"After I joined, Gray Snake promised me that my wish would come true, and for this I earned nearly a billion in profits for World Snake. However, while I was fighting hard, you messed up the experiment. Even if the awakening really failed, it would only be the fate of my daughter, but she clearly succeeded, and you made additional changes to her because of your own selfishness."
"She could have survived, but you ruined her!"
"That's just a necessary sacrifice in the awakening of the stigma." Even the Jackal was powerless to refute Su Jue's questioning, especially when the other party directly used the Lord to pressure her.
"Really? Is this the Stigmata Project that the Lord advocates? If the Stigmata Project is just this kind of thing, then..."
Su Jue wanted to continue speaking, but was interrupted by the voice behind him.
"Enough!" Gray Snake's voice was so gloomy that water could drip.
The significance of the existence of the World Snake, the dawn left by the previous civilization, Kevin's mission of tens of thousands of years, and the Stigmata Project were actually used as an excuse for quarreling by these two people. Gray Snake now wanted to kill them on the spot.
But the cadres that could be mobilized were scarce, and what Mo E said was indeed correct. He brought resources to the snakes, and the snakes provided him with shelter, which was the content of the agreement.
Although Gray Snake didn't know what exactly the Jackal did to cause the failure, since he mentioned the awakening of the stigmata, and his daughter died even though the awakening was successful, this was indeed something that Snake needed to deal with.
"Jackal, in the next six months, your research funding will be reduced by 20%, and all funds will be invested in the research of the Stigmata Project."
Faced with this kind of punishment, Jackal was naturally somewhat reluctant, after all, she had killed more than one or two experimental subjects. However, under the cold red eyes of Gray Snake, she could only accept it obediently.
"Moth, the World Snake can bring you compensation, but I hope you can understand the situation." Compared with the jackal's research ability, the importance of Moth is naturally much lower, so the gray snake chose to threaten directly.
His meaning was very clear. If the situation could be handled, then it should be handled. If a fight really broke out, Mo E himself would definitely be the one to suffer.
Seeing that his goal had been achieved, Su Jue knew it was time to stop.
His heavy breathing seemed to be suppressing his anger. He lowered his gaze from the jackal and said in a resentful tone: "I want to kill the Herrscher of the Void to avenge my daughter. Don't tell me I can't do it. This is what you are doing."
"Yes, but the World Serpent has no clues about the Ruler of the Void at the moment."
However, Su Jue was prepared and took out a document from his pocket.
"I have it here."
Chapter 193 Changkong City
"The airship is about to dock. We have arrived at Changkong City and are testing the concentration of Houkai energy in the air..."
The system's notification sound did not disturb the infirmary, and Su Jue, who was still sleeping, lay quietly on the bed. Yulan Dai'er sat beside him, holding the novel she had read last time, but her eyes did not linger on it for too long.
Instead, his attention would shift to Su Jue from time to time. She was thinking about how to hide the fact that Kiana was missing from him later.
After several days of treatment, Su Jue's complexion was obviously much better.
However, his body was covered with needle holes left during the treatment. As a Herrscher, needle holes could heal in a few seconds, but Su Jue seemed to have lost his ability to recover.
This situation made Youlandel subconsciously think of the Valkyrie Wuliangta who once used the Blank Key and also used the power of the Plague Gem. Both of them had their lifespans greatly shortened due to the gem's overly powerful destructive power.
"Can he hold on for the last experiment?" Bianca, who had always thought about training and improvement, was a little confused at this moment. She took a deep breath, trying to force herself into calm mode, but happened to see Su Jue gently opening his eyes.
"You're awake."
"I feel like this kind of conversation is somewhat familiar." The bright light made it difficult for Su Jue to open his eyes. He turned his head and happened to see the novel spread on the girl's lap.
"As expected of the strongest Valkyrie, you can even read the novel backwards?"
Bianca's eyes flickered slightly, and she closed the novel as if nothing had happened and put it back into her bag.
"This is actually my way of training my attention." Her gaze subconsciously fell elsewhere, not looking into Su Jue's eyes.
"I see." Su Jue nodded and did not expose the girl.
Bianca breathed a sigh of relief when she found out that she had not been discovered lying. She stood up and removed the equipment fixed on Su Jue, allowing him to move freely.
After adjusting to his current body, Su Jue changed into his normal clothes, and the two of them walked out of the infirmary side by side.
After dining together, the two went to the deck.
The warship that transported Su Jue was currently suspended in the sky, while other transport ships were docked on the coast. Looking down from a high altitude, one could clearly see many staff members delivering various equipment into the city.
