Honkai's Thousand Laws, Abducting Kiana at the Start

After explaining the usage instructions for the inhibitor to Mei, Jian Yun took a black mobile phone from her pocket.

"This is what the Attendants use to communicate. If the Queen has any problems, she must contact other Attendants through it immediately. But remember, do not use it to contact anyone outside the organization's members. Currently, Anti-Entropy's technology is superior to ours, and they can easily track us. I know you are colluding with them now, but I believe you understand that Kiana's revenge is absolutely fatal."

Her mind suddenly recalled the sky above Sky City last night, filled with flames. The air, scorched by high temperatures, made her feel a bit parched even now. Mei had already witnessed the madness of an organization led by a Herrscher once. If she forcibly took Kiana away, she was afraid it would truly provoke a conflict between Kiana and Anti-Entropy.

"Alright, if there's anything you don't understand, you can also contact me. This entire industrial zone is our territory, so don't worry about Schicksal people tracking you here."

"Also, the Queen's beloved has left. It will continue to attract Schicksal's attention. If the Queen wishes to summon it, we will arrange it immediately."

"Although it doesn't seem qualified yet, since you've joined the organization, it means you are wholeheartedly loyal to the Queen. I hope you grow into a qualified Attendant as soon as possible." After solemnly saying this, Jian Yun turned to leave.

"Wait."

Her footsteps stopped, and Jian Yun turned back with a look of confusion, asking, "Is there anything else?"

After a moment of silence, Mei looked at the knife in her hand and asked, "Sky City... how is it now?"

"Under the full force of the leader's attack, the entire city has turned into ruins."

"What about the other Attendants? Like that man wearing a mask?"

Hearing Mei's words, Jian Yun sighed slightly, her tone becoming exceptionally low. "You're talking about Thousand Calamities, right? He has already died in battle. Not just him, many of our Attendants were buried in that city."

"Dead... dead?" Surprise that couldn't be hidden appeared on her face. Mei's heart sank. Although she disliked that man, hearing of his death still felt heavy.

"Dying in battle for the Queen is what we should do. There's no need to be sad. Even if I'm only in a clerical position, I will die on the battlefield without regret when the time comes."

Chapter 123: Forum and End-of-Volume Review

The conversation ended, and Jian Yun had already left. Mei's heart was still in turmoil.

She believed that no one cared about Kiana as much as she did, but compared to these organization members who didn't hesitate to sacrifice their lives, how much stronger was her own resolve?

"If, one day, I need to sacrifice myself, can I be like them?" she asked herself. The next second, her heart had already provided the answer.

Yes!

Firming her resolve once more, Mei closed the door and opened the black box. Inside were several flat, specially made sheets. Mei didn't fully trust the Kiana Organization yet. If she were to inject Kiana with an unknown serum, she definitely wouldn't accept it easily. However, the Kiana Organization seemed to have considered this and provided this externally applied medicine. Even though its effectiveness would be greatly reduced, at least it was safe to use.

The cool sheets were placed on Kiana's skin. Her body, which had been feverish from the Honkai Energy, gradually returned to its normal temperature. These sheets could absorb excess Honkai Energy through the pores into the medicine, thereby alleviating the erosion.

After confirming the medicine was effective, Mei sat back against the wall. She should have continued to rest, but after hearing about the deaths of the Kiana members, her mind couldn't settle down.

She took out the mobile phone Jian Yun had given her. The phone's functions were simple, with only communication and forum modules.

The communication list was divided into Servants and Attendants. Most entries only provided codenames, with personal information completely hidden, including gender.

However, besides these names, there were some codenames that had turned gray. These grayed-out codenames actually accounted for one-third of the entire list. Mei found Thousand Calamities' codename among them, along with the annotation "Deceased."

The list provided basic information for these deceased members, including a simple personal profile and their contributions to the organization.

As she looked through the information of these fallen members one by one, Mei's heart grew heavier. Finally, she stopped at the information of a girl.

"Deceased: Griseo. Female. 12 years old."

Her breathing quickened. At 12 years old, Mei herself was still an ignorant child. Yet, this girl had sacrificed herself in the city to cover her and Kiana's retreat.

Her heart grew even heavier. Mei suddenly felt a sense of fear, afraid that Kiana would see this list. Mei knew very well that even though these people had sacrificed themselves willingly, with Kiana's personality, she would definitely bear all the blame herself.

"I absolutely cannot let her know. Kiana's sacrifices will be inherited by me."

