"According to Fontaine law, voluntary surrender combined with meritorious service can reduce your sentence," Xia Yu said expressionlessly with Furina's face. "But deceiving a god is an additional offense. That's just about enough to touch the edge of the death penalty."
A trace of unwillingness seeped into her tone, as if she truly wanted to sentence the two of them to death.
And the truth was—she actually did.
There was a saying after all: when people judge cases online, the starting point is always the death penalty. Since their words could never actually become reality, the masses simply relied on their own simple sense of justice when looking at a case.
Whoever was morally in the right would naturally receive sympathy, and the perpetrator must die. That was basic practice.
Playing that role came naturally to Xia Yu—there was absolutely no pressure.
The two thugs clearly sensed that unwillingness. It was obvious that the Hydro Archon before them genuinely wanted to sentence them to death.
But they still had to thank Furina for the past five hundred years of relentless legal "education" in the opera house. Over time, she had established the image of someone who valued the law immensely. No matter how unwilling she seemed, she would still follow the law's judgment… probably.
As for those earlier remarks—
Well, it wasn't the first time the Hydro Archon had spoken a bit wildly. In the end she always fulfilled her duties as the God of Justice. In Fontaine, that wasn't exactly a secret. Even if you talked about it openly, the Marechaussee Phantom wouldn't bother you over it.
It wasn't state secrets, after all.
Everyone knew it already—what was there to keep confidential?
"Now. Lead the way," Xia Yu said coldly, staring at them as she gave the order. "We'll escort the victims out first."
As she spoke, the water sphere in her hand spun rapidly, as if a single careless movement from them could cost them their lives.
At this point, Xia Yu was already quite different from the Furina who had served as Fontaine's Hydro Archon for five hundred years.
Whether it was her tone, demeanor, choice of words, or even the way she handled matters—anyone familiar with Furina, someone like Neuvillette who interacted with her often, would immediately notice something was off.
But the people in front of her weren't part of that category.
Two bottom-tier street thugs—men who, even if they made money selling Le Si, still wouldn't be the kind to spend lavishly—and a group of powerless ordinary girls…
Honestly speaking, even Aurélie, an obscure theater troupe leader, was the most "important" person among them.
After all, Vacher's research on the Primordial Seawater required young girls. Kidnapping girls from the upper classes would be extremely risky. Those with no voice in society—the people at the very bottom—were the most convenient experimental subjects.
Heh.
The two thugs only had survival on their minds. The question of Xia Yu's identity never even crossed their thoughts.
And in the eyes of those girls, she was their savior—the final ray of light illuminating their fading lives within endless darkness and despair.
Why would they ever doubt her identity?
And so, the escape began in an orderly fashion.
Those who were still relatively healthy supported or carried the girls who had fallen sick from cold and hunger. They struggled forward together, following behind Xia Yu—behind what they believed was Lady Furina—toward the prison's exit.
The two thugs trembled as they walked ahead to lead the way.
Meanwhile, in the narrow cracks between bricks, across the walls and ceilings, faint streams of water quietly flowed.
Every moment, Xia Yu was using her Vision to command elemental energy, condensing moisture into water and spreading it outward—preparing for a battle that might break out at any moment.
Fortunately, they were underwater. The air was thick with humidity, so water supply wasn't an issue. And the ruins were old and poorly maintained, with plenty of loose stones and debris scattered everywhere.
Pure water might not do much against clockwork mechs. After all, in Fontaine—the nation of water—creating combat machines that were afraid of water would be the ultimate joke.
But if water carried debris and filled every gear in those mechanisms…
The more precise a machine was, the less it could tolerate unexpected interference.
Probably.
All she could do was try her best—treat a dead horse like a living one.
Because she simply couldn't bring herself to abandon these pitiful girls and escape alone.
And escaping first to find help wasn't an option either. Xia Yu didn't know the layout at all. She didn't even know where the exit was, so getting caught during the escape was almost guaranteed.
And she definitely didn't know how to sneak around.
If those criminals realized they had been exposed and decided to destroy the evidence, then wouldn't those girls end up dying because of her?
Destroying witnesses was simple. Just throw them into the Primordial Seawater. Nothing would remain.
Xia Yu didn't want to bear that kind of consequence.
If there had truly been no way to save them, she could at least console herself. But right now, there was still hope.
Tch.
Honestly, with this perfectly upright heroic image of mine, if I met Paimon later I could probably earn the title of "Champion of Justice" without any difficulty.
Sigh.
I've just been kind-hearted since childhood. I can't stand seeing suffering like this.
Genshin is already mild enough. Back then the writers of Honkai Impact 3rd stabbed me with emotional knives over and over again. How could they be so heartless?
Sure enough, anything related to Honkai is bad news.
Honkai Impact 2 was pure chaos, everyone going wild. Honkai Impact 3rd was painful as hell. And now Star Rail is starting to show signs of infection too…
Guess we'll see how things develop in the future.
I wonder if I'll ever have the chance—
"Hey, why did you bring all of them out?"
