Their lips parted.
The two's breaths intertwined in this deathly silent Tai Xu Illusory Realm into an unmelting white mist.
Sirin didn't retreat half a step.
Her golden eyes, which had always been accustomed to gazing loftily down on her surroundings, were now veiled in a layer of moisture, her gaze falling dazedly upon the side of Su Yu's face.
Having gone through the tug-of-war at the edge of life and death, those absurd scenes she had once studied on the computer screen as "human submission ritual tutorials" somehow burst through the floodgates of memory in this instant.
Those entangled outlines, those suppressed pants—in the purple-haired girl's mind at this moment, they shed the crude distinction of power she had originally believed them to be, and became a kind of unreserved confirmation belonging only to two specific individuals.
She wanted him.
Even if this embraced body was merely a phantom constructed of spirit, she urgently needed something far more profound than an embrace to prove that this man before her—who would throw away even his life for her—belonged completely to her.
Sirin's two slender arms wrapped around Su Yu's neck.
She strained to stand on tiptoe, bringing her cheek close to the side of Su Yu's ear.
Warm breath fell irregularly against the skin behind Su Yu's earlobe, and she spoke, her voice very soft.
Gone was that habitual cold arrogance; there was only the tentative probing of someone afraid of loss.
"Human..."
"Take me. Teach me how to do it. Don't push me away, okay?"
At such an extremely close distance, this sentence drilled clearly into Su Yu's ears.
Su Yu's breath came to a complete halt.
He lowered his head, looking at the girl in his arms who had handed over her last and softest trump card entirely.
In this man's eyes, she had long ceased to be some calamity-bringing Herrscher.
There were no gorgeous promises.
Su Yu drew a deep breath. That broad hand, with its clearly defined knuckles, slowly lifted, its palm pressing against Sirin's cheek, which was only the size of his palm.
His rough fingertip brushed across the corner of her eye, wiping away the tear trail that had yet to dry.
"If you get scared, tell me."
Su Yu spoke unhurriedly, biting down on each word solidly.
Sirin gazed fixedly at that pair of black eyes reflecting her own image, and nodded hard.
Su Yu bent down, his arm passing through the crook of her knees and behind her back.
To his adult male body, the girl in his arms was as light as if she didn't exist.
He steadily lifted her whole body up sideways.
Sirin took the chance to bury her face into his collar.
Su Yu stepped forward, treading on that faintly rippling water surface, walking toward the antique bluestone table not far away.
He set Sirin down upon it.
The stone table's chill made the girl flinch, but before that coldness could completely invade her, Su Yu's broad, thick palm had already slipped ahead to cushion the middle of her back.
His slender fingers hooked into the collar of that purple outer garment materialized from consciousness.
The warmth of his fingertips came through the fabric.
In the real world, beside the special-care hibernation pod in the underground base of Arc City.
"Beep... beep... beep." The prompt tones of the medical equipment echoed rhythmically in the quiet room.
Kiana sat on the edge of the hibernation pod, carefully cradling Su Yu's utterly senseless physical hand.
She took a warm towel and, her face full of heartache, wiped away the dense fine beads of sweat that kept seeping from Su Yu's forehead.
"Bronie, he's been asleep for so long now. Is he really going to be okay?"
Kiana's azure eyes were filled with unmelting worry.
"Could Su Yu be... suffering some terrible torture in the spiritual world right now?"
At the holographic projection stand, Bronie floated cross-legged in midair.
Hearing Kiana's words, the bubble gum she'd been chewing popped with a "pop."
Bronie didn't answer immediately, instead casting her gaze toward the virtual screen before her, densely packed with jumping brainwave data and endocrine indicators.
Looking at those several jagged lines soaring wildly at a bizarre slope, this genius hacker's expression became extremely strange.
"Uh... there's definitely torment involved."
Bronie rolled the bubble gum back into her mouth, mumbling ambiguously.
"And judging by this brainwave activity, the battle between them is... rather, extremely, exceedingly intense."
"Boss's heart rate is about to break 140 right now, and his blood pressure is soaring too."
Hearing the words "intense battle," Kiana's heart clenched instantly, and even the ahoge atop her head drooped weakly.
"It's all my fault..."
Her eyes reddened, her fingers gently stroking Su Yu's furrowed brow.
"If only I could have sensed Su Yu's danger a little sooner, if only I could have controlled this power a little sooner—"
"Enough, dummy Kiana, put away your useless tears. Don't interfere with Boss's brainwaves."
