I Told You This Isn't a Life Simulation Game! Part 30

Xi Wang was speechless.

Although he knew she meant to drag him off to the lab, the timing and wording of it... well... weren't exactly ideal.

While everyone else was still standing around in confusion, Xi Wang took Sakura by one hand and dragged the drunken Dr. Mobius with the other toward Elysia, who was greeting them. Then they swiftly left the dance party and hurried toward Dr. Mobius's lab.

After a brief silence, the dance party... exploded. Countless people launched into heated discussions, eagerly gossiping away.

As for what rumors would spread the next day... that was no longer important. Sigh.

"...Thank you very much. The doctor isn't good at drinking. Once she consumes a certain amount... well... she does things that others might find strange, or even incomprehensible. I hope you'll forgive her."

"It's fine~ Drunken Mobius is pretty cute too, you know~?"

"It's good that you don't mind... Well then, I'll take the doctor to rest first."

After handing Mobius, who was still muttering things like, "Oh my~ It's so rare for White Rat to be this proactive, I'm so happy~" and "Come on, get on the operating table and let me study you properly~," over to her assistant Klein, Xi Wang and the others finally let out a small sigh of relief.

The three of them then silently left the entrance to the lab together and took a slow walk through the quiet corridor... There was no way they could return to the dance party. If they really went back, who knew what bizarre rumors might arise again.

"...Sorry."

Xi Wang spoke softly.

"Hm? Wang doesn't need to apologize~ After all, this wasn't Wang's fault~ If anything, Mobius was the unlucky one~"

Elysia said with a smile.

"She knew perfectly well that she couldn't hold her liquor, but when she got the wine, she refused to switch it out because of her pride. Then it ended up like this... Isn't this Mobius's own problem? Mhm~ Once Mobius sobers up tomorrow, I'll have a proper talk with her about how she behaved tonight~"

"Go easy on the doctor, Elysia..."

"Don't worry~ Mobius won't care about something this trivial~"

I'm just worried she'll take it out on me... Sakura didn't say it aloud. After all, if Mobius went out, she would have to go with her. It would be quite something if she got caught in the crossfire then... Hopefully Dr. Mobius really didn't care about such trivial matters.

"Still~ Wang owes me a dance right now~"

With light steps, Elysia quickly walked two paces ahead, then turned back with a smile.

"And Sakura's dance wasn't finished either~"

"...Sorry."

"No need to apologize~ You can always make up for it~"

"Look~ Isn't this a perfect place for it?"

Smiling, Elysia pushed open a door. Looking up, they realized that they had unknowingly arrived at the Sky Garden within Moth to Fire.

This was Elysia and Sakura's favorite place to share secrets, and also the place where Sakura and Xi Wang most often took walks.

It was quiet and sparsely populated. Especially now, with the dance party underway, there was almost no one here. Only moonlight shone upon the ground, keeping the blooming flowers company.

"Da-da?~ Da-da~ Da?~ Da-da?~"

Elysia hummed a cheerful tune as she led the two of them through the garden. Nimble and graceful, framed by the blossoms and moonlight, she looked like an elf from a fairy tale.

At an open space in the center of the garden, Elysia stopped. Turning to face him, her white skirt fluttered lightly before slowly settling.

"Well then~ this handsome gentleman~?"

She lightly skipped in front of Xi Wang as she spoke.

"This beautiful lady~?"

Then she skipped cheerfully in front of Sakura. Standing between them, she gave an elegant curtsy and extended her hands toward them.

"Would you accept an adorable girl's invitation to dance~?"

"..." x2

Xi Wang and Sakura exchanged a glance. They both saw the helplessness in each other's eyes, but then they both smiled and gently placed their hands in hers.

"My pleasure." x2

With the moon as their lamp and flowers as their adornments, the gentle breeze was their audience, and the rustling leaves their applause.

Their steps became the rhythm, and their humming became the song. At this very moment, in this very scene, no one but themselves could appreciate it.

A Lighthearted Daily Life Was Always Destined to Be Ruined

■■ Month 27th, 34 candies. Today was the celebration for the Sixth Herrscher subjugation battle. Although there were some unexpected incidents because of Dr. Mobius, it was still very enjoyable.

Sakura was beautiful, and Elysia was beautiful too. Compared to them, I really hadn't paid much attention to how I dressed... Maybe I could go shopping with them sometime in the future?

