Didn't you go to Teyvat to earn money to support me?

“I don’t know whether I should trust you, Rita. Although we can’t find any major problems with this operation, something still feels off to me,” Otto chuckled. “Let’s change the subject. That handsome young man who looks so pitiful, his name is Shen Liang, right?”

Rita's heart sank slightly.

"You said that he was favored by the previous civilization, and that the 'Serpent Lord' among the thirteen heroes was particularly fond of him?"

"Yes."

"Could he be recognized by Hei Yuan Bai Hua?"

"Yes."

"I heard the Shaniat family went to great lengths to protect him?"

“Yes, Mr. Shen Liang’s name in the Schariac family is ‘Pandora Schariac.’ Miss Maria Schariac claims that he is a child born through genetic modification technology and is the only male heir in the Schariac family. Anyone who dares to covet him is considered an enemy of Saint Maria,” Rita said in a low voice. “He now lives in Neuschwanstein Castle, and the density of Valkyries around him is even greater than that of the Schicksal headquarters. As you know, the Schariac family has more than double-digit A-level Valkyries.”

“Tsk,” Otto clicked his tongue, “The Shaniat family, which I raised from scratch back then, has now become too powerful to control. Alas, their achievements have become a threat to their master, and it looks like they will be discarded once the cunning rabbit is dead.”

He said it was difficult, but his tone was very relaxed.

Rita remained silent in the face of such vicious words.

“There’s something strange about Shen Liang. We’ve raised our level of attention to him to A, and added the note ‘related to the Moth of Fire.’ Although he might be the next son-in-law of the Shaniat family, we still need to take precautions,” Otto said calmly. “The Shaniat family is always unconditionally tolerant of their relatives, but selectively blind to any abnormalities they exhibit. Haven’t they considered that a man connected to a previous civilization might not have any mysterious background? Maybe he’s an experimental subject of the Moth of Fire, a Judgment-level Honkai Beastman—but even if the Shaniat family isn’t paying attention, we still need to be. If he exhibits any abnormal reactions that don’t belong to this civilization’s progress, we must capture or eliminate him as soon as possible.”

“But Your Excellency, if even the saintess by his side can’t handle him, then it seems like our trip would be… pointless.”

“But Cecilia is dying,” Otto whispered.

The man sighed. "Although the Shaniat family is a bit unruly these days, the thought of Cecilia dying... tsk, that brings a lot of trouble. Without their most powerful weapon, the deterrent effect of Destiny in the eyes of other nations will drop by more than half. That child thinks Maria can protect him, but in reality, the only person everyone truly fears is Cecilia. Once Cecilia dies, he won't be able to protect the Key of God at all. There are quite a few forces in the world capable of overthrowing the Shaniat family."

“Aren’t you afraid?” Rita asked in a low voice. “Aren’t you afraid that if you treat the Shaniat family like this, the Saintess might settle scores with you before she dies? Your Excellency, a dying man is fearless. This isn’t the first time you’ve tried to harm the family she’s chosen… Even the Saintess can have a furious rage that burns the earth.”

Otto was silent for a moment, then said in a low voice, "You're right, so let's wait, wait for her to be called by God... Actually, it's not just me, everyone in the world is waiting, those who covet the Shaniat family, those who covet destiny, those who covet Shen Liang, those who covet me... Everyone is waiting, waiting for the moment when the news of her death arrives, the curtain will rise."

He continued looking north at the base under construction and said in a deep voice, "The new destiny will rise above the world."

Rita looked at the bustling construction site with its machinery and thought about what the site would look like in the future. Even she, who was usually calm and collected, couldn't help but feel excited.

"Yes, you're right... This is still in the literal sense, above the world."

------------

The ice cellar is located on the 29th basement level of Neuschwanstein Castle.

Shen Liang rode down the transparent glass elevator, the box containing the Black Abyss White Flower beside him. He watched the images of each floor flash by, utterly astonished.

