Miss Riddler just wants to level up in peace.

As soon as they stepped off the ship, Himeko and Wendy were already waiting for them.

"Sister Ziyao, do you... do you still remember Wendy? It's been so long..."

The girl said shyly, and presented a bouquet of tied lilies.

"Wendy, take the headmistress and the others back to their dorms first. I have something to say to Nightingale."

Himeko greeted them, while giving Theresa a disapproving look.

They disappear without a word, leaving behind a huge pile of work.

Seriously, there should be a limit to being willful, right?

"what happened?"

Ziyao asked, puzzled, after being called aside by someone else.

"Rita seems to be looking for you; she just left."

"It might not be a big deal for you, but it's better to be careful."

"By the way, I've prepared some rare vintage wine. How about we catch up quietly later?"

Ji Zi sighed, "It's a pity that Teacher Yang isn't here, otherwise I would definitely have hosted a feast."

Unbeknownst to anyone, the gears of fate had begun to turn slowly once again.

Volume 1: Chapter 257 Li Ai's update is here! (Part 3)

"Rita?"

Rita was sitting on the bed, her hand covering her chest, staring blankly at the blanket.

It was as if I had become the Woodcutter of Rotten Chess, experiencing a long, fleeting dream.

I only slept for a standard half hour, but it felt like I had been asleep for months.

The dye called illusion drips into the water of reality, mingling and intertwining with it, deepening and connecting endlessly until it is stained with the other's color and becomes one with it.

It took her a while to realize that it was real.

Durandal noticed her strange expression and quickly put down the exercise equipment she was holding, coming to Rita's side.

"I had a very long and very real dream."

Everyone has experienced waking up but not getting out of bed, instead staring blankly at the ceiling, trying to recall the contents of their dream.

However, this time is different.

A happy dream? Or a sad one?

Rita's expression was complicated. Durandal admitted that she was a bit careless and not good at understanding other people's subtle thoughts, so she chose to ask directly.

"—Lady Durandal, we were deceived by that scumbag woman, losing our feelings and our bodies."

"???"

"Although it was a dreamlike bubble, the feeling was so real that I was drawn into it as well."

"I clutch my chest," Rita murmured.

We are still far from our mission destination.

She patted the bed, gesturing for Durandal to sit down, and began to tell the story slowly from the beginning.

"Drip."

The communicator received a message from Otto.

Before he could finish speaking, he was interrupted by a crisp text message.

When I opened the message, there was only a very short sentence on it.

[Read blogs]

"Has His Excellency the Bishop been kidnapped? His speech is becoming increasingly difficult to understand."

Rita grumbled, "One thing at a time," and then she opened her blog.

As soon as I entered, the homepage displayed 'Li Ai Qin, whom you are following, is currently live streaming.'

They traced the IP address and mobilized the vast resources of the company to track down the account's true identity, but to no avail.

When Rita opened the live stream and saw the footage, she almost dropped her tablet.

Durandal's eyes widened as well. "Isn't this Miss Zi?"

"how come?"

This familiar scene—she had experienced it three times not long ago.

———It was just a dream.

Tianming Airport, boarding gate.

She rescued a girl named Izumi from the Honkai Beasts.

The girl's family suffered a bloody tragedy, and in order to take care of her, he used his position to arrange a job for her at the airport.

During this time, the girl relentlessly pursued him, and after a series of coincidences, they got together and later even tricked Lady Durandal.

Unfortunately, the other party came to Destiny with ill intentions, causing the deaths of two elite Valkyrie teams and ultimately dying in the prison cell.

"Rita, do you have a grudge against Miss Zi? You look terrible."

Seeing that Rita remained silent, Durandal asked.

Rita was very skilled at managing her expressions. After being reminded of her inappropriate behavior, her expression instantly brightened, and she smiled.

"The scumbag I'm talking about is Ms. Quanbai on the screen. It's still uncertain whether Ms. Zi is the same person as her."

Although they are both equally intelligent, because she doesn't often interact with Miss Zi, she doesn't know what she usually looks like, her personality, hobbies, etc., so she can't make a hasty judgment.

In the live stream, comments kept popping up.

[Updated?]

Why isn't there more evidence of the Honkai's existence? What kind of place is this?

[Looking forward to the official statement being proven wrong; it's practically common knowledge now, yet they're still suppressing the news.]

[Steaming buns, aren't you using the steamer? .jpg]

"What a coincidence?"

Upon hearing that the live stream content was exactly the same as Rita's dream, Durandal was initially surprised, but after thinking about it, she couldn't rule out the possibility that someone was manipulating things in the dark.

After all, the one who caused such a ruckus at the Destiny headquarters was a Herrscher who could control people.

On the screen, the girl confessed her feelings to Rita the day after she took in Izumi.

Option 1: Accept the girl's flowers to indicate that we are not a good match.

Option 2: Throw away the girl's flowers and sternly warn her to focus on her work.

Option 3: Refuse the girl's flowers and draw a clear line.

Immediately afterwards, time stopped, and three options suddenly appeared.

A barrage of comments started posting serial numbers in the live stream chat. As expected, Rita's choice on the screen was "one," politely declining Izumi's offer.

It is difficult for a person to realize that they are in a dream, let alone such a realistic bubble shadow.

Rita's expression turned serious. Her first choice in the dream was recreated, but there were no option boxes, and it wasn't a game; it was a very real reality. She rejected the other party based on her thoughts.

"Really? Hmm, I really like Rita. Don't underestimate my determination."

The girl smiled and then shamelessly invited Rita to lunch, not caring at all that she had just been rejected.

"You're quite persistent; you have a lot of willpower."

Looking at the screen, Durandal admired her. In the following days, the girl confessed her love to Rita in different ways every day.

"Lady Durandal, please don't be fooled by her appearance."

Rita grabbed Durandal's hand and shook her head.

Recalling the painful scene of being dumped and the feeling of being deceived, resentment welled up in her heart.

Upon seeing Durandal's astonished expression, the resentment instantly dissipated.

"...I'm sorry, I was just too nervous."

Rita released Durandal's wrist and bowed her head in apology.

"I see. The video matches the content of your dream one by one, which is why you reacted that way."

"Should we terminate the mission, Rita?"

Rita's condition has been strange since she woke up, which worries Durandal.

"Didn't Otto say that Target Number Two would also be going to the Middle East? Why don't we just go find her ourselves then?"

Outside the door, a woman dressed in a Chinese-style shirt leaned against the door frame. She was Li Sushang, the assistant for this mission.

"By the way, we've arrived."

..

I entered a dream once again.

Upon opening the phone, a new visual novel called Honkai Impact 3rd appeared on the screen.

Ziyao tried pinching her face, trying to resist imagining the pain.

"It doesn't hurt at all."

Yes, I'm dreaming right now.

Open the game.

Recalling her past experiences, she first explored all the bad endings, because only in this way could she reach the true ending.

Ziyao carefully paid attention to every detail of the text, looking for clues that could answer her questions, after all, this was a rare opportunity.

What kind of Herrscher was the Herrscher born from Destiny?

Who was she originally, why did she become a Herrscher, and what are her abilities?