Weightlessness.
That was the first thing Su Yu felt when he opened his eyes again.
No ceiling, no familiar bedroom, not even gravity.
All around was a boundless, pure white, as if someone had crudely drained every color from the entire world,
leaving only this stretch of nothingness that set the heart on edge.
This place again—the consciousness space.
The place Sirin had pulled him into last time.
Su Yu had originally planned to spend tonight continuing his cultivation of the Tai Xu Sword Qi alongside Fenghuang, but to his surprise, here he was once more.
"Squad Monitor? You there?"
Su Yu instinctively called out in his mind to that most reliable cheat-code old grandpa.
"I'm here."
Fenghuang's voice came back almost instantly, sounding even more alert than usual.
"Be careful, Su Yu. The spatial fluctuations today are… not quite the same. That Herrscher's personality is nearby, but… it's very strange."
"Strange? She wants to kill me again?"
"No…" Fenghuang's voice paused. "There's no killing intent from her. I can't even sense that kind of malice that wants to torture you. This calmness is, if anything, even more unsettling."
Su Yu raised an eyebrow.
A Sirin with no killing intent? Had the sun risen in the west, or had this Queen finally taken the wrong medicine?
Just as he was grumbling to himself, the space ahead suddenly rippled with golden light.
There was none of the air-splitting shriek of the Subspace Lance from last time; that figure simply surfaced quietly.
Her long white hair drifted in the windless space, her golden pupils still looking down from on high, carrying that gaze that seemed to regard him as garbage. But just as Fenghuang had said, that suffocating sense of oppression was gone.
Sirin hovered in midair, arms crossed over her chest, sizing Su Yu up with a complicated look.
"Human."
Her voice was still crisp, carrying that distinctive arrogance, but with a few degrees less savagery.
"Do you still remember what you said to me last time?"
Su Yu was momentarily stunned.
Last time?
Did she mean the time he'd been slaughtered over a thousand times in that dream, and then triggered that 'Tame the Queen' mission?
If he could help it, he really didn't want to recall it.
"Ahem, ahem…"
Su Yu cleared his throat and decided to test the waters first.
He gave a slight bow, performing a somewhat exaggerated gentleman's salute.
"Your Majesty the Queen's teachings, I have naturally engraved upon my heart. But… I'm not sure which line you're referring to?"
"Is it 'We will meet again'? Or… 'I will help you'?"
Sirin's brow furrowed slightly, as though quite displeased with Su Yu's glib, smooth-talking attitude.
But she didn't flare up.
"Hmph."
She gave a soft snort, arms crossed, chin tilted up.
"Don't get carried away, you ant."
"Your life is only deposited with you for the time being."
She stared at Su Yu, a flicker of viciousness flashing through her eyes, but more than that, it was a bluffing sort of threat.
"Once I find the way back… I will most certainly make you experience, in your very flesh, what it means to feel that death is preferable to life!"
Su Yu looked at her.
Looking at this Queen who in the original work had been world-destroying and beyond peerless, yet who at this moment was like a grade-schooler spouting tough talk, able only to use words to defend her own dignity.
The words were vicious, but no matter how he listened, they had a hollow, all-bark-no-bite flavor to them.
Su Yu chuckled, not taking this threat to heart in the slightest. He'd heard tough talk like this until his ears had grown calluses.
[System Notice: Key interaction target [Herrscher of the Void] detected with stable emotions. Side mission [Tame the Queen] current progress: 5%.]
The corners of Su Yu's mouth were harder to hold down than an AK.
How was this a Queen? This was clearly a paper tiger that hadn't even grown teeth yet.
"All right, all right, all right, I'll be waiting for that day to come."
Su Yu waved a hand with a smile, like he was coaxing a child.
"But, Your Majesty… could we conjure up a chair to sit on? This consciousness space may have no gravity, but stand too long and the mind still starts to feel its legs going numb."
Sirin shot him a glare.
"How troublesome."
Though her mouth was full of disdain, she still gave a casual wave of her hand.
"Whoosh—"
A golden gateway of Imaginary Space yawned open.
But what tumbled out was not the Subspace Lance, nor a Honkai Beast.
What appeared before Su Yu was a set of exquisitely intricate European-style courtyard table and chairs.
The white round table was draped with a lace tablecloth, and atop it even sat a gilt-edged bone-china tea set, the spout of the teapot puffing out wisps of steam.
If you ignored that dead-silent pure white all around, this scene was simply like the afternoon tea party of some Victorian-era noble young lady.
Su Yu was stunned.
"Squad Monitor… is this her Authority? Conjuring things from the void? Or…"
"It's materialization."
Fenghuang explained.
"This is the consciousness space. As long as one's mental strength is great enough, one can materialize objects from memory. It seems… in Sirin's subconscious, she holds some very concrete obsession with a life of nobility."
