Chen Tianwu, a New and Unknown Companion

Kiana removed the Titanium Gold knitted mask resembling the Crimson Oni, downed most of her Long Island Iced Tea, her lips briefly touching the coolness of the ice before parting. She then turned her gaze to the other's slightly flushed face, bringing up a topic unrelated to their previous conversation:

"Bronya, have you been drinking a lot these past few years?"

Upon hearing this, Bronya extended her neatly trimmed, rounded fingernails, revealing pale pink tips, and gently poked the girl's collagen-rich face. Observing the girl's belated evasiveness and speechlessness, she found this meeting across time and space, seemingly impossible, quite interesting. She then smiled and said:

"Hmm, I guess so."

"Take that Long Island Iced Tea in your hand, for example. The process involves blending multiple base spirits, controlling the ratio of acidity and sweetness, and finally using carbonated beverages."

"Basically, you can find several key factors for judging the quality of a cocktail here."

"When a professional bartender mixes Long Island Iced Tea, they carefully control the amount of base spirit, the ratio of sour syrup, and the amount of water melted from the ice, leaving very little cola to make up the rest."

Kiana was clearly unaccustomed to Bronya's unusually affectionate gestures. She glanced at the iced tea in her hand, which was obviously loaded with cola, savoring the lingering taste of alcohol and the strong carbonation in her mouth. As if struck by a thought, she asked:

"Hmm, so... you deliberately asked the bartender to add extra Coke when you ordered?"

Bronya smiled gently and said softly:

"Yes, you rarely drink alcohol, right? I was worried you wouldn't like it, so I added more of your favorite cola."

Is this Bronya?

Time is truly a wondrous thing, beyond words.

Kiana felt the care and tenderness of this mature adult, and then glanced at her eyebrows and eyes, which resembled those of the girl she knew. She still found it hard to get used to this strange difference.

On the other hand, she was still quite concerned about why the other person had developed such a hobby and habit.

While this might not be surprising given the other person's nationality, a closer look at their past behavior reveals a clear difference.

Kiana knew that even without the Herrscher Core, the structure of Herrscher's body was still different from that of an ordinary person. To take drinking as an example, it was actually very difficult for the Herrscher to get drunk if they were willing.

As she read this, her feelings were complicated, but she still smiled and said:

"Yes, carbonated drinks taste much better than alcohol."

Kiana recalled her future and experiences in the same timeline as Bronya. In that world, Himeko, having inherited the Stigmata buried beneath the Nine Nether, was able to wear the God-Slaying Armor in order to awaken herself from the Herrscher's control, without much harm.

Although he spent some time in the hospital bed, he was back to his energetic self in no time.

The girl blinked, a bright smile appearing on her lips as she teased:

"You seem to have become just like Himeko."

Bronya never imagined she would be evaluated this way, and she retorted:

"I'm not a drunkard like Himeko, and... since Xiaosu left, she's become much more restrained with her drinking; I rarely see her acting crazy when she's drunk."

Her eyelashes drooped as she gazed at the swirling liquid in her glass, and she said softly:

"However, I do understand Himeko- sensei's reasons for drinking better now."

"I sometimes have a drink when I'm feeling down, happy, or bored."

"Sometimes, even if you're not truly drunk, just being slightly tipsy can be a good way to enhance the mood. Yeah, you know I became a game producer after Honkai ended, and being slightly tipsy can bring me some inspiration in that area."

"Of course, most of the time I'm just reminiscing. Although it's good that the world is free of Honkai, and the taste of peace is something I've always dreamed of, many friends have drifted apart along the way. If I don't look back from time to time, I'm always afraid I'll forget."

Kiana sighed:

"Big sister Bronya, do I become this sentimental once I reach your age and children call me 'auntie'?"

"If you can ever go back to where you belong, remember to tell me, the grown-up me, not to become like this, otherwise the past you will feel very disillusioned."

Bronya's gaze dimmed slightly upon hearing this. She finished her drink, her expression remaining imperceptible in the ever-changing light of the bar. She simply smiled and replied:

"If I have the chance, I will."

The conversation had barely ended when a ticking sound came from behind us.

