Honkai: It’s broken, I have become the Herrscher of Corrosion?

Xier moved slowly along the winding road. Along the way, she could see lifeless monsters and weapon wreckage from time to time, as if they had experienced a brutal battle.

"Hey - Xi'er, we are here! ... Xi'er, do you hear me? Xi'er?"

A familiar voice came, and Xier looked up suddenly, and saw Li Sushang and Youlan Dale standing on a mountain not far away, with their heads sticking out.

"I could never have imagined that I would arrive at Guanghan Palace the moment I got on the train."

… “…Okay. It’s too arrogant to talk down to someone like that. Let’s go downstairs and talk later, shall we?”

"Ah...yes. That's true. But, we finally met a companion, so it's inevitable that we'll show some joy, right? All right, we'll come down right away."

The two of them leaped forward and landed lightly beside Xier.

"Youlan Dell, and Miss Li, hello."

"Well, there's no need to be so distant. Although I've been lying in the Rakshasa's... [Hibernation Chamber] for a long time, I'm actually only a few years older than you. Why don't you just call me "Sister"? "

Xier replied timidly:

"Eh? Ok, ok, Sister Suchang..."

"...Uh, I was just kidding. If you think about it, it hasn't been that long since I woke up... I really understand this era like a child. Even if people call me 'sister', it's not worthy of the title.

You should just call her by her first name like Youlan Dai'er, or omit her last name and call her "Su Shang". It's simple and direct, and there's no ambiguity."

"Ah, okay... But - how did you get to the moon? I just woke up and found myself in a place called "New Atlas"..."

"I guess I'm in the same situation as you. I had already booked a room to stay in, but when I opened the door, I suddenly found myself in this strange place. It was just like what they say... yes, a scene from a "science fiction novel". At first I thought it was an inn - no, some special service of a hotel! If Yulandel hadn't found me, I would have made a fool of myself here."

"Although I have been in and out of the Quantum Sea before like Seer... this experience is still quite strange. The technology it uses is very different from Destiny.

...But at least Rita, who shared the power of the holy sword with me, seems to be fine - this is one of the few good news at the moment."

"……seem?"

"Well, because I can't contact Rita or anyone else on Earth yet, I can only sense through the Holy Sword that she is in good condition."

(That is to say... it's similar to my other self...)

Xier shared with the two the information she had learned in New Atla.

Li Sushang scratched his head:

"Xi'er, the information you got is indeed very important. Before we met you, we had already conducted some explorations in the vicinity. It is no exaggeration to say that what you just said is much more than the sum of the information we have collected, but... we can't confront Kevin face to face..."

"After all, apart from some strange-looking rocks and a broken bridge, we didn't even see a single "snake scale" of the World Serpent. And the road leading to the other side of the mountain was blocked by a strange force - no, it should be said that there was no road at all. It's just that I can't fly out even if I want to fly with a sword."

"...Well, Su Chang, if you really fly into the vacuum outside, things will become more troublesome. Although with your strength, you will be fine for a while...but it is still very inconvenient to be unable to speak."

"Ah...Is that so? Yes, someone mentioned in a program online that normally there is no air on the moon...Anyway, apart from meeting Xi'er, we haven't gained anything valuable in the past half day."

"Sometimes, 'no gain' may also be a gain. In my opinion... our situation at least shows that the World Serpent has sufficient 'room' for the current situation. No matter who is sent to 'New Atlas', they don't care and have no intention of restricting our freedom."

"This in turn also shows that the 'thing' that allowed the World Serpent to achieve this status quo must have extraordinary power and was carefully prepared... I remember that the Stigmata Project was said to be realized in the Eye of the Abyss at that time."

"Yeah. Xi'er must have had some understanding of it at the time."

"But according to what you said... isn't it a bit strange? The Rakshasa also told me before that the result of the Stigmata Project he knew was to keep the so-called "Stigmata Awakeners" like me and "eliminate" ordinary people, right?

Even if the people we met in that shelter are like this... what about Earth? Yulandel, didn't you say that according to your perception, at least Rita's condition is not abnormal? I remember... she is indeed an "ordinary person" in this sense, right? "

"...I think, from an outsider's perspective, this itself may indicate that the true face of the "Stigmata Project" is quite different from the version we heard before. After all, if we say that the World Serpent has come up with some new secret plan, it seems too far-fetched. "

"…That's true. But – what should I do now? It seems like no matter what I do, I have no idea what to do…"

"If we compare the current situation we are facing to a criminal investigation, there are some empirical practices that we can refer to."

"Criminal investigation... Oh, it's the idea of ​​a detective movie! What about Sherlock Holmes?"

"Yeah. That's understandable."

"Then I understand. A detective doesn't just look at a scene once. Only by investigating repeatedly can you find clues and encounter people and things that you accidentally missed before. Okay. Now that you have an idea - why don't we take action now?"

The three of them looked at each other and went to the strange-looking stone that Li Suchang mentioned to start investigating.

【希儿】：

"I always feel that these huge rocks don't seem to be formed naturally..."

【Li Sushang】：

"I think so, too. It feels like they must have had some... practical function in the distant past."

【Yulan Daier】:

"Unfortunately, they are too badly damaged. It may be difficult to restore their original appearance."

【希儿】：

"The power remaining in these rocks... is indeed Houkai energy."

【Li Sushang】：

"Yes. They clearly look like things from tens of thousands of years ago, but they still have such abundant energy remaining. What kind of monsters were the two sides fighting back then..."

"If you can decipher the information hidden in this "holy remains", perhaps you will be able to discover the essence of the "Stigmata Project". Come on, I'm quite optimistic about you."

The fourth person's voice came from behind the three of them. Xier and Yulandel both knew him. This person was the World Serpent's cadre [Jackal], Dr. Cleo Hypatia.