The lights in the testing ground were cold white, almost painfully bright.
Su Yu walked in with his coat still on, the chill air hitting his face and scattering the last traces of warmth he'd picked up at the art exhibition.
The core members of Anti-Entropy had already gathered there. When they saw Su Yu arrive, the conversations died at once, and every pair of eyes swung toward him in unison.
The corner of Su Yu's mouth twitched into a helpless curve. "Are you all high schoolers caught by a surprise inspection during evening study hall?"
But his sarcasm cut off almost instantly.
Because he'd seen the armor.
At the center of the testing ground.
Cold white light illuminated the pure white suit of armor set squarely in the middle of the floor.
No paint, no markings — its surface was as smooth and unfinished-looking as something fresh off an assembly line. A few curved energy conduits trailed from its back, connecting to a power pedestal beside it.
Su Yu walked closer.
With each step, a panel of light unfurled at the edge of his vision — the System.
[Ding! Detected: someone's shabby physical chassis. Congratulations, Host, you've triggered the Combat Readiness Upgrade Quest. Keep using outdated gear and you'll be getting boxed in the next high-tier match.]
Su Yu's eye twitched slightly, ignoring the System's usual insufferable tone.
"The Key of Blankness," Mei said. "Right now it's a blank page, Su Yu. What it becomes depends entirely on how the Strength inside you fills it in."
"How much can it be extended?"
"Theoretically, no upper limit." Mei flipped her tablet around, showing him a dense wall of parameters. "The base architecture is open-ended. It can integrate with any known Authority system."
"Every ability of yours can be routed in as a drive source. As your Strength level rises, its ceiling rises with it."
Su Yu didn't reply right away.
It wasn't that he wasn't astonished.
But the moment he remembered this was Mei's handiwork, the shock faded into acceptance.
After all, in the Honkai world, the Key of Blankness that Mei built had let her — an ordinary human — wield strength that rivaled a Herrscher's.
And here, in a world where technology wasn't shackled by Honkai, where she had her own Tarot Bond boosting her research speed, and where the System supplied endless energy sources and technical materials besides — calling it a technological explosion wouldn't be an exaggeration.
So it was hardly surprising that Mei could cobble together something like this.
"Mei."
"What?"
"You're a genius, you know that?"
"Flattery won't work on me." Mei snorted, calling him out without mercy. "I heard all about it. While I've been buried in the lab, you and Kevin have been quite lively behind my back. Someone already got punished with wall-staring duty. What about you?"
Su Yu gave a dry laugh, and beside him came a look that was half amused, half resigned — from Kevin.
"Sigh."
Siegfried felt a wave of despair wash over him. He sighed, turning to Welt beside him.
"Every man in the Kaslana family gets whipped. Old Yang, our bloodline's future is a tragedy."
Welt said nothing, his gaze drifting toward Tesla not far away — the lobster-headed doctor was fixated on the data console, cycling through the armor's parameters over and over, letting out the occasional strange yelp.
"Personally," Welt said, patting Siegfried's shoulder, "I don't think this is an isolated case."
With that, every man's eyes in the room landed squarely on Su Yu, standing in front of the armor.
Su Yu rubbed his nose and slowly formed a mental question mark.
What was with this "you're our hope, rise up, Su Yu" look everyone was giving him?
Beside him, Eden's expression was thick with amusement — if it had to be summed up in one line, it would be something like: don't make Big Sister Eden laugh.
Kiana was busy cracking sunflower seeds — literally — while generously offering some to Einstein next to her.
"Su Yu bought me these seeds. Want to try some?"
Einstein looked at Kiana with a blank expression, then after a long pause, said, "Thanks, but I'm not in the habit of playing third wheel."
Bronie's holographic projection drifted in the air, rolling her eyes and muttering something under her breath — probably cursing out a Paramecium.
Watching Kiana chewing seeds like a hamster, Siegfried and the rest bantering off to the side, and Eden wearing her usual watch-the-show smile, Su Yu felt the pressure mounting.