The small seal script icon on the girl's pure silver wrist flickered intermittently. She lowered her eyes and looked at it, then whispered:

"A letter has arrived from the Black Dragon Gang."

The arrival of this email signaled the end of our casual chat.

As her gaze descended, the metal semi-ring floating behind her head automatically linked to this information, weaving a holographic image in front of her retina.

Bronya ran her fingers through the girl's soft white hair, across her lovely earlobe, and onto the headset she had previously created with her power, where she added a few blue fireflies to modify it.

Kiana then shared the same field of vision with both of them.

What they saw now was a man speaking the local language in a detached tone.

He sat on an old leather sofa, his features obscured, only a ghostly face etched with black dragon patterns could be seen. He was dressed very conservatively, and his skin tone had been somewhat altered.

This is not surprising. Those who dare to break the law and build gangs are all ruthless people. They basically pulled out the subcutaneous crystals that were embedded in their bodies at birth through various coincidences and miraculously survived. Only then did they escape the eternal detection of the [Heavenly Eye] and gain the right to walk in the gray area.

However, both the Taixu Sect's control over this world and its level of armed suppression mean that these people only dare to roam outside the thirty-six main cities, and any action they take outside these areas requires extremely strict identity information protection measures.

As for the reason for doing so, we must mention the genetic modification that His Your Excellency carried out on all of humanity. This modification leaves a genetic backdoor that causes genetic collapse and leads to death for any human being in the world.

As long as the corresponding code number is entered into [Dragon Court], no matter where they are hiding in the world, their genes will collapse and they will die within three seconds without any interval.

Therefore, if some personal information is exposed, it is easy for the government to find the relevant number and upload it to [Dragon Court] for review, requesting direct input.

Therefore, most of the bosses who can control a gang come from the Honkai breeding farm.

In simple terms, they are the best of the best among humans who, after an accident at the farm, lost their subcutaneous crystals and were automatically declared dead by the system, but were lucky enough to survive. Consequently, they did not bother to obtain new identity documents and were willing to live as Undocumented Resident individuals to evade the corresponding data collection criteria.

Because if the escape and feigned death were not carried out in this way, the corresponding code would be too easy to find, and there is a certain probability that the [Heavenly Eye] system would automatically determine that it needs to be corrected.

That is, enter the "deceased person's" number in [Dragon Court] to confirm that the person is indeed dead.

Once this is done, whether it's a real death or a feigned one, the outcome is obvious.

However, due to the excessive number of deaths in the Honkai breeding farms each year, the codes of these individuals are uniformly removed from the table data and thus stored in a deeper "safe" for future use.

In other words, unless Su Qing'an is about to Awakened and His Your Excellency intends to eliminate all unexpected factors, [Dragon Court] will automatically open this cabinet, input a large number of commands, and put all Undocumented Resident into a state of 100% death.

Therefore, in the past, people who became Undocumented Resident for this reason were considered safe.

But this is only temporary.

For the Taixu Sect, these Undocumented Resident, who had lost the subcutaneous crystals used to stabilize the signal towers and transmit quantum signals, were essentially freed from half of the shackles of potential mind control, becoming "free people" whom the Your Excellency did not allow to exist.

Whether in Bronya's or Kiana's eyes, these people are actually the best allies.

However, there are currently two problems.

One is the mind control command that the two of them had been unable to reach an agreement on before.

Even if Undocumented Resident escape the superficial manipulation of mind control, it is still possible that their minds have been pre-set with mental restrictions.

After all, a chip is something planted in infancy, so there is plenty of time to implant a mental imprint.

Of course, there seems to be a loophole here. As long as an Undocumented Resident is born into another Undocumented Resident, and the child is not under the control of the Taixu Sect and the government, and then quietly reproduces in the world, a group of resistance fighters can be born over a long period of time.

In this era where all human genes have been modified, to reproduce normally, one needs to obtain a unique gene serum formulated with a specific code number from the local government, thus eliminating the possibility of igniting revolutionary war.

Therefore, it's hard not to suspect the possibility that the other party died suddenly just as they were preparing to rebel.

Second, the failure of cooperation was due to information asymmetry.

