Cyber ​​Heroes

Chapter 1208 Eternal Partners

The Great Nexus is the most unique structure on the Moon; its architectural form alone does not seem to be a product of this era—it is a massive pentagram-shaped bastion.

Theoretically speaking, the "bastion" architectural form should have been obsolete by now, about 500 years ago. These massive, concave-polygonal fortresses were originally used for defense in the early days of the firearms era, relying on crossfire. However, with the advent of explosive shells, the extension of artillery range, and the increasing prevalence of mobile warfare, this type of fortification largely disappeared from the historical stage by the 19th century.

If the world were normal, no one in the interstellar pioneer era would remember this ancient architectural style.

But this is the moon.

Several walls of varying heights rise directly from the lunar dust, and the center of the pentagram is King Agni's castle, "Medeburg".

The bastion, along with the inner castle, presents a contradictory overall design. It seems to have intended to continue the Baroque style, with its undulating facade, elliptical spaces, massive columns, and flowing, ever-changing light and shadow effects. However, the builders also seem somewhat accustomed to a minimalist modern style, clinging to the idea that "ornament is a sin," as the entire palace is constructed with flat glass walls, making the building appear as incongruous as a model with too few polygons.

The palace was built on the western edge of the moon's near side. From here, Earth appears just above the horizon, like a blue crescent moon that never sets—due to Earth's tidal locking, the moon always presents only one side to Earth. The palace's doors face Earth directly. Due to the moon's libration, Earth experiences a slight oscillation of plus or minus six degrees, but if observed from inside the doors, it always appears within the doorway, as if Earth were merely an eternal decoration on the doors and windows.

It is said that King Agni did not even want to look up at the Earth.

However, there are also rumors that King Agni often regretted that "the pentagram he drew could not be seen on Earth."

Although there isn't even a direct road to the outside world, this place is indeed a "hub." A significant portion of the upward information sent from Earth to outer space passes through here. Similarly, a considerable amount of downward data also travels from here to Earth. Aside from the Research Knights' data train, almost all data is at risk of being scrutinized.

Steganography and recognition technologies clash and advance here. Specialized AI grows here.

However, this work has been suspended for a long time.

After the knights took over the moon, Hiroshi Matsushima was dispatched there.

Ironheart Dharma King went quite far. He cursed and killed the other remaining experts on the moon, so much so that the moon could not mount any decent resistance—he seemed to have been preparing for this day for a long time.

Both Niaguti and Yang Zhenhao were amazed by the results. Thanks to Fihert's sabotage, the remaining forces on the moon couldn't even mount a proper resistance. Two First-Level Celestial Warriors led their teams to completely take control of the entire lunar surface. Only a few still believed that King Agni would eventually return, so they went into hiding, disconnected from the internet.

Right now, the main force of the heroes is busy cleaning up the stubborn elements on Earth.

And Hiroshi Matsushima is here right now.

Matsushima Hiroshi's skills are comparable to Mukayama and Hayabusa, but he is not familiar with advanced prosthetics, and his reflexes are limited. Niaguti felt that such a talent could be used to teach external martial arts, conduct theoretical research, or even engage in spiritual and cultural development; sending him to fight now would be a waste.

Matsushima's current task is to control Fihert. His firewall, originating from the same lineage as Turing's, can ensure he won't be instantly killed by internal energy curses, while his external martial arts skills are sufficient to handle most situations. Although the possibility of Fihert betraying him is low, basic precautions are still necessary.

Fihert had no objections to this. To him, being watched by anyone was more comfortable than being under King Agni's surveillance. So he was quite relaxed for the time being. He had deliberately changed into the body of an old man and felt genuinely relieved about the limitations of his prosthetic body's power.

This feeling of relaxation is something I haven't experienced in over a decade.

Then, just now, a signal summoned him and Matsushima to the main conference room.

The main conference room was where the heads of various departments under King Agni met. Now, the place was deserted; the usual attendees were either on campaigns with King Agni or had just been killed by Fihert. Looking at the empty conference room, Fihert felt a sense of peace and tranquility.

The projection of the mountain appeared in front of the two.

"What's going on?" Matsushima Hiroshi asked, somewhat confused. "According to the plan, you should have been on Mars by now, right?"

“My physical body is indeed on Mars, but this is my consciousness—similar to the tenant in your mind, but a step further. I have ascended,” Xiang Shan explained.