He already knew there wasn't a single normal person in this Anti-Entropy base, but come on — this was the highest-clearance weapons testing ground! At least put the seeds down first!!
Su Yu had no intention of dealing with the chaos over there.
He stepped forward and pressed his left palm against the sensor panel on the armor's chest.
The liquid metal began to flow the instant it made contact, as though some memory had been triggered, spreading upward from his palm.
The metal raced along his arm, shoulder, and torso, covering his whole body with violent speed.
The entire process took less than three seconds. The faceplate sealed shut at the end with a dull, mechanical lock.
Countless streams of golden data flickered across his retina.
It was the base logic of the Tarot Sequence shaking hands with the armor's architecture — two different systems racing to find a shared grammar.
Su Yu didn't resist. He let the data streams flow through his consciousness until the last golden thread of light settled into a groove on the chest plate.
[Ooh, detected: the legendary armament, Key of Blankness (Unconsecrated Edition).]
[Bind now? Friendly reminder: no refunds or exchanges after binding, plus a complimentary lifespan-burning package!]
"Yes."
[Binding successful. May physics have mercy on your flesh.]
Physics? In a place crawling with mutants, where Honkai and Imaginary numbers intertwine, where Quantum Ghosts and every manner of oddball gather — physics?
Physics stopped existing here a long time ago.
Mei took several steps back, planting herself behind the console, one finger hovering over the emergency stop button.
"Left side of the test platform — three-meter-thick high-strength armor plating. Let's start with a basic strength test."
Su Yu turned and saw the plate standing upright at the edge of the platform.
A parameter tag beside it listed the material specs — the highest-strength alloy Anti-Entropy could currently produce.
On a rack beside the test platform sat a silvery metal cylinder, roughly the length of a forearm.
"What's this?"
"Super-memory liquid metal. I melted down the entire batch of Pseudo-Soulsteel you gave me last time to make it," Mei explained. "In theory it has no fixed shape — it forms whatever armament suits the user best, based on their brainwave patterns and energy signature."
Su Yu picked it up with one hand, feeling its weight, and poured Imaginary energy into it.
Hmm—
The liquid metal began to reorganize.
The process was fast — fast enough to look like a sped-up video.
The cylinder stretched, split, and reformed in his hand, finally locking into the shape of a fearsome Greatsword — a wide blade with edges so sharp they looked like they'd been ground out of pure light itself.
Su Yu gripped the hilt with one hand and swung it casually.
No sword qi, no added Authority — just the most basic strike, powered purely by the armor's kinetic boost.
The three-meter-thick high-strength plate split cleanly down the middle, both halves toppling to either side. The cut surface was as clean as if it had been laser-sliced, with faint traces of vaporized metal along the edge.
Su Yu looked down at the perfectly even cut and fell silent.
The testing ground went quiet for a beat.
"...Good." Mei, behind the console, scanned through the terrifying data on her tablet. "Very good. Now let's test whether this armor changes further under your other abilities."
Su Yu retracted the Greatsword, letting it reform into the metal cylinder, then redirected the flow of Imaginary energy toward the propulsion units on his back.
At that moment, the Herrscher of the Void's Authority activated. The pure white Greatsword dissolved instantly into streams of liquid metal, unfurling behind him.
When it unfolded, the sound it made was surprisingly soft.
Like countless razor-thin metal blades arranging themselves in sequence through the air, leaving only a low resonant hum behind him.
Through the faceplate's reflection, Su Yu glanced back at the floating wings behind him.
They hovered silently, taking on the jagged form of the Subspace Lance.
Each floating unit kept a subtle distance from the others, as if they had eyes of their own, locking down every inch of the airspace behind him.
Su Yu couldn't quite describe the feeling. The floating wings felt like they'd truly grown out of his own flesh and blood, extending and coiling under his control.
He could even launch them, the way the Herrscher of the Void once did.
"Let's try it."
Tier-3 Spiritual Power wrapped around one of the floating wings like a net. It rapidly shaped itself into a spear, spinning, accelerating, and — carrying tremendous kinetic force — punched straight through the test armor.
The momentum didn't fade; it was about to slam into the wall of the testing ground.