Bronie sighed, tapping a few times on the virtual keyboard, calling up a holographic log to help this Paramecium—whose head was full of nothing but Su Yu—sort out the situation.
"Let's review what's happened these past few days: First, for some special reason you crossed worlds and returned to the Honkai world, where you saw the companion you'd been longing for. Correct?"
"Yes."
Kiana nodded.
"But after coming back from there, my spirit lost control over my body from overexertion, causing my body to be occupied by the Herrscher of the Void."
Bronie pointed at Su Yu lying on the bed.
"No wonder you were acting all weird this past half month, always calling yourself 'this Queen,' even studying—cough cough."
Bronie didn't spill the matter of Sirin studying the "submission ritual." She knew that if she really said it out loud, this white-haired fool would probably explode on the spot.
"But the BOSS really is diligent enough—having to hide it from us while also winning over that Herrscher of the Void whose head is full of destroying the world. His stress must be pretty huge, huh?"
Into Kiana's mind, for no reason, surfaced that night when she'd briefly reclaimed her consciousness, when she'd seen Su Yu trampled underfoot by Sirin—that pale face without a trace of blood.
Him at that time—he was just like a pitiful person kidnapped back to a bandit stronghold to be the stronghold's wife.
Kiana realized that Su Yu had probably suffered no small amount of torment from Sirin during this period.
Yet he had forcibly withstood all that torment, even winning over Sirin, whose head had been full of nothing but revenge and self-disgust.
In the abandoned building, Sirin had even proactively tried to hand over her power to save Su Yu.
This made her feelings extremely complicated.
Listening to Bronie's review, Kiana's tears finally couldn't hold back and fell.
"You big idiot..."
She gently pressed her cheek against the back of Su Yu's hand, feeling that layer of fine sweat, her voice choking: "Even though that's the Herrscher inside my body, even though that's my destiny, you insisted on shouldering it all alone... You must be in so much pain right now, aren't you?"
In Kiana's understanding, Su Yu's spirit was probably riddled with a thousand holes by now too.
Bronie looked at the screen, wanting to speak yet holding back.
Miserable? In pain?
R-really?
She stared at that indicator on the screen labeled "Dopamine and Endorphin Secretion Concentration."
That red bar had already broken through the critical value and was pushing upward at a speed that would shock the medical world, almost about to punch right through the screen.
As a veteran who'd spent years surfing the online world, Bronie knew very well that when humans suffered brutal torture and extreme pain, they could never possibly secrete high-energy substances at such a concentration.
This was clearly excitement, pleasure—even values that only appeared when the soul reached some kind of sublimation!
Just as Bronie was wildly grumbling inwardly, Su Yu in the hibernation pod suddenly stirred.
His body abruptly tensed, and his left hand, originally lying flat at his side, suddenly clenched the bedsheet, veins bulging on the back of his hand.
A muffled groan came from deep in his throat.
"Su Yu!" This groan, which to Bronie's ears was extremely "thought-provoking," became—to Kiana outside—the signal of a hero gravely wounded and on the verge of death!
She was so anxious she jumped straight out of the chair, her hands flustered as they cradled Su Yu's cheeks, tears streaming down.
"Does it hurt a lot?!"
Kiana gritted her teeth, a rare protectiveness and killing intent igniting in those azure eyes.
"Hold on, Su Yu! If anything really happens to you, I will absolutely never forgive that woman called Rita!"
"Cough cough cough cough...!!!"
Bronie at the holographic projection stand nearly choked to death on her own saliva, bursting into a violent fit of coughing.
"Bronie, hurry up and think of something! His body temperature is so hot!"
Kiana shouted anxiously.
Bronie wiped a handful of cold sweat off her face, waving her hand with a dry laugh:
"It's, it's fine... A rise in body temperature is a normal nerve reflex. Boss is... um, releasing an ultimate move! Whatever you do, don't touch him right now, or you'll disturb his consciousness!"
Hearing this, Kiana immediately withdrew her hand as if electrocuted.
Like a wife awaiting her husband's triumphant return from a meat-grinder battlefield, she cautiously leaned close to Su Yu's lips, slightly dry from the rise in temperature.
"I'm here."
She murmured softly, as if praying for a battered expedition warrior.
"I'll keep watch over you the whole time, waiting for you to defeat her... waiting for you to come home."
"Beep—!"
