After ending the brief online meeting with the Mythological Sequence Alliance, Hyacine cautiously opened her eyes.
The sight that greeted her was still the same—the terrifyingly lonely starry sky and the endless ocean. The salty, freezing sea breeze, carrying the distinct scent of the deep ocean, rushed into her nose, slightly dispelling the tension and accumulated anxiety brought on by the meeting.
She let out a soft sigh. Looking down, she gently scooped up Little Ica, who had been quietly curled up on the soft cushion beside her, and hugged it back to her chest.
Feeling its still dangerously hot but reassuring weight, a profound sense of relief—like surviving a catastrophe—welled up in her heart.
According to the Alliance's rules, every formal member truly possessed the authority to initiate an emergency meeting.
But how many people would actually respond, and of the Demigods who did respond, how many would actually be willing to lend a helping hand? That was always completely uncertain.
"An S-Rank..."
The girl murmured softly. "With her help, does that mean Li-bao and the others can return to the Luofu to continue..."
"No, no, no! Hyacine! What on earth are you thinking?!"
The moment the thought popped into her head, she violently snapped awake, shaking her head vigorously to throw the terrible idea out of her mind.
"Li-bao and the others abandoned a practically guaranteed championship without hesitation just for Little Ica! They've been flying around out here like headless flies for two straight days just for me! How could I possibly entertain the thought of kicking them out halfway through?! That's far too awful of me!"
As if to punish herself for that fleeting moment of wavering, Hyacine clenched her small fist, closed her eyes, and ruthlessly punched her own flawless forehead.
Thump!
The crisp, highly resonant thud was exceptionally loud on the silent deck. It was the sound of a very good, very dense head.
"Did you call me?"
Naturally, this slightly comical sound of self-harm attracted the exact person she least wanted to disturb.
Hyacine only felt a faint breeze before a figure suddenly appeared beside her.
Fuli mimicked her posture, sitting down and letting his long legs dangle off the edge of the deck.
"L-Li-bao?!"
Seeing him, the girl immediately lowered her head. She frantically wiped away any lingering traces of conflict, guilt, and the guilty conscience she felt after secretly contacting Eden.
She took a deep breath. When she looked up again, her bright, large eyes—which were always filled with warm smiles—were forced into adorable little crescents. "What are you doing out here so late? Did Cassie lose at cards again and refuse to admit it, so you—hehe~"
"How could I possibly lose playing against her?" Fuli shrugged, his tone a mix of helplessness and amusement. "Every time I place my hand on the deck she's holding, I don't even have to draw. Just by watching her facial expressions change, I can figure out with 100% accuracy which one is the Joker and which ones are safe."
If she drew a safe card, it was spring flowers blooming. If she drew the Joker, it was the literal end of the world. There wasn't even a tense transition period. She was just too damn cute.
"Stop bullying Cassie!"
Hyacine playfully swatted him, though a genuine smile finally broke through on her face. "So, you won?"
"I lost. Mimi couldn't stand watching me bully her, so she secretly flew behind me and used her paws to signal to Cassie exactly which card was which."
Fuli didn't seem bitter about it at all. Then, he smoothly changed the subject. "What about you, Hya? Sitting out here alone in the freezing wind in the middle of the night. Was the cabin too stuffy?"
"Mhm-hm!"
The girl nodded vigorously, her pink twin-drills bouncing with the motion.
"I see."
Fuli nodded. He pulled his gaze back from the ocean and turned his head to look at Hyacine.
Then, using the exact same casual, conversational tone one might use to say, 'The moon looks nice tonight,' he delivered a paragraph that instantly turned the girl to stone.
"I thought for a second that you were playing the part of the good, sensible girl on the outside—accepting everyone's comfort—while secretly burning with anxiety on the inside. Thinking that you must solve Little Ica's problem as quickly as possible so we can all rush back and reclaim the championship. But then, after two straight days of desperate searching yielding absolutely zero results, you opened the leaderboard and saw that our points had been overtaken."
"So, your heart completely filled with negative emotions. You started feeling like you were dragging everyone down, that you were just a useless burden... And finally, you spiraled so deep into that thought process that you ran out to the edge of the deck alone to contemplate highly dangerous, extremely pessimistic solutions. Like, say, doing something drastic."
His pace was even, his logic flawless. Like wielding a surgical scalpel, he perfectly dissected the fragile, panicked heart the girl had been desperately trying to wrap in a fake smile.
"I-I definitely wouldn't do something drastic!"
Hyacine's face flushed completely red. She instinctively shouted her denial, her voice carrying far across the empty ocean.
"So you were thinking about the rest of it?"
The boy raised an eyebrow, shooting her a half-smile.
"Ga!"
Sounding exactly like a duck getting grabbed by the throat, the girl let out a short, comical gasp. Her small mouth hung open, and her eyes went completely round.
