The Artifact Forger from the Beginning of Collapse

Page 155

Can't the riddle teller just die?!

"I'm merely informing you this time; I mean no harm. You can call me... the fictional historian. I will stalk you forever, forever."

"I'll remember you." After calming down, Walter adjusted his flat glasses.

"No, you won't remember, but don't worry, I will reappear when you reach another turning point in your destiny. Only then will you recall your conversation with me. Guess when you will forget me?"

"you!"

“King Houmu!” Sirin’s voice rang out.

"Alright, I'm leaving now. Goodbye." Seeing Walter's extremely conflicted expression, Chen Li left with satisfaction.

It's so much fun being the masked fool.

Chen Li glanced down at the Joy Dice and was finally relieved to see that the Joy Points were full again.

Just as Chen Li was forging this set of Houmu armor with Soul Steel, his Joy Points were depleted once.

Therefore, Chen Li urgently needs to have his points fully restored.

Because, after learning that the world would forget him, Chen Li was preparing to do something big!

139

Chapter 139 Chen Li: Your Majesty, although you've lost Bella, you still have me.

"Family member, do you think there's something wrong with my health?" After returning from the hospital, Xilin asked, holding Chen Li's hand.

"Oh, Your Majesty, what makes you say that?"

"I don't know why, but when Cecilia hugs me, I feel a sense of security, and her embrace feels very... no, why am I telling you this?" Cecilia blurted out these words because she wanted to confide her troubles to someone, but her stubbornness made her stop abruptly.

"I see!"

"What do you know?"

"As a professional psychologist, I have come to the conclusion that Your Majesty is in love."

"Huh?" Xilin, who was still deep in melancholy, looked at Chen Li in disbelief.

Do you want to hear what the hell you're saying?

"So I suggest that if Your Majesty is fond of this feeling, you should punch Cecilia until she kneels, then drag her back to your room and force her to do your..."

"Shut up, you quack!" Xilin jumped up and punched Chen Li on the head.

However, this attack was weak and powerless.

"Your criticism is really baffling," Chen Li said, scratching his head.

Chen Li thought that punching Cecilia until she knelt down, dragging her back to the room, and forcing her to be his mother would be a decent ending.

Why am I so averse to this?

Or perhaps, Your Majesty, you've thought of something less than healthy?

However, Xilin's stubbornness didn't last long. When night fell, as Xilin lay in bed with her body pressed against the giant Houmu doll, which was actually Chen Li's stomach, she couldn't help but confide in him:

"She's really good to me, but she's not my mother. What should I do?"

Xilin was confused.

"Feeling lost is a good thing; it proves you're growing." Chen Li gently patted Xilin's head with the large hand of a doll.

Confusion is a good thing, proving that Fu Xuan's use of the Taixu Sword God to sever the connection between the Honkai consciousness and Sirin was meaningful.

Only after losing the old man, the Honkai Consciousness, could Sirin regain her easily inflated personality and experience the confusion and sadness that only humans can feel.

In a sense, Fu Hua's Taixu Sword God actually helped Sirin.

Thinking about this, Chen Li also wondered if he should give the Spring Spirit a Void Sword God to see if he could sever the Honkai's influence on her.

The Spring Spirit's actions are purely driven by hatred. She doesn't possess any corrupted consciousness to act as a personal guardian. If you strike her with your sword, you'll only end up with a Spring Spirit cut in two.

"Then let's think about it another way. If I could freely control the power output of the Taixu Sword God, would that mean I could freely choose whether or not to sever the distracting thoughts in a person's heart or the bewitching influence of some consciousness or existence on living beings?"

[Theoretically, it's possible, but have you forgotten that you also have the ability to diagnose all phenomena?]

"That's true." Chen Li suddenly realized.

"King Houmu," Sirin whispered.

"What is wrong, Your Majesty?"

What should I do now?

"I already said that you punched Cecilia to her knees, then dragged her back to your room and forced yourself on her..."

“You’re even less reliable than Bella. Bella may not know anything, but at least she wouldn’t come up with such strange ideas.” Sirin chopped Chen Li on the head again.

“This is 5 years of wisdom! Although it wasn’t actually that long ago. But I was indeed active in this world 5 years ago,” Chen Li said matter-of-factly.

"Oh? How old are you exactly?" Sirin asked, intrigued.

"17."

"Only this big?" Sirin was somewhat surprised.

“Compared to our current intrinsic world, the flow rate in the world bubble is not constant… Your Majesty, the doll in your hand is on fire.” Just as Chen Li was trying to come up with a reasonable explanation, he suddenly noticed something.

"A doll? Bella! Bella, what's wrong with you? Answer me!" Sirin panicked the moment she saw her doll start to burn.

