Seele and Prometheus.

There was no reason to refuse.

After realizing that this was the era Previous Civilization, Su Qing'an, who wanted to live with Fu Hua into the post-civilization era, became very interested in the existence of Fusion Warrior.

The physical condition and lifespan required to survive such a long period of time are beyond the reach of ordinary people. With his current physical condition, he may be able to barely meet the physical requirements, but his lifespan Honkai Energy, is not even comparable to that of a normal person.

Becoming Fusion Warrior can solve this problem, and more importantly, it can solve the issue of insufficient damage output.

Su Qing'an's foundation was extremely poor. The fact that this body could reach the point of being able to fight against Herrscher was already terrifying. Even the Honkai Consciousness, after seeing through his physical condition, thought he was nothing to fear, but the result defied normal logic.

This means that he has gradually explored the limits of things beyond the basics; otherwise, he would never have been able to achieve this.

After gaining a basic understanding of the Honkai Energy chain reaction and integrating it into normal combat, the boy had unknowingly pushed his limits once again.

If Su Qing'an has always made up for his shortcomings in other ways, could successfully fuse with the Honkai Beast genes, complete Mei's plan, and thus erase the despair and constraints he was born with, he himself didn't know how far he could go in an instant.

At least back then, even without using [Stigmata], Su Qing'an was able to fight against opponents at the Herrscher level.

The specific upper limit is a vague concept. Even if one reaches the level of Herrscher difference in combat power and output between Herrscher can be as vast as heaven and earth.

The Herrscher Core connects to the Imaginary Space, may be able to provide infinite Honkai Energy, but its output limit is a matter of another dimension.

Therefore, the further along the journey goes, the easier it is for Su Qing'an's [Stigmata] absolute defense to reach its limit.

Before you can even manage to maneuver, you must raise your personal boundaries, otherwise the outcome will only be more tragic.

Moreover, Su Qing'an gradually discovered the other side effects of using [Udu-dust • Critical] besides the consumption of Soul Essence.

During a period of heightened soul resonance, Udu-dust can freely use [Stigmata] to extend the boy's lifeline, acting as the strongest barrier outside his body.

However, the [Stigmata] has been in a semi-dead mode. The increased utilization rate forced by Udu-dust has caused the [Stigmata] to become even less active after exiting Soul Resonance, and it will occasionally disconnect, which indirectly leads to the inability to perfectly absorb the erosion of Honkai Energy in the body.

This is easy to understand; [Stigmata] are powers that can only be fully perfected and used after reaching the Void Realm.

Su Qing'an's actions are tantamount to constantly overdrawing his resources. While the power gained from this overdraft is certainly useful, it also comes at a price.

The closer he got to [Udu-dust • Critical], the more he overdrawn the power of [Stigmata], the closer he got to death.

This was a reality that Su Qing'an only suddenly realized after he withdrew from Soul Resonance.

The existence of [Udu-dust • Critical Point] is pushing the boy closer to death in another way.

Therefore, Dr. Mei's proposed Fusion Warrior Project at this time was undoubtedly a timely help.

Su Qing'an understood in her heart just how deep the despair of the Finality. Even if she could become Fusion Warrior and hope to directly reach the end, it would probably just be wishful thinking.

However, becoming Fusion Warrior allows one to live into the next generation, just like Fu Hua in previous timelines.

To put it bluntly, if one only desires to survive, then becoming Fusion Warrior is practically a ticket to immortality, which is equivalent to achieving half of Su Qing'an's ideal goal.

Perhaps the young people at the beginning could empathize with the Previous Civilization itself and worry about the countless deaths that would follow defeat.

At that time, fighting for humanity was not a trivial phrase, but a profound and weighty one that stirred deep emotions within us.

But Su Qing'an has now lost the will to fight.

Why fight?

Why do we need to become stronger?

Why should we live?

The boy could understand the answer, but his emotions were so lifeless that it was impossible for him to resonate with the answer itself.

The existence of reason makes Su Qing'an willing to become stronger, willing to fight against the Honkai, willing to do her best to maintain the original interpersonal relationships, and willing to ensure that the people she cares about will not be saddened by this.

But in essence, he no longer cares about the inevitable defeat of the Previous Civilization. Those entanglements that once lingered in his mind simply vanished like smoke, like silt rolling down the Yangtze River, impossible to distinguish anymore.

Seele stared at the options before her, her fair and lovely face solemn, clearly having fallen into deep thought.

[A. He took her hand and said, "It's okay, I don't care, it's his child."]

[B. Looking firmly into her eyes, indicating that he would no longer be a part of her life, he left and hired someone to kill her entire family.]

[C. Inject the Zombie's drug into her veins on the spot, preserving her beautiful appearance forever, turning her into the most valuable specimen in the house.]

[D. Slap her and call her a scumbag.]

[E. Leave politely and part ways amicably.]

