Li Xuan's eyelashes fluttered as he slowly opened his eyes.
"Ugh…"
Where is this? Li Xuan sat up, clutching his dizzy head, and looked around curiously.
His surroundings were hazy and indistinct, except for the night sky above, which was perfectly clear. Countless brilliant stars scattered their light across the darkness.
"So… so beautiful…" Li Xuan stared at the scene in awe. He had never seen such a stunning starry sky, not even in the countryside during his childhood…
"So, where am I?" Li Xuan scanned his surroundings, bewildered. But there wasn't a soul in sight; it was as if he were the only person left in the world…
"Wasn't I in the underwater lab? How did I end up here…" Li Xuan sat down cross-legged, trying hard to think. "Did I get transported again?!" The thought came to him with surprising calmness. After all, he'd lost count of how many times he'd been dragged into strange places for no reason… You get used to it, which is a sad story in itself…
"What misfortune!" Li Xuan couldn't help but grumble, grabbing at his hair.
Suddenly, the ground beneath him began to glow softly. It transformed into something like glass, emitting a gentle light in the dim surroundings.
"What's happening?…" Li Xuan lay down and peered curiously at the ground, which now resembled a computer screen. The crystal-like surface shone with white light, filled with overlapping images…
The ground began to display a scene, like a television. The scene was of the ocean, with the rising sun casting a golden sheen on the cresting waves…
"Mama, where is this?" A smaller girl stood at the seaside, staring blankly at the sparkling ocean as she asked the woman beside her.
"The Sea of Okhotsk," the woman with wavy, light-blonde hair answered succinctly. She added, as if explaining, "We built the laboratory for Experiment X-10 on the seabed."
"The seawater can isolate Honkai energy leaks and prevent us from being detected by Schicksal."
Their time watching the sea didn't last long…
"Alright, it's time to go, Seele," the woman said, turning to urge the girl named Seele.
Seele didn't answer. She looked at the calm sea, her eyes welling up with tears…
"Seele, what's wrong?" the woman asked, puzzled.
"No… it's nothing…"
The image on the ground briefly turned black.
"Seele?! Isn't that Seele?" Li Xuan stared at the screen in shock. He had gotten a clear look at the girl's face, and she looked exactly like the Seele who had almost killed Bronya Zaychik!
Soon, the image reappeared, but the setting was no longer the seaside. It was a laboratory bustling with people and filled with complex instruments…
The girl named Seele was now suspended in a vertical cultivation tube, her eyes closed like Sleeping Beauty.
"The experiment is going smoothly. This child's body has an exceptionally high adaptability to Honkai energy," a conversation between two people played out on the screen.
"She can already manipulate matter at the atomic level using Honkai energy," a middle-aged man's voice said. "With a further injection of Honkai energy, she'll have a chance to manipulate matter at the subatomic, or even the Quantum Level."
"Continue the experiment… Inject another 3ml," another voice, a woman's, said after a slight hesitation, as if through gritted teeth.
As soon as she finished speaking, the lab researchers immediately got busy again. The thin tubes connected to the body of the girl in the cultivation tube began to transport a clear blue liquid into her.
"Warning! Test subject's Honkai energy reaction is rising sharply, exceeding controllable limits!" A synthetic female voice blared through the lab's alarm system. The girl in the tube frowned slightly, and purple, crystal-like Honkai energy began to form on the tube's surface.
"Seele…!!" the woman exclaimed, her voice laced with worry.
Just as Li Xuan was engrossed, the screen on the ground suddenly went black again.
'Why did it go dark again?!' Li Xuan thought, annoyed.
Soon, the image returned. In a vast, white world, two young girls knelt on the ground, their hands touching a locked box. One was Seele. The other looked identical to her, but her face was obscured.
"I didn't expect we'd meet in this form, my host…" the girl with the obscured face said to Seele.
"You're… that voice that's always been in my head!" Seele said in surprise.
"I am the memory etched into the Stigmata. I was transcribed into human genetic code tens of thousands of years ago—to pass down the power left by the previous generation, and… an eternal hatred for 'God' (Honkai)." The girl with the obscured face revealed a momentous secret in just a few words… though Seele didn't realize it was a secret.
