"3, 2, 1, Action!"
Following the countdown from the onsite director, the Light Cone press conference, broadcasted live across all platforms to nearly every known bubble universe via a special network, officially commenced.
BOOM——!
A sudden, violent explosion engulfed Exhibition Halls 1 and 2.
Scorching heat waves mixed with the pungent smell of gunpowder smoke spread rapidly. Amidst the dazzling firelight and flying debris, Topaz and Asta, who were introducing the product on stage, could be vaguely seen being swallowed by the shockwave of the blast!
"Jie jie jie! Is this the Light Cone that claims to be able to change the world pattern?"
A malicious, ear-piercing voice echoed through the spreading smoke. A battle axe swept out horizontally, forcefully dispelling the residual flames and thick smoke, revealing the true appearance of the attacker.
It was a hideous, pitch-black mobile armor filled with the aesthetics of heavy industrial violence. The armor covering the entire body gleamed with a cold, hard metallic luster under the firelight.
The freak's face was covered by an expressionless black mask. He casually rested the terrifying giant axe on his broad shoulder. His height exceeded three meters, like a steel demon crawling out of the abyss.
His thick fingers dexterously played with several Light Cones looted from the booth. The attacker let out a grim and triumphant laugh: "Is the security of the magnificent Interastral Peace Corporation so weak? Then, this great master will gratefully accept these treasures!"
Bang! Bang!
Two crisp and decisive gunshots rang out abruptly. Energy bullets accurately hit the heavy armor on the pitch-black freak's chest, splashing dazzling sparks and fine electric arcs.
"Hmm?"
The freak's scarlet electronic eye turned sharply sideways. Topaz stood firmly in a place where the smoke and dust had slightly dispersed, faint green smoke lingering around the muzzle of her weapon.
The girl was breathtakingly beautiful, her gaze incredibly firm. Although her hair was slightly messy and her uniform was stained with dust, her posture remained upright.
"You bastard! Don't even think about taking away the company's property!"
Before her voice fell, she pulled the trigger calmly again. Dozens, then hundreds of energy bullets whizzed out, single-handedly forming a dense firepower net like a dragnet from heaven and earth.
The pitch-black freak was forced back repeatedly by this sudden precision shooting, leaving several clear dents and scorch marks on his armor.
Enraged, he roared irritably: "You only know how to hide in the distance and use these ridiculous toys! Damn company dog, watch this!"
He raised one of the Light Cones he had just obtained high, then slammed it into his chest. The Light Cone melted into the armor as if it had a life of its own, leaving no visible difference on the surface.
Immediately after, the freak's figure blurred, and two mirror images identical to his main body suddenly appeared.
Three huge figures roared simultaneously, rushing towards Topaz from different directions with astonishing speed, obviously intending to close the distance for the close-quarters combat they excelled at.
"What? Is this a mirror clone that can create copies identical to the original body in appearance, tone, demeanor, and even momentum and killing intent after activation? How do you know this move?!"
The girl turned pale with shock and hurriedly continued shooting in an attempt to intercept them.
The two mirror images that were hit shattered suddenly like glazed glass struck by a heavy hammer, turning into specks of light filling the sky and dissipating.
But they successfully attracted the firepower. The freak's main body seized this opportunity to suddenly accelerate again, and a huge shadow completely enveloped Topaz!
"Haha! Why do I know this move?" He raised his giant axe high, laughing triumphantly: "Of course, it's because of this magical Light Cone! As long as it is placed in the body, anyone, regardless of conditions, can freely use the skills recorded in it!"
Topaz was incredulous: "You mean just by touching the Light Cone to your armor, it automatically fused with you and you can use it immediately?!"
"Blame yourselves for designing it so conveniently!" The giant axe, accumulating terrifying power, slashed down brazenly. The blade tore through the air, emitting a ghostly wail: "As thanks to you, let the great Pitch-Dark Peppy grant you eternal slumber!"
Seeing that the cold axe blade was about to touch the tips of Topaz's raised hair, the panic on the girl's face was suddenly swept away, replaced by a cunning smile of a successful scheme:
"Is that really so?"
With a whoosh, her figure vanished from the spot like a ghost!
"W-Where is she?!"
The freak calling himself Peppy missed his strike. The giant axe slammed into the ground, smashing out a large pit.
He looked around in bewilderment, his scarlet electronic eye scanning the surroundings frantically.
A crisp voice came from above the freak's head: "Right here!"
Topaz was standing on his broad metal shoulder, gracefully holding a glowing Light Cone between two fingers: "Did you think you were the only one with a Light Cone?"
The freak's pupils contracted: "That is—Shrinking Earth!"