As Kiana's voice fell, on the monitoring screen before Bronie, Su Yu's heart rate abruptly soared to its highest peak in that moment, and then all the violent data began to slowly recede like an ebbing tide.
Bronie looked at that flattening brainwave and reached up to cover her eyes.
Boss, no matter what kind of "soul-stirring" time you spent in there, when you wake up and see this Paramecium whose eyes are full of nothing but you... good luck to you.
—
In the Tai Xu Illusory Realm, only the gradually subsiding sound of the tide remained.
In the Tai Xu Illusory Realm, those purple light particles constructed of consciousness gathered anew, reweaving upon Sirin's fair, tender skin that purple dress belonging to the Herrscher of the Void.
Those intricate metal ornaments and lofty shoulder pads, now worn on this girl with undried tear trails still at the corners of her eyes, not only lost their former oppressive aura but instead set off a few touches of pity-inducing frailty.
She rested her head on Su Yu's shoulder, which was somewhat sore from being tensed for so long.
Su Yu's fingers slowly threaded through the gaps between Sirin's slender fingers, holding that small hand firmly in his palm.
That warmth and sweat lingering on the fingertips were the only proof left by that absurd yet real union just now.
Neither of them spoke.
Only faint breathing rose and fell above this empty water surface.
"Human."
Sirin's voice rang out amid this tranquility.
Her voice was no longer that deliberately disguised hoarseness and majesty, but gentle, like a morning breeze brushing over the leaves.
One could even hear within it a liveliness and joy belonging to a young girl.
"Hm?"
Su Yu turned his head.
Those deep eyes of his reflected the girl's long purple hair.
"I'm about to disappear."
Sirin looked at Su Yu, speaking an infinitely cruel truth.
Su Yu's breath abruptly stalled.
That hand holding Sirin's clenched tight, out of his control.
His eyes went wide with shock.
Those gaps that had originally been filled with warmth were instantly flooded backward by a sudden chill.
He didn't understand.
He simply couldn't comprehend the meaning of those words.
Disappear? What was she saying?
"In order to awaken that Paramecium, so she can truly, genuinely control this body—"
Sirin didn't look at Su Yu's face, slightly twisted with astonishment.
She still leaned against his shoulder, her gaze cast toward those lone mountains in the far distance of the Tai Xu Illusory Realm, her pace of speech slow.
"Just now, I already voluntarily handed over all the Authorities and verification keys within the Herrscher Core."
"The me now is merely a broken consciousness entity, detached from the core, that could dissipate at any moment in this consciousness space."
While recounting these words equivalent to pronouncing her own death sentence, there was no trace of resentment or anger in Sirin's tone.
"The Sirin of the past hated those humans in white lab coats, hated that cold tower, hated that world that watched me suffer with indifference."
She let Su Yu hold her hand, let the trembling transmitted from his fingers pass into her own palm.
"But actually, I... was very afraid too."
"I was afraid of that self always strapped to the operating table having blood drawn. I was afraid of being abandoned by the whole world once again."
"So I wanted to hurt them first, to take revenge on this world in the cruelest way. As long as everyone feared me, no one would dare come hurt me again."
Sirin slowly turned her head, and those golden eyes finally met Su Yu's gaze.
"Until you took me back to that messy rental apartment."
"I couldn't even imagine how, in this filthy world, a human as impossibly foolish as you could exist."
"Even though you were so weak you couldn't even take a single punch from that Paramecium, you insisted on gambling your very life for that time bomb that could detonate this body at any moment."
"When you forcibly grabbed this body's hand back then, telling me you wouldn't let go." Sirin's eyelashes trembled. "Do you know? Watching all this from the depths of my consciousness, I really wanted to immediately use spatial Authority to cut off all four of your limbs."
"And later, I did indeed do exactly that in that nightmare. I dragged you into my domain and killed you again and again."
"But no matter how I tormented you, that despair I wanted to see never once appeared in your eyes."
"And it was in that very moment, when I was defeated by you and that Paramecium together, that I deeply realized one thing."
Sirin's voice trembled somewhat, but she stubbornly gritted her teeth.
"As long as you stand blocking the way in front, I can never destroy Kiana."
"So when you, in that strange space, proposed that offer of cooperation to me, I was truly dumbfounded. You, an ant who doesn't even have Honkai energy, actually dared to attempt a deal with a Herrscher who'd sworn to destroy the world."
