The North Pacific Ocean.
Above the vast expanse of open sea, an offshore platform too large to take in at a single glance was rising from the water.
After the Saint Freya Academy city cluster had been completed, a second ocean city had begun rising from the surface of the sea.
This new city was given the name — "Jiuyou."
Its officially stated planned area was ten times that of Saint Freya. Once completed, it would be like a continent floating on the ocean's surface, and even before its completion it had already drawn the attention of the entire world.
But only a very small number of people knew that the portion floating above the waterline was only a small part of Jiuyou — one could even say an insignificant part.
If someone could cut open the seabed layers, they would discover that beneath the part of Jiuyou visible above water, a colossal entity was continuously assimilating the surrounding rock strata while expanding its own mass.
What was called "Jiuyou" was in truth a living thing — a Honkai Beast that was continuously growing.
But the time for it to truly break free of its shell was still far off. For now its purpose was only to house part of the Soldier God Project's planning, and to provide the Blue Dream science team with a laboratory where they could run wild with their experiments.
And this laboratory bore the name — Jiuyou Base.
Jiuyou Base, despite having been under construction for only a short time, already showed clusters of large buildings thanks to its formidable construction capabilities.
At this moment, Lucius was walking along a road near the waterfront of Jiuyou Base.
The morning had just barely passed. Warm sunlight cascaded down from the sky, painting the sea surface in brilliant shimmering light. Fish leaped from the water now and then, sending flocks of seabirds skimming across the surface.
Breathing in the salt-tinged sea breeze, Lucius stretched lazily and couldn't help sighing with contentment: "No crazy woman, no Honkai, no godforsaken scripts to follow — life this pleasant is a rare thing indeed~"
At that moment, the sound of hurried footsteps came rushing from a distance, accompanied by an energetic voice.
"Please wait!"
Lucius turned around and saw a blue-haired 'youth' with a high ponytail running toward him.
Upon reaching Lucius, she bent over with her hands on her knees, catching her breath.
After a long moment she lifted her head, looking at Lucius with a pair of bright red eyes, and asked in a very well-mannered tone: "Hello — excuse me, do you happen to know which direction Research Center No. 13 is in?"
Lucius took in her appearance. This was a girl with somewhat androgynous features, dressed in a men's casual suit.
Yes — a girl. But the masculine outfit, combined with a figure that shared a strong resemblance to a certain celestial being, made it genuinely difficult to determine at first glance.
Lucius returned a polite smile and pointed ahead: "Follow this road straight ahead, then turn right at the first intersection."
The girl looked in the direction Lucius had pointed and frowned slightly. Aside from some decent landscaping, there was not a single building to be seen.
She looked back at Lucius: "Friend, I don't think there's anything wrong with my eyesight. Aside from a bus stop, there's nothing there."
"Wait at the bus stop for the shuttle — there's a direct line to Research Center No. 13." Lucius glanced at his communicator. "If you go now, you'll arrive within half an hour. But in about three minutes, you'll be stuck waiting an hour and a half."
"Why?"
"Because the shuttle runs once an hour, and the next one arrives in three minutes."
No sooner had Lucius finished speaking than the girl watched a bus drive past her and disappear into the distance.
"...Thank you. Have a nice day!"
The girl opened and closed her mouth, but still managed a thank-you — though it came with a distinctly teeth-grinding undertone.
She then took off running after the bus.
"Another good deed done. Happy~"
Lucius waited by the roadside for a moment, until a self-driving vehicle came rolling in from a distance.
He raised his hand; the vehicle stopped, and the door opened.
"Research Center No. 13."
That girl had run off too fast for him to mention that the bus actually took the scenic route.
There was also a dedicated self-driving passenger car available for anyone in a hurry.
A few minutes later, Lucius stepped into Research Center No. 13.
The moment he walked through the door, he brushed past two girls who looked remarkably similar to each other. Both were absorbed in their own world and hadn't noticed Lucius.
But Lucius still caught every word of their conversation.
"Nuwa, the Book of Fuxi is so incredibly useful — I had no idea she'd be this capable at work."
"Right, right — as long as we dump all the work on her, we're free to go out and play!"
The two then looked at each other and said in unison: "The good life — has finally arrived~"
Watching the retreating figures of Nuwa and Fuxi, Lucius stroked his chin thoughtfully.
"Looks like another opportunity to do a good deed has arrived."
