Honkai Impact 3rd, Starting with Handcrafted Black Tech to Save the Pre-Civilization Chapter 5

Besides, this was only their opponent's second trump card.

Elysia pondered this, then shifted her gaze to Aponia. The nun was currently looking at Ai Yue, seemingly lost in thought.

Aponia... The kind of power she had displayed might not be an exaggeration to describe as terrifying.

And then there was Kalpas, who could rival a Fused Warrior and wouldn't die even after suffering a fatal wound...

Who would have thought that such a small place as Twilight Street concealed so many formidable figures?

Being a Stray Cat Is Fine

Things went much more smoothly than any of them had expected.

In less than an hour, Elysia received a definite reply.

"Dr. Mei and Kevin will both come." Elysia looked at the reply on her communicator, a relieved smile appearing on her face. "This should settle things."

Dr. Mei held very high authority within Moth to Fire. Although she would still face some restrictions at present, she was at least far more influential than Elysia and the others.

With her there, the matter of the sanatorium could end with a result everyone would be happy with.

"Then we'll follow our previous agreement. Sakura will stay behind as a 'prisoner,' while you and I go to meet them." Ai Yue nodded. He wasn't particularly surprised by this result. "Let's try to wrap things up quickly."

As he spoke, Ai Yue yawned. After all, he only had an ordinary human physique now, and staying awake for so long had still left him tired.

"I understand." Sakura nodded without saying anything else.

Although she had to play the role of a prisoner, as a member of the Poisonous Moth, Sakura didn't feel dissatisfied in the slightest.

In fact, when she thought of helping those children live better lives, she even felt a trace of comfort.

I wonder how Rin is doing now...

"Miss Sakura." Aponia's voice brought Sakura back to herself. "Let's go wait at the sanatorium first."

"Come to think of it, there's something rather strange." After watching the three of them leave, Elysia suddenly asked, "Did you forget someone?"

"Who?" Ai Yue didn't understand for a moment.

"Little Pardo!" Elysia looked surprised. "You really forgot her? That girl risked her life to come save you before!"

"Oh, her." Ai Yue finally understood what she meant. "Pardofelis was never part of my plan."

"Why?" Elysia looked at him in confusion. "Because she doesn't have abilities like yours, so you looked down on her?"

Thinking about it carefully, that explanation did make some sense. After all, Ai Yue, Aponia, and Kalpas each possessed their own formidable strengths. Pardofelis, on the other hand, was only a small-time thief. Putting the four of them together inevitably created the feeling of, You didn't come here just to be the mascot, did you?

"Of course not." Ai Yue denied it naturally, without the slightest hesitation. "Pardo has no great ambitions and no particular aspirations. She only wants to live a peaceful, leisurely life. For her, Moth to Fire isn't a good place to settle down."

Although it wasn't obvious on the surface, Ai Yue knew very well that, from a certain perspective, Pardofelis's special ability was actually the most outrageous among them. That inconceivable luck of hers could probably only be surpassed by Elysia's special identity.

But Pardofelis yearned for freedom and leisure, which clearly conflicted with Moth to Fire's goal of eliminating Honkai. Rather than letting her enter Moth to Fire with him and be bound by its rules, it would be better to let her remain a free and carefree stray cat.

After all, with him here this time, there was no need for her to sacrifice herself.

"So that's how it is." Elysia blinked and spoke thoughtfully. "But what if that girl wants to leave with you?"

"Then I definitely couldn't stop her." Ai Yue spread his hands. "So the decision is still hers."

"I understand." Elysia smiled and nodded. "Now I'm suddenly curious. I wonder what that girl will choose?"

Ai Yue was about to say something when he suddenly heard faint sounds coming from all around them. But when he listened more carefully, all he could hear was some indistinct noise drifting down from overhead.

"Ah, Dr. Mei and the others are here." Elysia had clearly noticed it too. She looked up at the sky and, after spotting several flickering lights, pulled a glow stick from her tactical pack to guide the aircraft in. "Hi~ Can you see us? Land here!"

Soon, two specially modified helicopters descended one after another and landed on the relatively level ground. Before the rotors had fully stopped, the cabin door of the helicopter in front opened, and a young woman in a white lab coat with her hair tied in a ponytail stepped out.

Ai Yue didn't even need to look twice to determine that she was Dr. Mei.

However, by comparison, he was more curious about the people in the second helicopter.

Soon, the door of the second helicopter opened as well, and a young man with short silver-white hair and two pistols strapped to his waist stepped out.

Although he looked about the same age as Dr. Mei, he gave off a much more weathered feeling for some reason.

"So Kevin really does have white hair." As Ai Yue watched him walk over, those words suddenly slipped from his mouth.

"Huh? Did I ever tell you that?" Elysia looked puzzled for a moment, but then gave up wondering about it and walked toward Dr. Mei. "Hi~ Mei, long time no see!"

"We only had lunch together five days ago, Elysia." Dr. Mei sighed. She quickly turned her attention to Ai Yue. "This must be Mr. Ai Yue of 'Twilight,' correct?"

