Instinct told him that this ability did not distinguish between men and women, but unfortunately, he could only come into contact with Valkyries for now.
As everyone chatted, Pardo gradually relaxed her guard and stopped hiding.
After Bai Chen released his transformation, the other members of the Thirteen Flame-Chasers gradually returned to the apartment as time passed.
"Hm? That smell... Is Chijie cooking?"
The moment Su entered, he smelled the scent drifting from the kitchen. That intensely spicy aroma was something only Chijie could make in the entire apartment.
Su had not returned for the past two days because something had happened at the hospital, and he had practically been living there. He had not expected to find Chijie manning the stove upon returning today. Hopefully, he could handle dinner tonight.
"With such a commotion, it looks like Chijie caught a big fish today. Yesterday, Chijie and Kevin agreed to go fishing together today. But since you weren't around at the time, you probably wouldn't know."
Almost as soon as Su returned, Sakura smiled and answered from beside him.
"Sakura!!!"
The instant she saw Sakura, Kallen's radar immediately lit up.
"There's a Sakura in this world too?"
Kallen had thought she would not meet anyone familiar here. After all, based on what Fu Hua had told her, the people here might all know her, so she should not have known them.
"Uh... this Sakura isn't that Sakura."
That was how Bai Chen explained it in his heart.
"No, Kevin told me over the phone. Didn't Kevin say you caught something big today too?"
Su looked at Kevin strangely, then glanced toward the kitchen, seemingly asking why Kevin had not gone inside to deal with his big catch.
"Hahaha, Boss Kevin did catch something big, but it wasn't edible."
Pardo was laughing herself silly at the side. God knew how hard she had laughed when she learned that Kevin had hooked a Honkai Beast, then angrily had it printed onto cloth.
Having been exposed, Kevin's face darkened as he froze that cloth into icy fragments, destroying the final proof that the Honkai Beast had ever existed in this world. Only its weight—158 kilograms—remained in Kevin's heart.
In the end, Kevin made one last struggle.
"Actually, Honkai Beasts can be eaten once in a while."
"No, no, no. A normal person would die after one bite! We're only exceptions."
As a doctor, Su had to immediately interrupt Kevin's nonsense.
Afterward, Cosmo, Aponia, Eden, and the others also returned from outside one after another.
"Hey, is that her?"
Inside Bai Chen's body, Kallen spoke with Ji Lin.
"Yeah... I wouldn't mistake her."
Ji Lin stared sharply at that familiar figure among the crowd.
"Look, it's Fu Hua!" *2
The two shouted in unison.
Although Fu Hua had initially found the people here familiar, seeing Fu Hua among them felt entirely different.
"Is that me from this world?"
Looking at the other her confirmed that she really was one of them. But when had she met them? During the time she guarded Shenzhou? She did remember that a group of people had gathered around her during that period.
The other "Fu Hua" glanced, intentionally or not, toward Bai Chen the moment she entered, as though something about him was drawing her attention.
"Sure, let's arrange it according to Elysia's decision."
As Eden and Elysia talked, Bai Chen and Seele's accommodations for the night were settled.
Hua found an opportunity to approach Bai Chen alone.
"Why do you have Feathered Dust's feathers on you?"
Getting straight to the point, Hua asked what had been on her mind. As Feathered Dust's owner, the feathers on Bai Chen's body were as conspicuous as a blazing fire in the darkness to her senses.
"Uh..."
Bai Chen thought that, since they would be leaving this world tomorrow anyway, there was no need to hide it so carefully.
"Do you want to share?"
Bai Chen asked Fu Hua in his heart. After all, these were her affairs.
"Sure. I'm curious about what happened in this world too."
Fu Hua nodded in agreement. She also wanted to know what sort of relationship she had with those familiar people in this world.
"Since that's the case, shall we share? It's faster this way, isn't it?"
Bai Chen reached out and took Hua's hand. Soon, Hua's Feathered Dust connected with the feathers inside Bai Chen's body.
Hua and Fu Hua fell into a world that belonged only to the two of them.
Watching Hua's figure from up close... it seemed she really had not developed over the past fifty thousand years.
Far away in her own world, Fu Hua suddenly felt a chill run down her spine for no reason, as though someone were talking about her behind her back.
"So there's a world like this too? It's a pity the memories are incomplete. I don't know what happened to us in that world in the end."
After their exchange, Hua could not help sighing. Compared to that world, this one was almost absurdly peaceful.
Fu Hua also fell silent. This world was practically a joke! Otto in the original world was actually the owner of a company focused on managing celebrities!
The most famous girl group under his company was called the Herrscher Idol Group, and his biggest star was a youthful beautiful girl who had remained active for over thirty years, the childhood and adult idol of an entire generation!
The headmaster of St. Freya Academy was not Theresa either, but Cecilia, who had sacrificed herself in the original world!
There were all kinds of outrageous things. The entire world was defined by its sheer absurdity.
In Hua's memories, they did not know when they had gained the powers of fusion warriors. It was as if that part had been deliberately blurred, and no one had ever cared about it.
Bai Chen knew that this was the effect of the World Bubble about to disappear. Since the world was on the verge of dispersing, much information had been lost.
After her brief reflection, Hua also let down her guard. Through the feathers, she had completely understood what kind of person Bai Chen was.
