"Next, I'm going to take you to see my fiancée."
The words landed in Sirin's ears like a clap of thunder.
Her beautiful eyes went wide, as if she had just encountered something completely beyond her comprehension.
Didn't this guy just say he was her future husband?
What in the world was this about a fiancée who had suddenly popped up?!
What was going on?!
In her utter shock, the hand with which she was gripping her knife and fork began to tremble.
"Could you please explain the situation with this so-called fiancée of yours?"
Like a cat whose tail had just been stepped on, her voice took on a sharp edge.
"You mean Mei?"
The boy's gaze shifted as he recalled a certain graceful figure. "She's a very virtuous girl, and she's great at taking care of people. The other you received a lot of care from her."
What?
She often takes care of my future self?
Sirin, who vaguely remembered Li Zihan saying her future self was apparently pregnant, grew even more bewildered. If this "Raiden Mei" person who took such good care of her was Li Zihan's fiancée, then what did that make her?
It felt as if a tangled mess of yarn had been stuffed into her brain, throwing her thoughts into disarray.
"Could you explain the connection between me and 'your fiancée'?"
Unsure just how big of a green hat her future self had placed on Miss Mei's head, Sirin stared at the boy who called himself her husband, her gaze as sharp as a sword.
"That's… a bit complicated. It's hard to explain in just a moment."
The boy, who had an abnormally high frequency of getting involved with girls, sighed.
"For now, just think of me as a scumbag who's gotten involved with a lot of girls."
This statement, which hinted at some hidden story, temporarily calmed Miss Sirin's mood. But soon, even more questions surfaced in her mind.
"Alright, let's not talk about this anymore."
The boy, having barely managed to placate Sirin, chuckled and quickly changed the subject.
"By the way, what is that area next to the laboratory? I'm getting an ominous feeling from it."
The area next to the lab?
The girl, who had just lost her last friend not long ago, fell silent, her expression turning downcast.
That land was used for burying the dead.
For the researchers, disposing of the corpses of test subjects whose bodies had been injected with Honkai energy was undoubtedly a troublesome matter. So, their usual practice was to make the surviving test subjects act as labor to bury the bodies, and then dispose of them all at once after a certain period.
That burial ground was likely the nightmare of every test subject.
Sirin had several friends, and all of them were now dead, buried there. They hadn't managed to hold on long enough for Li Zihan to reverse time and come to their rescue.
"It seems there's someone you care about in that ominous place."
The boy smiled as he spoke.
And then—
He opened his mouth and said something utterly unbelievable.
"Will you take me to the place where they died? I think I can try to resurrect them."
Resurrection is a central idea in many religions.
In Christianity, according to the Bible, Jesus Christ was resurrected three days after being crucified. Christianity also holds that after death, the soul will be resurrected into Heaven or Hell. Resurrection is the very foundation of the Christian faith. The Egyptians believed that people could be resurrected after death, but their bodies had to be preserved. In ancient Chinese mythology, resurrection was also possible through reincarnation.
Without exception, such an act was in the domain of gods.
"The reason time is called an invincible power is that things without temporal resistance are completely vulnerable to its passage. And the vast majority of all existence has absolutely no temporal resistance."
"As long as a soul hasn't been completely worn away, it's not difficult to find its fragments and use the power of time to restore it to its complete form."
The boy, who himself was a Herrscher corresponding to time, spoke of the scope of his abilities with great seriousness.
"Once you have a complete soul, you just need to reconstruct a body for it, and you can achieve a form of alternative resurrection."
"It's actually quite a complex process, but if it can make you a little happier, I don't mind expending some power."
He can even do something like that?
The girl, feeling that the identity of the boy who called himself her husband was becoming increasingly mysterious, felt her heart pound with shock.
And then—
Her expression became a little downcast.
Aside from her reasonably cute face, did she really have anything that made her worthy of such a person?
It was a good thing that her future lover was an outstanding person. But what if the gap between them was as vast as that between a human and a god?
At that thought, a touch of panic entered Sirin's heart. She bit her lip tightly, a strange, uncomfortable feeling churning within her.
"Alright, next, I'll have someone come and take in the children here."
Li Zihan thought of a certain shorty's face. The Theresa of today wasn't the silly Theresa of the future; she was still quite reliable. Handing these test subjects over to her or a certain sit-up champion of the Honkai world would easily secure a decent future for them.
"For now, let me take you to meet Mei."
Then, as if he had remembered something critically important, he lowered his head to look into Sirin's eyes, his expression grave.
"Absolutely do not tell her that the other you is already pregnant."
"Though it'll be exposed sooner or later, there's a big difference between your lover secretly getting your best friend pregnant before you even started dating, and him hooking up with your best friend out of loneliness because you can't have sex after you're already pregnant."
Just a few sentences was all it took to reveal the truth.
New worries rising in her heart, the girl nodded distractedly. It was unclear if she had even been listening.
After giving his instructions, Li Zihan extended his hand to Miss Sirin.
"Let's go."
Miss Sirin hesitated for a moment before placing her hand in his.
And then—
The power of the Herrscher of the Void manifested.
The two figures vanished from within the Tower of Babel.
---o---
At that very same moment, on the outskirts of the Tower of Babel.
"Captain, what on earth are you up to?"
The strongest Valkyrie, who had always lived in the light, was tracking someone's trail forward.
The girl, who had grown suspicious when her captain had assigned her only trivial, peripheral tasks, gazed at the distant tower.
It was the Babylon Laboratory, abandoned after the Second Honkai Eruption. It had been an important research site for artificial stigmata and the world's largest, most authoritative institution for Honkai energy treatment.
Was there some problem with Babylon, the special laboratory abandoned in the year 2000?
Faintly sensing an unusual aura, the girl, with her knight's lance slung across her back, vaulted over the high wall.