The Stars in the Sky Are All Enemies

[The stars in the sky are all enemies.]

As the eggs were gently spread out in the pan and turned a beautiful golden brown, Su Qing'an suddenly recalled those words.

The so-called "Honkai" should be something like this for humanity.

What will this world look like after the Third Honkai Outbreak?

Su Qing'an poured the seasonings from the porcelain bowl into the pot, gazing at the eggs bubbling and turning an enticing color, her thoughts drifting.

Actually, this is an answer that can be understood without thinking.

The boundless ruins that appeared in the bewildered eyes of the boy that day were the best proof.

But those days were too short and too isolated for Su Qing'an to clearly perceive the changes that occurred in the world due to the Honkai.

"Bite."

The rice cooker next to me, displaying that the rice was cooked, broke my train of thought.

Su Qing'an flipped and fried the eggs for a while, then put them on a plate and continued to prepare to cook the next dish.

The boy was wearing the apron he had brought from the kitchen. This scene, combined with the smoky atmosphere of the kitchen and the girl sleeping soundly in the inner room, made him look just like an older brother making breakfast for his younger sister.

It is now 5:36 pm.

The setting sun outside had gradually sank so low that no more light could shine into the room. Before going to the kitchen, Su Qing'an deliberately turned on the night light next to Seele's bedside table. The orange light dispelled the darkness and prevented her from feeling scared when she Awakened.

He predicted that, given Seele's physical condition, she should Awakened soon.

Although Su Qing'an had given the girl some warm water to moisten her dry lips, she was still hungry.

Her body will automatically determine that replenishing essential nutrients is the top priority over sleep, so it probably won't be long before she pulls her consciousness out of the dream.

The clock struck 6:10.

The boy placed all sorts of dishes into the insulated box, and the rice cooker remained in keep-warm mode.

Su Qing'an untied his apron and sat on the sofa in the living room. He didn't intend to sit next to the girl and wait for her to wake up.

He was a stranger to Seele, which could easily frighten her.

Now that she had decided to take the girl in, Su Qing'an needed to consider how to address her basic psychological needs.

The phone was fully charged on the wireless charging port that was previously set up on the desktop. Su Qing'an looked at the empty contacts in her address book and, in a daze, seemed to see her friend list from her previous world.

If time were still flowing in that world, his profile picture would probably have turned gray long ago.

Only when memories occasionally flood back does Su Qing'an realize how wonderful it is that she was unimportant to anyone back then.

The boy snapped out of his reverie, glanced at the history of the messages, and a slight, unintentional smile appeared on his lips.

The other party has accepted your friend request.

In the friend list, only Fu Hua's unremarkable profile picture highlights his presence.

Judging by the time, Hua should be going to have dinner soon.

If the other person gets along well with their roommate, then eating together in the cafeteria is quite likely.

Su Qing'an had originally considered inviting the other party over for dinner, but then he changed his mind and gave up the idea. Putting aside the possibility of disturbing the young girl's best period for making friends, the young man had originally planned to treat his current identity as a surprise.

If we reveal it now, I feel like we'll miss out on a lot of interesting footage.

As for how much mischievous fun was involved, only Su Qing'an himself knows.

Should I... send her a message?

Su Qing'an hesitated for a moment, then sent out a message.

Did you eat properly?

Fu Hua, who suddenly saw the message in the cafeteria, glanced at the portion of food in her bowl that was typical for an average girl, silently swallowed the shameful thought that she wasn't full, and chose to reply seriously.

[Yes, I'm eating in the cafeteria now.]

[Is Su Qing'an really not homeless right now?]

Upon receiving the reply, Su Qing'an typed in response:

I've found a job and am already in the staff dormitory getting ready to have dinner.

The boy then took pictures of the room and the food in the insulated box and sent them over.

Fu Hua was stunned when she saw this sentence. She had never considered the possibility that the boy would honestly look for a job, so when she learned of this fact, the girl's first reaction was to find it absurd and funny.