Su Yu's Adam's apple rolled violently up and down. He wanted to say something, but those trashy lines he could usually blurt out at will, those memes that could liven up the mood, were now stuck in his throat like a lump of paste.
"And later... that idiot Kiana, in order to go save that Bronya beneath the water's surface, exhausted all her spiritual strength and was forced into slumber."
The corner of Sirin's mouth twitched with difficulty, as if mocking her own self back then.
"When I discovered that control of this body had fallen into my hands, do you know what I feared most?"
"My mind was full of nothing but the thought that, if you found out the truth, you, this despicable human, would surely torment me with the most vicious methods to avenge your Paramecium."
"But..."
A warm tear, without any warning, slid down from the corner of Sirin's eye, dripping onto Su Yu's shoulder.
"You didn't."
"You didn't lock me in that pitch-black cage. You treated me just like that idiot—still bustling about in the kitchen every day, still showing that idiotic smile before me without any defense at all."
"At first I thought you were just stupid enough to treat me as her substitute. That made me feel extremely, extremely angry. I am the noble Herrscher of the Void—why should I go pick up the scraps that Paramecium left behind?"
"But, from that day on."
"You asked me whether I liked full-sugar or half-sugar milk tea, gave me that Bella plushie, looked into my eyes, and wished me a happy birthday..."
"And even just now, covered in blood, you stood before that scythe-wielding god of death and told her you would never retreat half a step, because you wanted to protect me and that idiot."
Sirin's breathing began to grow rapid, and in those golden eyes, the arrogance of the past had long been utterly melted by something crystal-clear.
"I never understood before."
"I saw, in your office, that woman called Eden stepping on you with her foot."
"I saw that pink-haired woman smiling at you, and I would feel as if my heart were being seized tightly by a hand, so uncomfortable I wanted to tear them all to shreds."
"I kept lying to myself, saying it was because I, Sirin, had my prey snatched away by others, that it was a ruler's anger."
"But now..."
Sirin stretched out that free hand and gently pressed it against Su Yu's chest, feeling the violently pounding heart beneath.
"I finally understand."
"That was never any possessiveness over power at all."
"It was because I love you, foolish human."
In this utterly candid dissection, the girl's face, which should have been full of majesty, completely lost all its defenses.
It was an exquisite face that yet carried a fatal fragility.
Because of the emotional release, the skin at the corners of her eyes flushed a piteous crimson, like a peach blossom petal crushed roughly, clinging tightly to that fair base.
Su Yu's eyes were bloodshot. He clenched his fists hard, his nails nearly digging into the flesh of his palms.
"I'm sorry, Sirin... I..."
His voice was terrifyingly hoarse.
He didn't know how to face this weighty affection.
Those things Sirin called "warmth"—actually, at the very beginning, they were merely compromises he'd been forced to make to maintain the Anchor, to protect Kiana's body.
He had always treated Sirin as a huge trouble that had to be guarded against, that needed to be dealt with at any time.
Yet those purposeful actions of his—
In Sirin's cold, dark world that had never been treated kindly by anyone—had become the only beam of light able to illuminate her soul.
And now, that wish seemed like it was truly about to come true.
Yet he felt not the slightest joy. On the contrary, there was only a sorrow as unmelting as ink.
Su Yu felt as if his heart were being cut apart by a knife, every breath carrying a pain he couldn't bear.
This was far more agonizing than when Skadi Ondurgud tore open his flesh.
"You don't need to apologize, nor do you need to explain."
Sirin roughly cut him off, her finger pressing against Su Yu's lips, her eyes so gentle they seemed about to drip water.
"You probably don't even know it yourself."
"What truly made me look at you directly for the first time, what truly made those defenses of mine start to waver..."
"was precisely when you gave your true heart completely and unreservedly to that idiot named Kiana."
"Your kindness to her made me wildly jealous, and also made me wildly envious."
"So, don't feel sorry. This is my own choice."
Sirin withdrew her finger, and on her face bloomed a bright, satisfied smile that Su Yu had never seen before.
"To be able to understand what love is before completely disappearing, and to be able to fall in love with you..."
"Sirin is truly already very satisfied."
"Thank you, human."
At the edge of the red light curtain floating above his retina, the System's signature mission progress bar.
In the instant this sentence fell.
[Side Mission: Tame the Queen]
The progress jumped straight from 90%, soaring, and firmly settling at the [100%] position.
The golden settlement pop-up burst open in this deathly silent consciousness space.
But Su Yu had absolutely no heart to look at those messy rewards.