The first test arrived quickly.
Several enforcers walked by, casting suspicious looks at the girls behind them.
"Are there this many experiments today?" the leader frowned. "Why didn't I hear about it?"
"Uh, boss, we were…"
The two thugs immediately broke into a cold sweat, completely unsure what to say.
Well… they were just ordinary thugs. One couldn't expect too much from them.
Seeing this, Xia Yu sighed and stepped out from behind them.
"Fu—Fu—Fu—Furina… Lady Furina?!"
As expected, the enforcers instantly fell into chaos.
"According to Fontaine law, resisting arrest adds another charge," she said coldly, while streams of water condensed beside her, forming various figures.
Armored knights. Strange suits of armor. Monstrous silhouettes.
Fortunately, Xia Yu had once been a corporate slave skilled at drawing and modeling. Various 3D designs came easily to her mind. With the boost from her Vision after transmigrating, recreating them wasn't too difficult.
At the front stood Reinhardt from Overwatch, holding that ridiculously oversized hammer.
Beside him were several Zealots from StarCraft.
On one side stood Excalibur from Warframe, gripping the exalted blade with killing intent.
Near them lurked the grotesque Hydralisks.
An Assassin hid in their shadow, waiting for an opportunity.
And behind them—
A Vanguard-class Titan from Titanfall stood towering, its massive cannon aimed straight at the enforcers' heads.
Actually, the Thor mech from StarCraft would've been great. Odin had even more presence.
Unfortunately, the space here—and Xia Yu's ability—didn't allow for that kind of scale.
Even the Titan's details were blurry. The other models weren't much better.
But it didn't matter!
Faced with the Hydro Archon's face, would these enforcers dare question it?
That's right.
All of these were hollow shells. They looked intimidating, but in reality…
They could only scare people.
But Furina's name was even more terrifying.
In the nation ruled by the God of Justice, there probably weren't many people who dared raise weapons against a god.
At least these enforcers didn't have that kind of courage.
That was one of Xia Yu's greatest advantages.
With Furina's reputation, she could probably avoid most fights.
At the very least, escorting the victims out in one push shouldn't be a problem.
As for these models…
Sigh.
Blizzard, why did you have to fall so far?
There's a saying—every Blizzard hater was once a Blizzard fan.
Xia Yu's memories of playing Overwatch and StarCraft were once beautiful ones…
Well, all she could say was that Overwatch 2's Steam reviews were absolutely deserved. And as for Warframe… even DE, once known for their conscience, began to lose their way in recent years.
The entire gaming industry looked like a circus now.
…Ah, she'd drifted off again.
Xia Yu pulled her thoughts back and addressed the enforcers.
"Raising weapons against a god is tantamount to rebellion," she declared coldly. "The punishment is death."
The moment those words fell—
Every single enforcer collapsed to their knees.
These people might excel at bullying civilians and committing crimes.
But asking them to raise weapons against a god?
Their only response would be:
Are you insane?
Seriously. If they had that kind of courage, they wouldn't be working as thugs in the first place.
"Seems you have some self-awareness," Xia Yu said.
The stick had already been used. Now it was time for the carrot.
"Go to the Fortress of Meropide and reflect properly on your crimes."
Hearing they were going to prison, the enforcers didn't panic—instead, they visibly relaxed.
Compared to being killed by those terrifying monsters around them, serving a sentence in Meropide felt like mercy.
Satisfied, Xia Yu withdrew the water constructs.
After all, they were only for show.
The two thugs then stepped forward and whispered something to the newly arrived enforcers.
Their faces instantly filled with terror.
Apparently, they had learned that Lady Furina had truly wanted to execute them earlier—and had only restrained herself for the safety of the girls.
From that moment on, they behaved with perfect obedience.
Immediately, they moved to the front and began leading the way.
Looks like my earlier performance actually worked.
Along the way, they encountered other members of the criminal organization, but once Xia Yu showed Furina's face, every single one of them fell silent and obediently joined the procession.
To this, Xia Yu could only think—
Furina's face really works wonders in Fontaine.
No one dared question the identity of a god.
Even though she had already revealed so many flaws.
Seeing the group ahead growing larger—now nearly twenty people—Xia Yu slowed her pace slightly.
The biggest factor slowing them down were the girls behind them, weakened by cold and hunger.
"You. Some of you," she called to the enforcers ahead. "Help support them."
The enforcers stopped and obediently walked back.
But the girls quickly pleaded:
"Lady Furina, we can walk!"
"Please don't let them come near us!"
The returning enforcers froze awkwardly.
Xia Yu sighed.
In their eyes, she was Furina—the Hydro Archon of Fontaine.
Naturally, no one in this criminal hideout could possibly threaten her. So even if they had to walk slower, they would rather endure it than let those enforcers approach them.
That reaction was perfectly reasonable.
The problem was—
This Hydro Archon was fake.
But Xia Yu couldn't reveal the truth here.
She walked to Aurélie's side and silently helped her support the unconscious Kreshe.
"Continue forward."