Arknights, Suika's Messenger Journey

"I wonder if I can achieve the thousand-degree heat inside Nian's body."

Though she was still muttering, her movements hadn't slowed in the slightest.

The iron chain in her hand danced through the air, strangling everyone who approached her where they stood.

Seeing Suika's ferocity and realizing they couldn't get close at all, those people could only retreat from her vicinity and pull out ranged weapons to fire at her.

Seeing that, Suika decided she wouldn't hold back anymore.

She suddenly leaped backward, dodging all manner of incoming projectiles. Then she let out a long breath and looked at the crowd opposite her with a crazed grin.

As her foot stomped heavily onto the ground, the entire valley began to tremble.

"One step, beyond sound,

Two steps, no distance,

Three steps—"

As her voice rang out, her entire body began expanding at an incredible speed.

In the mere distance of those three steps, Suika had grown as tall as the mountains on either side.

Everyone who saw this was dumbfounded. None of them had expected their opponent to become so enormous.

Once one's size exceeded a certain limit, battle itself lost all meaning. At that scale, even an ordinary stomp or slap could effortlessly crush them like ants.

Before they could react, Suika's entire body arched backward. With a twist of her waist, the fist hidden behind her swept in an arc and slammed down amid the crowd.

Inside Lungmen.

Hoshiguma stood on the rooftop of the Guard Department, uneasily gazing westward. Thinking of Suika leaving alone, she felt deeply unsettled.

Just then, she saw the water in the cup Chen had given her begin to ripple. Soon, the objects around her began swaying irregularly as well.

"What's going on? An earthquake?"

Everyone rushed out of the building and began asking one another for information.

Hoshiguma seemed to sense something and raised her head. Though high-rises filled the view ahead, she vaguely felt as if she could see a gigantic Suika on the horizon.

Half an hour later, the Black Mantle shadow guards arrived at the valley.

More accurately, this place could no longer be called a valley.

That terrifying strike had punched straight through the ground, completely tearing the valley apart and forming a fissure that ran through the entire valley, its depth unknown.

Those Without the Skill Shouldn't Play Wilderness Survival

"She must've held back in Lungmen, right?" one of them said.

"Obviously. With that kind of destructive power, one punch could completely punch through a mobile city and even tear apart the surrounding districts.

What a terrifying move...

Three-Step Ruin...

After three steps, it destroys everything before her. That's already beyond the realm of technique—it's reached the level of rules.

No wonder she was so confident about coming out alone."

Another man, who was clearly the leader of the Black Mantles, sighed.

Several figures emerged from the gorge at that moment.

"No survivors. Everyone down there is dead," one of them reported.

"Can you tell which factions they belonged to?" the leader asked.

"No way. It's too horrific down there. The corpses in that fissure were either buried at the very bottom or crushed into unrecognizable lumps." The man shook his head.

"What about the people Madam sent?" The leader felt a headache coming on.

"Don't know. We didn't see them... Maybe..." The man sighed. In that situation, even they couldn't guarantee they would emerge unscathed, let alone people weaker than them.

"Captain, there's someone alive up on the mountain." At that moment, another scout nearby sent word.

The group hurried over and saw a white-haired Anaty leaning against a tree near the mountaintop.

As they approached, they smelled the strong scent of alcohol on her.

"She's Madam's guard. Carry her back with us." After crouching down to examine her and confirming her identity, the leader gave the order.

When Bai Xue woke up, she found herself lying in a hospital room.

Very soon, Wei Yenwu and Madam Wen Yue summoned her.

Bai Xue swallowed, then recounted everything she had seen.

After receiving Wen Yue's orders, she had followed Suika out of Lungmen.

When Suika fought the first group, Bai Xue watched the entire battle from afar.

She had been deeply shocked by Suika's clean, decisive movements, her invulnerable physique, and the monstrous strength she displayed when ending the fight.

However, Bai Xue could also tell that Suika hadn't learned any combat forms or techniques. Every fight relied entirely on instinct and her exceptional physical abilities.

After Suika provoked the people following her, the number of pursuers grew too large. Since Bai Xue was alone, she fell to the very rear of the group.

When everyone entered the gorge, she chose not to follow them in. Instead, she leaped onto a tree halfway up the nearby mountainside and observed the situation below from above.

It was precisely because Madam Wen Yue's assignment had been only to observe and record what happened, without asking her to do anything else, that she had luckily kept her life.

When Suika began growing larger, Bai Xue sensed something was wrong and quickly raced from the mountainside toward the summit.

Then she felt the earth begin to shake. Even the tree beneath her feet trembled nonstop, making it impossible to stand steadily.

Behind her, a huge, muffled roar came from the valley, making all four of her limbs go weak.

Just then, she slipped and fell from the tree. At the time, she thought she was done for, but then she felt a pair of hands grab her shoulders.

When she looked over, all she saw was an enormous sake gourd before her.

"Since you're already here, have a drink!"

As the girl's slightly teasing voice rang out, Bai Xue's consciousness stopped there.

"She knows you, or you know her?" Wei Yenwu asked.

Bai Xue shook her head.

"Before this incident, this subordinate had never met that person."

"Maybe it was because of her clothing. There aren't many people from the Eastern Country in Lungmen. Perhaps she noticed Bai Xue's attire and saw that her actions differed from the others', so she spared her life."

Wen Yue guessed.

