Funeral, the Missionary of Yakarta

Su Qing'an remembered this schoolbag.

The image of Satou Yunona stuffing cream puffs into that backpack is still vividly etched in my mind.

The boy placed the coffin beside him, picked up the pink backpack, and his fingertips lingered on the zipper, not choosing to open it immediately.

Su Qing'an thought that for that little girl who had nothing, this must be the only thing worth protecting.

So even after being oppressed to the point of losing her mind, she subconsciously directed the aftershocks of her power to bypass that room.

Therefore, even though the Third Herrscher did not choose to dispel the electromagnetic barrier during the battle with itself, the backpack remained intact even under the Honkai Fission Bomb.

Su Qing'an closed his eyes and said this to himself.

Stop running away, it's no use.

[Soul Essence: 70.21 (78.31)]

When you stop tearing open the wounds in your soul, those wounds heal completely in an instant.

The boy stared at his schoolbag, feeling a surge of emotions that quickly dissipated in his chest, and suddenly understood a reality.

Those emotions that once made me feel worthy of fear have long since burned away, leaving only a pitiful amount of [Ashes], just like wisps of smoke dissipating into the distant sky, so little that their original form can no longer be seen.

Hatred, sorrow, despair, pain, confusion, loneliness, helplessness...

These mixed emotions converged into a dried-up spring, and all he could feel were the soil that had once been moistened.

Even if I stop running away and stop deliberately tearing my soul apart to numb my emotions, I will no longer be swayed by it.

The boy's earlier concern that he couldn't maintain his rationality without tearing his soul apart now seems utterly ridiculous.

So, it turns out, it's been... unnecessary for a long time.

Tilting, tearing, disintegrating, crushing.

Something vanished after witnessing the girl turn into a corpse.

Kenshin remained unwavering, deathly silent and still.

The thought process remained unchanged.

Things that were once considered important are still important, and people who were once cherished are still cherished.

This is clearly not about the soul itself, but about one's personality and self-awareness.

Beneath the surface of everything appearing normal, something silently vanishes into ashes.

The boy took a deep breath, his lips pursed, his pupils trembling.

A profound fear overwhelmed consciousness, preventing the soul from resonating with it any longer, and thus [Udu-dust • Critical Point] was forcibly withdrawn in the blink of an eye.

Crimson feathers drifted and swayed at the edge of his vision, as if struggling with how to offer comfort.

Su Qing'an reached out and touched the feather with his finger. He lowered his gaze and whispered:

"It's alright, it's okay, this is fine."

After that immense fear disappeared, my heart was completely at peace.

Physiological reactions and the emptiness of chest tightness clearly define two distinct areas.

Even after understanding this reality, he still couldn't generate any other emotions about it.

Since experiencing such a profound soul resonance as [Udu-dust • Critical Point], Little Feather seems to have become more spiritual, and its every move reveals its emotional fluctuations.

At this moment, Udu-dust sadly placed his hand on the back of the boy's hand, as if he understood that he could not do anything for Su Qing'an now, and felt sad about it.

Su Qing'an curled her lips and uttered a lie:

"It's okay, don't worry, this might be a good thing."

We must have the courage to face fear, not just be unafraid of death; we must have passion and love, not be purely numb to ourselves; we must accept all possible restarts while also taking every matter seriously.

These were the three requirements he set for himself shortly after the restart.

But now, I'm getting further and further away from that goal.

Is it not resilient enough?

Is it because I haven't tried hard enough?

Was it because I wasn't taking it seriously enough?

Or is this the absolute limit?

The boy chose not to continue thinking about these things, and being entangled in his current predicament, he could only remain stagnant.

Whether it was for the sake of those who cared about him or the reality of the Previous Civilization, Su Qing'an was forced to put these things aside, pretend to forget them, and choose to move forward.

The feathers drooped and brushed against his skin, the soft, warm touch offering the boy a small measure of comfort.

Su Qing'an didn't respond further. Perhaps Udu-dust, who was experiencing a resonance with her own soul, was the one who understood her best. Lies meant nothing to it.

Since that's the case, it's better to keep quiet.

Su Qing'an quietly unzipped her backpack and began to count the contents:

A bag of cream puffs that I saw the girl secretly put in that day, now covered in unsightly mold, clearly expired after half a year; a few cans of cola, two pieces of chocolate of different flavors, and some miscellaneous snacks.

All of this suggests that the little girl was a bit greedy.

Satou Yunona filled this pink backpack to the brim.

To find out exactly what was inside, Su Qing'an carefully cradled these treasures that carried the girl's inner thoughts and trivialities.

Whether they're expired or not, these were once her treasures.

Therefore, out of respect for the young girl, the boy naturally had no choice but to cherish her as a treasure.

He continued looking inside:

A small toy given away at a convenience store, a doll that I think I found in a shopping mall, a marker, a fairy tale book with lots of colored pages but no words, and finally, a brand new notebook.

Su Qing'an did not choose to read the entire picture book of fairy tales. He only glanced at the title page and the end before closing it and putting it back.

