Honkai Impact 3rd, Starting with Handcrafted Black Tech to Save the Pre-Civilization - Chapter 47

"I'm wide awake right now. How am I supposed to rest?" Ai Yue waved his hand, signaling Kevin to wait off to the side first. "Vill-V, release the monsters!"

"Got it!" Vill-V, standing in the control room next door, waved toward the area below, then activated the mechanism.

As the cage opened, thirty Honkai Beasts surged into the arena and quickly locked onto Ai Yue's position.

Mobius shifted forward one step. If Ai Yue's new equipment failed to work as he expected, then...

At that moment, Ai Yue put on his helmet as well. He closed his eyes and began concentrating. "Rose, load the virtual Honkai Beast data. Target: 'Parvati.'"

"Virtual Parvati loading—"

Accompanied by Prometheus's slightly hollow voice, the coil-like component on top of the helmet began charging. It soon fired a beam of light forward.

However, the beam was not meant to damage the Honkai Beasts. Instead, it was projected onto the empty ground in front of Ai Yue, and its light spread dramatically, covering a large area.

"Hm?" Kevin was the first to notice something was wrong. He looked around, a strange expression appearing on his face. "The Honkai Energy concentration is dropping?"

"It isn't dropping. It's gathering." Mobius sensed the flow of energy as well. She looked at the coil on top of Ai Yue's helmet. "That device is gathering Honkai Energy through electromagnetic force? What is he trying to do?"

"I'm not sure, but he mentioned Parvati just now." Kevin actually made a rare joke. "Could Ai Yue be trying to create a Honkai Beast?"

The next second, the two fell silent.

As the Honkai Energy continued gathering, a pale-purple figure gradually condensed in the empty space covered by the light.

A heavy body shaped like a wild boar, two prominent and sharply pointed tusks, and horns curving forward from both sides of its head... T-That was Parvati!

Even the Honkai Beasts that had been approaching Ai Yue sensed some kind of threat. They stamped their feet in place, somehow giving off the feeling of being restless, as though they could neither advance nor retreat and had become stuck there.

But Kevin soon discovered that it was not quite like the Parvati in his memories. Once the phantom finally solidified, another layer of heavy ice armor condensed around Parvati's head, while a sharp horn pointing straight toward the sky formed at the tip of its nose.

This appearance made the already ferocious Parvati even more terrifying, fully displaying its identity as a weapon of war.

But a terrifying appearance alone was not enough. Whether this human-made Honkai Beast was all show and no substance would depend on its performance in actual combat.

"Good. Parvati, attack!" Compared with the shock in Kevin and Mobius's hearts, Ai Yue was even more excited. He pointed forward like a beast-taming master. "Use Thousand Miles of Ice!"

"Does this thing have a mind of its own?" Mobius's eyes widened.

Creating a virtual Honkai Beast and creating a virtual Honkai Beast with self-awareness were two entirely different concepts!

"No. Doctor Ai Yue is simply acting up." Prometheus promptly explained, "After issuing the command, he still needs to control virtual Parvati's use of its ability with his mind."

The next second, Parvati raised its head and roared. Solid purple ripples spread forward from its mouth. Wherever the ripples passed, countless sharp ice spikes erupted from the ground at an angle, impaling all the Honkai Beasts in a single move.

"Not bad." Mobius rubbed her chin. "This effect doesn't look like its maximum power yet. On the battlefield, it should be quite useful. Kevin, what do you think?"

"Mm." Kevin nodded. "So this move is called 'Thousand Miles of Ice'?"

"...You're acting up too, aren't you?"

Their exchange ended instantly, because Ai Yue had already turned around and fixed his gaze on Kevin.

Parvati also turned around behind him. Although Kevin could not see its eyes, he could feel that it had locked onto him as well.

However, he did not immediately move forward. Instead, he glanced sideways at Mobius.

He had certainly not forgotten that two weeks ago, Mobius had refused to let him fight back no matter what.

"After all, you aren't fighting Ai Yue himself." Mobius shrugged. "Do whatever you want."

Only then did Kevin step forward, raising his hand to condense a massive frost greatsword.

