"Bailu, something about this is very off."
After being thawed out of the ice by Bailu, Jing Yuan first caught his breath, then said with a serious face: "Bailu, this is bad. There's something wrong with Jingliu. I heard the Luofu is currently troubled by Heliobi. She must have been possessed by one!"
Upon hearing this, Bailu first widened her eyes in shock, then froze for a moment and said: "Who is Jingliu?" ← (someone who has never met Jingliu)
Jing Yuan was silent for two seconds and began explaining the setting to Bailu: "She is my Master. She is a very petty, stingy, irritable, unreasonable mentally ill person."
Bailu bit her fingernail. "Hmm... I can't imagine it."
Jing Yuan: "She just sold me to the Dragon Lords for a full eight million credit points!"
Bailu: !!!
"How… could this be?!" Bailu's small face was full of disbelief. She held her head with both hands, her eyes spinning wildly, clearly panicked to the extreme!
Seeing this scene, Jing Yuan could not help but sigh inwardly. Perhaps only Bailu could truly understand him when he said "sold to the Dragon Lords"? Bailu should now know just how inhumane that woman truly is!
"I don't understand!!" Bailu clutched her head. Her clear eyes painfully shrank into greater-than and less-than signs. "Why? Why?!"
"Why did I only get twenty-five thousand credit points when I sold myself to the Dragon Lords back then?"
"Why is Old Jing worth eight million?!"
Jing Yuan: "That's not the point at all, okay? Shouldn't the point be 'the Luofu is troubled by Heliobi and Jingliu has been possessed by one'?"
[Mysterious Narrator of the Honkai: Star Rail World: Actually, Jing Yuan had no evidence at all to prove Jingliu was possessed by a Heliobus. He simply wanted to take this chance to get revenge. What a loving master-disciple pair indeed.]
Bailu paused: "Oh right, that seems to be the case..."
Jing Yuan: "Perfect. Let's hurry to the Seat of Divine Foresight and tell General Qingque about this!"
Bailu shook her head: "No need, Old Jing. To be honest, the reason Stelle and the others came here was precisely to deal with the Heliobus rampage. We were chasing a pair of 'suspicious master and disciple' and that's how we ended up here... Wait!"
Having said this much, even someone as slow as Bailu could realize something. She immediately asked: "You two are that suspicious master-disciple pair?"
"The white-haired master and disciple who were pulling and tugging at each other endlessly on the street? My goodness, Old Jing, I didn't expect you to be that kind of person!"
Jing Yuan: ?
Bailu covered her small mouth: "I heard all about it. Sweet words before becoming master and disciple, then turning your back and refusing to acknowledge them after. Not even willing to pay for your grand-disciple's milk powder money, forcing your Master to earn money and support the family all alone..."
Jing Yuan: ???
Who spread this? Who the hell spread this?!
"Wait, Old Jing, I understand again!" Bailu's eyes lit up, her speech getting faster and faster. "So the one actually possessed by the Heliobus is you, right?"
Bailu's confidence at this moment had swelled to the extreme!
First, the fleeing Heliobus was one of the "Seven Deadly Sins"; second, Jing Yuan and his Master showed abnormal behavior; finally, Jing Yuan's performance was very strange and matched the sin of "Greed" perfectly.
Therefore, Bailu was eighty to ninety percent certain that Jing Yuan must have been possessed, which was why he would do such outrageous and anger-inducing things.
Jing Yuan's eye twitched. Many words got stuck in his throat. After a long while, he helplessly squeezed out: "Bailu, I'm not possessed."
Bailu didn't believe him: "People who are possessed all say they're not possessed."
Jing Yuan's head hurt: "Then I am possessed."
Bailu: "See? You admitted it."
Jing Yuan's fists hardened. Looking at the face in front of him that was seventy to eighty percent similar to that fox person from back then, veins bulged on his forehead: This familiar feeling...
Damn it, I really want to go Mara-Struck! Jing Yuan suddenly realized that Jingliu and Blade were truly living freely. When something happens they can just go crazy, and afterwards push all responsibility onto the Mara-Struck State. Unlike him, who could only adjust his own mentality alone.
Speaking of which, the reason Jingliu had become this heartless disciple-pittting version of herself was at least half the responsibility of the old Baiheng!
In the past, when Jingliu went crazy she would still find a decent excuse. Now she didn't even bother acting!
"Drink ya—!"
While Jing Yuan was still reviewing the situation, Bailu had already decided not to waste any more words with him. She attacked with zero-frame startup, striking fiercely!
Back in Scalegorge Waterscape she had encountered Heliobus possession before. It was nothing more than beating it out, so...
"Flying Dragon in the Sky!"
Jing Yuan: "Hungry ah—!"
With one successful hit, Bailu did not stop. She immediately triggered a follow-up attack: "Dragon Claw Hand!"
Jing Yuan kept retreating: "Bailu! Wait a moment!"
"Double Wind Pierces the Ears!"
Jing Yuan inwardly sensed trouble: Bailu was clearly going all out now. If he didn't resist, he would definitely get beaten up badly!
Although his body had gradually become indestructible after Jingliu's day-after-day tempering, it would still hurt just the same.
Thinking of this, Jing Yuan decided not to retreat any longer. Golden lightning surged from his body: "Behold my Extreme Lightning Thousand Birds..."
"Head Smashes Walnut!"
Bang!
Bailu delivered a fierce headbutt straight to Jing Yuan's forehead. The latter only felt his vision blur and instantly lost partial consciousness.
His weakness had been broken again and again and again!
No helping it. Too low Effect RES was like this.
Thus...
"Bailu" used "Mount Tai Crushes the Top"!
"Jing Yuan" was in Weakness Break state.
"Bailu" used "Crow Takes the Airplane"!
"Jing Yuan" was in Weakness Break state.
"Bailu" used "Tornado Destroys the Parking Lot"!
"Jing Yuan's" Toughness Bar recovered!
"Bailu" triggered a follow-up attack, and "Jing Yuan's" Toughness Bar was broken again!
...
And so it went. Every time Jing Yuan wanted to resist, Bailu could perfectly time a strike to break his Toughness Bar. Bailu went through dozens of rounds, even stronger than a certain Underground Beer Hall leader.
Gradually, Jing Yuan no longer knew whether what was on his face was sweat or tears.
He still remembered when he was still a General. Back then he was infinitely glorious. His over-spec Emanator divine lord was a complete 6A panel, and he didn't need to lift a finger when fighting.
Ten minutes passed just like that.
Ring ring ring—
At this moment, Bailu's phone suddenly rang. The caller ID clearly showed "Stelle."
Bailu answered the phone, her voice excited: "Stelle! I found the fleeing Heliobus! I'm figuring out how to exorcise it right now. Hehehe, aren't I amazing?"
—"This is bad! Bailu, I found the Greedy Heliobus! Come help me quick!"
Both of them spoke at the same time.
Both: ?
Hearing each other's words, the two fell into tacit silence for a few seconds, then asked in unison: "What did you just say?"
"You found a Heliobus? Then what is this on my side?" ×2