Their commission was suspicious.

"Uh......"

"So who exactly came up with this method?"

"That... isn't human."

"...Let me go, I'm not doing this surgery." Himeko suddenly felt that Chen Luo was unreliable.

Whether she succeeds or not is secondary; what Himeko is terrified of is that when she wakes up, she will no longer be human.

"I'm sorry, it's too late." Chen Luo picked up the ball made of silk thread and stuffed it into Ji Zi's mouth, silencing her.

"Uuuuuuu..."

Chapter 456 Stigmata: [Himeko Murata - Bride]

"You're awake? I'm sorry, the surgery was unsuccessful, and you're no longer human." Chen Luo's voice echoed in the empty and silent operating room.

Himeko, lying on the operating table, slowly woke up and opened her eyes with some difficulty to look at Chen Luo, who was slowly unmasking and taking off his gloves.

"What...did you say?" Aunt Himeko asked softly.

Well, Aunt Himeko isn't actually that old. She's only about 10 years older than Kiana and the others, and she's far from turning 30.

"I'm sorry, the surgery was unsuccessful, and you're no longer human." Although Chen Luo felt it was silly to repeat something the other person had already heard, there was nothing he could do if Ji Zi wanted to hear it.

"So...we failed after all?" Himeko's tone was somewhat disappointed.

However, as disappointment may be, being treated like a non-human being doesn't seem like such an unacceptable thing.

"Well, I have good news and bad news. Which would you like to hear first?" Chen Luo said, looking at Himeko, who was about to get up some time after the surgery.

"Good news." Himeko didn't want to think anymore.

"You've become stronger."

"The bad news is that I'm not human anymore, right?" Himeko said with a self-deprecating laugh.

"No, the bad news is that I was just kidding you. Because the Stigmata was successfully activated, you lost your chance to be inhuman, which also resulted in your strength not improving much, and you can no longer tear apart Herrschers with your bare hands." Chen Luo sighed and said to Himeko with some sadness.

In a world where everyone around her is a Herrscher, the inability to tear apart a Herrscher is such a huge blow to Himeko.

"...Are you kidding me?" If it weren't for the fact that she was feeling weak after the surgery, Himeko, who was barely able to sit up, would have punched Chen Luo.

"We're just trying to liven things up because we're tired."

"But I'm not tired at all, I don't need you to liven things up!"

"I'm tired. Do you think activating the Stigmata is easy?" Chen Luo rolled his eyes at Himeko.

[Ding! Mission complete]

I received 800 Primogems plus a random reward.

nice!

Of course, the signal that the mission was completed was more of a way to demonstrate to Chen Luo that the objective had been achieved.

The surgery was a success.

"...Considering you activated the Stigmata, I'll let it go and not hold it against you. By the way, how's the treatment for your wounds going?" Himeko examined her arms and other parts of her body, trying to spot some differences.

"Hmm, what kind of injury?" Chen Luo was taken aback.

"Won't your surgery leave scars?" Himeko glanced at Chen Luo with disdain.

"Ah, actually this surgery doesn't require incisions," Chen Luo said, having understood Himeko's meaning.

"??? Then why are you wearing a surgical cap and medical gloves?"

This surgery doesn't require incisions. Why are you bringing all this equipment? Are you out of your mind?

"I wore that outfit mainly because I was afraid you would think I wasn't professional."

Of course, the main reason is to create a sense of oppression.

"Chen! Luo!" Himeko said through gritted teeth, clutching her forehead.

Chen Luo should have helped properly, but he just wouldn't; he always seemed to be causing trouble.

"Bang!" In a fit of extreme displeasure, a burst of flames suddenly erupted from Himeko's hand, which was covering her forehead. However, even though the flames scorched Himeko's hair, they did not cause any damage to it.

Even so, the sudden flash of flame startled Himeko. After removing her hand, she stared blankly at the handful of flame in her hand.

"This is......"

