Honkai Impact: Grandma Pine Sparrow is still chasing me!

Chapter 356 Plan B: The Clockwork Trick

Qiong weighed the rather heavy baseball bat in her hand, ignoring Yae Sakura's sarcastic remark and falling into thought: If she considered the time she fought against Sato Yuno alongside Yae Sakura, then her Honkai energy was only enough to sustain one burst; if she considered how she had just knocked Hiyomaru down with three hits, then she could kill him in one strike without any unexpected events... Even if this was a dream and she still had to be wary of Hiyomaru and protect Seele, she couldn't possibly lose, right?

Since victory was assured, Qiong revealed an almost contemptuous smile—not directed at Yae Sakura, but at Higokumaru, who had taken a bite out of him. He slung his baseball bat over his shoulder, looking like a villain ready to cause trouble.

"Are you really going to make a move?"

Seeing Qiong and Seele raise their weapons, Yae Sakura's voice remained calm, but a faint aura of Honkai energy emanated from her, and the demon sword at her waist, Crimson Sakura, was also glowing slightly.

"It's all because you weren't cooperating... Yae-sensei, wake up! Everything here is fake!"

Qiong glanced helplessly at Yae Sakura. If Yae Sakura wasn't currently lost in her dream, he wouldn't have needed to come in with Seele, okay?

"Fake? Fake?"

“Everything here is fake,” Sora’s words pierced Yae Sakura’s carefully maintained facade of calm like a needle. At the same time, a barely perceptible wavering flashed in her eyes, but the moment she grasped Kallen’s smiling hand, the wavering was immediately covered by a deeper stubbornness.

"Nonsense! Every blade of grass and every tree in Yae Village is real! Outsiders, Yae Village does not welcome you. If you don't leave, don't blame me for taking action!"

Yae Sakura's previously calm voice suddenly rose in pitch, and the Akazome Sakura sword at her waist was immediately drawn, its blade flashing a dangerous red light—Sora had seen this once or twice before, which meant that Yae Sakura had entered a battle stance. The atmosphere among the four suddenly became tense.

Seeing that a battle was about to begin, Qiong took two steps forward and shielded Xier behind her.

"Seele, I have a task for you! Hand over the front to me, and you're in charge of keeping an eye out for any sneaky foxes around—be careful, and make sure you protect yourself and my back. I'm on your watch..."

"Qiong, don't do it!"

Just as Qiong was preparing to launch the first attack and fire the first shot in the rescue operation, Walter's urgent voice rang in her ears.

"Stop! Plan B isn't about you using your own strength to solve this!"

"Huh? What?"

Qiong looked completely bewildered, stopped in her tracks, and lowered the baseball bat in her hand slightly.

"No, Uncle Yang, please explain yourself clearly. Didn't you ask me to use my own strength to solve the problem?"

In Qiong's understanding, his power undoubtedly represents a baseball bat that can beat gods and Buddhas alike... Isn't that the same as beating Yae Sakura until she physically awakens and has to face reality?

"It's my fault, it's my fault for not finishing my sentence... cough cough."

Realizing that Qiong had misunderstood, Lao Yang immediately began to explain.

"Sora, this is ultimately Yae Sakura's consciousness space. If you forcibly attack her consciousness, you might be able to stimulate her to awaken—but rationally speaking, there's a certain probability that you and Seele's consciousnesses will be trapped inside her mind! Besides, doing so will definitely cause her psychological trauma and allow another consciousness, possibly that of a Herrscher, to grow stronger and take control of her body! Our goal is to make her realize that 'everything here is fake' and wake her up... Don't you know the clockwork trick? Now try it out!"

"Clock trick..." Qiong was stunned for a moment, then shivered: he did remember how to perform the clock trick, but... was he supposed to use Pinocchio's sword to kill the officials of Earth?

He hadn't executed any officials on Earth, but upon reflection, he had done so on Mars, and the result was...

Under the influence of the clockwork trick, which represents the will to explore, the already somewhat deranged god was left with only one thought: physical contact, contact, and more contact—the kind where they were only one step away from negative contact...

In short, that clock trick helped Sora escape the fate of her body betraying Mei again, but it turned Leera into an octopus monster driven only by desire and fear, clinging to him and driving him a little crazy—physical contact had to be stopped by shadow contact, shadow contact was difficult, and the mental link could not be severed, and the mental link was severed...

LOL. After the mental link was severed by Vita, it's not an exaggeration to say that he rode Donegal and dragged Yingtan to escape from the Mad God overnight. The fact that Langqiu was later corrupted by the riotous shadows is probably inseparable from this.

