Thompson Sprint! (4k)

When those words, filled with unparalleled madness and obsession, came to an end, the weirdo in front of Xu Ziling had already begun dancing excitedly, his face full of fanaticism and worship after hearing what he called the "Voice of the Finality Meteor."

Xu Ziling silently turned his head away as well. After all, watching someone wearing a gray mask and reeking of decay dance in front of you... That kind of aesthetic was still a little too advanced for Xu Ziling.

At the same time, Xu Ziling silently dismissed the possibility that the weirdo before him was a Herrscher.

After all, Herrschers generally had very high standards. Even if the Meteor of Finality truly was the big boss above their heads, their relationship should at least be like that between superior and subordinate. Take the Six-Core Pufferfish of later generations, for example. Although she respected Finality deeply, she would not go so far as to kneel and kowtow in worship the moment she met it.

Of course, the main reason was that the Honkai energy radiation emanating from the weirdo was wrong. If it really were a Herrscher, then the moment it was born, Changkong City would already have been thrown into chaos. It would not have been barely maintaining its superficial calm like this.

"I heard the Voice of Stars... Hahaha! I did it at last! I finally heard the voice of the stars! That meteor must be God... Yes! It is God! The God of Finality who brings destruction and rebirth to this filthy society! Hahahaha!!!"

Accompanied by the weirdo's excited and frenzied voice, layers of dangerous gray-white halos began spreading across its entire body, and its movements grew stiff and heavy.

At that moment, when Xu Ziling looked at the weirdo again, his gaze held only indifference, helplessness, and a trace of faint pity.

That was because half of the weirdo's body had now been eroded by Honkai into a strange, twisted purplish red. Its right arm had even grown the enormous crab claw of a Honkai Beast companion. Its body had swollen to more than three times its original size, becoming bloated and grotesque. Its reason had long since been discarded; it was blindly and crazily pursuing the "Meteor of Finality" it kept talking about.

These were clearly the symptoms of Honkai erosion in its late stages: total corruption of both body and mind. Even Serpent would shake her head after seeing it and say that there was no saving it.

After muttering to itself for a while, the weirdo suddenly turned its excited gaze from beneath the mask toward Xu Ziling and spoke with excitement and distortion:

"Yes, I was the one who heard the echo of the 'Meteor of Finality'! I must be the emissary chosen by God! I will be right! I will be the only person in this world who is right! I will also follow God's will and destroy this filthy, ugly world!!

"And you... You are willing to help me. You are different from the others. You have a kind heart, and you are a benefactor worthy of being remembered by me. So... come with me. Let us witness the destruction of this filthy society together! When Finality's meteor falls, all the sins and ugly faces of this world will turn to nothingness. At that time, you and I will also become Finality's stardust and meet again!!"

Hearing this, Xu Ziling, who had intended from start to finish to find some unlucky short-lived scapegoat, felt a little embarrassed. But from another perspective, he could actually understand the madness and obsession of this half-human, half-beast person before him.

After all, who among them had not been a wage slave? Xu Ziling, who had been deeply seasoned by the workplace before transmigrating, had personally witnessed countless coworkers have their potential squeezed dry by their bosses, receive a token benefit, and then get fired. When effort and results were so utterly disproportionate, it was no wonder people went mad.

In fact, if Xu Ziling had not possessed enough social experience before transmigrating, he probably would have ended up among those fired employees himself.

But then again... why did Xu Ziling have more experience than other people?

Perhaps it was because he really was suited for this sort of thing. Xu Ziling had discovered that he had been born able to see more than others.

"Sorry, stranger. I think I can understand how you feel right now. But compared with the stardust you speak of, I still desire life in the human world more."

With a faint sense of shared suffering, Xu Ziling gave the weirdo before him—a person whose body was already half monster—an intriguing smile before speaking:

"I understand you, I sympathize with you, and I helped you... But that doesn't mean I'll stand in your ranks at the final moment. Stranger, you must understand that those who treat you well do not necessarily truly understand you, and those who understand you will not necessarily treat you well. I don't expect you to turn around and understand what I'm saying, but... your life up to this point has already proven my point, hasn't it?"

