The Passing Down of Ideas / An Alternative

"But I equipped Prometheus with everything that humans have. Just looking at her appearance, she's a perfect beautiful girl. Even her personality could be considered that of a somewhat cunning and emotionless beautiful girl, right?"

Lin spread his hands.

"But she is an AI."

"... So you were such a conservative person before?"

"I guess so."

Vill-V is facing the biggest setback of her life.

"Dr. Vill-V actually wanted to make you feel a little better."

As Prometheus seemed to have not spoken to Lin for a long time, slowly walked through the venue with Lin, she suddenly spoke in her flat voice.

It seems like a long time ago that Lin walked alongside the physical Prometheus. Lin remembers that Prometheus seemed to be there every time, yet his presence was always faint.

She is an AI.

Lin was right; her calculation logic determined her behavior.

"...I know," Lin replied coldly.

Everyone I met today was doing the same thing, "comforting" Lin in their own way.

Just as Vill-V spoke with great seriousness, she also knew that Lin, who had lost his sense of touch, had basically lost most of the functions of a normal person, including reproductive functions.

She was "joking," and Lin responded in his own way.

One person offers comfort, the other accepts it, that's all.

However, Lin is not that fragile; he simply has his own set of rules for doing things.

"Lin, what are your thoughts on what Dr. Vill-V said?"

Lin glanced at Prometheus.

Is she going to follow in the footsteps of Elysia and Vill-V?

"You are just an AI." Lin's view of Prometheus has never changed since her birth, and it is not something that will change just because she has a physical body or the system is upgraded.

"Forest."

Suddenly, everything went black before Lin's eyes, and he instantly lost one of his two remaining vital senses, causing his body to panic.

It wasn't a problem with his eyes; the monitor on his helmet was turned off.

What happened?

He suddenly remembered that the helmet's system had always reserved permissions for Prometheus, and even if Vill-V upgraded the helmet, she shouldn't have deleted those permissions.

Did Prometheus do this? What was she planning to do?

Without sight, he only had hearing left, and at this moment his hearing was amplified to the extreme, and he heard the people around him suddenly stir.

But he couldn't feel anything; apart from "hearing," he had lost all perception of the outside world.

Ten seconds later, the helmet's monitor returned to normal function.

Prometheus is gone.

He turned to look for the mechanical girl, but all he could see were the indescribable expressions on the faces of the people around him.

What's wrong?

Chapter 122 The Inheritance of Ideas

People always pursue the future, not only out of fear and exploration of the unknown, but also out of a desire for inheritance and hope.

Death itself is meaningless; what determines a person's significance is the thought they convey.

Okay... this should be the last stop of tonight's itinerary, the combination of Hua and Immer.

Lin didn't want to treat tonight's operation as a mission to be completed, but judging from the result, he was not much different from the protagonist in the game who had to complete the "talk to some people" mission to advance the plot. Whether it was because the time was too tight or some other situation that he couldn't explain, he couldn't say for sure.

Like Sakura, Hua and Immer were not the main characters at the ball; they would only stay in the corner.

Lin's worst-case scenario was that neither Hua nor Immer came to the ball, so he was still somewhat surprised when he found them.

Hua changed out of her usual uniform and put on the cheongsam that Himiko had prepared for her, while Immer remained the same as before. The two of them standing together created a strong sense of disharmony in their appearance, but their faces did not look much different.

Perhaps it was the song of Eden that had the effect, because Hua's complexion was better than expected.

"Team leader."

"Captain Lin."

They had already noticed Lin when he walked over, after all, only Lin would wear a helmet that stood out even more than his uniform at a ball.

"... I'm no longer your captain." Lin had said this before, but habits can't be changed overnight.

Of course, there were also those with their own opinions. For example, Immer shook his head expressionlessly and said, "Even if you are no longer my actual captain, this is still a respectful way of addressing you."

"..."

"..."

Lin had no objections.

"Team Leader Lin... Lin, are you feeling any better?" Hua asked in a manner typical of her. "Are you able to get out of bed and walk around now?"

Lin raised his hand to show her that he was holding the cup next to him. "Hmm, no problem."

After that, the three of them had nothing more to say to each other.

But this wasn't the stiff silence that Lin and Kevin had. Immer noticed a hint of hesitation in Hua's expression, so without much thought, he said, "I'm going to the restroom."

Leave the space to the two of them, hoping that Lin can answer Hua's questions.

After Immer left quickly, Lin stared at Hua, who remained silent, waiting for him to speak.

He understood Hua, the girl he had saved and helped to establish her worldview; she was far from mature.

Many mature people use silence to demonstrate their independence and wisdom.

For Hua, silence was the only option.

"Lin, you've seen what Captain Himiko looks like after she Herrscherification, right?" Finally, she was forced to speak by Lin's gaze.

"Um."

Lin would never forget that devastating figure and the extinguished flames.

"What... is that?"

What kind?

If it were the Lin from a long time ago, she might have said unequivocally that it was just "the appearance of Herrscher"—she wanted to destroy humanity and then put it into practice, nothing more.

But the faces of the Sixth Herrscher, the Seventh Herrscher, and the Herrscher of Reason from the Previous Civilization kept flashing before my eyes.

