Awakening a Miracle / The Intersection of Future and Past

This time, the high temperature failed to melt it.

Lin barely managed to dodge the girl's attacks, each step he took using immense force, as if he were using all his strength, making his movements look quite comical.

This shows that he failed to effectively control his strength.

Having lost three senses, Lin found it difficult to control his unfamiliar body. He had to rely on his calculations to mobilize his entire body.

It would be impossible for anyone else to do something as incredible as controlling the body using the information they collect.

The girl seemed somewhat anxious. Although she was currently suppressing Lin, and his fragile weapon and bizarre movements were easily dealt with by her, she still...

"Smack."

The helmeted man took a step back and kicked the girl's wrist from the side. Even though the girl's Soul Steel body prevented her from experiencing the loss of strength that humans would feel when their joints were attacked, the clever direction of the kick caused her attack to miss.

This level of precision...

Lin is quickly adapting to his body.

Perhaps he himself did not realize that after losing three senses, his remaining senses and thinking became more acute, which was due to the body's compensatory mechanism, allowing him to quickly find a new rhythm.

And there's one more thing.

"Bass!"

The blade sliced across Lin's wrist, but he didn't even flinch as he grabbed the hilt with his other hand.

No, no pain.

Chapter Ninety-Seven: Awakening a Miracle

The people in the command center, who were frantically trying to keep up with Xingcai's attack, suddenly felt the ground beneath their feet tremble. They frantically checked the Honkai Energy content of the headquarters, and the value, which was significantly higher than expected, made them feel desperate.

Could it be that Xingcai has already quietly broken through to the Headquarters Base?

At that moment, Mei's intelligent voice was broadcast to everyone's ears.

"Don't panic. There is a slight leak of Honkai Energy at headquarters after the Hypervariable Surgery. Do not approach the area between the warehouse and the Research and Development Department."

Perhaps it was her calm and rationality that infected the others; after the initial commotion, they returned to normal operations, ignoring the strange vibrations beneath their feet.

"Bang!"

But the situation was actually worse than they had imagined. The base's seemingly indestructible metal walls were riddled with holes, and laser-cut marks covered the entire corridor.

This damage was caused even though the two were restraining themselves during the battle. Neither of them intended to expand the scope of the destruction, but sometimes whether or not to stop is not up to them.

Since waking up, Lin has been thinking about how to turn the disadvantage in combat caused by the side effects of the surgery into an advantage.

He was kicked in the left hand that was blocking his way, and with a clear cracking sound, his left hand snapped in an eerie direction, but his other hand grabbed the girl's foot and slammed her heavily to the ground.

After letting go, he heard the sound of skin being torn off. His hand had been frozen to the girl's foot, and when he pulled it back, it was ripped off, leaving his entire hand covered in blood.

What he thought of was that after losing the sense of touch, he would also lose the sense of pain, so that he would not be limited by his own tolerance as before.

The human body is extremely sensitive to pain, which leads to the body subconsciously restraining some of its strength to avoid danger or overuse of the body, essentially adding a threshold and locking in the body's upper limit.

Therefore, Lin has now essentially unlocked his original constraints. Even though he is far from being able to adapt to his body's state, this increase and decrease has given him the ability to temporarily hold his own against the girl.

"He's an incredible person. He can use the information from each action to judge how to manipulate his body next. It's like learning to drive a completely unfamiliar machine at lightning speed using a driver's manual," Einstein murmured as he saw Lin vaguely level with the girl in the video.

Manipulating the body—such a simple word. Many people feel they know their bodies inside and out and can use them at will. But in reality, how many people can accurately control every part of their body?

Lin was able to do this before, but he may not be able to now. However, given enough time to familiarize himself with and think about new ways of manipulating the device, it will not be a problem.

But...

"Bang!"

Before Lin could even raise his right hand holding the knife, he was stepped on the hilt, and the tip of the knife was driven into the floor, thus controlling Lin's right hand.

The gap is still significant; it's just a temporary stalemate.

As Lin tried to resist, a peculiar shoe appeared on her foot, and an electric current passed through Lin's body.

All the movements ended futilely.

The absence of tactile sensation does not mean that Lin's body will not be affected.

The girl wouldn't give him any more time to familiarize himself with her body, not even the slightest chance.

"..."

Lin, lying on the ground, silently stared at the girl.

"I won, don't you have anything to say?" The girl controlled herself well, enough to paralyze Lin's body but not enough to make him lose consciousness. The crystal crown on her head shone brightly.

"... I don't understand why you would think of coming to me to marry you at that time."

What Lin said was an untimely question.

The girl paused for a moment, then smiled brightly, "Does that even need to be said? I saw in the marriage requirements that you are a good man."

"... Is that all it is for?"

"Could there be any other reason?"

The girl is a complete human being, composed of two people.

Lin gave her memories and the desire to explore human emotions, and Lin fulfilled that desire.

Lin didn't understand marriage, nor did he know what to do after marriage. All he could do was awkwardly take the girl around, utter a few incoherent words, and stiffly deal with her lies.

As someone who lacks emotional connection, Lin may be just as inexperienced as she is, but he is guiding her, who is more like a "newcomer," onto the right path.

"Is there anything else you want to say? If not, I'll go in."

"... If I had to say, I'm not ready to lose you."

Lin's words made the girl stop. Her dark blue bangs quietly covered her eyes, and her once calm lips appeared forlorn in the breeze blowing through the gaps.

"I'm never prepared when I lose someone close to me. Can you give me some time to prepare this time?"

Lin said calmly.

"Every single time?"

"Yes, every time."

In the girl's memory, Lin's wife died of illness without any farewell.

