Into the Imaginary Tree

Huang Hao lay on his bed, looking at his phone.

"MiHoYo! Why do all the characters I like keep dying?!"

After saying that, he threw his phone aside and went to sleep.

"I played until 1:00. Why do you think only the protagonist group gets to have it good?"

Huang Hao tossed and turned in bed, unable to fall asleep. Then everything suddenly went black, and with a lump of frustration lodged in his chest, he passed out.

When Huang Hao opened his eyes again, he saw a tree and a sea.

"Huh? Where is this? Why does it look so familiar?"

Huang Hao scratched his head and looked around in confusion, wandering aimlessly.

"Holy crap, how did I end up at the Imaginary Tree?"

Huang Hao looked around helplessly, then leaned directly against the Imaginary Tree.

"Forget it. Life over there wasn't great anyway. This thing is absurdly powerful, so I'll just take it one step at a time. It'd be great if I could conveniently go to Honkai Impact 3rd, too."

Thinking about the troubles in his recent life, Huang Hao felt like crying. The only thing he was worried about was... his family, perhaps.

"Hey, what is this place?"

Between the Imaginary Tree and the Quantum Sea, there was a blank expanse. In this empty space, it stood out conspicuously.

"Strange. I don't remember the Honkai Impact 3rd story mentioning a place like this."

Huang Hao walked in and examined his surroundings.

"Maybe when I crossed over, the spatial fluctuations diverted the energy here, making it different from normal."

Huang Hao thought, Since there's a blank space outside the Imaginary Tree, I should be able to live here in theory.

"What should I use to test it...? Uh, I'll be the test subject. First, I should think about what to do after crossing over."

Suddenly, black flames ignited on Huang Hao's hand.

"What the hell?! What is this? It's so hot! So hot!"

Huang Hao rolled around in the void. Well, there wasn't actually any ground. In the eyes of an outsider, Su Wen was merely spinning around in place.

"Eh? It doesn't hurt anymore."

Huang Hao stared in confusion at the black flames on his hand, which he couldn't shake off no matter what he did.

"How can this thing burn without hurting at all? That's way too ridiculous. It makes no scientific sense. Wait, this is Honkai Impact 3rd, an anime world. Then it's fine."

Huang Hao lay flat in the void, giving up on thinking...

During this time, Huang Hao suddenly remembered Otto's Divine Key.

"If only these flames could transform like a Divine Key."

"The Sect Master is going to charge into the Imaginary Tree, right? I wonder if that bastard can take me back with him."

"These flames are really annoying. Can I put them away?"

The moment Huang Hao finished speaking, the flames flew out of his hand.

"Holy crap, that actually worked?"

Then he saw that after flying away, the flames did not dissipate. Instead, they drifted toward the blank space.

"What is this? How strange. Wait, if I use this to kill myself, can I leave this place and return to the real world?"

Huang Hao summoned the black flames again. They immediately appeared on his hand, then transformed into a solid object resembling a sword.

Huang Hao stared at it in surprise. "Oh, this thing can even become solid."

Huang Hao looked at it, then without the slightest hesitation, stabbed it into his chest.

"Wait, how did I manage to do that without hesitation? Why doesn't it hurt?"

Huang Hao's vision went black, and he passed out again.

When Huang Hao woke up, he discovered that he had gone from the boundary between the Imaginary Tree and the blank space to the center of the blank region.

"What happened? According to that position, I should have been guaranteed to die. My heart is gone, so how did I still end up here?"

"I get it. As long as I use those black flames to kill someone, they can come here. This is a divine tool for saving people!"

"Why am I so smart? Why didn't I realize it before? Does the Imaginary Tree even make people smarter?"

Huang Hao kept stroking the black flames as if they were a precious treasure.

After he finished stroking them, Huang Hao began searching for a way to leave.

"Wait. Since Honkai Impact 3rd is a matter of the proper world, can't I just head straight to the Imaginary Tree?"

Huang Hao then flew toward the Imaginary Tree... In reality, he propelled himself over with the black flames.