Interlude: The Road to the Deepest Place

Kevin wondered if he was just being paranoid lately. He was very self-aware; ever since the Cleansing Incident, he had become as suspicious as Lin, always needing to verify everything thoroughly.

Kevin exhaled and said coldly, "Who do you think did the database thing...?"

In the corner he was looking at, a transparent figure was silently watching them.

The deep blue pupils inside the helmet were continuously emitting a faint glow.

After cleaving the terminal in two with a single strike, the girl sheathed her sword. She first recalled the method Lin had taught her—how to find a suitable hiding place by observing the environment—then quickly used her helmet to gather information about her surroundings, found the best hiding spot, and took three steps forward to crouch down.

Then the long sword in her hand disappeared, and a small pen-shaped device appeared in her hand. She pressed a button, and a light, like a veil, enveloped her body. Then her figure vanished from the spot.

The girl, who used light refraction to make herself invisible, waited patiently.

However, it won't take long, since "those things" really don't have much patience and will only act when they think it's appropriate.

"Gah—"

The database door opened and closed in less than half a second, and some things had already entered.

Like air wriggling, an indistinct and indescribable "monster" appeared in our field of vision.

Starlight.

Perhaps in the eyes of humans, Xingcai cannot capture its specific whereabouts in any way, but in the eyes of the girl, she can clearly see Xingcai's outline and movement trajectory.

After all, the Honkai Energy contained in these alien creatures was enough for her to ignore their material and only look at the outer shell filled with Honkai Energy.

After entering the database, Xingcai went straight to the database terminal of the Shenzhou Branch. For them, the spatial layout of humans was just an outdated layout that could be confirmed with a single scan, and there was no need to spend extra time observing the entire room.

However, all that awaited it was scrap metal cleaved in two.

"..."

Perhaps because she hadn't expected to find something like this, Xingcai stopped moving for a few seconds, but that didn't mean it could be completely stopped.

After examining the entire cross-section of the terminal, several tentacles extended from its transparent body, preparing to repair the terminal.

"Smack—"

However, a hand had already grabbed its "head".

Before it could retaliate, a longsword that didn't exist in the Fire-Chasing Moth suddenly appeared from the palm of the hand that had grabbed it, piercing through Xingcai's entire body.

"... Clatter."

There was no blood, no mechanical sparks; nothing flowed from the body that had lost its life in that instant.

The girl, clutching the corpse of the star, quietly left the database.

Even if Starflower can communicate with each other through network consciousness, before it dies, it will only transmit the message that it was not killed by a human. Therefore, the Starflower in the Shenzhou Branch will not make any unusual movements.

And no one would doubt her.

After the girl "analyzed" Xingcai, she disposed of the body and returned to her room, where she stood motionless for a long time.

After a while, she clutched her stomach.

"... I'm so hungry, I want to have a midnight snack."

The renovation is complete.

After regaining consciousness, the man realized that this was not his original body.

Or rather, very little of his original body remains.

"The surgery was a success, Doctor Lin. From now on, you will no longer be affected by Honkai Energy and will have a long life. In this way, even if a major upheaval occurs in humanity, you will be able to continue human history."

"..."

After waking up, all I did was spout nonsense.

If it were simply a matter of prolonging life, a man would have a hundred ways to live until the end of the world without any external interference.

But that won't do; what humanity needs is this image.

A powerful, perfect, and invincible image.

The man could no longer feel temperature; his body was no longer human.

Now, he probably wouldn't want to hug the girl anymore.

But he still took the ring he had taken off at the start of the surgery and put it on his finger, which reflected the metallic luster.

"If people outside want to survive, we will tell them that it will cause human loss."

"And when I am about to die, you will bring me back to life and tell me that my death will cause a loss to humanity."

The doctor, who was celebrating and beaming with joy, was stunned by what the man said.

"If death is equal, then on the road to that end, there is only inequality as defined by humankind."

After saying this in an inscrutable tone, the man stood up, leaving behind a group of doctors and researchers, and left the ward.

Ultimately, humanity has never changed, and that has nothing to do with the Honkai.

Those who don't want to die die, and those who want to die live. Even without Honkai, there are other things that will drive people to their deaths and keep them hanging on to live.

But he had no choice but to keep going.

No matter how he defines humanity, he is still one of these lives.

If you ask him how he should treat humans next... well, there's probably only one option.

Believe in humanity.

Chapter Sixty-Four Interlude: The Road to the Deepest Place

"Looking for Elysia? I know, I know..."

When Pardo was confronted by Mei, she was still counting what treasures she had found in the Elysian Realm. Seeing Mei's extremely anxious look, she asked in confusion, "What happened?"

"... Lin, tell me to go find her. He's in trouble."

After careful consideration, Mei decided to make things clear to Pardo that Lin's matter was by no means a trivial matter, and it would be best to inform all the Flame-Chasers.

"Brother Lin? What happened to Brother Lin?!"

When Pardo heard that it was about Lin, her carefree expression vanished instantly.

