To the Previous Civilization

Huang Hao drifted toward the Imaginary Tree, thinking about how to reach the true world of Honkai Impact 3rd.

"Crap, how am I supposed to get in when the plot barely explained anything? I don't even know if Kevin is here. I could have him throw me in."

Suddenly, flames reignited in Huang Hao's hand. They transformed into a line that connected to a point on the Imaginary Tree.

"?"

"What's going on?"

Huang Hao looked at the line in confusion. His instincts told him that it led to the true world—and that it was where he needed to go.

"This is way too coincidental. I'm starting to suspect the Imaginary Tree did this itself. If the plot hadn't said the Imaginary Tree was capable of activity, I'd be cursing this tree to its face."

Huang Hao didn't want to follow the line, but staying here alone wasn't a solution either.

"Whatever. I'll try it and see if I die. Here we go!"

Huang Hao pulled on the line and slowly reached its endpoint, then... fainted again. (How many times has it been now?)

When Huang Hao woke up, he found himself in some ruins. There was no one else nearby.

"Hey, are you all right?"

Suddenly, a young man called out from a distance.

Huang Hao said, "Oh, I'm fine. May I ask..."

Before Huang Hao could finish, someone wearing a protective suit pulled the young man behind the wall of the ruins.

Huang Hao: "?"

Huang Hao vaguely heard a middle-aged man say, "Are you trying to get yourself killed?! That meteor gave off no warning at all when it fell. There's a very high chance it's a Herrscher. You're practically begging to die!"

Hearing that, Huang Hao recalled what had happened earlier. When he first arrived, it seemed he had been transported directly from the Imaginary Tree.

Huang Hao thought, "Being transported here and turning straight into a meteor isn't impossible, but why am I completely unharmed? Wait!"

Huang Hao was standing in the center of the crater caused by the ruins. The two men were more than a hundred meters away from him. How had he heard them?

Still, in a dangerous place like this, either a Valkyrie would show up, or this had to be the Previous Civilization. And when it came to the Previous Civilization, it was usually the Moth to the Flame that came over.

Huang Hao shouted, "Hey, I'm not a Herrscher! I'm just an innocent passerby who got caught up in this!"

The older man picked up a loudspeaker and said, "Then how can you prove it?"

Huang Hao said, "Have you ever seen such a good-natured Herrscher as me?"

"Where exactly are you good-natured?"

Huang Hao: "..."

"If I were a Herrscher, I'd have killed you instantly. There aren't many people as humane as me!"

After hearing that, the older man slowly emerged from the ruins and aimed his gun at Huang Hao. "Stand still. I'm coming over to check you." He then turned back to the young man and said, "Stay here and stand by. If anything happens to me, report it to our superiors." He then walked over.

After a while, the older man began talking with Huang Hao. The older man asked, "Why are you here?"

Huang Hao said, "I dunno."

The older man asked, "Do you know what happened here?"

Huang Hao said, "I dunno?"

The older man asked, "Then what do you know?"

Huang Hao said, "I know that I'm here."

The older man: "..."

The older man said, "Forget it. I'll test your Honkai Energy."

The older man took out a strange-looking device and began measuring. Before long, he furrowed his brows. (Though his protective suit hid his face, Huang Hao guessed that was what he was doing.)

The older man said, "Strange. This place is filled with Honkai Energy, but there isn't any on you."

Hearing that, Huang Hao suddenly realized how strangely coincidental everything was. First, he had discovered that after being killed by the flames, he could be transported to the void. Then the flames had sent him straight to the Previous Civilization.

Huang Hao thought, "So that's how it is. I thought the Imaginary Tree was just a tree. Turns out I'm the clown here. But why would the Imaginary Tree do this? No, wait... it really is conscious!"

The older man asked, "What are you talking about?"

Huang Hao said, "Oh, oh! I was wondering how I lost my memory."

The older man said, "You were at the center of a meteor impact. Not being killed outright is already impressive. Losing your memory is practically the best possible outcome."

Clearly, the older man had already taken Huang Hao for an ordinary person.

Huang Hao said, "Moth to the Flame—no, sir, could you do me a favor?"

The older man said, "Go ahead. We of the Moth to the Flame aren't heartless villains who kill innocent people indiscriminately."

Huang Hao asked, "Could you not report that I'm here?"

The older man said, "No. And even if I didn't report it, there'd be no way to explain the Honkai Energy here."

Huang Hao said, "Think about it, sir. If they discover that there's an ordinary person in the middle of such intense Honkai Energy, someone who isn't even wearing a protective suit and is completely unharmed, the people above will dissect me!"

The older man thought for a while. "The people above have been acting crazy lately. I don't know what they're up to. A lot of people have gone in recently and never come back out, and there hasn't been any news at all. I can keep this secret for you, but we already reported it to our superiors before you woke up."

Huang Hao said, "With such dense Honkai Energy and such a massive explosion, one ordinary person dying is nothing unusual."

The older man said, "All right, kid. Don't come this way again. I know that concert is popular, but I never expected so many people to come all the way out to this remote wilderness."

Huang Hao asked, "A concert? Eden's?"

The older man said, "Yeah. Aren't you here for it?"

Huang Hao said, "No, no, I am."

After hearing about the concert, Huang Hao completely panicked. This really was the Previous Civilization. What was he supposed to do when the Previous Civilization was destroyed? He had no power at all. Wait—he had endured being a meteor. No, since he had actually become a meteor, his strength couldn't be that bad, right?

Huang Hao said, "Thanks, sir. Since you've already reported it to your superiors, reinforcements should be here soon, right? I'm going to make myself scarce. Goodbye!"

The older man said, "Take care, kid. Don't use the back roads again."

Huang Hao said, "Thanks, sir. Stay alive through the Honkai!"

After that, Huang Hao headed to Eden's concert.

"There's nothing else going on right now, so I might as well go take a look over there."