Mr. Ai Yue of "Twilight"?

Ai Yue froze for a moment, then saw Elysia winking at him. He immediately realized that this was probably the name she had given the organization she claimed to have.

"Yes, that's me."

Ai Yue nodded and extended his hand. Dr. Mei naturally extended hers as well, and they shook hands in greeting.

Neither of them paid it much mind. Kevin, who was standing five meters away, on the other hand, couldn't help taking a step toward them.

"All right, enough pleasantries. Let's get to the point." Dr. Mei quickly entered work mode. "What's your plan?"

Ai Yue paused, then looked at Elysia.

"Oops, I used a bit of coded language to ask Mei for help in my mission report," Elysia explained only now. "Otherwise, it would've been hard for someone as busy as her to come over directly, right?"

"And you weren't planning to hide anything in the first place, were you?" Dr. Mei sighed. "Otherwise, you should at least have restricted Mr. Ai Yue's freedom of movement instead of letting him shake my hand like this."

"Hehe, because I knew you would definitely help me, Mei." Elysia leaned toward her affectionately. "Mei, you're the best!"

At this point, Kevin finally spoke. "I think it would be better to get to the actual matter."

His voice was warmer than Ai Yue had expected. His emotions could even be distinguished fairly clearly, which showed that Kevin at this point hadn't yet experienced the series of upheavals that would gradually drive him to obsession.

"Simply put, we want to join Moth to Fire." Since things had come to this, Ai Yue got straight to the point. "We hope Moth to Fire can meet a few conditions of ours."

I Can Have Everything I Have Today Thanks to Talent!

Ai Yue briefly explained the situation at the Twilight Street sanatorium and put forward their conditions.

The terms were simple: They wanted the patients and children at the sanatorium to be properly taken care of. At the same time, Kalpas and Aponia had to receive the treatment of regular members.

Ai Yue knew very well that both Kalpas and Aponia had many problems. Kalpas himself was a time bomb; it was only because Ai Yue had saved the children that he was willing to show him some respect. Aponia appeared to be a normal person, but her seemingly cursed ability could cause disasters even more terrifying than Kalpas's.

Therefore, the best way to prevent disaster was not to provoke them.

Kalpas was easy enough to deal with. As long as he could fight Honkai, he probably didn't care about much else. Aponia, however, was different.

In Ai Yue's opinion, it would be best to prevent Aponia from becoming a Fused Warrior, thereby eliminating the possibility of her Discipline ability being strengthened again. After all, he had plenty of ways to enhance their combat strength. Even if that meant losing a rare mental-type Fused Warrior, it wasn't anything to regret.

As for "Divine Voice," developed later based on Aponia's abilities, that was even less important.

That was also why Ai Yue wanted Dr. Mei to be present. Other than her, the combined opinions of everyone present probably wouldn't be enough to make Moth to Fire's higher-ups change their minds.

"I understand the situation." After hearing Ai Yue's explanation, Dr. Mei nodded. "If that's all you want, then I can make the decision myself."

At this point, she changed the subject. "In return, I have one request as well. I wonder if Mr. Ai Yue can agree to it?"

Ai Yue had expected this. "I'm listening."

"The 'Twilight' organization must disband after you join Moth to Fire." Dr. Mei said, "Of course, this doesn't mean forcing you to cut off contact with one another and become strangers. It simply means that overly close cliques cannot form within Moth to Fire. You should be able to understand, right?"

Although large organizations could never completely avoid small interest groups banding together, if this condition wasn't included in their agreement, Ai Yue and the others would certainly face exclusion within Moth to Fire and might even be closely monitored by the higher-ups.

After all, all three of them possessed extraordinary skills and were hardly ordinary people. A small group that had existed before joining the organization wouldn't help them integrate into their new environment, either.

"Of course." Ai Yue naturally understood Dr. Mei's concern. "Don't worry. From now on, we definitely won't act under the name of 'Twilight.'"

After all, this thing had never really existed in the first place.

"Then our temporary agreement is established." Dr. Mei nodded casually. "Elysia can handle the specific arrangements from here on."

"Huh?" Elysia, who had been struggling to hold back her laughter, froze. "Why me?"

"Because you're free right now?" Dr. Mei smiled at her. "I'll discuss the specific conditions with the higher-ups, but I'll leave the matter of Twilight Street to you."

"At the latest, I'll be able to give you an official reply in three days." Deliberately ignoring Elysia's coquettish complaints, Dr. Mei looked back at Ai Yue. "For these three days, I'll have to trouble you to help Elysia handle the affairs of Twilight Street."

The subtext of Dr. Mei's words was, I'll deal with the higher-ups. That single statement was more meaningful than any amount of sweet talk.

"Then I'll trouble you to negotiate with Dr. Mei and the important figures." Ai Yue straightforwardly handed her the blueprint for the Honkai Energy Absorber. "This thing may be able to help you."