“The basement of Neuschwanstein Castle is the Schariac family’s research facility, storage facility, and refuge.” Sirin sat on the leather sofa and opened a bottle of wine. “You think there are more than a thousand people living in the castle? No way. Many of our subordinates and employees work underground. The surface area is mainly used as the living area for family members.”

It was outrageously luxurious. To make it easier for Celine to inspect the underground, the Shaniat family designed her study as an elevator. Every time it went down, or even the entire study went down together, she didn't even have to move her butt.

"It's not right to treat people differently."

“We have bars, cinemas, and all sorts of entertainment venues underground. If you find it claustrophobic and boring, we even provide men.” Sirin gave him a dismissive look. “Do you think many people like living in castles? The vast majority of Valkyries who are not of our Shaniat race prefer to live in normal houses, okay?”

"Provide men?" Shen Liang was shocked.

“Foolish humans, even a little thought will tell you that our Schariac family needs to present ourselves as devout nuns, and purity is essential, so there isn’t a single man in Neuschwanstein Castle. But to outsiders, this rule is simply inhumane,” Sirin scoffed. “While Valkyries have a large proportion of lesbian tendencies, they certainly have plenty of physical needs when it comes to the opposite sex. How do they satisfy their needs when they’re stuck underground for a month for research or work?”

Shen Liang stared in disbelief. "So you guys actually raise... raise ducks underground?"

"Duck? What's that?" Celine asked疑惑地, then realized, "Oh, is it a euphemism for sex workers? No, our Holy Maiden lineage is renowned for its purity, how could we have such a sordid thing? We hire some androgynous women with a heroic appearance who are female-oriented, and have them pretend to be men to solve these people's emotional problems. If they are compatible, they can also solve their physical problems. The response has been very good."

"The response has been very good?!"

"After all, it can satisfy two types of employees with different orientations at the same time, and it doesn't violate morality or the law. Some employees who already have partners have even been attracted to us, broken up with their original partners, and worked day and night here. Because they don't have to go home, their work efficiency has more than doubled," Xilin said eloquently.

At that moment, the elevator screen showed that they had arrived at -29, and a blast of cold air hit them. Shen Liang picked up his cold-weather helmet and put it on. The ice cellar where Cecilia was located still had to go through several layers of isolation doors, and the temperature there would eventually drop below minus 100. If they weren't prepared, they might even freeze to death.

"Hey." Before he could get going, he was stopped by Xilin, a white-haired, golden-eyed girl who grabbed his arm.

Shen Liang turned around, and Xilin bit her lip, her expression somewhat conflicted.

But she still gripped Shen Liang's arm tightly, stared at him intently, and said earnestly, "You must save her. She is Kiana's mother, she is my mother... Maybe she is also your mother-in-law, your family."

"I know."

“No, that’s not enough… If you can save her…” Sirin gritted her teeth, “I swear in my name Sirin, I can grant you one request, a request that I will definitely do if I can do it!”

Shen Liang sighed, "Don't put so much pressure on me."

"How can you be motivated if I don't put pressure on you?" Sirin gritted her teeth. "Pandora, remember this: once this woman dies, the Shaniat family will be mine! I will not protect you! I will become a demon! I won't even allow you and Kiana to have your wedding! You'd better give it your all!"

Shen Liang stared at her intently, then smiled and said, "Any request is acceptable?"

Sirin raised her chin. "As long as you can do it, even if you can prolong that woman's life... I'll keep my word! I'd even be your woman if you asked. Think about it, don't you want that? Kiana and I, the two sisters, would both give ourselves to you. Can you honestly say you haven't fantasized about that?"

"This is insane." Shen Liang chuckled, then pushed open the isolation door.

Soon, he passed through several electronic doors, went around several corridors, and arrived at Cecilia's room.

On a bed of liquid nitrogen, which resembles a coffin and is filled with rising white vapor, sits a white-haired beauty in a white dress made of a special material, barefoot, kneeling motionless. Her long eyelashes are covered with frost, and her serene face is like a beautiful ice sculpture.

