"So the reason you know so much about this world is because of Theresa?"
Hearing a familiar name from the mouth of someone unfamiliar… or not too unfamiliar, was still quite surprising for Durandal.
But if explained like this, it did seem to make sense.
"That's not it. The reason I know so much about this world is simply because of my own ability to gather intelligence. But coming to this world was indeed because of Theresa. I'm a traveler who fulfills wishes. Theresa wanted to find her niece, Kiana Kaslana, so I came to this world to help her search."
"Kiana Kaslana? The daughter of Siegfried and Cecilia? Did you find her?"
"Why do you care so much? …But yes, I did. Nagazora is, after all, under St. Freya Academy's domain. A few days ago the Schicksal battleship Hyperion came here, and at that time I found Kiana. Then I had Kiana and the others follow the Schicksal fleet and leave with them." Chen Luo said.
"I see. Then I must have been unconscious for several days." After receiving the answer, Durandal didn't continue to press. After all, she wasn't familiar with Kiana Kaslana.
"Two days." Chen Luo calculated briefly before replying.
"Two days? That Herrscher's poison was indeed powerful." Durandal couldn't help but nod.
This was probably the biggest setback she'd ever suffered, and it happened at the hands of a Herrscher who didn't even have a Herrscher Core.
Unthinkable… truly unthinkable.
Durandal tried to push herself up from the bed, but halfway there Chen Luo pressed her back down.
"You're not well yet. Rest a bit longer." Chen Luo said firmly.
"I think I'm already fine." Durandal touched the wound on her abdomen as she spoke.
Durandal could already feel that her injury was almost fully healed.
And the effect of the medicine did feel like a Schicksal specialty, so she didn't doubt Chen Luo's mention of Theresa.
"No. You're not healed yet. The poison in you hasn't been fully cleared. Right now only a little over 98% is gone—there's still a bit left." Chen Luo said after glancing at the numbers on his talent panel.
On the panel, Durandal's HP had indeed fully recovered, but her poisoned status wasn't completely gone yet. At the moment, it showed as mild poisoning.
But it was close. At this rate, after a few more hours of rest, it should clear completely.
"..." Durandal couldn't refute him, because she felt the same.
Though her body seemed fully recovered, she still had the sense she couldn't bring out her full strength.
Her condition was enough to put Chen Luo in an armbar right now—but not being fully recovered still meant not being fully recovered. That was the truth.
"Where is this? Is this your mysterious sub-space?" With Chen Luo pressing on her shoulder, Durandal couldn't get up, but leaning against the bed was allowed.
"That's right, this is the mysterious sub-space. The battlefield in this space is constructed using the environment when someone is first pulled in as its template."
"Then what did you use to heal me? Can I leave now?" Durandal asked casually.
"The method I used to treat you can't be told. Consider it a little secret of mine. But you can't leave yet, because once you leave, the effect will disappear." Chen Luo shook his head.
He wasn't stupid enough to reveal everything to Durandal.
Revealing this much was already giving her enough face.
This was also because he intended to take Durandal to St. Freya Academy, so he was building some goodwill.
If he didn't bring Durandal to St. Freya, then his reward would never arrive.
He could wait longer, but why wait when he could get the reward now?
It was like how 10 Crystals were once very important to Chen Luo. And now, with nearly 30,000 Crystals, 10 Crystals are… still very important.
In short, it was the eternal conflict between early development and late investment.
"So before you're completely healed, you'll have to stay here a bit longer. Besides, you don't really have a choice." Chen Luo raised a finger as he spoke.
"So you're saying until you think I'm fully healed, I can't leave this space?"
"Not what I think—you really aren't fully healed. Once you are, I'll get notified. But I'm not a demon. Of course I wouldn't leave you alone in this space in solitude—that would be inhumane. So I prepared something special for you." Chen Luo said while rummaging through his inventory.
"?" Durandal suddenly gained a deeper sense of Chen Luo's… thoughtfulness.
But she was still curious what Chen Luo would pull out.
Soon, she saw Chen Luo take out a tablet and fiddle with it for a while.
"Ta-da! SpongeBob SquarePants!"
"No one can refuse watching an episode of SpongeBob. Whether adult or child, it's the same. So, to keep you from being bored, I prepared 161 episodes of SpongeBob for you." Chen Luo showed the screen of the tablet to Durandal.
The opening theme of SpongeBob was playing.
"..." Durandal suddenly didn't know what to say.
