MGSFV?! Chapter 422. Robo-Duck Talk; Heavyarms Lil' Baldy
Though the players found Protheus's earlier remarks amusing...
As for the OG Trio—
i, Kiana, Bronya: "..."
They all fell silent in unison.
Clearly, not everyone could appreciate Protheus's "sense of humor."
In fact, the mood beca a little awkward.
Which—given how close they were to fighting earlier—might have actually been for the best.
At least, no one seed to want to start a fight anymore.
Kiana seized the mont to relay Dr. i's ssage.
"Actually, we ca because Dr. i asked us to."
"Mm. I received the ssage… so, with things already made clear, do you want to continue standing off with —
or would you prefer a more amicable discussion sowhere else?"
The answer was obvious.
The four moved to a safe zone together.
There, they shared brief intel.
"...I see."
Protheus nodded.
"Dr. i already explained her plan to you—to reestablish the connection between this world bubble and the tail end of Imaginary Space, yes?"
"Yes." Kiana nodded.
"Sigh…"
Protheus let out a sudden sigh.
"Always with the sa excuse, huh?"
"Excuse?"
"She doesn't want to spend ti on long-winded explanations, so she uses these excuses to pawn things off to —
by my count, this is the 4,021st ti."
[Wow, scummy. Making soone else work just to avoid explaining things herself.]
[Honestly… isn't this just laziness?]
[LMAO, seriously.]
[Didn't think Dr. i was that kind of person.jpg]
While players ridiculed i's slacking—
Bronya stepped up to voice a thought.
"...Then in the end, such collaboration really is possible?"
She seed surprised.
After all, i's strategy of:
"Though I don't currently understand the full scope of the plan, I do possess the complete implentation thod,"
...is basically the "I lost my mory but pre-planned for that and left myself a super mo" trope.
Sounds logical, but any preparation that still works after fifty thousand years is a miracle.
And yet i was confidently betting on it...
What a terrifying woman.
"If we ignore everyone's true thoughts—then yes."
Protheus gave her answer while floating over to Bronya.
Which produced a bizarre in-ga scene—
Protheus and Bronya, side by side on screen, both floating, even making the sa expression.
[Two Ducks on screen at once… it's oddly surreal.]
[Perfect synchronization, hahaha.]
[Identical expressions!]
[VA double pay LET'S GO (jk)]
[No such thing as VA double pay, sadly.]
VA jokes aside—
[This scene reminds of a phrase: "Robo-Duck Talk."]
[Wait—you typo'd, right? Isn't that supposed to be "chicken-and-duck talk"?]
[BROOOOO you killed —Robo-Duck Talk has dying 😂]
[As expected from the chat (thumbs up x2)]
Protheus and Bronya's "twin duck" scene was already hilarious—
And this "Robo-Duck Talk" pun just made it better.
Even Elysia smiled watching the chat.
"Robo-Duck Talk"? That's... really sothing...
She wondered if the real Bronya was watching the stream—and how she felt about her two "daughters" being described like that?
Well...
Of course Bronya was watching.
Back in the miHoYo dev office, Hokuto glanced toward a corner of the room—
And was t with Bronya's crisp laughter.
No words were needed.
...
"...Back to the main topic."
Protheus brought the conversation back on track.
"To put it simply... I'll explain it to you like this—"
"When we explored the Sea of Quanta, we stumbled upon sothing.
Its potential link to the Imaginary Space made restructuring a viable option."
"...Sothing?" Kiana asked.
Protheus elaborated:
"...A sub-species of the Imaginary Husks.
Are you familiar with the Imaginary Husks?"
i: "..."
Imaginary Husks? i knew them all too well.
Back in Nagazora, she was ambushed by Imaginary Husk: Nihilism.
Then, mid-awakening as a Herrscher and rushing to "reunite" (read: puml) Kiana, she cleaved it into bits.
A brutal kill.
"Imaginary Husk: Nihilism? That's an enemy I once defeated."
[i's arch-nesis. A true old foe.]
[The Ti Managent Master returns again—dude shows up everywhere.]
Protheus nodded.
"Good. Mysticism and Nihilism are similar, just stronger.
Though not as troubleso as Existentialism."
Now, so players might be confused by this barrage of -isms.
But with so "translation," it's easy to follow.
Ti Managent Master (Nihilism) and Golden Bull (Mysticism) are similar.
But Chrysanthemum Monster (Existentialism), which shows up later, is far worse.
In the ga, no one explained this to the OG trio.
Thankfully, Bronya understood the logic.
"You're not referring to philosophical categories—but nas like Imaginary Husk: Mysticism?"
"Correct."
Protheus looked at Bronya with sothing akin to admiration.
"Looks like you understand well."
[Of course she does.]
A player comnted:
[They're clearly two Stand Users from the sa archetype (lol)]
[Not just communication—they even look and sound alike (dog emoji)]
[Even their poses are in sync. I'm dying.]
