Honkai's Thousand Laws, Abducting Kiana at the Start

"I might have to disappoint you. I'm Domination, not the Herrscher of a Thousand."

The spirit of the sheep would not abandon those who wished to live. This time, he would take the initiative to pull someone into the Theater of Domination.

Jian Yun, who was about to jump off the building, felt the black and white markings on her forearm faintly appear and gradually emit light. Then, she heard the voice.

[Welcome to the Theater of Domination.]

"Is that you?" Jian Yun had completely lost control of her body, yet she showed no reaction. She had basically given up on life, shrinking her consciousness into a corner. However, the familiar voice pulled her back from despair. "You didn't abandon me. You came back for me?"

"..."

Without a word, Jian Yun's current state was largely caused by Su Jue. He didn't want to repeat the same mistakes. The best course of action now was to prevent her from having any unnecessary thoughts.

But even so, he could clearly feel Jian Yun's lost will to survive slowly recovering. Upon realizing her body was controlled by Su Jue, she immediately gave up her own control, entrusting all actions to the Herrscher's domination.

Deeply mired in the mud, she had always longed for someone to pull her out. It was the same before the disaster, and it was the same after falling into despair.

She never hated Su Jue as a person. Instead, she resented her own powerlessness, resenting that no one had reached out to her during her most desperate moments.

"I heard that when people die, they see the grim reapers coming to collect their souls. It seems I can still hear his voice before I die..."

Tormented by loneliness and darkness for too long, Jian Yun muttered incessantly. Su Jue didn't find it annoying. This was a form of self-rescue for those in despair. He had been the same once.

Pulling back the curtains, Su Jue looked at the tall buildings outside. Nearly a week had passed since the Honkai outbreak. During this time, the incident had shaken the internet across the Land of the Divine. The officials in Sky City finally took notice of the safety hazards in the suburbs, resettling all victims and relocating them to new residential areas.

Unfortunately, Jian Yun's family was denied resettlement compensation on the grounds that Jian Yun was still alive, and only relocation was provided. The post-disaster trauma continued to torment everyone. While everyone else was licking their wounds, Jian Yun's family became outcasts.

When you lack the courage to face others directly, the Herrscher of a Thousand will give you courage.

When you lack the strength to break free from the mire, the Herrscher of a Thousand will give you strength.

Pushing open his bedroom door, Su Jue noticed Jian Zheng, who had been rambling incoherently due to excessive drinking, looking at her. Perhaps knowing his daughter might have overheard his words, he raised his hand to explain, but Su Jue ignored him and walked straight out of the room.

As soon as the door was opened, a neighbor on the same floor noticed her and cast a malicious glance. But Su Jue looked at him and then flashed a big smile.

"Good afternoon."

"You little brat, your classmates are all dead, and you still have the nerve to smile!" The neighbor opposite was clearly provoked by her smile and cursed under his breath.

"But I survived. You can say I was lucky, or you can call me a jinx, but what you can't change is the fact that I'm alive and well. If I could survive the disaster, why can't I smile?"

"..."

"Can I smile? When everyone else is dead." Jian Yun's voice echoed in her mind. It was her own body, yet it made a choice she wouldn't even dare to imagine. This feeling... was so strange.

When everyone wants you dead, the best choice is to live better than them.

"They're just a bunch of failures clinging to life in the mud, lacking the courage to confront reality, only able to project their malice onto weaker, innocent people." As if possessed, Su Jue patiently explained to her. She went downstairs alone. Most people living in the building cast venomous glances at her, and some would deliberately curse in a voice Su Jue could hear.

But so what? Living was ultimately living for oneself.

"Since the balance has been broken, why not try to draw a line between yourself and them?"

"But my family are just ordinary people." Perhaps seeing Su Jue control Jian Yun's body and perform a completely different way of living had gradually infected her with that confidence, but she still harbored doubts.

"But they are ultimately not you. You are independent, autonomous. You don't need to care about others' gazes or worry about their opinions."

"Your life was saved by me. You don't need to live for them."

"So it was you?"

"..."

For the past week, Jian Yun had spent most of her time locked in her room. Later, she couldn't even bear to be exposed to light. Prolonged hunger and mental exhaustion had almost destroyed her body. What Su Jue needed to do was help her live a normal life again, and live it even better.

One day later.