"That's right! Recorded in this Light Cone is the pinnacle of footwork that countless martial artists and fighters dream of, pursuing ultimate agility and speed! And next is—" She flipped her wrist, and another Light Cone entered her body: "All worldly things are within my grasp. By the vow of the Immovable Wisdom King's true body, I make a great wish to subdue this evil spirit! Halt!"
"What?! Ugh—!"
Peppy the Freak's massive body suddenly stiffened, as if bound tightly by countless invisible chains.
"Immovable Wisdom King's Golden Bind Technique, forcibly binding the target, rendering them unable to move."
The girl leaped lightly from his shoulder, landing silently.
She turned her face, raised her chin, with a trace of a victor's arrogance: "The Light Cones placed in the body can be used specifically according to the master's needs. I just purposely left your vocal processor permissions. Now, you are allowed to make a tearful repentance report."
A cold female voice quietly sounded in Topaz's ear: "I don't care whether he reflects or not, but Miss Topaz, is defeating a mere mass-produced vanguard soldier of our legion worth making you so proud?"
"What?"
Before the young company executive could react, an irresistible force bombarded her delicate back.
Topaz was instantly sent flying like a kite with a broken string, rolling awkwardly on the ground for a dozen laps before slamming heavily into the reinforced wall at the edge of the exhibition hall, making a tooth-aching dull thud.
"Ugh, cough, cough, cough!"
She struggled to prop up her body, ignoring the blood spilling from the corner of her mouth, and looked up in the direction of the attack.
A huge dimensional rift was forcibly torn open in the center of the exhibition hall. In the gloomy rift, hundreds of soldiers equipped with standard pitch-black mobile armor lined up neatly.
The vast majority of them were equipped with gear identical to that of Lord Peppy just now!
"The guy who put me in a hard fight was just a mass-produced ordinary soldier?!"
Topaz's pupils contracted violently due to shock. She couldn't help but let out a miserable laugh, barely moving to lean against the cold wall, her body trembling slightly from exhaustion and pain.
"I'm very sorry, Madam Jade..."
Her unfocused gaze looked at the dome of the exhibition hall, and the girl muttered to herself: "Yelena, I can't fulfill my promise to you..."
Just as she closed her eyes to await death, an awe-inspiring and fiery shout rang through the chaotic exhibition hall like the morning light breaking through dawn:
"Is it really okay to give up so easily?!"
"What else can I do but give up?" Topaz clutched her painful arm and answered with blurred consciousness: "The enemy numbers over a hundred, each equipped with the most advanced standard individual mecha. I can barely handle the weakest minion among them, let alone the lieutenants and field officers."
"Since your brain can still think and analyze, it means you haven't planned to give up in your heart at all!"
Asta's figure finally broke through the smoke and dust, appearing in front of Topaz, who was slumped on the ground.
Her shoulder-length pink hair fluttered slightly, and her glance at the pitch-black legion was full of disdain: "In the end, they are just a pile of iron lumps relying on old technology. How can they compare with the Light Cone in your hand, which represents the highest crystallization of our company's technology?"
"Yeah, the company's technology is naturally far superior to them." Topaz lowered her head disheartenedly: "But most of the Light Cones used for display have been snatched or controlled by the opponent. I only have the last two left here."
"You don't have them, but I do!"
A powerful telekinetic force surged out with Asta as the center. Brilliant light bloomed, and hundreds of colorful Light Cones circled and danced like living stars, forming an incomparably dazzling rotating star ring centered on the beautiful girls.
In the next second, they turned into colorful meteors, all merging into the bodies of the two.
A majestic and pure sense of power filled their limbs and bones. The fatigue and pain from the previous battle were swept away, and countless mysterious skill information and application techniques were imprinted deep in their consciousness like instinct.
Feeling the earth-shaking changes in herself, Topaz cried out in surprise:
"T-This is?!"
"Come on!"
A confident and arrogant arc curled up at the corner of Asta's lips, and she reached out to her best friend sitting on the ground: "Let's show these ungrateful guys the crystallization of scientific research that is enough for the company to change history!"
Hope dispelled all despair, and a blazing fire reignited in Topaz's eyes.
"Mm!"
She nodded heavily and clasped her companion's hand tightly!
At the same time, Robin's ethereal and powerful singing voice timely penetrated all the noise, resounding through the audience like a war song.
The passionate melody and hopeful lyrics rendered this scene incredibly hot-blooded and bright, as if full of infinite possibilities!
"The script is a bit cliché."
In the audience seats of Hall 3, overlooking the whole situation, Fuli stroked his chin and gave a pertinent comment.