Seeing her look so utterly lost and flustered after having her deepest secrets completely laid bare, Fuli's eyes softened.
He didn't press the attack. Instead, he casually reached over and gently pulled the still-lit phone from Hyacine's stiff hands. It was still displaying the Wardance official leaderboard.
"Come on, let me see. Let's see what kind of insane stunts my subordinates pulled while King Hyperion wasn't looking, allowing them to actually overtake Memory Battleship."
Fuli swiped down the screen, browsing through the pinned trending news.
"Multiple teams joined forces to explore Takamagahara? Eight million dead gods resurrected? The Great Sage Equal to Heaven turns the tide? She literally overloaded a Magatsu Mitama until it exploded?"
He scratched his head. "That fighting style literally has zero technical skill. Plus, after a stunt like that, the Herrscher of the Void's... I mean, Sirin's awakening is probably going to be delayed significantly. When she finally wakes up, she's definitely going to be cursing Kiana out inside their mindscape."
He scrolled down to the next headline. "Dr. Raiden clashed head-on against Made in Heaven? Her post-match quote 'Those who imitate me die; those who resemble me die as well' sparked outrage among scholars? Bro, Mei wasn't being arrogant, she was stating a literal fact. Trying to copy her is a guaranteed death sentence."
The intellectual treasury of the Previous Era.
The absolute perfect vessel for the Herrscher of Thunder.
The long-term developmental buff provided by the Grand Time-Robbing Gift.
The apex scientific mind inherited from her parallel-universe counterpart, Dr. MEI.
And the terrifying, bottomless resource dumping from Hyperion's number one money-sink...
With a template like that, who in the world could possibly resemble her? And who had the capital to even try to learn from her?
"But looking at the intel, it seems Mei also managed to swipe that World Serpent Executive's 'All-Female Myriad Soul Banner'." Fuli stroked his chin thoughtfully, a gleam of intense interest flashing in his eyes.
"I'll have to borrow it from her and play around with it when we get back. I really want to see the operating principles behind that thing, and what kind of bizarre abominations I can refine with it."
He kept scrolling. "Anna sailed a lone skiff straight into the Ancient Sea? She raised a delicate hand, froze the ocean, and beheaded a dragon? Lmao. I distinctly remember Asta telling me in a private chat that she planned to use this livestream to continue advertising her Light Cones. Clearly, Anna just got her new Herrscher of Ice powers and hasn't fully mastered them yet. She accidentally pushed too hard, and accidentally turned the whole thing into a solo flex showcase."
"Of course, given Asta's chaotic, rich-girl personality, she definitely doesn't care about a little accident like that. She's probably secretly thrilled."
His mind unconsciously flashed back to the time he engraved the Magic Crest onto Asta in the embassy.
The rich girl's flawless skin had flushed with a deeply alluring red from the pain and stimulation. Her hazy eyes had filled with mist, and at the very end, the incredibly suggestive sight of her collapsed in exhaustion, her beautiful body only half-covered by a thin blanket...
Fuli coughed lightly, forcefully dispelling the highly inappropriate mental images, and focused on the final trending topic.
"Metal Gear Bronya fell short by a single move? Seventy-six gaming accounts permanently banned?"
He pondered for a moment, then turned his head to ask with utmost seriousness, "Hey Hya. Do you think programmers count as flesh-and-blood compiling machines?"
Hyacine: ...?
"And considering they're always talking about 'scripts' and 'footers' [1], do you think they all have foot fetishes?" (In programming, the term for "script" (脚本, jiǎoběn) shares the character for "foot" (脚, jiǎo). So Fuli is jokingly asking if programmers have a foot fetish because they're always talking about "feet/scripts.")
Hyacine: ?????
Li-bao, are you sober right now? Do I need to give you a CT scan?
To be fair, listening to the boy casually judge and critique the earth-shattering events and legendary figures in the news from the bizarre perspective of a "close acquaintance," Hyacine's heart—aside from being utterly exasperated—actually felt a faint trace of envy.
Yes, at the end of the Living Planet battle, everyone had technically fought on the same battlefield and gotten slightly familiar with each other. They had even briefly fought side-by-side to repel Yunli's invasion.
But the social formula of "my friend's friend is my friend" was incredibly difficult to truly apply when faced with the complex interpersonal relationships and massive status gaps of reality.
In short, it felt exactly like your childhood friend suddenly declaring, "I'm not hiding it anymore," and revealing that he was actually ironclad best bros with the President, the richest man in the world, and top-tier scientists, freely swapping jokes and exposing their embarrassing secrets.
It created a subtle, intense sense of distance that felt almost unreal.
Fortunately, Fuli's completely deranged final comments utterly shattered that unsettling sense of distance.