Death is not a performance, not a romantic curtain call in an opera; there are no lyrics, no dances, no flowers.

Only surrounded by coldness and loneliness.

The girl walked silently to the warehouse door. She didn't open it, but the door was already unlocked. She gazed at the deep road that seemed to be invisible to the naked eye and said softly, "Even Herrscher have 'limits'."

"My powers allow me to reproduce what I have analyzed, but if the Honkai Energy and powers required to reproduce the things exceed the limits of the Herrscher Core and my body, then my consciousness and body will collapse."

"I admire the person from the Previous Civilization who left me with memories. The weapons he created for humanity are the pinnacle of civilization. Even I can only reproduce one of his masterpieces."

"And at least six high- Honkai Energy conversion devices are needed to destroy Xingcai's consciousness aggregate."

"I can shatter those extraterrestrial stars with the weapon named after them, 'Meteor's Demise'."

"Of course, my consciousness will also collapse at that time, and if I'm lucky, the Herrscher Core might be preserved."

Lin listened as the girl told him her plan in a straightforward manner, without any change in tone or sorrow of life and death.

She said he listened only to prepare him mentally.

"'Herrscher do not possess humanity' unless a miracle occurs."

"Lin, from now on, please keep going. No matter what setbacks you encounter, please keep hope in your heart."

"Eri is right, miracles do exist, and they can happen for important people. After all... look..."

"I am the miracle that you and 'he' have awakened."

Words from the future reached the ears of people from the past.

Chapter Ninety-Eight: The Intertwining of Future and Past

Do you believe that visions of the future appear in the minds of people in the past, or that words spoken by your future self are heard by your past self?

No matter how many times, Mei always felt that this place was synonymous with darkness, sadness, and loneliness.

Lin's gravesite was the first scene created by a memory from the Imaginary Tree that she saw. According to Elysia, there was no such gravesite in reality. It was just Lin's fantasy of giving a final resting place to the nameless people who perished in the war after the Honkai ended.

Of course, Mei is more inclined to believe that Lin died before the cemetery was built.

Now Lin Cong the Imaginary Tree, Elysia has not emerged from the Deepest Place, Aponia disappeared after giving her an imprint once, and even Kevin is elusive and cannot be found anywhere.

Mei had to search for clues in the Imaginary Tree on her own, and try to find a way to bypass the Kosma and reach the true the Deepest Place.

Mei planned to thoroughly investigate all the spaces related to Lin. She walked among the tombstones and found the small tombstone without a name. It still lay inconspicuously among the many tall tombstones, looking so ordinary and even dilapidated.

According to Elysia, this is Lin's tombstone.

Actually, there's something Mei only recently thought of: Lin is the kind of person who erects tombstones for others, so based on his personality, he shouldn't be preparing a tombstone for himself.

Moreover, this is a space composed of memories; how could Lin possibly imagine that his tombstone is inside it?

It is worth noting that Elysia never mentioned that Lin erected the tombstone himself.

She stood before the nameless tombstone, wiping the rainwater away from its smooth surface. She felt no bumps or depressions, indicating that the inscription wasn't too shallow for her to see.

The Imaginary Tree changes with the memories of the visitors and Flame-Chasers's memories, so will this place also change because of her arrival?

Mei stood up, bent her knees and jumped, lightly leaping into the air. She then stopped in the rain, hovering a certain distance above the ground, and began to observe the cemetery.

Really...

There's no mistake, this cemetery has also changed.

Even though Mei couldn't see the end of the cemetery or know how many tombstones there were, she could tell that the density of the tombstones was different from when she first saw them, meaning that the number of tombstones had increased.

Mei landed on one of the most densely packed spots, and with a casual glance, her gaze froze.

She recognized the name and photo above.

After a brief silence, Mei took a deep breath, inhaling the cold air into her lungs, and then slowly exhaled.

In this way, her conjecture would be verified: the tombstone was not erected by Lin herself, but rather created by someone in the Imaginary Tree from Lin's memories.

As for who it is, it doesn't matter. What matters is that since there is one, there is a possibility that there is a tombstone for Lin from other people's memories.

Let's look for it first.

"Forest."

Lin Cong the damp darkness, lying in the familiar shadows. Aponia's call instantly cleared his mind, as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over him.

He turned over and stood up. The iron bars that closed Aponia were right in front of him, and Aponia was already sitting there waiting.

"... Did you pull my consciousness back?"

Their ability to meet in the Deepest Place was clearly due to Aponia's power, which allowed her to connect with his consciousness while he was imprisoned.

"Yes... Lin... your consciousness signal... appeared for a moment... before I brought you here..." Aponia didn't see any tension on Lin's face.

"Be careful that the Herrscher of Reason doesn't erode your consciousness. Although she's only a memory-like entity, she genuinely uses the powers of the Herrscher of Reason," Lin instructed Aponia without stopping. "Put me back in a bit, otherwise the Herrscher of Reason will find you by following the trail."

Upon hearing the words "Herrscher of Reason," Aponia's usually impassive face showed a slight ripple. "Herrscher of Reason... why... is it the Herrscher of Reason of this era?"

"No, they are... special. They are not true Herrscher, but they are using the powers of Herrscher."

Those dark figures were exactly the same as the Herrscher Lin knew, as if those Herrscher who had been defeated had come to the Imaginary Tree.

No... it should be said that they are indeed the Herrscher from Lin's memories; they were created based on Lin's memories.

In some details, the Herrscher that Lin knew differed from those recorded by the Fire Moth, while the shadowy figures matched Lin's memories in these details. In other words, these Pseudo-Herrscher were entirely created from his memories.

But who is using his memories?

"Lin... can't you... see..."

"..."