Most of the Undocumented Resident discovered the existence of a certain reality in the subconscious crystal and the world. Almost everyone who rose to become a gang leader was like Truman from The Truman Show or the protagonist of The Matrix, having discovered the falsehood in their own world and found a certain truth.

The problem is that the information they brought was too advanced, and there was no certainty that the other party would trust it.

Moreover, this kind of manipulation of nine hundred years of world history, just to let one person Awakened and see a "wonderful" world, and to whitewash all the evidence, is completely unbelievable without any proof.

However, Bronya was confident that she could directly simulate Udu-dust's ability using her Herrscher Authority. As long as the other party did Little Cat Spin Bar, she only needed to consider the first question in the short term.

After thinking it over, she first pressed the pause button and said softly:

"The process of cultural development here is different from what we have experienced. The application of our past knowledge is not absolute here. To avoid any surprises, we need to download a voice pack for more accurate translation."

Kiana retorted:

"Hmm, he's dressed really conservatively, completely different from the gangsters I'm used to. He looks more like some underground party member who's committed treason."

Bronya operated the virtual panel and said quietly:

"Isn't that right? In this world, anyone Undocumented Resident legal identity is like an underground party member. Only we were able to obtain identification thanks to Xiao Xi's Your Highness. But I estimate that after a while, perhaps not long, they will make their move against us."

Upon hearing this, Kiana silently sipped the remaining cola-flavored iced tea in her cup, feeling immense pressure.

Fu Hua had been deliberately fishing and developing technology in order to wake Su Qing'an Awakened, and had been cultivating Honkai for a full nine hundred years. He was not far from gathering enough resources to help Su Qing'an successfully complete the path of dimensional ascension. In fact, his years of accumulation might already be enough. However, Su Qing'an was still waiting patiently to play it safe.

Based on recent information and the intelligence provided by Su Muxi, it seems that His Your Excellency intends to bring back all the World Bubble that were being cultivated outside the Proper World.

If this action is actually carried out, it means that all the demon corpses prepared to be fed to Su Qing'an will cross the barrier of the Sea of Quantum within a month, arrive in the Proper World, and be sent to Chao Xian City.

Therefore, it's quite easy to predict when the other party will make their move.

When all the necessary resources are piled up in Chao Xian City, that's when His Your Excellency decides to cleanse the world and rewrite history.

In the worst-case scenario, the two only have thirty days.

They must find Udu-dust, who possesses Fu Hua's consciousness, within thirty days and carry out a plan to change the current state of the world, to drag that Your Excellency down from her high throne, to overturn the stage play she has woven all by herself, and to allow civilization to continue.

Moreover, they also shared a belief that aligned with His Your Excellency's attitude throughout this process.

That is, to allow Su Qing'an to awaken normally and complete the path of dimensional ascension, so that he can survive.

This prevented Bronya and Kiana from using any means to try to delay the passage of time. However, judging from the degree of concern Her Your Excellency showed for them, their ideologies were not aligned, and taking action in the same direction was not a good way to buy time.

Therefore, Kiana currently has no intention of hindering the other party's communication with her. The worst-case scenario is that her identity will be abandoned, which is still better than letting Su Muxi investigate and then directly exposing their own target.

Bronya said seriously:

"Nailed it."

She put the video back into play.

The man's voice had been specially processed, and his words were translated into subtitles at the bottom of the holographic image—this was the function of the voice translation package.

"Although I'm curious why a young lady from the main city would want to make a deal with hyenas like us, I'm satisfied with the payment you've made upfront, so I'm willing to trust your sincerity later."

"I'll be waiting for you in VIP room 301 on the third basement floor of the Little Cat Spin Bar."

"By the way, please pass this key to the bartender. Trust me, it will be an excellent guide."

Bronya gazed at the second key-shaped virtual model appearing in the retinal holographic image, then glanced at the intelligent bartender not far away. [Golden Dream] instantly established a link, revealing a clear blue track in her field of vision.

The girl drew a line with her fingertip and moved it to the other party's database.

Then, the humanoid mechanical bartender walked gracefully to the front, bowed slightly, and began to play an extremely pleasant electronic voice that evoked specific emotions.

"Distinguished guest, please follow me."

Kiana silently put on the Crimson Oni Mask Armor and exchanged a glance with the person next to her.

