Seeing Kiana's mental state visibly improve, Sirin, who had been anxiously waiting on the sidelines, finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Of course, our tsundere Queen would never show a hint of it.
Still dressed as Izumi, she lounged lazily on the small sofa in the mental space. Propping up her head with one hand while tapping on a tablet to catch up on anime with the other, she asked casually in a seemingly indifferent tone:
"Since you're lively again, you should probably tell us what exactly you saw over these past few days, right?"
Mhm!
Kiana, who was currently explaining V-tubers to Fuli, nodded vigorously in her heart.
It's probably because I just awakened it not long ago, but until just now, the 'Eyes of the Radiant Future' were stuck in a forced-on state.
"Oh? That peculiar technique for observing the direction of the future?" Sirin perked up slightly. "Did you see any interesting possibilities?"
Yeah, thousands upon thousands. Kiana's voice grew faint, carrying a trace of imperceptible trembling. In those futures, I saw Ah-Li's death.
Beaten to death, assassinated, pounced on and killed, beheaded, burned to death, crushed, strangled, cursed to death, crimes of passion...
All kinds of corpses, all kinds of deaths.
It was as if the endings of all Fuli individuals across the infinite multiverse had been edited into movies and played simultaneously on loop before the girl's eyes.
No wonder.
The Queen rubbed her chin.
The number of parallel universes is theoretically infinite. No matter how small the probability, multiplying it by infinity equals countless occurrences.
In her view, it was likely that the obsession with protecting Fuli, deeply bound to Kiana when she was injected with the Htr serum, had forcibly driven the newly awakened Eyes of the Radiant Future. It locked the observation anchor firmly onto him, forcing her to observe his various death routes.
"If you ask this Queen, this kind of crap isn't worth caring about at all!"
Sirin reached under the hem of her T-shirt to scratch her snowy-white chest, flipping over like a salted fish with zero regard for her image. "As the Her— cough! In terms of familiarity with the Herrscher of the Void's authority, this Queen is ten streets ahead of you. If I wanted to, I could totally do it better than you."
The Eyes of the Radiant Future only observed the near future, whereas the Herrscher of the Void could truly peer into parallel worlds like the Second Divine Key.
"But to put it bluntly, that stuff is just a pile of specious possibilities. Forcing yourself to fit into them... what does it bring besides unnecessary trouble?"
"The universe will be destroyed sooner or later, and humanity will perish sooner or later."
"Are you going to be like the protagonist in the story 'The Man of Qi Worries About the Sky,' living in constant anxiety until you have a nervous breakdown and become a timeless negative example?"
"There's no need for that." The Queen concluded decisively. "Instead of worrying blindly about those shadowy futures, you might as well think about what to eat later and notify the Cat-Cakes to prepare the meal in advance."
"Besides, Fuli isn't that fragile. Not only is his defense tough enough to be troublesome for S-ranks, but he also possesses the Garuda King's super-speed regeneration and Kurikara's Shedding Rebirth."
"Want to kill him? Maybe if an entire medium-sized faction mobilized in full force! And I'm referring to the average kind. If it were something like the Galaxy Rangers, which has multiple S-ranks and is only a step away from being a large faction, they certainly wouldn't need to go that far."
Yes, the standard for a medium-sized faction is to rival a single S-rank.
But that's just the lower limit. 60 points and 100 points are both passing grades, but obviously, the two cannot be generalized.
"The Sea of Quanta is truly dangerous. Good thing the spatial barrier of the Main World wasn't as fragile during the Second Eruption as it is now. Those culprits causing power inflation didn't have the chance to run to Earth and cause trouble for me back then."
The Queen thought, then added: "Also, if you're really annoyed beyond belief, just turn those annoying eyes off temporarily. If you can't do it, I will."
Okay!
A silly smile free of gloom bloomed on Kiana's face.
"What a troublesome fellow."
Having finished her guest appearance as the intimate big sister, Sirin yawned impatiently, wiggled her crystal-clear toes over the edge of the sofa, and buried her face in the cushion.
Back in reality—
"Repeat that for me. What do you mean 'no accidents happened after being followed by you'?"
Fuli looked incredibly absurd, wearing a constipated expression that said, Are you fucking kidding me?
"Cough!"
A certain guilty lazy cat's eyes darted around, daring not meet his gaze.
The boy extended his hands expressionlessly, forcibly turned her small face back to look at him, and slowly squeezed out a word through his teeth:
"Speak!"
"I-I couldn't help it! I didn't want to either!"
The story started with Kiana debuting as the 77th Director of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor, Hu Tao.
As an independent VTuber, she naturally didn't have to pay high fees to a company. Her streaming revenue split was a standard contract, and her main selling point was doing whatever she wanted.
But being a VTuber, she definitely had to interact with others.
It was reasonable to follow someone after interacting, right? It was also normal to piggyback on a collab video, right?
And then, big problems arose.
