Because It Was Snowing

This is a small aircraft specifically designed for solo missions, prioritizing speed above all else. It possesses unrestricted access rights within the United Nations aviation sector and stealth capabilities.

Therefore, after receiving the signal from experimental subject Serial Number VJKA13809, the aircraft carrying the mission personnel arrived at the target's location almost silently, ignoring the airspace defense system of Canghai City, in less than two hours.

[For humanity.]

The four heavy words, like the resounding toll of a bell, gradually awakened the naked man inside the warehouse. His entire body was almost entirely constructed of metal, with the rest consisting of healthy-looking muscles and blood-red fascia. Even the back of his head showed signs of artificial stitching.

Xing Chen opened his eyes. The color of his pupils was strange and unnatural, as cold and lifeless as inorganic matter.

The man looked around at his surroundings, silently repeating the four words that the AI assistant had spoken to him earlier.

[For humanity.]

After confirming the real existence of the self within consciousness once again, the red indicator lights on the instruments outside the cabin slowly turned green.

Only then did the Honkai Energy Inhibitor inside and the various pipes inserted into that body recede away. The man's non-human prosthetic limbs landed on the ground, and the warehouse door opened by itself. He slowly walked out and put on the clothes displayed on the table.

[For humanity.]

Only by silently reciting these four words can a man achieve self-awareness.

The AI kept speaking in his mind, and Xing Chen kept repeating it silently.

This was his own request, and in fact, it was thanks to this that he was able to retain his own will even 546 days after being Honkai by the Honkai.

Body modification is the only way for an ordinary soldier to survive the Honkai Infection.

The more profound the human body modification, the more intense the test of will, the self-doubt, and the fear of sensory loss become.

Until the day one's personality collapses, perhaps this way of living is the greatest purgatory in the world.

Xing Chen chose to walk this path himself. In fact, at least the current United Nations authorities are not so corrupt as to disregard the soldiers' wishes and forcibly reform them, continuing to use them as tools for recycling.

Modification itself requires high costs, and given that breakthroughs cannot be achieved in this field by simply repeating human modification, such an approach would only be a waste of resources.

The reason is that even with specialized combat modifications, such soldiers are no more valuable than a few artillery shells on the battlefield against the Honkai.

Indeed, this is true. Xing Chen is a successful case, and the fact that he has survived to this day is the best proof of that.

Generally, after experiencing Honkai Infection or even evolving into erosion, no human can survive for more than a month in such a situation. Human modification is, frankly speaking, just a way to prolong death.

A survival period of nearly two years is already considered quite high.

To keep him alive, he will need regular care and his body parts will need to be replaced every few months.

Such a cost is clearly disproportionate to the fact that the man himself can only deal with an odd number of non-specific Temple-class Honkai Beast.

However, Xing Chen's role in other areas can make up for these losses. In the outside world, his identity has long been dead, and he has nothing for the rest of his life except for his missions.

Accepting this level of human modification requires signing a series of agreements, as well as loyalty to human civilization itself and unwavering willpower.

In a sense, he is no longer human, but a tool.

During these seemingly long two years, the man's consciousness remained awake for no more than a month.

Tasks that do not require rational judgment or human experience can be fully accomplished by the body controlled by intelligence built into the nervous system.

When there are no missions, the man will voluntarily place his body in the incubation chamber and use a large amount of hypnotic substances to cloud his consciousness, while the Honkai Energy Inhibitor is responsible for delaying the erosion of Honkai Energy.

This practice of not considering oneself as human is Xing Chen's own choice.

His family, comrades, hometown, and lover were all annihilated in the Honkai that erupted when the Second Herrscher appeared. His hatred for the Honkai is an undeniable fact.

But men have a deeper obsession.

That is the sorrow that arises from the fact that there are still people who will continue to suffer such pain.

I don't want children by the roadside to be cut down by pale spears, I don't want a once-smiling, beautiful girl to turn into a monster that reaps lives in the blink of an eye, I don't want endless black ash to once again blanket the earth...

Even with the deepest reluctance, one's own limited abilities render it all ineffective.

All Xing Chen could do was squeeze out all his own value, just to make a small contribution to that grand ambition of driving away the Honkai.