"What's important is not whether the script is novel—a performance time of just over ten minutes cannot accommodate overly complex plot content—but whether it can effectively mobilize the audience's emotions and clearly demonstrate the core selling points of the product."
Not far away, a shrewd-looking male VIP chimed in with a smile: "Only through this kind of live combat demonstration with explosive visual effects can the various subversive characteristics of the Light Cone be displayed most intuitively. Especially since Miss Asta herself participated in the performance, it is simply impeccably persuasive."
"Asta? Persuasive?"
Kiana tilted her head, not quite understanding the necessary connection between the two.
"Honkai adaptability."
Fuli explained.
As the only daughter of a company director, Asta had been gossiped about for so many years, but she neither broke down, gave up, complained, nor improved.
This "not improving" referred to her Honkai adaptability.
As mentioned before, the little rich girl's adaptability was so low that she was far inferior to ordinary people. From childhood to adulthood, there had never been a shortage of gossip in her ears.
Honestly, this was too strange.
As the saying goes, money can talk to the gods.
The little rich girl's parents treasured Asta immensely, and her family was a top-tier wealthy clan.
With their status and resources, plus the company's cutting-edge technology, even if their daughter's innate adaptability was low, they could definitely find a way to improve it.
However, weirdly enough, until she obtained the Light Cone, Asta's adaptability showed no signs of acquired growth, even after she became a member of the Council of Elders.
Therefore, many people suspected that this girl's situation was special. Some even guessed that there was a "Yao Lao" (Grandpa Doehring) sleeping in her body or some strange object sealed within, snacking on her Honkai energy whenever bored, causing the person involved to have zero reaction.
"Therefore, having Asta, a famous Honkai insulator, demonstrate the effect of the Light Cone makes it more impactful and persuasive."
Smol-randal nodded thoughtfully, but turned her head to see Kiana, teeth and claws bared, growling at Fuli like a hissing big cat. She couldn't help but ask: "What are you guys doing?"
"Nothing."
The boy immediately laughed it off.
He knew that the big white cat must have remembered the incident where the little rich girl pounced directly into his arms for negative-distance contact when she first got the Light Cone, overturning the vinegar jar again.
"However, once this Light Cone comes out, the Vill-V Configuration should be going downhill."
A few VIPs who seemed to be industry insiders were whispering nearby, their tone full of emotion and sighs.
Fuli took up the topic to divert Kiana-cat's attention: "Bro, why do you say that?"
"It's inconvenient."
The middle-aged man who was asked didn't mind: "The Configuration can reduce the originally chaotic and complicated spellcasting steps into a fixed template. You only need to follow the steps to practice and release it, but this thing ultimately requires spending a lot of time learning and memorizing."
He pointed to Asta and Topaz showing off their might on the stage: "Look at the Light Cone again. Buy it, stick it on your body, and the recorded skills directly become instinct. If you're not satisfied after using it or want to change skills, you can take it out intact to sell or exchange. It can almost be said to be the hot weapon of the new era."
"Compared to it, the Configuration, a cold weapon, can only be said to have a nice outer coffin, decent inner passing, avant-garde sacrifice design, and good after-life service. The grave atmosphere is full, officially guaranteed burial, worry-free after-life, making practitioners feel like they are returning home in a funeral, showing the demeanor of the deceased."
"Ah, is it really necessary to stomp on it like that?"
Fuli listened with twitching lips.
"Little brother, don't mind him." Another VIP who looked more amiable interjected: "This guy spent a huge sum of money to buy the patent authorization for a certain block of the Configuration back then. As a result, Ms. Vill-V turned around and open-sourced the core technology. He nearly went bankrupt from the back-and-forth, so naturally, he's a hater for life."
"The most critical thing now is to look at the production capacity and cost of the Light Cone." Another person took over the conversation: "If it can really achieve large-scale production and control the price as advertised, meeting market demand, then the elimination of the old system is probably just a matter of time."
That might take a long time.
As the only known humanoid self-propelled manufacturing machine capable of stably producing Light Cones, Fuli continued to turn his gaze to the stage.
At this time, the plot had entered the climax stage.
Asta and Topaz, surrounded by various brilliance, defeated five flamboyant Four Heavenly Kings respectively, and were charging towards the Silver Mountain where the final boss was located, amidst Robin's increasingly high-pitched and passionate soundtrack.
Live bullet comments slid across the screen like a waterfall. Some marveled at the powerful effects of the Light Cone, some fanatically supported a certain actor, and naturally, there were also various provocative comments stepping on one to praise another, crazy confessions, and even a small group of people shipping Topaz and Asta.