Much like the battle between virtual Parvati and the Honkai Beasts, the fight between virtual Parvati and Kevin was simple and swift. Virtual Parvati used Thousand Miles of Ice, but Kevin forced his way through the countless ice spikes and brought his sword down, shattering the ice armor on its head. Virtual Parvati prepared to use Thousand Miles of Ice a second time, but Kevin closed in and cleaved it in two. It turned into countless particles and dispersed into the air.

"Very impressive durability," Kevin said sincerely. "I thought I could finish it with the first strike."

Those were truly his thoughts. Although Kevin had not used his full strength, that first strike had still contained roughly sixty percent of his power. With that blow, even an Emperor-class Honkai Beast would have been sent tumbling. Yet virtual Parvati had only lost a layer of ice armor.

Moreover, if he had seen correctly, the ice armor could condense again given a little more time.

"Impressive my ass. Virtual Parvati is also ice-type, so it has additional resistance against ice-type attacks. It still couldn't withstand that." Ai Yue rolled his eyes. "You really are powerful. Wait until next time. I'll make something even stronger..."

He did not finish speaking, because exhaustion rapidly spread across his face and ultimately overcame his will. Ai Yue's entire body toppled backward.

But he did not crash to the ground, because Mobius caught him in time.

"This guy... How long has it been since he last slept?" Mobius said irritably. "I should've let you fall once to wake you up."

Although she said that, Mobius still did not let go. Instead, she steadied Ai Yue's body and hoisted him directly over her shoulder.

"It has been over seventy-six hours since Doctor Ai Yue's last sleep," Prometheus replied. "During the three hundred and forty-six hours of research, Doctor Ai Yue's total sleep time amounted to ten hours, forty-eight minutes, twenty-nine seconds, and thirty-five milliseconds."

"You slept this little in two weeks?" Mobius could not help frowning. "Fine. I'm going back to inject you with anesthetic that will last five days!"

She carried Ai Yue toward the exit, but ultimately stopped and glanced at Kevin. "Today's matter must remain highly confidential. You should understand who to tell and who not to tell, right, Kevin?"

Kevin nodded. He naturally understood how shocking this invention was. Before the technology matured, the fewer people who knew about it, the better.

Only after seeing Kevin nod did Mobius continue outside, steadying Ai Yue's body once more.

She had not noticed it before, but this guy actually had a pretty good figure.

Chapter Thirty-One: Inject Me Already!

Mobius did not take Ai Yue back to his residence. Instead, she brought him to the First Research Institute.

"Doctor Mobius?" Klein looked astonished as Mobius carried Ai Yue inside. "Have you finally started forcing people to become volunteers?"

"What are you talking about? When have I ever forced anyone?" Mobius glared at her, then turned sideways to show Ai Yue's profile to Klein. "Klein, go find two sets of patient clothes."

"Understood." Klein did not ask any further questions. She simply nodded and turned to leave.

Only after Klein had gone did Mobius look behind her. "So? Why did you follow me here?"

The person following her was none other than Vill-V.

"What are you talking about? Didn't we agree that I was coming to perform surgery?" Vill-V blinked, looking puzzled. "How long has it been? You haven't forgotten already, have you?"

"As you can see, I'm busy right now. Some other day." Mobius stopped looking at her and carried Ai Yue toward her room. "Safe travels."

But Vill-V acted as though she had not heard her. She continued following Mobius inside.

"You..." Mobius frowned when she noticed. "What exactly do you mean?"

A smile appeared on Vill-V's face. "The same thing you mean."

Mobius looked at the expression on Vill-V's face and could not help sighing.

It seemed her plan had fallen through.

When Ai Yue finally regained consciousness, he discovered that restraint straps had secured him tightly to the bed.

"What's going on?" Ai Yue recalled what had happened before he passed out and was instantly horrified. "Someone managed to abduct me right under Kevin's nose? Damn it, has the Finality attacked?"

"What Finality?"

The voice beside him made Ai Yue instinctively turn his head. Only then did he discover that Mobius and Vill-V were sitting nearby, as though they had been guarding him.

"You two did this?" Ai Yue immediately frowned. "What are you doing? Have you decided you don't want funding anymore?"

"Don't look at me. I'm innocent, you know?" Vill-V raised both hands in surrender. "Besides, I think you should be thanking me."

