Changkong City's Solitary Star (3)

Heavenly Mandate Headquarters—

Otto opened the communication channel. "Rita, how did things go?"

Rita Loresweizer, an S-rank Valkyrie, replied with her elegant and charming voice from the other end of the communication channel. "Reporting, Lord Bishop, Dr. Maki has been recovered, but the Gem of Stillness has not been found. We tried to interrogate Dr. Maki, but did not get any useful information."

Otto pondered for a moment, revealing a cold smile. "It doesn't matter. I can probably guess where it went. Bring Dr. Maki back. I still need his wisdom."

"Yes." Rita hung up the communication and began to organize the Immortal Blades to withdraw from the apartment. Just then, a person who looked quite brazen walked in.

"Yo, you got captured just after I left for a bit? Hey, little sis, that old man is my person. Can you let him go?" Waite said unceremoniously, as the gravity around them began to increase.

Heavenly Mandate's fourth-generation God-Slaying Armor, Azure Moon Knight, began to transmit.

"Awaken, master of frost!"

Within Yae Sakura's Stigmata Space—

Xing, whose mental form maintained its original boyish appearance, was in a difficult situation. The priestess was sitting alone by a small river, fuming.

"Sakura..." Xing said cautiously.

"What is it?" The priestess turned her head, her expression quite hostile.

"I'm sorry, I know I gambled a bit too much. Please don't be angry, okay?" Xing apologized sincerely.

"Heh, Xing, what are you talking about? How could I be angry?" The priestess smiled brightly, stroking Xing's face with a slender hand. Suddenly, her tone shifted, and she directly grabbed the boy's ear, her face darkening as she said, "You know you gambled a bit too much too?"

"I'm sorry..." Xing said weakly.

"Sorry? From the beginning, I opposed your plan of using yourself as bait. You told me that at a critical moment, you could call me out to snatch the Gem of Stillness and then escape with you. I couldn't refuse you, so I agreed. And then what?!" The priestess's eyes seemed to spew fire.

"When we got to the Gem of Stillness, you told me to let that woman implant the Gem of Stillness into your body, guaranteeing it wouldn't suddenly go out of control and threaten the lives of Changkong City residents. Considering my core could help stabilize the Gem of Stillness, I reluctantly agreed. And then what?" The priestess was furious.

"When that dog-headed woman was about to perform the super-transformation surgery on you, and I was about to appear to save you, you locked me tightly in the Stigmata Space, saying you needed power. If that man hadn't helped you, you would have died on the operating table long ago!" The priestess's voice gradually became choked with sobs. "If you died, what would I do?"

Yae Sakura hugged him and cried silently. She had already regarded the young man as Kallen's spiritual support. If Xing had an accident, she couldn't imagine what would happen to her.

"I'm sorry, Sakura. I know you want to protect me, but I don't want to see you get hurt even a little bit." The last time in the Memory Battlefield, Emiya had left a deep psychological scar on him. He still felt a sense of lingering fear when he recalled the scene of the priestess blocking a sword for him.

"I want to become stronger, strong enough to protect you, to protect Kiana, to protect everyone, so I need power," Xing said earnestly.

The priestess's eyes were red. "Idiot." This passionate idiocy was exactly like Kallen.

But the priestess's anger had not subsided. "I will never forgive you!"

Xing panicked. "Don't do that! As long as you forgive me, I'll do anything!"

The priestess's eyes lit up. "Really?"

Xing suddenly had a bad feeling.

Reality—

In the messy laboratory, Xing sat on the only intact operating table, looking at the clothes Raven handed her with a flushed face. "Do I really have to do this?" she asked.

"You really have to." The priestess appeared from the void, her eyes fixed on Xing.

"Okay, you turn around first." Xing's voice was softer than a mosquito's. The priestess complied.

Xing tore off the tight strips of cloth on her body, her fair skin exposed to the air. She hesitated for a second, bent down, and put on the lace panties. The smooth fabric enveloped her hips, causing the girl, who was cross-dressing for the first time, to momentarily lose herself.

