Inside the game arena.
Following the arrow, Valerius first scanned his surroundings.
The nearest marker pointed toward the table tennis hall.
Without hesitation, he headed in that direction.
[Jean: This is bad… Lisa's still hiding in the locker room.]
[Barbara: Oh no, oh no, oh no!]
[Diluc: Sigh… Lisa used a Location Reveal Card earlier. She's really done for this time.]
[Sucrose: It was inevitable. Miss Lisa really is unlucky.]
[Eula: Looks like another player is about to receive a punishment.]
Sucrose's punishment hadn't even ended yet.
And now Lisa was about to join her.
Mondstadt was about to become absolute chaos.
[Kaeya: Relax. Lisa still has the Invisibility Cloak.]
[Barbara: That's right! As long as Lisa turns invisible, she'll still be able to avoid him.]
Kaeya's reminder immediately reassured everyone from Mondstadt.
Lisa still had three uses of invisibility.
It wouldn't be that easy for Valerius to catch her.
[Venti: Hanabi already exposed the fact that Lisa has an item. Valerius's definitely on guard now. She's doomed.]
[Amber: Which side are you on?]
[Venti: Ehehe~]
[Paimon: What does "Ehehe" even mean?]
[Barbara: Lord Barbatos, please protect Miss Lisa.]
Barbara clasped her hands together and prayed.
Partly for Lisa…
And partly because she planned to complain to Lord Barbatos about this bard named Venti.
At such a critical moment, he was pouring cold water on everyone.
How awful.
[Lumine: Mondstadt is finished.]
Lumine sighed helplessly.
After meeting Venti and Zhongli, she was starting to regret choosing Mondstadt.
They were both hopelessly unreliable.
In her opinion, Nahida from Sumeru was much more dependable.
She always managed to point out crucial information.
Even Furina from Fontaine was more reliable than Venti.
At least Furina had actually won prizes before.
Inside the arena…
Following the arrow, Valerius arrived outside the locker room.
"So they're in here?"
Looking at the large sign that read Women's Locker Room, Valerius couldn't help feeling a little excited.
So… I actually have a perfectly legitimate reason to enter the women's locker room?
He reached for the handle and pushed the door open.
"…That's it?"
His excitement instantly vanished.
He'd expected the women's locker room to be somehow different.
Instead…
It looked exactly the same as the men's.
Scanning the room, he noticed the guiding arrow had disappeared.
"So it only guides me this far."
Although the lockers weren't especially large, they were definitely big enough to hide a person.
So…
He decided to search every single one.
One locker after another swung open.
Most were empty.
"Hm?"
When he opened the third locker, he found a small card lying inside.
[Mission: Honest Answers]
[Honest Answers: Players in the livestream may submit questions. Five questions will be randomly selected. The participant must answer honestly.]
[P.S. The questions are anonymous.]
"A Q&A?"
"And I have to answer honestly?"
Looking at the mission card, Valerius frowned slightly.
The questions would come directly from everyone watching.
What if someone asked something sensitive?
Wouldn't that expose all sorts of secrets?
After thinking for a while…
He ultimately accepted the challenge.
If a question is too difficult to answer…
I'll just forfeit.
"I'm ready."
Taking a deep breath, Valerius prepared himself.
Still, he couldn't resist giving everyone a warning.
"Think carefully before asking."
"If it's too personal…"
"I'm not answering."
He made his stance perfectly clear.
Everyone outside was watching.
If they asked about his private matters…
He simply wouldn't respond.
Inside the livestream…
[Yae Miko: Wait… We get to ask the questions?]
[Raiden Makoto: That's… Is that really appropriate?]
[Stelle: What's there to worry about? It's not like we came up with the mission ourselves.]
[Feixiao: I've got one! Ask where Valerius gets all those incredible items from.]
[Ruan Mei: Assuming your question even gets selected.]
[Herta: He'd never answer that.]
Herta rolled her eyes.
He'd already said anything too private was off-limits.
That question was basically asking him to reveal the source of all his powers.
A questionnaire appeared before every viewer.
Seele immediately turned toward Bronya.
"So…"
"What should we ask?"
"I… I don't know."
Bronya blushed and shook her head.
Truthfully…
She really didn't want Valerius answering these questions.
But since he'd already accepted the mission…
She couldn't exactly stop him.
As for her own question…
There was absolutely no way she wanted anyone else to know it.
"Why are you blushing?"
"It's… a little warm."
"Warm?"
Seele glanced out the window.
The snow was still melting.
The temperature had dropped significantly.
And Bronya was saying it was hot?
Seeing Bronya submit her question, Seele sighed helplessly before typing one of her own.
"What did you ask?"
"Oh…"
"I just asked…"
"…whether Valerius really likes you."
Seele awkwardly turned her head away, suddenly feeling rather guilty.
"I don't believe you."
Bronya sighed softly.
Her earlier intuition had been right.
Seele definitely seemed to have feelings for Valerius.
Everything's getting more and more complicated…
Just as Bronya was wondering whether she should tell Valerius about Seele's feelings…
The system interrupted everyone's thoughts.
[Please submit your question. Players attempting to stall will be treated as forfeiting.]
[Nahida: Looks like that won't work.]
[Zhu Yuan: That's unfortunate.]
[Herta: You people really are something else.]
Herta nearly burst out laughing.
These people had actually tried to use the mission itself to waste time.
After a short wait…
Five small cards appeared in Valerius's hand.
"Let's see…"
"What kind of questions did I get?"
Picking up the first card, Valerius looked rather amused.
It was an interesting question.
[Question 1: If every Aeon attacked you together, could you stop them?]
No need to think.
This had to be a question from the Honkai: Star Rail side.
Someone was clearly trying to gauge his strength.
[Ruan Mei: Who submitted that question?]
[Herta: What a boring question.]
[Screwllum: Based on available information, Mr. Valerius's power should already surpass that of the Aeons. This question wastes an excellent opportunity.]
[Dr. Ratio: Zero points. Get out.]
The Genius Society and members of the Intelligentsia Guild immediately looked annoyed.
What a waste.
As far as they were concerned…
Of course Valerius could defeat an Aeon.
Whether he could defeat all of them…
Wasn't particularly interesting either.
He already existed on a completely different level.
[Ningguang: To be honest… I'm curious.]
[Miyabi: So am I.]
[Zhu Yuan: He probably can, right?]
[Jane: But the question says all the Aeons together… I'm actually very interested in the answer.]
Unlike the Star Rail natives, the people from New Eridu only had a vague understanding of what an Aeon actually was.
To them…
This question was fascinating.
"Hmm…"
Rubbing his chin, Valerius silently calculated.
With Twelve Guaranteed Victories, defeating the Aeons individually wasn't a problem.
But…
The question specified all of them at once.
That required a bit more thought.
After a moment…
He reached his conclusion.
As long as the Aeons didn't somehow force him into fighting thirteen consecutive battles within a single day…
There wouldn't be any issue.
With that decided, Valerius answered calmly.
"If it's only all the Aeons joining forces…"
"I can handle them."
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