Lady Jackal / Voluntary Trial Agreement ...

"And what about you, Chen Tianwu?"

"Night Owl."

"What? You're hungry?"

Glancing at Raven, who was deliberately teasing him, Chen Tianwu felt a little annoyed but still patiently explained, "An owl is a bird that sleeps during the day and comes out at night. But 'Owl' doesn't sound as good."

"Fine, fine, Night Owl. Come on, I'll take you out for a late-night meal..."

"You..." Chen Tianwu felt a tightness in his chest, but after estimating his own combat ability, he chose not to say anything more.

"Are you eating or not? If not, go back by yourself."

"..."

"I'm eating."

Ms. Jackal

One day earlier, Shencheng Pharmaceuticals Industrial District.

"Your codenames have been approved by the Serpent. You're official members of World Serpent now." Raven brought Su Jue and Chen Tianwu the good news. Chen Tianwu had been discovered by Raven herself, so naturally he was placed under her command. Su Jue had been brought in by Gray Serpent, but Gray Serpent had too much on his plate, so Su Jue had also been assigned to Raven, who would handle his onboarding procedures.

Chen Tianwu showed no particular reaction to the news. He had lost his younger sister, and Honkai had ravaged his body until he was forced to undergo modifications. If not for the thought of seeing Anna again, he would have ended his own life long ago. He had merely drifted through life in the Thousand Fists Society before, and now he was doing the same in World Serpent. There was no difference to him.

Su Jue, on the other hand, looked rather surprised, as though he found it hard to believe he had obtained a codename so easily. "I thought there would be more screening measures, like investigating my family background."

"That only restrains the incompetent. World Serpent has never demanded much from those with value. Even if they want to leave in the future, they're completely free to do so." Raven spoke from experience as someone who had once left. She had originally just been a mercenary living on the edge of a blade. She stayed with World Serpent mostly because the treatment was steadier and more generous. As long as she completed her assignments, there were practically no restrictions. In fact, jobs had become harder to find after leaving World Serpent.

"Uh, is World Serpent short on people?" Catching the hidden meaning in Raven's words, Su Jue asked quietly.

But Raven did not care. "There's nothing to hide. There are only a few executives with codenames right now: Gray Serpent, Raven, Jackal, Hare, and you two—Ink Moth and Night Owl..."

"Sounds like a zoo." Su Jue muttered under his breath, immediately drawing Raven's gaze.

Before she could speak, however, a woman's voice came over the hallway broadcast.

"You newcomers, the Serpent is supreme. It will not tolerate slander from people like you. When the Venerable Lord descends, you will all pay for your words." The woman's tone was full of disdain and pride. Clearly, she had already tied herself to World Serpent's camp.

Facing Su Jue and Night Owl's puzzled looks, Raven spread her hands. "That's Jackal, the one in charge of research. How should I put it? Other than doing experiments, her brain doesn't work very well..."

"Shut up, you battle-crazed idiot." Amid a crackle of static, Jackal's voice rang out again, mixed with furious curses. Raven did not bother with her further and led the two through the industrial district's underground laboratory.

"This is where we conduct most of our research. Given your abilities, I'm sure you already have some idea what that research entails."

Su Jue nodded without trying to hide anything. Thanks to that man's power, World Serpent never worried about anyone spying on them. They had not pressed for details even on someone like Su Jue, whose intelligence sources were unknown. On the contrary, the more he knew, the firmer a foothold he could gain within World Serpent.

"Honkai's destruction is worldwide. If humanity wants victory, sacrifices must be made. The Venerable Lord's choice is not wrong." Faithfully playing the role of a lackey, Su Jue completely tied his stance to World Serpent.

The broadcast sounded again. Su Jue's words pleased Jackal greatly. "Exactly. We bear the burden of saving the world. Compared to Schicksal, which uses artificial stigmata to create Valkyries and then discards them once they've been used up, the Venerable Lord's goal is far more merciful. Even if the initial sacrifices are greater, one day, when everyone possesses a stigmata, they will no longer need to fear Honkai corruption. They will also accept the Serpent's guidance and shoulder the responsibility of carrying human civilization forward."

"I didn't expect that although you've only just joined World Serpent, you already understand the Venerable Lord's intentions so deeply. As expected of an Ink Moth born from the same chaos and pursuing the same flame."

"Thank you for the praise, Ms. Jackal." Su Jue nodded as though greatly pleased. Jackal's personality was arrogant and conceited, but from another angle, she was also straightforward. As long as someone agreed with her views and supported her choices, she could put aside her prejudices. People like her needed flattery and recognition the most. What Su Jue needed to do now was serve as the green leaf that set her off, allowing him to integrate more easily into World Serpent's core members. Maybe he could even become Jackal's accomplice and form a standard villainous supporting duo with her.

