The range of the authority...
It seems even larger than she imagined. If fully released...
Late at night, Li Wu pulled Raiden Mei along, sprinting through the slumbering city. Around them, rustling sounds grew louder, accompanied by the echo of many new footsteps.
That Titan mech from earlier hadn't lasted two minutes for a reboot before more than a dozen cyborgs violently pried open the cockpit door.
Then, dense gunfire rained down on the plating like a torrential storm, echoing within the narrow cockpit, mixed with short groans of pain as the smell of blood slowly drifted out...
I knew it!
Having died so many times, Li Wu felt like he was about to awaken his own Spider-Sense.
"Little Li, I'm mastering the Herrscher of Thunder's authority. I need time. And... I have a feeling that if I fully release it, you'll be caught in the blast too. So I'll go draw their attention. You take the chance to run, as far as possible. That way I can..."
Raiden Mei didn't continue. She lowered her head, not daring to say the rest.
Her thin bangs covered her increasingly crazed, blood-red eyes. The crimson glow in her pupils was like an imprisoned viper, waiting for the chains on its body to break so it could escape its shackles and devour anyone who stood in its way.
Li Wu knew exactly what the second half of her sentence was—
That way, I can trigger the Second Honkai Eruption without reservation and drag everyone down to hell with me.
"..."
Sure enough, her self-destructive tendencies haven't completely disappeared. Whenever she encounters a problem, her mind goes straight to self-destructing with the opponent...
"Mei, you're not Ultraman Taro. You can't just use the Ultra Dynamite and come back to life," Li Wu said jokingly, trying his best to soothe Raiden Mei's extreme emotions.
"If reality were a galgame, I think aside from completionists who want every CG, no one wants to hit the Bad End on the only route available. Once you lose control completely, Schicksal will have a reason to intervene. That's exactly what Schicksal wants to see. At that point, even death might be a luxury for you."
"Nagazora City isn't devoid of innocent people. I don't want to face another wave of powerful enemies."
Raiden Mei remained silent, offering no response.
At the corner ahead, Li Wu helped Raiden Mei duck into a small alleyway. They pressed their backs against the cold, rough brick wall and held their breaths.
The cyborgs chasing from behind didn't notice them and continued running past.
He thought they had bought some breathing room.
But then, an incredibly familiar chemical smell wafted down from above.
Li Wu's pupils contracted sharply. His focus heightened to the extreme. Almost reflexively, he pulled Mei hard into his embrace and fell backward, while his right hand had already drawn his gun and aimed upward.
Bang!
The muzzle flash flared briefly in the narrow alley.
High up on the wall, a cloud of blood exploded from the back of the head of a cyborg preparing to ambush them. The red light in its eyes extinguished, and along with its arm modified into a rotating chainsaw, it crashed heavily to the ground.
"Run!"
Li Wu continued to drag Raiden Mei toward even more secluded alleys, attempting to escape surveillance.
However, at every intersection they passed, the nearby surveillance cameras would swivel in unison, calculating like machines yet filled with a perverse humanity, firmly locking onto their fleeing figures.
As if saying: To the ends of the earth, there is nowhere to run.
Li Wu knew it would be hard to escape tonight. Raiden Mei's use of her Herrscher authority had limits—time, a single-use cap, frequency... exceeding the limit in any aspect would cause the Herrscher persona to take over her body directly, triggering the Third Honkai Eruption.
The enemies, however, had no limits. They could wear them down from a distance or launch forceful attacks and ambushes up close.
Plus, the entire city was being monitored by Raiden Ryoma. Hiding was completely impossible.
Another dead end. Just as Li Wu prepared to turn back, a cyborg appeared behind them.
The opponent had no intention of talking. He simply raised his modified arm-gun. But before he could even initiate the firing sequence, Li Wu had already raised his pistol—safety already off—and accurately pierced the cyborg's brain. The entire process was smooth, without a single wasted movement.
Yes.
This was the only thing he was good at.
Unlike Anna, he didn't have a superhuman constitution. Unlike Mei, he had no special authority.
The only thing he excelled at was preparing in advance, aiming, and firing.
In those more than two thousand loops, he had practiced more than a million times. From needing over a dozen shots to hit a stationary target at the start, to now being able to kill even moving targets with a single shot.