The boy silently apologized to himself and then opened the notebook.

As expected, the graffiti that came into view looked like it was done by a very young child.

The only thing Su Qing'an could understand was the image on one of the pages.

The seemingly chaotic lines reveal the author's painstaking effort to maintain order, which allows him to understand what each wave represents.

It is the sea.

The boy's fingertips pressed against the pale paper, his skin and the marker's strokes touching, both unrestrained and cautious.

Su Qing'an uncapped her pen and used a marker to draw a unique ocean on a blank sheet of paper.

The strength of the brushstrokes was so restrained, revealing an incredible gentleness, as if the paper being written was not an ordinary blank sheet of paper, but an important answer sheet to be submitted to someone.

The boy gazed at the childish doodle, his lips parted slightly, and he whispered:

"The drawing is terrible; this is what the sea should look like."

"See, you clearly didn't finish learning, did you?"

After the words were spoken, only the soft ticking sound lingered in my ears.

Cool tears rolled down, turning into spreading water stains that moistened the ink, causing the pitch-black color to spread and soften the surrounding white.

The ripples on the Mind Lake are barely visible; the waves stirred by the breeze vanish into stillness in an instant.

Why do we cry?

Clearly... I don't feel sad at all.

Su Qing'an tidied up the things in his backpack. He raised his hand and used the Honkai Energy shield to create a larger area, removing the falling dust from his sight and isolating the radiation and Honkai Energy field that kept coming like maggots clinging to his bones.

He gently stroked the surface of the coffin, and after his fingerprint was entered, the coffin door opened.

In the scene filled with chilling air, the remains were vaguely revealed in their entirety.

The girl's pale, long hair flowed down the cold ground, painting a picture devoid of warmth.

Blue baby's breath filled her vision, covering most of her pure white skirt; this was probably a decoration that Himeko had put in.

Su Qing'an looked at her already cloudy cornea, reached out and touched her eyelids, letting them close.

He then placed the pink backpack into the coffin and closed the coffin door again.

A decision must be made.

The boy understood that he could no longer dwell on things that were beyond redemption. What specific changes had occurred in the world during his absence was entirely unknown.

The structure of human beings has undergone a transformation of collapse.

Have the Divine Key and the Immortal Project been implemented?

How have the basic Honkai Energy tech tree and Valkyrie armor changed?

Was the Herrscher who died in New Zealand the Fourth Herrscher?

As long as you still want to win, as long as you don't want to admit defeat to that god, you cannot choose to give up the fight.

It wasn't for a grander cause, nor for the lives of those unrelated to me, nor for some empty notion of justice or reason.

It's for myself and the people I care about.

Therefore, we cannot ignore the war between humanity and the Honkai. Even though we have fallen behind, lost a lot, and worn down a lot on the road to victory, and even the weight of our souls is slowly and imperceptibly lightening, we can only move forward.

"Get used to it," he told himself.

No human being can be omnipotent, so there will always be things we cannot do. Loss is a natural outcome. Even if we cannot accept it, we can only choose to remember it and use it to replace what we have lost, as a support to keep moving forward on our path.

Finding a burial place for Satou Yunona was merely self-comfort, a fact Su Qing'an understood all too well.

There will never be a Pure Land without conflict in this world; the struggle between civilization and Honkai will eventually burn down every inch of land.

In that endless expanse of death, countless filth and despair can only converge into a pitch-black hue, staining the world into an ugly state.

The boy returned to the coastline where he had first arrived, carrying the coffin.

He stood in the void, the coffin suspended in front of him by the binding and manipulation of Honkai Energy threads.

Su Qing'an stared at the corpses inside for a while, then silently adjusted the chips she had previously accumulated on the Soul Scale.

The crackling sound of flames burning tree branches echoed through my Sea of consciousness.

The boy extended his fingertips, and scattered specks of dark light fell and drifted down.

Experiencing the Honkai Fission Bomb firsthand wasn't entirely without its lessons; at least he learned a thing or two about the chain reaction of Honkai Energy.

Thus, the clear ink-black sky was painted, and the dark flames of the soul blended into it. The magnificent light and fire were reflected in the dark eyes, completely engulfing the coffin.

Su Qing'an gazed at the scene where the sea and sky met, as if looking at a blank sheet of paper after the ink had faded, and murmured softly:

"There is no place in this world where corpses can be buried."

"These treasures you cherish will eventually become trash under the claws of the Honkai. You might as well end up with nothing."

The space in front of the boy was now empty; the flames of his soul had successfully burned away the last trace of [Ashes] into nothingness.

The only thing he can defy the laws of physics and disregard the law of conservation of matter is the power of his Soul Essence, which is why the exchange of bargaining chips has meaning.

It was an expensive, brief, and silent funeral.

"Yuno, Yuno."

The white-haired immortal embarked on his journey home, but... he left behind much more.

Indonesia.

This is Yakarta, located on the northwest coast of Java.

As the largest city in Southeast Asia, Yakarta once had a dense population of tens of millions, while the Greater Jakarta area, which surrounds the surrounding towns, has a population of over thirty million, making it one of the United Nations.