Next was the bra. Xing tried hard to fasten the clasp, but couldn't. Suddenly, a pair of hands reached from behind and gently helped her fasten it.

"Sakura?! Didn't I tell you to turn around?" The girl exclaimed in shock.

The priestess hugged her from behind, her nimble hands brushing against the girl's skin. "Mmmph!?" It felt like an electric current passing through her, and the girl couldn't help but cry out.

"As expected, it's inconvenient for Xing to be alone." The priestess gently blew hot air into her ear. "Let me help you."

"Eh?! Stop, you can't do that there!"

(I'm sorry, I really can't write any more! Lord Bishop, this is not your Kallen. You are not being cuckolded this time! Please put away your mimicry Heavenly Fire Greatsword!)

Otto, at Heavenly Mandate Headquarters, looked at his dinner for the night. "Rita isn't here, so it's just a vegetable salad?" For some reason, looking at the pleasing green, he felt an inexplicable irritation.

When Raven pushed open the door, the first thing she saw was not the laboratory that Xing had smashed to pieces, but the girl sitting on the operating table, fully clothed, with a flushed face and steam rising from her head.

"Little one, do you have a fever?" Raven asked caringly.

"Don't talk, and don't come near me. I can barely hold her back..." Xing replied groggily.

"Ha, who is 'her'? But little one, you look really beautiful in that outfit." Raven praised. "By the way, get ready. We're going to implant the Gem of Stillness into you."

Xing instantly sobered up. "Okay, let's go now."

Raven felt something was off. Wasn't all of this too smooth? She was caught on the road in the middle of the night, Jackal implanted her with super-transformation factors, and now she was acting so calmly when it was time to implant the Gem of Stillness. Wasn't this all part of her plan?

Raven was amused by her own thought. How could that be? How could a child have so many schemes?

Alas, the truth is often stranger than fiction.

When they arrived at Jackal's well-preserved laboratory, Jackal took out a helmet and placed it on Xing's head. "This is a consciousness stabilization device. It can help you resist the erosion of Herrscher personalities that may arise during the experiment," Jackal explained.

The girl eyed it suspiciously. "Are you sure this thing is reliable?"

Raven, standing nearby, thought for a moment and said honestly, "Few of this guy's inventions are reliable."

Jackal exploded in anger. You can doubt my character, but you can't doubt my intelligence! I make my living with my brain!

In fact, that helmet wasn't some consciousness stabilization device. Let's rewind ten minutes—

"A consciousness modification device?" Raven toyed with the small object in her hand. "You're saying this can turn that kid into a servant who'll obey your every command?"

Jackal stated proudly, "Of course. I pored over World Serpent's data and created this based on the Consciousness Key as a prototype. While its functions aren't comparable to the real Consciousness Key, it's more than enough to handle a child."

For some reason, Raven particularly wanted to see the future where Xing wasn't affected by the device and successfully became the Herrscher of Death.

Xing walked into the open cultivation pod. As Jackal pressed a button, the hatch slowly closed, and a high-concentration Honkai Energy solution flowed in, quickly filling the pod. Xing was immersed in the solution. Perhaps due to her fusion-born physique, she didn't feel suffocated but rather excited, every cell in her body reveling in absorbing the Honkai Energy.

The Bagua pattern on the Book of Cang Xuan bracelet quietly lit up, not missing this opportunity to replenish its energy. Although it was still far from being full, it was believed that with time, the gluttonous armed puppet could be reactivated. Fortunately, the Book of Cang Xuan bracelet had a function to automatically adjust its size based on the wearer's physique; otherwise, Xing's arm would likely have been directly severed.

Jackal watched the data flickering on the screen with satisfaction. "Honkai Energy adaptability is excellent! Proceed to the next stage, Gem of Stillness, deploy!"

The gem, shimmering with an unusual color, slowly floated before the girl. Xing looked at it and voluntarily reached out, grasping it firmly. Instantly, a special kind of Honkai Energy seeped into her body, and the Herrscher Core of Death began to fuse.