Having made up her mind, she didn't need to look at the rest of the list. After calming her emotions slightly, Mei clicked on the forum module.

The forum was named [Kiana], with a background of a magnificent theater. Lights shone on the stage, and black shadows danced.

It looked somewhat eerie. Mei gasped and began to browse the content.

The pinned post was a report on the recent operation. Perhaps due to the absolute trust in the organization's members, the report detailed the operation's objectives, outcome, and casualties.

"No wonder they don't allow contact with others using this phone. Just this kind of detailed report, if obtained by Schicksal or Anti-Entropy, would lead to the annihilation of the Kiana Organization." Mei didn't know if these guys were bold or truly trusting, to openly post such classified information on a forum.

Unfortunately, Raiden Mei didn't know that this information was compiled by Su Jue in half an hour. Moreover, this darn phone had no encryption program at all because it wasn't connected to the internet. Communication was only possible using the Theater of Domination as a relay.

And most of those long lists were fabricated. The rest were all puppets. Mei was the only living person in the entire organization. Even if she handed over all the data, they would find nothing.

As for Aunt Himeko, she still didn't know that Kiana existed. Su Jue had deliberately separated her from the other puppets, leaving only Tread Snow by his side as a monitor. After the performance in Sky City, she had already moved by her own emotions and considered Su Jue as one of her own.

Now, [Su Jue] has been captured, but Aunt Himeko has successfully retreated. She's probably thinking about how to rescue him from Schicksal.

She doesn't know that the captured person was the puppet [Su Jue], and it has nothing to do with me, the Herrscher of Domination.

In the Theater of Domination, Su Jue breathed a sigh of relief, seeing that he had finally successfully brought Mei to his side.

Overall, this plan had concluded perfectly, and the main objectives had been achieved.

Sitting alone in the audience seats of the Theater of Domination, Su Jue began to review.

First, it was to reverse the public's impression of the Herrscher of Void.

During Kiana's self-sacrificing act of sending away the Honkai Bomb, the title "Magical Girl Kiana" had already left a deep impression on the civilians. With a little more dissemination, it would be easily covered across the Land of the Divine.

Second, the appearance of the Kiana Organization.

Su Jue had been deliberately linking Kiana with the Herrscher of Void all along. This was not only to attract the attention of the three major organizations but also to enhance Kiana's influence.

If you're going to be involved, you need a background and power. When people ask which faction Kiana belongs to, how will she answer?

If she were alone, the three major organizations would definitely try to exploit her. But now, with a mysterious organization as a check, they would have to consider whether their own organization would face retaliation if they made a move.

Su Jue had originally planned to pin the blame entirely on Kiana, echoing a famous quote from a hater.

"Kiana, even if you become the enemy of the world, I will stand by your side."

"But why would I be the enemy of the world?"

"It doesn't matter, I will help you become the enemy of the world."

However, due to some special circumstances, the plan was slightly altered.

The third reason was to fish in troubled waters.

Among his previous objectives, Su Jue had harbored the desire to possess Sky City. However, at that time, the city had already established a complete order, making it extremely difficult to shake. Even if he could control the upper echelons, altering the foundation would be a monumental task.

But now, with the city largely destroyed, reconstruction was inevitable. Su Jue had deliberately avoided attacking civilians, instead targeting developed buildings. This was to give the people living in the suburbs a chance to rebel, a chance for a reshuffle.

Only then could the city descend into chaos. With sufficient chaos, Su Jue could silently seize control of the city's lifeline during the reconstruction.

The core of a Herrscher of a Thousand wasn't only controllable by becoming a puppet. Similar to the core Su Jue had given Alvit, they would live their lives according to their habits normally. However, they would actually be guided by Domination, acting according to Su Jue's will. At critical moments, Su Jue could directly control them.

While the effect was significantly inferior to that of a puppet, it had the advantage of being convenient and discreet, requiring no direct action from Su Jue.

Alvit was an important intelligence operative for the Immortal Blade Squad, with access to extremely high-level intelligence. Stationing her at Schicksal headquarters could potentially make her a key figure in altering the course of the war when necessary.

However, at the same time, her personal disposition was quite distinct. If she were completely controlled by Su Jue, it would be difficult to guarantee that she wouldn't reveal any flaws. For this reason, Su Jue had not turned her into a puppet, but allowed her to act normally, only exerting control at critical junctures.

After reviewing his plans, Su Jue also took stock of the power he currently commanded.