With a thought from Su Yu, the spear made a sharp turn in midair and returned smoothly behind him, reassembling into the wing formation.
"Cool!"
Bronie's eyes went wide, sparkling as she stared at the floating wings behind Su Yu.
Siegfried swallowed hard, eyes practically glowing with envy. "Get me one of those too!"
Tesla shot him a sideways glance. "Siegfried, you trying to check out early? Is your physical condition anywhere near Su Yu's? This thing's still a prototype with no safety lock — he's the only one crazy enough to wear it. You want to find out what it feels like to become a mobile metal coffin?"
Siegfried gave a sheepish laugh. "I was just saying it out loud, that's all."
At the center of the testing ground.
Su Yu let out a breath, and at that moment Fenghuang's voice sounded.
"Heads up — your Spiritual Power just dropped by about a tenth."
"I know, Squad Monitor."
A Herrscher's Authority was harder to control than he'd imagined, since Su Yu wasn't a native Herrscher — all his power was a gift bestowed through his Tarot Bonds.
Though neither his strength nor his precision could match the genuine Herrscher of the Void standing nearby, it was more than enough. After all, this wasn't his only trump card.
"Dr. Mei, open the isolation hatch leading to the surface."
Mei's finger paused over the console for a second.
"You sure you want to go up now?"
"I'm sure."
"Fine." She flipped the switch. "Dome isolation hatch — opening."
The metal dome overhead began to split, sliding apart along preset tracks, revealing a circular opening ten meters wide.
Night air poured in through the gap, carrying the particular scent of late-night Arc City — the warmth of neon signs, exhaust fumes, and the faint smoky charm that belonged only to this city.
Su Yu didn't hesitate.
The floating wings behind him flared with a brief burst of stored energy, and a stream of silvery light propelled him off the ground, through the widening gap, and straight up into the sky.
In the high air, the pure white armor reflected no extra color — only the moonlight traced a few cold, hard lines along its edges.
The moment he passed through that circular opening, the night sky of Arc City rushed to meet him.
The wind at altitude was far fiercer than on the ground; the armor's outer shell trembled faintly under the pressure, but the overall structure held steady, no anomalies detected.
Su Yu kept climbing until the outline of Arc City spread out beneath his feet.
From this height, the dense clusters of neon lights looked like an overturned palette — red, orange, yellow, green, blue, all mixed together in chaos, yet strangely beautiful.
Mei's voice came through the comm, her barely-contained excitement finally breaking loose.
"Energy circuits stable! Every reading's blowing past critical thresholds! Su Yu, it's performing a hundred times better than my simulations predicted!"
"Mm." Su Yu answered from high above. "Feels good."
A System panel flickered at the corner of his vision, indicating that the Key of Blankness would keep evolving as more of the Tarot Sequence unlocked.
Su Yu skimmed the notice without much thought, turning his attention back to the city below.
Then he felt it.
A sharp pain, starting deep in his bones, as though something were tightening simultaneously in every joint of his skeleton.
The armor's energy meter began to flash, and a red countdown window popped up in the corner of his vision.
[Beep beep beep! Warning! Your flesh-and-blood battery charge has dropped below the red line!] [The Tarot Sequence is aggressively burning through your remaining lifespan!]
[Current maximum duration for full Herrscher of the Void form: 180 seconds.]
[PS: Case solved, Host. Turns out you really are from the Space Patrol of Nebula M78!]
"Three minutes..."
Su Yu stared at the red countdown numbers, the corner of his mouth twitching in a self-deprecating grin.
"So I really am Ultraman, huh?"
He shook his head.
Whatever — the System had already promised him a payoff down the road. Once the Tarot Bonds leveled up, this deadly strain would ease off eventually.
Su Yu took one last look at the city below.
Arc City's night view from this height was dense and bustling, every single light a stand-in for an ordinary life still hard at work.
He hovered in the air for about five seconds.
Then the floating wings behind him flared with a final burst of thrust, and his whole body plunged at a steep angle, carving a white trail of light through the night sky before vanishing into the dome's opening back at base.
