Chara-cter~ (∠・ω)⌒★
CRACK!
The crisp sound, like shattering jewels, echoed across the silent reservoir. Accompanied by a violent surge of Honkai energy, a distorted portal was ripped open, revealing a scene utterly alien to the real world.
Within the portal lay a bizarre, artificially created pocket dimension. The dark-hued sky resembled congealed, foul blood, exuding a strange aura that instinctively triggered a physiological sense of revulsion.
Of course, this nauseating feeling was only for powerhouses like Fuli, Yunli, and Anna. Had anyone weaker been present, what they would have felt wasn't discomfort, but a malevolent force that corroded the very mind.
The teens exchanged a look. Anna tacitly took a step back, guarding the entrance against any unforeseen events while remaining ready to provide support. The other two flashed forward, stepping into the small, clearly man-made dimension.
Once her feet were on solid ground, Yunli immediately pressed her palm firmly against the cold, strangely textured floor. She closed her eyes, focusing her full power to sense the space's energy flow, structural details, and fundamental composition. Every art has its master. As a Baiye, her ability to perceive and analyze energy and matter far surpassed that of an ordinary person, making her better suited for this delicate work.
Meanwhile, Fuli began to wander around. As far as the eye could see, the place was littered with mutilated corpses of all kinds, from twisted Zombies to the remains of various Honkai Beasts. According to their intel, Jigui City had rarely reported local Honkai incidents to the Shenzhou Honkai Council in recent years.
They had previously assumed the local authorities were handling things effectively. Now, it seemed more likely that Gray Serpent, in order to avoid outside interference, had simply ordered his subordinates to dump the disposed Honkai creatures here, forming the massive landfill before them.
As for human remains, while scattered, there were still some. Almost all the flesh had been corroded away by the high-density Honkai energy, leaving only bleached white bones, making it difficult to determine the exact time of death.
Thinking of Zongzheng's story, Fuli mused that if the vice mayor hadn't fallen from grace, with his original unyielding character, he probably would have become one of these skeletons...
Hm? A faint glint of light caught Fuli's attention. He focused his gaze and found that the light was coming from a metal nameplate hanging from a skeleton's waist. A line of text was inscribed on it:
Chara-cter~ (∠・ω<)⌒★
"Yikes!" Little Li grimaced in disgust. "Yuzusoft fans are so cringe."
His gaze was then drawn to a small object next to the skeleton. It was a well-crafted figurine of a beautiful girl, the character Murasame from the famous galge SenrenBanka*. She had knee-length yellow-green hair braided on both sides, and a pair of exceptionally bright red eyes. Her petite, delicate body was clad in a light summer kimono.
Fuli bent down, picked up the figurine, and wiped it clean with a tissue. He hadn't picked it up out of some sudden perverted impulse. The feedback from Cold River Reflecting the Moon had told him that a faint spiritual reaction still lingered within the figurine. Honkai energy was anything but gentle.
If they had arrived a few days later, the consciousness within would have been completely annihilated, and the figurine would have become just an ordinary object.
Honestly, if Fuli were here alone, he would have had no way to make this remnant soul speak again.
"Yunli-Aemon! A little help over here!"
"What now?" The artisan maiden, annoyed at being interrupted, walked over. Her eyes were immediately drawn to the special figurine. "Hand it over, let me see."
She took the figurine, her fingertips glowing faintly, and sat on the ground to fiddle with it for a moment. Miraculously, the tiny Murasame opened her eyes.
"With that skill alone, I can't even imagine how many otaku would worship you," Fuli remarked with sincere admiration. Who wouldn't want their entire wall of waifu figurines to be able to jump and move? What? You don't have a whole wall of them? If they could really come to life, was there any unmarried man who wouldn't buy enough to fill an entire room?
Murasame, however, lay dazed in Yunli's palm. She stared blankly at the bizarre sky of the pocket dimension and murmured, "I... I'm already dead, aren't I?"
