What was going on?!
This wasn't what they had imagined at all!
It couldn't even be called different—it was completely unrelated.
And it was a tragedy more solemn and heroic than anyone had ever envisioned.
The Flame Chasers were all so powerful. Kevin had slain several Herrschers, so how had they ended up facing such a disaster?
The Herrscher of Constraint's abilities were simply far too targeted.
Honkai and civilization coexisted, yet the two had become a paradox.
Whenever Su Nian created an unbeatable Herrscher, no matter how great the sacrifices had been, they had never compared to this time.
Seventy percent of human civilization had been destroyed, and only thirteen Flame Chasers remained.
Why were they called the Thirteen Flame Chasers? Because only thirteen remained, not because they had been specially selected from among the Flame Chasers.
If they had been selected, then they would have been the scrapped concept of the Five Flame-Chasers that the rest had never agreed upon.
We asked you to write regret, not kill everyone off!
Hey, there are still thirteen left, aren't there? #(Smug)
It was rare to see a savior who had failed to protect anything at all...
This story was basically Moth of the Fire dragging the entire civilization forward by itself. They did everything they could, but they still couldn't handle it all.
What a pity. Moth of the Fire was the only fighting force left. They couldn't carry it, they really couldn't.
Heroic, but not miserable; difficult, but never giving up... I can feel the regret now. Please, stop stabbing us!
It already fits the prompt perfectly. Please, stop fitting the prompt so perfectly!
Even if Su Nian killed Kevin off someday, I'd think it was normal... Crying isn't a crime.
The words had only just been written, yet they were already so meticulous. Red Ice...
Blood frozen like ocean waves.
So vast in number, it was like being surrounded by the sea.
They could feel the weight behind it.
Seventy percent of human civilization had been destroyed. Only three cities remained, vividly displaying just how battered and broken civilization had become.
The audience had been caught completely off guard, while also being shocked by Su Nian's writing.
No wonder he was a promising talent being fought over by film and television companies.
The industry veterans still in Su Nian's livestream watched the term "Red Ice" and the descriptions of crimson stretching for thousands of miles. Even in words alone, the scenes came alive before their eyes.
Su Nian's outline was also exceptionally complete, with particular emphasis placed on sections capable of stirring the audience's emotions!
If they obtained the rights and began production right now, they could make it into a blockbuster movie, couldn't they?
That was right. Judging from this excerpt alone, Su Nian's outline was already a masterpiece among masterpieces.
Contestant Su Nian, if you are willing to authorize us, we can produce a one-hour animated film about the battle against the Herrscher of Constraint! We can promote your work before the finals!
We have long-term partnerships with professional music companies, as well as one of the best animation teams in the industry. We hope you can provide your contact information.
Contestant Su Nian, would you consider a live-action adaptation? We have everything we need, and we're renowned overseas!
We have already prepared a bid proposal and can demonstrate our sincerity at any time.
This time, they even sent enormous Super Chats worth enough to remain onscreen for ten hours, just waiting for Su Nian to see them after the competition ended.
A genius like this, a script like this—they absolutely had to secure him.
Though they had yet to see any sign that Su Nian would agree, they had already thrown down huge donations and offered astronomical prices.
There were even more gifts and paid messages in the livestream.
For anyone else, this would truly have been enough to drive them mad.
If it happened to any one of them, they might have reenacted Fan Jin's Success in the Imperial Exam and gone insane the moment they found out.
But to Su Nian, it was nothing much—easy to obtain!
The promising contestants from previous years had only barely attracted attention during the top sixteen qualifiers.
Not even the previous champions had ever caused a spectacle as grand as Su Nian's today.
There would be another chapter later.
The Only Three Types of People in the World
This was practically a miracle.
No one could even predict how the story Su Nian was currently writing would end.
Would humanity rebuild civilization with the people of the remaining three cities, or would there still be endless disasters ahead?
Would it be a script where the heroes never lived to see old age, dying proudly on the battlefield instead?
No one knew, yet they still dared to spend lavishly without the slightest fear.
Because there was simply no way Su Nian could mess it up.
The story and its events flowed forth in one breath. Who had participated, who had made the main contributions—everything was flawless.
Su Nian was far too seasoned to seem like a young man in his twenties. He was more like an entire team with over a decade of industry experience.
Amazing! He was truly incredible!
And it wasn't only these somewhat crazed industry insiders—there was Su Nian himself, too.
If Su Nian had not possessed genuine skill, he would never have driven them this mad.
It wasn't only industry insiders who could appreciate this "imperfect" story.
It had almost no barrier to entry, nor did it have any overly complicated, brain-taxing plot, giving it broad appeal.
