Chapter 198: Shenzhou Broken Sword Record, Begin
Bronya stared at the small box in Rovel's hands, her usually stoic face betraying a subtle, trembling twitch of her eyebrow. Just two minutes ago, she had personally pushed the world's first, ultra-rare Detective Homu figure directly into his grasp.
The most agonizing pain in the world wasn't simply missing out on a limited edition item—it was personally handing that golden opportunity to someone else. Her mind buzzed with static. Why hadn't she just persisted a little longer? Rovel was already wealthy; why did she insist on giving him that specific blind box?
Ugh... Bronya felt like an absolute idiot.
Should she... cheat? Claim the blind box was actually hers all along? That she had merely let Rovel open it for her?
She bit her lower lip. No, Bronya couldn't bring herself to sink to such a level. However, since the prize was currently in Rovel's hands, and she knew for a fact he didn't collect these things, she technically still had a chance to acquire it.
While Bronya was lost in her swirling thoughts, Rovel gently pushed the Detective Homu figure across the table, stopping it right in front of her.
"You should keep it," he said with a casual smile. "I don't have a dedicated display case in my room. Figures like this can't be preserved well sitting on a random shelf, and it would be terrible if it accidentally broke."
It was a blatant excuse, though grounded in a sliver of truth. His room was remarkably bare. After all, he spent the vast majority of his time outside of it, often lingering in the dormitory common areas with Mei and the others. At most, his personal room was just a quiet place to log out.
"Ugh... Rovel..." Bronya murmured his name, her voice dropping into a quiet, indistinct whisper that he couldn't quite catch.
He didn't need to hear her, though. A faint, translucent notification materialized in his vision right above her silver hair.
`[Trust Level +2]`
"Let's come to Homu Paradise together again next time," Bronya said, lifting her chin to look at him with absolute deadpan seriousness.
"...I hope you're coming with the mindset of actually hanging out with me, and not just dragging me along as your personal lucky charm to collect limited edition Homus from blind boxes," Rovel replied, his tone dryly amused.
Bronya silently averted her gaze, staring intently at the wall.
She had been completely seen through.
"Sigh, let's go. It's about time to head back," Rovel said, shaking his head helplessly. Still, the trip had been far from a wasted journey. Earning that much trust from Bronya in a single afternoon was a massive victory. If he wanted to slowly pry her away from Seele's absolute monopoly, he needed to take these steady, measured steps.
`[Fenghuang Down - Part I: A feather carrying the Red Kite Immortal's Remembrance. Can unlock a special long-term dungeon—Shenzhou Broken Sword Record (Part 1)]`
`[Do you wish to use 'Fenghuang Down - Part I'? Estimated time required: 14 days.]`
After returning and bidding a temporary farewell to Mei and the rest of the girls, Rovel sat alone, preparing to initiate the Shenzhou Broken Sword Record dungeon.
Half a month. This dungeon was going to be an absolute marathon.
`[Entering special long-term dungeon—Shenzhou Broken Sword Record (Part 1)!]`
The pristine Fenghuang Down feather resting in his palm suddenly ignited with a shimmering, ethereal red light. The crimson glow expanded, completely enveloping Rovel's body until the modern world faded away, and he vanished from the spot.
"It's a monster! The monsters are here! Run!!"
The moment Rovel opened his eyes, his ears were assaulted by terrified shrieks and the splintering crash of collapsing timber. The surrounding village was in absolute chaos. Dust choked the air, and just a few dozen yards away, three massive, wolf-shaped Honkai Beasts tore through the streets.
Desperate residents fled in all directions, scrambling over overturned carts and broken fences.
Rovel immediately locked his gaze on the beasts. He shifted his weight, preparing to dash forward and intercept them, only to stumble. The ground was much closer than it should have been. He looked down at his hands—small, soft, and entirely lacking his usual muscle mass.
He had turned into a child.
Again? Rovel cursed inwardly. It was the exact same phenomenon he had experienced when entering the Sakura Samsara.
"Ji Lin? Ji Lin?" Rovel called out tentatively in his mind, reaching for the Stigmata connection.
Silence. Ji Lin did not respond.
"Sakura, can you hear me?" he tried again, reaching for Yae Sakura.
Still nothing. The connection was completely severed.
Left with no immediate combat support and a drastically weakened physical form, Rovel had no choice but to find a temporary hiding spot.
Suddenly, a sharp, childish scream pierced through the din of destruction. Rovel whipped his head around. A red-haired little girl, no older than three, had tripped and fallen hard into the dirt. Looming directly over her was one of the hulking, white-armored wolf Honkai Beasts, its neon-pink lines glowing with lethal intent.
