The Saintess and the Great Inventor

A month passed quickly. Li Ming basically went everywhere with Raiden Ryoma and Raiden Yae. Unfortunately, he had no time to see Shenzhou's cyberpunk cities, which left him quite regretful. When he learned that Sky City had not yet become the cyberpunk city it would be in 2017, much of his interest faded. Still, wherever he went, he never forgot his habit of writing in his diary. After all, he had promised Susanna.

Although it would not have been difficult for Uncle Su to bring Susanna out to have fun, this was a promise between two young people!

Over that month, Li Ming had basically mastered Inch Punch: Rock Break. When he first learned the move, he had been excited for quite a while.

However, Li Ming was truly powerless when it came to the system upgrade. One hundred and eighty days—after returning from Mount Taixu, it had been July 14. By the time the system finished updating, it would probably be January 10. There was nothing he could do. Fortunately, things like the armor blueprints Vill-V had designed for him, as well as the formulas, were all stored in the materials. Otherwise, Li Ming would have been completely lost.

"All right, Xiao Ming, your final shot has been arranged. Yae and I will head back first. We'll meet again once we get to California."

"Bye-bye, Brother Li Ming!" Yae waved, then boarded the plane with Raiden Ryoma.

"Okay!"

Only after Yae and Raiden Ryoma disappeared from sight did Li Ming lower his hand. He had received a month's salary. When he had first gotten the card and seen the 150,000 inside, he had only then snapped back to his senses.

One hundred and fifty thousand. Even after working for a year following graduation, he had never seen that much money. All he could say was that life was good when you had money.

Afterward, Li Ming kept hypnotizing himself with the thought that it was only six gift coins, and only then did he finally calm down. Really, sometimes comparison was what hurt the most.

Li Ming looked at the plane ticket in his hand. He was ready to fly back to Qinghe City. This time, accompanying Raiden Ryoma and the others around was mainly about visiting historical sites, and places with famous scenic attractions generally suffered less Honkai disturbance.

However, as time passed, Li Ming's mind no longer felt so muddled. A large amount of his memories gradually became sorted out. Although some fragments remained broken and disconnected, and some parts were still unclear, he at least understood the most basic knowledge.

Shenzhou was different from other regions, especially when it came to the existence of Honkai. Its development path was more like cultivating both magic and martial arts. Technology and ancient martial arts developed together. After all, there were legendary figures such as Immortal Chi Yuan and the Xuanyuan Sword, as well as methods for using formations to kill demonic beasts. As a result, Shenzhou had formed its own system for dealing with Honkai.

As for demonic beasts, Shenzhou headquarters did not hide their existence, nor was there any need to. Instead, people needed to become stronger and self-reliant. They also regularly organized fixed drills, treating Honkai unrest as a natural disaster so they could respond to outbreaks in a more orderly manner.

That was also why Xie Qingming had said Li Ming had failed to evacuate immediately when she learned he had been corrupted by Honkai.

As for zombies and Honkai Beasts, Shenzhou had different plans for each. Zombies were dangerous because of their ability to infect humans and their special abilities, while Honkai Beasts were dangerous because of their destructive power and range.

As a result, most people were not surprised when they encountered Honkai. Instead, they handled it calmly. Some even took an extra look while calling the local branch, trying to determine exactly what was happening.

What made Li Ming even more curious was his grandfather and his parents, who only appeared in scattered fragments of his memories. His grandfather had been the village elder, the kind of person everyone called over whenever something happened in the village so he could settle things fairly.

His grandfather had clearly practiced martial arts, and every child in the village had to study martial arts under him from a young age. He had heard that his father used to be the village's senior disciple, handsome and dashing. His mother had also been a great beauty, though Li Ming felt that was somewhat exaggerated. Everyone said he resembled his mother, but he did not think himself breathtakingly handsome. At best, he was fairly good-looking.

After he started studying and moved to the city, he saw his parents even less. Anyway, in the memories Li Ming knew, there had never been any impression of his parents.

His grandfather had constantly nagged him to study from a young age, while also making him practice martial arts. That was how he became the senior disciple of his generation.

In the original owner's memories, the old man had a stubborn temper and disliked learning new things. If the original owner had not insisted it would make contacting each other easier, worked part-time while studying, and installed a landline at home, then taught the old man how to answer it—

What, you said making calls?

Impossible. The old man would only write letters to him. Making calls? Impossible. It was not as though the old man could not learn, but he simply refused to call. He would rather learn to write, something he had not wanted to learn, than learn how to use a phone.

Li Ming had already confirmed this with Uncle Su. Two days after he arrived in Qinghe City, Su Qizhe received a letter from the old man.

All he could say was that the old man really knew how to mess with people's heads.

Moreover, whenever the old man did answer a call, he liked to be the one who hung up first. The original owner would usually call him first, then wait for the old man to end the call.

Li Ming suddenly remembered that he seemed to have hung up on the old man that day. He was doomed. Once he went back, he would definitely be doomed. When he returned for the New Year, he would surely be beaten into a pig's head.

Thinking of how the original owner had been beaten into a pig's head by the old man, Li Ming shuddered internally.