"Since that's the case, are you interested in joining my faction? The current executives are all people with ulterior motives. Not one of them is wholeheartedly loyal to the Serpent..."

Well, damn. I was just saying Jackal was easy to fool, and now she's putting me over the fire.

Gray Serpent had invited him to join, and Raven had helped assess him. If Su Jue turned around and joined Jackal's camp, those two would probably eat him alive.

"Ahem, Ms. Jackal, since everyone is striving for the Venerable Lord's goal, I don't think we should fixate on factions and camps. Helping each other is the best choice for everyone." After speaking, Su Jue glanced at Raven beside him and found her watching him with an intrigued look. If he had agreed to Jackal's invitation just now, his position in World Serpent would likely have become precarious.

"Tch. Forget it if you won't agree. I know people like you all have your own motives anyway. But since you offered to help, I happen to be out of test subjects. If you can find me subjects with high Honkai Energy adaptability, I wouldn't mind giving a newcomer like you some benefits."

Seeing that recruitment had failed, Jackal simply turned it into a transaction. She did not truly want to recruit anyone. Within World Serpent, she was the only executive fully devoted to scientific research. The others were mostly responsible for fighting Schicksal and Honkai, or developing World Serpent's economy. They belonged to different circles and naturally would not join easily. It would be better to use this opportunity to have the newcomer find her some experimental material and speed up her research.

"Then thank you for your appreciation, Ms. Jackal. I will bring you test subjects as soon as possible."

Back in the present, after gaining a rough understanding of World Serpent's arrangements in Sky City, Su Jue could not help but marvel at their madness.

They used hypermutation factors as activators to forcibly awaken the stigmata hidden in human genes, allowing natural stigmata to manifest.

Although Raven had not explained it in detail, Su Jue knew very well that this was the Stigmata Project devised by Dr. MEI of the Previous Civilization. The other plans—the Fireseed Project, Ark Project, Sumeru Project, Sanctuary Project, and the like—had essentially lost all hope. Therefore, when the Great Honkai foretold by MEI was about to arrive, Kevin had carried out the experiment at any cost. He had even encompassed all of Sky City within the experiment's range, using the lives of millions to activate stigmata.

As expected of the strongest warrior who had witnessed civilization's destruction. He did not even blink at sacrificing a million lives. If it were Su Jue, the Herrscher of a Thousand would probably already be more than halfway assembled.

Su Jue did not care whether Sky City lived or died. What he needed was neither the Great Honkai nor a massive slaughter. If World Serpent and Schicksal kept going at this rate, humanity would lose at least half its population without the Herrschers even needing to act.

What he needed to do now was deliver a suitable test subject to Ms. Jackal.

A little girl with light blue short hair streaked with red timidly followed behind him. She looked at the surrounding buildings with fear and curiosity. As they ventured deeper into the laboratory, she could faintly hear the noise of laboratory equipment operating.

"Ms. Jackal, I've brought you the test subject you needed."

The little girl's gaze finally settled on the woman in the white lab coat, and terror appeared on her face.

Voluntary Test Subject Agreement

Behind the glass curtain wall, Jackal was covered in filthy blood. The lower half of her white lab coat had been completely dyed red, and her long brown hair hung in a mess behind her. She was holding a syringe and injecting a laboratory mouse.

Hearing Su Jue's voice, Jackal ignored him and continued injecting every drop of medicine into the mouse's body.

The next second, the mouse that had been injected began rapidly swelling. Purple lines spread across its body in great numbers—the sign of Honkai Energy corrosion. As the purple lines continued to spread, white carapace gradually emerged from its skin. Clearly, the mouse was mutating in the direction of a Honkai Beast.

However, that state did not last long. The continuously swelling mouse suddenly exploded like a balloon. Before the Honkai Beast carapace could fully form, the excess flesh had already turned to pulp. Scattered blood further stained Jackal's clothes red, while half of the shattered mouse's head struck the glass directly in front of Griseo, then slowly slid down, leaving a long bloody streak behind it.

Startled, Griseo immediately hid behind Su Jue and did not dare look at Jackal again.

Clearly, this experiment had failed once more. Jackal tossed the mouse's mangled remains into the laboratory's recycling bin, which was already piled full of mouse corpses.

After removing her filthy outer coat, Jackal opened the laboratory door and greeted Su Jue.

"Ms. Jackal, what was that?"

"Just testing the activator's capacity for Honkai Energy resistance. It seems the effects on mice are still too unclear. It has to be human bodies." Only then did she notice the little girl beside Su Jue. "Is this the test subject you brought?"

"Yes. This is... my daughter."