Shen Liang closed the door and glanced at the thermometer on it, which showed -120 degrees Celsius. He knew that the white vapor rising around Cecilia was not steam, but liquid nitrogen, and the temperature around her at this moment was probably even higher than -200 degrees Celsius.

He stood there, looking at her intently for the first time.

As expected of a woman who could give birth to such stunningly beautiful girls as Kiana and Sirin, even with two daughters, she still deserves the title of the most beautiful woman in the Shaniat family, or even the most beautiful woman in destiny. Shen Liang had always thought Kiana was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen, except for her mouth, but after meeting Cecilia, he realized what a "peerless beauty" truly meant.

A stunning beauty is someone you'll never have any other expectations of the word "beauty" after seeing her.

Kiana, Sirin, Rita, Kokoro Sango, Yoomiya, Ayaka Kamisato, and even Raiden and Raiden Shin. Each girl's beauty is unique, whether charming, innocent, heroic, or alluring.

But Cecilia, upon seeing her, one might even subconsciously forget the so-called "beauty." Her defining qualities are holiness and gentleness, like an angel descended from the Bible, her beauty leaving one with only pure devotion.

Chapter 214 Once I picked him up, I didn't want to let go!

Inside the ice cellar, strong enough to crack steel, the walls and floor, made of high-strength composite materials, cover the room, which is only forty or fifty square meters, in pure white.

A woman with long, pure white hair sat quietly on the ice-crystal-like liquid nitrogen bed, her flawless beauty framed by closed eyes in a deep sleep. She wore a thin nightgown, simply dressed, yet her stunning curves were captivating. Just sitting there, she was breathtakingly beautiful.

The entire room was almost the color of falling snow—cold, pure, and utterly silent.

But this tranquility was destined to be broken. Shen Liang took a step, his footsteps under his winter coat making a clattering sound on the floor. He stopped about two meters away from Cecilia and then said, "Holy Maiden, you may wake up now."

The ice-sculpted beauty remained unmoved.

Shen Liang frowned slightly, took out the Black Abyss White Flower from the box, walked to her liquid nitrogen bed to check her pulse, and then glanced at the electroencephalogram next to the bed, which was fluctuating steadily.

Shen Liang sighed.

"Sister Leah." He shook his head, wanting to laugh, and changed his address.

The "ice sculpture" seemed to sway slightly, then opened its almost frozen eyes. Perhaps because it was frozen stiff, Cecilia shook herself for a while before slowly regaining her rigid body. Then she tilted her head and gave Shen Liang a mischievous yet innocent smile.

"My baby found out."

"Lia was awake when I came in, right? You're the world's strongest Valkyrie, you have a self-protection mechanism even when you're frozen, right?"

“…Hmm.” Cecilia chuckled in response. “You’re so clever. Sirin and Kiana didn’t know that. I pretended to be silent and they were almost scared to tears.”

"Perhaps my senior sister would, but Sister Xilin shouldn't be fooled. She should know what the fluctuations in the EEG mean."

"Huh, what does that mean?" Cecilia asked, bewildered.

Shen Liang smiled and stopped talking. He then drew his Black Abyss White Flower knight sword, "Black Abyss," and tossed it aside. Holding his lance, "White Flower," he looked up at Cecilia with a slightly troubled expression. "Could you come down? I can't treat you up here. This liquid nitrogen bed is over a meter high."

It's a bit embarrassing to say, but there's really no other way. The bed is constantly spewing ultra-low-temperature liquid nitrogen, so even Shen Liang's winter clothes can't get too close. And this broken bed is a good 1.3 meters high because it's been crammed with all sorts of equipment. When Cecilia is kneeling on it, her knees can reach the tip of his nose when he's standing up.

With his boyish build of only 1.59 meters, even if he jumped, he might not be able to reach Cecilia's shoulder when she was sitting.