In terms of puppets, he already had: [Su Jue], [Tread Snow], [Ink Moth], [Mother (Believer)], [Himeko], [Griseo], [Thousand Calamities], [K424], and some whose cores had been given away were not included.

The combat power of the puppets, or rather their controllability, ranked from highest to lowest was: Clones (Su Jue and Tread Snow) > Puppets with self-awareness (Himeko) > Weak autonomy (Griseo) > Evil Wolf Puppet (Thousand Calamities) > Sheep Spirit Puppet (K424) > Simple core influence.

Next was personal strength. The most crucial was naturally the ability of the Herrscher of Domination, followed by the Plague Gem. Although he intentionally allowed himself to be defeated by Durandal, Su Jue certainly wouldn't hand the gem directly to Otto. Therefore, he specifically used Domination's ability to steal and create a fake Flame Herrscher core. Whether Otto would discover it was another matter.

In addition, there was Griseo's Stigmata power. This was very useful, capable of mimicking the Herrscher of Void and causing significant destruction. It would be a good choice for ambushing enemies or for disguise.

Overall, excluding the puppets, Su Jue had already fully acquired the basic abilities of a Herrscher. Although the power of the Plague Gem could not be fully utilized, with the cooperation of the Herrscher of a Thousand core, the combat power was nearly equivalent.

Finally, there were some spoils of war.

Su Jue had already used nearly half of Jackal's potions and might even be able to restock later if needed.

The transport ship stolen from Schicksal during the explosion was now piled up in the Endless Corridor outside the Theater of Domination, awaiting processing by researchers.

As for the Ink Moth puppet, Gray Serpent had successfully infiltrated the Hyperion using a puppet machine, with the sole purpose of destabilizing Bronya. The thrifty Su Jue naturally couldn't tolerate such behavior, so he had secretly acquired the puppet machine for himself. Next, by assisting Gray Serpent's artificial eye, he could obtain a puppet quantum computer, though this would also require an excellent programmer.

Besides personal strength, Kiana Organization's assets in this world were also steadily developing.

E.T.Studio had released their first game, "Original Demon." Su Jue took a risky approach, using negative publicity and deliberately provoking the currently most popular game, Hoho Fantasy.

Since the gameplay and genre of the two games were completely unrelated, this provocation drew a barrage of criticism from Hoho Fantasy's loyal players, but it also attracted a significant amount of traffic. With the support of the manga industry, the revenue from "Original Demon" was steadily increasing.

In addition, the original manga industry had not been neglected.

"Divine Land Sword Breaking Record" had already reached its fifth volume. Although there were always some individuals claiming to be descendants of ancient sects from the Divine Land who objected, what did his Divine Land Sword Breaking have to do with your Divine Land? Besides, he was already on his fifth volume, while your Divine Land Sword Breaking Record was only on which chapter... cough, I've digressed.

Simultaneously, to produce products like figurines, Su Jue directly took over the industrial zone where Mei and the others were currently hiding. As long as raw materials were sufficient, they could operate 24 hours a day. The quality was high and the output was large. However, Su Jue wasn't foolish; he had deliberately registered a large number of companies for sales to avoid being reported for malicious competition.

Next, as long as he could obtain Anti-Entropy's blueprints, these figurine production factories could be transformed into mecha production bases at any time. With the Theater of Domination as a transfer hub, there wouldn't even be transportation costs.

Everything was on track, yet Su Jue couldn't stop. Sea Abyss City was about to open, and he needed to shift his attention to World Serpent.

As for the erosion on Kiana, the thin sheets Su Jue provided to Mei were actually constructed by him using Domination threads, so there was no need to worry.

Chapter 124: The Play of Domination Nine

The night gradually deepened, and the sky was painted with heavy black by the dark clouds.

At this hour, city dwellers indulging in nightlife finally felt weary. The neon lights on the streets seemed to sense the coolness of midnight and extinguished their lights.

However, in the darkness where one should be resting, a solitary light still burned through the night.

Thump.

The man slumped over the desk moved slightly. His elbow accidentally brushed against the stack of energy drink cans piled on the edge of the desk. Instantly, the quiet office was filled with a tinkling symphony of the late night, as if even the empty cans wanted to go clubbing.

The young man suddenly jolted awake, struggling to open his tired eyes. He didn't look at the cans scattered on the floor but stared nervously at the computer screen.

The screen displayed the bugs that needed to be fixed today. The dense lines of code seemed smaller than ants. The young man, who was severely nearsighted, couldn't see clearly and quickly picked up his glasses from the side to put them on.