"You are," Yunli stated flatly, a hint of seen-it-all disgust in her tone. "But the guy who killed you has... peculiar tastes. He likes to mix the ashes of his victims with special materials to create bishoujo figurines to carry around. That, combined with your own extremely strong lingering obsession, created a fluke opportunity for you to be resurrected in this form." Clearly, just by handling and examining it, the girl had already completely analyzed the figurine's material composition.
"Ashes?" Fuli stroked his chin, suddenly remembering the contemporary Yama who had fallen at his hands. That guy had a hobby of collecting the heads of beautiful girls and had originally planned to chop off Asta's head, pickle it, and display it in a museum. Such things were par for the course on the Honkai side of things.
"Ashes..." Murasame murmured, seemingly accepting this fact. She struggled to her feet in Yunli's palm and bowed deeply to her two benefactors. "Regardless, I must thank you two masters for giving me the chance to speak again. And from the looks of it, are you also here to investigate the anomaly in Jigui City?"
"Tell us your story first," Yunli replied cautiously, not answering directly.
"Of course." Murasame nodded and began to narrate in a low yet still pleasant voice.
To put it simply, in life, he was just an old father who had traveled thousands of miles to Jigui City to visit his son.
He discovered that not only was his son living an inhuman 007 lifestyle, but he also fanatically believed that his work was incredibly important. As everyone knows, one of the signs of an impending mental breakdown is the blind belief that one's job is indispensable.
Realizing there was a problem, the old father wanted to take his son away from this strange city, but his son refused, no matter how much he pleaded. Left with no choice, he began to investigate on his own, only to meet a tragic end.
He was discovered and killed by the mastermind's subordinates, and even his ashes were turned into a portable bishoujo figurine, where his spirit had slumbered until now.
The Fuli-Yunli duo exchanged a glance. Is this some kind of bad ending route for a Call of Cthulhu investigator? they thought. However, a ring on Yunli's finger was glowing faintly. It was the Ring of Truth she had forged, possessing the power to compel the target to speak the truth and awaken the true will of their soul. This indicated that Murasame's words were true.
"So, what did you find out?" Fuli pressed on, mentally prepared for the answer to be "nothing." He was just an ordinary person, after all; Fuli didn't think he could have possibly reached the core of the incident.
But to his surprise, Murasame dropped a bombshell with his first sentence. "The spell 'Shugenmu'... have you two masters heard of it?"
Shugenmu, an extremely evil and cruel life-extending ritual. It required using over a thousand of one's own kinsmen as sacrifices. These sacrifices were then subjected to endless torture on an altar, their negative emotions harvested.
After the ritual site was thoroughly drenched in blood, the caster would devour the sacrifices' bodies alive. The more sacrifices eaten, the longer their life would be extended. If one could devour all one thousand sacrifices within the seven-day ritual period, they would gain ten years of life.
Most importantly, the lifespan gained from this ritual had no upper limit based on one's essential nature. Whether an ordinary person or a high-and-mighty Emanator, as long as the ritual was successfully completed, they could gain additional years of life.
"It seems you have." Reading the subtle shifts in the duo's expressions, Murasame shook his head. "However, it's different from what you imagine. The mastermind didn't use this spell directly to extend their own life. Instead, they modified it through some unknown means."
"They expanded the ritual site to encompass the entire island of Jigui City, using it to absorb the resentment generated by the entire city day and night."
Absorb resentment? The two instantly recalled the eerily happy expressions on the citizens' faces during the news reporter's random interviews. Where was the most common and intense source of resentment in modern society? Undoubtedly, the office buildings filled with people working overtime late into the night!
By using a mechanism that siphoned resentment, the mastermind had created a place with the most motivated workforce in the world. No matter how much anger festered in their hearts, even when they were exploited to their absolute limit, once the resentment was absorbed, they would be filled with renewed vigor, happily abandoning any resistance and continuing to work until they dropped dead.
At this thought, Fuli's simple values made him grit his teeth. "You mastermind son of a bitch! You deserve to die! You really fucking deserve to die!"
However, a more severe problem immediately followed.