"Oh?" Fihert sat up straight, his tone becoming serious. "You mean our leader's PowerPoint presentation theme?"

"In a sense, I am your leader, little brother." Xiang Shan didn't waste any words, briefly mentioning the important points about the ascension, Zhu Xinyu, and the Six Dragons Cult, and then said, "In short, I have now changed my life form. We can discuss the details later. I have now led the Six Dragons Cult on the path of atonement, and the Six Dragons Cult also has a chance to ascend—although the form may be slightly different from when that leader made empty promises more than a hundred years ago, but I can truly guarantee it. Also, Joshua is doing well now. Alright, let's not talk about this anymore. I need your help with something."

Fihert was quite obsessed with ascension. He knew very well that this fervor had been cultivated by the cult leader, but he could also rationally judge that if he succeeded on this path, it would be extremely beneficial to him personally. It was precisely because of this restraint of his fervor that he was able to handle the most stressful jobs in human society.

Upon learning that the Soul-Suppressing Dharma King was safe, the Iron-Hearted Dharma King immediately adjusted his state of mind.

Xiangshan directly shared the data package. It included several written reports, from the archives of the Black Ship's Yoshitsugu staff officer.

These are all analyses of the Celestial Fleet.

Then, he retrieved the data from the Moon and sent it to Matsushima Hiroshi.

"This is the situation the Black Ship Righteous Army is facing now," Xiang Shan said. "This happened about ten minutes ago. The situation changes in an instant. They should be preparing to counterattack over there. I need your help to think..." He pointed at Fihert and said, "Brother Tie Xin, you are undoubtedly the one who understands Hartman the most. Make a deduction based on the intelligence on the Black Ship Righteous Army, and then there's you..." He then pointed at Matsushima Hiroshi and said, "The excellent researcher bestowed by the founder of the empire, put your brain to work and think carefully about the optimal strategy against Shuoqidi in this situation."

Matsushima Hiroshi said, "Even if we start thinking now, it will take ten minutes to send the message back to the Black Ship's elite troops, right? Is that enough time?"

"We have to think about whether there's enough time or not," Xiang Shan said. "Preparing for battle by mobilizing resources always takes some time. If the information sent back can help the heroes over there fill in any gaps at a critical moment, that would be even better."

Matsushima Hiromichi: "What about Mars? Mars is closer to the Black Ship's battlefield, right? Wouldn't you be able to mobilize more resources on Mars? And Saturn, you could appear there like this..."

"It can only be said that Mars' orbit is closer to the Black Ship's retinue, but Mars itself is not necessarily so." Xiang Shan shrugged. "Moreover, Mars' fatal problem is that its uplink is almost completely destroyed. Saturn, on the other hand, has almost no direct links from the inner solar system, so its downlink traffic is practically non-existent."

After realizing that the "Ascended" might exist on Mars, the super AI Chongli decisively destroyed almost all the uplink stations on a physical level.

It's impossible to lay cables between celestial bodies. Planetary networks have extremely high data throughput, while signal relay stations are very far away from the celestial bodies. To ensure stable communication, a planet's uplink and downlink data centers are separate.

At that time, the existence of the Ascended was merely a conjecture, so Chongli preserved the downlink—more precisely, the data train used by the Scientific Knights. Even if the conjecture was wrong, Mars's primary functions wouldn't simply cease.

This is an effective countermeasure. By simply destroying the uplink, the Ascended will find it difficult to project their power into other areas.

The remaining uplink stations are either antennas that have been abandoned long ago after several system updates, or they were privately built by the developers. These stations have very low data traffic, and the number of relay stations they can connect to is limited and very unstable.

All the upward flow on Mars is now controlled by Xiangshan, but the Ascended Xiangshan still cannot project his full power beyond Mars.

What Saturn lacks is the downlink bandwidth from the inner solar system. The data link privately built by the heroes is only sufficient for emergency communications. Heroes traveling between the inner and outer solar systems often carry hard drives to synchronize information between the resistance forces on both sides.

Even if Xiang Shan could find a small guerrilla force lurking in the asteroid belt and entrust them with the data of the ascendants, their spaceships would not be able to reach Saturn before the Tianxing Fleet.

Data originating from Mars, traveling along the private network Zhu Xinyu built over the past century to reach the Black Ship's followers, is only sufficient to update their personalities by combining them with local data.

The upflow from Earth is even higher. The results obtained from Earth can more effectively assist the Black Ships.

