Birthday Gift

"A person's life would intersect with countless others, diverging, traveling together... Those who had once walked alongside you, no matter how unwilling you were to admit it, would always leave their traces in your actions and thoughts in one way or another."

Outside the window, a ray of morning light spilled into the room, falling across the book in the silver-haired young man's hands. He closed the heavy volume, placed a bookmark at the page he had reached, and set it on his writing desk.

He walked to the window and looked at the newly risen, still-gentle sun. As if speaking to himself, he said, "Another new morning..."

No matter how bleak or hopeless human civilization became, the sun would still rise.

"Today... is Elysia's birthday." For some reason, that thought surfaced in his mind.

Elysia's birthday... He remembered the gift Elysia had given him, which he had asked Kevin to return. He felt that he no longer had the right to accept gifts from Elysia.

Their relationship, even if it had not completely shattered, would be difficult to restore to what it had once been, right?

He did not hate Elysia, because it was only natural that she would do what she had done. Besides, if Elysia had been the only one who thought that way, she could not have done it alone. But emotionally and rationally, he could not calmly face Elysia, the one who had initiated that incident.

So... he chose to return Elysia's gift.

He had considered giving Elysia a gift to show that he did not hate her. But Lilith was gone, and he worried that a gift from him would make Elysia misunderstand and think he disliked her. He truly had no confidence in his own judgment.

And... it all came back to the original issue. He did not know what face he should use to confront Elysia.

Hate? He did not hate her.

Acceptance? He could not let it go.

Zhu Yufeng lowered his head and looked at the soldiers passing below the window. Some wore gloomy expressions, while others stared blankly ahead.

They had already lost hope of victory, muddling through each day like walking corpses.

"No wonder Aponia placed Discipline upon them." Zhu Yufeng thought. He had not understood why Aponia had done so at first, but after witnessing the situation with his own eyes, he understood some of her helplessness.

"At the very least, one should live with hope. Days without hope are painful, a meaningless struggle for survival."

He recalled a line he had read in some famous work from this world. It felt especially fitting here. Come to think of it, which book had he read it in?

An answer quickly emerged in his mind:

"End of Time."

Recently, his mind had become somewhat strange. How should he put it... It was not that there were negative side effects. Rather, had he become smarter? His brain processed information at an abnormally fast speed. Sometimes, Zhu Yufeng even wondered whether he had evolved a second brain or something. He could actually focus on two things at once.

"Is it because of the Chimera Project...? Because I am becoming a god, does that mean I will gradually cease to be human, body and mind alike?" Zhu Yufeng muttered. "Forget it. There is no point thinking about it. After all, the ultimate purpose of everything is to defeat Honkai. As for the process, it does not matter."

Zhu Yufeng turned his gaze back toward his room. After using Vishnu's traits to devour the other Fallen Angels, the side effects of Hypervariable Surgery could no longer be suppressed by Mobius's medicine alone. Mobius had promised him that she would develop a new drug.

He had said, "There is no need. This level of pain is still within my tolerance. There is no need to spend time on this. Humanity does not have much time left."

At that moment, Mobius's expression had become somewhat strange. It was the first time he had seen something else in the eyes of that mad scientist of a doctor.

"Suit yourself." After saying that, Mobius had gone off to conduct her next experiment.

This pain was actually manageable. It let him clearly know that he was still alive. Other than keeping him from sleeping, it was fine.

In any case, with his inhuman physical constitution, he no longer needed to worry about physical illnesses caused by sleep deprivation. The only thing he needed to worry about was mental exhaustion.

So over the past few months, he had found another way to relax his mind: reading. Immersing himself in a sea of books could also pull his attention away from the pain. Was that not more useful than tossing and turning without being able to sleep?

Occasionally, he would also try emptying his mind and thinking of nothing at all. He could maintain that state for quite a while.

Today, he planned to visit humanity's remaining three cities and take one last look at the final glow of human civilization.

He had already decided to abandon the humans in those three cities. No, it would be more accurate to say that after The Tragedy of Binding, he had given up on the possibility of saving human civilization.

They could not defeat Finality. There was no point in leaving behind more people. In the original timeline, Kevin had risked his life and used the Moonlight Throne's self-destructive full-power release just to buy humanity a mere twelve hours. Even with Zhu Yufeng added now, what difference could he make?

Afterward, he would discuss it with Vill-V the Wicked.

To be honest, the only people in Fire Moth he still trusted were Mobius and Vill-V the Wicked. It was not that he could not trust Kevin and Mei, but Kevin was a Hero and Mei was a leader. They were not suited to bear such profound darkness and sin.

"Despicability shall be carried into the grave by me; light shall extend into the future because of you all... I remember, that should have been something Otto said." Zhu Yufeng thought aimlessly.

Was it because he was nearing death that memories of the past surfaced so clearly?

He knew his own body best. They said Fusion Warriors lived far longer than ordinary humans, but the life he had left was probably comparable to that of a frail, elderly old man.

If he lived past a year, it would be a testament to his tenacity.

In fact, Finality would descend in only a few months. More or less, he would at least live to see the battle against Finality.

Overreaching for a god's authority and stepping onto the path to godhood both came at a price.

Morning sunlight streamed through the curtains into the room. The flawless girl woke from her dreams, rose, checked her weight, got dressed, and pulled back the curtains.

"Another new day. Keep doing your best today too, Elysia~" she said to herself as she always did.

Then, as though she had suddenly remembered something, she walked to her desk and picked up the calendar. After looking at it, she tapped her head and said, "Oh my, today is your birthday! How could you almost forget something so important? Hmm... I wonder what kind of gift my dear Eden will give me this time~ And Feng..."