The dozens of uploaders Director Hu Tao casually followed all met with accidents, big and small, in the following days.
One was exposed for cheating on his girlfriend with the number one rich female donor on the leaderboard. After the exposure, he shamelessly declared the world-shocking scumbag line: "I won't delay you for an eighth year then." Another self-destructed by revealing she fell in love with a banned hip-hop rapper, arrogantly mocking and lecturing her fans in the stream, only to lose popularity the next day and apologize at light speed.
That would have been fine, but even worse, someone actually died during an outdoor stream, joyfully achieving the "Wangsheng Funeral Parlor VIP Client" achievement. Although the person in question courted death by ignoring warnings, it still massively boosted the legendary nature of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor, turning Director Hu Tao's following list into a "Death Note: Buy One Get Second Tombstone Half Price"!
"..."
After hearing this, Fuli exchanged glances with Kallen, who had quietly appeared in the room at some point. The siblings tacitly pulled out their terminals to search quickly.
A moment later, they turned off the holographic screens and shifted their butts half a meter back without leaving a trace.
"Y-You guys despise me!"
Kiana turned into the crying cat meme.
"No, I just think this development is too hellish. Also, stay away from me."
Fuli laughed dryly twice and actively changed the subject. "So, that uploader named Inazuma Makoto is the only one who's still kicking after being named in your Death Note? You were worried something might happen to her and wanted to check personally, but because you're sick and feel terrible all over, you thought of asking the mature and reliable King of Hyperion?"
Kallen muttered on the side, "I have a lot of alt accounts online. I'll send you the list later; remember to avoid them when following people."
"Those are all just coincidences! Coincidences! We must believe in science! Reject groundless framing!"
Feeling extremely aggrieved, Cat Kiana protested loudly. "And after realizing something was wrong, this Miss never actively followed anyone again! I didn't even piggyback on collab submissions! I lost so much snack fund money!"
"Snack—fund—?"
A voice as cold as the Siberian winter wind drifted in eerily. "You're sick like this, yet your brain is still full of that junk food that has only calories and zero nutrition?"
"Eek-woo-woo-eek!"
Realizing something, Kiana's body stiffened instantly, her neck turning mechanically toward the door.
"Hee..."
Mei's soft-colored lips moved the facial nerves and muscles, her eyes and eyebrows curving into crescent shapes with the movement, accompanied by twinkling starlight.
This was undoubtedly an impeccable smile, beautiful beyond words.
Yet the person involved felt only thorns on her back and her hair standing on end.
"Gwah! Ah-Li, save me! Where are they?!"
Turning to call for help, Kiana suddenly discovered that within the domain expansion of the True Head of the Household, the siblings who were just standing there had long since vanished, fleeing faster than a Shenzhou-12 rocket.
D-Doomed!
Cold sweat seeped from Kiana's forehead.
She swallowed hard, stuttering, "Mei, listen to my made-up story..."
The scene shifted to the deck of the Hyperion.
The twilight melted gold, dyeing the waves of the Pacific Ocean into flowing liquid gold.
Fuli lay lazily on the lukewarm deck, letting the sea breeze roll over his body, making the hem of his thin shirt flap loudly.
"So, are you going?"
Kallen's upper body leaned over, blocking the twilight in the boy's eyes. She bent slightly, tucking the silver-white hair dancing in the wind behind her ear. Her entire silhouette seemed to glow, exuding breathtaking charm.
"I just checked. That Inazuma Makoto lives in Sapphire City, Shenzhou."
She sat down next to her brother, hugging her knees, and looked out at the boundless horizon where sea and sky met with him.
Big Sister's worry was not unreasonable; Shenzhou was the base camp of the Taixu Front.
Some high-level officials, represented by Situ Qinghong, were eager for Fuli to step into their territory so they could pin him on the altar to bear the supreme divine position of Fuli Yuanshi Tianzun (Fuli the Primeval Lord of Heaven).
This trip was basically equivalent to a wolf entering a dragon's mouth.
"Can't be helped."
Fuli naturally knew this too.
He sighed, swatted away the braid Big Sister was using to tickle and tease his face, sat up, and sighed again. "Who asked it to be that guy's (Kiana's) request?"
"You..." Kallen shook her head helplessly. "If you ask me, sooner or later you're going to fall into that girl Kiana's arms."
Hearing this, Fuli turned his head to look at her in surprise.
"What?" Kallen tilted her head.
"Nothing, just realized that you, Sis, have actually unlocked the Prophet talent." Fuli scratched his head. "And how should I put it? As long as the identity on the reality side is arranged properly and I don't make too big a fuss involving the Honkai side, the risk of exposure this time is actually very low."
He took out a dark, ancient-looking jade talisman and activated Jizo Mitama to pull up the related data.