Bronya nodded in agreement, took the silver briefcase from the bar, and followed the bartender through a hidden, dark door. They silently walked down the dimly lit steps, and finally arrived at the agreed location via an old-fashioned smart elevator, accompanied by unsettling echoes from the elevator shaft.

It was a black, solid wood door, next to which was a holographic projection of an adult advertisement.

Bronya extended her silver prosthetic arm and opened the door. She led the white-haired girl into the brightly lit room, glanced briefly at the rather shabby interior compared to the [Moon Worship Palace], and then sat down on the sofa in the center without any hesitation before beginning to observe the man who appeared to be the leader of the Black Dragon Gang.

--This is a Honkai Sickness who, if left untreated, will become Zombie in a certain period of time.

The girl had seen this phenomenon far too often, so she could immediately glean relevant information by observing the changes in the nearby Honkai Energy particles.

She wasn't surprised, after all, she had searched almost every unregistered Undocumented Resident she could find outside the main city, and in the end, only this Black Dragon Gang leader was willing to make the deal. It was clear that the other party was either a person with a strong gambling addiction or had a strong demand for the reward she was willing to pay.

Bronya said softly:

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Chen."

The man's expression was completely concealed beneath his ghostly mask. He indifferently turned off the video playing on the virtual screen in front of him and said businesslike:

"It's an honor to meet you, Miss Zaychek."

After Chen Tianwu finished speaking, he observed the two unique beauties, his dark blue eyes growing increasingly lifeless.

--The qualified candidate.

Through a series of covert instrument tests, both individuals were undoubtedly qualified to hold high positions in the Upper City. Compared to the Lower City humans, who would decay in a few years, these two possessed sufficient Qi cultivation to pass the assessment within the Taixu Sect and join the [Chaoxian] as part of the executive department.

That's truly... enviable.

If given a choice, no one would willingly choose to be an unregistered Undocumented Resident a rat in a sewer.

However, if he had chosen to re-register his identity and crystals back then, he probably would have succumbed to the intense Honkai erosion within a month and died, thus losing the ability to take care of his sister.

Chen Tianwu had no choice but to become Undocumented Resident to delay the spread of the Honkai Sickness.

In fact, he did succeed, managing to snatch three years of life back from the Grim Reaper's scythe, and has been barely clinging to life until now.

However, the resources available through underground networks and channels are mostly discarded trash by the upper class in the main city, and the time they can sustain such low-level Honkai Energy levels is ultimately limited.

Even if 81% of the body is converted into machinery, the inferior soul steel does not fit well with flesh and blood. Moreover, it is mixed with other metals. Not to mention that it can only prolong lifespan by a little, the mere act of surviving is already very painful.

At this critical moment, Bronya made a deal with the Black Dragon Gang, paying in advance for half a vial of highly pure Honkai Energy Inhibitor.

Therefore, under these circumstances, Chen Tianwu naturally had no choice but to agree.

But to prevent this from becoming a vicious cat-and-mouse game, he chose to hold the transaction in the basement of a bar completely unrelated to the Black Dragon Gang, and came alone without bringing any of his gang members.

The man couldn't help but cough a few times, his face growing increasingly pale beneath the mask. His voice, however, remained blurred and distorted by the special mask, transforming into a tone completely unrelated to his natural voice.

"It seems you didn't give any prior notice that you were bringing another lady along."

"However, it's alright. I believe the Black Dragon Gang has no need to be double-crossed. It's just that we need to inspect the goods as is customary before the transaction."

"You should know that, to avoid risks, we only accept direct exchange of physical goods for this type of transaction."

"After all, whether we use the Chaoxian Space for targeted teleportation or retrieve the item from a node using a key, it carries a great risk."

Bronya nodded in agreement and placed a briefcase on the table. Her silver prosthetic hand lightly touched the side of the briefcase, and cloud patterns lit up as they were drawn on it, followed by the sound of a mechanism.

Chen Tianwu gazed at the few vials of solution emanating a Cold air from inside the suitcase, but his eyes lingered on the suitcase's decorations, markings, and even the codes on its inside. He simulated the original eye's pupil color, constructing corresponding tracking information within the neural network, and arrived at his final conclusion.