Those were the materials needed for the Thousand Worlds One experiment. In order to complete the final observation, Otto brought almost all the equipment here and hid them in the ruins.
"Where is this place? The concentration of Honkai energy has exceeded the limit that ordinary people can bear." The air was filled with energy, much more concentrated than the Vimur base. Su Jue stretched out his hand, and the Honkai energy was attracted by his Herrscher aura and gathered into a purple energy cube in his hand.
"Changkong City, the final location of the experiment. The Houkai energy of the Vimur base is insufficient. If you force it to open, you will die there."
"Oh, then shouldn't I thank you too?"
"Need not."
Facing Su Jue's mocking tone, Bianca's expression was calm. In the contact during this period, she was somewhat accustomed to Su Jue's tone. She was straightforward and seemed to be completely unaware of anything wrong, and just treated it as a normal communication.
"Tsk, it's so hard to communicate with you." Su Jue, defeated by the girl's innocence, looked helplessly at the city that had completely turned into ruins, and asked in boredom, "I want to ask, when will your bishop fulfill the promise? You won't have to wait until I die to see her, will you?"
"This..." Bianca felt a little nervous and didn't know how to explain it.
Fortunately, Otto had been observing the situation here. He connected to Yulandel's call and intervened in their conversation.
"Bianca, it will take a long time before the experiment starts. For now, take him to the city to relax."
"I have successfully captured the Herrscher of the Void. I will let you meet him in a while. Please don't worry, Mr. Su Jue." This was a deliberate explanation to Su Jue.
But Su Jue was not so easily fooled. His eyes were fixed on Bianca. "Really? But I can tell from Miss Yulandel's performance that the situation seems to be different from what the Bishop said."
Bianca's body was stiff, and she felt a little uncomfortable under Su Jue's gaze.
"Haha, it's just the modesty of a young girl. Since you have helped me complete so many experiments, destiny will help you achieve your goals even if it has to do its best. How could it possibly deceive you?" Otto still had that annoying expression on his face.
"That's better." Su Jue, who knew the specific situation, cooperated with the performance and nodded solemnly.
Following Otto's suggestion, Su Jue and Bianca, who had not been able to go out for a long time, left the battleship and landed on the ground together.
Changkong City is located in the far east, close to the seaport and in a low-lying area.
During the third collapse, the city was severely impacted and sank. Now the seawater is flooding back and all the roads are submerged. And due to the contamination of the collapse energy, the water sources here have been polluted.
"Tianqiong City should have looked like this after that battle." Su Jue said with some sigh, looking at the ruins all over the city, wondering what was in his mind.
"That place is not under the control of Tianming, but I heard that reconstruction work is already underway. It should be much better than the situation here."
Although the two were the culprits behind the destruction of the city, in the actual battle they actually consciously controlled the direction of the destruction and avoided the deaths of civilians.
The conflict of battle was inevitable, and it was a blessing in disguise that only some buildings were destroyed.
Compared to Sky City, the physical damage in Changkong City was much less severe, and most of the buildings retained their original appearance. However, the Honkai energy pollution was far more serious than that in Sky City. After the third Herrscher Raiden Mei was controlled, all the remaining Honkai energy sank into the ground.
After the seawater backflow, it turned into a secondary disaster, completely cutting off the possibility of reconstruction.
"Miss Youlandel, have you ever heard of the Far East culture?" The two came to an abandoned shop. The original decoration could not be seen, but Su Jue still walked in and picked up a fox mask from the ground.
"No, I basically spend all my time on training and tasks, and have little exposure to these cultures." She stood aside, watching Su Jue's actions with some curiosity.
After brushing off the dust on the mask, Su Jue placed the fox mask in front of Bianca's face. In the other's puzzled eyes, he gestured twice and then threw it away.
"what happened?"
"It just suddenly occurred to me that you and Kiana look very similar. I was wondering what the difference would be when you wear this mask and when she wears it."
"So how do you feel?"
"Completely different. This traditional mask is still not suitable for European girls like you. You should look more... dazzling."
"Brilliant?"
"It's like a star in the night sky, shining with its own unique light, making the entire night sky pale in comparison."
Chapter 194 Bracelet
"Xingxing, is that what she looks like in your mind?"
Bianca looked at the discarded mask with some curiosity and bent down to pick it up.
The white mask is dotted with crimson lines, and the curved eyes and pointed ears make it easy to see the cunningness that the mask represents.
With a slight shake of the wrist, the Honkai energy easily washed away the dust attached to the mask.
Before this, Yulandel had never worn a mask. She gently put the mask on her face and looked at Su Jue through her exposed eyes.
