Who Defused the Bomb in Sky-Piercing City?

With a new playmate, Pardo was overjoyed for a while.

No wonder the system did not give her a Life Coin.

In this Dead Space that was boring enough to drive anyone crazy, Elysia and Eden were doing fine—one sang while the other listened to her sing.

But this kitty was so bored she was about to scratch her belly!

Pardofelis: "Canned Food, from now on I'll take you around to eat and drink well, and stock up in other places. Come, let me introduce you. This is Sister Eden, and this is Sister Elysia."

Elysia: "Come on, Canned Food, give me your paw."

Canned Food: "Meow~"

Pardofelis: "Canned Food, why are you so obedient when Sister Elysia tells you to do something? You haven't even shaken paws with me yet. Come on, Canned Food, give me your paw."

Canned Food: "Meow!!!"

Watching the cat throw a tantrum at her, Pardo began to wonder whether it held a grudge because she had shaken around too violently while inside Canned Food earlier.

Raiden Mei: "It's obvious that Pardo is exceptionally happy right now. She's having a wonderful time."

Theresa: "Strange, why do I feel like I can understand what that cat is trying to say? Wait, I think I need to get my brain checked. Did I somehow learn animal language?"

Kiana: "Auntie, Canned Food's meaning was so obvious. We understood it too."

Himeko spread her hands and complained helplessly, then noticed that the scene had begun to change.

In the scene, Mei, Pardofelis, and Canned Food were all in the same room. The warm, harmonious atmosphere was a rare sight in the Elysian Realm.

"Canned Food, give me your paw."

Pardofelis crouched in front of Canned Food and began her usual teasing of the cat.

"Meow."

"That's your tail, not your paw. Again, give me your paw~"

The cooperation between the two kitties did not seem very harmonious. At the very least, Canned Food was not particularly willing to cooperate.

"When I first saw it, I was curious. I heard that the Elysian Realm only stored the memories of thirteen Flame-Chasers. The Elysian Realm only stored the memories of thirteen Flame-Chasers, so this cat couldn't possibly be one of them, could it?"

Mei asked jokingly.

Or perhaps this cat was actually Pardofelis's true body?

"So Sister Mei was curious about that. If I had to put it that way, Canned Food counts as something I brought in, right? According to Sister Snake, it's a projection of memory? A manifestation of mental space? Anyway, it's one of those hard-to-understand terms."

Pardofelis touched her chin and explained as simply as she could.

"Back then, when they were collecting data for the Elysian Realm, I lay on the operating table and accidentally fell asleep."

"When I woke up, there was an extra cat in my data. It seemed like I was the only one like that."

In short, Pardofelis somehow gained a cat while half-asleep and confused.

Then her Memory Body brought Canned Food along, and the two of them spent their days causing trouble in the Elysian Realm, stocking up on goods from the other Flame-Chasers and the like.

"So Canned Food was a cat you kept in reality?" Mei asked.

"Nope. Ever since I joined Fire Moth, I never kept a cat of my own again. If I had to be precise, I didn't even have a cat that belonged to me before that."

Pardofelis shook her head as she explained.

"Only when I was in Dusk Street did I live alongside stray cats. But back then, the strays never had enough to eat. They were skinny and small, completely unlike this fat cat, Canned Food."

"Meow!!"

Canned Food voiced her protest, clearly taking great offense at the words "fat cat."

Pardo continued, "To me, that was the happiest time of my life. Honkai had not arrived yet, and peace had not disappeared."

Every day, she had been carefree. When she woke up, she searched for food. At noon, she basked in the sun with the stray cats. At night, they huddled together for warmth.

Thanks to her once-in-ten-thousand luck, Pardofelis had rarely gone hungry, and all the junk she picked up could be sold.

Only then had she been truly free.

Perhaps because that period had been the most precious and nostalgic time of her life, Canned Food had been preserved in this way.

"I don't think as much as Boss Kevin and the others do. I don't worry about whether the world will survive, so maybe that's why only my data came with a cat."

Pardofelis scratched her head and continued somewhat embarrassedly.

And Canned Food's plump appearance was the best proof of how much she wanted those stray cats from back then to live happily.

"Oh, right, Sister Mei. I'll give you this silver vine for teasing cats. Canned Food really likes it."

Pardofelis took out something resembling a cat teaser wand and handed it to Mei.

"Ah, thank you, Pardo."

Mei picked up the silver vine and imitated Pardofelis as she teased Canned Food. "Canned Food, give me your paw."

"Meow~"

This time, Canned Food did not resist. Instead, she obediently raised her paw, leaving Pardofelis beside them dumbfounded.

"Huh? Canned Food, why do you only listen to Sister Mei?!"

Obviously, as someone who was also teasing the cat, Pardofelis was jealous.

Raiden Mei: "What a cute cat. It would be great if I could borrow Canned Food to play with for a while."

Canned Food: "Meow~"

Pardofelis: "Ah! Canned Food, you value beauty over friendship! Why won't you listen when I call you, but you obey whenever Sister Mei or Sister Elysia calls?"

Canned Food: "Meow!!!"

Himeko Murata: "It seems Canned Food really dislikes being teased by Pardo. Even I can understand what she's saying now."

Pardofelis: "Damn it, Canned Food, even if you value beauty over friendship, you can't treat me like this."

Kiana: "From a universal rational perspective, have you considered the possibility that, as fellow cats, Canned Food doesn't want to be teased by her own kind?"

Pardofelis: "..."

Pardo glanced at her tail and ears. For a moment, she actually felt that Kiana's guess made a lot of sense.