Therefore, as long as the opponent was still within the realm of "human" or "humanoid," and as long as the rules allowed the option to "kill," he had a chance of winning.
However—
Li Wu ejected the magazine and glanced at it under the dim neon light from the distance.
Only three bullets left.
The number of enemies was unknown; three rounds were far from enough. And if he encountered more than two enemies at once, no matter how fast his reaction speed was, he couldn't take them all out instantly. Not to mention that the noise of firing would attract even more enemies.
This was a dead end.
Li Wu suddenly smiled. He grabbed Raiden Mei's hand and continued sprinting forward. That smile wasn't desolate; instead, it was incredibly warm.
Like a modern person finally succeeding in starting a fire with sticks—even if the flame was destined to go out sooner or later, before it extinguished, the cold couldn't touch them.
For the first time, the thought of giving up didn't immediately cross his mind.
"Little Li..."
Raiden Mei was full of worry, her heart growing increasingly uneasy.
Running all this way, Raiden Mei finally saw it clearly. These enemies, including the cyborg who ambushed her in the kitchen earlier and the Blood Wolf mercenaries before, were all arranged by someone to kill her.
And unlike the covert attempts of the previous days, this time, the other party seemed to be holding nothing back.
along the way, Raiden Mei noticed that many windows were closed, and curtains were drawn tight. There was absolutely no sign of anyone watching the commotion.
The surveillance of the entire city acted like someone's eyes, following her wherever she went. Even as Li Wu dragged her everywhere to escape, that burning gaze remained, never dissipating, following her like a shadow, impossible to shake off...
As they ran, Mei bit her lower lip hard, her heart twisted tight like a hemp rope.
Finally, in yet another alleyway, she forcefully threw off Li Wu's hand.
Raiden Mei stopped in her tracks. The searchlights behind them drew closer, casting her slender silhouette in a fragile light.
But beneath that fragility, manic, tangible electricity crackled around her endlessly, threatening to swallow her whole at any moment.
"Mei?"
"I don't understand galgames, and I don't get what 'all CGs' means. If this is a so-called Bad End, then I accept it..."
The white light was as cold as snow, falling upon Raiden Mei. Li Wu could clearly see her trembling slightly.
Raiden Mei tried to keep her voice steady, but her increasingly hoarse tone betrayed her feelings.
"Resisting is a bad ending. Submitting is also a bad ending. Whether I'm captured by Schicksal as a test subject or killed by people sent by Father, the outcome isn't really that different, is it?"
"In that case, at least..."
"At least..."
Raiden Mei took a deep breath, using up every last bit of her remaining courage: "At least choose an ending where you can leave safely. If we keep running, we'll both die..."
The alley was left with only the trembling echoes of her voice and the approaching noise from the distance.
"..."
Li Wu looked at Raiden Mei, who was being so serious for the first time, and couldn't hold it back.
"Pfft..."
A light laugh broke the solemn atmosphere Raiden Mei had tried so hard to create.
Like an ill-timed commercial suddenly interrupting a heavy farewell scene between the main characters in a movie.
"?" Raiden Mei looked up in astonishment, her blood-red purple eyes full of confusion. She didn't understand what Li Wu was laughing at and felt a bit indignant. "What's so funny?! Little Li, don't you understand? We have no other road to walk! If this goes on, you... you'll definitely be dragged down by me! Just like last time...!"
"Have you tried?" Li Wu interrupted her, his voice calming down.
"Tried... tried what?"
"Other roads." Li Wu's eyes were full of defiance. "To me, there are no impossible roads, no absolute dead ends. As long as you give me enough time, I can definitely find the most perfect timeline."
"No... but there is no time left, is there? We have to make a choice right now! Effort and persistence offer no hope at all! You know this better than I do!" Raiden Mei became even more agitated. Arcs of electricity danced more violently around her, yet despite the restless authority, not a single spark harmed Li Wu.
The Honkai energy was strictly imprisoned within her core consciousness.
"Father said before that as an Anti-Entropy Enforcer, he has the ability to briefly take over the electronic systems of all of Nagazora City. This time, he's serious... He's truly made up his mind to kill me..."
Raiden Mei's voice lowered, carrying a gloom of resignation, her eyes wandering.