You could say Chen Luo was considerate—yes, he was. He worried she'd feel lonely or bored spending a few hours in this empty space, so he'd prepared something to pass the time.
But you could also say Chen Luo wasn't reliable—because what he'd prepared was SpongeBob.
But then again, had SpongeBob in their world already been updated to episode 161?
No, wait—that's not the point. The real question was, did their world even have SpongeBob?
Durandal just watched as Chen Luo left her with a tablet, a power bank, some water, and snacks, then walked away from her.
After leaving Durandal, Chen Luo started calling out to Little Senti.
"Little Senti, when is your real body coming back?" Chen Luo asked.
"It's still morning, what are you in such a rush for? It'll probably be afternoon before I can come back," Little Senti estimated after thinking for a moment.
"OK, got it."
With that reply, Chen Luo went out to hunt zombies.
Chen Luo had been thinking nonstop about quickly finishing his achievement quests and raising his Honkai adaptability to 200%.
That was the most important task for him at this stage.
Of course, at the same time, achievements for rescuing survivors and demolishing houses also needed to be done.
And so, starting today, Nagazora gained another demolition maniac.
After unlocking that 3-star achievement, Chen Luo's damage to buildings had greatly increased, and his speed at tearing them down grew faster and faster.
The reason he hadn't completed this achievement earlier was mainly because he didn't want to cause too big of a scene. Now that he knew demolishing houses unlocked achievements, Chen Luo was more enthusiastic about tearing things down than anyone else.
What was a little demolition anyway? These houses in Nagazora weren't likely to be lived in again—so why not let him take them apart?
And tearing down houses wasn't even that hard. A building might look tough, but all you had to do was target a few load-bearing points and destroy them, and that was enough.
As for how construction-illiterate Chen Luo knew where those points were? Simple—he just checked the demolition equipment stored at the police station.
After bringing back another brat and a little loli, and grabbing lunch along the way, Chen Luo noticed that Raven's eyes on him seemed a little strange—full of reluctance, with a tinge of conflict.
And every time Chen Luo asked what was wrong, she wouldn't say.
Little Senti, daunted by her overwhelming strength, didn't dare recklessly read her mind either, and could only sense some of her emotions.
But that wasn't a big problem—the Herrscher of Sentience would be back in the afternoon anyway.
That girl had finally finished her "demolition mission."
Although, according to the Herrscher of Sentience, she hadn't actually torn down much of Schicksal's stuff—just stirred up a small-scale disturbance.
Now, there was only one day and twenty hours left before the event ended.
Chen Luo's current status was as follows:
Crystals: 32,940
Honkai Adaptability: 188.6%
Five-star Achievement Progress: 8915/10000
With nearly two days left, and both his achievements and adaptability almost done, there was no problem at all.
And he had gained over 30,000 crystals—this trip to the Honkai world had been an absolute profit. Too bad there probably wouldn't be such a good thing in the future.
Raven, for her part, had been pulling her weight lately too. She'd killed 800 zombies, a big jump in efficiency compared to yesterday.
But with the Herrscher of Sentience about to return from Schicksal, a new problem appeared—Durandal would have to be discharged.
Durandal could clearly feel her own physical condition, and a warrior's instincts didn't lie.
Once she was fully recovered, Chen Luo couldn't just keep her locked up in his War Domain anymore.
"Return my lance and my communicator." Once released from the War Domain, Durandal immediately demanded her belongings back from Chen Luo.
"The lance I can give you, but what do you mean by communicator? Wasn't your communicator already destroyed?" Chen Luo asked as he handed Durandal her spear.
"The one you're wearing on your arm." Durandal pointed to the communicator strapped to Chen Luo's arm—the same model as hers.
"Hey, this is mine, okay? I paid 100… paid quite a hefty price to get this." Chen Luo immediately shielded his arm.
"I need to report to Rita and the Overseer to let them know I'm safe." Durandal shot Chen Luo a glare.
Besides, was this guy really planning to keep strutting around, pretending to be her, using her communicator?
"Ah, that you don't need to worry about. I already reported your safety—guaranteed I didn't let them worry." Chen Luo reassured her.
"So you really did use my channel to bluff again, didn't you?" Durandal looked at Chen Luo with a headache.
"Oh, right, speaking of that, I just remembered something—this is the contract we signed, don't you dare go back on it." Chen Luo suddenly recalled and pulled out something that looked like a contract.
"Your fingerprint is right on it too."
"…" Durandal stared at the clearly-forced fingerprint pressed on it, and her headache only grew worse.