"What is this..." Dr. Mei flipped through it briefly, then immediately showed a surprised expression as she looked at Ai Yue. "Did you make this by yourself?"

As a scientist, Dr. Mei's eye was far sharper than Elysia's. She could naturally see at a glance how extraordinary the design was.

When she saw Ai Yue nod, Dr. Mei revealed an anticipatory smile. "In that case, perhaps the outcome will be even more perfect than either of us imagined."

"Is that thing really that impressive?"

After Dr. Mei left with Kevin, Elysia asked Ai Yue, "It's actually quite rare for Dr. Mei to show an expression like that."

"The same thing naturally has different value in different people's eyes." Ai Yue answered, "Besides, apart from its intrinsic value, this thing actually conveys another message."

"What message?"

Ai Yue shamelessly spread his hands and struck a pose that said, I'm amazing. "I developed this in Twilight Street. And as you can see, resources here are scarce and the conditions are crude..."

"So if you had better conditions," Elysia understood what Ai Yue meant, "you could achieve even more?"

Ai Yue smiled faintly without answering directly.

After all, no matter how much he bragged, he knew very well where his "abilities" ultimately came from.

Meanwhile, at the sanatorium, Sakura also received a message from Elysia.

"Things can more or less be considered resolved." After reading the message, which was filled with all kinds of cute expressions, a faint smile appeared on Sakura's face. "Dr. Mei made a promise. We'll receive an official response in three days."

"That's wonderful." Aponia's calm expression also showed a trace of emotion. "Thank you again for your help, Miss Sakura."

If Sakura and Elysia hadn't been so easy to reason with, this matter probably couldn't have ended peacefully.

"It's nothing. I merely went with the flow." Sakura shook her head. "The one who truly contributed to this matter was actually Mr. Ai Yue."

From calming the unrest and persuading Elysia and the others, to negotiating with Dr. Mei, everything had been led and completed by Ai Yue. Sakura could feel that everything that happened tonight had been under his control. Even if the negotiations had broken down and they had been forced to resort to violence, he would have had a corresponding plan.

And if that had happened, she probably wouldn't have been able to sit so leisurely in the church drinking tea.

As she thought about this, Sakura suddenly felt Aponia's gaze. The other woman's eyes were currently fixed on top of her head.

"Please forgive my rudeness, Miss Sakura." After confirming that the matter had been resolved, Aponia finally couldn't suppress her curiosity. "Are those ears real?"

"...They're real."

Sakura had originally wanted to avoid the topic, but considering that the two of them would probably become colleagues in the future, she still answered. "They're a side effect I had to bear in order to gain strength. Please don't keep staring at them. It's a little... embarrassing."

"I see." Aponia nodded thoughtfully and fell silent.

Brother, You're Not Angry, Are You?

Dr. Mei was indeed very efficient.

Although she had said there would be a result by the third day at the latest, Ai Yue and the others only had to wait a little over thirty hours before receiving her reply.

"According to Dr. Mei, the three of you need to go to Moth to Fire headquarters to complete the formal procedures, as well as undergo investigation and training." Elysia summarized the information Dr. Mei had sent. "Also, there are two options for arranging the sanatorium."

Hearing the crucial point, not only Aponia but even Kalpas, who had seemed to be sleeping in the corner of the room, raised his head.

"The first option is to move the entire sanatorium to a major city." Elysia said, "Moth to Fire has branches in many cities and cooperates with many hospitals. Finding a suitable place to settle everyone wouldn't be difficult."

Kalpas snorted coldly at this proposal. "It wouldn't be difficult for you, naturally. But these little brats are delicate. I'm afraid they won't be able to adapt."

"Having the children and patients leave a familiar environment would indeed be a poor choice." Aponia added, "And I believe you... the people from Moth to Fire, wouldn't fail to consider that either, right?"

"That's right. So the second option is to leave everything as it is, while Moth to Fire sends professional medical and educational personnel to take over the sanatorium." Elysia smiled. "Of course, Aponia, you can come back and visit during your future holidays. But you understand that after joining Moth to Fire, you won't be able to stay at the sanatorium permanently as you do now."

"I understand. Then let's choose the second option." Aponia nodded. "I assume Kalpas has no objections either."

Kalpas gave another cold snort and said nothing else, clearly taking it as an agreement.

"Good. Then pack up. We'll be leaving in two hours!" Elysia sent the reply to Dr. Mei, then stood up. "Oh, I'm already starting to miss my room."

Those two hours were clearly time Elysia was leaving for Ai Yue and the others to say their goodbyes.

After all, Aponia needed to explain the situation to everyone at the sanatorium. As for Ai Yue—although he didn't have as many people to look after, there were still people he wanted to bid farewell to.

Pardofelis hadn't appeared before Ai Yue since that night.

Perhaps it was because he had been staying at the sanatorium all this time. With so many important figures gathered here, Pardofelis probably wouldn't approach easily.

Thinking of this, Ai Yue returned to his own residence.