"I... I actually prepared myself a long time ago. I originally thought, at least if I controlled a bit more power, I could use it to protect Little Li and stay with you a little longer... But now it seems that's not needed. No matter what, my ending is already set..."
"I can't use my authority on a large scale; that would kill you too. At most, I can control a small amount of bio-electricity. Once there are too many enemies, the authority won't be able to distinguish friend from foe..."
The alley fell silent for a moment, save for the rustling footsteps drawing ever closer.
Then, Li Wu's voice sounded. It was soft, like a stone cast into a dead lake, creating ripples.
"If working hard is too tiring, is it okay to give up?"
Raiden Mei froze.
"If holding on is too painful, is it okay to leave?"
These were words she had once said to Li Wu...
"Everyone has their own unique 'little happiness.'"
"Giving up, leaving? If we really did that..."
Cyborgs converged from all directions. At the intersection, enemies appeared on every side except directly ahead.
The lightning around Raiden Mei intensified. When the Honkai energy reached a critical point, she forcibly suppressed it again.
Li Wu was still here. She couldn't even self-destruct. She could only watch helplessly as the "malice" she once felt materialized into a stage play where the entire city hunted her down.
Just like the evil dragons, demon kings, and evil gods in fairy tales—as long as they were eradicated, people would cheer and applaud.
When she was little, she watched TV from everyone else's perspective too, hoping the hero would kill the demon king, hoping Ultraman would defeat the monster.
Was it wrong? No. As an unstable "humanoid nuke," only through her death could the tragedy end, and this clumsy stage play conclude with the most complete, ideal ending.
Li Wu saw through Raiden Mei's thoughts.
Sometimes she was hard to understand, but sometimes she was overly easy to read, like right now—
During their exchange, Li Wu noticed Raiden Mei glancing behind him exactly six times. Her fingers clenched and unclenched, finally gripping her skirt tightly as a pale, sorrowful smile appeared on her face.
Li Wu paused, raised his pistol, and under Raiden Mei's shocked gaze, aimed it at his own temple.
"Wait, Little Li, what are you doing?!"
"Nothing. I just want to see if I can achieve the best ending. If I give up or leave so casually, I think—we'll probably only get further and further away from the 'happiness' we want."
"This isn't your finish line, and it isn't mine either."
The moment the last word left his lips, amidst Raiden Mei's frantic screams, Li Wu pulled the trigger.
The bullet tore through flesh, pierced the brainstem, and the nerves controlling his consciousness instantly severed connection.
Li Wu embarked on the cycle of reincarnation once more.
...
...
Waking up again, Raiden Mei stood before him, her face hesitant. The white light behind her silhouetted her once more, making her look as fragile as glass—one light tap, and she would shatter into countless pieces.
"Little Li, I..."
"Stop. Are you about to say something like 'Throw me away, I have no way out anyway, so you should go on alone'?"
"Mm, but..."
"No buts."
The save point was ten seconds after he killed the cyborg preparing to ambush him in the alley. Raiden Mei was about to say, "I don't understand galgames, and I don't get what 'all CGs' means. If this is a so-called Bad End, then I accept it..." and then start giving up on herself and pushing him away.
Last time, he stopped to talk to Raiden Mei because he was already prepared to regress, using that life to understand exactly what she was thinking at that moment.
Now he knew, so there was no need for hesitation.
Li Wu hoisted Raiden Mei directly onto his shoulder. She was very light. Even though she was tall for a girl, carrying her took little effort.
"Cut the crap. If we stay here, we'll be caught sooner or later. You just want to say 'I'm hopeless, no matter how hard I try I won't live long, so instead of struggling, I might as well leave early now.'"
"I don't care about that. I worked hard to save you. Unless I am absolutely certain there is no way out, you are not allowed to die!"
Carrying Raiden Mei, Li Wu quickly ducked into another secluded alley. The surveillance cameras clearly captured them entering, but there were no cameras inside.
This was a place explicitly shown in the manga as a blind spot for surveillance.
This remote alley was uninhabited, winding, and complex.
There were definitely people waiting outside.
Unless he killed all the enemies, it would be very hard to leave.
But once the cyborgs entered this place... who was the hunter and who was the prey was yet to be determined.
...