After Shigure Kira's cry of alarm rang out, Lucius instantly burst into the room.
And then he saw Shigure Kira hugging Eden—whose eyes had turned into spirals—and shaking her vigorously while wailing loudly.
"Miss Eden, don't die on me!"
"I think if you keep shaking her like that, Eden really will die."
Taking in the scene, Lucius covered his face. It seemed that even the pre-civilization's goddess of art couldn't temporarily handle Shigure Kira's murderous sonic assault.
After calming Shigure Kira down, Lucius brought Eden to another resting room.
Some time later.
Eden slowly opened her eyes, propped herself up with her hands, and sat up from the sofa.
Beside her, Lucius had prepared a cup of warm water in advance and handed it to Eden.
"Thank you, Faded Fairy..."
Eden's face still bore traces of confusion, but she habitually accepted the cup from Lucius's hand and took a gentle sip.
As the warm water went down, the thoughts Eden's mind that had been blasted apart by Shigure Kira's bewitching singing gradually began to recover.
At the same time, the memory of Shigure Kira's terrifying singing voice resurfaced...
The color instantly drained from Eden's face, completely stripped of the elegance and composure she had shown at the start.
She raised her head and looked at Lucius, alarm in her eyes.
"Faded Fairy, where did you find this Miss Kira?"
"In all my years performing, this is the first time I've ever encountered anyone who could sing like that."
Lucius sighed and said:
"My dear Eden, I already told you earlier—she may genuinely have no talent in music."
"Better to persuade her to give up this path sooner. I think MEI Company's sonic weapons research and development department would suit her quite well."
After Lucius finished speaking, Eden fell into a long silence.
After a long while, she drained the remaining warm water in the cup in one gulp. But on her face, resolve had already returned, and that composure and elegance had been restored. She handed the cup back to Lucius.
"Honestly, Miss Kira's singing voice is indeed unlike anything I've ever encountered. She is truly... unique."
"Nevertheless, I still don't believe there's anyone who can't learn to sing."
Lucius looked at Eden and found that those golden eyes of hers seemed to be burning with fierce fighting spirit.
Lucius felt a bad premonition in his heart. Sure enough, the next moment he heard Eden say:
"In the realm of singing, she poses me no threat whatsoever. But she's made a complete mockery of my reputation as a teacher!"
"This is indeed a challenging task. But I will cultivate her into a qualified singer. Why, you ask? Hmph... because I am Eden!"
Driving the brain-invading demonic melody she had just heard out of her mind, those golden pupils of Eden's burned with inextinguishable fighting spirit.
She simply refused to believe that with her one-on-one guidance, there was anyone who couldn't learn to sing!
...
Although Eden had run into a small obstacle in the matter of teaching Shigure Kira to sing.
From Lucius's perspective, the script he had planned was indeed advancing steadily.
In this production centered around Himeko, the important roles were only Himeko Murata, Ryusuke Murata, Welt, the Shicksal, and the Sky People.
The roles of Himeko Murata and Ryusuke Murata had been resolved—both Himeko and Ryusuke had voluntarily joined the script.
As for the Shicksal, he had already sent a message into the Sea of Quanta. All that remained was to continue waiting.
And for the Sky People, Lucius also had a solution. He picked up his communicator and dialed Vill-V.
Vill-V's appearance quickly appeared on screen.
This time, Vill-V wore a monocle and a black top hat—looking every bit like a streetlamp ornament.
"Teacher Big V, have you made any headway on the technology I shared with you earlier? Can it be replicated?"
Hearing Lucius's words, Vill-V raised her head slightly, her tone carrying a note of complaint.
"My partner, you really are using me like a work horse..."
"I have to install the controllable seismic generator, I have to design a Honkai energy reactor detonation model that meets the requirements, and now I also have to replicate alien technology for you."
"Truly, I think compared to me, you're the real streetlamp ornament!"
...
Hearing Vill-V's words, Lucius thought about it.
Although Vill-V possessed godlike talent, it really wasn't proper to use her as a workhorse like this.
So... he decisively changed the subject.
Since Teacher Vill-V was this useful, of course she had to be used to the absolute limit!
"Teacher Big V, what are your thoughts on this technology from the Sky People?"
That's right—Lucius had sent some of the Sky People's technology to Vill-V not long ago.
The source of this technology was, of course, the system shop. Anything that had appeared in the main storyline was available for purchase there.
Lucius's thinking was also simple: since the Sky People didn't actually show their faces in Himeko's storyline anyway—only their constructs appeared—he might as well just directly build those constructs using their technology.
Hearing Lucius's question, Vill-V said:
"Their technology is quite advanced—one could even say it surpasses our current era."
"But the gap isn't so large as to be unbridgeable. At least it's nowhere near the level of being god-like."
Lucius wasn't surprised by Vill-V's answer.
The Sky People, like the Sugars, had an extraordinarily long history—their origins could even be traced back to the Jurassic period.
Two hundred million years—even a civilization made up of paramecia would likely have developed to god-like levels by then.
But looking at their performance in the main storyline...
The vanguard they dispatched could be eliminated by Anti-Entropy's nuclear weapons, and the combat units that descended in Fontaine could even be cut through by two squads from the post-Destiny era.