Sitting cross-legged beside Seele like a little girl, Prometheus, holding a virtual controller, also fell into a long silence.

One of the reasons for choosing to play visual novels is to ensure a fair game with the other player, since it's really not fun for an AI to play a game with a normal 14-year-old girl.

But the bigger reason is that it's Seele's personal interest.

Ever since Su Qing'an set her internet access to teen mode that day and cleaned up all the weird stuff on her computer, Seele has been shut out of the world of lewd galgames.

She sulked for a while because of this and protested to the boy for a long time, but because those protests were so subtle, Su Qing'an probably hasn't realized it yet.

During this time, even when not helping Mei with her experiments on the Sea of Quantum, Seele would often come over to play, but it was impossible to expect Mei to play with the little girl.

Therefore, at Seele's suggestion, Prometheus became Seele's playmate.

With Himeko's tacit approval, the work in the Logistics Department had become a position that was optional, but Seele still made Prometheus do a good job of doing the work for her. In any case, with its computing power, those tasks were so simple that there was no need to deliberately refuse them.

In Mei's mind, galgames are just normal dating games, and can even be considered a way to help Prometheus's intelligent system to deduce things on its own.

Using this as a pretext, she didn't mind diverting some negligible computing power to have Prometheus act as Seele's playmate.

However, this might be different from Mei's own understanding of dating games. The galgame that these two little guys are currently playing is a chaotic work that cannot be concluded by purely using computing power.

The current options suggest something is amiss.

Seele was completely unaware that Mei on the other side had already received Su Qing'an's message and was communicating with her.

At this moment, she frowned, staring at the beautiful silver-haired, red-eyed girl on the screen. After hesitating for a moment, she said:

"Based on Prometheus 'Seele extensive experience, the choice we face now is very dangerous. Choosing the wrong option could very well lead to an ending."

Prometheus shook its spiral-shaped twin tails. Its current virtual image was created by Seele herself, and its design was roughly that of a young, beautiful girl with gray eyes.

According to Mei, since they had decided to make Prometheus their playmate, they should naturally live up to that decision.

For Seele, although she understood that the peer she had created was essentially still just a mass of data and a projection, the physical sensation was still much better than before.

In her spare time, Mei added a brand-new display system to this room. At least on the surface, the current AI is a little girl with skin so white it's almost translucent. Her pupils occasionally shimmer with a unique light as she blinks, and fluorescent blue data fills the voids within them as the ripples spread.

The girl's slender limbs resembled a doll kept in a cabinet, exuding a delicate yet artificial feel.

As an AI that had only been around for six months, Prometheus had no objection to the task of playing with her and the change in her appearance. Her beautiful face remained expressionless upon hearing this, only mechanically opening her lips to respond:

"Based on the information given previously, we can now ascertain the current situation: the female protagonist is the daughter of a duke of this country, her master is Lorelei, the sword saint of the Far Winter Kingdom, the child's father is suspected to Lilith, the empire's chief mage, and her best friend is a six-winged angel who has been reincarnated from the divine realm for training..."

After rattling off a series of impressive-sounding but enigmatic names and identities, Prometheus came to a conclusion:

"Logically, B and C will inevitably lead to the choice between E and D, while D carries a certain risk. As for the remaining A and E, I suggest choosing according to your preference."

For artificial intelligence, being a sycophant obviously wouldn't affect its mood or dignity, so as she spoke, she naturally chose option A, which was theoretically risk-free.

Seele nodded thoughtfully, then chose the completely different option, C.

Immediately.

On the screen in front of Prometheus, the portrait of the silver-haired beauty was suddenly engulfed by darkness. Blood-red paint seeped into the entire screen from the corners, and a miserable wail lasted for a few seconds before the character died.

Seele glanced at it, and said in a calm tone as she read:

"Ah, he's dead."

She glanced at the inappropriate content on her screen that had already entered the high-speed gallery's recycling channel, and said quietly:

"This is not your fault, Prometheus."

"Who knew this guy was a masochist? There were absolutely no warning signs beforehand. No wonder the reviews say it's a chaotic game."

Prometheus stared at the strange CG on the game screen. As an emotionless artificial intelligence, it naturally didn't care about winning or losing.

So it simply asked earnestly:

Why fast forward?

As the plot shifted to the aftermath, Seele said matter-of-factly:

"Because it's so boring."

Prometheus tilted his head, reverted the save file to its initial state, and asked:

"Then why bother completing all the CGs?"

Seele said in a serious tone:

"It's boring, but it wouldn't be right without it."

Prometheus's computational power here is negligible, which allows him to act as a companion to Seele in some ways, ensuring a certain level of entertainment.

It didn't ask any further questions, but silently completed Seele's work for the day. After uploading the data, it said:

"Based on the schedule, Mr. Su should be back soon."