It proved to Hyacine that he was still the exact same idiot boy next door—the one who would regularly drag her along to blow up cesspools, dog bowls, parameciums, and the local Masked Fools pretending to be villagers.
While leaving her completely speechless, it also sent a deeply comforting warmth surging through her heart.
Taking advantage of the moment, Fuli reached over and pulled Little Ica into his own arms.
A soft, silver halo—gentle as moonlight—glowed at his fingertips. Setsuna Blade: Moonshade Obscured silently began to circulate.
"Doo..."
The power of creation, brought forth by the inversion of Silence and Death, gently soothed the little Pegasus's agony. Even in its deep slumber, it unconsciously let out a soft whimper of relief.
"You know, back when I was just a normal guy, I caught the flu once," Fuli said nostalgically, gently stroking the tiny patient in his arms. "I went to the hospital alone to get an IV drip. It took so long that I accidentally fell asleep."
"While I was half-asleep, I heard an older nurse say to a younger nurse: 'Look, his IV bag is empty. Once it's empty, his blood will start flowing back into the tube. Let's wait until it fills up a whole bag, then pull it out, sell the blood, and use the money to go eat Big Plate Chicken.'"
"The young nurse scratched her head and asked, 'Is that really okay?' The older nurse instantly blew her top and screamed, 'THEN WHY THE FUCK HAVEN'T YOU PULLED THE NEEDLE OUT YET?!' "
Pausing there, the boy turned his head to look at Hyacine, his eyes incredibly soft. "Honestly, the expression you had just now while staring blankly at the ocean... looked exactly like that young nurse. You looked wronged, powerless, conflicted, and completely overflowing with the anxiety of not knowing what to do."
Was it really that obvious?
Hyacine felt a bit embarrassed, her pale cheeks warming slightly.
"Yeah. Exactly like the young nurse right after she found out she wasn't getting any Big Plate Chicken."
"Is that the part I was anxious about?! Exactly how much did she want to eat that chicken?! And tell her to pay attention to the patient on the IV! Stop thinking about food!"
She still couldn't resist the urge to retort. Then, puffing out her cheeks in annoyance, she scuttled slightly further away, curling up into a little ball to sulk.
A tiny, incredibly cute little ball.
"Don't think you can escape your Captain's therapy session this easily!"
Fuli instantly saw through her attempt to avoid the conversation. Reluctantly, she shuffled back over.
But she kept her arms wrapped tightly around her slender legs. Her pure white socks glowed faintly under the deep blue sky, making a person really want to run a hand from the top down, and then back up again.
Fuli chuckled as he watched her. He had no intention of using grand, empty philosophies to convince her to drop her guilt.
Hyacine looked young, but she had traveled and studied extensively. Her worldview was already fully mature.
For someone like her, hollow comfort and casually saying "it's okay" was completely useless.
"Speaking from an objective, rational standpoint," Fuli said, unbuckling the famous blade Evernight from his waist and laying it flat across his thighs. "Memory Battleship hasn't completely lost the chance to win the championship."
He watched Hyacine's slightly trembling shoulders. He knew she was listening.
"Remember the tournament rules? The final result is determined by both the actual combat points and the special awards. Even if we've temporarily fallen behind in the combat phase, as long as we can secure a massive advantage in the upcoming audience voting phase, we still have a chance to turn the tables."
With a slight shift of his will, a bouncy, adorable pink-and-blue jellyfish materialized from the sword's tsuba, affectionately nuzzling his finger.
Fuli gently stroked the little creature and continued, "I've had Little March recording everything on this journey. And Evernight possesses the ability to interfere with, edit, and refine memories to a certain extent. If they work together, they can rapidly compile everything we've experienced into a cohesive story."
"Assuming the story is actually good enough..."
Hyacine muttered into her knees, her voice still hesitant.
A story about them flying around for two days straight looking for an ancient ruin and finding absolutely nothing didn't sound particularly blood-pumping or emotionally moving.
"Hm? Are you saying you have no confidence in the true story of your legendary ancestor, the Sun-Thunder Knight Ceneus?"
Fuli intentionally drew out his words, employing a classic dose of moral kidnapping.
"Of course not!"
Hyacine immediately fell for it, turning around anxiously to defend her ancestor.
It was only after she turned that she saw the teasing, mischievous glint in the boy's eyes. Feeling both embarrassed and annoyed, she raised her hand and slapped his arm.
"Li-bao! You're mean!"
"I'm mean. I'm so mean."
Fuli immediately pleaded guilty, smoothly going along with it. He even exaggeratedly threw himself backward onto the deck as if he had just suffered a lethal wound.
Then, as if performing a magic trick, he pulled out a small slip of paper and handed it to her. "Here, here. Read what's on the paper."
Hyacine took the slip. Relying on the starlight and the faint glow from the bridge, she read the words written on it.
