stop her.

After leaving Talulah's body, she could have slipped into another backup vessel, waiting for the day she'd return like lightning. But then Qianyi opened with a move like the Act of Nation Founding's Tens of Thousands of Proverbs, a Special Attack targeting consciousness and spirit bodies, and kicked her straight off the rails.

Ultimate move right from the start, one-shotting her health bar. Koschei had been so furious she'd laughed.

"Kill me or torture me, just get it over with!" Koschei thrust her head forward, putting on a show of martyrdom.

"Hmph, you think you can die just because you've offended us? Not that easy." Qianyi struck a White Crane Spreads Wings pose. "Don't forget, we paid for this. The customer is king."

"What the hell does you paying have to do with me?!" Koschei choked on her own blood.

"It does. We paid, went through all this trouble to come to Ursus and kill you. You think we're going back empty-handed?" Qianyi straightened up, pondering how to squeeze Koschei dry.

"That wouldn't do," Kiana chimed in.

"Enough talk!" Shoko stepped forward, yanking Koschei up by the collar. "You're a duke, right? You must have plenty of inheritance. Bank cards, passbooks, gold buried in the basement—hand it all over!"

Why else would she willingly spend points to freeze her ass off in Ursus? To get her hands on some duke's inheritance and pay off her sixteen billion!

If you don't cough up your gold, won't I have wasted fifty points!

Do you know it takes fifty whole days of daily check-ins to scrape together fifty points!

Do you know how hard points are to earn!

Toyokawa Shoko's sudden outburst stunned everyone. In their minds, Shoko had always been the picture of a refined young lady. Where did this savage greed come from?

"Heh." Seeing they were after her inheritance, Koschei regained her composure and sneered. "Looks like your alliance with my daughter isn't so solid after all. But if you want to dig up trouble on Ursus's turf, you'll pay the price. No matter where you flee, Ursus's iron hooves and blades will catch up to you, tear open your chests, and slit your throats..."

Just as she thought she'd regained some leverage, Qianyi drew the Ksitigarbha from his waist, held it up to her face, and smiled. "Koschei, you've been peeping from inside Talulah's body all along, haven't you? So you should know what this is. From what I've heard, Ursus's blades are only restrained by rituals and combat suits to keep them from losing control and becoming Abyssals. What do you think would happen if I disabled their tech gear?"

The smugness drained from Koschei's face faster than a transmigrator who'd realized they'd been dropped into Warhammer 40k as a grot with a stubbed toe.

Holy shit! No!

Bro, I'm sorry! I won't run my mouth anymore!

The Inner Guards' consciousness alone remained human; their bodies had long become a black, unknown substance. If their protective gear or combat suits were damaged, reality would begin to act on them, the Abyssals would lose control, triggering annihilation and leaving behind a "Realm." A single Realm left by one Inner Guard could destroy an entire Victoria count's estate.

And within Ursus, there were at least a hundred Inner Guards, many concentrated in Saint-Junburg. If they triggered annihilation and left Realms...

"Please! I'll do anything! Just don't let the Inner Guards cause annihilation in Ursus!"

This was the first time in nearly a century that Koschei had surrendered without a shred of resistance.

If she weren't tied up, she'd have grabbed Qianyi's hand, dropped to her knees, and begged him on the ground not to detonate the Inner Guards.

But that didn't stop her from lunging forward, biting Qianyi's pant leg in a futile attempt to stop him. Then...

Qianyi kicked her away, his face full of contempt.

"You... just how much resolve did you think you had when you said that?"

"Koschei, you really only ever think about yourself."

Update Notes

I'm an idiot! I was supposed to say the five-chapter update would be Sunday night at midnight, but my brain short-circuited and I thought tomorrow morning was Sunday midnight. Turns out tomorrow morning is Sunday zero hour!

Aaaaaaah!!!

About this—I'm really sorry. But I promised other authors I'd help them with their rankings tonight, so I can't release early. To make up for it, I've decided: at least five chapters tonight, and then for the next week, three chapters daily!

How about that, sincere enough, right? So how about tossing me some votes?

Chapter 37: A Real Knee-Slapper, Folks

No, I didn't!

Everything I did, I did for Ursus—I was thinking of Ursus!

Without Ursus, I'd...

The Black Serpent, kicked away, immediately scrambled back, clamping Qianyi's leg between her chin and neck, pleading: "No, don't use Ksitigarbha on Ursus—I'll do anything. My wealth, my lands, my duke title, even the other Black Serpents—I'll hand it all over."

"How utterly pathetic, Koschei." Talulah watched the writhing, wailing Koschei on the ground, her eyes holding no mockery, only pity: "You, who've done so much evil, finally meet such a miserable end."

"My daughter, if you help me, I'll push the Infected Bill through—make the Infected citizens of the Ursus Empire, equal to ordinary people, living together!"

Talulah shook her head: "I'll create that future with my own hands."

"Talulah!" Koschei roared: "Do you even understand filial piety? I raised you all these years—what's wrong with begging for your dad's sake?"

Talulah: Sweating Yellow Emoji.jpg.

Speechless. This thing is actually my cheap dad—what a letdown.

Why are there so many Reunion members around? If it weren't for the crowd, I'd ask Kiana to borrow a Void Spear, turn it into a copper belt, and spin this Black Serpent like a top.

Forget it, let's finish this guy off fast, so no one finds out this thing is my cheap dad.

The Black Serpent might not be ashamed, but I am.

Seeing Talulah raise her sword, Koschei's face went pale. Dying was one thing, but if these people ever got the idea to activate Ksitigarbha, Ursus would be covered in Realms. So she shouted: "Grand Duke of Baikal! I can let you replace the Grand Duke of Baikal, take everything—including the Third Army Group!"

The next second, Koschei felt a strong hand pull her up. Looking up, it was her own unfilial daughter!

"Just joking around." Talulah yanked Koschei to her feet: "Let's talk details about the Third Army Group."