"Your daughter? Are you insane? I explained the danger of this experiment to you beforehand. And you still dare use your own daughter as a test subject?" Jackal's gaze swept back and forth between Su Jue and Griseo, suspicion in her eyes. She did not care who the test subject was, but Ink Moth was an executive with a codename. If the experiment failed and he caused trouble afterward, it would be hard to resolve.

Rubbing Griseo's head, Su Jue revealed a helpless smile. "There's no choice. I'm only an ordinary person, and I may not even be able to protect myself in the coming Great Honkai. If my daughter cannot gain the strength to protect herself, sooner or later she will be swept into the vortex as well. It would be better to conduct the stigmata experiment early. At least with Ms. Jackal watching over her, the chance of success might be a little higher."

"I think you misunderstand. Whether I personally conduct the experiment has nothing to do with whether it succeeds. At most, it raises the survival rate slightly."

All along, Jackal had used Shencheng Pharmaceuticals' advertising strategy of claiming to cure every disease to trick patients seeking treatment into signing voluntary test subject agreements and becoming test subjects, calling it a "price" to be paid. There were so many sick people, after all, that she practically never ran out of test subjects. She had never considered whether they could survive.

"If you truly decide to let your daughter undergo the experiment, then sign this voluntary test subject agreement."

The test subject had come right to her door, so Jackal would not force her away. As long as Su Jue signed the voluntary test subject agreement, she would not care about anything else.

Looking at the agreement handed to him, then at his daughter, Su Jue fell silent for a moment. "Can I speak with her first?"

"Of course. You still have a chance to change your mind."

Nodding gently, Su Jue led the frightened Griseo into a small room nearby. Naturally, he did not truly need to communicate with her. Both bodies were under his control. He was simply taking this chance to carefully inspect the characteristics of Griseo's body.

In the original timeline, the Herrscher of a Thousand had all existed as puppets. The energy source controlling their actions was the Thousand Laws core. They possessed independent thoughts, and their ideas and actions varied wildly.

But in Su Jue's hands, those puppets were flesh-and-blood bodies under his control. Griseo was the most special of all, because only she had been stained with Su Jue's blood and given birth to a body that belonged solely to the existence known as Griseo.

Su Jue was not a scientist and could not determine whether her body retained its own genes. Sending her to Jackal for experimentation was partly meant to let him smear World Serpent's name in front of Kiana in the future and drive a wedge between them. The other reason was that he was genuinely curious about the Stigmata Project. If Griseo truly awakened a stigmata, would that not mean he could use the power of stigmata as well?

If the Stigmata Project really succeeded, Su Jue would go all in and send all the puppets to Jackal for modification. With a full thousand puppets empowered by stigmata, even Finality could be smashed to pieces.

Of course, that possibility was far too low, and Su Jue did not hold much hope.

After putting on a show of talking to Griseo for a few moments, her face was already filled with worry and fear, with tears even hanging at the corners of her eyes—such finely detailed personality simulation was difficult for his other avatars to achieve.

"You've confirmed it? Then sign."

Taking the test subject agreement Jackal handed him, Su Jue signed his name: "Ink Moth." Jackal nodded in satisfaction. After a brief observation, she had already seen that Griseo possessed a basic adaptability to Honkai Energy. She had spent so long in this laboratory without showing any discomfort whatsoever.

"You found me a test subject. What do you need?" Jackal handed Su Jue a list of materials. She had not forgotten that this was a transaction, so she generously offered terms.

After a brief moment of thought, Su Jue selected one of the reagents.

"HSN-b46 serum."

After the transaction was completed, Jackal swiftly began her stigmata activation research. Griseo's powerful adaptability to Honkai Energy quickly caught her attention. Her capacity for Honkai Energy far exceeded the limits of ordinary humans, causing Jackal to gradually transfer all the experiments she had not yet conducted onto Griseo and attach ever more importance to her.

Naturally, she did not know that Griseo was controlled by Su Jue. The various refined forms of Honkai Energy Jackal provided her were like feeding him an assortment of desserts—and Su Jue happened to have several stomachs.

"[Ink Moth], Gray Serpent has successfully infiltrated the Hyperion. Next, you need to head to the Abyssal Eye and provide support. It's time to welcome the Venerable Lord's descent."

After confirming that Griseo's side would not be exposed, Su Jue's [Ink Moth] avatar received a notice from Raven telling him to head to Sea Abyss City for support.

According to the original timeline, the opening of the Abyssal Eye meant that the awakening of the Herrscher of Reason would soon follow. It also meant that Kevin, trapped in the Sea of Quantum, would return. This would be a tremendous test for Su Jue, but it was also an opportunity. It depended on whether he could gain something from it.

As for the work in Sky City, Su Jue's main body would take over.

As the Sunset Fell, the Sky Filled with Stars

Sky City's scenery was not always so gentle. As Honkai outbreaks continued, the city had gradually begun to collapse. After the Great Honkai, ordinary people had gathered almost entirely in major cities to survive, while the outskirts slowly shrank until they were gnawed away by Honkai bit by bit.

