The Knight Captain stepped out from the space-time gate. The moment the warhorse's hooves touched the ground beneath, it rapidly deconstructed into two parts, flying towards the central Great Rift and Cheche respectively.
Dealing with the little stragglers following the Loli Demon God was merely an insignificant interlude; Lu Xing had already obtained the information he wanted from it.
Next—
"Cheche!"
Vast mental energy rippled out from the Great Rift. Cheche's main body was gradually awakened. Just a simple act of standing up caused the entire land to tremble violently. If the nearby space hadn't been reinforced by Honkai energy, this might have torn open several large fissures in the ground.
"Bai."
A slightly muffled voice responded to Lu Xing's call. It sounded, well, a bit like it hadn't quite woken up yet. Within the entire legion, the only Honkai Beast besides Lu Xing that could get Cheche to move around a bit was Sheshe.
Unfortunately, Cheche didn't understand the concept of "casting a long line to catch a big fish." After "accidentally" scaring Sheshe off, there were no more Honkai Beasts to play with it.
Coupled with the fact that the legion wasn't engaged in any external campaigns, and so, the idle Cheche had begun a leisurely routine of "absorbing-sleeping," until now—
"You've been idle for so long," Lu Xing said. "You must be eager to stretch your muscles, right?"
Although Cheche's intelligence had improved considerably, its reactions were still not very quick:
"..."
"Is Bai finally going to play with Cheche?"
"..."
Lu Xing fell silent for a moment upon hearing this.
"No, I still have some preparations to make on my end. There will be plenty of time after it's done. Before that, I've found something interesting for you to do."
"Interesting?"
"Absolutely."
————
Using mental energy as a medium, Lu Xing relayed the prepared plan and route to Cheche.
From the southern tip of Africa to the island of Great Britain, this was an ultra-long journey spanning the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Without [Traverse] to rely on, who knew how long it would take Cheche to travel this distance.
"Along this route," Lu Xing explained, "you will pass by a total of five medium-sized rifts."
"Near each rift, there is a legion led by an Emperor-class Honkai Beast. Although they are also fulfilling their mission by attacking human civilizations on the continental coasts, the combat intensity is pathetically weak as long as the Emperor-class beasts themselves don't take action."
"Cheche."
"I need you to go and add some fuel to the fire."
What was a catastrophic Honkai Beast offensive for humanity was, in Lu Xing's eyes, far from meeting the requirements. Although the various human factions were struggling to hold on, they were far from suffering fundamental damage. At the very least, they had not yet requested large-scale support from the Flame-Chasers or the Mu Continent.
This wouldn't do.
"You don't need to deal with humans," Lu Xing instructed. "The first thing to do after you get there is to find the Emperor-class Honkai Beast 'responsible' for that area and give it a good thrashing. Don't stop no matter what it says... Hmm, be careful not to hit it too hard and kill it. They are, after all, still our 'teammates,' and they'll be useful later."
Lu Xing tried to be as detailed as possible when explaining to Cheche.
"After the beating," he continued, "you stay near the rift and supervise the battle, drive the Emperor-class to the front lines. Tell them they are absolutely not allowed to return to the rift until the very last moment of the battle."
"As for the extent of the fighting..."
"Each Emperor-class must destroy at least five human-controlled cities. I believe with their intelligence and strength, this definitely won't be a difficult task."
"When you reach the last one..."
Sixteen Space-Time Crystals shot out from around the Great Rift, quickly stopping beside Cheche.
Following the route set by Lu Xing, the final step of Cheche's journey would be the west coast of Norway. This area was close to Great Britain, and the pressure of an offensive there would likely exceed the sum of the previous four rifts.
"The human resistance will be much stronger there."
"There's no need to supervise the battle there. Cheche, you directly assist the rift's Emperor-class in launching the attack. That fellow called 'Pontos' is a super-large land tortoise. Its shell is like a mountain range; it should be quite easy to recognize."
"You don't need to go too fast."
"If you're lucky, you'll soon encounter Armed Dolls and Fusion Warriors."
"Fusion Warriors?" Cheche rumbled.
"Yes, humans who use Honkai energy. They are easy to recognize."
Cheche had never seen a real Fusion Warrior, so Lu Xing explained a bit.
"If you can take them out, do it."
"But if the enemy can withstand one blow without dying—remember, as long as you fail to eliminate a Fusion Warrior in one hit, choose to retreat immediately."
With Cheche's current strength, an ordinary Fusion Warrior shouldn't be able to withstand a single [Roar]. Those who could take that hit were basically the high-end combatants from the Flame-Chasers.
"With these Space-Time Crystals, slipping away from them shouldn't be a problem."
"Hmm..." Lu Xing hesitated for a moment. "If conditions allow, you can take 'Pontos' with you when you leave. That fellow's strength is decent; it would be a pity for it to die there."
Whoosh!
The Space-Time Crystals opened a huge portal in the air.
"Remember," Lu Xing emphasized. "If the mission can't be completed, there are other ways. Your own safety must be the priority."
————
"Sheshe!"
After sending Cheche off, Lu Xing directly used a space-time gate to drag Sheshe over, who knows where it had wandered off to.
"?"
However, when Lu Xing saw Sheshe, it was looking at him innocently with its huge, vertical pupils—a few bird feathers, insignificant compared to its massive size, still dangled from its mouth.
This was a little hobby Sheshe had recently developed.
Wild animals hadn't completely disappeared from the Australian continent. The targets of Honkai energy erosion did not include these "creatures outside of civilization." After being infected by the Honkai aura, most of these wild animals wouldn't undergo much change, while a small portion would mutate into new species.
These new species possessed a certain degree of aggression, but even the strongest among them wouldn't exceed Knight-class in power. The legion mostly ignored the existence of these wild animals, but Sheshe was different. When it had nothing to do, it would catch a few to vary its diet, and even specifically "free-ranged" some to improve its meals... although Sheshe didn't possess a sense of taste at all.
And being able to survive on Honkai energy was a common characteristic of these mutated creatures.
As a race specialized in destruction, there was only one reason for Sheshe to engage in such behavior: boredom!
Thump!
The sudden release of spatial power caused the enormous Sheshe to fall directly to the ground.
"Very good."
"I was initially thinking the mission might be a bit troublesome, but looking at you... you must have been 'conserving energy and building up strength' for a long time."
Sheshe's mission was the same as Cheche's. From south to north, follow the western coastline, traversing the entire Americas, and finally heading towards the destination in the Western Pacific region: Yingzhou.
"The Big Whale and the Big Crab will coordinate with you during the operation."
"Nine rifts and nine Emperor-class Honkai Beasts... Sheshe, the task of persuading (physically) them is yours."