Because he could clearly feel that the weight of the girl in his arms was becoming lighter and lighter.
At the edges of her purple dress, those light particles were dispersing at a visible speed, turning transparent.
Su Yu's tears finally could no longer be controlled and burst straight out of his eyes.
"You haven't even cooked for me yet... Didn't you say you'd let me witness a deity's culinary skills?"
He held tightly onto that body growing more and more insubstantial.
"I know."
Sirin's voice, too, began to grow unsteady.
"There's still so much delicious food on that list you made on the computer that you haven't eaten!"
"I know."
"You still haven't settled the win or loss with Kiana—you two still haven't had a proper, fair fight!"
"I know already..."
Su Yu buried his face in the hollow of her neck, those tears wetting her collar.
"I... don't want you to leave."
Sirin's fingers weakly threaded into Su Yu's hair, gently stroking.
"...Mm."
"I'll bear those past crimes of yours. Those blood debts, I'll repay them for you. Let's go atone together, okay?"
"...Mm."
Sirin felt this man's sorrow, felt those scalding tears.
She strained to keep those dissipating golden eyes open, gazing at that face imprinted upon her soul.
"Thank you... human."
"To have met you in the final moments of life... Sirin is already the happiest girl in the world."
Having finished this last sentence.
Sirin serenely closed her eyes.
She gave up all resistance, letting that last bit of obsession that composed her existence prepare to melt away, along with this man's tears, into this world she had once so utterly hated.
Su Yu shut his eyes tightly, gasping in great gulps of air, that pain—as if a chunk of his heart had been forcibly gouged out—reaching its extreme.
He waited for the moment when his arms would become completely empty.
Waited for this final, cold farewell.
One second. Two seconds.
Ten seconds.
A full five minutes must have passed.
The Tai Xu Illusory Realm was still deathly silent, save for Su Yu's heavy panting.
Su Yu's arms still maintained that force that seemed like it would crush a person to pieces.
And that girl in his arms.
Her breath still fell steadily and warmly against his collarbone.
That hand resting at his waist even, from holding one posture for so long, unconsciously scratched at the soft flesh of his waist.
She hadn't turned into flowing sand, hadn't scattered to ash.
Even those drifting flecks of light had stopped at some unknown point.
The air was so quiet you could practically wring water out of it.
Su Yu abruptly opened his eyes.
At the same time, Sirin also blankly opened those golden eyes she'd shut tight in wait for death.
At a distance of less than ten centimeters, the two stared at each other, big eyes meeting small.
"You..." Su Yu parted his dry lips, looking at her still-solid body, "haven't left yet?"
"Should I... have left?"
Sirin's originally pale, holy little face, at a visible speed, flushed bright red with a "whoosh," the red even spreading all the way to the roots of those two pointed ears.
"I don't know! I clearly felt just now like all my power had been drained away!"
The scene was extremely awkward for a while.
That atmosphere of life-and-death parting, poignant to the utmost, was like a balloon pricked by a needle—with a "pfft," it leaked out completely clean.
Just then.
A mechanical electronic voice, carrying thick mockery and a spectator's love of watching a good show, erupted without warning over this quiet Tai Xu sky.
[Aiyayaya!]
[What a truly moving, tear-jerking grand drama of life-and-death parting!]
An enormous red light curtain rudely squeezed into the very center of the two's field of vision. Those glaring bold red characters jumped wildly across the screen.
[What "the happiest girl"! What "I'll bear your sins"! Tsk tsk tsk, your foster father's motherboard is about to be scorched into sparks by how sappy you two shameless lovebirds are!]
Su Yu looked at that punchable light curtain, the corners of his eyes twitching violently a couple of times.
That heartbroken, grief-stricken emotion from moments ago was instantly replaced by an urge to dismantle this System and sell it off as scrap metal.
This guy—right now he was just like a nasty old uncle who'd been hiding under the bed eavesdropping and finally couldn't hold back his laughter!
[I say, you two—did you get the wrong film set? Putting on some Qiong Yao soap opera here?]
[I say, Host, were you really smacked stupid by those few bricks earlier?]
The text on the System's light curtain continued to leap, even thoughtfully paired with a little soybean figure picking its nose.
[You're a genuine, certified big idiot too. You think—your foster father went to all this trouble, giving you serums and giving you weapons—]
[—that I'd let the little girl you just tricked, who finally, with such difficulty, lowered her guard, just obediently run off and turn into a pile of ash? Hm?]