“From what I understand, the Black Ship Righteous Army commander’s speculation is not wrong.” Fihert fell into deep thought. “However, the fact that he abandoned Shuoqidi… that is somewhat unbelievable.”

"Does that old dog still have people he can't bear to abandon?"

Fihert shook his head: "That's not it. Lord Hartman has a price for everything in his heart, and Shuoqidi just happens to be one of the more expensive ones. Lord Hartman trained him mainly to counter the decapitation tactics of top martial artists. In a sense, he was preparing him for a future battle against the God of War. Logically speaking, he wouldn't be treated as a disposable item."

Matsushima Hiro was very humble about things he didn't understand, so he directly asked Zero in his mind, "What does 'one-time' mean?"

"Those are warships, after all. They could infiltrate them, but they couldn't escape successfully after alerting them," A-Ling explained. "Unless they can guarantee that all the enemy fleet's warships are incapacitated, the fuel carried by individual soldiers or small aircraft simply won't be enough to get them out of the warships' effective firing range before the enemy regains control. Besides, long-range raids are definitely more advantageous for large warships. The total amount of fuel they can carry is far superior."

In other words, if you can't defeat the enemy, you can only fight to the death.

With the advent of the Sixth God of War era, the focus shifted to the coordinated combat between top martial artists and fleets. True single-player versus ship-to-ship battles essentially only occurred in dire situations, like a desperate last stand.

Thirty first-level martial artists constitute a formidable force. During the battle on Earth's Carmen Line, the number of first-level martial artists on the heroes' side was less than half that. If Zhu Xinyu hadn't reversed Yogmov's charged attack, even if the Earth heroes had slain the kings, their remaining forces would have struggled to truly defeat the Venusian planetary fleet.

There are only about fifty high-ranking military officers who are scattered throughout the entire Earth—not considering the strong warriors among the heroes, fifty-odd first-level martial artists are enough to suppress the entire Earth.

Generally speaking, only capital warships are equipped with defensive warriors.

As for the chivalrous warriors, the Black Ship Righteous Army only has a dozen or so at the first level, far fewer than thirty. The Red Ship Righteous Army is said to be even more desperately short of them, with one first-level warrior even having to be responsible for the defense of dozens of warships.

However, it is now the tactical squad of Shuoqidi that is "isolated and helpless".

“Abandoning this force, it seems King Agni really doesn’t want to be interfered with by his own people during this surprise attack on Saturn… He wants to achieve a result that won’t cause trouble for anyone?” King Iron Heart pondered. “The attitude of the Father of All Machines… At this time, how about stirring up trouble among the other kings? No… He probably can’t do that.”

The Celestial Fleet has already penetrated deep into the asteroid belt, so even if the other kings have any ideas, they cannot interfere with King Agni.

Perhaps King Agni still harbored the idea of ​​"continuing to rely on the Protector's power after Saturn's ascension." Judging from Xiangshan's performance, the Ascended still heavily rely on data link bandwidth for interstellar combat. And the low communication bandwidth between the outer and inner solar systems is an objective fact.

Even if Hartman were to transform into an ascended calamity, he could not possibly launch a counterattack against Jupiter and Mars on his own.

Ultimately, it all comes down to military strength.

“In the past, the kings had no intention of helping or utilizing chivalrous people. Apart from the rebirth of the Martial God, they didn’t think much of chivalrous people.” Iron Heart Dharma King denied his own theory. “It seems that the Black Ship Righteous Army will have to break the deadlock on its own.”

The Black Ship Righteous Warriors can mobilize the entire fleet's resources to deal with this enemy force, while the Shuoqidi Tactical Squad can only scavenge for supplies on the spot as their resources are constantly depleted—this is a fragile balance. Once the resistance from the Knights of the Sea exceeds expectations, this process of sustaining the war through war will collapse.

This is actually the final fate of many heroes who raid warships.

Even a martial god cannot achieve perfect resource management and damage management every time.

It is almost impossible for this small squad to wipe out the entire Black Ship Legion's fighting force.

At the very least, if the warship group decides to adopt a strategy of fighting to the death, this isolated force will be almost powerless to counter it.

Of course, the Iron-Hearted Dharma King also knew that Xiang Shan's search for him was definitely not for this kind of strategy.

What Xiangshan needs is a tactic that can preserve the Black Ship's fighting capabilities to the greatest extent possible.

Matsushima Hiroshi pondered, "If this mission is so obviously suicidal... why would they be willing to undertake such a mission?"