Dr. MEI's sneer came to his ear: [Few men really like yuri; they just want both.]
You should surf the internet less!
While Fuli was complaining internally, the man who had been miserably pitied was still chattering on the side, praising one and stepping on the other.
"Who still invests in the Vill-V Configuration now? That's like a friend of a friend of mine. He was caught smuggling before and sentenced to more than ten years. On the day he was released from prison, my friend went to pick him up."
"This person took my friend to his rural hometown, mysteriously saying they would get rich together. They took shovels and hoes and dug out a large box in the ancestral house, peeling off layers of oilcloth wrapped around it."
"Guess what was inside? Hey! The box contained hundreds of pagers!"
He wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes while laughing loudly: "Laugh! Why aren't you laughing at such a funny thing?"
The man suddenly realized that the surroundings had quieted down. Several other VIPs silently cast their gazes behind him.
"Oh my, to be held a grudge against until now, it seems my actions back then really pitted many people."
A brisk, lazy, yet somewhat cynical and pleasant female voice came from behind him: "I'm really sorry, brother, but business has winners and losers. You can't expect only yourself to make a profit forever, right?"
The middle-aged man's body suddenly stiffened.
He turned his head tremblingly, his shaking finger pointing at the newcomer:
"V-V-V-Ms. Vill-V?!!"
The newcomer wore a distinctive dress blending Gothic and Steampunk styles. The pure white tube top contrasted sharply with the layered black tulle short skirt, perfectly outlining her full chest and hips and a slender waist that could be grasped with one hand.
Leather straps were cleverly tightened at the roots of her thighs. Sheer black ribbed stockings lightly covered a pair of long, straight, beautiful legs, and on her feet were high-heeled boots modified from Dr. Martens.
"Yo!"
The unique-styled beauty raised her hand smilingly to greet everyone, but those rose-pink eyes locked onto Fuli through the crowd like a laser.
As for the group of so-called VIPs next to him, it was as if they had never entered her line of sight from beginning to end.
However, the small machine floating on the side would not let his teacher be misunderstood.
He spoke with a gentle and rational electronic voice: "Suggestion: Ms. Vill-V, although going your own way is one of your charms, perhaps avoidable misunderstandings should be avoided as much as possible. This helps prevent important people from having unnecessary prejudices against you due to wrong first impressions."
After the head-sized round robot finished speaking, the inorganic camera turned to the sweating middle-aged man: "What do you think? Mr. Kane Pepin, who often has remarks like 'Proletarians are glorious; if you don't exploit them, how can they maintain their glorious identity?' on your lips."
"Alright, alright, no need to waste words with them, Screwllum."
regarding her proud disciple's defense, Vill-V waved her hand casually, but still responded tentatively: "Also, everyone, I open-sourced and spread part of the Configuration technology with the intention of borrowing many smart brains to jointly promote the systematic evolution and infinite possibilities of the magic system. But this doesn't mean I don't have more interesting things myself, right?"
Moreover, compared to dealing with those gossips, my purpose for coming here is to see with my own eyes the creator of this era-crossing creation, the Light Cone, mentioned by Boothill.
Thinking this, she strode forward in her high-heeled boots, passing through the crowd in two or three steps, and came straight to Fuli.
First, she tilted her head slightly, carefully examining the black hair and crimson eyes the boy inherited from those two people respectively.
Then, she curled up a very charming smile, leaned her lips to his ear, and said in a voice only the two of them could hear: "So, about this interesting little invention called the Light Cone, do you have any clues, Little Li?"
With the beauty's movement, that astonishingly large pair of peaks pressed unpretentiously against Fuli's chest.
However, Fuli's gaze didn't linger on those tempting curves or that peculiar sensation at all.
He stared blankly at Vill-V's exquisitely beautiful face, which mixed the madness of a genius and the innocence of a child. A certain sense of familiarity deep in his brain was triggered, making him blurt out subconsciously:
"Mom?"
The scene fell into a strange silence, and the looks everyone cast at them changed from initial surprise to horror and gossip.
Fortunately, Fuli's head was soon tapped neither lightly nor heavily by a small wrench Vill-V pulled out from somewhere.
"Hey, hey, hey! Teacher Big V here has never been married or had children since birth!"
She put her hands on her hips, puffing up her cheeks in feigned dissatisfaction: "Even if you really want to call me something, you have to call me 'Big Sister'! Hear that, little brother?"
Her rebellious two-toned hair cascaded down like a waterfall from under the wide-brimmed hat decorated with gears, precision parts, and lace, making Vill-V look like a human-made doll that was both precise and romantic, dangerous and charming.