"I... Yes... Yes! You're right."

The weirdo stared straight at Xu Ziling from beneath the mask and said:

"But! That's precisely why! Precisely because you can understand me, you should support me even more! I am the only 'right' person in this era! You should understand me! Understand me!"

"I can understand you at any time... But, my friend, understanding is not the same as approval."

Xu Ziling spread his hands, then raised one finger.

"Stranger, in the end, I'm different from you. I can't hear that so-called 'Voice of Stars,' nor am I interested in the 'new world' you promise. And I certainly have no intention of witnessing your so-called 'Finality' with you.

"Yes, the world is filthy, and society is dark. But truly clever people don't let themselves see through everything. Stranger, you've seen too much, but you've also seen too little. You've never understood what 'life' truly is. You only want to repay the suffering and hatred inflicted upon you... Of course, that isn't your fault. Hatred can always blind people with ease, and you have simply endured too much."

"But I'm destined to be different from you. Because, in a sense, I've now... well, I suppose I've also been reborn from the ashes. And compared with the world before my rebirth, this world is far better."

Xu Ziling folded his arms and looked up at the tall buildings on both sides of the alley. He spoke meaningfully:

"At the very least... in this era, there are still people and things I can't help caring about... Ha~ Sorry, I'm revealing a little too much of my personal feelings tonight. Don't mind it. It's only because the doctor isn't watching me tonight.

"Now, leave with your mask and my clothes, stranger. If you're still willing to do as I say, then at least tonight, we can each remain safe and leave one another alone."

"You... You... You also think... that I was wrong... that you have to stand against me..."

Hearing this, the weirdo's expression seemed to dim. Its gray-white masked face drooped deeply, as if it were pondering every word Xu Ziling had said.

But soon, it became agitated again. Beneath the trembling gray-white mask, its fangs repeatedly struck and scraped against one another, producing a roar that was both dispiriting and terrifying:

"Fine... Fine! Whether you approve of me or not! I will use the power 'God' granted me to prove it to you! I'm not the one who's wrong! This world is wrong! I am right! I am right!!!"

With that, the weirdo—half its body transformed by Honkai into a gigantic Honkai Beast claw—charged madly at Xu Ziling. Its clothes were already torn to tatters by its swollen body, and its mask was stained with purple blood. From its hideous maw came an endless roar:

"Why can no one understand me?! I'm right! Clearly I'm the one who's right!! I understand now... I understand! It's because you can't hear the Voice of Stars yet, isn't it? It must be! Since you helped me, I will naturally do everything I can to help you become stardust. Let us meet again in the new world after its restart!!"

"Oh? Is that so?"

Xu Ziling replied faintly. After confirming that the half-human, half-Honkai Beast monster before him had completely lost the possibility of conversation and was charging toward him in a frenzy, Xu Ziling pulled something from his clothing without hesitation—

The system's anti-Honkai special weapon: the Kloros Pistol!

"Buddy, times have changed! Who still fights at close range nowadays?!"

"?!"

"Bang!"

Before the weirdo could even cry out, Xu Ziling cleanly pulled the trigger. Although he had never used this thing before, his unreasonable physical strength allowed him to ignore the recoil of a firearm completely. Under these circumstances, aiming at the target, pulling the trigger, and blindly pouring out firepower were such simple actions that even a pig could do them!

"Bang bang bang bang! Bang bang bang!!"

An unending string of gunshots swept across the area. With the system's special anti-Honkai magazine, the bullets easily pierced the weirdo's body, half of which had already transformed into that of a Honkai Beast. Aim at the target, pull the trigger, change the magazine—the entire sequence flowed smoothly and seamlessly.