“If we don’t go, we’ll die; if we go, there’s a slim chance of survival,” Fihert said without hesitation. “Given King Agni’s habits, perhaps when this army is down to 30%, those poor fellows will unlock the option to surrender?”

"In other words, the goal must be to eliminate 70% of their forces..."

"It is possible for Mr. Hartmann to set an even lower deadline."

“The key lies in Shuoqidi,” Xiangshan said. He retrieved relevant information about Shuoqidi from his local area—this was originally given to him by the Iron Heart Dharma King, and there was naturally a backup on the moon—and sent it to Matsushima Hiroshi, saying, “This is the toughest nut to crack.”

"In addition, there is the group that went to assassinate Hartmann... we also need to plan tactics for them."

.........................................................

The warship trembled, and the Black Ship's elite troops were changing formation.

This process was carried out concurrently with high-level meetings—this was part of the contingency plan. However, Hartmann's unconventional tactics rendered most common countermeasures ineffective.

Thirty first-level martial artists can crush the prerequisites for most tactics.

There's not much the Black Ship Jurchen can actually do.

By dispersing ships and increasing the distance between them, the cost to the enemy in executing a jump-ahead tactic can be effectively increased—at least several times the propellant consumption for short-range acceleration. Simultaneously, some ships will slowly turn their guns around and aim at each other.

This is actually a very dangerous move.

The primary structural performance of a deep-space warship is to counteract longitudinal gravitational acceleration, while counteracting lateral shear forces is of secondary importance. At the distance of "inside the fleet," the turning speed of a warship's main guns is absolutely insufficient to keep up with the short-range sprint speed of a first-level warrior. Furthermore, when targeting friendly ships that have infiltrated the fleet, the risk of damaging other friendly fleets must also be considered.

Simply targeting enemy ships that have intruded is not very meaningful; it only forces them to speed up their relocation after causing damage.

By locking onto each other in this way, the enemy's movement routes can be restricted.

However, this was also a helpless move under extremely unfavorable circumstances.

The Sixth Martial God has a whole set of tactics that reverse this extreme response.

That's right, this was originally a tactic created by the Protectors to counter the powerful Sixth Martial God's decapitation strategy.

The Sixth War God once used this countermeasure in reverse, combining it with a feint attack and the enemy's panic, causing the enemy ships to open fire on his fleet in the chaos.

But it really works well.

The Black Ships needed the final battle to take place in a position advantageous to them.

The entire formation change process will continue for some time.

Jeanne sat cross-legged on the floor that trembled from the turn.

Just now, Tumor Mountain bypassed Jeanne and sent a message directly to the fleet system: "My nerve cells are a product of the Six Dragons Cult's technology. I have not yet encountered the upper limit of G-force tolerance, and my reaction speed is barely acceptable. I am also Tumor Mountain. Perhaps I should be allowed to give it a try."

Then, the Ascended One packaged several performance-boosting plugins for the mountain—plugins he had just generated using the redundant brainpower of the Guild Master and A Dong.

Now, Jeanne is running these benchmarking plugins and waiting for the final results.

The stimulation of the whole brain by performance-enhancing plugins can bring about a variety of unusual hallucinations. Visual hallucinations, auditory hallucinations, phantom pain, and delirium are not serious, but they are very annoying.

Jeanne, enduring the pain, said, "Old man, are you really... sure?"

For me, it's not a matter of wanting or not wanting, but rather whether or not to do it. At this moment, Tumor Mountain seemed to be polluted by all sorts of illusions, displaying bizarre and grotesque colors.

Jeanne then realized, oh, this old man was actually a hallucination. He never had a human form to begin with.

Tumor Mountain said, "If you really don't want to, you certainly don't have to. I won't force someone without the will to fight to the battlefield. Warriors without the will to fight can easily lead to the collapse of the battle. If you don't want to fight, you shouldn't have stepped onto the battlefield in the first place." He paused, "If I misunderstood, I apologize—but didn't you come prepared to die?"

"Don't provoke me," Jeanne retorted. "I am indeed prepared to die, but that should... only apply to myself..."

Wow, does that mean if you die, I can still live?

Jeanne was speechless, but still shook her head: "No, what I mean is...you're clearly resisting...this kind of death?"

"Where?" the tumor said, pointing towards the mountain path. "Ascension! This is ascension!"

But that's not what you think.