Recalling his recent actions, Qiong felt a headache coming on. The consequences of his clock trick still haunted him—forcibly adjusting Yae Sakura's emotions to make her face reality would inevitably lead to sadness…wouldn't she go crazy? But at the moment, there seemed to be no better solution…

"Alright, alright, Uncle Yang, get ready, I'll give it a shot!"

Qiong took a deep breath, focused her mind, put away her baseball bat, changed into a top hat, and shouted at Yae Sakura.

"We're not fighting anymore! We were just passing by, we'll leave right away!"

"Ok?"

"Huh? Go ahead and fight! Whatever you say, start fighting!"

Sora's sudden change surprised Yae Sakura, and also made Hei hope, who was eager to play the damsel in distress, a little dissatisfied - if you don't fight, what about the script I spent ten minutes designing and the plan to ask Sora for a lick every day as payment afterward?

"Yae Sakura, look here! An impromptu performance!"

Just as Yae Sakura relaxed her guard slightly because of her statement of "not fighting," Sora instantly activated the clock trick.

The top hat flew into the air, and a smiling face of an animated clockwork figure flew out from it and landed squarely on her.

"Karen, watch out! Damn it, what kind of sorcery is this?"

Qiong didn't answer; he was also very nervous—to avoid a repeat of the embarrassing incident where he tried to escape and correct the Mad God by performing a close-range clockwork trick, only to be captured by Leiera and treated as a "knightly prisoner who needed to be trained and tamed," he was trying to use his top hat to perform the clockwork trick from a distance...

I'm sure the hat of the late Ragvork-Charles Mikhail can do it!

As the clockwork figure's smiling face landed on Yae Sakura, a golden thread connected the top hat on the dome to the top of Yae Sakura's head—Seele saw a golden light seem to flash on Yae Sakura's forehead, and a tiny clockwork figure, bound by the thread and with dazed, mosquito-coil-like eyes, appeared...

For no reason at all, Seele assumed that the little man meant... satisfaction.

"Oh my, it's stuck in a state and won't let me move? Don't think I'm that bad!"

Just as Seele was observing what Sora was about to do, the threads binding the clockwork figure suddenly snapped, and its mosquito coil eyes disappeared, turning it into a tearful clockwork figure...

Yae Sakura's body trembled slightly, her previously wary gaze turning blank, and the Crimson Cherry Blossom in her hand involuntarily fell to the ground. The golden thread had been severed by Sora, and a feeling of melancholy overwhelmed her.

"W-What's going on? Why did I suddenly think of Rin... Kallen was with me? How could this be? Don't try to deceive me with magic! But my heart hurts so much... Am I crying?"

As Yae Sakura muttered to herself, the katana slipped from her hand. Her eyes twitched uncontrollably, and bloody tears welled up...

"Yae Sakura-sensei! Are you alright?"

"Kallen, it's all real, it's all real, right! Tell me, it's all real!"

Seeing Yae Sakura's blood and tears, Seele asked with concern. But Yae Sakura didn't answer her; instead, she turned to look at her lover, Kallen Kaslana.

In her mind, Karen would gently tell her, "It's all true," then take out the crucifix and help her drive away the two outsiders, so they could continue to live happily ever after...

But it didn't.

"cherry……"

In Yae Sakura's eyes, Kallen's figure began to become illusory, and even everything in Yae Village seemed to be shrouded in a layer of mist, gradually losing its sense of reality...

No, that's not right! It's all true! It's all true! There must be something wrong with her eyes! Bloody tears are obstructing her vision! That must be it! Yae Village is still Yae Village, and Karen wasn't killed by her; she's right there...

"Yae-sensei, is your impression of Kallen just that of a woman who only stands behind you and smiles foolishly?"

Sora's words exploded in Yae Sakura's ears—was Kallen really that kind of naive, love-struck fool? On the contrary, she had once considered turning the Valkyrie who had saved her into a puppet that belonged only to her…

As Yae Sakura recalled the brave, resolute, and unreasonable Valkyrie from her memories, and combined that with Kallen, who revolved around her... no matter how hard she tried to restrain herself, doubts welled up in her heart like a tidal wave.

“No…this isn’t Kallen…no, it’s Kallen…”

Yae Sakura covered her head with her hands, her slender ears hidden, trying to escape Sora's voice.

But she sensed something was wrong: the Kallen who would smile gently at her, clumsily try to make cherry blossom cakes, and risk her life to protect others... was gone.

Karen is dead. That world, filled only with memories and pain, is the reality she cannot escape! But this dream? If this is truly a dream, then why does the pain in her heart feel so real, so unforgettable?

Because...this isn't a dream? Yes! This isn't a dream! As long as we get rid of them...

"Qiong, Xier, please leave here."

Yae Sakura's voice lowered again, trembling slightly, but it sounded more resolute than her previous shout.