The man sighed:

"You're really generous! The latest Honkai Energy Inhibitor from Moon Worship Company, a life-saving drug that countless people in the Lower City have been dreaming of."

Logically speaking, the more generous the reward, the better.

However, once it involves the Moon Worship Company, which has been in the making for nine hundred years and is almost equivalent to the Taixu Sect's industry, it becomes quite a big deal no matter how it is sold.

Chen Tianwu couldn't understand it at all. Since the other party could produce such a person, their status and position must be far beyond his original expectations.

In this situation, the information one can provide does not have such value.

However, given that it involves the Lostbelt, and considering their relationship with the higher-ups, it doesn't seem entirely incomprehensible.

Bronya didn't care at all. She got these things naturally because of the current Your Highness's influence. Whether it was the prototype reference for this prosthetic hand or the [Golden Dream], they were all samples from the [Moon Worship Palace] every year.

Whenever the Moon Worship Company releases a new product, they always send their best and most memorable prototype to the Moon Worship Palace as an offering.

Basically, apart from the Moon Worship Company, the other ninety-nine organizations qualified to offer tribute to His Your Highness are rotated annually according to the other party's interests.

This has been the case for over seven hundred years, so one can only imagine how many objects have been piled up inside.

Chen Tianwu's inferior prosthetic eye could only detect that the reagent was Moon Worship Company's latest product, but it couldn't detect the zero sequence hidden in the code, but that was enough to surprise him.

She replied:

Where is your goods?

Upon hearing this, the man retrieved a crystal from a neural slot at the back of his head, placed it beside the briefcase, and said:

"The information documents you requested are all here."

"Please read this here and then destroy it. After all, neither you nor I want to cause any further trouble, right?"

"If you have any final questions, feel free to ask them here."

Bronya took the crystal and embedded it into the nerve slot in the prosthetic limb. However, since the prosthetic limb was essentially a realistic simulation created by using the arm of a flesh and blood body, the function of connecting nerves was not perfectly replicated.

Therefore, she had to use the [Golden Dream] device in conjunction with Heavy Cannon Rabbit to act as a liaison in a quantum-like manner in order to read the relevant data.

"On March 23, a [Lostbelt] phenomenon occurred in Qionghua City. After a three-hour escape, the local government chose to use Su Mei, the Soul Steel Doll of the Immortal Martial Series No. 21, to capture the outsiders produced."

"About half an hour later, the Soul Steel Doll was damaged to the point of malfunction, and the Shan Hai Series Warship [Zhuhuai] fully entered combat mode, engaging in armed suppression against a large number of constructs within the [Imperial Guard] organization."

"... In the end, [Zhuhuai] fell to the lower district of Qionghua City, his functions paralyzed. The outsider, on the other hand, managed to escape under the weight of numerous constructs, and his current whereabouts are unknown."

"It is speculated that the target possesses immense destructive power and the ability to regenerate, making a prolonged battle not difficult. Relevant departments are already developing a separate capture plan based on the information captured by [Heavenly Eye]."

Besides these summary statements, there were also some video clips from that time and testimonies from local residents. The corresponding battle routes were also clearly marked on the city's three-dimensional map. However, what attracted her attention the most was the familiar back of that outsider in the map.

Bronya relayed the message to Kiana, who suppressed her emotions and spoke:

"This matter has caused a huge uproar."

Chen Tianwu interpreted this as a denial of the value of information and responded indifferently:

"It is very big, but precisely because it is so big, it is not easy for the news to get out."

"The fact that a main-city-level combatant was single-handedly defeated is different from the [Lostbelt] phenomenon that is usually broadcast in the news. Unless it is witnessed by a local eyewitness, it is considered a secret even within Qionghua City."

Even though everyone knows that the immortal Your Excellency possesses the capacity to devour the heavens, those below him always seem to enjoy doing unnecessary things, don't they?

"Moreover, after the Shan Hai Series [Qiongqi] and Immortal Martial Series Jiang Wanru in Longchuan Main City had their functions suspended for half an hour again by the same person on March 27th, news about this outsider was even more heavily suppressed."

"No one wants to know how His Your Excellency he finds out, so [Chaoxian] will probably be making some big moves against him soon."