Hoolay is an imposter? Created by Mangus?
Fuli's heart violently skipped a beat. He instantly realized there was a massive, juicy piece of drama hiding behind that statement.
He leaned in closer, straining his ears, but Qiyan suddenly clammed up. The massive Borisin's face turned completely dark, and he sullenly poured the rest of his barrel down his throat in complete silence.
"The guy isn't completely stupid," Fuli muttered, casually readjusting the incredibly soft, fragrant Castorice clinging to his chest to make her more comfortable.
Qiyan's silence made one thing very clear: either he was under a strict gag order regarding the intel, or he was just a 'keyboard warrior' whose mouth wrote checks his body couldn't cash. Deep down, he was still absolutely terrified of Hoolay and didn't dare say another word.
But that was fine. Fuli hadn't actually expected the guy to just loudly broadcast top-secret military intelligence in the middle of a crowded tavern in broad daylight anyway.
After waiting a while longer, Qiyan—having eaten and drank his fill—finally stood up. Under the deeply fearful gazes of everyone else in the tavern, he pushed the heavy wooden doors open and staggered outside.
Fuli immediately paid his tab and slipped out after him. Tailing the massive Borisin from a distance, he followed him all the way to a desolate, rocky clearing on the very edge of the encampment.
"You can stop hiding, you scrawny little wolf pup."
Walking ahead, Qiyan casually tossed a gnawed-clean bone onto the dirt. He turned around, letting out a highly mocking, ferocious sneer. "What? Thinking about challenging my position as one of the Four Heavenly Kings? Come on then! Let this granddaddy see exactly what a stunted little runt like you is made of!"
He had clearly mistaken Fuli for one of the many ambitious, young Borisin challengers eager to murder their way up the ranks.
In the hyper-militaristic, might-makes-right culture of the Eclipse Pack, this kind of assassination attempt was completely commonplace.
Even so, the aggressive trash talk deeply annoyed Fuli.
He was the undisputed top dog of the Hyperion faction! He was more than a full head taller than Mei's 1.72 meters! How the hell was he a stunted runt?!
"You have two choices right now," Fuli said, the tip of his blade pointing diagonally at the dirt. His voice rang out incredibly clearly in the quiet wasteland. "Option one: my companion and I jump you together."
"Using numbers to bully the strong? Interesting."
Qiyan licked his stark white fangs, a highly bloodthirsty light flashing in his eyes. "And option two?"
Before he even finished his sentence, a slender, ethereal figure silently materialized directly behind him!
A massive scythe, completely wreathed in the pitch-black, necrotic waters of the Dead Sea, swung down toward the Borisin's vitals, carrying a bone-chilling, apocalyptic coldness!
"Option two is: you try to fight both of us by yourself!"
Fuli's eyes erupted with a blinding, molten-gold light—the overwhelming, tyrannical willpower of Setsuna Blade: Tyrant's Barricade.
Even though Qiyan had his guard up, facing a perfectly synchronized, completely unhesitating joint ambush from two top-tier Critical-Class powerhouses threw him into absolute, suffocating passivity!
In less than a minute, the previously arrogant, completely untethered Heavenly King of the Borisin vanguard was completely crushed by their flawless combo and mercilessly beaten into submission!
His massive wolf body slammed heavily into the dirt, absolutely covered in fine, incredibly deep sword lacerations and horrifying necrotic burns from the Dead Sea water.
Fuli casually slashed him a few more times, using the binding and silencing properties of Setsuna Blade: Yoshibiki to forcefully suppress the chaotic energy flowing through Qiyan's body, ensuring the beastman couldn't mount a final, desperate counterattack.
Only then did he walk up to him, looking down with a completely detached, highly condescending gaze. "Now. Tell me the exact specifics of the Living Planet activation, and absolutely everything else you know."
"Everything? Hah... cough... cough..."
Paralyzed on the ground, Qiyan violently coughed up several mouthfuls of black blood. Yet, the corners of his mouth curled up into a highly cruel, wolfish grin.