This resulted in a gradual loss of control and confusion in his will. Only the four words "[For humanity]"—as mysterious as magic—were able to help him quickly regain himself when he awoke again.

The man understood the information he received from the AI and the permission granted by the transmitter, and he realized the true reason why he had awakened.

Events that require judgment based on human experience and wisdom are the only tasks that necessitate awakening one's own will. In this case, the task is to capture a young girl, which is theoretically a simple event that can be easily handled by intelligence.

But in reality, it was he who was awakened.

After reading the relevant classified information, Xing Chen understood the necessity of this action.

This was an important task that would exhaust his already limited mental and physical endurance.

"Seele Fulei..."

Her existence is crucial to the research of a fundamental experiment in civilization. Without this prototype, the unknown plan might encounter many difficulties and obstacles, or even fail.

This is a situation that neither the higher-ups nor he himself would allow to happen.

The man possesses humanity, and one could even say that his strong compassion and empathy are the core reasons why he was able to undergo human modification and survive to this day.

Xing Chen could imagine the future that girl should have had, and he also understood what she might have to face after entering the laboratory.

But this is insignificant compared to the survival of humanity as a whole.

Their crimes were heinous and their deeds too numerous to recount.

This is a man's self-evaluation of his actions; he has long since acknowledged his own impropriety and baseness.

Regardless of the initial intention, the undeniable fact is that self-serving actions destroyed a child's future while achieving their goals.

But if this is evil, then let him go to hell after he dies.

The intelligence repeatedly spoke in my mind:

[For humanity.]

Time has flowed to the present.

The clamor of the wind swirled around her ears, and all the pent-up emotions were finally contained in each heartbeat, causing Seele to momentarily lose her senses.

The man who came into view was extremely tall, making one wonder if this was the physique a normal human should have.

His body, which was over two meters tall, seemed to be forged from cold, hard steel. The moment he stepped into the cockpit, the wind and snow behind him could only blow against his broad back.

In this frigid winter, with temperatures already below zero, he wore only a thin, dark-colored camouflage uniform, the muscles beneath the fabric naturally displaying a powerful presence.

With his hands empty and seemingly carrying nothing at all, it's hard to imagine how he managed to stop the Ferris wheel from rotating.

The fact that the steel ring structure and reinforced glass can now ascend to a height of nearly 100 meters and silently obliterate the outside world is a situation that defies common sense.

The electric current that had been surging through Seele stopped on its own after the man stepped inside, allowing her to catch her breath and look up at him.

That wasn't human, or rather, it wasn't a normal human.

Just like the impression his words gave, he had a solemn and hard face, gray eyes like cloudy, frosted glass, and a bald head that further emphasized his fierce appearance.

Even though this is within the realm of common knowledge, his exposed fingers and palms are all made of mechanical fabric, so it's not hard to imagine that the winding parts of his body are likely the same.

Tick-tock.

Tick-tock.

This was the soft sound of water droplets falling from the man's fingertips to the ground. His hand, made of some unknown metal, still seemed to radiate heat, evaporating a little mist that swirled around him.

Seele understood why this person could reach her so quickly. The other person had undergone a combat-specialized cybernetic transplant. Although the exact percentage of modification was difficult to determine, he was clearly no longer a soldier from a normal military unit.

Judging the people in the lab based on the standards and abilities of an ordinary person is foolish; her limited knowledge makes it difficult for her to understand the limits of what they can do.

Even if she knew in advance, it wouldn't make much difference; it would only deepen Seele's resolve to leave.

The other person silently swung their arms as they walked towards them, the rapidly cooling mist emanating from their limbs dispelling the scorching heat.

And in this process, Seele made the right judgment.

Now that it's been seen, let's go straight into the Quantum State.

However, Quantum State are not a convenient skill that can be activated instantly; they require a certain amount of time to transform.

This is easy to understand. Essentially, the so-called Quantum State is about adapting the physical body to the quantum world before entering the Sea of Quantum.

Seele herself could not perfectly control this power. If simply entering the Quantum State periodically would indirectly cause the transmitter to enter an infinite loop of crashes, she obviously could not do something so convenient.

Seele Fulei was indeed favored by the Sea of Quantum, but this only granted her an unlimited number of tickets to enter the Sea of Quantum.