"Otherwise... I'm sorry, my next cut will draw blood."

"Come on, you called us by our names, so you know us, right? Besides, you can't beat us... Hey, hey, hey, what are you doing!"

Akazaki Sakura's blade wasn't pointed at the two of them, but instead landed on Yae Sakura's own neck. This absurd threat was like a final ultimatum to the two people before her, or a warning to her own crumbling will—if you come again, I'll die right here.

She knew it was wrong. But she absolutely couldn't admit it... If she did, she would truly lose even this false comfort.

"Yae-sensei, Sakura-neechan, please don't be impulsive!"

Before the stunned Sora and Commander Welt could act, Seele preemptively began to persuade them, even changing her address from "teacher" to "older sister".

"Sister Sakura, this place really isn't real! Think about it, would Miss Karen let you hurt yourself? She wouldn't want you to do this! If she knew you were treating yourself like this, she would be heartbroken!"

Xi'er's voice was trembling with tears, and for a moment, people from both sides were crying and making a scene, leaving Qiong stunned.

“Seele is right, Yae-sensei, think it over again, please don’t do anything foolish! If you do something foolish, won’t that just benefit that stinky fox?”

Seeing Seele exert herself, Qiong quickly added a few words—even without mentioning Yae Sakura, just considering the possibility that Yae Sakura might actually kill herself, not to mention how it would benefit Hiyomaru, just the fact that Hiyomaru would be subdued and wiped out by them, wouldn't she just self-destruct and blow St. Freya to the sky?

Even for St. Freya's sake, Yae Sakura cannot die now!

Yae Sakura's hand holding the sword trembled slightly, her eyes wavering between confusion and determination. Suddenly, the katana in her hand vanished without a trace, and the surrounding scenery began to distort; the houses in Yae Village began to collapse as if made of paper.

"Brother Qiong, what... what's going on?"

The surrounding scenery began to shake violently. The previously illusory figure of Kallen vanished completely, and Yae Village was razed to the ground.

"This is... the Stigmata Space collapsing and rebuilding? It's alright, Seele, don't worry! This is Yae Sakura facing reality!"

"So, Sakura-neechan has regained consciousness?"

Seele's hands, which were tightly gripping the sickle, suddenly relaxed, and a heartfelt joy and relief welled up on her young face—it's good that she's figured it out, it's good that she's figured it out!

"Tch, boring. I want to see rivers of blood!"

Although she wasn't particularly interested, Blackie was still happy for Seele, after all, it was Seele's achievement, and she should be happy for Seele—but this happiness only lasted for a moment.

【roar--!!!】

A deafening roar filled with resentment resounded through the sky. On the collapsed ruins of Yae Village, countless red Honkai energies surged forth and coalesced into a huge and ferocious figure.

[All I had to do was let her have a dream inside me that she'd never wake up from! All I had to do was ignore everything and watch me wipe out humanity! Why? Why have you stopped me from taking my revenge time and time again?!]

The enormous fox claw, wreathed in flames, slammed down on the seemingly unsuspecting Qiong and Xi'er. The terrifying flames even caused the collapsing and reorganizing space to momentarily freeze.

"Danger!"

Unable to sit still, Hei hope exclaimed in surprise.

"Don't be stubborn, you and he can't handle this! Leave it to me!"

"Okay! Please, my other self!"

Almost without the slightest hesitation, the two Seeles reached an agreement, their azure eyes immediately replaced by crimson.

"Don't worry! I'll take good care of your Qiong-nii—Qiong-nii!"

"Hmm? What's wrong?"

Just as Qiong was about to unleash her Flame Spear to fight head-on, her arm was suddenly grabbed by Seele.

The next moment, Seele, carrying Sora, appeared like a ghost and landed next to Yae Sakura, escaping the furious claw attack of Himeko.

"Hey, Seele just saved you! As a way of repaying 'Seele,' shouldn't you do something? Don't worry, it won't be too much! Remember to spend a few evenings each week in 'Brother Qiong's old room' and tell Seele the stories you didn't finish, okay?"

It's impossible for Hei hope not to be excited right now. Although the battle is far from over, the future of listening to stories she's never heard before while eating delicious food is already beckoning to them!

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Before the clarification, it was Genshin Impact's "Heart Sea" voice actress who guided fans to open loot boxes; after the clarification, it was "Mingchao Nvpiao" voice actress who did not guide fans to engage in cyberbullying...

I don't know about other things, but I do know that certain online media outlets targeting gamers are truly untrustworthy...

Suddenly I realized that the best kind of "double fan ecstasy" is when both sides are isolated and don't interfere with each other. This is a sign of respect for both sides who truly love the game and the story itself... If they're all mixed up, none of the people who actually play the game will be happy.

Sigh, I owe four chapters...