But after undergoing such an irrational process of elimination as the Honkai 3rd, this vast and boundless region is no longer the bustling metropolis it once was.

Compared to other sparsely populated countries, the black ash here is piled up like mountains and seas, with the scale of the debris far exceeding that of similar areas such as New Zealand.

The Honkai Beast army can be seen everywhere in the wilderness and the ruins of cities. The clearing of the Mechanical Force has become a long and protracted war due to the Honkai environment.

Almost every day that passes, a portion of the homeland where humans could live in peace is encroached upon and painted with a forbidden color that cannot be entered.

The instruments have confirmed that the Honkai Energy environment will slowly erode and expand the surrounding area. If this pace continues to stabilize, not only will this area of more than 800 square kilometers become a terrifying inferno where most humans cannot survive.

I have heard that the United Nations leadership has convened several emergency meetings to implement corresponding countermeasures step by step.

To fight against such a perilous calamity as Honkai, attempting to resist this environment is an inevitable effort.

But it was Dr. Mei first proposed a solution.

Dr. Mei proposed combining the large-scale Honkai Energy power plant with the Honkai Energy collector previously prepared to cope with the Third Honkai Outbreak, transforming it into a long line capable of autonomously absorbing Honkai Energy, thus forming a powerful tool to encircle the harsh Honkai environment.

Even though Dr. Mei efficiently delivered a perfect solution to the higher-ups as soon as she proposed it, the solution was still difficult to implement due to practical factors.

The reason is simple: the forces of the Moth to Fire and the autonomous Mechanical Force around the world can hardly support such consumption. The project to establish such a line means that it must face the constant harassment and attacks of the Honkai Beast that can regenerate every cycle in the Honkai environment.

This is undoubtedly a fatal weakness given the current shortage of manpower.

However, Dr. Mei proposed an improved plan the very next day. She established a basic system for the Mechanical Force factory that used Honkai Energy as its energy source, and also incorporated the inspiration she gained from armor research into it, designing a weapon that could carry out efficient attacks without the need for ammunition, simply by using Honkai Energy.

Mei demanded that armories be laid directly along a pre-set route, utilizing the harsh Honkai Energy environment to turn it into their own resources. At the same time, these resources would be used to operate numerous armories to produce a continuous stream of mechanical soldiers and Honkai Beast for attrition.

Just like the Honkai Beast that can regenerate after being transformed into Honkai Energy particles, mechanical soldiers can also obtain wreckage by cleaning up the battlefield and reassemble it. In addition, the most needed ammunition has become something that can be obtained by devouring the enemy. Thus, a perfect solution that uses the least resources to exert the greatest power is presented.

As long as the initial circuit design and arsenal are stabilized and allowed to enter a positive cycle, and further upgrades and modifications are carried out, then humanity's continuous defeats can be alleviated, and in the not-too-distant future, a counterattack to reclaim homeland can even be launched.

Yakarta, an area now teeming with survivors yet plagued by frequent Honkai Phenomenon, is the perfect location for developing routes.

Unless faced with a crisis like the Herrscher, the government still prioritizes population.

In fact, even the two Honkai Fission Bomb that were launched without hesitation were fired in areas with very few survivors.

If the Herrscher had been born in a region like Yakarta, where nearly half a million people still live, the authorities would not have chosen to launch the Honkai Fission Bomb so decisively.

Unlike Canghai City and New Zealand, Yakarta, an area with nearly 500,000 survivors, is extremely rare. If this area were to become the heart of the Honkai, it would only worsen the current situation.

Mei seems to have her own different views on the Herrscher's approach, which coincides with the concerns of some in the upper echelons. She also believes that using Honkai Fission Bomb is not a long-term solution.

Mei has reason to suspect that the next Herrscher will appear in a densely populated area, making it difficult to deal with using the same methods again.

The power of the Honkai Fission Bomb is based on its tonnage and range, making it difficult for Herrscher to escape the locked range instantly. However, these advantages become disadvantages that restrict a user's ability to use their abilities in areas like Yakarta.

Solo combat, similar to that of the Martial Immortal and the Herrscher, might be more suitable as the mainstream in the future.

Therefore, Dr. Mei does not intend to pay much attention to the development of the route.

She is currently focusing all her energy on the infection-suppressing drug and the prototype plan for Fusion Warrior. If either of these projects can bear fruit, it will be a major achievement that could drastically change the course of the war.

Currently, the initial outposts have been established within the border area of Yakarta.

A large number of Mechanical Force arrived as the initial line of defense, successfully constructing and deploying a series of facilities. However, beneath the seemingly peaceful and orderly progress, there were still unseen undercurrents surging beneath the surface.

Central Jakarta City.

This is the administrative center of Yakarta, and also its smallest city, with eight streets, some large parks, and Dutch colonial buildings.

Meanwhile, at this moment, in the Jakarta Cathedral.

The missionary, whose Honkai Consciousness, smiled serenely at the audience, like a saint.