"You're back. I have another piece of good news and another piece of bad news for you two. Which one do you want to hear first?"
Seeing Chang Yuan and Airi arrive, Velvie stopped flipping through the documents in her hands and asked.
"Big V Teacher, could you stop being so mysterious? Today is an important day for Airi and me, you know."
Seeing Velvie ask the exact same question she had asked last night, Chang Yuan smiled helplessly.
"Fine, fine, I'll get straight to it. The most suitable Honkai Beast DNA for a member is Ashwatthama's, with a compatibility rate as high as 96%. It's absurdly high.
"But the bad news is that, among the known Honkai Beast gene banks, the highest compatibility any Honkai Beast gene has with Airi is only 20%.
"In other words, Airi can't integrate with the DNA of any currently known Honkai Beast."
"This—"
"Um, Velvie, wait for me a moment. I'll be right back."
Hearing Velvie say that, Airi suddenly remembered the unknown Honkai Beast that had given her a piece of hard shell last night.
She immediately went to find Mebius and asked her to extract that Honkai Beast's DNA from the piece of hard shell.
"Hah, is this another fragment from a new-type Honkai Beast you hunted before?"
Looking at the piece of hard shell in her hand, unlike that of any Honkai Beast she had seen before, Mebius asked curiously.
"No, I just happened to pick it up. There wasn't anything suitable for me in Velvie's Honkai Beast gene bank, so I thought I'd see whether this could yield something compatible with me."
"I see. But don't get your hopes up too high. None of the known Honkai Beast gene banks have anything suitable for you, so even if a new one suddenly appeared, it might not suit you either."
As she spoke, Mebius began the gene extraction.
It did not take long. In just over ten minutes, a new vial of Honkai Beast Gene Serum appeared.
"Here's what you wanted. Don't get your hopes up too high. The greater the hope, the greater the disappointment."
Mebius tried to comfort her in advance, her words harsh but her heart soft.
But Airi clearly did not care whether she would be disappointed.
After taking the Gene Serum, she smiled and waved goodbye to Mebius.
Returning to Velvie's Spiral Workshop, Airi handed the brand-new vial of Honkai Beast Gene Serum to Velvie.
"Velvie, check how compatible this one is with me."
Velvie did not ask any questions. She took the Gene Serum and began testing it.
When the results came out, Velvie's face was full of shock.
"Impossible. How is this possible? It has 100% compatibility."
At that moment, Velvie was beginning to doubt her life.
One hundred percent compatibility with a Honkai Beast's genes—didn't that mean a person was a Honkai Beast?
But the problem was that she had not detected any sign of Airi being a Honkai Beast in her blood or genes.
"What is it, Velvie? Does that mean it won't work?"
"...No, it's not that it won't work. It works too well. It actually has 100% compatibility. That's simply ridiculous."
Hearing Velvie say that, Airi felt even more strongly that what had happened last night was far too strange.
The Honkai Beast had appeared precisely when she needed it.
"All right, don't overthink it, Velvie. Let's begin the surgery. As for the Honkai outbreaks around the world at this stage, let those who successfully became Fusion Warriors guard them for now."
"Don't worry. The successful cases among those criminals have already been imprisoned, while the successful Flame-Chasing Moth soldiers are within the absolute inner circle. There's no need for this to be temporary—they can guard their respective regions permanently."
"Then let's do as you say. Airi and I can relax a little too."
Chang Yuan stroked his chin in thought for a moment, then agreed to Velvie's suggestion.
What followed was naturally the Fusion Warrior surgery for him and Airi.
Velvie completed the entire process alone. After the simple operation was finished, she put the two of them into incubation chambers.
The tubes inside were inserted into their bodies, constantly supplying them with nutrients to ensure that all their vital signs remained within operational ranges.
These readings also allowed Velvie to observe their conditions at any time.
A week later, Airi opened her eyes inside the incubation chamber.
Upon receiving the notification, Velvie immediately opened Airi's chamber.
"Was I the first to wake up? Hmm, looks like I have the best luck."
After changing clothes, Airi spoke to Velvie with a cheerful smile.
"Ah, well... Airi, how about you look in a mirror first?"
Looking at Airi as she was now, Velvie awkwardly scratched her cheek and suggested it.
Hearing Velvie say that, Airi's radiant smile immediately froze.
She promptly found a reflective surface.
Looking at her reflection, Airi reached up in disbelief and touched her ears.
Yet just as in the reflection, her ears really had become pointed fairy ears.
"Velvie, wh-what's going on? Didn't you say the integration surgery was perfect?"
Seeing this inhuman trait, Airi asked with immediate concern.
She herself thought it made her even cuter, but what would Chang Yuan think of her? Would he look at her as though she were a monster?
The Airi from the original story clearly had no such worries. She did not need to worry about herself, because there was no one in particular before whom she needed to care about her appearance.
But the current Airi had someone she cared about deeply, so she could not judge herself based only on her own feelings.
What if she saw it as a symbol of cuteness, but others saw it as a symbol of a monster?
"In theory, it was indeed perfect, but accidents can happen. And judging by all your vital signs, your only side effect seems to be this pair of pointed elf ears.
"The rest can't really be considered side effects—for example, hair that stays especially fluffy without any care, and a constitution that never gains weight no matter how much you eat."
Velvie could only shrug helplessly at that.
Seriously, Airi had actually run into that one-in-a-million chance. There was nothing Velvie could do about it.
She could only pray that Chang Yuan would not blame her afterward.
"Mm, all right. But where is Yuan? I want to go see him."
At that moment, Airi forcibly stopped herself from dwelling on it and changed the subject, shifting her attention in the process.
"He's on the other side. If you're curious, come with me."
Pointing toward the other end where the incubation chambers were placed, Velvie said.
Before you continue