There would probably be more bizarre rumors around the base tomorrow... I just hoped those people wouldn't get caught by Dr. Mobius. Otherwise, I'd definitely go over and help them out... No, I'd better not. Otherwise, I'd end up getting dragged onto the operating table too.

But I promised Hen that I'd go see Griseo, so I can't not go... I have a feeling tomorrow will be terribly unlucky.

There's another Poison Chrysalis mission in two days. But this time, it strangely isn't an assassination mission. Instead, I'm to be handed directly over to Poison Chrysalis personnel. They said they're taking me somewhere called "The Deepest Place"... It's a little disgusting. It makes it easy to recall unpleasant things.

Xi Wang paused slightly, then poured another candy from the candy box and popped it into his mouth. He changed the number to 35, then continued writing.

Poison Chrysalis's missions have been strange lately, and they're gradually becoming fewer... Even the candy supply has decreased. It seems like they're limiting how much I get, but Moth to Fire has been giving me more and more missions, and they're getting increasingly dangerous.

At this point, Xi Wang paused again. Only after running through his clues and deductions in his mind did he write, as if confirming it.

...I might be getting discarded. Naturally. They have another replacement now.

Starting next time, I would be assigned to a Herrscher suppression team and formally face the core of the disaster... Fortunately, Sakura was now directly under Dr. Mobius and Dr. Mei's teams, only nominally attached to Poison Chrysalis, so there was no need to worry about her being transferred away.

Come to think of it, being assigned to the suppression team was not such a bad thing. At least I would be closer to Elysia.

Xi Wang paused slightly again, thoughts of his adjutant and the members of his team flashing through his mind.

Back then, because of his and Sakura's "special combat methods," their squads had suffered casualties, but far fewer than other teams. After all, he and Sakura had already completed the actual fighting in advance. The squad members could only serve as rescue and support personnel, perhaps handling some logistics on the side. The atmosphere within the team was not exactly affectionate, but at least harmonious. Quite a few people even joked in their spare time that "the lot of us are just deadweight for the two captains. We might as well merge into a rescue team and let the two captains form their own squad."

But now, Sakura's team had been taken over by someone else. After participating in several Honkai operations, its members had gradually all died and been replaced by newcomers. As for Xi Wang's own team, it had been wiped out in a single wave during the battle against the Sixth Herrscher, leaving only him behind.

That did not mean those members had been incompetent or lax in battle. On the contrary, they had been incredibly brave. Even when assigned missions with abnormally low survival rates, they had never questioned them, nor had they ever run away.

Having survived from the early outbreaks of Honkai until then, they knew perfectly well what they were facing. Yet they had never retreated—then they all died. They died fighting bravely, and even more of them were infected by Honkai while saving others, sacrificing themselves in the end.

Come to think of it, Xi Wang still remembered one squad member who, after being infected by Honkai and lying on the ground waiting to die, had grinned and asked him for a piece of candy. He had said, "I want to know what the candy Captain eats every day tastes like..." Naturally, Xi Wang had not given him any. He had merely fulfilled the man's final wish—Xi Wang had ended him with his own hands, allowing him to die painlessly as a human.

There was also someone who had once been in Sakura's team. If he remembered correctly, she should have been the last person Sakura had led. She, too, had been carried back, and even in the hospital ward, she had been gossiping with others about "how things were progressing between our captain and Captain Xi Wang"... Then the Honkai spread through her, and she died the next day. Dr. Mobius retrieved her body for research.

They were all dead... Because of the Honkai, barely any familiar faces remained.

Xi Wang closed his eyes and steadied his emotions. When he opened them again, they had returned to their usual, waterlike calm. Then he wrote one final sentence.

I will survive.

Rip—

He skillfully tore off the two sheets of paper and burned them. Then he rummaged through a cherry-pink bag, found a pink sakura-shaped candy, and tossed it into his mouth along with the ashes.

Though you were unwilling to admit it, the deaths of your squad members had left a deep impression on you and further strengthened your resolve not to be crushed by the Honkai... You would survive. You would never die in any battle against the Honkai.

The next day, although you had no desire to enter Mobius's laboratory, a promise had to be kept. In the end, you went there with Hen and Blanca.

There, you also ran into someone you knew—Cosmo. He and another team member, Dottore, occasionally came by to look after Griseo. After you arrived, Griseo happily ran toward her parents and politely greeted you.

It was strange, really. Griseo seemed to like you very much, as though there were something about you that drew her in. Sometimes, even Hen would tease that Griseo was closer to you than to them... Naturally, Blanca responded to that with a glare, while Griseo merely looked at him in confusion.