Su Yu still maintained that posture of hugging Sirin tightly.
His brain, after bouncing back and forth between sorrow and shock, had completely crashed.
"Then why... then why did you keep silent this whole time just now? Just watching us here..."
Su Yu couldn't even organize the words to curse. The corner of his mouth twitched uncontrollably.
[Aiya, I just wanted to see what kind of ultimate move you two could squeeze out when you thought you were about to die.]
The System's mechanical voice was full of that extremely punchable smugness.
[Who knew you two could actually get this sappy. As expected, this boring melodrama stuff—I really can't stand to watch it.]
[I say, aren't you seriously underestimating the gold content of the Rank 8 term [Live and Die Together]?]
[As long as you, this Anchor, are still alive—even if she wants to shatter herself into dust, your foster father can fish her code out of the System's recycle bin piece by piece and patch it back together for you!]
"What do you mean?" Su Yu forcibly suppressed his urge to curse, demanding.
[The literal meaning.]
The System put away that grinning, cheeky layout, and the red font grew neat, beginning a serious, proper mechanism explanation.
[Detected the forcible intervention of the Host's soul Anchor. The Herrscher of the Void's sacrifice program has been forcibly suspended by this System.]
[Since that body's current load has already reached its limit, now officially opening the rare—Twin Coexistence Mode.]
[To put it simply: because Kiana was forcibly awakened, she has now gained surface dominion over that body (that is, she's in charge of getting beaten up outside, eating instant noodles, and socializing).]
[And this Queen, who moved herself to tears, having lost surface control, can now only retreat to the inner side of this body (the consciousness space).]
[Of course, as for the Herrscher's erosion and whatnot—your foster father already kicked all of it out after exerting himself. You know what "two lives in one body" means, right?]
Su Yu's heart couldn't help pounding wildly. Two lives in one body—this meant Kiana would no longer receive the unconscious erosion of the Herrscher of the Void's personality.
And Sirin could survive too.
[She still firmly grips the underlying code of the Herrscher of the Void's core. She can't die—she can even watch the live broadcast of the outside from within.]
Su Yu looked at Sirin, still lying in his arms, who—though she hadn't managed to die—was extremely socially mortified and trying to hide her head beneath him.
That enormous ecstasy of losing and regaining sent a low tremor through his chest cavity.
"Stop hiding." Su Yu reached out and stroked that head of soft purple hair, his voice carrying a trace of a smile he couldn't conceal.
[It's not over yet.]
The System seemed extremely keen on stirring up trouble.
The light curtain flickered, and the font turned a bizarre shade of pink.
[In order to enhance the richness of the Host's life in this dull world, this System has specially opened a secret underlying privilege to this inner-side Queen.]
[Hidden Buff: The Queen's Backdoor (already activated).]
[Privilege explanation: When the Kiana on the outside, who holds surface control, is mentally exhausted and falls into deep sleep, or is in a state of emotional turbulence (a brain crash causing the main control to loosen)—]
[—the inner-side Sirin can directly bypass the System firewall and perform a brief account-theft operation. Taking over control of the body, the duration depending on Kiana's degree of fatigue.]
[Warm reminder: Daytime is the Paramecium's work shift. And as for nighttime... heh heh, please, Host, mind your health and drink plenty of goji berry water.]
Looking at this downright preposterous explanation, Su Yu's eyelids twitched wildly.
This is called life richness? This is a damn battlefield-of-love manufacturing machine!
The System completely ignored Su Yu's constipated expression, and the upper-right corner of the light curtain thoughtfully split off a small sub-screen.
[To help the Queen adapt to her new identity faster, this is a real-time outside-world live broadcast screen, gifted by this System. No need to thank me—your foster father just loves to help others out of the goodness of his heart.]
Although Sirin couldn't see those words, that sub-screen, which had suddenly appeared in midair like a television, clearly entered her sight.
She curiously turned her head, following the light to look over.
When she saw the scene inside the screen clearly.
Sirin's face, originally hot from shyness, instantly froze.
In those golden eyes, first came astonishment, and then it was utterly filled with a blazing jealousy that could boil this whole Tai Xu water surface dry.
It was a replay of a past scene.
On the outside, atop those ruins of the shattered abandoned building.
Kiana, whose lovely appearance couldn't be hidden despite the dust all over her face, was carefully laying Su Yu's blood-soaked body across her own thighs.