Seele silently put down the controller and sighed:

"How far have things progressed for my brother and Sister Hua? But given that Uncle left not long ago, it seems unlikely that anything will change."

The little girl complained to Prometheus:

"From a generally rational perspective, it's quite reasonable for a mutual crush to fast-forward to marriage."

Seele quickly recalled that Fu Hua's age seemed quite far removed from the marriageable age in her original kingdom, but she quickly said without any hesitation:

"Special times call for special measures. Even though she's a minor, Seele doesn't think her brother has broken the law."

Prometheus gazed at her; his clear, glassy gray eyes were lifeless and inorganic, reflecting the girl's slightly upturned lips with crystal clarity.

It asked:

"Won't Seele feel sad?"

"As an intelligence created by Dr. Mei, I am better able to understand human emotions than normal artificial intelligence."

"Based on the information transmitted after being processed by the intelligent module incorporating realistic elements, I think Seele should feel sad."

Seele understood what Prometheus was talking about. Looking at the game interface, she whispered:

"Does Prometheus feel sad that my brother didn't tell me he Awakened when he came back and stayed by Sister Hua's side the whole time?"

Artificial intelligence responded:

"Logically speaking, yes."

The little girl pulled out a light screen, looked at the news flashing on it, and said:

"But I think this is the right judgment. Sister Hua will definitely encounter danger on the battlefield in Yakarta, but Seele is in safe Australia and does not need protection."

"Besides, Uncle has passed away. If Sister Hua knew this news, she would be very sad. So, my brother's decision to go to her side is the best choice I'm happy to see."

"The reason they didn't want me to know he had Awakened is because they knew the estimated timeframe for his possible awakening was about eight months."

"Therefore, it wouldn't cause any unexpected worry if you came to see me later, but if you chose to inform me directly and then left immediately, it might be considered an excessive thing in my brother's eyes."

"So, since your brother is very gentle, Seele naturally doesn't need to feel sad about it."

Prometheus studied the little girl's expression for a moment. She spoke as if it were the most natural thing in the world, but this argument, which seemed to suggest that emotions wouldn't arise from reason, struck him as somewhat strange.

"Seele is not normal," it said bluntly, its tone completely flat.

Seele Fulei, however, was not angry; she tried to poke Prometheus's doll-like face.

If one could touch this skin that looks full of collagen, one would surely feel an exceptionally soft sensation. Unfortunately, when fingertips pass through, they can only glide over a non-existent void.

No matter how realistic it may appear, it is ultimately a projection of reality, not a representation of human existence.

The little girl couldn't really understand what "normal" meant, because she had experienced very little of the ordinary life. Trying to make her completely like a normal person was probably unreasonable.

She waved her finger in front of that illusory face and said matter-of-factly:

"I don't know what 'normal' should be like, but Seele is Seele, no doubt about it."

Seele Fulei countered:

"Doesn't Prometheus like Seele? Like this."

After thinking for a while, Prometheus said seriously:

"Of all the results summarized by combining various elements, I only like Dr. Mei."

"Being near Dr. Mei puts a strain on my entire body's computing power, leading to insufficient computing power in the intelligent modules, sluggish response, and overheating of the carrier, among other issues."

In human terms, this phenomenon is roughly analogous to liking.

Seele said softly:

"That phenomenon only happened because Mei was doing some difficult experimental calculations with you, it has absolutely nothing to do with feelings of liking someone."

"But never mind, if we convert it according to your formula, you wouldn't need much computing power to stay next to Seele, so let's draw an analogy: Prometheus also liked Seele."

The AI, which seemed to find the computing power of the intelligent module slow, pondered for a moment, then nodded and said:

"Indeed, you're right."

"I can hardly think when I'm with Seele, so I like Seele too."

In a sense, every word Prometheus said was true, but something always felt off when it reached our ears.

Teasing this AI, whose computing power has been limited and is no longer as eloquent as when they first met, has been one of the few pleasures Seele Fulei has had in the past six months, so she is quite experienced in this area.

But at this moment, as she looked at the expressionless Prometheus and earnestly uttered those words, she still found it quite amusing.

It's a pity I can't rub his head.

When this thought came to mind, Seele suddenly understood why Su Qing'an had subconsciously wanted to touch her head before.

The little girl pursed her lips, realizing that she no longer minded being patted on the head. She stopped thinking about these things and wanted to leave the lab to return to the Australian branch of the Moth to Fire, which required Mei's permission, but it seemed that Mei was still busy.

So let's talk about it later.

She looked at Prometheus as if he were a giant toy.

As Seele pulled out the screen and navigated through the simple options to access the function area that allowed her to correct the appearance of the projection in front of her, this analogy immediately became a reality.

The allure of dress-up games truly transcends age and gender; for the next half hour, Prometheus became a Miracle Nikki, with her entire body of clothing at her beck and call.

At that moment, Mei, who was in a glass room not far away, reached the initial agreement with Su Qing'an.