"So which answer should we choose? We still don't know." Raiden Mei said, troubled.
"There's no other way. We'll have to guess again. Same as always, let's vote," Theresa suggested.
"...Wait, I have an idea," Fu Hua suddenly interjected.
"Fu Hua, do you have a thought?"
"Not exactly an opinion. I just suddenly remembered the Herrscher of Sentience, the one who looks just like me, from the last vision we saw."
Fu Hua hesitated for a moment before continuing.
"I feel like... she doesn't seem very bright... If it's about being scammed over the phone, I don't know why, but I just have a strong feeling that person is very likely her..."
Hearing this, everyone couldn't help but recall the Herrscher of Sentience's slightly unhinged smile.
Uhm.....
Why does what Fu Hua said suddenly make so much sense?
"In that case, let's choose the first answer," Theresa said.
"Principal, it's just a feeling. The correct answer might not be this one," Fu Hua said hastily. She didn't want her intuition to influence everyone's judgment.
"It's fine. We didn't have a clear direction anyway, since none of us knows the right answer. In that case, we might as well trust your feeling. The worst that can happen is we get it wrong," Theresa said decisively.
"Then, I'll be the one to answer this question," Fu Hua stated.
Without giving Theresa a chance to refuse, she immediately declared,
"I choose A."
[Answer... Correct.]
[Congratulations, you have received one Selected Collector's Edition Parenting Guide.]
[Selected Collector's Edition Parenting Guide: With this in hand, whether it's a mischievous child, a tsundere child, a silent child, or a disobedient child... you'll raise them with ease. As long as you master all the knowledge points within, even a woman of steel can become a great mother.]
"Uhh... what kind of reward is this?"
Staring at the Parenting Guide that had landed in her hands, the corner of Fu Hua's mouth twitched, feeling rather speechless.
She was a fifty-thousand-year-old virgin, a lone sovereign. What use was a parenting guide to her?
She would probably never use it in her entire life.
Seeing the reward the Q&A Space had given out this time, everyone was rendered speechless, and the excitement from answering correctly instantly dissipated.
"Principal, this..." Fu Hua looked at the guide in her hand, feeling a bit awkward. It felt wrong to hold onto it, but also wrong to get rid of it.
"Ahem, Fu Hua, you should hold onto it for now. Who knows, maybe someone will have a use for it in the future?"
Theresa had no intention of taking this hot potato, so after a few light coughs, she kicked the ball right back.
Helpless, Fu Hua could only accept her bad luck and casually stuffed the Parenting Guide into her pocket.
She figured she'd just put it in her room as a memento when she got back.
The group put the matter of the strange reward aside and waited for the vision from the Q&A Space to appear.
They couldn't help it; they were all incredibly curious about who could be so impressive as to scam a Herrscher.
Soon enough, a scene materialized in the Q&A Space.
On the screen were Bronya and Fu Hua. Opposite them was a group of dolls.
"That's... the Herrscher of Domination from last time," Bronya recognized the dolls at a glance. After all, her title as the "King of Getting Owned" had appeared because of them, causing Kiana to constantly make fun of her.
"It seems this isn't a parallel world, but one of our futures," said Einstein.
"Let's keep watching," Theresa said.
The scene continued. The Fu Hua on the screen wore a solemn expression as she looked at the dolls blocking their path.
"To think they caught up so quickly... How troublesome."
"Impressive, Bronya. You find a loophole every single time. Are you a sewer rat? Is that why you love squeezing into holes so much? It seems no matter what defenses are in place, the one we really need to guard against is you."
One of the dolls said to Bronya, grinding its teeth.
"What did you do to Kiana?!" Bronya demanded sharply.
"Heehee, we just did what the Schicksal Overseer did to her back then. If you want to know, go and see for yourself. But first, you'll have to kill us."
The doll smiled sinisterly.
"But can you bring yourselves to do it?"
"What do we do, Class Monitor? We can't find another path on short notice, and as long as they are connected to their hosts outside, we can't kill them," Bronya said anxiously, unable to think of a solution.
".....It seems there's only one way."
After a few seconds of silence, Fu Hua seemed to have made a firm decision.
"Bronya, I will sever the connection between them and their hosts!"
"Sever the connection...? How?"
"During the Second Honkai War, I once severed the link between Sirin and the will of the Honkai. The principle is more or less the same," Fu Hua explained.
"But Class Monitor, you don't have Fenghuang Down anymore," Bronya reminded her.
"However, I can borrow the power of the Herrscher of Sentience."
"The Herrscher of Sentience's power? But that will be very dangerous."
"There's no other choice. I have to try."
With that, Fu Hua closed her eyes.
---o---
Outside the screen, the audience who saw this scene couldn't help but turn their strange gazes toward Fu Hua in perfect unison.
Looking at the situation, it seemed rather obvious who the scammer was...
Feeling everyone's peculiar stares, Fu Hua silently covered her face, praying in her heart that it wasn't what she was thinking.
Otherwise... she would truly lose all face this time.
Fortunately, no one said anything to her just yet, as the vision hadn't ended.
At that moment, on the screen, Fu Hua had already projected her consciousness into its depths.
Before her, a heavy chain was wrapped around her arm. The other end of the chain seemed to be connected to some unknown corner of the world, and the person standing there still refused to budge an inch.
"Listen to me, if you can hear my words—"
Fu Hua sent her voice through the chain, though she didn't know if the person on the other end could hear her.
"Kiana is in danger right now. I need your power....."
"...."
There was no movement from the other end of the chain.
"I need... your help...."
"....."
This time, there seemed to be a slight stir from the other end.
Then, a familiar voice traveled from the other side of the chain.
"....Hey! Old antique, you people keep coming to bother me, one after another. Isn't it annoying?"
"First it was Kevin's little lackey, then a bunch of inexplicable wooden puppets, and now even you're here to harass me?"
The owner of the voice seemed filled with impatience. Fu Hua didn't notice anything amiss, but the audience outside the screen clearly heard the emotion in the voice rise significantly during the last sentence. It seemed... a little happy?