She was just like a little wife deeply in love with her husband, holding a white handkerchief, her movements so gentle they practically gave people goosebumps.
Not just the movements.
That idiot woman even, in that soft, sticky voice heavy with sobs, went on, one after another: "You big idiot," "You clearly promised me you wouldn't overdo it," "Why would you throw away even your life for me."
This eye-stabbing scene was simply a dimensional-reduction strike against Sirin's just-established possessiveness!
Here I am fighting for my life for him, doing even that shameful thing, crying my tears dry.
And then the scene cuts away.
That idiot Paramecium is actually, in that utterly sappy posture, holding the man who belongs to her and fussing over him with concern?!
"What is that idiot doing?!!"
Sirin's voice abruptly leapt an octave higher.
Her slender fingers trembled as they pointed at the screen in midair, her mouth full of silver teeth grinding until they creaked.
"That's mine! That's my spoil of war! Who allowed her to look at you with that disgusting gaze?!"
Facing this sudden fury.
Su Yu helplessly sighed. Just as he was about to reach out and pull this purple-haired girl, still on the verge of going berserk, back to soothe her—
The System's light curtain flickered one last time.
Accompanied by a burst of solemn electronic sound.
[A brand-new Main Mission has been updated: Battle of the Twins.]
[One body cannot forever carry the wills of two Queens.]
[Explanation: At some inevitable point in the future, Sirin and Kiana must wage a decisive battle within this consciousness space to determine the body's final ownership.]
[System supplementary note (purely a fun-lover's remarks): According to this System's rigorous algorithmic projection—this fated duel originally meant to decide the world's fate and concern humanity's survival—]
[—will, in all likelihood, actually devolve into a struggle over ownership of the Host, a scramble over who gets to sleep in the master bedroom every night—a Main-Wife Defense War. Good luck, Host.]
[Ding—]
[A brand-new long-term community mission has opened: Blissful yet Troubled.]
[Since she's lost most of her power, Sirin's consciousness entity is currently extremely weak. The Host is required to use high-concentration spiritual strength to regularly and deeply nurture and irrigate her.]
[Current nurturing progress: 15%.]
"Wait—" Su Yu looked at this line of text and questioned the System doubtfully in his mind: "—a sec. This so-called deep spiritual-strength nurturing... what exactly is the physical operation process?"
The big red characters on the System's light curtain leapt cheerfully a couple of times, even paired with a lewd "silly grin" emoticon.
[Whatever you two were doing on that stone table just now—when it's time to nurture next, just follow that same standard and keep doing it, duh.]
The moment these words came out.
This Tai Xu Illusory Realm, already made absurd by what had just happened, instantly fell so deathly silent you could hear a pin drop.
Su Yu's face flushed red all the way to the base of his neck with a "whoosh."
The Sirin in his arms was even more like a cat whose tail had been stepped on—she abruptly sprang up out of Su Yu's embrace, landing directly on the water's surface.
Her cheeks instantly flushed crimson, that flush even spreading to her slender neck and to the collarbone Su Yu had kissed.
"You... what nonsense is this inexplicable red light spouting?!!"
Sirin pointed at that light curtain, her voice trembling from extreme shame and indignation.
"You mean to say... I... from now on I have to, in this crummy place, often do... do that shameful thing just now with this human?!"
[√!! Correct answer! Plus ten points!]
The red characters on the light curtain gave an affirmative answer without mercy.
Su Yu simply didn't know what expression to use to face this situation.
This damned System—still as inhuman as ever. Did it really have to spell such a thing out at such an extremely awkward juncture?
[For the sake of the Host's colorful future harem life—one that might even trigger an all-out brawl.]
[Host Su Yu is asked to please strive hard at cultivating the fields. The System hereby bestows a thoughtful little tip.]
[If this community mission is pushed to the later stage, there exists a tiny possibility of reconstructing Sirin's independent physical body.]
[So, please strive for the sake of reconstructing the Queen's true form! After all, as the saying goes—there's only oxen worked to death, never fields plowed to ruin~]
Accompanied by a burst of punchable electronic laughter, that red light curtain flickered twice in midair, directly cutting off communication and vanishing completely without a trace.
Inside the Tai Xu space.
That heaviness of life-and-death parting from moments ago had vanished without leaving so much as a speck of residue.
What remained was only a man and a woman with disheveled clothes, who had just completed a deep fusion of flesh and spirit, and who'd been forcibly issued an order that "the fusion must continue."