Her words abruptly stopped, and the smile on her face faded away. She looked toward the carefully wrapped, never-opened gift box resting on her bedside table.

Just over a month ago, the gift she had given him had been returned for the first time.

He had not even opened it.

Elysia walked to the bedside table and picked up the gift.

She did not know what was wrong with her. When Kevin had brought this gift before her, it had felt as though something had fiercely stabbed her heart.

It was the first time he had rejected her like this.

"After all, at that time, the Binding... the Eleventh Herrscher incident had not been over for long. Feng had not moved on yet. It is normal... We can still..." After thinking for a moment, she said as though consoling herself, "We can still be friends..."

Could they?

She asked herself that question.

What had she done?

She had caused Lilith's death.

She had caused his lover's death.

She still remembered what Kevin had said when he returned the gift to her: "Elysia, I know you meant no harm. I know you want to help Feng. But if you really want to help him, I hope you do nothing. That will be enough."

Do nothing...

What could she do, anyway? She could not even see Feng. She... what could she do?

She had always thought she was Feng's good friend. She had always believed Feng was her good friend.

So why had it become like this?

She did not understand. If he disliked her, if he hated her, then he could curse her to her face and vent his emotions. He could choose to ignore her and show that they had broken apart. Why did he have to avoid her? He would see anyone except her.

She could not understand herself anymore either. She realized that she seemed to have changed somehow.

"I remember that at the beginning of the year, he promised me that this year's gift would definitely not lose to Eden's... He has never broken a promise..." Elysia murmured.

Once again, he entered a human city and stood amid its bustling streets.

He looked up at the giant screen atop a high-rise building. As expected, it was broadcasting Kevin's achievements, telling people not to worry, that humanity would ultimately defeat Honkai.

He sneered inwardly.

Humanity would defeat Honkai, but not now, and certainly not you.

"Even though we have only three cities left, Honkai will never be able to touch these three cities! We still have the warriors known as the Fourteen Schicksal, led by our Hero Kevin. They have fought through countless battles..."

Come to think of it, only a few of the Thirteen Heroes of Fire Moth could really fight, right? Even with him included...

And even if you say that...

Zhu Yufeng shifted his gaze toward a corner of the city. Besides the city's original residents, there were refugees who had fled here from elsewhere. A city's capacity was limited, so they could only survive in its corners, waiting for Fire Moth to distribute supplies.

Zhu Yufeng watched them huddle against the walls, curled up in corners to share warmth. He stood there only briefly before leaving.

He would not feel sad over this, nor was there any need to.

"Andrew, where have you run off to again?" A woman's voice rang out, filled with exhaustion.

Zhu Yufeng turned his gaze toward the mother and son.

The mother crouched down and wiped the dust from the boy's face, scolding him, "Look at you, getting yourself so filthy again. What have you been doing these past few days?"

"I went to prepare a birthday gift for Elina!" the boy declared indignantly. "Her birthday is coming up soon. I want to find work and buy her a gift with my own money."

"At a time like this, you are still thinking about buying gifts?"

"But she is my little sister. I am her big brother. She has been looking forward to the birthday gift I will give her this year for a long time. I am her brother, so I have to take care of her."

Zhu Yufeng withdrew his gaze and headed in another direction. The sight before him might have seemed heartwarming to others, but in reality... it was nothing special.

Most likely, that little girl named Elina would not even get a few days past her birthday before this city was gone. Or, more hellishly, maybe it would be gone on the very day of her birthday.

Ah, birthday gifts again.

He remembered that at the beginning of the year, he had promised Elysia that the gift he gave her this time would definitely not lose to Eden's...

Yet things had become like this...

Kevin and Mei had both said that Elysia had no ill intentions; it was merely that the two of them had different starting points.

Griseo had said that she hoped he could reconcile with Elysia.

Pardo had said that he should look ahead.

Should he forgive Elysia? Elysia had done nothing wrong, so what was there to forgive? He only hated himself for losing that race against time.

"You did not do anything wrong either. You have already done everything you could. You have already tried so hard. Rest for a while." Another voice surfaced in his mind.

"Looks like I really am tired. Even I think I need to rest now..." Zhu Yufeng sighed inwardly.

But once the string in his heart loosened, perhaps he would never wake again.

This was not the time to rest yet. Do not look down on the will I have held onto all this time! he shouted inwardly.

When Zhu Yufeng came back to himself, he was already standing before a tailor shop. He did not even know why he had walked here.

Just as he was about to turn around and leave, a clothing design appeared in his mind. He clearly did not know how to do this sort of thing...

Had he learned everything after staying with Lilith for so long?

It seemed... that was not impossible...

Sometimes, a flash of inspiration could rival even a professional designer's work. After all, that one percent of inspiration was the key to success.

He stopped walking and thought for a moment. Since he was already here, then... why not give it a try?

Elysia sat by her bed, staring blankly at the gift she had failed to give away.

She had not seen Feng all day again...

Phyllis had said that Feng had gone to humanity's three remaining settlements today. So... was it possible that he had actually gone to choose a gift for her?

"Probably... not." She gave a bitter smile.

Even she herself did not believe that possibility anymore...

So... why was she still awake this late?

Probably because she still believed that he would fulfill his promise, that he had not appeared until now because he was preparing a gift.

Elysia quietly watched the minute hand slowly turn, watching the hour hand pass one number after another.

When the clock declared that the day had passed, Elysia had briefly wanted to turn the hour hand back. But she knew that would only be deceiving herself.

She softly sighed and turned off the light.

Outside the door, Zhu Yufeng held a long dress the tailors had rushed to make. Looking at the time on his watch declaring that the day had passed, he sighed and chose to return the way he had come.

He still did not have the courage.