[Name: Void Abyss Dark Star God Talisman]
[Rank: A]
[Category: Item]
[Effect: The holder requires no energy to activate it. The talisman constructs a layer of false causality for the holder. When any existence attempts to deduce information about the holder through causality, heavenly secrets, etc., they cannot use this to deduce the holder's connection to related matters, thereby achieving the purpose of blinding heavenly secrets and shielding causality.]
[Remark: All gifts in fate have already been secretly marked with a price.]
This was a small gift Ella stuffed into his hands before parting, and Fuli didn't stand on ceremony with his capable good bro.
The talisman was basically useless in high-profile situations like the Starry Sky Martial Arts Tournament, but there was no big problem relying on it for incognito visits in Shenzhou on ordinary days.
"Alright then." Kallen felt relieved. "Sis will handle the identity issue for you."
She handed over another file.
"Some intelligence on the mission subject is here."
"Heartwarming!"
Fuli gave a thumbs up, took it, and glanced roughly at the cover. "Inazuma Makoto is her real name? There really are people with the surname Inazuma (Rice Wife/Lightning) in Shenzhou."
Kallen raised her index finger to educate him: "The contemporary population with the surname Inazuma (Dao) in Shenzhou is about a thousand people. It ranks 1222nd among Chinese surnames. Rare, but not non-existent."
"I see."
The local, having been educated on the Book of Family Names by a medieval Westerner, nodded resentfully and continued to examine the information in his hand:
Inazuma Makoto, a real-life idol who debuted as a VTuber.
Her resume looked ordinary to him, who had experienced countless life-and-death situations. Only two things were noteworthy.
First, compared to those "Qiao Biluo" types hiding under virtual skins, this one was top-tier in both looks and figure.
In the advertisement, her violet long hair cascaded down to her waist like a waterfall, with never-withering thunder sakura hairpins in her hair. Her moon-white furisode kimono was adorned with pale wisteria patterns, and fine lightning seemed to flow as her sleeves moved.
Her face was gentle like fresh snow after a clearing sky, a touch of crimson swaying at the corners of her eyes. When she stood quietly, a soft aura like spring cherry blossoms lingered around her.
"This guy's Honkai adaptability shouldn't be low."
Fuli rubbed his chin, making a very irresponsible but very Honkai-world-appropriate guess.
As for the second thing, the world-class superstar Robin had come to Sapphire City in Shenzhou a few days ago. Inazuma Makoto was precisely the outstanding backup dancer the former had recently selected locally.
"Robin, huh..."
Even though he claimed to be a staunch fan of Miyuki Nakajima, Fuli still knew this name like thunder piercing his ears.
The Singer of the Epyreon, the Star of the Festival, a legendary superstar on par with the Golden Eden. Her fans spanned all age groups globally, and her influence was second only to Michael Jackson at his peak.
More crucially, she was also the biological sister of Sunday—the second-ranking member of the Senate, the Ambassador to the Holy See of Andorra, and a hot candidate for the future Pope of the Vatican.
"A troublesome character."
Fuli put down the documents, having a premonition that this trip would definitely not be calm.
"Little—Li—!"
A roar came from afar, drawing near, and a small white-haired dumpling crashed into his arms with a boom.
"This Principal knows everything! You stewed those cows to give my sick grand-niece special treatment!" Theresa straddled him, hands on her hips, complaining angrily. "Damn it! Why didn't you call me when eating!"
"Hey, don't press, don't press!"
It wasn't that he was afraid of her weight, but the position she sat in was too subtle. One careless move and he would boki (get an erection).
"Haven't we not had dinner yet?" Fuli coaxed gently. "Since you're staying overnight anyway, we'll have a meat feast later! Go choose the ingredients from Mt. Taixu!"
"Huhu, that's more like it... hmm?"
Theresa raised her small chin triumphantly, but her petite body suddenly shuddered.
She lowered her head, blinking her big eyes, feeling the subtle change in a certain area. The corner of her mouth hooked into a wicked smile belonging to an adult woman.
She leaned down, her warm breath brushing over Fuli's ear.
Her voice was light and soft, full of seduction: "Does this fiancée need to help you relieve your long-accumulated pressure?"
"Scram, scram, scram!"
The boy glared at her grumpily.
Theresa's size just isn't exciting. Let's talk again when you grow into a great beauty like Kallen.
While the fiancé and fiancée with a significant age gap played around happily, Sapphire City on the other side of the ocean had already welcomed the night.
Likely due to the passing typhoon, the weather tonight wasn't very good.
Threads of rain wove into a cold curtain across the sky, enveloping the entire city and extinguishing the remaining noise in the streets and alleys.
Deep in a secluded cemetery isolated by the curtain of rain, a brand-new azure-grey tombstone stood silently in the center.
A purple-haired girl dressed in black mourning clothes stood alone in front of this cold, heavy stone, letting the rain pour freely over her thin figure.
Gazing at the lifeless tombstone, her hand hanging by her side slowly, bit by bit, curled up in the dead silence. Her thin knuckles pressed hard against the pale skin of her palm, fingernails digging deeply into it.