"That box contains technology, knowledge, and power far beyond your era," the nameless girl said, pointing to the locked box in front of them. She held out her hands, and the schematics for a sword and a battleship appeared in her palms…
"But you can't handle that power yet. If you open the box, you'll be devoured by what's inside."
The image on the ground blurred once more…
"Hey, hey!! Don't stop! I haven't finished watching!" Li Xuan slapped the ground anxiously. Although he'd only seen a small part, he had learned quite a lot, like how the Stigmata were left behind by humanity from a past civilization. This could be a secret that might help him return to his own world!…
But the glass-like ground, which had just been like an LCD screen, was now completely dark.
Then, the world that had been like a night sky was suddenly illuminated as if by a bright lamp. The world became radiant, filled with floating particles of light…
"So beautiful…" Li Xuan looked up and was instantly captivated by the scene. He reached out, trying to catch one of the light particles drifting down like a snowflake, but it vanished the moment it landed in his palm.
"Hey, Li Xuan-kun, it's beautiful, isn't it? This place…" a gentle female voice said from behind him.
"Ah!" The sudden voice made Li Xuan jump in fright…
"Se-Seele?!!" When Li Xuan turned around, he saw who it was. It was Seele Vollerei! His immediate reflex was to take out 'Seele's Toy Box' from his ring and prepare for a fight…
Huh?! Where are my ring and clothes?
Li Xuan looked down and saw that there was no ring on his hand, and he was only wearing ordinary casual clothes.
"Now, now, don't be nervous, Li Xuan-kun," Seele said with a faint smile.
'Don't smile like that, you're making me nervous…' Seeing her smile, Li Xuan was reminded of how she had almost killed Bronya Zaychik with that very same expression…
"Li Xuan-kun, it wasn't actually my intention to attack you before. It was my Stigmata… including, um… trying to kill Onee-sama Bronya… So, thank you so much for protecting Onee-sama. I'm very sorry!" The girl named Seele bowed deeply in apology, her face blushing as she fumbled with her words.
"Uh…" Li Xuan stood there, at a loss. He'd never been in a situation like this before.
"I hope you'll continue to look after Onee-sama Bronya in the future," Seele pleaded.
"Uh… Ye-yes, of course," Li Xuan said seriously. Bronya Zaychik was his companion, after all. As the big brother of the group, it was his duty to protect her. (Though no one else had ever seen him as a big brother…)
"Thank you so much!" Seele thanked him again. Then she looked up at Li Xuan and said, "I don't know why, but I always feel a strange sense of familiarity from you, Li Xuan-kun. It feels like… hope."
"So… I came to ask you for a favor…" Seele paused. "By Onee-sama Bronya's side, you are the strongest… So I will give 'that' to you. I hope you can help me protect her…"
"'That'?" Li Xuan asked, confused. The plot was moving too fast… what was she suddenly trying to give him?!
"It's like in the fairy tale, when people opened 'Pandora's Box,' releasing despair and suffering. But… they also released the most precious thing in the world: 'Hope'!" Seele said, as if to herself.
"I ended up opening the box… but I failed. I couldn't master the power inside, but I managed to transfer a part of it to Onee-sama Bronya."
"That power of hope still exists, but it's useless in my hands, because I can't even maintain my own form right now," Seele said with a brave smile, though her eyes were filled with sorrow.
"And now… I'm giving 'it' to you… I hope you can protect everyone." A glowing, teardrop-shaped seed appeared in Seele's hand.
Before Li Xuan could react, she placed the seed on his forehead. The moment it made contact, the seed merged with him, disappearing into his forehead.
"What is this? I…" Li Xuan finally snapped back to his senses, but it was too late. Before he could finish his sentence, Seele interrupted him again.
"My time is short, so I can't explain much more. I'm sorry, Li Xuan-kun…" Seele said, waving to him as if saying goodbye.
Li Xuan's eyelids grew heavy, and a strong sense of faintness washed over him, pulling his consciousness into darkness. In his hazy state, he seemed to hear Seele's voice: 'Goodbye. You will master that power… to fight against 'God'.'
'Why does this feel like something out of Sword Art Online?!' That was Li Xuan's last thought.
.................
"Can he really do it?…" Seele muttered to herself.
"He can…" A black shadow appeared behind her, embracing her from behind.
"Because…"
"His Stigmata is complete."
(End of Chapter)