He sneered mockingly, "That's quite the broad demand, you little brat. But what makes you think a noble son of Dulan would just hand over highly classified military intel to the enemy for free?"
"For free?"
Castorice frowned slightly, asking probingly, "Are you implying you want us to exchange something for the information?"
Qiyan merely glared back at them with pure mockery and absolute arrogance, refusing to say another word.
After a long moment of silence, the girl sensed something was wrong. She bent down to check his vitals, then shook her head at her companion.
"He committed suicide."
"Not just suicide."
Fuli wasn't entirely surprised by the Borisin's sheer fanaticism.
He crouched down, pressing his palm flat against the top of Qiyan's still-warm head. "Right before he died, he even managed to 'play' us one last time."
The next microsecond, the devouring force of Outer Path silently activated, violently violently ripping the information directly from the corpse's dying brain.
Honestly, the sheer utility of Outer Path was completely ridiculous. As an incredibly rare ability forcefully synthesized from the Path of the Human Immortal and the Vishnu genes, not only was its compatibility with Fuli absolutely flawless, but it was also absurdly convenient.
Combined with the experience he had gained from reading the Borisin squad leader's mind earlier, even though a massive chunk of the memories still fragmented and dissipated during the forced extraction, Fuli successfully locked onto and deciphered the most absolutely critical pieces of intel.
Specifically: why Hoolay was being called an imposter, and the core secrets of the Living Planet.
"The control core of the activating planet is located inside the Dulan Fortress, roughly sixty kilometers from here. The Borisin are working around the clock, forcefully mining Divine Gold and other ultra-rare minerals to fortify it."
Fuli casually tossed the massive corpse into his spatial storage, planning to drag it back to the Luofu to sell for a massive bounty and split the cash with Castorice.
Theoretically, the boy could have completely devoured Qiyan's physical body to permanently permanently boost his own stats. But at least for now, he still couldn't bring himself to treat a highly sapient, humanoid lifeform as pure, consumable livestock—even if it was just a corpse.
Fuli continued, "The bad news is... the planet's activation process is already nearing completion."
Castorice wasn't completely shocked by this revelation.
When they had crash-landed yesterday, the planet had only been roughly two days away from colliding with the Luofu.
That fact alone strongly indicated the planetary activation had entered its final, most aggressive phase. There was an incredibly high probability it would complete its apocalyptic gestation before it slammed into the Xianzhou ship.
"It seems our original plan needs to change, Lord Fuli."
Analyzing the situation with perfect calm, Castorice said, "We no longer have the luxury of leisurely searching for the others. We need to contact Miss Hyacine and Miss Yunli immediately and arrange to rendezvous directly at the enemy's core fortress."
"Agreed."
Fuli pulled out the battered Blood-Written Diary and handed it to her. The girl took it and quickly wrote down their updated intel and revised plan to notify their teammates.
"There's also some... let's just call it good news," Fuli added, continuing to share what he had extracted. "First, the mastermind behind this Living Planet isn't Shuhu like we initially guessed. It's actually the Borisin's own Seer, Mangus."
Personally, Fuli didn't really consider this 'good news'. Thankfully, the boy had impeccable self-awareness; he knew damn well that right now, he wasn't even qualified to carry an Emanator's shoes.
If Master Jingliu had been here, as an S-Rank powerhouse hyper-specialized in lethal, offensive swordplay, she genuinely had a very high chance of slaughtering Shuhu—who wasn't particularly skilled at direct, head-on combat.
The problem was, Fuli had zero intention of letting anyone else handle his revenge. Not even his deeply beloved Master, who hated Shuhu just as passionately.
Shuhu is mine! If anyone tries to steal her kill, I'll hiss at them!
Hiss!!!
"Mhm."
Castorice listened intently, carefully transcribing the critical details into the diary.
"Second, the enemy forces this time consist primarily of the Eclipse Pack. The other major packs only sent a token number of specialized technicians to assist. We aren't actually facing the entire, unified Borisin race like we initially feared."
As a nomadic race terrorizing the Sea of Quanta, the Borisin were violently belligerent and possessed terrifying biotechnology. Their society was fundamentally structured around massive "Packs."