"Hey! Kevin! This stove isn't big enough!"
At that moment, Chijie's uniquely loud voice rang out from the kitchen.
"The stove isn't big enough? Why are you looking for me?"
Kevin, who had been called into the kitchen by Chijie, found it rather baffling.
"Where's your Heavenly Fire Holy Judgment?"
Chijie held out his hand toward Kevin.
"You want that? I think one of my juniors borrowed it a few days ago."
Kevin paused before continuing.
"Apparently, their kitchen exploded, so they could only use that thing to start fires for the past few days."
"Your junior? Then it's not strange. Of the Kaslana family, only you can enter a kitchen."
Chijie had been about to lose his temper when he heard Heavenly Fire had been borrowed, but the moment he heard Kevin's junior had blown up her home, he instantly found it reasonable.
"What do you mean by that? What do you mean?! I'm telling you, that's slander!"
The moment Kallen heard someone questioning the capabilities of the Kaslana family, she immediately became anxious. Being able to cook delicious food for Sakura to eat was enough to make her laugh in her sleep!
That was a close one... Bai Chen broke out in a cold sweat. Fortunately, when he let Kallen use his body to relax, he had not let her enter the kitchen. Otherwise, Otto would discover the next day that all his plans had been poisoned to death.
"You're Bai Chen, right? I'm Cosmo, Griseo's older brother."
Once Cosmo saw that Bai Chen and Hua had finished talking, he brought Griseo over to greet him.
"Cosmo, Bai Chen can transform with a whoosh, just like on TV!"
Griseo pointed at the purple wristguard on Bai Chen's hand. It seemed that even this child had been misled by Bai Chen's actions and had mistaken the shell on his arm for a transformation device.
"Really?"
Cosmo's emotions visibly rose.
"And that's not all."
Bai Chen winked and smiled. Hadn't Heavenly Fire Holy Judgment been borrowed? He had two Heavenly Fire Holy Judgments.
Drive: Heavenly Fire Holy Judgment
Under everyone's gaze, Bai Chen struck a cool pose, then fiercely inserted a purple card into the wristguard.
Then, Bai Chen took a ball of blazing fire from a phantom image. As the flames dispersed, a greatsword flowing with fire was revealed.
"...Kevin?!"
Such a huge commotion naturally drew the attention of everyone in the hall. Seeing the Heavenly Fire Greatsword in Bai Chen's hand, they all fell silent.
For a moment, the hall was so quiet it was terrifying. If not for the sound of Chijie stir-frying in the kitchen, Bai Chen would have thought time had stopped.
"Cool."
After a long while, Cosmo finally squeezed out those words. It was unclear whether he meant the greatsword looked cool, or that summoning the sword itself was cool.
"Elysia, where did you find this child? He can even do something like that?"
Eden noticed just how extraordinary Bai Chen was. The temperature of those flames just now proved that the weapon in his hand was definitely not merely for show.
"I don't know either. He can do that too?"
Elysia covered her mouth, somewhat surprised as well. So he could do more than transform? He kind of felt like the protagonist of a tokusatsu show, except he did not transform into armor.
If Bai Chen transformed into a magical girl, then wasn't he actually a Pretty Cure? Or a magical girl?
Elysia thought mischievously to herself.
If Bai Chen knew what she was thinking, he would definitely correct her seriously once again... he had never only been able to transform into beautiful girls!
But Bai Chen could not possibly know what Elysia was thinking. At that moment, he carried the greatsword in his hand and rushed into the kitchen.
"Jie Ge, you can use this!"
"Oh? Where did you get it? Isn't Kevin's with his junior?"
"This isn't Kevin's. But there's no difference."
Kevin only needed one touch to determine the sword's strength.
"Good. Kid, can you control fire?"
As Chijie plated the food in the wok, he asked Bai Chen.
"Control fire? No problem."
Bai Chen said that although he could not play with fire as well as the two people before him, his abilities were related to flames too. Controlling a little fire to cook was naturally no problem. Besides, he had Mei's memories in his head.
"Hahaha! Good! Kid, come help me! Tonight, I'll give you an extra serving! Hahaha! Cough, cough, cough!"
Chijie raised the spatula in his hand and laughed heartily, only to choke on his saliva from using too much force.
If Heavenly Fire Holy Judgment had consciousness, it would surely be thinking—What the hell is this? You handed me over just so you could stir-fry a dish? The former Herrscher of Flame is furious!
After a hot and busy session, our protagonist finally helped Chijie finish preparing the feast.
The reason Chijie needed the Heavenly Fire Greatsword was to deal with the huge fish he had caught!
That fish was Chijie's treasure today. For it, Chijie had practically searched every place nearby where people lived, which was why he had returned home two hours later than expected.
Under Chijie's guidance, they successfully made a grilled fish that looked incredibly appetizing.
Bai Chen actually noticed something. Chijie's cooking seemed to favor heavy oil and spicy flavors, while Mei leaned more toward homestyle dishes and desserts.
Each had their own specialties, he supposed. He wondered what Rita's cooking was like. After all, she was also supposed to be the type who was good at cooking.
When they brought the dishes to the table, Bai Chen found that everyone in the hall had gathered. Even Vill-V and Mobius had returned at some unknown point.
"Wow? Even I've never seen a fish this big before."
Before you continue