Star Rail, As a Researcher, I Joined the Chat Group

"Shinobu, don't suddenly say something that could so easily be misunderstood!"

Chapter 23: Kochou Shinobu Understood Everything

"I wasn't wrong."

Kochou Shinobu struggled desperately as Kochou Kanae covered her mouth, trying to speak.

She wasn't wrong, but it was far too easy to misunderstand.

A blush spread across Kochou Kanae's face as she thought to herself.

Seeing Mr. Chen Mu's half-smiling expression from the side, Kochou Kanae felt the blush on her face grow even deeper.

Watching the two sisters fool around, Chen Mu genuinely found it amusing.

At first, he had indeed been taken aback.

But considering Kochou Kanae's personality, it was only natural that she would want to repay him after he had helped her.

"Sir, um, could you tell me what exactly you meant when you spoke to my sister? Why did you say that we would all die at the hands of that demon just now?"

After realizing that the man before her was the person her sister had been thinking about day and night lately, Kochou Shinobu finally could no longer hold herself back and asked.

"Shinobu!" Kochou Kanae called out, helpless and somewhat worried as she tried to stop her.

For one thing, she did not want Kochou Shinobu to know about those things.

For another, she did not want to trouble Chen Mu too much.

"It's alright, Miss Butterfly."

Chen Mu shook his head at Kochou Kanae, then looked at Kochou Shinobu and asked, "Do you really want to know? Miss Butterfly's little sister, perhaps you do have the right to know those things, but they are far from pleasant."

"Yes!" Kochou Shinobu nodded firmly.

"Alright, then."

Chen Mu said nothing more. Instead, he raised his hand, extended a finger, and touched it to Kochou Shinobu's forehead.

In that instant, Kochou Shinobu saw everything.

She saw her sister being killed by Douma. She saw herself clutching her sister's corpse and weeping in despair. She saw herself growing stronger mechanically in pursuit of revenge. She saw herself becoming more and more like her sister because she missed her so dearly. She saw herself finally avenging her sister with the resolve to die, only to meet the same end as her sister...

After Chen Mu withdrew his hand, Kochou Shinobu seemed to wake from a dream. Her entire body broke out in cold sweat, and she gasped for breath.

She understood.

She finally understood everything.

She also understood what Chen Mu and her sister's earlier conversation had meant.

When Kochou Shinobu nearly collapsed, Kochou Kanae hurriedly caught her, her face full of heartache. "Shinobu."

"Sis." Kochou Shinobu looked at Kochou Kanae as well, still shaken to the core.

Though she had only seen it in flashes, Kochou Shinobu inexplicably felt as if she had personally experienced everything she had just witnessed.

She knew.

All of it was real.

She could not imagine how despairing she would be if something like that truly happened, if her sister really died at Douma's hands.

No... rather, she had already experienced that despair once, and never wanted to experience it a second time.

At that thought, Kochou Shinobu looked at Chen Mu with immense gratitude, while her grip on her sister's hand tightened.

Seeing Kochou Shinobu's expression, Chen Mu immediately understood what she meant and said with a smile, "You don't need to thank me. Even if I hadn't come today, your sister probably would have been fine. It didn't have much to do with you."

Kochou Shinobu nodded without saying anything. It was unclear whether she truly believed him or simply did not believe him at all.

She only knew

that Chen Mu had destroyed Douma and changed the entire tragedy.

"Mm, Mr. Chen Mu, you can just call me Shinobu, and call my sister Kanae. Otherwise, wouldn't it be rather troublesome for my sister and me to address you?"

Kochou Shinobu regained her spirits, a smile appearing on her face as she spoke softly.

At her words, Kochou Kanae's face immediately reddened again.

She opened her mouth as though she wanted to say something, but in the end, said nothing.

She felt as though something was off.

But she could not put her finger on it.

Chen Mu was taken aback. Seeing that Kochou Kanae did not object, he smiled and said, "Then you can just call me Chen Mu too. No need to make it so complicated."

In Japan, calling someone by their given name seemed to be a sign of intimacy.