Among them, the Eclipse Pack were the most hyper-aggressive plunderers, specializing in devouring the flesh and blood of other races to permanently strengthen themselves.
The Chisel-Tooth Pack, as mentioned before, were the absolute masters of genetic witchcraft. They were the source of all Borisin biotech and held a highly transcendent status.
The Black-Claw Pack were mercenaries and assassins with terrifying endurance and stealth capabilities. They specialized in tracking, assassinations, psychological warfare, and covert ops.
The Blood-Wind Pack were exceptional beast-tamers and astrologers. They commanded massive fleets of biomechanical beast-ships, employing highly mobile, hit-and-run harassment and raiding tactics.
The Rhino-Hound Pack was the youngest pack. They were obsessed with mechanical and steel-based technology, excelled at defensive warfare, and were relatively peaceful—even occasionally engaging in legitimate trade with external factions like the IPC.
The White Wolf Pack was entirely unique. Formed completely by Foxian slaves who had violently overthrown their masters, they were undeniably the most brutally cruel pack of all. Butchering Borisin prisoners of war was practically a daily pastime, and they frequently relied on their Foxian identities to secretly infiltrate the Cloud Knights.
"For this invasion, Seer Mangus only managed to mobilize a portion of the Eclipse Pack's main force, along with their so-called Four Heavenly Kings."
Fuli paused for a moment before continuing, "The Brood Lords of the other packs didn't fully agree with this operation. Even though they provided some token assistance out of racial solidarity, it's highly limited."
"As for the Four Heavenly Kings, they're all Critical-Class powerhouses. But according to Qiyan's memory, Tole is already dead. Factoring in Qiyan's suicide just now, only two remain. They're currently overseeing the final construction phase at the Dulan Fortress sixty kilometers from here."
"But that's not the critical part. The critical part is the 'imposter' he mentioned—Hoolay."
At the mention of that name, Fuli's expression turned incredibly serious.
A flash of genuine wariness crossed his eyes. "He is, without a doubt, a genuine S-Rank powerhouse. And not just a normal one—he's an absolute apex predator in that tier. He's the kind of monster capable of fighting evenly with my Master in her prime, or General Feixiao!"
"Lord Fuli..."
Hearing this, Castorice looked up, her amethyst eyes swirling with obvious worry.
Since she had agreed to participate in the Luminary Wardance, the highly diligent girl had naturally crammed extensively on Luofu history.
And over the past decade, the most famous, universally praised Wardance was undeniably the one held immediately after the Phantylia Rebellion.
Because the Astral Express Crew didn't exist to provide support in this timeline, the chaos Phantylia unleashed ten years ago had violently swept through a third of the Luofu, causing astronomical destruction and massive population loss.
General Jing Yuan had sustained permanent, practically incurable internal injuries, his physical capabilities drastically permanently weakened.
After the rebellion was put down, the survivors of the Luofu, supported by Shenzhou and the other Xianzhou ships, began the long, grueling process of rebuilding their home.
Under such horrific circumstances, the Wardance scheduled for that year had naturally been canceled.
Three years later, as the negative impacts of Phantylia's chaos slowly faded and the Luofu began to rise from the ashes, the Wardance was re-hosted to aggressively boost public morale.
At that time, General Feixiao, General Huaiyan, and Yunli had traveled to the Luofu. Officially, they were there as esteemed VIP guests; in reality, they were there to heavily assist the increasingly weakened Jing Yuan in suppressing any lingering threats.
And exactly as feared, deep within the lowest levels of the Shackling Prison, heavily assisted by Borisin operatives perfectly disguised as Foxians, the Borisin Brood Lord Hoolay—who had been personally captured and imprisoned by Jingliu—successfully broke out, triggering a massive crisis.
In the absolute final moments, thanks to the relentless, combined efforts of Yunli, Jiaoqiu, and Yanqing, the grand conspiracy was completely crushed.