A mist of crimson rose from his body, and when it dissipated, he had taken on the appearance of Mobius.
He reached into the breast pocket of the white lab coat and pulled out a bag of steaming hot xiaolongbao.
Without further delay, he walked a short distance through the research center and pushed open the door to an office.
The moment he stepped inside, he saw an adorably cute little girl hunched over a desk, writing furiously. On either side of her, towering stacks of documents formed a mountain that nearly swallowed her whole.
"I have never, not even once, felt any happiness about being an Arm Puppet." The Arm Puppet known as the Book of Fuxi scribbled away while quietly shedding tears that streamed down her face like noodles. "Oh heavens, why was I brought into this world of oppression."
"Is there truly no hero who can come and save this poor, pitiful Arm Puppet?"
Just as the Book of Fuxi was yearning desperately for exactly that, a familiar voice drifted in from the doorway.
"There is~"
The Book of Fuxi looked toward the source of the voice — and saw 'Mobius' standing in the doorway.
In her hand was a paper bag still letting off wisps of steam, and the tantalizing aroma wafting from it tickled the Book of Fuxi's taste buds irresistibly.
"D-Doctor?"
Lucius, wearing Mobius's face, walked up to the Book of Fuxi and, as the small girl stared up in a daze, placed the paper bag in her hands.
"These… these are baozi!" The Book of Fuxi's eyes lit up instantly.
"Good girl. Go ahead and eat." Lucius, in Mobius's form, said with extraordinary gentleness.
Without hesitation, the Book of Fuxi popped a steaming hot baozi into her mouth. Her already chubby little face puffed out further, making her look just like a hamster.
"Mmm mmm mmm… so happy." The Book of Fuxi ate her baozi and cried at the same time. "Doctor, you're such a good person."
"And where are Nuwa and Fuxi?" Lucius asked, already knowing the answer perfectly well.
The Book of Fuxi swallowed a baozi and looked at him oddly.
"Doctor, didn't you give them time off?"
"Time off?!" Lucius's tone sharpened. "When did I ever give them time off?"
"They said you gave them extended leave, and that all remaining work would temporarily be handled by me until…"
The Book of Fuxi, as an Arm Puppet equipped with human-level intelligence, was not stupid — if anything she was smarter than most people. So the moment she saw the expression on 'Mobius's' face, she immediately grasped what had happened.
She had been used as their pack mule.
Recalling the relentless exploitation she had been subjected to over this stretch of time, the Book of Fuxi felt a surge of enormous grievance well up inside her. She let out a wail and burst into tears, clutching the paper bag to her chest.
She set down the paper bag and launched herself at Lucius's side, seizing his arm and pleading in a thoroughly pitiful tone: "Doctor, you have to stand up for me!"
And so the Book of Fuxi proceeded to pour out everything — every last detail of the exploitation she had endured at the hands of Nuwa and Fuxi during this time.
After hearing it all, Lucius said with righteous indignation: "They actually put you through all that? That's absolutely outrageous."
He then reached into the pocket of his lab coat and rummaged around for a moment, producing a small riding crop, which he placed in the Book of Fuxi's hands.
"Starting today, you will supervise their work for me. Tell them — if I catch them slacking off again… they can look forward to being optimized."
Looking at the small riding crop in her hands, the Book of Fuxi hesitated: "Doctor, is this… isn't this a bit much?"
Lucius sighed at that, and said:
"I have always believed that those two have genuine potential. But they're far too lazy — they have almost no drive to improve themselves."
"If they could overcome that laziness, they would undoubtedly leave a remarkable mark on human history."
Saying this, Lucius patted the Book of Fuxi on the head and continued in a tone full of deep meaning: "So you see — what you're doing is helping them grow."
Having been elevated to the moral high ground so thoroughly, the Book of Fuxi instantly felt all her reservations evaporate.
She swished the small riding crop through the air and declared with sudden enlightenment: "Is that how it is? I understand now! Doctor, don't worry — I won't give them a single moment to slack off!"
Stepping out of Nuwa and Fuxi's office, Lucius reverted to his original appearance and made his way toward the conference room.
He walked and mused to himself.
"Pulling two wayward slackers back onto the right path — I can feel my karmic merit increasing again~"
Walking on, Lucius arrived at his destination.
— A conference room.
When Lucius pushed the door open, he saw a familiar blue-haired figure with a red streak — it was Einstein, whom he hadn't seen in some time.
At that moment she was engaged in an academic discussion with two other women.