Tumor sighed: "It's true, it's because we shared a part of the neural network."

Jeanne said, "If you resist so much..."

"Then you'll have to participate in this battle as an ordinary first-level martial artist, child," Liu Xiangshan said. "That's a huge waste of combat power."

But you always say that you shouldn't do things that could kill you without being prepared?

"That's the ideal state. If there were a choice, the world would be like that," Liu Xiangshan said. "But death is always special. Most of the time, it comes unexpectedly. Even in the ideal state, no one plans their own death, right? To be able to choose this moment, this time, to end this journey for this reason, is a kind of fortune for a person."

【but……】

"I don't care about death. This life was an accident within an accident, something that shouldn't have been mine in the first place," Liu Xiangshan continued. "My only concern is the method. After all, the thought of becoming something else entirely, and having to associate with the Six Dragons Cult Leader, is somewhat unpleasant. But it's alright, I'm quite good at adjusting myself. My thoughts change very quickly."

【Really?】

"My thinking changes very quickly; I'm a guide for the whole world." Xiang Shan seemed to be speaking to Jeanne, but also to himself. "You know, it's normal to feel fear about the unknown. I've never seen a confirmed case..."

Jeanne had a hallucination that the part of her mind that didn't belong to her was hardening, harder than steel, so hard that she couldn't find a suitable way to describe it.

"Yes, I will always change," Liu Xiangshan said. "Perhaps I will change in a little while, and be different from now. But that will undoubtedly be my own choice. To become part of a larger self. There's no need to feel this is death—and don't hold a grudge, because this technology will develop, and perhaps decades or even a hundred years from now, you will enjoy all of this. If today's grudges cause you any trouble in the future, I will feel very sorry."

Jeanne lowered her head, nodded, and looked somewhat sad.

"I think my way of speaking will subtly change in a moment, and I might even feel a little embarrassed by my petty behavior," Xiang Shan said. "But it will still be mine. I will always be your friend, girl."

At this point, the progress bar of the benchmarking plugin has reached its end.

The virtual image of Ascended Mountain appeared in Jeanne and Liu Xiangshan's senses. Ascended Mountain seemed somewhat surprised: "The benchmark score is quite high...tsk, it's a pity the Six Dragons Cult's database isn't synchronized. Hmm, it seems you're with me."

Tumor nodded towards the mountain and opened his arms: "So, are we going to merge into one now?"

“Hmm.” The Ascended nodded. “You probably already guessed it. If you start downloading my data, you will inevitably change. This is not because I forcibly modify your mind, but because of Xiangshan’s inherent nature. Xiangshan will immediately understand ascension and become an Ascended. In the end, this is no different from becoming a part of me—all Ascended of the same origin and kind who have relinquished their ego will automatically merge into one project.”

Jeanne couldn't help but ask, "So you also consider this a kind of death?"

“Personally, I don’t think this is death, but people’s perspectives will always differ. Even among ourselves, different experiences will lead to different viewpoints,” the Ascended One said. “I understand those who see it as death—because Xiangshan thinks so too.”

“Hmph…” Liu Xiangshan shook his head. “Could it be referring to the Six Dragons Cult Leader? I never would have guessed. The one who shares my views on this issue the most is actually the one I hate the most.”

"Then, it's time for tactical arrangements," Xiang Shan said. "This time, we must split into two groups. In addition to annihilating this tactical squad, we also need to decapitate Hartmann from the opposite direction. This is something we must do."

Xiang Shan sent a text document directly.

“Girl, you… or rather that tumor is indeed the most suitable for me to utilize. The Black Ship Righteous Army has very limited resources to use in chasing the Celestial Star Fleet. Three to five first-level warriors, fully armed, is the limit.”

Information is the cheapest weapon. Its impact on weight is negligible. Its replication process is inexpensive. However, accurate information can enable a warrior to perform far more effectively than ever before.

The foundation of cyber martial arts lies in the flow of information through advanced networks.

The rise of information technology is the ultimate embodiment of this concept.

Because the Black Ship Legion could only send out a limited number of individuals, they planned to arrange for the most suitable Ascended individuals to perform their duties along the route to decapitate Hartmann.

“Tactically speaking, I would like you to join the team that will behead Hartman, girl. But it depends on you,” the Ascended said. “Once you reach Mars, I can reverse your brain damage. But if you go after the Celestial Fleet, things are less certain.”