Still, it was only a joke among friends. After all, Hen could tell that, like Cosmo, you were the kind of person who liked children very much and was especially gentle toward young ones. Therefore, they did not object to Griseo growing close to you... They simply had not expected you to be so popular with her.

Of course, this also led to another problem... Mobius became especially "interested" in you. And this interest was different from the kind where she wanted to drag you onto an operating table for research. It carried a faint trace of sourness and hostility... Especially when Griseo chose to approach you first before returning to her side, Mobius's "interest" in you grew even stronger.

Perhaps that was why she wanted so badly to drag you onto an operating table?

Ah... But after what happened last night, Mobius's "offensive" became even more obvious. Although she had not yet resorted to absurd methods such as "pumping sleeping gas into your room at night," "throwing a sack over your head from behind during a walk," or "mixing sleeping pills into your food," she was indeed becoming increasingly bold. Or rather... her interest in you had become stronger.

By the way, all of the things mentioned above had really happened. Mobius had genuinely used those methods before. Although the people involved had ultimately been fine, such overbearing tactics were still frightening. It was just unclear why she had not used them on you... Perhaps because she was a good person?

And, as expected, a series of absurd rumors began circulating within Moth to Fire: "Captain Wang's brutal love triangle with three women," "Dr. Mobius forcefully declares her claim," "A night of ■■ between Captain Wang, Mobius, Sakura, and Elysia," and so on.

Incidentally, the mastermind behind the last rumor above was caught by you within ten minutes of it appearing. Afterward, with a bruised and swollen face, he was hung in the training room for an entire day wearing a sign that read, "I shouldn't talk nonsense," becoming Moth to Fire's newest source of amusement.

After that, things gradually returned to normal. You alternated between heading out on missions and resting at the base. At most, Elysia would pull you along to meet other people and do some interesting things... At least, things Elysia found interesting.

For example, going to Mobius's laboratory to tease its owner and suggesting that she change into a little pink dress or something.

However, she clearly seemed more "interested" in you. Perhaps because she could not win against Elysia in a war of words, she had turned her sights on you instead?

Or perhaps you would go to Vill-V's workshop to watch her wonderful magic performances, while also asking her to make some strange or marvelous little gadgets.

You simply did not understand why someone who should have been an "engineer" was so obsessed with magic... Still, her performances were indeed quite entertaining. They would have been even better if she did not drag you onstage as a "lucky audience member."

Then there were the small tea parties Elysia held with Sakura and several other Companions, followed by going out shopping together.

Although you had no idea why they had to drag a man like you into a tea party that was practically attended only by girls, with Elysia and Sakura both there, you had no reason to object... Maybe they just needed someone to carry the bags afterward?

You could tell that Elysia was trying to help you expand your social circle, though the results did not seem ideal... Still, you were grateful to her and did not resist.

You knew she was working hard to help you, so you did not refuse her requests, nor did you want to.

It was amid those peaceful, lighthearted days that... the Seventh Great Honkai suddenly erupted.

Clatter—

With difficulty, Xi Wang dug the candy box out of his pocket, where it had nearly fused to his Combat Suit. He skillfully opened it and tried to pour out the candy inside. But after enduring that terrifying blast of heat, although the candy box itself had not been damaged, the candies inside had melted together. In the end, Xi Wang had no choice but to twist off the lid and take out a now-sticky piece of candy, tossing one into his mouth.

Then Xi Wang glanced at the blade he had discarded, which had already completely melted away. He looked again at the familiar fiery-red figure suspended in midair in the distance, calmly accepted a new communicator, and pressed the transmission button.

"This is Wang. My weapon has melted, and my equipment has been damaged. I can't continue carrying out the mission. The other long-range weapons in my squad also can't inflict effective damage. Requesting permission to retreat."

"Received. Retreat request denied. Immediately cooperate with the other squads in conducting rescue operations in the surrounding area."

"...Understood."

Xi Wang calmly acknowledged the order, then gestured to his new team members.

"As you heard, we can't leave. We need to continue the rescue mission, and headquarters won't be coming to pick us up for the time being."

"How can this be..."

"Of course, there aren't many people who can still be alive under these circumstances. The search is just troublesome, and Honkai Energy will continue rising because of the Herrscher's presence... Put simply, staying here makes it very easy to die."

"..."

Watching their shrinking expressions, as though they wanted to say something but did not know how to bring it up, Xi Wang spoke as if casually.