"Enough nonsense." Mobius picked up the syringe beside her and walked toward Ai Yue. "Good boy. Go back to sleep after taking this shot."

"Wait!" Ai Yue shouted. "I'm the highest-authority holder in the Moth to Fire! After you give me this shot, your funding will be reduced to zero. Are you still going to do it?"

"Funding is something I can ask someone else for." Mobius freed one hand and pinched Ai Yue's cheek, pulling it back and forth. "But you only slept ten hours in fifteen days. If you keep this up, even infinite funding won't matter because you'll be dead before you can spend it. Understand?"

"If this continues, I'll really have to consider forcibly performing the Fused Warrior surgery on you. At least then, you wouldn't die even if you stayed up all night for a month."

"Don't do that. I'm perfectly fine, really!" Ai Yue hurriedly explained. "Rose, explain it quickly!"

"First, fifty percent of what Doctor Ai Yue said is true. He does indeed use medication to maintain his physical health." Prometheus finally spoke in an unhurried manner. Perhaps it was only Ai Yue's imagination, but he seemed to hear a hint of slyness in her voice. "Second, I believe you should not resist, Doctor Ai Yue, because Miss Aponia will be arriving soon."

"Rose, how could you betray me?" Ai Yue's expression changed drastically when he heard Prometheus. He then looked at Mobius. "Quick, give me the shot!"

Mobius blinked, still unable to recover from Ai Yue's abrupt change in attitude. Vill-V, who had understood human nature from a young age, instantly grasped the situation and came over to hold down the syringe in Mobius's hand. "It feels like something fun is about to happen."

"Vill-V, you!"

But it was already too late.

Just as Ai Yue glared furiously at Vill-V, the door was pushed open from outside. Aponia, whom they had not seen for some time, walked in with a calm expression, her gaze falling directly on Ai Yue.

Ai Yue could only give her an awkward smile.

"You promised me before that you could take good care of yourself." Aponia walked over and began unfastening the restraint straps while speaking in a slightly low voice. "But it seems you haven't kept your word, have you?"

Oh no. Once Aponia started using honorifics, things were about to become troublesome.

"This situation was special," Ai Yue said guiltily, avoiding her gaze. "It was a difficult project. If I didn't seize the inspiration and finish it all at once, it would have turned into a prolonged battle."

Ai Yue was not actually lying. With the system's assistance, he had developed this virtual Honkai Beast materialization technology by gradually working it out with the knowledge he had mastered. It could be said that, without any relevant technology tree to work from, he had forcibly created entirely new technology from nothing.

This was different from the original virtual monster materialization technology. It combined the authorities of the Third Herrscher and the Eighth Herrscher, abandoning the cumbersome and complicated power-supply system and drawing energy directly from the battlefield. This not only prevented excessively concentrated Honkai Energy from causing irreparable environmental erosion, but also weakened the Honkai Beasts' combat power. It could be said to achieve several goals at once.

Furthermore, by relying on the authority of the Eighth Herrscher, even ordinary people whose mental strength was insufficient could gather multiple people's mental power at a single point through "chaining" and summon a combat-capable virtual Honkai Beast.

If Ai Yue could solve the problem of the massive losses caused by long-distance mental-power transmission, people would not even need to reach the battlefield. They could remotely condense and control virtual Honkai Beasts to fight. That would allow more people to participate in the war against the Honkai and greatly ease the crisis of Honkai eruptions appearing randomly throughout the world.

"I'm not complaining about you. After all, I have no right to do so." Aponia spoke with a trace of resentment, then glanced at the two people nearby. "I just... Never mind. We'll talk about what happens next after we return."

Once Ai Yue was completely freed, Aponia turned to Mobius and Vill-V. She bowed slightly to them. "Then I'll take Ai Yue with me. Thank you for taking care of him."

"Don't you think there's something strange about those two?" Only after Aponia and Ai Yue had left did Vill-V speak in a knowingly curious tone. "Aponia's attitude is practically as if..."

"That's enough." Mobius interrupted her. The snake-eyed scholar's expression was calm, making it impossible to tell what she was thinking. "Weren't you going to have surgery? I have time now."

"Wait. Maybe I should think it over a little longer?"

"Enough nonsense. Come on!"