To use an analogy, it's like letting a tiger naturally follow the lifestyle of a stray cat—just hearing about it creates a strange sense of incongruity.

But judging from the photos they sent, it doesn't seem to be that tough.

That puts my mind at ease a little.

Fu Hua glanced discreetly at the girl opposite her, and only after realizing that the other girl wasn't paying attention to what she was doing did she continue typing:

[Although it may sound rude to say this, I really can't imagine what kind of job Su Qing'an could do.]

Faced with Fu Hua's reply, which revealed her curiosity between the lines, Su Qing'an simply responded with a profound statement.

[Hua will find out soon.]

The boy suddenly remembered the other person's appetite, and he typed:

Does Hua have a roommate?

Fu Hua, hearing the chatter around her, looked up and met her roommate's turquoise eyes. The girl smiled at her, then typed a reply:

Yes, I think I've already made some friends.

She is a very friendly and cheerful girl.

Then she received a reply that made her cheeks burn.

Making friends is a good thing, but I'm worried you might starve yourself trying to hide your appetite.

The shame of having my secret thoughts exposed mingled with the warmth of being cared for, a feeling that lingered in my chest.

Under her Roommate Miss's questioning gaze, the girl's face suddenly flushed like a fiery Fire Clouds, and her eyes rippled with unsteady emotion.

She responded stubbornly yet guiltily:

No, it won't.

The chat ended with a comment from Su Qing'an.

[That's good. I have something to do, so I'll talk to you later.]

Remember to eat well.

Before Fu Hua could ponder what Su Qing'an was busy with, she was overwhelmed by her Roommate Miss's enthusiastic and curious gaze and the barrage of teasing.

Seele hadn't had such a good night's sleep in a long time. Since the experiment really started, the previous regular blood draws and data observations seemed like trivial matters compared to the actual situation, so the girl naturally couldn't fall asleep peacefully.

Various reagents and blended foods that perfectly match nutritional elements have begun to permeate girls' daily lives more and more deeply, and normal foods that used to appear occasionally have completely disappeared.

However, since she had never tasted anything particularly delicious since childhood, Seele's perception of it was limited to simply disliking it.

The little cake that the older sister used to send her was, in Seele's opinion, the most delicious thing in the world.

This caused her to crave the taste and sweetness of cake for a period of time, even when eating bland and tasteless food.

Because she was a rare experimental subject with an early Sequence Number, the experiments she endured day and night did not involve anything more cruel.

However, the psychological pressure and the fact that companions are disappearing one by one without a sound are constantly stimulating the human survival instinct.

Fear, disgust, rejection, avoidance.

Those faint threads that barely formed a circuit in her mind gave the girl her first thought of leaving this place.

But even after Seele was pushed onto the experimental table that caused all her friends and companions to disappear, she was unable to leave the room even a step.

Those seemingly close adults became the culprits who stripped the girl of the few things she possessed.

The experiment's results allowed Seele to temporarily escape the tragic outcome.

She was successfully transported to the Sea of Quantum by the power of the Second Herrscher, and after wandering around for a while, she successfully escaped the Sea of Quantum and arrived in Canghai City.

Compared to her friends, her luck was almost akin to that of a chosen one.

So when Seele wandered around Canghai City, she would occasionally feel lonely and realize that she had to cherish the fact that she was alive.

As she hugs herself to the knees, she whispers:

"You can't feel sad, you can't feel lonely."

"Seele wants to go and see if the outside world is the same as life in the orphanage."

"Seele needs to know if everyone's experiences are something they deserve."

"If... if not."

"Seele, we must take revenge."

Revenge.

The worldview is being reshaped by the outside world. In the fragmented dream, countless messy and trivial scenes keep flashing by, and the emotions, which have gone from being confused to being unforgettable, become deeper and darker.

The girls who died in the experiments inexplicably recreated in the dream scenes the real ways of dying that Seele had never seen before.