"I'm sorry, but I don't intend to become the Herrscher of Death. I'll leave this core to Seele." Just as Xing was about to ask Yae Sakura for help stabilizing the Gem of Stillness, an unknown force pulled her consciousness into a pure white space.

Within the pure white space, Xing stared blankly at the equally pure white humanoid object before her. The figure's featureless body gradually shifted to resemble his. Xing's mind raced. If she wasn't mistaken, she was facing the god of this world—the Will of Honkai! (Strictly speaking, this entity isn't quite a god, as it's far removed from the Imaginary Tree and the Quantum Sea.)

The god lifted a purple sphere and offered it to her, as if saying, Come, the authority of the Herrscher of Death is here, take it.

Xing stared at him, stepped forward, and reached out to touch the sphere. Just as she was about to make contact, the boy's eyes sharpened abruptly. He turned and slapped the sphere away. "Don't use my face to make such an annoying expression! Are you begging for alms?!"

???—

A blonde girl in exotic clothing, with a white flower adorning her hair, watched the scene projected on the screen before her, laughing heartily. "Oh my, if I hadn't continuously received commissions from Honkai ###, I'd want to do that too. Well done! My colleague, truly worthy of being chosen as ###. Even without a guidance module, you dare to go head-to-head with the Will of Honkai like this. Don't be afraid! Our existence is on the same level, or even higher! Sigh, look at that little sister next door, she's so timid when she meets a demon god. You have a guidance module, yet you don't act like a ### should at all."

As she spoke, the girl tilted her chin, thinking seriously. "Speaking of which, these two are both from Honkai and Genshin, and they look so alike. Could there be any connection? Unlikely. We set our own character designs when we transmigrate. Besides, white hair and red eyes are a national fetish, right? It's probably just a coincidence."

The girl looked at the screen with sympathy. "Sigh, as a ####, I really pity you people who can only stay in a fixed #### without any special circumstances. Unlike me, I can travel anywhere I want."

A line of text appeared on the screen in front of the girl: "But they can use the abilities they gained in their current #### freely in other ####."

"Damn, so I don't have to re-level in every new #### like you?"

"In general theoretical terms, they usually won't encounter situations where they need to use this trait."

Returning to the current ####—

After Xing's slap, the pure white space instantly collapsed, and her consciousness returned to her body. The girl's eyes snapped open, and the panicked voice of the shrine maiden echoed in her mind: "Xing, what's wrong? I called you just now, but you didn't respond!"

Xing released her tightly clenched right hand, finding it empty. "There was a slight unexpected issue. Where's the Gem of Stillness?"

"I'm sorry, I couldn't suppress it. It... it has fused into your body," the shrine maiden said with shame.

Purple patterns spread across the girl's body, and a new mark flickered on her chest.

Jackal stared at the data on the screen and nodded with satisfaction. "Gem of Stillness 100% fused. Next, we just need to wait for her to adapt to the Herrscher of Death's power. Then, the other experiment can begin." She pressed a button, and at the top of the ME Company building, a rocket equipped with a high-yield Honkai Energy bomb prepared for launch.

"By using high-concentration Honkai Energy stimulation, we will forcefully awaken the shattered Stigmata within the genes of the current generation of humans, thereby increasing humanity's adaptability to Honkai Energy. We will distribute all the Honkai Energy on this planet equally among everyone, thus fundamentally preventing the descent of the Final Herrscher! Today marks the first step!" Jackal's eyes were filled with fanaticism.

"CRACK!" The sound of shattering glass echoed behind her. Jackal turned back in shock. The solution, which had been absorbed into clear water, flowed out of the broken experimental pod. Xing, unleashing the power of her Stigmata, forcibly suppressed the agitation of the Gem of Stillness within her body. She clenched her fist, removed the helmet from her head, and threw it to the ground. Facing a stunned Jackal, she said:

"I'm sorry, but your plan is going to end before it even begins its first step."

Author's Notes—

PS: I'm the type of transmigration author who explains the protagonist's reason for transmigrating~

The Changkong City portion will likely conclude in about one more chapter, after which we'll move into the small side-quest I mentioned earlier.