"Thankfully, it's done," the man sighed in relief, jolted awake from his daze. He was afraid he had fallen asleep while fixing bugs, which would have resulted in his bonus for the month being deducted.

The time displayed in the bottom right corner of the computer was already 3:30 AM, the deepest part of the night.

On the desk sat a small potted cactus. It was originally bought to relieve eye strain, but he never had the time to look at it. Fortunately, it was a cactus and wouldn't die easily even without water. The man poured the remaining half cup of water from his mug into the pot, which would be enough for another half month without watering.

On the partition next to the cactus, two or three photos were pinned. One was a group photo with his family, another was a company dinner, and the last was a photo of his girlfriend.

He took down the photo with his girlfriend. It was taken two months ago on Valentine's Day. Her name was written on it: "Grin Xiaomei." However, due to constant overtime recently, he hadn't seen her in two or three weeks. He wondered if she was taking good care of herself.

Thinking of that girl, a faint smile appeared on Grin's tired face. They had been dating since university, for three years now.

"Work hard. Once this month's salary is paid, I can pay off the remaining balance for the ring, and then I'll propose to her directly." Grin was a very responsible person. His girlfriend had been with him for three years, and he saw all her efforts. The reason he was working overtime desperately this month was to prepare for their wedding.

"Uh, this feels like I'm tempting fate." Grin, who often browsed video websites, was quite familiar with such internet slang. He quickly spat a few times to ward off bad luck. However, after realizing what he was doing, he immediately laughed at himself.

He wasn't going into battle, just an ordinary office worker who went to work every day. What could possibly go wrong?

He reached out and rubbed the toy pig his girlfriend had given him. The little pig kept sticking out its tongue under his touch, which helped to ease his tense mood.

Looking up at the office, it was empty as expected. That made sense; most people would at most stay until one or two in the morning. If it weren't for the boss's request to fix bugs overnight, Grin would have already gone back to his rented room to rest.

He stood up from his chair, his bones cracking all over. Sitting in front of the computer for so long made him feel like his whole body was falling apart.

Picking up his mug, Grin prepared to get some warm water from the dispenser to soothe his throat. Walking through the silent office, Grin suddenly felt a sense of freedom.

His work was done, and he didn't have to worry about what others thought. Grin unconsciously picked up his pace, recalling dance moves he'd seen on TV as a child, and started dancing to entertain himself.

Unfortunately, his tired body quickly sent out a warning, telling him he was no longer the energetic child he used to be. In the end, he could only sigh and obediently pick up his mug to drink warm water.

"Next time, I'll bring some goji berries. It's a bit embarrassing, but they say online it's great. Health should start when you're young."

After finishing all that, Grin returned to his chair.

His body was so tired.

It was almost 4 AM. He hadn't slept more than five hours in the past two days combined. Going home was out of the question, so he'd just make do in the office.

He hugged his pillow and slumped over his desk, ready to sleep again. However, having drunk too many energy drinks earlier, he couldn't fall asleep. He idly scrolled through videos, eventually drifting off into a hazy slumber.

The next morning, the company's noise woke him up. Grin's head was groggy, and he couldn't even make out what his colleagues were saying, only managing to give vague "Mm-hm" responses.

Fortunately, there wasn't much to do today. Grin's programming skills were already the best among his colleagues. But precisely because of that, he often had to work more overtime than them. Whenever there was a complex, critical bug, he had to work through the night.

He brewed a few more cups of coffee, forcing himself to stay alert and finish the day's work. By the afternoon, he had his timing just right.

Tonight was his date with his girlfriend. He absolutely couldn't be asked to work overtime again.

When quitting time arrived, not a single colleague moved. Everyone was already accustomed to working overtime. Grin could vaguely see the supervisor walking towards the office with a USB drive. He let out a cold smile, saved his work in one go, locked his screen, and left.

"Sorry, I don't want to work overtime today." Amidst the astonished gazes of his colleagues, Grin strode out with renewed spirit, feeling exceptionally dashing. He swiftly swiped his card to leave, even greeting the supervisor who had just reached the door. Before the supervisor could even ask anything, Grin stepped into the elevator.

The sky outside wasn't dark yet when he left work, but it felt like he hadn't seen such a scene in a long time.

Everyone voluntarily worked overtime every day. At 6:00 PM quitting time, no one dared to leave before 10 PM, all afraid of losing their bonuses. After all, that's how internet companies were; the base salary was pitifully low, and earning money basically relied on overtime.