"I think there are still some issues with this system's energy flow… hm? Lucius?"
Hearing the door open, Einstein looked toward the entrance, caught sight of Lucius, and smiled: "It's been a while, Lucius."
"It really has." Lucius returned the smile.
Einstein then turned to introduce the two women beside her.
First, she looked toward the woman closest to her — a lady with long green hair.
She was a woman wearing a black top with ruffle detailing under a black outer coat, with a black fitted skirt below. Her golden eyes were currently looking toward Lucius with undisguised curiosity.
"This is my teacher — Professor Emma, from the Physics Department at Princeton University. Thanks to her reaching out to her colleagues to come and help, our exploration of the Dirac Sea has gone smoothly from start to finish."
After Einstein's introduction, the woman named Emma greeted Lucius with the exuberant warmth of someone brimming with youthful energy.
"Hello there, cute little handsome~"
Lucius responded with equal warmth and a smile: "Hello, Professor. Your achievements in the field of quantum physics are as dazzling as your appearance."
"You have excellent taste. Care to join me for afternoon tea sometime?"
Watching the two look as though they might keep chatting indefinitely, Einstein turned to Lucius with a deflated expression and deadpanned: "She looks young and cute, right? In reality she's a woman pushing forty."
"Eins, that's rather too cruel to your dear teacher's heart~"
Watching the two banter, Lucius smiled to himself. He actually knew who the woman before him was.
The name Emma might not ring immediate bells — but her other name was known to all: Planck.
Yet another top-tier scientist. When it came to world-class Honkai-verse scientists, he could never have too many — the more the merrier.
After all, in a very real sense, setting aside the unreliable system, they were his most powerful trump cards.
At this point, Einstein turned toward the woman sitting a little further away.
She was a woman with long brown hair arranged in a single Roman curl on one side, wearing black cat-ear accessories on her head, with an expressionless face. Her beautiful sea-green eyes were framed by a pair of listless black glasses. She wore a white outer coat over a black top, with a brown skirt below.
"This is my teacher's assistant — Miss Erwin."
Erwin gave Lucius a slight nod and said in a low, measured voice: "I'm Erwin."
"Hello, Miss Erwin." Lucius returned a polite smile.
This too was a top-tier scientist — though compared to her other name, it was honestly her cat that was more famous.
Because her other name was — Schrödinger.
After the introductions were complete, Lucius looked at the assembled scientists and said: "It's a pleasure to be gathered here with such brilliant minds. I believe you all have another piece of good news to share with me?"
"Of course." Einstein smiled and said: "The refit work on certain weapon units of the Soldier God System has been completed. According to Mei's projections, it is now capable of venturing deep into the Sea of Quanta and assisting her in tracking and cornering her target."
"Meaning we can begin the hunt on Sa now?" Lucius asked.
But Einstein shook her head: "Deploying the Soldier God into the Sea of Quanta is no simple matter. We need someone with a deep understanding of the Sea of Quanta, as well as exceptional mechanical operation capabilities."
At that, Einstein checked the time.
"She should be arriving soon…"
Einstein's words were cut short by another voice drifting in from outside.
"I'm already here!"
Everyone looked toward the door, where a girl with a high ponytail was walking in, slightly out of breath.
And the moment she saw Lucius, the atmosphere went instantly silent.
"It's you?!"
Lucius asked: "How do you find the scenery here?"
"Not bad. Just a little monotonous."
Seeing the two of them strike up a conversation, Einstein raised her eyebrows in surprise.
"You two know each other?"
Lucius replied with a playful grin: "If this young lady would be willing to tell me her name."
"Sounds like quite the interesting encounter." Einstein smiled, then introduced her: "This is Nancy — a highly suitable pilot. She'll be responsible for deploying the Soldier God's refit module to the designated coordinates within the Sea of Quanta."
"Sometimes you really can't help but marvel at how strange fate is." Lucius looked at the girl before him and said: "Would any of you be interested in taking part in a little theatrical production?"
Professor Emma expressed immediate interest: "What kind of production?"
"A story about struggle and betrayal. About the nature of the self. About unearthing treasures from a lost civilization and using them to foil a villain's scheme."
"Doesn't sound like a particularly wholesome production~"
The production Lucius spoke of was, naturally, the script of the First Honkai War. In his plans, he needed to find an opportunity to isolate Berlin and use it as the stage for the First Honkai War.