"This is naturally the power of your Holy Mark. You don't actually think that awakening a Holy Mark brings no benefits and only reduces your lifespan to that of an ordinary person, do you? That would be a terrible Holy Mark. In this world today, which Holy Mark holder hasn't achieved something great?" Chen Luo said, standing beside him with his arms crossed.

"And the hidden Stigmata power you awakened is the ability to manipulate flames. The Stigmata is called—[Himeko Murata: Bride]. A certain amount of rage is required to ignite this flame when used for the first time," Chen Luo explained.

"So you were just courting death by standing next to me just to activate my Stigmata power?" Himeko raised an eyebrow.

“Yes, that’s half the reason,” Chen Luo said.

"What about the other half of the reason?"

"The other reason is that it's really fun to court death, especially when you can't beat me," Chen Luo said quite honestly.

"call!"

The flames in Himeko's hands burned even more fiercely. Although they did not harm Himeko, her clothes smelled of burning.

Before undergoing surgery, Ji Zi changed into a hospital gown so that Chen Luo could more easily undress her.

This hospital gown, of course, doesn't have the same fire resistance as the Valkyrie armor.

If you're not taking off your clothes before surgery, is that what you call surgery?

“Indeed, although I don’t know if this is a necessary condition, the power of the flames will indeed be stronger if you get even angrier,” Chen Luo said.

“…” Hearing Chen Luo’s words, Himeko suspected that Chen Luo was using her as a test subject, and that his words were just to provoke her so that he could better understand her Stigmata.

But Ji Zi felt that Chen Luo was just acting naturally again.

"By the way, what's the deal with that bride?" Himeko asked.

Why would a perfectly good stigma be associated with a wedding dress?

Himeko is from the Far East, as you can tell from her name, so she is no stranger to the chill of the bride.

The Bride... that name...

"Who knows?"

Well, the truth is that there are no words "bridal" at all. Himeko Murata is indeed the name of this stigma, but it has nothing to do with "bridal". Chen Luo just wanted to see the other party's reaction and, incidentally, provoke the other party so that the other party could better use the stigma's ability for the first time.

However, Chen Luo seemed to have a natural talent for provoking others, so he didn't need to use this backup plan at all.

"How do we put the flames back in? If we don't put them back in, our clothes will burn," Himeko said.

Even if you are some distance from the flame, if the temperature of the flame is high enough, the clothes can still burn without coming into contact with the flame.

That's the situation Himeko is in now.

“How would I know how to take it back? I’m not you. This is your Holy Mark,” Chen Luo said.

"This..." Himeko's face showed a troubled expression.

Although the stigmata was indeed Himeko's, Himeko didn't even know how it started burning.

“But if you want to learn more about this Holy Mark, that’s fine too. Come on, take off your clothes,” Chen Luo said.

"Take off your clothes? What do you want to do?" Himeko looked at Chen Luo warily.

"Oh, don't get me wrong, I just want to see the skin on your back. Although I could see your chest, I feel that you would be more embarrassed to see your chest, so let's see your back instead," Chen Luo explained.

Staring at someone's chest for a long time is indeed a bit perverted, but staring at someone's back might make them feel more comfortable.

"Then... close your eyes first," Aunt Himeko said.

After hearing Ji Zi's words, Chen Luo obediently closed his eyes.

With his eyes closed, Chen Luo heard the rustling sound of clothes being taken off.

"Alright, open your eyes."

Hearing Himeko's voice, Chen Luo opened his eyes and saw Himeko holding her clothes to her chest, only revealing her back as she faced him.

What's rare is that Himeko, who is so openly exposing her back, has her head half-turned, her face slightly flushed.

"Ha, a thirty-year-old woman, yet she acts like a virgin." Chen Luo sneered.

"Hoo!" Himeko held her clothes in her left hand to protect her chest, while trying to keep her burning right hand away from her clothes. However, because of Chen Luo's words, the flames on her right hand rose even more fiercely.

"Chen Luo, don't force me to retaliate! Besides, I'm not even 30! I'm only 27!" This was the biggest anger Ji Zi had felt today.

You're only 30 years old, your whole family is 30.

Normally, people graduate from university around the age of 23.

