As it turns out, Miss Kiana was not the strong one.
Without her Herrscher powers awakened, she once again fell for the same old habit from her previous life—arrogance.
She and Li Zihan were both holders of top-tier Stigmata, but Li Zihan's profession wasn't purely that of a Knight. He was far more proficient with magecraft than he was with Honkai energy.
Furthermore, the weapons in Kiana's hands were just ordinary Honkai energy-modified pistols, while Li Zihan's armament was the Plasma Kagehide, a weapon Raiden Ryoma had risked his hairline to design.
On top of that, Li Zihan always had a Magical Furnace Core, a product of the old Jewel Man, hidden in his shadow. It could supply him with magical energy, providing support for continuous, uninterrupted spatial jumps.
If Miss Paramecium had known the Chlorination Password, shouted "I can't do anything!", and transformed into the Pufferfish Herrscher, she naturally would have become a hacking player in Honkai Online.
But she didn't shout "I can't do anything!", so for now, she was just a regular player.
Li Zihan, on the other hand, was a whale player. And whale players are always a bit stronger than regular players.
"Have you calmed down yet, Sirin?"
Li Zihan half-closed his vivid red eyes, speaking to the white-haired dango who was trussed up beside him, his tone lacking in interest.
"Mmph—mmph mmph—mmph—!"
Bound up like a caterpillar with a strip of cloth of unknown origin stuffed in her mouth, Miss Paramecium struggled with all her might, twisting her body and glaring at a certain bastard with an expression of utter grief and indignation.
Just a moment ago, Miss Kiana had been instantly frozen by a certain magus using the Plasma Kagehide, then knocked out with a single blow.
When she woke up, this was the scene that greeted her.
I got up, I got one-shotted. Nothing more to say.
"I almost forgot. I forgot to take the cloth out of your mouth."
It was unclear whether he had truly forgotten or was just pretending as he reached out, inserting his index finger and thumb into the gap between the cloth and the corner of her mouth.
The sensation of the cloth and the girl's soft mouth rubbing against his fingers was a bit strange. Li Zihan subconsciously wiggled his fingers in her mouth for a few moments, stirring them around casually.
"Mmph mmph—!!"
Feeling the bizarre sensation in her mouth, the white-haired dango's azure eyes flew even wider. She began to writhe with much greater force, struggling desperately.
This bastard has no intention of helping me remove the cloth strip! He's just treating me like a fun toy!!
Having realized that this guy was purely amusing himself at her expense, Miss Kiana's struggles grew even more frantic.
But since her body was bound by ropes of some unknown material, she couldn't break free. She looked like a caterpillar shaking at high speed, the very picture of absurdity.
"Zihan, stop fooling around."
Miss Mei, who had been watching all this from the side, looked on with a hint of pity. She felt that if she didn't intervene, Li Zihan could keep teasing her for the entire night.
"Don't you think this is quite fun?"
Li Zihan lifted his head and extended an invitation to Miss Mei standing beside him.
"Want to come and play, too?"
"Zihan, you have to be gentler with girls."
Miss Mei, who clearly did not share Li Zihan's terrible habits, sighed, a clear look of reproach in her eyes.
"This isn't right of you."
"Well, I suppose it can't be helped."
Feeling that it was indeed a bit inappropriate to keep this up, Li Zihan suddenly applied force with the fingers at the corner of Kiana's mouth, yanking out the cloth strip that had been stuffed into the white-haired dango's mouth.
"Ah Li, I'm not done with you!!"
Almost at the exact moment Li Zihan pulled out the cloth, Miss Kiana's indignant voice erupted.
"What's there to be done or not done with?"
Looking at the white-haired dango who seemed to have been thoroughly played with, Li Zihan shrugged and then turned to Miss Mei.
"As you can see, I've already resolved her problem."
Worried that she would explode, you decided to speed-limit her, backstab her, and tie her up in a full-service combo?
Having witnessed the entire process of Li Zihan and Kiana's "battle," Miss Mei's expression was a little strange.
Is this what it means to silence a target's anger through physical means to prevent them from exploding?
"Who are you calling a pufferfish?!!"
Having been instantly defeated because her opponent had more skills and better gear, Miss Paramecium shouted, her expression furious.
"And my name is Kiana Kaslana, not some Sirin!!"
"Is that so? Perhaps I remembered incorrectly."
Li Zihan reached out a hand and poked Miss Paramecium's cheek as he spoke.
He smiled, then turned back to Miss Mei behind him.
"By the way, Mei, I'll leave explaining the relationship between you and me to this girl in your hands."
"Eh—? Me?"
Completely taken aback that Li Zihan would ask such a thing of her, Miss Mei pointed to herself, a bewildered look on her face.
"Lord Welt has already given up on staying undercover and has resumed control of Anti-Entropy's affairs. As the one who inherited Joyce's will, he will not allow something like human experimentation to occur within Anti-Entropy."
Li Zihan's explanation was as concise as ever.
"I need to make a trip to the Sea of Quanta through the 'X-10' experiment. That experiment is a very inhumane human experiment."
"If I don't retrieve the data soon, everything related to that experiment will be destroyed."
"Human experimentation? Isn't that very dangerous?"
Not particularly keen on Li Zihan undergoing some human experiment or stepping into a place that sounded as dangerous as the Sea of Quanta, Miss Mei's delicate brows knitted together.
"I promised Banya I would save her little sister."
Li Zihan smiled as he spoke.
"I'm not a fan of eating my words and growing fat."
"Is it to save that little girl named Seele?"
Mei, who vaguely remembered that Bronya's sister was named Seele, asked, her expression a little downcast.
She didn't have many friends, only two. If one of them were to suddenly be gone, it would be a bit lonely.
"Then, how long will it take you to handle that matter?"
Raiden Mei looked at the young man she hadn't actually known for very long and asked cautiously.
"About one or two months, probably."
Li Zihan estimated the time. It would take a while to prepare before entering the Sea of Quanta, and after crossing from the Sea of Quanta to the Moon World, there would be a one-month buffer period. That month might not even be enough for him to handle his affairs over there.
One or two months? That's a bit long, Mei thought.
But even though she felt a little dejected, she still offered a faint, gentle smile.
"Should I see you off?"
"No need. This is something I can handle alone."
Li Zihan said. He was just going to pick up the data from Bronya and Cocolia later.
It was something that could be resolved in a single night at most. Why would it require a formal send-off?
"No need?"
The girl's smile remained gentle, but her expression had become much more somber.
It seemed she couldn't be as nonchalant as Li Zihan, to take partings so lightly.
She really didn't know what the scene would be like the next time they met.
She pondered, sketching out future reunion scenarios in her mind, her expression melancholic.
And then—
The young man's words drifted into Miss Mei's ears.
"I'll be back tomorrow. A send-off for that feels a little weird."