To beat him into a pig's head without leaving him any ability to fight back, the old man's strength had to be comparable to an A-rank—no, an S-rank Valkyrie.

Li Ming could not help shivering. "Forget it, forget it. I won't think about it. There'll be a way when I get there. The old man can't possibly kill his only grandson."

Quietly comforting himself, he bought a bottle of iced coffee and found a seat. His luggage had already been shipped by air.

The current PHS phones did not have wireless internet access yet. Li Ming bought a book from a nearby bookstore and flipped through it casually. Then he suddenly thought that he was living during the rise of web novels. Perhaps he could try writing one too.

Thinking about it, though, he did not seem to have that much time to write novels.

No, if he counted the time he spent in the Elysian Realm, he actually did have time. It probably would not be a problem, but that would have to wait until the system finished updating. Besides, he was not short on money right now. Forget it, he would talk about it later.

After all, this was a rare experience. Since he had transmigrated, even if he did not become a literary plagiarist, he should at least become some kind of miracle doctor or super-rich tycoon.

"Though it seems miracle doctor stories haven't been very popular lately."

Li Ming rubbed his chin and thought, "No, it should be that when I transmigrated, people had already grown tired of them, so they weren't popular then. But right now, they should still have quite a market."

Wait. Li Ming suddenly stopped. What was he even thinking about? He did not even have anything yet. Shaking his head, he focused on the book in his hands.

The book was called "The Saintess and the Great Inventor." Seeing its classical and luxurious packaging, he had thought it was some kind of literary classic.

Who would have thought that when he opened it, the story was about a Saintess who met a handsome Great Inventor. The Great Inventor was extremely intelligent and always managed to create powerful weapons whenever the Saintess went out to eliminate evil. Then the two traveled the world together.

As they continued their travels, they not only met a chivalrous woman who slew demons and vanquished evil, but also encountered a shrine maiden devoted to protecting others.

The Great Inventor had once separated from the Saintess and trained alongside the chivalrous woman, all so he could grow stronger and remain by the Saintess's side. Meanwhile, the Saintess helped the shrine maiden protect her village.

While the Great Inventor traveled with the chivalrous woman, their relationship reached the level of confidants. But while the two were slaying demons and evil, the chivalrous woman was harmed by villains. At that time, she was gravely wounded.

In the end, the Great Inventor created a divine artifact capable of slaying demons. Yet even after he brought his enemy's head before the chivalrous woman, he studied for a long time without finding a way to heal her injuries. In the end, he could only fake her death and seal her away, hiding her in the place where they had first met.

Then the Great Inventor set out to find the Saintess, only to discover that the village once protected by the shrine maiden had become a wasteland. Demons had turned every villager into a puppet.

After the Great Inventor reunited with the Saintess and the shrine maiden, he used what he had gained during his travels with the chivalrous woman to find a way to deal with the demons.

But in the end, they discovered that the demons were deeply connected to the shrine maiden. To kill them, the shrine maiden ultimately chose to slay the demons and perish with them.

The Saintess tried to save the shrine maiden, but she could only watch her fade away in her arms. In the end, the Saintess and the Great Inventor returned to how things had once been, traveling the world together and slaying demons.

They were clearly still together as before, yet they found they could no longer return to those days.

Too many things were missing. But when they returned to their homeland, they encountered a chaos not seen in a century.

After they resolved that chaos, the ruler, for the stability of his own nation, slandered the Saintess as a demon. The Saintess was unwilling to harm civilians. Even though they had been deceived by the ruler, she still refused to use her power.

In the end, amid the turmoil, although the Great Inventor wanted to rescue the Saintess, he had to respect her wishes. He ultimately decided to deal with the despicable ruler.

But the despicable ruler released the demons he had captured, allowing them to wreak havoc among the people once more. The Saintess still used her power, intending to eliminate the demons.

But without the Great Inventor's help, the Saintess could not defeat the demons at all. In the end, she could only sacrifice herself. Even though the people finally understood the truth, the Saintess still died at the demons' hands.

When the Great Inventor killed the ruler, he was already too late. Even the method he had once used to preserve the chivalrous woman could not save the Saintess. At that moment, the Great Inventor had already died. All that remained was a rakshasa wandering the world with a coffin on his back.

After spending nearly an hour and a half finishing the book in his hands, Li Ming set down "The Saintess and the Great Inventor," feeling rather helpless. He had thought it would be some sweet romance between a Saintess and a Great Inventor. Who the hell knew it would turn out like this? Fine, fine, that was how it was written? Then he was going to the kitchen to get some knives for the author.

"What kind of author is this? It's well written, sure, but this got published?" Li Ming stared at the book with dark lines across his face. He flipped through it carefully, then saw a familiar name in the author section. "Author: Otto Apocalypse?"

"Lord Bishop, you really have too much free time!" How could Li Ming possibly fail to see it now? The protagonist was Otto himself. Although most of the plot had been heavily altered, Li Ming could still tell that the Saintess was Kallen, the chivalrous woman was their Li Da Zhen Tou, and the shrine maiden was Yae Sakura.

Li Ming flipped through the book in his hands again, reading it from beginning to end. "Still, this really does feel like something Bishop Otto would do."