The weirdo had truly suffered terrible luck this time. Something that would have been capable of causing quite a commotion in Changkong City had run into the freak Xu Ziling. Worse still, Serpent and Klein were both unconscious, so Xu Ziling had no need to restrain his behavior or personality in the slightest!

It had never imagined that Xu Ziling, who looked harmless to humans and beasts, would give it a mask and speak with it amiably one moment, only to pull a modern firearm from his clothes the next and unleash a storm of bullets at it!

This... This was far too reckless, wasn't it?!

But that was not actually the case.

The first reason Xu Ziling had chosen to do this was that the suspect had attacked him. He had no radio on his shoulder and could not request support, so for the sake of his own safety, he had to fight back.

The second reason was that Xu Ziling was nearly certain that, at this point in time, the corpse of a Honkai Beast that had been half transformed would definitely attract Fire Moth's attention. No matter how much commotion he caused here tonight, as long as this half-transformed Honkai Beast corpse remained, Fire Moth would certainly suppress the trouble Xu Ziling had caused in order to secure the corpse. This was the most direct reason Xu Ziling dared to unleash his firepower.

As for whether Fire Moth would investigate him afterward... Heh, did he really think every member of Fire Moth was as dutiful as Sakura? If that were the case, the original plot of the Previous Civilization before Honkai would not have been so absurd.

A little thought made it obvious. Free experimental data, with the merit of bringing it back and submitting it—who would still be willing to pursue a shooter, a thankless and laborious task? It was like clearing a quest in a game. Once you had already obtained the quest reward, why would you go through the stinking, drawn-out story all over again? Taking the reward and leaving was simply human nature.

This, too, was human nature. If it didn't concern you, stay above it all.

"Phew—"

After emptying all the magazines, Xu Ziling casually toyed with the Kloros Pistol in his hand before smiling at the weirdo, who had been shot full of holes.

"Let me think. This should be what they call... Thompson Sprint, right? What do you think?"

"You... Heh..."

The weirdo, riddled with bullet holes, had half its body transformed into that of a Honkai Beast. Dangerous purple patterns flickered across it, rapidly healing its gunshot wounds. On its face, the mask—shattered by the gunfire—had pierced backward into the flesh of its face, making its expression look even more ferocious. A gradually reddening gaze could be faintly seen beneath it.

A sound like a broken bellows rang out again. The being that had twisted from a weirdo into a monster frantically rolled its crimson eyes beneath the shattered mask and roared:

"Why... Why can't even you approve of me?! Why?! I... I'm clearly right! I'm clearly the emissary of 'God'! I'm willing to convey to you the Voice of Stars I heard from God, so why do you still resist me?! Why can't you understand me?!"

"Why? Good question."

Facing the monster's frenzied roar, Xu Ziling tilted his head slightly. Partly out of a little selfishness, he wanted to chat a while longer with this workplace boy, whose experiences resembled his own early days at the company before transmigration.

"Why?!"

The monster continued roaring, its body already almost completely healed.

"Because this world... was never a fair world to begin with."

As Xu Ziling spoke, he folded his arms.

"Do you know? In truth, discrimination is something that is destined to exist alongside civilization, no matter the era... It was already like this when you were human. Now that you possess a monster's body, how do you expect me to believe what you say? Come, look at what you are now, little fellow."

With that, Xu Ziling took the experimental lens he had accidentally pulled from Serpent earlier out of his pocket and tossed it to the monster before him.

When the monster saw its current face clearly, its pupils contracted!

"Why... Why do I look like this?"

Looking at its incomparably ugly and hideous reflection in the lens, the monster widened its crimson eyes in disbelief beneath the shattered mask and spoke in a trembling voice:

"No... Impossible! How could I possibly look like this?! 'God' clearly healed all my pain. I am the only 'right' person in this filthy world. I am God's emissary. How could I possibly be such an ugly monster?!?!

"I understand now... I understand!! You're a devil! A devil who betrayed 'God'! You came here deliberately to mislead me and disturb my mind, didn't you?!!! I... I'll kill you!!!"