"First of all, there is risk in any battle. That's for sure. Then, you might not make it back in time. The number of auxiliary fuel tanks you can carry is limited, and fuel consumption is difficult to control during intense combat. If your acceleration is insufficient, you may not be able to return to Mars on time."

“With the data provided by Li Zheyuan and the information from the Six Dragons Cult, I am confident that I can complete the treatment on Mars. But if you can’t make it back, then all of this will be meaningless.”

Feisheng solemnly said, "I hope you will consider this carefully. Once you set off, there will be no turning back."

Jeanne took a deep breath and fell into a moment of silence. In that instant, Liu Xiangshan could feel a flood of thoughts rushing in. He tried his best not to understand them, but he still sensed a great deal.

Fear, victory, what I've seen along the way, and...

Jeanne said, "I've just learned something. Perhaps it's a kind of luck to be able to choose the time, place, and manner of your death."

"Freshly cooked and served, hot and fresh," Liu Xiangshan snorted. "The originality is just too low—but then again, you don't have to choose it. Of course, I won't stop you."

“I can’t accept a world where King Agni can live forever, even in the form of a virus,” Jeanne said. “You say that Xiangshan always wants to make the world a better place. I don’t know what I want the world to be like, but I feel that a good new world cannot have people like Hartmann.”

The Ascended nodded, a smile on his face: "I have sensed your intentions. Let it be decided then, the decapitation squad will be centered around you." The Ascended's virtual image swiped its finger, and a download prompt popped up in front of Jeanne.

"The most core part of my personality data will be installed gradually."

Tumor Mountain, controlling the prosthetic body, waved his hand and said, "Alright, get lost."

The Ascended waved his hand and shouted, "Brothers and sisters, you all have them! Let's work together! Generate the necessary upgrade packs for me!"

Jeanne saw the president of the Hermite Society raise her right hand, giving the middle finger high, then lock her prosthetic body in place, maintaining the pose. She seemed to have fallen into some kind of slumber.

Jeanne's storage compartment popped out from her lower back. Tumor Mountain searched the records and found the potion inside: [Just the last one left. Looks like this really is the last time.]

This drug is a cocktail of medications that Xiang Shan and Jeanne developed through long-term experimentation. It can paralyze the part of the neural network dominated by Jeanne, but has less effect on the cancerous part dominated by Xiang Shan. In the past, Jeanne would use this drug to reduce the presence of her own will when she was in crisis.

However, after Liu Xiangshan mastered the technique of adapting himself to Jeanne, the dosage of this drug was reduced. Jeanne now only carries one dose with her, just in case.

This must be the last time, Liu Xiangshan thought. If Jeanne can reach Mars in time after this battle, she'll never have to fight in this condition again.

"It's such a shame," Jeanne shook her head. "It wasn't until the very end that I truly understood what 'the taste of victory' meant... and it wasn't until the very end that I realized how good it felt to win for others."

There's no way to share more...

[Ha, parting and death always come unexpectedly. I've had many friends in the past, and saying goodbye was just a normal occurrence, but I never imagined it would be the last time I saw them. Being able to say goodbye properly is already quite good.] Tumor Mountain manipulated the armor on his lower jaw to open, ejecting the medication chamber. [Personally speaking, I wouldn't want to take a child to a more dangerous battlefield. But there's no way around it, we can't be separated.]

[Child? Ridiculous. I'm not young.]

Liu Xiangshan neither confirmed nor denied this: "Although I've been fighting with burdens all these years, I'm honored to witness the birth of a true warrior in the end. Don't forget how you felt today, my daughter. I hope that one day you will leave your mark on history. Maybe a thousand years from now... or two thousand years from now, people will think you're even greater than Xiangshan?"

—Anyway, it's probably impossible within the next eight hundred years.

Jeanne still caught the words that Liu Xiangshan hadn't intended to say, but which came to mind casually.

The container was pressed into the administration chamber by Xiang Shan, and then the drug gradually entered Jeanne's brain.

“Take a short break. It will take them a while to get their equipment ready,” Liu Xiangshan said. “When that time comes, you will be partnered with a more powerful version of me to carry out the most awesome missions and win a great victory. You may find that version of me unfamiliar, but it will definitely be me, and it will have all my current memories.”

"No matter what, I will always be your friend, Jeanne."

I originally intended to wipe out the old dog's lackeys in one fell swoop, but considering the emotions involved, I'll leave it at that for now.

Next update, Children's Day. Probably.