Not only was Hoolay publicly decapitated on the spot, but his Crimson Moon Heart—an organ possessing near-infinite vitality—was violently devoured by Feixiao. The Borisin-Foxian half-breed used its power to permanently cure her debilitating Moon Rage, achieving a complete, physical rebirth.
(Illustration: The Heavenly-Strike General)
Yes. According to the absolute official records of the Taixu Frontline, Hoolay was undeniably, completely dead.
Feixiao, Yunli, and Yanqing had personally witnessed his execution. The latter two might have been young and potentially mistaken, but a hardened, veteran general like the Merlin's Claw could never have been fooled.
So... exactly who in the world was the 'Hoolay' currently walking around on this Living Planet?
Noticing Castorice's deeply concerned gaze, Fuli flashed her his usual, bright, entirely clean smile. "Don't worry, it's fine. Leave Hoolay to me."
It was honestly quite a coincidence. Whether it was Master Jingliu who captured him, Yunli who helped stall him seven years ago, or Feixiao who literally ate his heart—all three of them had incredibly deep, deeply intertwined relationships with the boy.
Fuli genuinely felt he had a moral obligation to properly 'greet' this man and help him unlock a new character entry in his Pokedex.
Honestly, I'm just too kindhearted. I simply can't bear to watch a grand, heroic Borisin warrior like Brother Hoolay get endlessly played like a fiddle by all these vicious, scheming women.
He sighed inwardly.
No one understood the pain of being dominated by manipulative women better than Fuli. You lived for them, you died for them, you ran yourself ragged for them your entire life. You suffered their losses, fell for their traps, and sooner or later, you died on top of them.
Oh wait, not 'sooner or later.' I've already literally died on top of one.
The Regressor casually shrugged.
[The Host's definition of 'kindhearted' is incredibly unique,] Prometheus immediately chimed in to mock him. [You can't bear to watch Hoolay get toyed with by vicious women, so you've decided to step up and personally violently ravage him yourself?]
[Don't say it like that,] Dr. MEI's voice echoed with a highly amused, smiling tone. [Isn't one of our Host's core life mottos: "To establish a heart for young maidens, to secure the destiny of young wives, to inherit the lost teachings for married women, and to open the path of eternal peace for widows"?]
[That's the Four Sentences of Hengqu! Why did you aggressively warp it into the Four Sentences of a Brothel?! Go away! Both of you can go perform a stand-up comedy routine together while I go fight an S-Rank! We'll talk when I return victorious!]
Fuli forcefully muted the two peanut-gallery commentators and refocused his attention on reality.
"I've successfully contacted Miss Hyacine. She seems to be relatively close by, and has agreed to rendezvous at the Dulan Fortress as quickly as possible," Castorice reported, her tone gradually lacing with worry. "But... Miss Yunli still hasn't replied."
"She might just be busy with something else?"
Because Qiyan had been actively sidelined by Mangus, his memories didn't contain a single scrap of intel regarding Yunli's sealing. Fuli was completely in the dark.
He wasn't overly worried, though. In the previous loop, Yunli had taught him a highly specialized sensory incantation capable of vaguely determining her overall status.
Up until this exact moment, the feedback consistently indicated the young swordmaster was perfectly safe.
"Anyway, she'll head over as soon as she sees the diary."
Fuli stood up, making a highly playful face at Castorice. "And even if she doesn't make it in time, it's fine! Once we brilliantly solve this Living Planet crisis by ourselves, we can totally just violently mock her for slacking off the entire mission!"
"Pfft!"
His highly exaggerated, comical expression successfully broke through Castorice's worry.
She covered her lips, letting out a soft, genuine giggle. Then, taking the hand the boy offered her, the two of them set off together toward the incredibly faint, looming silhouette of the massive steel fortress in the distance.
Meanwhile, near the entrance of a hidden cave far from the chaotic encampment...
"A fortress..."
Hyacine raised a hand to shield her eyes from the sun, gazing intently at the massive, terrifyingly imposing steel fortress squatting like a colossal metal beast on the distant horizon.
The morning sun plated its cold, jagged silhouette in a layer of gold, only making it look even more oppressive and unassailable.
