Herrscher of Dominance in Honkai, starting with the abduction of Kiana

Time slipped by unnoticed, melting into the stillness of late night, deepening the already thick darkness.

The moon descended westward, and all was quiet. It was 4 AM, and even the most energetic of youths couldn't help but feel a wave of drowsiness. The sounds in the arcade thinned out, the local players having long since returned home to rest. Those who lived further away could only find an empty seat and take a short nap.

In the entire arcade, only from a corner near the window did the intense clicking of buttons continue, showing no signs of fatigue.

Li Sushang, having battled through the night, focused intently, seizing the opportune moment to push a particular Bomber Buddy off the platform. Finally, after hundreds of attempts, she was the first to cross the finish line.

"First place! Yes!" Li Sushang's cheer rang out through the arcade, startling many of the drowsy players. But when they saw the source of the sound, their initial annoyance vanished.

Who could be upset with the cheer of a cute girl?

"Ren, did you see? I got first place!" Elated, Li Sushang beamed, subconsciously seeking Ren's praise. But after a couple of seconds, the expected response didn't come.

She turned to her side, only to find that the young man who had been accompanying her had fallen asleep on the game machine at some point.

"Ren?" She then remembered that Ren wasn't like her, his body refined by True Qi, able to stay up all night without fatigue.

He was just an ordinary person, prone to tiredness and sleep, especially considering he had been injured before accompanying her. That he had managed to stay with her until now was already commendable.

Still, a feeling of emptiness lingered in her heart. The smile on her face faded, and Li Sushang released the joystick, suddenly finding the victory less satisfying.

Ren could get first place every time. Her achievement was probably insignificant compared to his.

Slightly bored, Li Sushang leaned on the game machine, her face turned towards Ren.

The sleeping young man looked exceptionally peaceful. He didn't snore loudly like those unrefined martial artists, nor did he fidget in his sleep like others.

He simply rested his head on his arm, as still as an inanimate puppet.

The pre-dawn moonlight had dimmed somewhat, the faint glow filtering through the window and falling upon the two of them. Even in sleep, a hint of sorrow seemed etched between the young man's brows.

Looking at Ren's melancholic yet handsome face, Li Sushang suddenly saw an overlap with a figure from her memories.

500 years ago, when she had first met that man, he had carried the same suffocating sadness.

Back then, she was still young, unaware of the cause of his sorrow or what he sought. She only vaguely sensed that the man was pursuing redemption for someone he loved.

Li Sushang didn't understand these things, but as her first friend in 15 years, she hadn't wanted to disappoint him.

But in the end, she had failed. The Luocha people's wish had transformed into 500 years of time, accompanied by Li Sushang's 500-year-long dream.

Now, awakened once again by Otto, Li Sushang could clearly sense that he was no longer the pure idealist, no longer the helpless seeker pleading with immortals.

So, Ren, her second friend, what sorrow did he carry?

…

"Forget it, these thoughts are useless. Now, with so many new and exciting things, I should enjoy myself." Dismissing the sudden wave of sentimentality, Li Sushang stood up again.

"Now that I can also achieve first place with my current skill, why don't I try to earn back the points Ren lost earlier?" With this thought, Li Sushang switched to Ren's account and logged back into the game.

However, after entering the game, she was taken aback. The game didn't load the usual player versus player interface but instead displayed a brand-new platform.

"Hiss." A strange sound emerged. Li Sushang adjusted the character's view and saw another character named [Mysterious Jumping Snake] on the platform ahead.

"Hmm? Is it asking me to follow it?" Roughly guessing the intent, Li Sushang controlled her character to chase after it.

Her skills were decent. A simple jumping platform posed no challenge. However, every time she was about to catch the snake, the veiled figure would leap a considerable distance, appearing in a new location.

"Damn it, don't let me catch you!" Still smarting from being "schooled" by other players, Li Sushang refused to be toyed with again and jumped onto the crumbling platform.

But this time, as she landed, a swarm of snake duplicates emerged from a pipe, rushing towards her like a tide.

"Hiss—"

Listening to the Jumping Snake's strange sound, Li Sushang felt a hint of mockery. She snorted and deftly maneuvered her character to evade the snakes, finally cornering the original Jumping Snake on the final platform.