Her pupils slightly dilated. Her cheeks instantly flushed so red they looked ready to drip blood. Even the tips of her ears turned a bright, burning crimson.
"Li-bao?"
W-What on earth is this?!
"Right now, you're feeling incredibly guilty toward me and everyone else, right?" the boy said self-righteously. "Because of Little Ica, we were so decisive in abandoning the tournament to come out here that you didn't even have a chance to figure out how to make it up to us."
Hyacine's lips parted slightly, but she couldn't deny it.
"That feeling is like a massive boulder pressing down on your heart. It makes you feel terrible, and it makes you feel like you owe us."
Fuli pointed at the paper in her hand, his smile growing increasingly wicked.
"Since that's the case, why not just pay us back—right here, right now! Even if this 'payment' means absolutely nothing to us, for you, simply completing the act of 'paying' will trick your psychology. You'll think, 'Ah, I finally did something to make it up to them,' and you'll feel significantly better! Am I right?"
It was a complete load of twisted logic, but it struck flawlessly at Hyacine's core.
Yes, she truly was desperate to do something, no matter how trivial, to alleviate the crushing weight of her perceived debt.
"..."
The girl bit her lower lip. She looked at the utterly mortifying words on the paper, and then at Fuli's bright crimson eyes—which looked so incredibly sincere under the starlight. A fierce internal battle raged in her mind for a full ten seconds.
Finally, she made up her mind. She took a deep breath, and adopting a tone that sounded like she was marching to the execution block, she read the words aloud, one by one.
"Li-bao... you... you—Zako!" [2]
The word echoed softly, lingering in the air.
"Hssss—!"
Fuli sucked in a sharp breath of cold air. He felt as though something deep inside his soul had just erupted like a volcano.
"Keep going! Don't stop! Read the rest in order!"
He quickly encouraged her, looking exactly like an elementary school teacher guiding a student through a recitation.
"Li-bao is a bad guy!"
"A huge bad guy!"
"A massive lazybones!"
"A super annoying jerk!"
"I hate you the most!"
With every single word she forced out, Hyacine's face grew redder, and her delivery became increasingly hysterical.
By the end, she had her eyes squeezed tightly shut and was stomping her feet. As if venting all the pressure and anxiety she had accumulated over the last two days, she used every ounce of strength she had to scream the final words.
Then, as if all the energy in her body had been entirely drained, her shoulders slumped. Her face was as red as a fully ripe apple, and it looked like actual steam was going to start rising from her head.
And with every single mortifying insult she spat out, the expression on Fuli's face grew one degree more euphoric.
When the final syllable dropped, he literally let out a deep sigh of absolute satisfaction.
"Haaah! That hits the spot!"
He leaned back, sprawling comfortably on the freezing deck, a look of profound contentment on his face, as if he had just accomplished his ultimate goal in life.
But soon, a warm, soft, faintly sweet-smelling little figure quietly shuffled over.
Hyacine rested her head on Fuli's outstretched arm. The two of them lay side by side on the deck, looking up at the diamond-dusted night sky together.
"Li-bao."
"Yeah?"
"Creep."
"I hear Kiana and the others say that all the time. I'm bored of it. Pick a new one."
"I won't."
The girl whispered stubbornly, her hair tickling Fuli's arm slightly.
After a moment of silence, her voice sounded again. It was even lower, and far more serious. "Li-bao. I'm sorry."
"For what?"
Fuli turned his head. His lips accidentally brushed against something soft, and he quickly turned back.
But Hyacine, whose cheek had just been grazed, didn't seem to mind at all. "Earlier... I called for backup. At the latest, Miss Eden—an S-Rank powerhouse—will arrive tomorrow."
"That's great! An extra powerhouse means a higher chance of finding the ruins and curing Little Ica. Why are you apologizing? Oh, I get it. You think calling for outside help makes it look like you didn't trust us, like you didn't believe I could solve the problem, right?"
Hyacine nodded silently, her fluffy little head shifting against his arm.
"But I'll say it again."
The boy's response was gentle, yet completely unwavering. "Our Hya is an incredibly kind person. The fact that you did this simply proves that, over the last two days of searching, you realized this situation is far more complex and dangerous than we initially anticipated."
"You were worried that if just the four of us kept flying around blindly, we wouldn't just be wasting time. We might run headfirst into a genuine, lethal threat because we were underprepared or misjudged the situation. So, your instinct was to take action and seek out more reliable, professional help."
"That's not distrust. That's rationality. That's a profound sense of responsibility for your teammates' safety."
"But don't worry."
Feeling the girl's body slowly relax against his arm, Fuli spoke with complete confidence. "I'm still quite confident in my own combat strength. Even if an S-Rank like Eden shows up, I'm sure—"
...Wait.
Hold on.
S-Rank?
The regressor suddenly realized something, and a deep sense of panic bloomed in his heart.
Translator's Notes: