Siberia Branch

"Next, I'd look like this—a giant red eyeball floating in midair. It'd be strange if they didn't drag me off for research."

With a thought, Wang Luowei's body turned into a cloud of black mist and reassembled where she stood. Soon, a young woman appeared in her place, with flowing blue hair, orange-red eyes, and a black-and-purple tracksuit covered in various decorations. The blood-red eye-shaped ornament hanging over her left breast symbolized her true identity.

"Huh? I was only trying to see if I could turn into a human. Why did I automatically become Corrupted Elysia?" Wang Luowei examined herself and found that, physiologically speaking, she was now completely female as well.

Seeing her in Elysian Realm had been enough to make one's heart stop, but her appearance had come from Elysia after all. From a purely feminine perspective, she was undeniably beautiful.

As for gender? The Herrscher of Corruption had no gender to begin with. If it became male, it was male; if it became female, it was female. In theory, it could even become a Walmart shopping bag or an attack helicopter... Being able to customize one's own gender was truly leagues ahead.

Since she currently looked like Corrupted Elysia, then she was a woman. Having read countless body-swap transmigration novels, Wang Luowei felt no attachment whatsoever to the sausage she had lost. According to Honkai Impact 3rd's setting, becoming a girl might even give her greater Honkai Energy adaptability. More importantly, wouldn't this make it easier for her to get close and cuddly with girls?

"

"Hehehe..." Thinking of that, Wang Luowei drooled at the corner of her mouth and let out a foolish giggle.

After getting her craziness out of her system and returning to normal, Wang Luowei realized something was wrong.

According to the original plot, the Herrscher of Corruption from the Current Era had attached itself to Raiden Mei before she brought it into Elysian Realm. As for the Herrscher of Corruption from the Previous Civilization—the Himeko who had spent all day in Yae Village shouting, "Big Sister, you're back!"—she had also appeared after Rin's death in the Previous Civilization. Yet there was no one else around Wang Luowei, meaning there was no host for her to attach herself to. Still, that did not stop her from using the Herrscher of Corruption's authority. She could not figure out why.

Besides, if the Herrscher of Corruption did not attach itself to someone else, its appearance in the real world should have been a mass of black mist. Why had she turned into that giant red eyeball instead?

Wang Luowei wanted to keep thinking, but a wave of discomfort washed over her, as though something had been drained from her body. She had no choice but to give up.

Right, with how I look now, using the name Wang Luowei feels kind of out of place... I'm the Herrscher of Corruption, I can retain my humanity, and I'm connected to Elysia... Then I'll call myself... Enoshia (эро3ия, a Russian homophone for "corrosion")."

Just then, she noticed someone approaching. Judging by her appearance, she seemed to be a Valkyrie of Schicksal.

"No way. I've only been in this world for a little over ten minutes—how did she get here so fast? Did I descend right next to a Schicksal Valkyrie unit?"

Faced with this situation, Enoshia immediately chose to lie down and pretend to be unconscious. She also ordered the nearby Honkai Beasts to attack her. Any Valkyrie unaware of the truth would surely assume she was a human girl who had been attacked by Honkai Beasts.

Enoshia felt that, as a Herrscher, the first thing she needed to consider in the world of Honkai Impact 3rd was how to stay alive. If she successfully fooled this Valkyrie, the woman would regard her as a survivor with unusually strong resistance to Honkai Energy. That would most likely let her come into contact with Schicksal's equipment. As long as she, the Herrscher of Corruption, touched an electronic device, she would become the hardest Herrscher to kill. As long as she left backups behind, she would never truly die.

After a series of clanging noises, she sensed someone gently shaking her body. She slowly opened her eyes and saw a delicate face before her. The woman had long black hair, golden eyes, pale yellow underwear beneath a brown jacket, and two pistols hanging at her waist. She looked to be around twenty years old. Enoshia did not remember there ever being a Valkyrie like her.

"I'm Schicksal Valkyrie Huò Bùfán. You're safe now. Can you tell me what happened?" She pulled Enoshia up and asked with concern.

"Huò Bùfán? There's no such name in Honkai Impact 3rd... Then again, there are so many Schicksal Valkyries. If they aren't S-rank, plenty of them don't even have known names." Suppressing her doubts, Enoshia did her best to look frightened and exhausted, shaking her head like a rattle-drum.

"Sorry... I... don't know anything."

Seeing the beautiful young woman in that state, Huò Bùfán did not press her. After reporting in over the radio, she helped Enoshia into a vehicle. Wang Luowei looked to the side and saw several plastic bags.

"There's water and food in the car. Help yourself if you need anything."

At Huò Bùfán's words, Enoshia opened one of the plastic bags. Inside were several packs of compressed biscuits and a few bottles of mineral water that, for some reason, had not frozen solid. They were hardly delicacies, but on this barren snowfield, having something to eat and drink was already good enough.

"I look like a human girl right now, but fundamentally, I should still be that mass of black mist... So can I eat and drink like a normal person?" Despite feeling no hunger at all, curiosity made her tear open a pack of biscuits, take out one, chew it repeatedly, and swallow. Then she took a sip of water.

"? I can actually eat and drink just like a normal human? That leaves even fewer flaws. It tastes better than I expected." Before she realized it, Enoshia had finished the entire pack of compressed biscuits. Huò Bùfán merely assumed that she had been trapped on the snowfield for some time before encountering the Honkai Beasts, and said nothing.

After driving across the snowfield for several hours, the vehicle stopped in front of a snow-white building.

"This is Schicksal's Siberia Branch. You'll receive treatment here." Huò Bùfán quietly told Enoshia. Enoshia put on a show of being able to walk and signaled that Huò Bùfán did not need to keep supporting her. Huò Bùfán respected her wishes. After watching her take a few steps without trouble, she entered with her.

After turning several corners and walking along numerous side paths that no one seemed to use, the two arrived outside a room. As the automatic door opened, Enoshia immediately spotted several enormous tanks filled with various liquids. There were even people soaking inside a few of them, while quite a few researcher-looking individuals busied themselves in front of several computers.

Curious, Enoshia walked over to the largest electronic device and inspected it carefully. There were dozens of buttons on each side, along with several instruments whose indicators she did not understand. The large screen in the center was completely black, clearly unused.

"Miles, is it really okay to let her look around like that?" Several meters away, Huò Bùfán glanced at Enoshia, who was touching things indiscriminately, and asked a researcher who looked unmistakably like the director.

"It's fine. It's normal for a young girl to be curious when she's never seen this place before. Besides, without my authorization, she can't turn it on. I got the report—is she the girl you rescued during your earlier mission?"

Huò Bùfán nodded.

"That's right. Headquarters initially said they had detected a suspected Herrscher reaction there. I was the closest, so I went to investigate. But by the time I arrived, the Herrscher reaction had disappeared. Among all those Honkai Beasts, she was the only one still alive."

"So you suspect she was born with exceptionally strong Honkai Energy resistance and would make good Valkyrie material?"

"That's right, but a suspicion is only a suspicion, so I thought..."

"Hm? What happened?"

Every light in the laboratory suddenly went out. The automatic doors shut tight and would not open, plunging the entire room into darkness.

Huò Bùfán instinctively drew her pistol.

"Don't panic. Flashlight." Miles showed no sign of alarm. By the flashlight's beam, he switched on that massive device.

"Let me see... There's no data loss, and all the equipment is functioning normally. Maybe it's just an ordinary power failure. Let's wait a little longer."

It seemed Miles's guess had been correct. About ten minutes later, the laboratory lights came back on, and the automatic doors opened again. The only problem was that Enoshia, who had been in the laboratory moments ago, had vanished.