Jian Yun had grown accustomed to Su Jue's control, but when she saw where she had arrived, her soul still trembled.

The victim resettlement cemetery.

"Your classmates are all here. If you don't come here to see them, you'll never have the courage to face them."

After verifying her identity, Su Jue entered the excessively vast cemetery. Due to the sheer number of graves, one could see a large number of black and white photos at a glance. Some were familiar, others were not.

When Su Jue stopped, seeing a large number of familiar names and photos, Jian Yun could no longer suppress her emotions and began to sob softly.

"They are all waiting for you, but they don't want to take you with them. They want you to bid them farewell."

With a deep sigh, Su Jue released control of the body.

"Say goodbye to them, Jian Yun."

Chapter Sixty-Four: E.T.Studio

Sometimes, living requires more courage than dying. Only when you are mired in the mud do you understand how foul it is. However, after traversing the swamp, crossing the valley, and breaking free from the man-eating dark forest, what you will see again is a more breathtaking landscape.

Jian Yun looked at herself in the mirror. The heavy gloom had dissipated, and her eyes sparkled with brilliance. She gently patted her cheeks with wet hands, and her lovely face instantly became dewy.

"Keep it up, Jian Yun. Be your best self."

Pushing open the bathroom door, the bright morning sun illuminated the entire room. Even though some corners were still covered in darkness, Jian Yun didn't care. Because from today on, she was going to leave this place.

In the living room, her parents looked at her with worry. Her father, Jian Zheng, had even stopped drinking and raised his hand as if to stop her.

But Jian Yun was completely different from two days ago. At this moment, she radiated with light. She began to yearn for the distance, no longer confined to this small city.

"Goodbye, Mom and Dad, I'm heading out. I'll call you when I get there~"

"Xiao Yun..."

Already dragging her luggage out the door, Jian Yun faced her parents' pleas to stay with a bright smile. "I heard what you said the other day. This city doesn't welcome me. Now that I want to pursue a new life, please don't try to stop me."

Bang—

The door closed. The couple looked at each other, their faces finally settling into helpless sighs.

Two hours later, Jian Yun was already on a plane to another city. Thanks to her excellent writing skills, Jian Yun had also landed a new job. She would be working at a company called Mihoyo... no, E.T.Studio, responsible for game animation copywriting. The thought of sharing her experiences with everyone filled Jian Yun with genuine joy.

In the Theater of Domination, a young girl doll had appeared. She stood upright on the stage, bathed in the scattered spotlights. Su Jue sat alone in the audience, quietly absorbing the buffs the young girl doll provided him.

"My lifespan has increased by a full two years. While my combat power hasn't improved much, the shared attributes of the Herrscher of a Thousand have increased considerably."

Born from humanity's most beautiful adoration, then corrupted by despair, and finally achieving spiritual salvation. This imbued the doll with exceptionally strong emotions, and after these strong emotions were devoured by the spirit sheep, they became the best nourishment for Su Jue.

Following the typical modus operandi of the Herrscher of a Thousand in the original work, the best choice would generally be to select someone tainted by darkness, then plunge them into despair, and from that despair, create a doll. This would allow for the creation of dolls filled with resentment, used to cause destruction and disrupt order.

However, dolls created this way would ultimately be nothing more than a mob – appearing ferocious but shattering at the slightest touch.

Instead, Su Jue's actions were unintentional. He had merely intended to leave a contingency against Flamescion on Jian Yun. Later, after the plan was abandoned, he decided to help her, but the Honkai Beast attack came unexpectedly.

At that time, his main consciousness was still dealing with matters on the World Serpent's side. Only a doll named [Su Jue] remained at the school, controlled by a fraction of his consciousness. Therefore, he was severely injured by the Honkai Beast attack during that battle. Afterward, the doll entered a state of recovery and disappeared from public view.

Consequently, all the resentment at the time was directed at Jian Yun. The disappearance of the Su Jue doll made Jian Yun believe he had abandoned her, causing her to fall into despair and ultimately choose to end her life.

One mistake led to another. Fortunately, Su Jue still had a way to salvage the situation. He used the wolf and sheep imprint to absorb the resentment from Jian Yun, eventually forming the doll that existed now. (The plot was supposed to develop like this, with a segment about obtaining the Ink Moth title from the World Serpent interspersed, but I felt it would be too disjointed, so I skipped it. As a result, I skipped too far.)