So 27 years old is really not that old.

but......

"Sigh, but I'm only 17 years old this year."

"...Hurry up and look! I'll put it on after you've seen it." Himeko said after being hit with a critical strike.

"Okay, okay." Chen Luo nodded perfunctorily, then gently placed his fingers on Himeko's smooth back.

As Chen Luo's fingers traced the marks on Himeko's back, a large area of ​​previously hidden stigmata patterns gradually became visible.

"Ugh..." Feeling Chen Luo's strange movements, Himeko felt itchy all over.

After the stigmata appeared, Chen Luo placed his hand on Himeko's back.

Furniture connoisseur, start.

Although Chen Luo was indeed activating the Stigmata within Himeko's body while performing surgery on her, the Stigmata could not be displayed or fully observed until Himeko activated it for the first time. Chen Luo could only vaguely understand its triggering and activation conditions, but he wouldn't understand the specifics in such depth.

Fortunately, furniture connoisseurs are always a godsend.

Why shouldn't Stigmata be furniture?

As Chen Luo activated his ability, he began to analyze the stigmata on Himeko's back.

Himeko, however, had a completely different experience when her stigmata were analyzed.

An indescribable feeling of being controlled arose spontaneously.

"Hmm, let me see what the specific effects are... Hmm... It looks a bit complicated." Furniture mastery is truly a god; after touching the stigma revealed on Himeko's back, it only took a minute for him to roughly determine the stigma's data.

"Oh, I see. First of all, your Stigmata attribute is fire."

“Nonsense…” Himeko said awkwardly, looking at the flame in her right hand and the increasingly strange sensation coming from her back.

"Fire is its most basic attribute. Now, let me explain. After awakening this sacred mark, your physical attributes should have improved considerably. You should have felt that, right?" Chen Luo said.

"Yes, I can feel it. It even feels like my body has become several years younger. My physical strength is greater, and the Honkai energy within me is more vibrant and somewhat scorching." Himeko clenched her right fist, which was still burning with flames, and felt great.

"In terms of game data, after awakening this Stigmata, your maximum health increases. At the same time, after being strengthened, the basic attributes of various abilities are also enhanced, whether it is physical strength, vitality, attack resistance to attacks, or recovery speed after injury."

"I see..."

"Apart from that, your fire abilities, except for the first awakening, do not necessarily require rage to use, but you still need to practice more to use them."

"Next is the characteristic of fire. The power this fire bestows upon you is that the more severe your injuries, the stronger the fire becomes, while your physical strength, defense, and so on will be enhanced. At the same time, the fire itself will consume your Honkai energy. Once the Honkai energy is depleted, it will consume stamina, and once the stamina is depleted, it will consume life force..."

"However, you don't need to worry about being burned to death by the flames. If you feel that your life is in danger, you can simply dissipate the flames and lie down on the ground. The extremely strong damage recovery speed granted by this stigma will allow you to regain your combat ability in a short time. In the words of the game, it means that you will slowly recover health when you are not attacking."

Simply put, this stigmata is more suited to a suicide-style playstyle.

However, according to Chen Luo's speculation, if the power of the Holy Mark is further developed, it might be possible to obtain a branch ability that allows one to plunder the life force of enemies after defeating them in order to replenish one's own health.

But that's how it is now: the lower your health, the higher the damage.

A typical Thousand Tribulations Strategy.

"Then here's the question: how do we extinguish this flame? It can't just keep burning, can it?" Himeko was quite satisfied with Chen Luo's explanation, but not entirely satisfied, since Chen Luo hadn't explained how to put the flame away.

"So... it's all about comprehension. I'm not you, how would I know how to take back the power within you?" Chen Luo said helplessly.

At least this stigmata does not record how to put the flames back.

It can only be said that fate played a cruel trick on us.

"What should I do? Do you expect me to stay naked or wear a combat suit all the time? Wearing a combat suit would solve the clothing problem, but I can't just not sleep, can I? And it's impossible to keep my hand raised all the time, right?" Himeko said, looking at the flame burning on her right hand.