Once the ticket of Quantum State has been used, there is no turning back; one can only return to the chaotic ocean and continue to wander.

Even at such a cost, transforming her body into quantum mode will take time. Perhaps in the future she will be able to enter the Quantum State instantly without limit, but that is definitely not now.

"--!" The short, heavy roar caused Seele's consciousness to go blank.

The ground beside her was crushed by the man's footsteps, and the little girl's head swayed and vibrated with the force of gravity. Bright red marks of blood were rubbed off her fair forehead, but this was only because the man was holding back.

The man frowned, looking into Seele's unfocused eyes, and whispered:

"Do not attempt to enter Quantum State."

Seele Fulei may possess the ability to enter the Sea of Quantum, a conclusion the laboratory reached with Xing Chen after receiving the signal.

The reason is simple: the fact that she was able to successfully escape from the Sea of Quantum means that she has a natural talent for quantum recombination.

Reassembling a quantum state back into its original physical form is completely different from entering a quantum state.

Since Seele Fulei can do the former, it's quite normal that she can do the latter as well.

Based on this logic, the lab staff suggested that Xing Chen activate the transmitter as soon as he reached a nearby distance in an attempt to nip this possibility in the bud.

Of course, no one knows whether Seele can actually do this, nor can anyone assert that making her lose her will would prevent her from entering the Quantum State.

But Seele's existence is too important, so even if some methods to increase the success rate of capture seem meaningless, they are willing to carefully and diligently implement them.

As a result, Seele's plan was doomed to failure from the very beginning.

Currently, she is unconscious and unable to actively contact the Sea of Quantum.

This is also related to Su Qing'an violently severing her connection with the Sea of Quantum. Otherwise, given the little girl's previous connection with that ocean, it would have been very possible for her to instantly return to the Sea of Quantum under these circumstances.

After analyzing the girl's vital signs with his prosthetic eye and concluding that she was out of danger, Xing Chen said:

"You are a very important being to humanity, and I don't want to use any violence that might endanger your body to stop your little actions."

"I will take you back to the lab, Seele Fulei."

There was no response.

The man paid no heed to the little girl's silence. His palm split open, extending into a slender cage, from which a reagent rose from the empty groove and disappeared between the metal branches.

Xing Chen silently removed it with his left hand, and his right hand instantly returned to normal.

This is an anesthetic; just to be on the safe side, it's best to inject the other person with it first.

"Seele... is not a tool."

It was a faint sound, so faint it was swallowed up by the wind and snow, so faint that even with a man's modified senses, he couldn't catch what she was saying.

The girl gripped the rubble beside her with her five fingers, squeezing the hard object tightly until it bled profusely, refusing to let go.

She forced out a faint, yet incredibly firm voice from her throat:

"Seele... is not a tool!"

Whether for the sake of humanity's future or for other ideologies, real or false, laboratories will not give up on squeezing every last drop of value out of themselves.

But things shouldn't be like this. I'm not living in this world to simply give up everything for something.

Seele clenched her fists again, but that was all she could do, a futile act that only caused her blood to flow freely. She roared through gritted teeth:

"The children in the orphanage were definitely not born into this world for that reason."

Xing Chen had no intention of defending himself or saying anything more. The girl's anger and hatred were understandable, and he had neither the ability nor the inclination to resolve them.

As Seele Fulei said, no one comes into the world to give everything and then die a miserable death.

How many children have died because of that experiment?

Experiment Serial Number VJKA13809 reveals the darkness hidden within these cold, hard data points.

But the man wouldn't waver; he had already witnessed hell far darker than this.

After seeing that monster, even a rigorously trained warrior like himself felt uncertain about whether humanity could win the final victory and successfully drive out the Honkai.

For the continuation of the entire race, both he and the girl before him were necessary sacrifices.

Love and justice without power are nothing but laughable empty words. If we insist on sticking to our bottom line, we may even extinguish any room for future generations to criticize our actions.

On that desolate, ruined land, how much weight do human rights and compassion truly carry?

Humans without moral boundaries are not human; they are merely beasts that unleash the very source of destruction.

Xing Chen agreed with this statement, so he only needed to play the role of that doomed beast.

The man, now only a mutilated body, was determined to do what he believed was necessary.