Sitting alone on the edge of a rooftop, Kiana watched the distant sunset slowly sink. Smoke rose from areas devastated by Honkai Beasts. The cold wind carried faint cries from afar, brushing through Kiana's hair before vanishing without a trace.

The afterglow falling over her brought no warmth. Instead, it wrapped her in a crushing loneliness.

She held the broken star hairpin in her hand. The blood that had once stained it had been wiped clean, only for the sunset's glow to dye it crimson again.

"You've been staring at that for half an hour. If you care that much, then go find him." Fu Hua's voice sounded beside her. This was not the first time Kiana had lost focus. Since that battle, Fu Hua had clearly sensed another crack forming in her heart.

This was dangerous, because Sirin's consciousness was still constantly eroding her. Once she tore open that crack and took Kiana's body again, it would be a disaster for all of Sky City.

"..." Kiana said nothing, but deep exhaustion hid in her eyes.

She raised her head and looked at the distant sunset. A red sun was being swallowed by the black horizon. Before long, the entire world would be plunged completely into darkness.

"Was the choice I made back then right?" Confusion and hesitation coiled around her heart. She had asked herself this question countless times, but she could never find an answer.

Fu Hua fell silent for a moment. She could not answer Kiana's question.

Although Kiana had never said it, ever since she discovered that the little girl had gone missing, guilt and regret had tormented her.

"Kiana, that child's disappearance wasn't your fault. You don't need to blame yourself for it..."

In the end, that was all Fu Hua could offer: pale consolation.

Right and wrong had never been the answer. Different choices merely led to different outcomes.

Fundamentally, Griseo's disappearance had nothing to do with Kiana. She had merely passed by. She was neither the culprit behind it all nor someone whose mistake had changed the outcome. When she had wanted to help, it was Fu Hua who had advised her to consider the bigger picture.

Yet whenever she remembered that night, the cool evening breeze stirring the grassland, the creaking swing swaying beneath a sky full of stars, Griseo painting a cloudless night sky, and herself sharing their pasts with that boy...

That beauty had vanished into nothing because of one easy choice she had made, and intense pain filled her heart.

If she had not worried about her identity being exposed, if she had first helped Griseo find somewhere safe and only then investigated the smell of blood, would the ending have been completely different?

Griseo was still missing, her fate unknown. Kiana feared not only that she had failed to save Griseo because of her own actions, but also that she would never again have the courage to face that person.

She feared that the future would become like that broken star, never able to return to what it had been.

"Sorry, Kiana. If I hadn't told you to leave it alone back then..." In her mind, Fu Hua continued trying to persuade her, but Kiana could barely take any of it in.

Whether it was Fu Hua secretly monitoring Kiana for Otto in the past, or the wrong choice she had made regarding Griseo, a deep rift had ultimately been left between them.

After Fu Hua had allowed Otto to conduct the Herrscher of Void experiment, destroying everything Kiana had and plunging the world into the Great Honkai, all words had long since become painfully pale and powerless. Then, after Kiana escaped, Fu Hua had been nowhere to be found when she needed help most.

If she had not met Su Jue then, when he too had been struggling in the mire of despair, and borrowed courage from him, she might have been unable to hold on any longer and completely become the vessel of the Herrscher of Void.

Now, she was alone again, but she still had to keep moving forward. Whether for Himeko, for Su Jue, or for Griseo, whose whereabouts were unknown, she could not stop here.

A fierce Honkai Energy fluctuation erupted again in the distance. At some point, Honkai outbreaks within the city had begun occurring more and more frequently.

Forcing her exhausted body to rise from the rooftop, Kiana looked toward the distant horizon. The sun had completely set, and the sunset glow dyed the sky crimson, like a sky set ablaze.

Her heart was lost, and her body was in pain, but she had many things she wanted to say, many things she wanted to do, and people she still wanted to see. So she could not fall here.

So many people were still waiting for her help. She could not make the wrong choice again.

"Kiana, your body has already been severely corrupted. You can't use Honkai Energy again. If you lose control, that would be a real disaster for this city." Seeing Kiana's golden eyes light up once more, Fu Hua tried to persuade her.

"Enough. Don't say another word." No amount of words could change the facts. Fu Hua only made Kiana feel irritated now.

"Your mental state is very dangerous right now..."

"I said enough! Can't you understand, Fu Hua?" Kiana forcefully cut off Fu Hua's voice. She did not even call her Class Monitor anymore. Kiana no longer wanted to hear her persuasion. "You've been with Otto for too long. You've learned to weigh the pros and cons. All you talk about is what will happen to Sky City, what will happen to the world, what will happen in the future. But have you ever thought about what caused all of this?"