Is the Sixth Herrscher terrifying? Yes, she is the embodiment of death, possessing high intelligence. She is the Herrscher inflicted the most severe blow ever on the Flame Chaser. Her sweet smile, indistinguishable from a human's, is a demonic mask that leads people to extinction.

What about the Seventh Herrscher? Same here. She burned Australia to the ground, causing a massive Honkai that affected an entire region, and she would bring world-destroying flames to the human world while smiling.

Needless to say, the Herrscher of Reason from the Previous Civilization was the final straw that led to its destruction. She was the prophesied destroyer who wiped out all of humanity in the Previous Civilization, causing it to fall into silence.

But the way the Sixth Herrscher longed for even the most insignificant name before her death, the Seventh Herrscher's gentle smile as she chose to spare Lin and the Branch 19 after her arrival, and the Previous Civilization Herrscher of Reason's self-destruction for the sake of humanity...

Are these also... "the appearance of Herrscher"?

Can he define what "the appearance of Herrscher" truly means?

He can't do it.

What kind of beings are those Herrscher who are not human, yet infinitely close to human, born from human bodies and seemingly possessing some human characteristics?

A monster that will destroy humanity?

A toddler yearning for new life?

A special case of self-actualization?

Finally, Lin Cong found a word in his vocabulary and told Hua about it.

"Sad."

Hua's eyes widened, as if she had heard an unbelievable word.

Indeed, it is an incredible word, because... it came from Lin's mouth.

"She went mad in the fire, she burned in the fire, she was like herself, yet she wasn't herself." Lin recalled what she looked like then, the fiery red beam he could see through the distorted vision of the high temperature. "I don't know if her personality was corrupted or if she was directly replaced at that time."

"But I think it might not just be a 'Herrscher'."

Lin tried his best to teach the girl in front of him. The fact that Soul and Himiko, whom she knew well, had become Herrscher would undoubtedly make her have unnecessary doubts.

Even Lin couldn't avoid suspicion.

"... Thank you, Lin."

She thanked him quietly, perhaps not understanding the deeper meaning behind Lin's words, but she still acted in her own way.

"... Use your own eyes to see."

"Huh?"

Hua looked up and saw the same viewing window he had seen countless times.

It emits azure particles, rational and cold.

"If you want to know what Himiko was like back then, then investigate it yourself, search for it yourself, experiment with it yourself... Look for what you want from past records and from the Herrscher you will encounter in the future."

"Himiko once told me that you couldn't find your direction. From simply living, to searching for your ideals after the Honkai ended, and now... you can make this your life goal."

"Whether what you find in the end is right or wrong... it's what you've been searching for."

Is that all I have to say?

These words were not only what Lin wanted to say to China, but also what Himiko and Lin had discussed regarding China's future.

They are veterans bound to the chariot of salvation. Whether it is Himiko or Hayashi, it is difficult for them to escape this increasingly deep bondage, but these young people are different.

Placing her hopes on the future and entrusting everything to the young people... that was Himiko's idea.

Regardless of what Himiko's Herrscherification ultimately taught Hana, she had already completed her the Last Lesson.

Chapter 123 Alternative

Erwin pretended to eat the exquisite cake in small bites.

He didn't like sweets, so he just grabbed something to cover up his little act of stalking someone.

Let me introduce myself, Erwin, an ordinary soldier of the Fire Moth, from the same class as Kosma, but even after Kosma rose through several ranks, he was still a private.

Without any outstanding achievements, they belong to the type of resume that others would casually say, "Ah, not bad," after reviewing it.

He doesn't have any strange hobbies. He usually enjoys playing games and browsing forums. Occasionally, he goes crazy over female characters that he can't have contact with or that are just two-dimensional. He likes celebrities that everyone likes and songs that everyone likes.

He has no unusual habits, no symptoms of photophobia or bloodlust, doesn't read every single label he tears off, and certainly doesn't wear a helmet around every day.

In short, Erwin an ordinary person, whose height and weight were exactly the average for men in headquarters.

In the novel, he is probably just a passerby who is mentioned only briefly, without any psychological description or physical description.

Erwin, of course, was self-aware. He simply did his job step by step, neither making a big splash in the story nor bothering to cause trouble for others. If he was lucky, he might be able to live until the end of the Honkai, get married, have children, and live a prosperous life.

Ah, on another note, he is indeed quite lucky. Of the newcomers from the same cohort, only he and Kosma have survived to this day. They have participated in every major Honkai, yet they have all managed to survive.

As expected, Lady Luck favors ordinary people.

Erwin came to the ball alone today, of course. Although he and Danzhu Cangxuan actually had a pretty good relationship and shared common interests in staying at home, they were clearly more like close friends who were good at bickering, and dancing was out of the question.

However, he never intended to find a dance partner; he came to meet someone.

Forest.

Most people were expecting Kevin to attend the ball, which was essentially a celebration party specially organized for Kevin. However, many were surprised to find that Kevin arrived in a winter coat, assuming he wasn't going to the ball. Lin, surprisingly, did attend.

Unlike most people, Erwin didn't care about seeing Kevin, but he really wanted to see Lin.