However, Chen Mu had been Chinese in his previous life and did not care much about that. Though he knew of this Japanese custom, he did not know exactly how close people had to be before it applied.

"Big Sister's Nichirin Blade..."

After Kochou Shinobu nodded, she turned her gaze back to the Nichirin Blade in Chen Mu's hand.

Chen Mu chuckled and handed the Nichirin Blade back to Kochou Kanae.

"That's right. Earlier, I borrowed Kanae's Nichirin Blade to study it. While I was at it, I reforged it. Now that I'm done with my research, it naturally goes back to its owner."

"The reason I said Kanae would not be unable to deal with Douma is because of this Nichirin Blade."

Kochou Kanae took the Nichirin Blade, her face full of confusion at his words.

It felt as though there was no difference from before.

Whether it was the grip, the weight, the appearance, or anything else.

"You can try it against the Nichirin Blade you're currently using."

Seeing Kochou Kanae's puzzled expression, Chen Mu raised a hand in indication.

"Alright."

Kochou Kanae nodded.

Then, she took out her spare Nichirin Blade.

She did not even use much strength. The moment the two Nichirin Blades collided, the ordinary Nichirin Blade was sliced apart by Chen Mu's blade as easily as if it were made of paper.

What the hell?

Kochou Kanae: "???"

Kochou Shinobu: "???"

At that moment, both sisters' eyes widened, their faces filled with disbelief.

Kochou Kanae's hand trembled, and she nearly dropped the Nichirin Blade. Fortunately, she caught it in time.

Looking at the familiar yet unfamiliar Nichirin Blade before her, only one thought remained in Kochou Kanae's mind.

Is this some kind of Divine Artifact?!!

"Besides that, I also made some minor improvements to your Breathing Techniques."

Seeing the stunned expressions on Kochou Kanae and Kochou Shinobu's faces, Chen Mu chuckled and handed them something else.

Kochou Kanae accepted it instinctively. After flipping through its contents, she felt as though she was about to faint.

This... this Breathing Technique...

was far too powerful, wasn't it?

Compared to what she currently used—no, compared to the Breathing Techniques of the entire Demon Slayer Corps—it was not even on the same level.

If described in terms of martial arts novels, it was the difference between an ordinary cultivation method and an innate cultivation method.

Chen Mu was the old grandpa in the cheat system.

Giving the protagonist both Divine Artifacts and peerless martial arts.

In the Demon Slayer World, there had always been a bug known as Tsugikuni Yoriichi.

And there had always been a saying about that bug.

That was, it was not the Breathing Techniques that were powerful, but Tsugikuni Yoriichi himself.

Even with the same technique, among countless millions over several centuries, not a single Tsugikuni Yoriichi could emerge.

For example, the original protagonist Tanjiro Kamado also knew Sun Breathing, yet his strength was vastly inferior to Tsugikuni Yoriichi's.

But after obtaining Chen Mu's cultivation method...

That way of thinking was probably about to change.

Maybe everyone would have a chance to become Tsugikuni Yoriichi.

When had Kochou Kanae ever seen something like this? She felt so overwhelmed that her head spun, and she stammered:

"Chen Mu, fir— no, Chen Mu, this..."

"It's nothing. Didn't I promise I'd help you?"

Chen Mu looked at the speechless, stunned Kochou Kanae and said with a smile:

"Compared to descending like a god and solving everything at once, I actually prefer helping you so that you can solve everything yourselves, because this is your world."

He remembered when he used to play Star Rail.

When he reached the Xianzhou arc.

Yukong, the Chief Diviner of the Divination Commission on the Xianzhou Luofu, had once spoken of a war.

In that war.

Hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of their comrades had died, yet they had only managed to halt the enemy's advance.

And yet.

With a single strike, the Aeon of The Hunt, Emperor's Bow Lord, had wiped out every enemy and won the war.

It had resolved every problem as though a god had descended.

It certainly felt satisfying. It certainly gratified the self.

But it would only leave those who had struggled feeling lost, doubting everything they had once done, doubting what all those past sacrifices had truly been for.

Not to mention, compared to Emperor's Bow Lord and Yukong...