"Enough, enough! They can't catch up anymore. Put me down—this is so embarrassing!"
If it were him carrying Elysia in a princess carry, he might have been fine with it.
But being the one carried? He just felt awkward.
Here he was, a grown man, being carried by a girl four years younger than him. It was downright humiliating.
"Not yet. I can still hear their footsteps chasing us~?"
Even while carrying Chang Yuan, Elysia didn't feel the slightest bit tired.
So, she had no intention of putting him down.
"Ugh, fine, do whatever you want. Just keep running."
Burying his face as low as possible, Chang Yuan really didn't want to be seen by anyone.
Embarrassing. So freaking embarrassing. Being carried like this by a girl—if it weren't Elysia, he might've wanted to die.
"Ah! Chang Yuan, don't touch there!"
Feeling a certain sensation against her chest, Elysia couldn't help but exclaim.
Only then did Chang Yuan realize he had accidentally touched something he shouldn't have.
He quickly turned his head away.
"Hmph~, you jerk. Did you do that on purpose?"
"I swear on my life, I didn't! I was just trying to lower my head because I felt embarrassed. I really didn't mean to touch anything!"
"Tch, who knows? Once we lose them, I'll settle this with you."
With a light hum, Elysia used her sharp hearing to perfectly avoid all the people trying to surround them.
Finally, in a small alley, Elysia came to a stop.
"Okay, we're safe here. No one's around."
Click!
"Uh, what a coincidence."
As soon as the door opened, Vill-V saw the two people she had met earlier that day.
The atmosphere instantly became awkward.
Elysia also awkwardly looked away.
She had just confidently said no one was around, and then the door opened.
"I'm just taking out the trash. This is my temporary base. Want to come in?"
Earlier that afternoon, Vill-V had already sold the other two items and used the money to buy research materials, which she stored in this makeshift lab.
"Thanks, we'll take you up on that."
Without hesitation, Chang Yuan and Elysia walked in.
After all, they were practically accomplices now.
Seeing how casually they entered, Vill-V's mouth twitched.
These two really weren't afraid she might be a bad person. If she were, she could just lock the door and report them, and they'd be done for.
Shaking her head, Vill-V threw away the experimental waste and returned to the room, locking all ten locks behind her.
"So, why are you two running around at night? Shouldn't you be resting somewhere?"
Taking out a homemade kettle, Vill-V filled it with water, and in three seconds, it was boiling.
She then made a cup of milk tea for Elysia and Chang Yuan.
"Wow, that's amazing! It only takes three seconds to boil water."
Elysia, who had witnessed the whole process, was impressed.
Hearing praise from someone else, Vill-V proudly puffed out her chest and rubbed her nose.
"This is just a small gadget. You haven't seen the really cool stuff yet. Wait here, I'll show you."
With that, Vill-V put down the three-second kettle and went to the basement.
When she returned, she was holding seven or eight small spheres and a device that looked like a computer.
"Hehe, watch this."
Vill-V tossed the spheres into the air, and in an instant, they floated as if weightless.
"And this."
Opening the computer-like device, Vill-V typed something on the keyboard.
Soon, the screen displayed eight different images.
"This is my homemade computer. It's way more powerful than anything on the market. These spheres can monitor 360 degrees and float in the air.
They're powered by light energy, so as long as there's light, they'll never run out of power.
But that's not the main point. Even the scientists in Mu Continent could make something like this if they spent enough time.
The real highlight is this feature."
With that, Vill-V pressed a button, and the eight spheres instantly blended into their surroundings, becoming completely invisible.
"This is my invisibility tech. It can evade all known detection methods, including electromagnetic waves and radar. I call it the Peeping—ahem, Reconnaissance Eye 0019."
"...Damn."
Chang Yuan couldn't think of any other word to describe Vill-V.
A genius among geniuses, a monster among monsters.
She had even arrogantly said, "If I want to do it, I can."
And she really could. If she had more time, she might've built a dozen Moon Thrones to face the Herrscher of the End.
While that might not have guaranteed victory, it would've bought humanity more time, and she might've even survived to the next era.
If someone like Vill-V made it to the next era, Chang Yuan couldn't imagine how the Herrscher of the End in that era could possibly compete. With sheer willpower?
Fifty thousand years—he didn't even want to think about what Vill-V could invent in that time. World Peace Missiles? Planet-destroying battleships?
"Oh, and by the way, I've discovered that this world isn't as simple as it seems."
"...What do you mean?"
Hearing this, Chang Yuan raised an eyebrow.
Damn, Vill-V was truly something. Even before the Honkai was fully exposed, she had already detected its traces.
"I've found that the air contains some kind of unknown energy. This energy is highly corrosive, but I'm not sure where it comes from.
At the same time, through my Reconnaissance Eye 0019, I've discovered a mysterious organization. Their emblem is a silver moth flying toward a flame.
And it seems this organization knows what this corrosive energy is."
"..."
Vill-V, you're a legend.
While the original story mentioned that Vill-V had once hacked into Fire Moth's systems single-handedly, who would've thought that at the same age, while some were in middle school, others were in college, and then there was Vill-V—a monster among monsters—already challenging the world's strongest force.