The reagent in the man's hand ejected from the syringe on its own, and given his decisive manner, the anesthetic would soon be injected into the girl's slender arm.

But it didn't work out before that.

Giving Seele the right to finish speaking was the only flaw in his actions.

In that brief moment of her emotional breakdown, the connection she had severed with the Sea of Quantum was re-established.

Seele's body vanished from the world almost instantly, like melting snow; all the laboratory's careful precautions were rendered meaningless by this unreasonable and mysterious power.

Xing Chen watched the little girl's figure disappear from the spot with a blank expression, realizing that the mission was doomed to failure.

"Recording begins."

"Experimental subject Serial Number VJKA13809, Seele Fulei, possesses the ability to enter Quantum State within a time interval of approximately 0.5 seconds."

"A harmless capture method is difficult to achieve when the target is on guard. Currently, the key factor in determining whether the target has entered Quantum State is whether they are conscious."

"Next time the target appears, I suggest not to worry too much about its physical condition. Just maximize the transmitter installed inside its body to render it unconscious, and you will be able to capture it successfully."

The system records these messages and reports the task results simultaneously.

Xing Chen gazed at the empty space ahead and murmured:

Even if you manage to escape this time, there's still a possibility you'll reappear in this world.

"But next time, I won't be so lucky."

"Besides, is drifting in the Sea of Quantum really better than so-called experiments?"

After he finished speaking, he turned to leave.

Just as the man was about to return to the plane and fall asleep, his thoughts and mental processing suddenly came to a standstill.

It was as if a silent storm had swept across this small area, extinguishing the sparks of the soul and shrouding the boundaries of vision in endless darkness.

The wind and snow behind him continued to whistle fiercely past his ears, but Xing Chen's modified senses were not affected in the slightest.

Even if he were to fall into the lava erupting from the Tambora volcano, his corresponding senses would be directly severed by the intelligent system.

The current situation is hard to explain rationally. The man's whole body is trembling with fear of something coming. It's like the despair that a herbivore involuntarily exudes when facing a superior predator. His innate genetic instincts tell him that escape is the only option.

Even the option of escape was bound by an even deeper darkness, preventing any path to safety.

Xing Chen, whose entire body was no longer human by 70 percent, and another intelligent system used to control the body, stopped all their functions at this moment because of this simple sense of oppression.

Even the thought of being shocked by this situation is unable to arise due to the stagnation of thought, which is simply domineering and unreasonable.

A second stretched out infinitely in an instant, and only when the unrestrained and violent clanging sound tore through the air and entered the room did he vaguely regain the right to think.

Standing before him was a young man in a loose-fitting suit. The tie that was originally tied on his collar had been taken off and stuffed into his pocket. His thin shirt and coat billowed in the wind.

His clean and tidy appearance, combined with his slightly old-fashioned clothes and neatly placed leather shoes, looked strangely handsome, but in the current situation, all of this was so unusual.

Before this person even entered the Ferris wheel, his body was already out of his control. This absurd reality was hard for him to accept, even though he had witnessed the horrors of Honkai before.

"----." The man's words were stuck in his throat, unable to be uttered. His willpower was extinguished by the displeasure in the boy's eyes as he looked up.

There was no confusion, no bewilderment, no fear.

In that instant, Xing Chen simply came to a profound understanding of the fact that this person was indeed the instigator.

Aside from that, the only other emotion I felt was disbelief at the mystery surrounding the person in front of me.

The boy held Seele Fulei, who had already entered Quantum State, in his arms. Her bleeding forehead and scraped palms were reflected in his dark eyes, making the color within them appear even more eerie.

The man couldn't understand why someone could single-handedly drag a human who had already transformed into Quantum State back into the real world. Even the project team that had specialized in this field for many years couldn't do the same thing, otherwise he wouldn't have judged the mission to have failed.

Seele nestled weakly in the boy's arms, the blood from her forehead staining her once pristine white shirt.

Despite being rescued, the little girl showed no joy. Like a child who had done something wrong, her dark blue hair, soaked with blood, tried to conceal her misty eyes.

Seele whispered sadly:

"Su Qing'an... why did you come?"

Su Qing'an said softly:

"It's snowing. The house will be so lonely without Seele around."

"Hua and I will be sad too, that's enough reason."