"The negative emotions can be absorbed by the Shugenmu ritual, but the physical toll is unavoidable. Consuming energy day and night, over time, a large number of people would eventually collapse," Murasame sighed. "Yet, on the surface, Jigui City has never shown an abnormally high death rate."
"So you suspected that the citizens' bodies had undergone some kind of mutation. You investigated on your own and ended up here, where you were silenced by the guards," Yunli said, one hand on her hip, finishing his thought. "You guessed right. I just examined the structure of this space and found that the Honkai energy accumulated here is being injected into the reservoir beneath our feet in an extremely precise and carefully measured dose."
"This Honkai-contaminated water then flows into the city's water system, subtly modifying people's bodies through their daily consumption, suppressing their feelings of fatigue and other negative physiological feedback."
Sounds pretty good, right? Taking a deep breath, the girl's expression turned icy. "In other words, the millions of residents of this city have all become pre-Zombies!"
Again, Honkai energy was not a gentle energy like spiritual qi or internal force from other universes. It was corrosive, and extremely so. Even if the mastermind controlled the concentration with extreme precision and significantly slowed the mutation process through dilution, the Honkai energy was still continuously eroding the citizens' bodies, causing them to slowly slide toward the Honkai side.
Under normal circumstances, during a Great Eruption-level disaster, ordinary people with low resistance would be instantly vaporized. Only a few would have the chance to mutate into Zombies. But here? The residents who were being eroded daily wouldn't be granted a quick death. They would instantly transform into various types of Zombies, offering their bodies and loyalty to the Honkai!
"A zombie outbreak on the scale of millions..." At this point, even Yunli, a Critical-class limit-breaker, felt a bead of cold sweat form on her temple. Even if you lowered the probability of a Pseudo-Herrscher being born to one in a hundred thousand, that was still dozens of mobile natural disasters! Not to mention the various advanced Zombies. The panic and catastrophe they would bring would be no less severe than the descent of an Emanator-class Herrscher!
"We didn't encounter any obstacles on our way to the reservoir," Fuli muttered to himself. Of course they hadn't. It was completely unnecessary. The entire city's population had been turned into hostages. The mastermind could detonate this island at any time, turning it into a purgatory overrun with ghouls and demons.
Although Murasame didn't understand the specific meaning of a Great Eruption, he understood the gravity of the situation from the duo's solemn expressions. A hint of disappointment flashed in the figurine-sized girl's (?) eyes. "Masters... you can't handle this either?" she asked in a low voice.
"I was confident before, but now I'm not so sure," Fuli subconsciously rubbed the hilt of his blade. "But detonating the entire city is his final trump card. It's a move that affects everything. He won't tear off the mask unless he's absolutely forced to."
"Besides, triggering a disaster on the scale of a Great Eruption also requires many stringent conditions," Yunli added. "For now, it seems this reservoir beneath our feet is the only clear risk point."
"A cunning rabbit has three burrows. I don't believe he doesn't have a backup plan," Fuli said gravely. "But it's also an indisputable fact that someone needs to stay here and guard this place."
"I'll stay," a gentle but firm voice came from the entrance. Anna had appeared there at some point. She pressed her delicate lips together, her beautiful face filled with resolve.
This was undoubtedly extremely dangerous. No one could be sure if this wasn't the enemy's plan to split their forces. But they couldn't all stay here. Fuli, as the main force, had to continue the investigation. Yunli needed to race across the island as fast as possible, using her Baiye knowledge to determine if there were any other detonation points.
The only problem was—
"Anna, I don't mean to be harsh," Yunli's expression was serious. "But if an accident really happens, are you sure you, as an A-Rank, can suppress a runaway Honkai energy source on your own?"
"I can!" The girl stood tall, her magnificent pink eyes filled with unshakable determination. "I am Anna of the Schariac family, and a Valkyrie of the former Snow Lotus squad! I may occasionally do things I'm not sure about, but I would never joke with the lives of millions of innocent people at a time like this!"
The Schariacs, one of the three great houses of Schicksal. Their members were born with the ability to manipulate Honkai energy, gathering it from their surroundings and converting it into their own power.
