A reunion of old friends.
Perhaps they would have much to say, talking and drinking through the night until the break of dawn. Or perhaps... because things and people had changed, they could only bury their thoughts deep in their hearts.
Lu Xing was the latter.
He himself admitted that his mentality had developed significant problems after becoming the Emperor. Xiao Zi's earlier "words of wisdom" had only temporarily dispelled a portion of it, a treatment for the symptoms but not the root cause.
However.
"Making the Emperor experience emotional fluctuations"—in the eyes of his legions, this was likely an inconceivable event in itself.
Xiao Zi was different.
Even in this dim, lightless world, she still used her very existence to illustrate the meaning of the word "vibrant." The flash of joy from before was not a sign that "life" had worn away her emotions and pleasures; it was merely a form of "restraint" that Lu Xing didn't fully comprehend yet.
After all.
Even an Emperor possessing the authority of the Herrscher of Sentience could not see through every thought.
"..."
Faced with Xiao Zi's remarkably frank style.
Lu Xing found himself momentarily at a loss—aside from Cheche, which of his other subordinates didn't speak with timid deference in the Emperor's presence, let alone dare to question the Emperor with a "rhetorical question"? Even Cheche... Cheche was always taciturn, rarely speaking unless absolutely necessary.
Most importantly—
Lu Xing had long forgotten what he had once said to Xiao Zi!
What "live a good life as a living being"... did that sound like something the Emperor who sank an entire continent without batting an eye would say!
"..."
"You've done very well."
Facing this old friend from his "birth," Lu Xing, after some deliberation, gave up on trying to recapture his former "bleeding all over the place" style. Although the Xiao Zi speaking these words had a form and strength that had changed cataclysmically from back then, her style was the same as ever: just as "direct" as when she had dodged his "spray" and immediately countered with a [Charge].
Himself...
Life is always changing; there was no need to force his present self to conform to a phantom of the past. As for the Xiao Zi before him... Lu Xing was indeed quite covetous of her body (physically), but given the current state of human civilization, whether his legions needed to be supplemented with high-end combat power didn't seem all that important anymore.
However—
"If you can."
The bodies of the Emperor and the Angel descended towards the ground together. The surrounding Hybrid Honkai Beasts, each wounded and numbering just over half of their pre-battle strength, cautiously and curiously gathered around them. That's right, these two hundred-plus Hybrid Honkai Beasts had all "awakened"... no, they had all gained their own will through some method.
"Please, tell me."
"The story of you, and this civilization."
"That..."
"Is everything I know."
Inside a massive underground structure, Xiao Zi, leading her two followers, had brought all the Hybrid Honkai Beasts back to this place.
"I see."
Lu Xing, for his part, had shrunk his size to be on par with Xiao Zi, flying in alongside her.
Communication between Honkai Beasts was very fast.
However, Lu Xing and Xiao Zi still spoke the entire way. Accompanied by the sound of engaging gears and the dense steam spraying out around them, Xiao Zi "removed" the metal hood that had concealed her entire face since they had met.
It was a human face.
It was different from the "wild" appearance of this civilization's creators, but the face of a true "human female." According to Xiao Zi, this was an image "constructed" from the depths of her genes when she evolved into her current angel form.
That's right.
Although this image was unfamiliar, it did indeed come from Lu Xing's memory.
The Emperor's body never left behind fragments. Ever since he had obtained [Species Iteration]... no, ever since he had obtained the [Fission] ability, Lu Xing had never left any physical remnants.
But before that.
Lu Xing had been "bleeding all over the place" more than once.
Back when Lu Xing was still an Assault-class, in the process of being repeatedly defeated by Xiao Zi, the Honkai energy that constituted his shell, and even his incomplete Honkai Crystal, had been in zero-distance contact with Xiao Zi.
It was at that time.
Gene fragments of Lu Xing were absorbed and assimilated by Xiao Zi, becoming part of her. It was precisely because of this that Xiao Zi, lacking a reference, had "mimicked" the form that best suited Lu Xing's aesthetics at the time during her advancement.
This was the origin of the "angel form" before him.
Incidentally.
It also made Lu Xing harbor some suspicion about his past self.
Although it sounded like ancient history, to think that his main aesthetic preference (XP) back then was actually for the winged type—
That was truly an "interesting" fact he was reluctant to admit...
Probably.
As the two communicated.
The space of the underground structure revealing itself before them grew larger and larger.
Xiao Zi had truly "reconstructed" a human form, so the story she had just told Lu Xing was genuinely conveyed by speaking with her mouth.
Because of this.
Time passed... so quickly.
After passing through one heavy, fully-sealed door after another, and under the "surveillance" of more than a handful of Hybrid Honkai Beasts with levels above Lv.70, Lu Xing was about to meet the most important target of this trip:
It was not the creator of the civilization.
But without it, this abandoned World Bubble would have likely been completely devoured by the Quantum Sea long ago.
Lu Xing recalled what Xiao Zi had just said.
Whether it was a "Leaf of the Tree" or a "World Bubble," although there were connected passages between different worlds, their rates of time flow were not the same.
Even within the same world, the flow of time could change due to various circumstances.
Lu Xing's experience in the "real" world had only been a short two years. But in this World Bubble, Xiao Zi had already spent... "a hundred years" might sound long, but here, it was merely a unit of measurement.
Now.
The age of the being Lu Xing was about to meet had to be calculated in units of "ten thousand years."
"Hiss!!"
Steam and electric light erupted at once.
Behind the heavy alloy doors, a tide formed from a mixture of spirit and energy was continuously surging outwards.
"No weaker than myself."
Even before seeing the being itself, judging by its aura alone, Lu Xing could already give this yet-unseen behemoth such a high evaluation.
Soon.
Through the fully opened gates, Lu Xing saw what the being that had struggled in this World Bubble for countless years truly looked like—
A bird.
A giant bird.
A giant bird whose size was no less than his own in his complete form, its entire body constructed from a mechanical Honkai energy shell, glittering like gold!
This was...
The one Xiao Zi spoke of, the one that had fused with multiple Herrscher Cores, leading a civilization in its struggle for survival against the Honkai within the Quantum Sea—
The Herrscher of Binding's... companion Honkai Beast!!!