Chapter Thirty-Two: Aponia Can Become the One Behind...

By the time they left the First Research Institute, it was already deep into the night.

"Today passed so quickly. I remember it was still morning when I left. Ah, hahaha..." Seeing the silent nun walking ahead of him, Ai Yue began awkwardly forcing a new topic. "By the way, Aponia, did things go smoothly on your end?"

The school on Twilight Street was preparing to officially begin taking in orphans from other settlements, so someone needed to lead the team handling the reception. Considering that they would have to pass through many dangerous areas and deal with children, Aponia was the most suitable candidate.

"It went fairly smoothly. It's just that, compared with the number of children who need help, the school is still far too small." Aponia sighed melancholically, her pace slowing so that Ai Yue could walk beside her. "Compared with those beasts that bring destruction, humans are simply too fragile."

"All the nations have increased their relief efforts for disaster victims. In the future... no, very soon, many shelters like Twilight Street will begin operating." Ai Yue comforted Aponia. "Of course, if we only keep dealing with the aftermath of disasters, we'll never solve the real problem. That's why we need methods that can truly turn the situation around."

Although he did not say it directly, the latter half of Ai Yue's words was undoubtedly an attempt to defend his earlier actions.

Aponia stopped walking, then slightly raised her head and looked into Ai Yue's eyes.

Ai Yue only held her gaze for five seconds before looking away on his own. "I was wrong."

Of everyone Ai Yue knew, Aponia was the person who gave him the biggest headache.

This was not because of Aponia's strange ability, but because of the attitude she displayed toward him.

Ai Yue always had different ways of dealing with different people. For example, with an arrogant and solitary genius scholar like Mobius, he only needed to display enough "talent" to overwhelm her to gain her recognition, and even her allegiance. Even with an eccentric like Vill-V, whose thoughts leaped unpredictably and whose personality was difficult to understand, grasping her weakness—namely, funding—was enough to make her obediently choose cooperation.

As for warriors like Kevin or Hua, they were actually the easiest to deal with. As long as you stood on the same side as them, they would trust you.

Aponia alone was different. She would neither display a forceful attitude nor attempt to achieve her goals through cunning or deceit. When facing Ai Yue, she only used gentle, even pleading eyes to convey her wishes.

Yes, just like now.

Ai Yue was the kind of person who yielded to gentleness but not force. If Aponia tried to stop him forcefully, or attempted to use her "Discipline" to restrain him, Ai Yue would definitely use every means at his disposal to resist her.

But once Aponia placed herself in an extremely humble position and expressed her request to Ai Yue like a believer praying to a god, he became completely unable to refuse.

Of course, this was probably also a shared weakness of humanity. After all, who could resist someone who radiated the light of maternal love and sincerely hoped that you could remain safe and healthy?

"No. You didn't do anything wrong this time." Unexpectedly, Aponia shook her head. "Of course I hope you'll take good care of your body, but if you did this for the future of civilization, how could it be your fault?"

Aponia reached out and gently caressed Ai Yue's face, rubbing her thumb over the dark circles beneath his eyes that had yet to fade. "This was clearly my fault, but I projected it onto you because of the chaotic emotions in my heart."

"If only I could have stayed by your side during this time." Seeing that Ai Yue wanted to speak, Aponia pressed his lips with her other hand. "I know nothing about science, but at least I could have used my ability to relieve your mental fatigue. Even if I couldn't share your burden, I could at least have soothed your mind. Yet I couldn't even do that."

Although Aponia was clearly criticizing herself, Ai Yue's heart tightened, and he sensed that something bad was about to happen.

Sure enough, the next second, he heard her change the subject—

"But at least I still have a chance to make amends." Aponia withdrew both hands and gave Ai Yue a gentle smile. "Over the next few days, I'll take good care of you and make sure you recover from your previous exhaustion as quickly as possible and return to a healthy life."

I understand the reasoning, but why did you emphasize the words "take good care of you"? It sounded as if you were saying "take very good care of you."

"That won't be necessary, will it? Twilight Street needs you too, doesn't it?" Ai Yue attempted one final struggle. "The children are the most important thing, right? Besides, once my project is finished, the remaining work will be easy. I'll definitely be able to take care of myself!"