Compared to the Second Honkai War, the First was far simpler — as long as all the players were assembled, the whole thing could essentially be wrapped up in about a week.
"We can discuss that later. For now, let's turn our attention to the Sea of Quanta — and prepare a truly unforgettable surprise for our visitor from Venus." Then Lucius asked: "Speaking of which, where's Mei?"
Einstein said:
"She's already entered the Sea of Quanta ahead of us. She's currently positioned deeper than Sa, and she'll serve as a coordinate beacon, guiding us in deploying the Soldier God System's units to the right location within the Sea of Quanta."
"To avoid alerting Sa's main body, we can only deploy the Soldier God System's combat units accurately into Mei's hands at the moment the operation begins. After that — it's all up to her."
Lucius understood: the so-called Soldier God combat units were in essence equivalent to Mei's Valkyrie armor. What they needed to do was deliver that armor accurately into Mei's hands before the battle began.
And then Mei, amplified by the armor, would kick Sa from the Sea of Quanta directly into the real world.
As for what happened after that — well, that depended on whether Sa could manage a grand escape with the Cocoon of Finality's full attention bearing down on her.
If Sa was the shark lurking beneath the surface, waiting for the Herrscher of the Void to feed her — then they were the killer whale lurking even deeper, eyeing that shark hungrily.
Now, all preparations were in place. The hunt for Sa was about to begin.
Schicksal HQ. Lucius's residence.
Lucius lounged comfortably in the leather chair of his office, mouth opening slightly.
Beside him, the white moonlight 'Elysia — Sa,' who had now been fitted with a Soulium body, took a grape from the nearby fruit bowl, peeled it, and gently placed it in Lucius's mouth.
"Mmm mmm mmm..." A smile of pure satisfaction spread across Lucius's face.
Beside him, Sa's expression was equally gentle… if one chose to ignore the fact that she was on the verge of grinding her teeth to powder.
Alright — Sa could not deceive her own heart. She desperately wanted to just kill this man right here and now.
Then Lucius sat up, rolled his shoulders, and said: "Lying around so long has made my shoulders sore. Elysia, could you give them a little rub?"
"I am a deity of the Sea of Quanta, you insufferable man. You've had me pouring tea, fetching water, washing clothes, and cooking meals — have I no dignity left?!"
"The authority of a deity must not be insulted — I'll end you for this, you bastard!"
Sa raised her arm with magnificent ferocity, as though she were about to effortlessly crush Lucius's neck.
Then she placed both of her slender hands on Lucius's shoulders and began kneading with perfectly calibrated pressure.
"Lucius, is this amount of pressure suitable~?"
For the greater good — I endure!
Feeling the soothing sensation spreading from his shoulders, Lucius let out an involuntary sigh of bliss. "Good grief, how can life be this good?!"
Sa felt as though her teeth were about to shatter — but for the sake of the grand plan, she forced herself to keep enduring, while repeatedly reassuring herself that once everything was complete, she would collect every last bit of this debt with interest.
Even so, she still felt deeply aggrieved. So in a tone so gentle it seeped into the very marrow, she asked: "Lucius — am I not your white moonlight?"
Lucius tilted his head back and looked at her with a strange expression: "Of course you are my white moonlight!"
White moonlight? You mean your personal maid, don't you!
No — a maid at least gets paid. Right now I am pure, unpaid livestock!
Sa continued massaging Lucius's shoulders while seething inside, her gaze fixed on the clean line of his neck, feeling the impulse to reach out and snap it rise within her over and over again.
But… I continue to endure!
Beep! Beep! Beep!!!
A sharp notification tone rang out. Lucius answered it.
Shortly after, a message arrived from Schicksal's Combat Command.
[Commander Mu — the Siberian region has been fully cleared. The hunting ground for the Herrscher of the Void is ready.]
Reading the message, Lucius said: "Elysia, the time has come. We need to lure the Herrscher of the Void there."
Hearing those words, Sa felt an almost overwhelming urge to cry.
Finally. It was finally over.
Just outside Lucius's field of vision, Sa's expression turned terrifyingly dark. She continued massaging Lucius's shoulders with one hand while Elysia's face stretched into a deeply unsettling smile.
You little whelp — once my plan is complete, I will work you like livestock for a hundred thousand years!
No — a million years!!!
Outside Lucius's residence at Schicksal HQ.
A large tree, its branches rising high above the surrounding wall, was thick and lush with leaves.
