For some reason, after Ana's words "ich liebe dich" reached Shun's ears, a flood of both familiar and unfamiliar memories surged into his mind.
Among them were memories of Ana. "Ana Schariac, the Herrscher of Ice Ana will die?" Suddenly, far too many memories had appeared in Shun's head. He still couldn't fully sort through them all, but the few fragments concerning Ana were far from pleasant.
"Ana will die… why…" Soon, Shun recalled the part of his memories related to Ana. The content wasn't extensive, but it clearly outlined her future.
"Honkai?" Without a doubt, that segment of memory revolved entirely around Honkai. But the topic of Honkai involved far too much. What he needed to do right now was find a quiet place to carefully sort through these newly acquired memories.
He didn't chase after Ana. First, she had left too quickly. With Ana's physical abilities and Valkyrie experience, if she didn't want to be caught, he would never catch up to her in this lifetime.
At that moment, at the front desk of a small, out-of-the-way inn in a remote alley of Manila.
"A room," Shun said.
Even though he had recovered some memories, he still didn't speak English. From what he recalled, besides his native Chinese, the previous him could only speak a little Japanese. He had majored in Japanese in high school, so communicating with people in the Philippines was basically impossible.
Moreover, he was currently undocumented he knew his own situation best. He wasn't even a native of this universe. Damn it, he had transmigrated here. He had no legal identity whatsoever.
Shun tried his best to look intimidating, then slapped five times the price of a standard room onto the counter and stuffed an extra 20 USD into the receptionist's hand.
The receptionist who had initially looked fierce and unwilling to give him a room suddenly had a change of expression. His eyes cleared up instantly. He hurriedly handed Shun a room card and bowed repeatedly, his face practically screaming "money talks."
He hadn't wanted to rent the room at first, but… Shun had given way too much. With his pitiful monthly salary, why would he bother meddling in other people's business?
With the room card in hand, Shun didn't linger in the lobby. He used it to open the door and entered the small standard room of the inn.
It was just a cheap little inn there were no expectations for luxury accommodations, but at least it wasn't filthy. Shun didn't even take off his shoes before collapsing straight onto the bed.
Alright. Time to roughly organize these memories.
First: I transmigrated. I crossed over into a world called Honkai Impact 3rd. But right now, for me, this world is reality.
Honkai is the core of this world. As for what Honkai actually is? The last thing in his memories from an interlude chapter of the Stigmata Project explained it.
Honkai is the "Cocoon's" trial to seek out or convert compatible beings. Its manifestations are generally unpredictable: war, infectious diseases, climate disasters, comet impacts, even the descent of Divine Key weapons anything is possible.
What form Honkai takes depends purely on the Cocoon's mood. But that's not what he needed to think about right now. His top priority was himself and Ana. He would start with the people closest to him.
He reached back and touched the mark or Stigmata on the back of his neck. At least in Ana's eyes, it was a Stigmata. Shun still didn't know exactly what it was, but he was certain of one thing: this mark was no ordinary thing.
Because this pattern was the mark of the Imaginary. Shun took out the phone Ana had bought for him and snapped a photo of his back.
"Celtic triangle."
In his memories, this symbol had only appeared on two people.
The first was Otto the false god who became a slave to the "Tree." This mark appeared on his body.
The second was the one hailed as Miss Pink Elf♪, the Herrscher of Human, the Herrscher of Origin, the Flawless One Elysia. Worth noting:
Both the original Miss Pink Elf and Elysia in her full Herrscher of Human form and Herrscher of Origin form bore this mark.
Both of them had profound connections to the Imaginary. Aside from them, this symbol commonly appeared on various Imaginary-type Honkai beasts and god-like entities in the game.
Moreover, the Celtic triangle was the signature pattern for Imaginary-attribute elements in the game. And now, something resembling a Stigmata bearing this pattern had appeared on his own body… For now, he'd just call it a Stigmata.
That was why Ana had been so worried about his safety afraid that this Stigmata on the back of his neck would be discovered.
Unlike before, now that he had recovered these memories, Shun naturally understood Ana's painstaking intentions. If a male with an innate Stigmata were discovered by Otto…
In Ana's eyes, he would definitely be captured and turned into an experimental subject. Though personally, Shun didn't think Otto would do that. Otto might instead bring him back to headquarters and treat him as the next Joyce especially since his long-cherished wish was nearing completion.
But all of that was uncertain. Sending him to Shenzhou where Schicksal had almost no reach was without question the safest and most correct choice. Once he had possibly entered Schicksal's field of vision, this was the only way to protect him.
"Ana… thank you…" After awakening part of his memories, Shun realized he owed Ana even more than before. Despite how deeply Otto had brainwashed the Schariac family, Ana had still thought of him first. That could only mean she had a truly kind heart.
As for the last words Ana said to him… she liked him… This wasn't just Shun being overly confident. Because that phrase "ich liebe dich" was German for "I love you." It was a very formal and serious way of saying it.
Moreover, "ich liebe dich" was the very origin of the Honkai Impact 3rd story. The protagonist K-423 or Kiana had decided to become Cecilia's daughter precisely because of Cecilia's words: "ich liebe dich."
It was this single phrase that ran through the entire story that had caused Shun to recall so many memories about Honkai Impact 3rd.
Ana would become the Herrscher of Ice in the future and then die. That was the future he had seen. But he absolutely could not allow that future to come to pass. So what should he do?
Right now, Shun was completely alone, with no resources or leverage. How could he defy fate and change destiny? That was the first major problem facing him.
At that moment, he noticed the computer on the desk in the room. A plan formed in his mind. Since he currently had no power of his own, he would borrow someone else's.
The plan was called: Lure the snake out of its hole!
"I am Mobius of 'Infinity,' one of the Thirteen Flame-Chasers. I am not dead. Under the verdict of Finality, I suffered grave injuries and slumbered for fifty thousand years. Now I have finally awakened. V me 50 million to rebuild the First Laboratory. I will perform super-transformation surgery on you, turning you into a Fusion Warrior to suppress all Honkai."
Shun silently typed out this paragraph and began copy-pasting it nonstop across high-traffic websites around the globe.
Perhaps Otto wouldn't see this message he was just one person. Even if Anti-Entropy saw it, only Einstein would understand, and that tech-obsessed shut-in probably wasn't surfing the web. But there was one exception or rather, not quite a person.
Gray Serpent the artificial human composed of tens of thousands of individual bodies, the most well-informed entity in the world would absolutely see this message. Especially since it contained the keyword "Mobius."
Damn intelligence Gray Serpent how could you not use him? But that was exactly what Shun intended: to borrow Gray Serpent's intelligence network. He wanted to join World Serpent.
To change fate, he needed power. Compared to Anti-Entropy with its numerous factions and constant internal strife or Schicksal, where Otto sat at the top and could casually pull out Simulated Kaslana at the drop of a hat…
A small group of cats and dogs, but one where he basically knew all the roots and foundations World Serpent was his best choice.