However...
The girls themselves had no reaction.
As if... they didn't notice the resemblance at all.
They looked identical! Hello?!
Actually... are there any characters in Honkai who comnt on others looking alike?
Not many... though a certain tone-deaf idol might (Shigure Kira).
...
Back to the story.
Bronya followed up with another question.
"But there's sothing I don't understand.
Why would an Imaginary Husk appear in the Sea of Quanta?"
"That... I don't actually know."
Protheus blinked suspiciously.
If she were human, it would've looked like she was lying.
But she's an AI—technically incapable of lying.
So she really didn't know.
All she could say was that in this world bubble, there was a fading "Mysticism" Husk.
[Unit 17: I have no idea.]
[Translation: The writers haven't figured it out yet (lol)]
[Mysticism's the golden bull that Kevin one-shot in the intro, right?]
[Wait! Then maybe Kevin is... ohhh. Got it.]
Players, with their omniscient view, connected the dots quickly.
Kiana and the others, with no such information, were still in the dark.
Kiana looked to Protheus, waiting for more.
"In any case—it's fading and unstable."
"Uh... like that broken bridge?"
Protheus nodded.
"Yes. Left alone, it'll disappear on its own.
But now that you're here—we don't have to sit around and do nothing."
Translation:
You want a free win? Keep dreaming. Hard work is essential.
She then swept her gaze over the trio.
"I'm still devising a thod to help you control it."
"Control...? You don't an like... ride it, right?"
Kiana scratched her head.
Oh, Kiana...
Only you would leap straight to "riding it."
That signature Kaslana thought process...
[Her brain never fails to amuse .]
[I thought she was about to get her own mount, like Durandal.]
[Speaking of Durandal, has she and Kiana even reunited yet?]
[Also, Siegfried is still stuck in the Stigmata Space, right?]
[Siegfried: Theresa, what are you doing? Save !
Theresa: Quiet! Don't you know how precious it is to survive a blow imbued with Finality?!]
While the chat went off on tangents—
Elysia stayed focused on the story.
After Kiana's question—
Protheus: "..."
Protheus: Sigh... more explaining, huh. What a pain.
How is this robot more lazy than the humans?
Aren't AIs supposed to be 24/7 workaholics?
Look at another chanical being—the Immaculate One (emphasis on Immaculate, not Imperfect)...
Still, Protheus said:
"...Fine. I'll explain it as concisely as possible."
She was used to this anyway.
Back in the day, following Dr. i around, she did it all the ti.
Since Kevin kept eting with i—
Good thing she didn't know Kiana was Kevin's descendant...
Otherwise, she might've caught so feelings.
Teaching a white-haired Kaslana back then.
Teaching another white-haired Kaslana fifty thousand years later...
Truly an unbreakable fate with the Kaslana family.
...
Back on topic.
Under Protheus's explanation, both Kiana and the players understood what ca next.
Imaginary Husks, as corpses, still retained faint links to the tail end of Imaginary Space.
Which ant—they could be hacked into.
If successful, they could use the Husk's bandwidth to upload this world bubble into the real world.
Like... transferring a file from one PC to another.
The Imaginary Husk? The data cable.
[Poor Golden Bull... shouldering burdens it was never ant to bear.]
[Ti to recite a poem—]
[Stop. Please. No.]
Even in-ga, Protheus chose to cut things short.
"Explaining everything at once is too long-winded.
Let's just get started."
"Uh... is that okay?" Kiana asked hesitantly.
"It's fine."
Then the chanical girl suddenly pulled out two paper slips.
At inhuman speed, she scribbled instructions and filled in numbers—
Assigning tasks to each of them.
And then...
Without hesitation, she turned and ran away.
Didn't even look back.
Kiana and the others couldn't stop her.
Players could practically see "Touched out," "No more overti," and similar captions popping over her head.
Apparently robots weren't immune to burnout—
Especially compared to certain Immaculate AIs who'd love to work 25 hours a day.
"...What's up with her?" Kiana asked.
She didn't get it. Why run like that?
Oh Kiana...
You don't yet know the horrors of forced overti.
"Who knows? Maybe she just got tired." Bronya speculated.
"Can a robot... really get tired?" i asked curiously.
"Heavyarms Bunny definitely can."
[Wait—did Duck-Duck just drop a very "interesting" piece of info?]
[Heavyarms Bunny gets tired?!]
[Good thing she's never had to work overti, LOL]
[Duck-Duck, truly a kind boss!]
Hokuto: "..."
He knew the players ant it kindly, but why did it still feel like a backhanded insult?
Because...
Though Bunny was still called "Heavyarms Bunny 19C" now—
It wouldn't be long before she beca...
"Heavyarms Lil' Baldy 19C."
"I wonder how Klein's doing now?"
"Raise your Hub to level 5 and you'll see her."
A knife? Maybe.
But a tiny one.
"Hm?"
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