She turned around, looking back into the cave.
After a completely sleepless night of non-stop, hyper-intensive healing, the injuries of practically every single Foxian had finally stabilized. Though they were still incredibly weak, their lives were no longer in immediate danger.
Seeing this, Hyacine nodded slightly. She let out a soft cough to draw everyone's attention.
"I'm so sorry to interrupt your rest, but please, listen to me for a moment!"
She proceeded to announce her absolute decision to leave the cave and infiltrate the fortress to gather intel.
Exactly as expected, the cave instantly erupted into a chorus of highly panicked whispers and desperate pleas.
Countless Foxians stared at her, their eyes filled with absolute terror and deep insecurity, begging her not to abandon them.
"Um, please! Everyone, don't panic! Don't be afraid!"
Hyacine raised her voice, simultaneously glancing at little Ica floating beside her.
"Neigh! Neigh!"
The little pegasus immediately understood. It flared its wings, releasing a gentle, deeply soothing breeze that washed through the cavern, forcefully calming the violently agitated emotions.
"I absolutely promise you all, I am only leaving temporarily!"
Hyacine stood perfectly straight. Her clear, incredibly resolute eyes swept across every single terrified face in the room. Speaking slowly, enunciating every single word, she declared:
"I—Descendant of the Sky, Hyacine of the Twilight Courtyard—will absolutely return to lead every single one of you out of this prison, and away from this terrible world!"
The girl completely understood their terror, but she also clearly understood what was most critical right now.
She absolutely had to rendezvous with her teammates and forcefully stop the planet's activation. That was the only fundamental way to actually save everyone.
Having said her piece, Hyacine didn't hesitate any longer. She pulled out a highly specialized piece of chalk and quickly, precisely drew a complex geometric circle embedded with bizarre, arcane runes onto the dirt floor.
This was a highly specialized technique she had learned from a traveling sage named "Anaxagoras" during her medical journeys.
Once completed, the geometric array generated an incredibly powerful, absolute defensive barrier. If any external entity tried to forcefully cross it, they would first have to completely overwhelm the massive reserves of Honkai energy she had actively infused into it. Otherwise, physically passing through or breaking it was fundamentally impossible.
Simply put, it was a 'diet' version of Sun Wukong's legendary demon-warding circle.
Soon, Hyacine finished the final stroke and stood up.
Dusting the chalk off her hands, she ordered completely solemnly, "Until I return, everyone must absolutely stay inside this circle! It will guarantee your safety!"
Perhaps it was the incredibly miraculous medical skills she had demonstrated earlier, or her absolute, unquestionable sincerity that had finally won their trust—or perhaps they simply realized she was completely determined to go.
Regardless, the Foxians gradually quieted down. They merely watched her with eyes filled with deep anticipation and worry, silently praying for her safe return.
However, right at that moment, the man who had taken over after the original Cangdu sacrificed himself—the Foxian who had inherited the name "Cangdu" as the eighth leader of the resistance—quickly stepped in front of her.
"Miss Hyacine! Please! Take me with you!"
His face was a mask of absolute resolve. "I know it's incredibly dangerous, and I know I'm being presumptuous... but just like Brother Cangdu, I want to do absolutely everything in my power to infiltrate that fortress and save as many of our surviving compatriots as possible!"
"Mr. Cangdu..."
A flash of intense difficulty crossed Hyacine's eyes.
She hesitated for a split second, but ultimately decided to share her deeply cruel deduction. "I'm so sorry. But based on the intel we currently possess... aside from your group, it is highly likely that there are no other Foxian survivors left on this planet."
"No! There absolutely are!"
Cangdu's eyes were fiercely, violently determined. He clenched his fists. "Please, trust my understanding of the Borisin! Those absolute animals only have slaughter in their brains! There is absolutely no way they are willingly performing manual labor!"
"At most, they're just transporting the mined minerals directly into the fortress! All the highly intensive, grueling manual labor is absolutely, 100% still being done by massive numbers of our compatriots!"
...
(Illustration: Hya-bao Hya-bao Hya-bao Hya-bao!)