Mei's expression was far from pleasant; she hadn't felt this way of being protected in a long time. "It's not certain yet. He just told me to go find Elysia, Pardo. Do you know where she is?"

"I'll take you there right away! Before she left, Elysia told me she was going to the Deepest Place. If I explain to Amo, he should listen, right..."

"Amo?"

"Well, you'll see when you meet them. This kind of thing has never happened in the Elysian Realm before."

Even Pardo, who was usually lazy and spent her days either looking for things or sunbathing, became serious, and Mei's level of attention to this matter rose to another level.

Along the way, Mei chatted with Pardo about Lin. To Mei's surprise, Pardo seemed to know more than she had imagined, especially about Lin. Pardo knew all the information about Lin that Mei had deduced from snippets of conversation and the information she had gathered.

It seems Lin is taking better care of Pardo than she expected...

"It seems Lin isn't always so cold to everyone," Mei remarked, following behind Pardo.

"... Actually, when I first met Brother Lin and when I met him again afterward, I didn't feel that he had changed much." Pardo's expression suddenly stiffened, and she muttered softly, "But... both Elysia and Sister Vill-V said that Brother Lin had that period of time..."

"What?"

"Nothing."

Pardo was not willing to talk much about this matter; she had only heard about it secondhand. However, she felt a little regretful that she had not met Lin at that time.

"By the way, Mei, what exactly happened to Brother Lin that made him need to go to Elysia?"

"..."

Mei was a little speechless at Pardo's slow reaction in remembering to ask, but she quickly replied, "Something very strange... Lin was very nervous when he saw her, and that power gave me a feeling..."

That familiar power, imbued with the aura of death, reminded her of the Herrscher Persona of the Void personality that had awakened within Kiana.

"That's not right... Brother Lin shouldn't be able to beat anyone right now." Pardo shook her head and muttered, "Even Boss Kevin, in his current state as a memory, wouldn't be a match for him."

"What did you say? Kevin can't beat Lin?"

"Huh? I didn't say anything."

"What exactly are you hiding?"

Mei narrowed her eyes. She felt more and more that this matter was not so simple. Flame-Chasers and Lin must still be hiding many things from her.

She was fed up with the endless guessing game.

"Does Lin still possess some kind of power? If he has that kind of power, why would he..."

The former "Lin" displayed abilities similar to those of the First Herrscher.

Could it be that besides those things, there is some power that she has never seen before?

"No, Brother Lin ..." Pardo shrank back in fear. "Brother Lin, you can't just use that..."

"You guys really are..."

Let's stop here.

A cool, clear voice stopped Mei from asking further questions.

Then she suddenly realized that they had unknowingly arrived at a place they had never been before.

If I had to sum up this space in one word, it would be "abstract".

The entire space is like a painting on a canvas, with abstract colors and architecture everywhere, yet it has a substantial entity, as if two-dimensional space has come to three-dimensional space.

In this space stood a handsome young man with dark green hair, his arms crossed, and a pair of jet-black horns on his head. He seemed to have been standing there from the beginning, waiting for their arrival.

"Ah, Ah Mo..."

"..."

The boy called Amo glanced at Pardo, then looked Mei up and down a few times.

Mei naturally noticed these small gestures and glances, but what bothered her was that the boy was only looking her over and didn't seem to have any intention of saying anything.

"You are..." Out of politeness, Mei decided to ask first.

"The ninth of the Flame-Chasers, Radiant Sun, Kosma."

The boy answered briefly in a cool, clear voice.

Another Flame-Chasers, which is within Mei's acceptable range, except that this one seems just like Kevin and Lin—unapproachable.

"What you just said is..."

"..." Kosma did not answer Mei's question directly. He seemed to be considering something. After thinking for a while while looking at Mei, he slowly said, "Don't ask things you shouldn't know."

"..."

This conversation, which was tantamount to being pointed at and retorted, made Mei immediately realize that Kosma was difficult to talk to.

But as if realizing that his words might be misinterpreted, Kosma spoke up again to explain, "I was talking about Lin. You don't need to know so much about his affairs. You shouldn't press Pardo. If Lin wants to tell you, he will naturally do so."

"Okay, I understand." Mei realized that she had been interrogating Pardo, so she calmed down and asked, "I found Elysia, and Pardo told me that she is in the Deepest Place. Is this the Deepest Place?"

"No."

"OK."

"..."

"..."

What followed was an abrupt and prolonged silence.

After saying "no," Kosma didn't say anything more.

Mei, who had been waiting for Kosma's next words, looked at Pardo after a while.

Pardo shook her head awkwardly at Mei, indicating that Kosma was just like that.

"Amo doesn't have any bad intentions, he's just... not very good at expressing himself." After explaining, Pardo said to Kosma with a fawning smile, "Um, Amo, something happened to Brother Lin, we need to find Elysia, can we go over there?"

"Lin is in trouble? Who said that?" Kosma's gaze was already fixed on Mei.