The doll born from such complex emotional turmoil was exceptionally pure. Not only could negative emotions be completely absorbed and turned into nourishment, but there was also no worry about his own spirit being corrupted.

An unintentional act yielding fruitful results – truly excellent.

As for Jian Yun herself, Su Jue naturally blurred her memories and sent her to work at his company as a laborer.

With the strong support of their hardworking artist, Xiao Lei, the [Kiana] company had now gained some fame, producing many excellent comics. Many of these comics were taken from Su Jue's memories, though some were original. However, without an excellent script editor, the original comics weren't particularly outstanding.

With the shared abilities of the Herrscher of a Thousand, Xiao Lei only needed to sketch out the general outlines. Through the continuous overtime of the tool dolls, they could perfectly render the desired results. This allowed the small company, [Kiana], to impact a significant portion of the manga market with its terrifying quality and quantity, amassing wealth at an alarming rate.

Now, with Jian Yun's addition, even if her copywriting talent wasn't outstanding, she could create excellent works with the Herrscher of a Thousand's buffs. It was time to expand.

Although [Kiana] wasn't too famous yet, Su Jue considered that he would inevitably clash with Schicksal and the World Serpent in the future. Continuing to use this name would make him easily identifiable, so he established a brand new animation and game company – E.T.Studio.

As for the name [Kiana], it would gradually be hidden, serving as the link connecting all his industries. Since the main responsible parties were all his doll hosts, there was no possibility of betrayal. Thus, he would let them cooperate and gradually expand their influence.

To "enlighten" humanity with "love and peace"?

No, it was highly likely that after Jian Yun took charge of game copywriting and animation scripts, she would share her suffering with future players a thousandfold, providing Su Jue with thousands of potential doll reserves.

The thought of such a beautiful scenario made Su Jue yearn for it. If he could drag the world's youth into a vortex of resentment through literary works, how wonderful would that be.

After entrusting such a crucial task to the two of them, Su Jue turned his attention back to Sky City.

Up to this point, Su Jue's plan had been largely realized, but he knew in his heart that the true danger still awaited him, as he was about to provoke the World Serpent, who possessed Kevin, the strongest fighter of the Previous Civilization.

Chapter 65: Ink Moth

Three days ago, Shencheng Pharmaceuticals Trade Zone, underground level 7.

As the minutes on the electronic screen reset again, it meant it was already nine o'clock in the evening. Even the staff, accustomed to overtime, were feeling tired. Fortunately, it was the end of the workday, time to return to the employee dormitory for a good rest.

The office lights in the work area flickered off one by one. The young assistant, who had just finished packing her things a step behind, let out a huge yawn, her eyes blurry with sleep. However, she accurately spotted her superior and quickly sat up straight, greeting him with a smile, "Supervisor, you're still working late? Thank you for your hard work."

Hearing the assistant's voice, the supervisor in charge of trade zone export matters seemed startled, his body twitching unnaturally before quickly recovering.

"Uh, why are you still working so late? Although the company's security robots are very reliable, you should still be careful walking alone at night as a young lady." He put on a stern face, lecturing the young assistant with a mix of concern and criticism.

The assistant stuck out her tongue, lowered her head, and responded. After the supervisor left, she happily gathered her belongings and left the office.

Tonight, she had plans to go out for a late-night snack with a friend. Although she was tired, since her friend was treating, she had to go no matter how sleepy she was. Thinking of this, as she stepped into the elevator back to the first floor, she subconsciously checked her reflection in the lobby's glass. She found no trace of weight gain on her face.

"Looks like I'm naturally beautiful. How could a mere late-night snack make me gain weight?" She was in a great mood, completely unaware of the fleeting shadow in the glass.

Underground level 8, the supervisor who had just greeted the assistant was now cursing, "Damn it, not going home at night and scaring me like this. I'm docking her pay this month."

Silently marking the assistant as an enemy, the supervisor proceeded to the accounting audit office on the eighth floor. At the same time, he activated the jamming device in his hand, freezing the surveillance footage of this area to a few minutes prior.

"After this job, I'm leaving the country. What kind of garbage company makes you sign a non-disclosure agreement..." His body felt a little hot, and he tugged at his collar. Familiar with the process, he inserted the decryption card into the electronic lock. With a beep, the electronic lock opened.