Suddenly, the dense foliage shuddered — and a pink figure pushed through the leaves, poking her head out.
Elysia had her legs hooked around a branch, hanging upside down from the tree.
In one hand she held a small monocular telescope, using the cover of the branches and leaves to peer toward Lucius's residence.
Naturally, she saw Lucius — currently operating under the identity of Mu.
Looking at this person whose resemblance to Lucius could be described as, at most, utterly nonexistent, Elysia furrowed her brow in puzzlement.
"This person… is it Lucius or not?"
As for the answer — Elysia didn't even need to verify it.
The answer was yes. Absolutely and definitely yes.
"Mu?" Elysia let out a few amused laughs. "I think you mean Lucius!"
"Lucius, you absolute scoundrel — you actually dared to use my face for something like this. It seems I have no choice but to teach you a lesson!"
Fury punched straight through Elysia's composure, taking her usual melodic tone along with it. Elegance? Whatever — she couldn't care less about that right now. All she wanted was to beat Lucius thoroughly into the ground!
"Only by taking Lucius down can this chaos be ended. I can feel it with absolute certainty — Lucius is the root cause of all of this!"
That gravity-field creature wearing her face was admittedly more conspicuous. But Elysia knew — that one was, in all likelihood, just another of Lucius's chess pieces.
After all, how could anyone who shared a face with her possibly have escaped Lucius's torment? She was probably just another poor unfortunate soul.
It was entirely possible that those terrifying gravity fields of hers were something Lucius was responsible for too!
Grievances should be taken to their proper source. Elysia was perfectly capable of telling the difference — and certainly not because she was the least bit afraid of those terrifying gravity fields, not at all.
"So if I want to resolve everything, I have to start with Lucius."
As for how she had found Lucius?
For someone who knew his personality as well as she did, it was laughably simple. All she had to do was check the news, find the most significant recent events, and if they were bizarre enough — he was almost certainly behind them.
"Hmph. Lucius, don't underestimate the bond we've shared since childhood!"
Elysia locked her legs tightly around the branch and swept her monocular across Lucius's residence, planning to track down his exact position before charging in.
But then — she spotted an unexpected figure.
Pink hair. A flawless smile. 163 centimeters tall. 55 kilograms — no, 54.8 kilograms.
"Bad — that gravity-field creature has come to kill me!" Elysia's body jolted so hard she nearly fell out of the tree.
But very quickly, she noticed something off.
"Wait. There's none of that gravity field that makes me want to tremble. That isn't her!"
"Which means..." Elysia's gaze sharpened. "So that's how it is. Typical of you, Lucius — to come up with a scheme like this."
She understood. She understood it completely.
"Mu? Lucius? A classic case of hiding in plain sight — if I'd really thought this 'Mu' was you, I'd have walked straight into your trap!"
"True enough. You're far too clever to think that changing one character of your name would be enough to hide your identity. Everyone else isn't an idiot, after all."
"But unfortunately for you — this little fairy has seen through everything." Elysia, seemingly in possession of the complete truth, felt her mind achieve an unprecedented clarity. Lucius's entire plan had been fully dissected before her eyes.
"So in order to survive, you disguised yourself as another purple version of me, did you, Lucius."
"But alas — your subtle movements have already given you away!"
"So this is your true form..." The smile on Elysia's face grew ever gentler, and the monocular in her hand creaked under her grip. "Lucius — start preparing your confession!"
At the same time, inside Lucius's residence.
Sa, who had been on her way to prepare dinner for Lucius and was crossing the courtyard, suddenly felt a chill flash through her heart.
She looked around uneasily, but detected nothing out of the ordinary.
Still, being someone who had made caution a religion and bridge-staking a lifestyle, she relayed the sense of unease to her main body within the Sea of Quanta, requesting it to use the Wisdom Eye to calculate the situation.
Promptly, a response from her main body fell into her consciousness.
[All is well.]
At that, Sa let out a breath of relief.
Ever since she had divined that a great calamity awaited her, these episodes had been occurring at regular intervals — but every time she ran the calculation, the answer came back clean. And the fact that she had passed several hundred years without incident was itself proof that her Wisdom Eye was extraordinarily accurate.
In other words, she was simply overthinking things.
"And here I thought it was Lucius's white moonlight — having found out I'd stolen her identity — crawling back up from the River Styx to come and claim my life~"
Sa made a little joke at her own expense to chase the lingering chill from her heart.
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