But Su Jue had a smile on his face, as if he had seen something funny.
"what happened?"
"I just think that maybe Otto is more suitable for this mask than you. When you put it on, it's like a big cat poorly disguised as a fox. Cunning, insidious, I can't imagine what it would be like when these words are used on you."
"Compared to strategies, I do prefer to solve problems with strength." Bianca did not deny this. She took off the mask and gently placed it on the counter, noticing that Su Jue stopped in front of a display cabinet of some decorations.
"To me, you all shine like stars. Although she is not as bright as you, she is still an irreplaceable starlight. When a person walks in the dark, what he needs is not the brightest star, but the one that is always waiting for him ahead."
There are also exquisite jewelry on display in the display cabinet, which is protected by glass and is not contaminated by anything.
"Are you interested in these jewelry?" Bianca walked to Su Jue, her golden hair falling on the display case.
For her, these shiny jewelry were just a burden in battle. In her bedroom, Rita prepared a full cabinet for her, but unfortunately she never wore them except on vacation.
Su Jue's eyes passed over the sparkling gems and did not linger on the golden color. He just looked at the pair of silver-white star bracelets and fell into deep thought.
The bracelet is very simple in style, with just two stars cleverly used at the connection, which not only bridges the bracelet itself, but also allows another string to be linked together in the same way.
"I once accidentally destroyed one of her hair accessories." The display case was gently opened and Su Jue took out the bracelet.
The bracelet was pulled by Su Jue's fingertips, and two stars hung down, colliding with each other, but they were close yet distant in his hand.
The platinum material was cold to the touch. Su Jue looked at it quietly, not knowing what he was thinking.
After a moment, he put the bracelet back into the display case.
"Don't you like it?"
"No, I just didn't bring any money."
"I see." Bianca nodded as a matter of course, without any doubt.
The city had long been destroyed by the collapse, with only broken walls and rippling seawater forming the remains of civilization. The valuable goods of the past were thrown away like garbage, so there was naturally no so-called cashier problem.
But even if there was no one guarding the place, the two men had no intention of taking it away directly.
It's common sense to pay for things you buy.
As the strongest Valkyrie, Youlandel's salary is completely unimaginable for ordinary people. And with her strength, countless people will compete to give her gifts for whatever she wants.
For ordinary people, it is morality and law that restrain them from doing bad things. But for her, who is self-disciplined, she herself is the benchmark of morality.
"If you want to buy it, I can lend it to you."
Looking at Yulandel with some doubt, Su Jue didn't remember that she had the habit of carrying cash.
Under Su Jue's gaze, Bianca took out her novel from her pocket and handed it over.
"This is a hardcover edition of a novel written by Conan Doyle. Although I don't know the exact price, judging from the way Rita handed it to me, it should be worth enough to buy this bracelet."
Out-of-print books? Good man, if Rita knew you were such a spendthrift, she would probably cry in the toilet, or maybe on Bianca's bed.
"You haven't finished reading this novel yet, and you're just going to lend me something so valuable?"
"Don't worry, it's not worth much to me."
The carefully compiled out-of-print novel was placed on a dusty display case. Bianca took out the bracelet, placed it in her palm and handed it to Su Jue.
"Dazzling and shining, this must be a good gift for her." Bianca didn't know much about jewelry, but that didn't mean she didn't know how to appreciate it. Compared to the cabinet in her room, this bracelet couldn't even be named, but looking at the shining stars, she seemed to understand what Su Jue meant by dazzling.
"Two stars, one of which should have been yours."
Su Jue just took a string from the girl. Knowing the truth, he naturally understood that Bianca and Kiana were sisters, so it was natural for each sister to have one of the star bracelets.
But Bianca didn't know this. Just as she was about to hand the other string to Su Jue, she vaguely heard the girl crying in fear.
Her face changed, and she didn't care about the bracelet and immediately rushed towards the direction where the sound came from.
……
The hooded little girl was cowering behind a building. The Honkai Beast that had appeared here at some point occupied the square, cutting off her only way back to the shelter.
But now a lot of time has passed. If I can't go back, everyone in the shelter will most likely risk coming out to look for me.
Kong pursed his lips and quietly moved towards the wall, not daring to make any sound.
However, just as she was about to bypass the square, there was a crunching sound under her feet and she stepped on an empty bottle.
The slight sound was immediately picked up by the Honkai Beast. Its scarlet eyes fixed on the sky and it immediately rushed towards her.
The girl was obviously very frightened. She ran just two steps before she stumbled and fell to the ground, with the things she was carrying scattered all over the floor.
"No. Teacher, save me."