When he returned to the underground lab, the armor had already retracted its floating wings, reverting to its most basic form.
Mei stood in front of a holographic display, flipping through data at speed. When she finished, she looked up, her eyes lit with the particular gleam researchers get when an experiment blows past every expectation.
"Mass production starts immediately. A simplified whiteboard version goes to the Starfire Corps first." Her words came out machine-gun fast. "Kevin, Stelle, Susannah Manatt — those three have the highest physical ceilings on record. I'll have a first draft of their custom armor specs by tonight."
Su Yu was about to speak when the System popped up a reward notification.
A technical blueprint glowing faint blue.
[Congratulations on completing the Beginner Flight Tutorial! Bonus drop: Spatial Storage Technology Blueprint. This blueprint is sponsored by the Second Herrscher. Decoding difficulty: five stars. Please handle with care, fellow bald researchers — beware of further hair loss.]
Tesla leaned in to look at the blueprint, her eyes locking onto one line of technical parameters and refusing to move for a long moment.
"With this, the ammo load problem for heavy-firepower units... the portability issue for all kinds of heavy equipment... all of it, completely solved!" She was so excited she started swearing, her enthusiasm practically blowing the roof off.
But then her voice caught, as if she'd noticed something off.
"Wait. This tech requires manual charging?"
She looked up, staring hard at the fine print on the blueprint, then at Mei, then slowly turned to the others in the room.
"You need someone who can directly channel Imaginary energy to act as a — human power outlet?"
Mei's gaze drifted off the blueprint and landed on Su Yu.
Tesla's eyes followed, then flicked sideways — toward Welt, adjusting his headset in the corner, then toward Kiana, standing on tiptoe trying to sneak a peek at the blueprint, then toward Rita, leaning against the wall with a faint, knowing smile.
Su Yu was about to open his mouth and try to negotiate.
Something like, "I just spent three minutes being Ultraman tonight — if you want me as a power bank, that's gonna cost extra!"
But before he could get the words out, a voice cut in from behind him.
"Leave it to me!"
Kiana thrust her hand high in the air, her whole face screaming pick me, pick me.
"I'll be the one powering this equipment!"
Su Yu turned to look at her, surprise flickering in his eyes.
Kiana met his gaze, propping her hands proudly on her hips.
"Surprised? Hmph. This is also a great chance to practice controlling my power!"
She paused, chin tilting up slightly.
"As for you — don't think just because you've got a new suit of armor you can catch up to me. I'm going to get even stronger — and leave you eating my dust!"
Su Yu opened his mouth, about to say something like "whatever makes you happy, Your Highness," but before he could, a cold arrow flew in from the corner.
Bronie, not even looking up from her phone, blew a pink bubble of gum. "Kiana, is it possible seeing the boss's cool new armor made you feel like your position as his number-one wife — oh wait, I mean, his number-one spot — is under threat, so now you're feeling a little insecure?"
The lab went dead silent for a beat.
"Wh-who's insecure!"
Kiana's voice jumped half an octave, and she practically leapt up like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, her stray hair-tuft bouncing anxiously.
"Bronie, you little shrimp, quit talking nonsense! It'll be a million years before Su Yu can even come close to beating me!"
The lab erupted into chaos, loud enough to blow the roof off.
Kiana and Bronie's bickering hit full boil, while Welt, flipping through a report nearby, occasionally glanced up at the pair of clowns and smiled, resigned.
Su Yu leaned against the edge of the console and idly pulled up the notes app on his phone.
The screen's cold glow washed over his calm face.
The notes app held dozens of entries — game version updates, Anti-Entropy meeting minutes, armor test notes. He scrolled up absently, then his thumb stopped.
Pinned at the top of the notes list sat a line just freshly updated by the System, marked in red text:
[Ding~ Honkai Impact 3rd's brand-new major update, Cyberangel, is coming soon.]
[Friendly reminder: the daily slapstick comedy ends here. Get ready for a whole new wave of shockwaves after the update — ahem, I mean, Spatial Rifts. Ready or not?]
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