"Fu Hua, eating steamed buns with pickled vegetables every day… isn't your figure like that because you were malnourished?"
"No."
Fu Hua's face darkened. Deep down, she could not help muttering to herself.
Could it really be related to that?
No, no, no. It definitely had nothing to do with that. It had to be a genetic issue.
If it really was because she had not eaten well that she ended up so plain and ordinary, her mentality would genuinely collapse.
…
Tesla unleashed a string of Anti-Entropy-grade profanity.
Inside Schicksal's research institute, Tesla cursed out loud. Her red hair was so messy it looked like a chicken coop.
After Anti-Entropy returned to Schicksal, their workload had increased too. During this period, she felt like she was about to die from overwork.
Was there something wrong with Otto? Why was he throwing every research project at them?
"Dr. Tesla, this is the second time you've complained today," Einstein said calmly.
"It's all because of that blond capitalist Otto!" Tesla said angrily.
"Dr. Tesla, if I remember correctly, the reason your workload is heavier than ours is because you used Schicksal's funding to make those useless inventions of yours."
Einstein did not think Tesla had been wronged at all. Those inventions were not very useful. They were basically just a waste of research funds.
Those funds were supposed to be used for research against Honkai, not for personal toys.
"I…"
"Those were not useless inventions," Tesla insisted stubbornly.
They were very useful, okay? Although they were not specifically made to fight Honkai, at least they were not junk.
This could not entirely be blamed on her either. Back when she was with Anti-Entropy, they had to calculate every expense carefully. Eating instant noodles was a common thing. She had simply been poor for too long.
After coming to Schicksal, life had suddenly improved. There was more funding than she could spend, and she did not even have to eat instant noodles anymore. Compared with the days when they had to tighten their belts, it was practically a whole different world.
"Dr. Tesla, please restrain your wild ideas a little. Even I feel heartache over all that wasted funding," Einstein said.
"I know already. You're so naggy."
Tesla pouted. She really did not want to work herself to death because there was too much work.
Shenzhou, Mount Taixuan.
"This place feels a little like Liyue. The air is so nice," Paimon said.
"Paimon, do you feel uncomfortable with anything here?" Fu Hua asked.
Although Mount Taixuan looked like a blessed land of the Adepti, it was filled with a very dense concentration of Honkai energy.
"I don't feel anything," Paimon said, shaking her head. She did not feel any discomfort at all.
"No need to worry. Paimon isn't as weak as she looks," Lumine said with a smile.
Although the combat power Paimon displayed was worse than a wild boar's, her physique was very special. Honkai energy would not affect her.
"Lumine, can you absorb Honkai energy?"
"I can. This kind of energy falls within the range of what I can absorb."
Lumine nodded. Her physique was very special. Even without relying on blessings, she could absorb some strange energies, such as the Abyss, or Honkai.
Elemental power was limited in what it could do, but Honkai energy could do almost anything. Attacks released using Honkai energy were more aggressive than those released with elemental power.
"What a miraculous constitution."
Fu Hua was also full of praise for Lumine's physique. This kind of body could practically contain all sorts of different energies. If Mobius found out about it, she would definitely be very interested.
"To be honest, I don't understand my own physique that well either," Lumine said with a shrug.
She was not someone who specialized in researching bodies. In past battles, she had always used weapons, so she had not really developed her own potential much.
"Come with me."
Fu Hua looked at Mount Taixuan with endless emotion. How long had it been since she last returned?
Although her memories had not completely come back, her body could already distinguish the living environment and paths she had once known.
"Fu Hua, is this your home?"
"It feels so gloomy," Paimon said, hiding behind Lumine in fear.
It had not been cleaned in a very long time. Although the house had not collapsed, the desolate atmosphere gave it a haunted-house feeling.
"Sorry for making you see this. No one has been here to clean and tidy up."
Ever since Fu Hua came back to clean it once last time, it had not been cleaned for many years. It looked old and desolate.
When she pushed open the door and entered, a room full of dust rushed straight at them.
"Cough, cough, cough…"
"Fu Hua, I feel like you should clean it a little first. Otherwise, by the time we find anything, we'll be covered in dust."
"Mm."
Fu Hua nodded. Then, she made a movement that shocked several of them.
Fu Hua began practicing Taiji. Currents of air appeared in the room, and all the dust gathered toward Fu Hua's palm. In the end, it formed a ball made entirely of dust.
"So amazing!" Paimon said, dumbfounded.
The cleaning Paimon had imagined involved tools. In the end, Fu Hua directly gave them a demonstration of what kung fu cleaning meant.
From beginning to end, it was done in one smooth flow. All the dust on the surfaces of the furniture was sucked into Fu Hua's palm.
"Fu Hua, I didn't expect you to have a trick like this," Koji could not help saying.
As expected of Immortal Red Kite. Her kung fu had already reached this kind of realm.
"This is more convenient."
Fu Hua nodded and compressed the dust into a solid lump. Judging by how practiced her movements were, this was clearly not her first time doing this.
When she cooked, she would also use the kung fu she knew. For example, she kneaded dough with Inch Force.
…
"Found it."
After finishing the cleaning, Fu Hua rummaged through a hidden corner and found a wooden box. Inside was an extremely cute armed puppet.
This was something Cang Xuan and Dan Zhu had made for Fu Hua. It was called Cang Xuan's Book. They had made it because they were worried that, after they died, it could still be of some use to Fu Hua.
"It's out of power."
Koji knocked on it, but there was no reaction at all.
Fu Hua said, "I don't know how to charge Cang Xuan's Book, so I could only seal it away."
Fortunately, Cang Xuan's Book had been made from soulsteel. This material could be preserved for a very long time.
The Divine Keys were all creations from fifty thousand years ago. Yet even after fifty thousand years had passed, the Divine Keys had remained intact. Once excavated from ruins, they could still continue to be used.
"Can we just use electricity?"
Lumine switched to the Electro element, and purple lightning flickered in her palm.
"That probably won't work. It needs a specialized charging device," Fu Hua said, shaking her head.
For this kind of matter, they could only find someone who knew how to repair armed puppets.
"Why didn't you ask Schicksal back then? Otto definitely would have had a way. Even if he didn't, there definitely would have been a method inside Void Archives."
"Well…"
Fu Hua scratched her head. That was true. Otto definitely could have charged Cang Xuan's Book.
But at the time, her memories had been incomplete. She had completely forgotten about Cang Xuan's Book and had never thought of it at all.
And so, Cang Xuan's Book had remained in an out-of-power, shut-down state the entire time.
(End of Chapter)
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