One could only marvel that their performance was completely unworthy of nearly two hundred million years of development time.
For this situation to have occurred, Lucius could only think of one possibility.
That was—the Sky People, like the Sugars, had voluntarily stalled the development of their civilization to avoid triggering Honkai.
Their technology was genuinely strong by pre-civilization standards, but it wasn't anywhere near god-like.
"So then, Teacher Vill-V, can you manufacture what I need based on this technology?"
"It can be done, but it will still need quite a bit of time. Although I can think in parallel threads, I'm fundamentally still just one person..."
After hearing Vill-V's answer, Lucius showed no disappointment. Instead he said:
"If I find you some helpers, would that speed things up?"
To this, Vill-V spread her hands and said casually: "That would work, but I don't think many people would be able to keep up with my line of thinking..."
The corners of Lucius's mouth curved into a smile as he slowly shook his head.
"No no, Teacher Vill-V. I can guarantee these helpers will absolutely be able to keep up with your thinking."
"Oh?"
Vill-V's curiosity had just been piqued when she found herself added to a group chat.
[Group Chat 'Blue Dream Research Group' has been established]
[Mobius has joined the group chat]
[Einstein has joined the group chat]
[Mei has joined the group chat]
[Vill-V has joined the group chat]
...
Watching the notifications popping up one after another in the group chat, Lucius closed his communicator.
Everyone he had pulled into the 'Blue Dream Research Group' were 'monsters' standing at the absolute pinnacle of human intellect—each one possessing worldly wisdom remarkable enough to make even Honkai take notice.
Combining their divine talents, they would surely bring remarkable surprises to this world!
Although Lucius always felt that gathering these Honkai-related scientists together might produce some earth-shaking spectacle, compared to the results they could generate, that was an acceptable tradeoff.
Surely they wouldn't produce anything too utterly deranged, right?
Thinking of this, Lucius couldn't help exclaiming: "Everything is on track. Our enterprise is really flourishing!"
With that, all the necessary roles for Himeko's storyline—Himeko Murata, Ryusuke Murata, the Sugars, and the Sky People—had solutions in place. He only needed to wait.
The only one that still had no resolution was Welt, who was to play Anti-Entropy's leader.
But this problem didn't need to worry about anymore, because the very reason he was here right now was to resolve this issue.
Thinking of this, Lucius took out several volumes of manga from his system inventory.
The covers of the manga featured a comical yellow-furred rabbit wearing a crown, holding a sword, and draped in a cape.
—Homu the Hero's Great Adventure, by Welt.
After looking into this manga and seeing the name "Welt" on the cover, Lucius knew this was definitely the person he was looking for.
After making contact with them, Lucius learned their real name was "Joachim," currently residing in Germany, with a wife and a child.
Not long ago, due to relationship problems, they had divorced their wife and were currently living alone.
Combining all this information, Lucius knew that this Joachim was the Welt he was looking for.
So after confirming the identity, he contacted them under Anti-Entropy Pictures' name, expressing interest in acquiring the rights to the Homu manga series, and used this to invite them to the Far East to discuss terms.
After being refused a few times, the other party finally sent back a message of agreement, just as Lucius had hoped.
And today was the day Welt was scheduled to arrive.
Lucius checked the time and found it had already reached the agreed meeting time.
Just as he was considering whether to contact Welt, he heard the sound of the cold drink shop's door being pushed open.
Lucius immediately looked toward the entrance, but to his disappointment, the person who entered wasn't Welt—it was a boy carrying a small suitcase.
He was no more than about ten years old, and was pushing hard to squeeze through the cold drink shop's door.
Lucius withdrew his gaze and prepared to continue waiting for Welt.
At this moment, the boy who had squeezed in looked around. Finding that aside from the server, Lucius was the only person in the shop, he carried his little suitcase over and stood before him.
"H-hello..."
The boy seemed quite introverted, but still mustered the courage to greet Lucius.
Lucius turned to look at him, and heard the boy ask: "Excuse me, are you the person from Anti-Entropy Entertainment?"
A rare look of puzzlement crossed Lucius's face, but he still nodded in response.
"That's me. And you are?"
"I... I'm Welt. I've come to discuss the... the rights matter with you."
"...Huh?"
Hearing the other party's words, Lucius felt his eyelid twitch.
A rather ominous suspicion appeared in his mind.
"You're Welt? The Welt who wrote the Homu manga?"
The boy shrank his head slightly, but still nodded.
"Y-yes... that's me."
He opened his suitcase and took out one unfinished manuscript after another, proving his identity.
Seeing the other party's manuscripts, Lucius's last desperate hope finally died—but he still wanted to struggle a little more.
"But the registration information for Welt on the manga website shows an adult."
Hearing this, a look of embarrassment crossed the boy's face.
"I'm sorry. Since I'm a minor, I used my father's identity to register."
"But Teacher Welt's real name is Joachim."
"My father and I are both named Joachim. But after my father and mother divorced, I went to live with my mother. Following my hometown's customs, I should now be called 'Yang.'"
"..."
Silence. A long silence.
In the end, Lucius covered his face with one hand, the corners of his mouth revealing a helpless smile.
"I knew it. I just knew it..."
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