"Alright, let's see what secrets this extra stage holds."

Unexpectedly, the Jumping Snake didn't resist. Instead, it self-destructed, leaving behind only some fragmented text and a black gem.

The gem's item description was all code, which Li Sushang didn't recognize. The text, though garbled, was relatively clear.

Unfortunately, Li Sushang, having trained in martial arts since childhood, hadn't received much formal education. She only knew a few simple characters taught to her by her master, essentially illiterate. She could only recognize a few words from the large block of text.

"…Herrscher Core…ARC City…Ren…" She scratched her head, staring at the screen in frustration.

"Argh, what does it say?" The more she couldn't understand, the more curious she became. She was unwilling to let the information she had worked so hard to obtain remain a mystery due to her illiteracy.

After some deliberation, she nudged Ren's shoulder, waking him.

"What's wrong?" Ren opened his eyes to see Li Sushang's anxious expression. He wasn't annoyed that she had woken him, only curious.

"Help me see what this says. I… I can't read." Admitting her illiteracy, Li Sushang blushed. As a wandering martial artist, being stumped by reading felt embarrassing.

Ren chuckled, amused by the girl's flustered demeanor. But when he looked at the screen, he was confused. "What do you want me to read?"

"It was just here… Huh?" The screen only displayed the arcade's loading interface. The previous game screen seemed to have timed out due to inactivity.

"Eh? What happened?" Li Sushang was dumbfounded, staring blankly for a long while before finally speaking in a slightly Wronged tone. "I'm really not lying! Just now, when I logged into your account, I found a new interface. After I cleared it, there was a message. I wanted to memorize it, but now it's gone."

"A new interface?" Hearing Li Sushang's description, Ren frowned. "I play here often, and quite a few people know I'm at the top of the leaderboard. Perhaps someone wanted to send a message through my account. Do you remember any part of it?"

"It seemed to mention something about a Herrscher Core."

"A Herrscher Core? What's that?" Hearing this unfamiliar term, Ren feigned confusion, speculating, "Perhaps it's some kind of gem. Maybe someone is using the game machine to smuggle gems. If that's true, then this could be troublesome. We might get caught up in some underground dealings, possibly even life-threatening."

"Huh?" Hearing "life-threatening," Li Sushang was taken aback, but she immediately puffed out her chest, declaring, "This happened because of me. I'll protect you!"

The girl's earnest demeanor touched Ren. He smiled. "There's no need for that. But if this happens again, you can take a picture with your phone first, and then show it to me later."

"Take a picture with my phone?"

"This one." Ren pointed to the phone he had given her earlier. "It's a marvelous creation of modern technology. It can not only be used for communication but also for taking pictures and recording videos. You can even take pictures of yourself."

Under Ren's guidance, Li Sushang somewhat clumsily held the jade-like phone, her slender fingers tapping the screen to turn it on.

"Password?"

The phone was Ren's, and in his haste to set up the tracking function, he had forgotten to remove the password.

"The password is 1207."

After entering the password, Li Sushang looked at the screen with amazement. "I didn't expect this small screen to hold so many things."

"This is the camera function. If you encounter anything you don't understand, you can take a picture of it first."

While patiently teaching Li Sushang how to use the phone, Ren also checked if he had forgotten to delete anything. Fortunately, it was clean.

"Just press here to take a picture. You can also record videos or take selfies."

Li Sushang was a quick learner. Still marveling at her own reflection on the screen, she immediately pressed the button as instructed.

Ren hadn't expected her to act so fast. He tried to dodge, but the photo was already taken.

Although blurry, his face was partially captured in the image.

"Delete that. It's not a good one. You can take your own later," Ren said with a frown.

Fortunately, Li Sushang was obedient and immediately pressed the delete button. However, she hesitated when the confirmation prompt appeared. This was her first time using a phone, her first time taking a picture. Did she really want to delete it?

She glanced at Ren surreptitiously, noticing he had looked away, seemingly not paying attention to her actions. She quietly moved her finger away from the delete button, keeping the photo.

"There. Next time you encounter something you don't understand, you can take a picture. I assume you're not alone. You can contact your relatives or friends with this too."

"Mm."