Sirin walked elegantly over to the chair and sat down, her movements flowing like clouds and water, as if she had been born to sit upon a throne.
"Come over here yourself."
She gave Su Yu a sidelong glance.
"Or must a god personally invite you?"
Su Yu didn't stand on ceremony either, pulling out the chair opposite and sitting down.
He studied this Queen.
Though the face was still the same face, that aura… that pressure radiating from the very marrow of her bones, that made even drinking tea look like she was passing judgment on the world—it really was as different from that only-knows-how-to-grin-foolishly Paramecium as night from day.
"What's put Your Majesty in the leisurely mood to drink tea today?"
Su Yu picked up the teacup and gave it a sniff.
There really was the fragrance of black tea.
Darjeeling? Or Earl Grey?
"Is this… you preparing to sample human life? Or, are you actually a closet sweet-tooth?"
"Shut up."
Sirin glared at him in irritation.
"The thoughts of a god—how could a mere ant like you presume to guess them? I'm just… bored."
As she spoke, she reached out, meaning to take the teapot and pour the tea.
Her movements were very stiff.
That hand, usually accustomed to tearing space apart and commanding the Subspace Lance, looked exceptionally clumsy when faced with the small, delicate teapot.
Her fingers were rigid, her wrist exerting too much force; the teapot had barely been lifted when the spout suddenly tilted sharply, and the scalding tea nearly splashed out.
"Stop, stop, stop!"
Quick of eye and quick of hand, Su Yu pressed down on her wrist.
"Your Majesty, how is this pouring tea? This is putting the teapot to torture, isn't it?"
Her hand pinned down, Sirin jerked it back violently, as if she'd been electrocuted.
"What are you doing?! Insolence!"
She wanted to flare up, but found there was no mockery in Su Yu's gaze—only a kind of… helpless exasperation of one who wishes iron would become steel?
"Watch closely."
Su Yu took the teapot from her hand.
Thanks to Fenghuang, this fifty-thousand-year-old antique, Su Yu had been drilled more than a little in the consciousness space in all sorts of 'cultivating body and temperament' skills, and the way of tea was one of them.
Although what Fenghuang taught was the Chinese-style tea ceremony, that control over 'qi,' that grasp of rhythm, was universal no matter where you applied it.
"Pouring tea isn't about brute force—it's about the deft strength of the wrist."
As Su Yu demonstrated, he switched on his hustle mode.
"A true aristocrat… ah no, a true god, when doing something like this, should be as elegant and composed as if manipulating the laws of the world."
"The fingers must relax, as if stroking the strings of a zither. The wrist must be supple, as if conducting a movement of music."
"Watch the arc of the flowing water… yes, just like that—not high, not low, not hurried, not slow."
The amber tea traced a perfect arc through the air, settling steadily into the cup without spilling a single drop, the very ripples on its surface just exactly right.
Su Yu set down the teapot and pushed the cup before Sirin.
He made a standard 'please' gesture, an impeccable smile hanging on his face.
Sirin froze.
She looked at that cup of tea, then looked again at Su Yu.
That flowing-cloud-and-water motion, that lifting-the-heavy-as-if-light posture… it really was ten thousand times better to look at than her earlier brick-grabbing maneuver.
And besides…
'As elegant as manipulating the laws of the world'?
That line… actually sounded rather pleasant to the ear.
"Hmph."
Sirin turned her face away, masking the surprise that flashed through the depths of her eyes.
"This degree of skill… is nothing at all for a god."
She reached out, imitating the way Su Yu had just done, attempting to lift the teacup.
Fingers relaxed… wrist…
She tried tentatively, carefully, cautiously, mimicking Su Yu's movements.
Though still very clumsy, compared to that earlier about-to-crush-the-cup stance, it was already far, far better.
She lifted the cup and took a light sip.
The hot tea slid down her throat, bringing a trace of illusory warmth.
"It's… passable, I suppose."
Sirin set the cup down, the corner of her mouth curving up into an almost imperceptible arc.
Though her words remained hard, the guard around her—that had originally bristled up like a hedgehog's spines—seemed in that instant to soften just the tiniest bit.
[System Notice: Side mission [Tame the Queen] progress updated: 8%.]
[Note: Congratulations, Host. You have successfully used one cup of black tea and a stream of flattery to give a Herrscher the illusion that 'this human seems to be of some use.']
Su Yu chuckled inwardly.
At this rate, taming this haughty Queen into another Ah Quan didn't seem like such an impossible mission after all.
"All right—the tea's been drunk, the etiquette's been learned."
Su Yu set down his cup, reining in his smile, his gaze turning serious.
"Let's talk business, Your Majesty."