But until now, no one had ever treated her like a cat and teased her even once.

She had been in the group for so long, yet no one had said they wanted to touch her ears or pet her tail.

Eden: "So this Canned Food is still, like the Memory Bodies in the Previous Era Elysian Realm, an emotional data construct of Pardo's?"

Bronya: "Not necessarily. Memory Bodies should exist in the form of data, but since this Canned Food can appear beside you, she probably isn't data."

Elysia: "After all, this place is called Dead Space. Maybe the system copied Canned Food from the Previous Era Elysian Realm and changed her form of existence. In Mobius's words, Canned Food was originally part of Pardo."

Correct.

The system responded, proving that Elysia's guess was correct.

Pardofelis: "So that's how it is. Then if I get a Life Coin, Canned Food can come back with me too?"

Pardofelis: "Hehe, I remember every place in Dusk Street with good stuff. Canned Food, when we get back, I'll take you out to eat and drink well!"

Canned Food: "Meow!"

Chapter 36: Who Defused the Bomb in Sky-Piercing City?

Hua: "Pardo, Life Coins are so precious. Isn't it a bit too wasteful for you to use one just to stock up on goods?"

Immortal Crimson Bird had roughly understood the purpose of that Life Coin from Elysia's explanation, and she also knew that the Previous Era now had new possibilities.

Although Eden had a Life Coin, she could probably shamelessly ask for it.

After all, Eden was generous.

But she was a living person in the present and could not use a dead person's Life Coin.

Otherwise, Hua wanted to try returning to the Previous Era, finding the captain who had once saved her, and reversing the cruel reality of her becoming a Herrscher.

Now that she heard Pardo was actually planning to use a Life Coin like a game token, she was so angry she nearly spat blood.

Pardofelis: "Hehe, Hua, you know me. Not to mention that I don't have a Life Coin right now, even if I did, I couldn't accomplish anything earth-shattering with it."

Elysia: "From what Hua said, do you have some special unfulfilled wish?"

Hua: "Yes. When I first joined Fire Moth, there was a captain who treated me especially well. I want to change the reality of her becoming a Herrscher."

Eden used a Life Coin and gained twenty-four hours of life, setting the time one month after Hua joined Fire Moth.

Pardofelis: "Sister Eden, were you really that quick?"

Eden: "I naturally cannot stand by and do nothing when Hua makes a request."

Hua: "Eden, I understand your kindness, but we still don't know why Captain Himiko became a Herrscher. Besides, Fire Moth was not strong enough back then and had no effective way to fight Herrschers."

Himiko was the captain of the Fire Moth squad who had once helped Hua.

When Hua first joined Fire Moth, the Flame Herrscher had not yet appeared.

Fire Moth was merely one of the United Nations' organizations for fighting Honkai, and its reputation was not particularly good.

Eden: "I want to try buying Fire Moth, or rather, giving us thirteen Flame-Chasers absolute authority within Fire Moth earlier."

Pardofelis: "?!!"

Elysia: "That really is a bold idea, Eden."

Eden: "Elysia, you did something similar before, didn't you? I've noticed that many things are different from what I remember."

For example, the higher-ups who had once held major objections to the Flame-Chasers and Fire Moth's existence were practically nowhere to be seen.

Without needing to think about it, Eden knew Elysia had done it.

Elysia: "Ehehe, you found out."

Bronya: "Won't there be problems? Taking control of Fire Moth sounds like something extremely dangerous."

Pardofelis: "It's not dangerous. With Sister Eden's current strength, nowhere is dangerous enough to be dangerous... uh, except perhaps Dusk Street."

After all, several Flame-Chasers from Fire Moth came from the talent-filled Dusk Street.

Eden: "Don't worry. I'm going to buy something, not fight. I only intend to infiltrate Fire Moth's upper ranks. Violence is a method reserved for extraordinary circumstances."

Elysia: "Then I'll leave it to you, my adorable Eden."

Elysia had great confidence in Eden's efficiency.

Not to mention that she had already cleared the obstacles for Eden last time, but with those profit-driven higher-ups in Fire Moth, there was no way they would not be tempted by Eden's wealth.

Back when the fight against Honkai had reached a critical point and everything would have collapsed if they did not unite, those idiots had still been fighting among themselves.

Even when the world was about to be destroyed if they continued, they had kept infighting without end.

It was the pure selfish mentality of, "We can all lose together, but it's unacceptable if you end up better than me after winning."

Elysia said she could not carry them.

She truly could not carry them!

Eden: "It's fine. Even if this attempt fails, I can still infiltrate them. At worst, we can use a few more Life Coins afterward."

Bronya: "But if you do this, won't something really go wrong? I remember Elysia chose a time after Eden's last time, right? The timeline is being thrown into complete chaos!"

Elysia: "That is something we should ask the system."

Please rest assured. System products are guaranteed quality, and after-sales service is fully provided. Go ahead and ravage the timeline to your heart's content; leave the rest to the Imaginary Law.

Kiana: "Can the Imaginary Law explain everything?"

Himeko Murata: "Who knows? But this involves time travel and quantum uncertainty. For an authoritative answer, we should probably go to Anti-Entropy and ask Dr. Einstein."

Bronya: "No, no, this has completely gone beyond the scope of what science can explain, hasn't it?"

Raiden Mei: "Leaving aside the wonders of Life Coins, I think something like Honkai is inherently very unscientific."

Kiana: "Unscientific, but very Honkai."

The quiz began.

Who, in Sky-Piercing City, pushed the Honkai Energy Fission Bomb into the sky at the critical moment and saved countless lives?

[A: Theresa.]