This atmosphere was so awkward it made one want to immediately find a crack in the ground to crawl into.
Su Yu didn't even dare raise his head to look at Sirin's current expression.
He could only sit stiffly on that stone table still lingering with her body warmth, trying to use his hands to straighten his utterly disheveled clothes.
"That... Sirin..."
Su Yu weighed his words, trying to break this deadly silence.
"Actually... if you really don't want to... we could look for some other method..."
But very soon.
A small hand, soft and fine yet carrying a strength that brooked no refusal, rested on top of Su Yu's hand, which was tugging at his waistband.
Su Yu was stunned for a moment and lifted his head.
Sirin hadn't lost her temper or fled in shame and indignation as he'd imagined.
Those golden eyes of hers, red, even with tear trails still at the corners, were at this moment staring blazingly, unblinkingly, into his eyes.
Within that gaze there was no longer that lofty contempt, nor that resigned grievance from before.
But rather there was more of an unsettling greed—the kind belonging to a carnivore that had set its sights on prey.
"Human."
Sirin's voice was calm—calm to the point that it gave Su Yu the creeps.
"You heard what that punchable guy said just now, right?"
"Uh... I... I heard." Su Yu swallowed his saliva
."
"Then." Sirin took a step forward, her body almost pressing against Su Yu's knees.
"Right now, will you still resist doing that shameful thing with me?"
"..." "No."
Su Yu very honestly shook his head. After going through what he just had, how could he possibly still resist.
"Very good."
The corner of Sirin's mouth curled into a sly arc, even carrying a few touches of oppressive pressure.
"Then let's continue."
"Huh?" Su Yu's eyes abruptly went wide; he thought he'd misheard.
"Huh what!"
Sirin's familiar Queen tone instantly returned.
Only this time, there was no killing intent within it, just a kind of righteously indignant coquettish tyranny.
If earlier had been a sacrifice for love.
Then now, facing that "love rival" showing off her power on the outer layer, there was only one thought in her mind.
"Let that idiot who only eats junk food monopolize this body, and then fuss over you with concern every day?"
"In your dreams!"
"Even if I have to drag it out, I'll beat her into a bloody, scattered mess in the decisive battle to come! This body is mine, and you're even more mine!"
She glanced at that hidden privilege named [The Queen's Backdoor] she'd just received in her mind.
The corner of her mouth curled into a sly arc, even carrying a few touches of mischief.
Daytime is that idiot's home turf, huh? No matter.
Once nighttime comes, in the dead of night.
When that idiot is worn out and asleep...
She could already imagine that thrilling, exciting sensation of when she'd use the backdoor privilege to forcibly "steal the account" and, on that bed belonging to them, suddenly say to Su Yu in Sirin's tone: "Don't turn around—I'm Kiana."
But this wasn't enough.
That emotion from before that hadn't yet been fully vented, along with the enormous sense of crisis produced from seeing the outside broadcast, made Sirin urgently need to do something to cover up the current awkwardness and declare sovereignty to this man.
"Didn't you hear what that red light said? This is nurturing! This is a mission! This is the labor that must be paid for reconstructing my true form!"
She gave Su Yu no chance whatsoever to refuse.
Cleanly and decisively, she stepped straight forward.
Her two legs domineeringly straddled Su Yu's thighs.
Those slender arms once again wrapped around Su Yu's neck.
That exquisite face drew close before his, her scorching breath spraying directly onto the tip of his nose.
"Didn't you keep saying, over and over, that you'd bear my sins, that you'd help me?!"
On Sirin's face, flushed red from shyness and eagerness, was written an impatience that had thrown all those earlier formalities completely behind her.
"Hurry up!"
"Don't dawdle over there! Human, I need your... nurturing right now!"
Su Yu looked at this girl before him who had completely cast off all reserve and was openly, brazenly demanding that so-called "nurturing" from him by exploiting the rules.
On his somewhat stiff face, a torn-between-laughter-and-tears expression stretched out.
This Queen.
She really was the typical sort who, once she let down her guard, got a taste for it and became utterly unstoppable.
Feeling that soft, scalding sensation belonging to a young girl transmitted through the fabric on his thighs.
Su Yu sighed inwardly.
What else could he do.
He could only raise those strong arms and, resigned to his fate, clasp that waist too slender for a single hand to grip, forced—and in pain-yet-pleasure—to continue shouldering his still-unfinished "responsibility."
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