After all, Bai Xue definitely knew Suika. Wen Yue herself had arranged for Bai Xue to monitor that child for a time, though Suika's simple routine had yielded nothing useful.

Since everyone else who had gone to capture or assassinate Suika had died in the valley while Bai Xue alone survived, Wen Yue believed there was an eighty percent chance Suika had spared her out of consideration for a fellow countrywoman.

Wei Yenwu nodded. He couldn't find a better explanation for why Bai Xue had survived, so for now, he could only accept Wen Yue's reasoning.

Meanwhile, Suika walked southwest, drinking sake as she went to calm herself down.

That punch had scared even her.

She finally understood why this move was Suika's signature technique.

With that one punch, she was confident she could beat The Black Snake into rotten sludge.

After blowing up the valley with one punch, she had originally planned to flee immediately.

But then she unexpectedly spotted Bai Xue rolling down the mountain.

As one of the Rhodes Island operators least likely to be encountered in Lungmen, Suika considered it and decided to save her.

But to keep her from continuing to track her, Suika took her to the mountaintop and invited her to have a few drinks.

Only after placing the drunken Bai Xue somewhere safe did Suika leave.

Next, rather than heading northwest into Ursus territory as she had previously announced, she traveled southwest.

The reason was that she wanted to see if she had a chance to meet the "living" Theresa.

After all, it was impossible for her not to be curious about what kind of charm the Sarkaz's moonlight possessed.

As for whether she could actually meet her, Suika decided to leave that to fate. Or maybe she could make a rabbit head and pray to see whether Inaba Tewi would bless her?

That night, she found a Rift Beast's cave. Looking at the Rift Beast baring its fangs at her, Suika pointed at the entrance and said,

"I'll give you a chance. I'm requisitioning this place for one night. If you know what's good for you, we'll part on good terms, and I'll give your den back tomorrow. If you don't, you're dinner tonight."

Naturally, the Rift Beast couldn't understand her. It opened its foul-smelling maw and lunged at Suika.

A few seconds later, Suika stepped on the Rift Beast's head and clapped her hands.

The Rift Beast had already lost the ability to move. Blood continuously poured from its mouth, and its limbs twitched without stopping.

"Tch. I gave you a chance, and you couldn't make use of it!"

She disgustedly waved her hand to disperse the bloody stench before using her chain to bind the Rift Beast's body and drag it outside.

Less than a hundred meters from the cave entrance, a small stream flowed with clear water.

After dragging the beast over, Suika took out a forty-centimeter dagger Chen had given her and began skinning and butchering the Rift Beast.

By the time she had finished everything, panting heavily, and dragged the beast meat back into the cave, the sky had grown so dark she couldn't see her hand in front of her face.

After gathering some dry branches outside, Suika prepared to barbecue in the cave to make up for the hardship she had suffered today.

Five minutes later, amid billowing smoke, she coughed as she rushed out of the cave.

A Stupid Move That Isn't Stupid

It turned out that the interior of Suika's cave sloped slightly lower than its entrance.

The firewood she had brought back still contained moisture and hadn't fully dried. The fire she started produced thick smoke that rolled endlessly.

At first, she tried to control it, but it was useless. In the end, she could only set the beast meat over the fire and stand outside herself.

She sat at the cave entrance, calculated the time, rushed inside to add firewood, then flipped the beast meat. After going back and forth several times, her eyes were red from the smoke, and she finally stomped out the fire.

Looking at the chunks of meat that had been grilled black and hard like charcoal, Suika felt like crying.

In the end, she could only tell herself that since she had already grilled it, she had to at least taste it. Otherwise, all that suffering would have been for nothing.

She took a small bite, and her eyes immediately lit up.

Though the outside was burnt black and it felt dry and lacked any meaty texture when bitten into, it was surprisingly not too awful, nor did it have much of a gamey smell.

It wasn't delicious, but it was still edible, which gave Suika a little satisfaction.

After all, this was a tough chunk of meat roasted without any seasoning whatsoever. With such a crude preparation method, being edible was already something to thank the heavens for. Even Suika, who called herself a gourmet, couldn't ask much more of it.

But this also reminded her of one of the things she had forgotten to buy before leaving—seasonings.

She had plenty of other food, but at the very least, she still needed some salt.

Still, it wasn't a big problem. She could buy some once she found a place where people lived.

With her face smeared black, Suika went to the stream to wash up, then sat at the cave entrance and bowed toward the twin moons.

"Even though you, Inaba Tewi, aren't up there, the only thing around me related to rabbits is these twin moons.

Please bless me with a successful big pull, endless golden lights in ten-pulls, and no off-banner draws. Amen!"

After saying that, Suika pulled out a stack of cash, preparing for her first pull since setting out.

For now, she planned to hold off on abilities. Mainly because no ability she drew would improve her much at the moment.

So she would consider the other two categories first.

After hesitating for a while, she decided to throw ten thousand into the skills category first and test the waters.

No sooner said than done. As the money was fed in, a string of knowledge appeared in her mind a few seconds later.

Recalling the skill in her head, Suika didn't know what to say.

Ice Sign "Icicle Fall"

The most memorable spell card of Cirno, the ⑨ from Misty Lake in Scarlet Devil Mansion.

After all, among all Touhou spell cards, this was truly the only one that could be easily dodged just by standing right in its face.

It could be called Touhou's foremost idiot.