"You went out of your way today to pull me into this space, and even laid out such a grand spread to invite me to tea."
"Surely it can't really just be to have me teach you how to pour tea?"
The hand holding Sirin's teacup paused.
She fell silent for a few seconds, then set the cup down heavily on the table with a crisp clink.
All the relaxed atmosphere from before dissipated in an instant.
She had turned back into that lofty Herrscher looking down from above, only now there was a trace of something indescribable, unspeakable, in her eyes.
"Aren't you in need of memories to make that stupid game?"
Her voice sank low, carrying a tempting flavor.
"To make that stupid game… you need to know what happened in the past, don't you?"
Su Yu nodded.
"That's right. Kiana's memories have gaps, and besides… she instinctively resists recalling those painful things."
"Heh, weakness."
Sirin gave a cold laugh, her eyes full of contempt.
"That Paramecium… just a sliver of insignificant pain is enough to make her wish she were dead, to make her want to run away."
"But… I'm different."
Sirin rose to her feet, spreading her arms wide, as though embracing the entire void.
"Those cruel, bloody memories she refuses to look back on… to me, they are all merit! They are glory! They are the proof of my existence!"
She turned around, looking down at Su Yu from on high.
"Care to make a deal with me, human?"
"I can tell you all of those memories… word for word, in exhaustive detail."
"It would be far more thrilling than the fragmented, broken pieces from that coward's mouth."
As the Herrscher of the Void proposed the deal, that ever-troublemaking System popped up a notice too—the Herrscher of the Void and Kiana were both extensions of Sirin, and given that the two were currently one and the same, the memories the Herrscher of the Void provided could equally serve as story progress.
"And the conditions?"
Su Yu's head was not swept away by joy.
Making a deal with a Herrscher was like signing a contract with a devil.
Pie doesn't fall from the sky—especially pie dropped down by a Herrscher.
"If you mean to seize Kiana's body, or to take my life, then I won't play along—even if you kill me a thousand times here."
"Hmph."
Sirin curled her lip, as if disdainful of Su Yu's 'small-minded suspicion.'
"I've already said it—your interests and mine align. At least until I find the way back… your life and that idiot's life, I'll keep them around for their use."
"Then what do you want me to agree to?" Su Yu grew even more puzzled.
Apart from his life and his body, what else did this dirt-poor game producer have that a Herrscher would covet?
The Herrscher of the Void was silent for a moment, then sat back down in her chair, fingers twining around the ends of her hair.
Her gaze wandered for an instant, looking somewhat lost, and somewhat awkward.
In this peaceful world, there was no Honkai, no Schicksal, no snowfields of Siberia, nor those humans who treated her as an experimental subject.
And she too had lost the power to plunge this world into chaos.
"I don't know."
Sirin waved her hand somewhat irritably.
"At the moment, I… don't have anything I particularly want. I'll tell you once I've thought it over."
Su Yu: "?"
What kind of domineering-CEO-style 'put it on my tab' was this?
This promise was simply a blank check.
The risk was enormous.
"Squad Monitor, what do you say?"
Su Yu asked Fenghuang in his mind.
Fenghuang was silent for a long while.
"To keep company with a Herrscher is no different from bargaining with a tiger for its hide—it's walking on a tightrope."
"But… Su Yu."
"If we refuse, Kiana, in order to help you, will sooner or later force herself to recall that pain. When that happens, she might break down from being unable to bear it—it could even trigger a rampage of the Herrscher's consciousness."
"By comparison… cooperating with the present Sirin, while risky, at least keeps the initiative in our own hands."
"Temporarily agreeing to her cooperation truly is the optimal solution at hand."
And besides…
Su Yu glanced at Sirin.
The way this Queen looked right now—rather than negotiating a deal, it seemed more like she was… finding an excuse to assert her presence?
Otherwise she wouldn't have proposed a deal with such fierce momentum, only to fumble for ages over what she actually wanted, unable to spit out a single sentence.
"Fine."
Su Yu raised his head and looked at Sirin.
He extended his right hand, holding it suspended above the table.
"I agree."
"So long as it doesn't violate my bottom line, when you make your request, I'll do my utmost to satisfy you."
"So then… a pleasant cooperation, Your Majesty."
Sirin looked at that hand.
She did not clasp it.
That was human etiquette; a god had no need to observe it.
She merely gave a cold snort, the corner of her mouth hooking into a smile of having gotten her way.
"Very good."
"You want to ask about St. Freya? You want to ask what I said to Kiana in that dream space, what I did, isn't that right?"
Sirin leaned back against her chair, her gaze growing deep and distant, as if piercing through time and space, returning to that past filled with gunsmoke and despair.
"Now, you may ask your questions, human."
"A god's patience has its limits… you'd best not let me grow bored."
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