"Oh dear, sorry, sorry, I didn't realize you were so small. But I'd better not get down, I feel really uncomfortable without this chill pressing down on me." Cecilia said casually, things that would only fuel Shen Liang's anger. Then she reached down and supported Shen Liang under his armpits, applying a little pressure. "I could lift you up, though, hehe!"

Shen Liang was suddenly lifted off the ground by her, and before she could even feel ashamed, she hurriedly said, "No, no, no, Sister Lia, wait a minute! The theoretical limit of this dress is only -120 degrees!"

Before he could finish speaking, Cecilia lifted him onto the bed. Shen Liang almost instinctively tried to activate his Sea Goddess bloodline to hold on, but he didn't feel the extreme cold. Instead, he felt as if he had fallen into a warm embrace.

"Sigh, how could you think of your sister as so ignorant? Of course I know I need to protect you." Cecilia ruffled the boy's long black hair in her arms. "Do you think I can just tough it out in a place like this? I'm using Honkai energy to isolate the thermosphere. Having someone else to protect me makes things easier for me."

The temperature did indeed stabilize at around 20 degrees Celsius. Shen Liang could clearly feel that he was being protected by some invisible and intangible energy, resisting the extremely low temperature.

He touched the coffin-shaped bed of liquid nitrogen beneath him and was surprised to find that it was about thirty centimeters deep. It turned out that Cecilia and he were sitting in nitrogen, which was similar to water. Shen Liang remembered that at normal pressure, the boiling point of nitrogen is -196 degrees Celsius, which meant that he was sitting directly in liquid nitrogen at minus two hundred degrees Celsius.

Shen Liang knew very well that this meant Cecilia's terrifying strength. Even if Anna, who focused on low temperatures, reached A-level, the ice blocks she created would often be no lower than minus 100 degrees Celsius.

Cecilia, as an S-rank Valkyrie, is proficient in almost everything. Her strength, which she is famous for, is certainly not in temperature control, but even so, the temperature control technology she uses to consume Honkai energy in her body already surpasses the strength of A-rank Valkyries who focus on this.

It's a very simple principle: if she can protect herself unharmed in liquid nitrogen, then she can naturally protect herself unharmed in high temperatures. Cecilia's control over temperature is already ridiculously strong.

And this is just the tip of the iceberg of her "perfection".

Cecilia didn't notice Shen Liang's strange behavior. She even showed a relaxed expression, casually half-lying against the wall, letting the boy sit in front of her. This position allowed her to hold him in her arms and pet him at will.

"Sister Leah, I think it's a bit too intimate for you to call me 'baby'." After considering for a moment, Shen Liang decided to raise a small protest.

"Then what should I call you? Ryoko or Pandora? Neither sounds as nice as 'Baby'." Cecilia habitually pinched his cheek. "Or do you not like it? Do you think it's too cheesy?"

“No, it’s just…” Shen Liang thought for a moment, “Senior Sister and Sister Xilin are your own daughters, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard you address them in this way. I’m just an outsider, and I’m a little overwhelmed by your enthusiasm. Or to put it more bluntly, your favoritism makes me feel extremely uneasy.”

This answer made the white-haired saintess laugh out loud. "Oh? Is that the reason? But my dear, how do you know how I call my two daughters when no one is around?"

Shen Liang asked in confusion, "You call your daughter that too?"

“No, I usually just call them ‘Baby’ or ‘Darling’,” Cecilia said with a smile. “If you want to treat them equally, you can choose between these two names, ‘Baby’?”

Compared to that, Shen Liang suddenly felt that the word "baby" was the most normal way to address a boy... Didn't she have any less intimate nicknames for him?

"Besides, my darling isn't an outsider. You're going to marry... cough, marry a daughter of our Shaniat family. Don't you have an old saying in China, 'The more a mother-in-law looks at her son-in-law, the more she likes him'?"