But instead of the company funds he was about to embezzle, he was met with the dark muzzle of a gun.

"Huh? Good evening, Supervisor. It's supposed to be after work hours now. I wonder why you're here?" The young woman looked at him with a smile, but her ruby-like eyes were cold and devoid of emotion.

"I was just... No, who are you? This is Shencheng Pharmaceuticals' territory. Aren't you afraid of our security personnel, you damn intruders?" Although startled, the supervisor reacted quickly, immediately counter-questioning.

"Mhm? Still quite clever, but unfortunately, I am the person in charge of Shencheng Pharmaceuticals." Raven removed her hood, her gray short hair exposed to the air. Only then did the supervisor recall the information he had seen in the company's HR department.

With that in mind, he immediately lowered his stance. "May I ask what brings Ms. Xiola to the trade zone so late at night? Is there anything I can help you with?"

"Ah, there is indeed something I need your help with. I heard there have been signs of company assets being transferred multiple times recently. Do you have any impressions, Supervisor?"

"Ms. Xiola, is the word 'impressions' quite accurate? It should be 'clues'..." The supervisor wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, a strong sense of unease causing his entire body to tremble slightly.

Sensing that she had indeed misused the word, Raven apologetically pressed her forehead, but the gun in her other hand did not waver in the slightest. "Sorry, I meant, 'confession' – do you have anything to confess?"

"No..."

"None?" Raven seemed a little surprised by the answer, unsure if she was surprised he hadn't embezzled public funds or if she was surprised he dared to say it. With that expression, she looked at her two companions who had appeared in the shadows at some point. "Hey, Chen Tianwu, do you want to show him what you found?"

Chen Tianwu, who was holding an electronic tablet and had just finished verifying the accounts, looked up and glanced at her, displeased with her exaggerated acting.

The middle-aged man on the other side, however, lowered his brows and patiently explained to her, "According to my information, Mr. Supervisor transferred 2.1 million, 3.2 million... five months ago, three months ago, two months ago, and one week ago respectively through trade channels."

"Alright, alright," Raven interrupted the middle-aged man's rambling and looked at the supervisor, who was already terrified. "Do you have anything to explain?"

"No! No! Don't kill me, don't kill—"

Bang—!

Blood splattered on the wall, painting a portrait of greed.

The stench made Raven frown, and she led the two out of the accounting office.

"He actually dared to embezzle so much money, it's almost as much as my island..." Annoyed, she closed the door and pressed her communicator. Once the worms were dealt with, the rest was none of her concern. Whether it was the bodies or the transferred funds, it was up to the logistics department to handle.

The middle-aged man, the Father puppet controlled by Su Jue, couldn't help but interject when he heard Raven's words, "According to my investigation, Miss Xiola's private villa island should have cost around 130 million..."

Before he could finish speaking, Raven's gun, still warm from the kill, was pressed against his forehead. Her expression was grim. "No matter how you got this information, I think you should shut up."

Su Jue immediately caved and quickly made a gesture with his hand over his mouth, indicating he wouldn't say another word. Only then did Raven move her gun away and put it back in her holster.

"Alright, you and Chen Tianwu have found seven or eight worms for the Serpent in just five days, recovering a large amount of unnecessary economic losses. I will report your achievements. If nothing unexpected happens, you'll soon have your own codenames." She pulled up her hood again, her feather-like cape on her shoulders covering her body. "Just like my codename Raven, you can also prepare a title for yourselves. If the Serpent approves, they will adopt it directly."

Exchanging a glance with Chen Tianwu beside him, Su Jue looked at the corridor lights and said in a low voice, "Then I shall be named Ink Moth."

"Hmm? Does it have any meaning?"

"Ink spilled on white paper, stained by darkness, painting a moth belonging to chaos. The Ink Moth drawn on paper does not chase the flickering firelight, nor does it covet the plain white of the paper. It will only offer its chaos to the supreme Serpent." Su Jue lowered his posture, like a devout believer, or like a seeker who had glimpsed the truth.

"I didn't realize you were so willing to dedicate yourself to the World Serpent. Let me remind you, the Serpent is not that kind." Noticing Su Jue's somewhat fanatical demeanor, Raven frowned. Although she was also a cadre of the World Serpent, she didn't have much affection for it and knew how dark the World Serpent's actions were.

Su Jue smiled and said nothing. Raven didn't try to persuade him any further.