Its uniquely distinctive power system and Honkai setting, along with its application of scientific principles, also gave the work greater depth.
The story of the Thirteen Heroes of Fire... had once been criticized as spending an entire year building up an "irrelevant" plotline.
But time proved everything. When the animated short The Story Because You Exist was released, the results confirmed it: it became a massive hit!
MiHoYo had made the right bet.
The Past's Paradise might have been the most impactful story content since Honkai Impact 3rd launched. It was an ensemble drama that no longer directly told of the protagonists' experiences and growth.
Even without the groundwork laid by Honkai Impact 3rd's main story.
Just its outstanding storytelling, along with the sheer volume of content in The Past's Paradise—enough to fill nearly fifteen chapters produced over three years by Honkai Impact 3rd...
Had already exceeded the standard of merely being competent.
It did not feel out of place as an independent story, and it became an excellent story with profoundly lasting impact.
Even now, only a portion of its immense volume of text had been revealed, yet it was already compelling enough. It was a bold attempt.
Influenced by the atmosphere at the venue, some of the solemn tragedy brought by the story had dissipated, while the livestream's atmosphere became lively once more.
First comment, witnessing a legend!
You dare to write it and dare to imagine it. If you don't become popular, who will?!
There won't be more Herrschers, right? We still haven't even seen where The Past's Paradise from the title is. I'm a little scared.
To be fair, Kevin's character card has only just been written. Su Nian obviously wants the other characters to feel vivid too... The judges said earlier that he was writing the story using an "ensemble cast" approach.
So this story... might keep me alive until I die, like that one Detective Conan?
That's fine. Please burn it as an offering for me when I die!
A blockbuster movie! Family, who understands this? The novel hasn't even been written yet, and we can already foresee a blockbuster. It's my first time seeing something like this in my life!
With Su Nian around, Mom never has to worry about me being poorly fed again.
Wuwuwu, please update a little more!
The workload still isn't intense enough. I suggest directly giving Su Nian a bonus to encourage his interest in writing.
The audience's reactions and their enthusiastic barrage of comments were the best proof.
Even if Su Nian ultimately wrote a tragic story, they would probably devour the pain while reading it with relish...
Although their stirred-up emotions had returned to normal.
The moment anyone saw it, they could not help but immerse themselves in the story.
Then they felt a sharp ache in their hearts.
They felt for Kevin, and for those who had sacrificed themselves.
When they saw Su Nian write Elysia's question to Kevin: "Will your tears... freeze too?"
The sentence looked utterly ordinary.
Yet it was like a sword plunged into their hearts, viciously piercing the softest place within them.
The earlier setting immediately came back to them.
Tears represented Kevin's sorrow. Though he appeared resolute, he was not as strong as he seemed to them.
Tears were the best expression of a person's grief.
Kevin's tears were proof that he still possessed humanity, proof that he had never truly changed.
Even if fifty thousand years could turn seas into mulberry fields and erase every trace of a civilization, he was still himself. His actions and mannerisms might have changed, but Su Nian... and the other players.
Still believed that deep down, he was still the Prince of Senba Academy.
And tears freezing over were the reality Kevin had no choice but to face.
The audience could already feel the blade now.
But it wasn't enough. This was only the beginning.
Su Nian still had so much left unrevealed.
What he considered the greatest regret of the Previous Civilization was... that they had given so much, yet never achieved victory.
It was something that even all Thirteen Flame Chasers together had failed to accomplish. Their sacrifices brought hope to the next civilization, but brought none to themselves.
The second regret was... Elysia.
In miHoYo's game, she ranked first in popularity without any dispute.
As a devoted fan of her character, Su Nian believed there were only three kinds of people in the world: those who had never seen Elysia, Elysia fans, and twisted Elysia fans!
That pure girl who embraced every day with sincerity and enthusiasm; that sweet, proactive, adorable girl; that free-spirited maiden who did everything according to her heart...
Once someone came to understand Elysia, looking back on her experiences would make that regret turn into a bitterness they could truly taste.
The miHoYo Blade Technique: for things everyone knew had already been destroyed, they could make them a little more beautiful.
She chose to sacrifice herself and pluck at the threads of fate.
Creating more possibilities for the next civilization.
Tragedy was not the end, but the beginning of hope.
?Elysia Cult?
Whenever Su Nian thought of Elysia, he felt as though his soul had been healed.
Elysia was here. Su Nian wanted to get in touch with her later.
What could possibly make someone happier than meeting a character they liked?
There was no Honkai in this world, and they did not need to bear those heavy burdens.
He was fired up!
He needed to hurry and finish Kevin's story, then fully develop Elysia's story.
As the Origin Herrscher, Elysia's role was no less important than anyone else's.
Before you continue