The Bella doll in Sirin's hand is actually a manifestation of Sirin's control over Bella in reality. The fact that the doll is now burning means that this control is no longer stable.

No matter how much Sirin called out, Bella did not respond. Sirin could only feel a trace of reluctance and longing from afar in the doll that was about to burn out in her hand.

"Snip!" Just then, the crisp sound of scissors rang out.

The scissors slashed fiercely at the Bella doll, severing the burning doll from the unburned parts.

The burning doll parts transformed into blue and white flame threads that solidified in the air.

Xilin was taken aback.

"Is this my companion? Your Majesty, please go about your business. I'll see if I can preserve Bella's intelligence as completely as possible," Chen Li said.

"Huh?" Sirin was taken aback again.

"As your future signature weapon, these scissors can cut through everything that can be understood. Now I have cut through the loss of Bella's reason and wisdom. Next, I will try to use these threads formed from the flames to mend the doll back to its original state. In this way, Bella's reason and wisdom may still be saved."

"Really?"

“Really, thankfully it’s an illusion now, and your control over Bella has materialized. However… Bella’s true form has once again transformed into a mindless beast, and that’s irreversible.” Chen Li nodded.

Benares was originally a companion beast of the Herrscher of the Void and had no rationality. It was only after the Herrscher of the Void spent a lot of energy on the moon to bestow upon it a pseudo-Herrscher core that it gained intelligence and rationality.

Just then, there was a knock on the door of Sirin's room.

"Hey, Sirin, what's wrong? I heard you shouting, what happened?" Siegfried's voice rang out from Sirin's door.

"That man! It was him who cut Bella's wing! Yes, it must be! It was the trick of these ants. They deceived me with the promise of a happy life, and then took the opportunity to kill Bella!" Upon hearing this voice, Celine gritted her teeth.

“…You wretched ants!” A golden light appeared behind Sirin, and the Spear of the Void appeared beside her.

Bella's disappearance roused Celine from her blissful illusion, and Celine's voice was once again filled with resentment.

The Spear of the Void shot out, piercing through the door and slamming into Siegfried. The immense force sent Siegfried's body crashing through the house wall and onto the grass.

Siegfried suffered a penetrating wound in his abdomen, an injury that could be fatal.

"Die!" Sirin, now in her Herrscher form, wielded the Void Spear towards Siegfried, who was lying on the ground. But at the last second, Cecilia appeared, grabbed Siegfried, and dodged the attack.

"Stop it, Sirin!" Cecilia tried to stop Sirin, but Cecilia's calm actions and agile movements made Sirin realize that this woman was not hypnotized by Feather Dust at all.

The blissful days of happiness turned into flammable oil, adding fuel to the fire that enraged Sirin, who was already furious about Bella's near-death experience.

"You liar! You knew all along that I wasn't your daughter! You lied to me!" Xilin instantly exploded.

However, at the crucial moment, a huge mecha phantom grabbed Sirin, and Walter reappeared.

While Sirin was imprisoned, Walter, along with Cecilia, picked up the severely injured and unconscious Siegfried and ran away.

Xilin, naturally unwilling to give up, chased after him again, leaving Chen Li standing there holding a half-eaten Bella doll and a blue and white silk thread.

"I'm not very good at sewing..." Chen Li held a Wanxiang sewing kit in one hand and a doll and thread in the other, looking a little confused.

Why don't you stop fighting, Your Majesty, and have Cecilia help sew up the doll?

But Chen Li felt that shouting like that would only enrage the already furious Sirin even more. It would be tantamount to proving to Sirin once again Bella's current predicament.

"Tsk, forget it, just allocate the points!" Chen Li sighed.

Bella is very lucky, really.

The Wanxiang Cutting Technique can cut anything, but as Chen Li said, only things that can be seen or understood by the user can be cut.

However, the conditions are quite lenient. For example, Chen Li can even sever Xilin's ownership of the Bella doll in front of her, thereby triggering the splicing effect of the Myriad Severances, and ultimately preserving Bella's rationality and wisdom.

Although Chen Li felt that saving Bella was pointless, he could always try to revive Bella by watching ads and collecting enough revival card fragments.

But Chen Li felt that if he didn't make his presence known and do more things, he might not be able to gather enough causal anchors to repay the debt of severing the connection between the previous civilization and the current civilization.

If this debt were to be incurred by a previous civilization, then...

“However, besides saving Bella, her future rival, there are other ways… For example, throw this thing away now, and tell Celine that it couldn’t be saved. When Celine is sad, tell her: Your Majesty, although you have lost Bella, you still have me.” Chen Li muttered to himself.