Rovel didn't hesitate. He snatched a jagged stone from the dirt, channeled a surge of Clear Mirror Sword Intent into his tiny arm, and hurled it with everything he had.
The stone cut through the air like a bullet, striking the Honkai Beast dead in its glowing eye.
The monster recoiled with a furious, metallic howl, stumbling backward in pain. Seizing the split-second window, Rovel sprinted forward, grabbed the little girl's arm, and hauled her to her feet, dragging her frantically into the narrow alleyways.
Spotting an overturned merchant's stall, Rovel grabbed several spilled bottles of pungent cooking spices. He aggressively scattered the powder over their clothes and the surrounding dirt. Honkai Beasts modeled after wolves possessed terrifyingly keen olfactory senses; if he didn't mask their scent, hiding would be entirely pointless.
He pulled the trembling girl behind a stack of heavy wooden crates. "Shh, don't make a sound," he whispered, pressing a finger to his lips.
The little girl stared at him with wide, dark eyes, nodding vigorously as she clamped both hands over her own mouth.
Heavy, thudding footsteps shook the ground. The wolf-shaped Honkai Beast prowled past their alley, its massive claws gouging deep trenches into the earth. The little girl grabbed Rovel's sleeve, her knuckles turning white from the sheer force of her grip. Despite her absolute terror, she didn't let out a single whimper.
The heavy scent of the spices worked perfectly. The beast sniffed the air, sneezed violently, and lumbered away in the opposite direction, failing to detect their presence.
A few minutes later, the rhythmic thundering of hooves and synchronized marching echoed through the village. An army of hundreds of soldiers poured into the settlement, immediately surrounding and suppressing the three Honkai Beasts.
Hearing the clash of weapons and the roars of the dying monsters, Rovel finally let out a long exhale, his tense muscles relaxing.
"Are you okay? What's your name, and where is your home?" Rovel asked, turning his attention to the tiny survivor.
"I'm okay," she whispered, her voice shaking but remarkably clear. "I... I live outside the village. Today I came to dig some wild vegetables on the mountain. I wanted to sell them to buy some medicine for my mother, but I didn't expect to encounter this... Thank you for saving me today!"
For a three-year-old, she spoke with startling fluency and composure. She was clearly an incredibly bright child.
"No need to thank me. But... medicine?" Rovel glanced down the street toward a partially collapsed apothecary. The shopkeeper and customers had long since fled the carnage.
"How about we take some while no one is around?" Rovel suggested, his pragmatic nature taking over. "In any case, saving someone's life is more important than rules right now, right? We can always come back and repay the owner later."
"...Okay."
The little girl hesitated, her small face scrunching up in moral conflict, but she eventually nodded. She followed closely behind Rovel as they quietly slipped into the ruined medicine shop, quickly gathering the necessary herbs and bandages.
Before they slipped out the back window, the girl paused, staring intently at the shop's wooden signboard, burning the name into her memory so she could honor their debt.
With the medicine secured in one hand and the little girl's small hand gripped tightly in his other, Rovel ran toward the outskirts of the village.
His mind raced as they handled the dirt paths. Generally speaking, normal citizens lived inside the safety of the village walls. If she lived completely outside the settlement... had her family's property been seized due to some misfortune? Or, considering she needed medicine for her mother, was it an incurable disease? Something highly contagious that forced the villagers to exile them?
"It's over there," the little girl said, pointing a tiny finger toward a dilapidated, sagging thatched hut sitting alone in a desolate clearing.
Rovel nodded, picking up his pace.
However, before they could even reach the overgrown yard, the wooden door creaked open. A figure slowly stepped out from the shadows of the thatched hut.
Rovel froze in his tracks, his breath catching in his throat.
Standing before them was none other than the Red Kite Immortal—Fu Hua.
She was dressed in pristine, flowing Taoist robes that seemed entirely untouched by the dirt and grime of the world. Her long gray hair was tied up high, and her aura was suffocatingly ethereal. She looked less like a mortal woman and more like a descending deity, cold and untouchable.
Should I expect any less from my Hua? She's truly beautiful, Rovel marveled inwardly.
But his admiration was instantly shattered by a chilling realization. Why would the legendary Red Kite, the guardian of Shenzhou, walk out of an exiled little girl's dying mother's house?
There was only one grim possibility in this era. Someone inside that house had succumbed to the Honkai corruption. They had fallen to mara.
"Mother!!!" the little girl shrieked, tearing her hand from Rovel's grasp and sprinting desperately toward the hut.
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