"Alright, take these." Yunli hesitated no longer. She began to pull out various treasures from her storage equipment and stuff them into Anna's hands.
A Dragon-Transformation Furnace, a defensive artifact in the shape of a handkerchief that could deploy a film to block enemy attacks, strong enough to withstand continuous S-Rank assaults.
A Profound Fire Mirror, which could summon an Eight-Wastelands Fire Dragon to attack, capable of dealing effective damage even to S-Rank opponents with its continuous burn, and had the added effect of countering regenerative abilities.
A Cosmos Diagram, a special secret treasure containing a planar bubble-world with the power to trap enemies in a void, capable of deceiving enemy senses and imprisoning them.
A Sun-Dial Talisman, which could temporarily increase the user's proficiency with learned skills, reduce the energy cost of casting them, and significantly accelerate the wearer's energy and stamina recovery...
Anna's heart pounded in her chest as she watched, hastily trying to refuse. Fuli was not to be outdone. He first stuffed the Void Abyss Darkstar Talisman into the girl's pocket, then took out the precious bottle of True Medicine: Useless Lament of the Underworld and handed it to her.
After all preparations were made, he said seriously, "Signal us if anything happens. We will do everything we can to come back and help."
"From today on, you're a friend I, Yunli, recognize!" Yunli slapped Anna's shoulder firmly, her expression equally serious. Before, the girl hadn't been particularly fond of this little tag-along. So what if she was a Senator? If she didn't like her, she didn't like her! But now, her opinion of Anna had completely changed. No one would disrespect a hero who would calmly face death for the sake of others.
After giving their final instructions, Fuli and Yunli, along with Murasame perched on Fuli's shoulder, quickly left the pocket dimension. They split up. Yunli began to search the entire island, while Fuli sped towards the city district.
The boy's objective was clear: Zongzheng had mentioned that the food and drink for key personnel like him were always specially supplied. If that was the case, the company providing the food must have close ties to the mastermind. The three of them had already figured this out, but the water supply issue had been more urgent, so they had temporarily postponed it.
"Pepian Food Co., Ltd., focusing on natural ingredients and innovative craftsmanship to create healthy and delicious snack foods," Murasame shouted in Fuli's ear, clinging tightly to his earlobe against the howling wind. "If you want to get in touch with the company's senior management, you can find my son! He works there!"
"Address?" The boy was concise.
Murasame pointed towards the southwest of the city. The two immediately changed direction, their bodies like streaks of lightning. They soon landed in front of the entrance to a high-rise apartment building and briskly pressed the doorbell for room 1804.
Perhaps because it was the middle of the night, the intercom screen only lit up after the third ring, revealing the sleepy face of a middle-aged man.
"Who is it?" he yawned, not sounding particularly annoyed at being woken up. Either he was used to being on call 24/7, or his negative emotions had been siphoned off by the ritual. Most likely, it was both.
Unexpectedly, the moment Murasame saw the man on the screen, he was struck by lightning.
"You... are you Wataru?!"
"I am. Who are you?" The man on the screen was confused by the source of the voice but didn't show much surprise, seeming to think it was Fuli speaking.
Fuli smiled at him and asked the startled Murasame on his shoulder in a low voice, "Old man, what's wrong?"
"I... when I died... Wataru was only twenty-five!" Murasame's body was trembling violently.
Hearing this, the boy frowned, wondering if Honkai energy erosion could also accelerate aging. No! That wasn't it!
"Old man, when did you pass away?"
Murasame replied subconsciously, "August, 2004."
I see. Fuli understood. An indescribable mix of sorrow and respect welled up in his heart. A moment ago, he had thought that if they had arrived a few days later, Murasame's soul would have dissipated. Now it seemed that even if they had come ten years later, this echo might still exist.
For the sake of his son, this old father's remnant soul, without even knowing it himself, had endured the corrosion of Honkai energy in that harsh environment for a full ten years. For the chance to see his child again, for the hope of saving him from danger, this old father's soul had long since surpassed its own limits.