Most of the children let out silent wails inside the incubation chamber's potion, eventually turning into tiny specks of foam within a minute, which were then converted into high-temperature steam by a large amount of heat energy.

The slowly overlapping scenes were like a mermaid in a fairy tale, turning into bubbles and disappearing into the ocean.

However, if a mermaid dies in the sea, you can comfort yourself by thinking that every drop of water in the ocean has passed by her remains, and that is proof that she once lived.

In the rapidly dissipating steam, there was no trace of those people who had ever existed; all that remained were the brand-new incubation chambers that had been moved to the empty ground, silently telling the story of an endless cycle.

You must live.

You will witness the beauty of this world.

You want... revenge.

Those inhumane scenes and the harmonious and happy images of the outside world intertwined in my consciousness, causing the budding emotions to swell into dark flowers.

Seele murmured these self-admonitions in a half-awake state, her sleep, which was usually more comfortable than in the laboratory, now squeezed out of her by these thoughts, leaving her no room to breathe.

The sensations emanating from her stomach and the general weakness began to break free from the constraints of the dream and clearly reached the girl's consciousness.

Immediately, the illusion of falling continuously from the deep sea vanished the moment I opened my eyes.

Seele's chest heaved unsteadily in soft arcs as she looked at the unfamiliar scene before her, subconsciously suppressing the sound of her breathing.

The girl struggled to breathe quietly, cold sweat spreading down her back and soaking through the white fabric.

The ceiling, bathed in the warm glow of orange-red lights, was unlike the deathly white of the orphanage, giving it a gentler appearance. The only sound in the quiet room was the hum of the airflow as the temperature control system regulated itself, and the comfortable temperature it provided made this cold winter feel less daunting.

Seele's eyes were illuminated by the orange light, and the deep blue sea within them gently rippled. She murmured to herself in a daze:

"Where... am I?"

"It seems like a stranger saw her before, and then Seele fell asleep."

She felt the crispness of uttering words and the much more comfortable feeling in her throat, but her little mind was a little confused for a moment.

Seele couldn't help but purse her lips, but then she felt a sweet scent enter her nostrils, making her miss the cakes she used to eat.

This was the result of Su Qing'an carefully washing the little girl's face with a hot towel, then casually applying a brand-new cantaloupe-scented lip balm to her.

The reason, of course, was that her lips were dry due to excessive lack of moisture.

Seele pondered her current situation with confusion, barely supporting her frail body as she touched a pair of cotton slippers with tags recently torn off her toes, her toes, which were covered by bear socks at some point.

She subconsciously and naturally shoved her little feet into the warm fleece layer and rubbed them against it.

The girl strangely sensed a kind of comfort that corrupted humanity in these details.

She tilted her head and looked at the little dinosaur pajamas on the clothes rack next to her, which looked very warm, and hesitated whether to wear them.

I think I was taken home by that strange stranger.

Given that her inability to touch anything was most likely lifted by the other party, and considering the authenticity conveyed in that Martial Intent, Seele shouldn't have thought the other party was a bad person. However, her strong psychological defenses prevented her from having any thoughts of trust.

But...

It's winter outside... so even if you're looking for a chance to escape, wearing some thicker clothes isn't a bad choice. Besides, it can also lull the other person into a false sense of security and make you seem very obedient.

Just like the submission she had shown when she silently endured all the cruel experiments.

A dark, menacing glint flashed in the girl's eyes, but the way she sullenly put on her dinosaur pajamas quickly dispelled that slightly sharp, negative emotion.

She held the dinosaur tail behind her with her little hands, feeling the softness of the fabric, and thought that the person who picked her up was like a tireless old woman.

These details, one after another, are handled with the care and tenderness of a precious treasure.

That's strange.

The person who picked me up must be a strange eccentric; who would be so considerate to a complete stranger?

Even that older sister only gave her a piece of cake before leaving her life.

She gripped the tail of her dinosaur pajamas tightly, thinking.

This is just another lie.

Seele... won't fall for it again.