The Troubles of Dating a Girl / Just a Joke

That's why Lin found it strange that no one died in the Eighth Honkai War, Bianca survived, and Griseo...

"..."

Griseo?

Lin Muran's gaze darted back and forth between Griseo and Aponia, while Aponia simply watched him quietly. She wasn't in a hurry; she knew Lin would keep his promise.

Lin then realized that he had made more than just a promise back then.

After a long silence, he took out his communicator and typed. "What do you want me to do?"

A bright smile appeared on Aponia's face.

"You... come in first..." Without him having to lift a finger, the door beside him opened automatically, leaving a gap for Lin, as if gesturing for him to enter.

Can't we say this in public?

"No, because it's something that can only be done if you come in."

"..."

Lin stared at the endless darkness of the entrance and the warm smile on Aponia's face, hesitating to take a step...

Chapter 136 The Troubles of Dating Girls

Lin walked heavily into the room, and the door behind him slammed shut the moment he stepped inside.

He silently turned back to look at the closed door, then at Aponia who was smiling.

[Griseo is still sleeping.] His fingers trembled slightly as he typed.

"It's okay... I'll try to be quieter..."

Is this a matter of being quiet or not?

However unwilling Lin was, this was something he had promised, and he would never break his promise.

"Please... come here."

Aponia waved, and Lin had no choice but to move his legs and walk over.

"Please, lie down on my lap."

Lying on my lap?

In this enormous "prison," the only place where light could penetrate was in front of Aponia, where her fair and smooth thighs were now kneeling on the ground.

There seemed to be nothing strange about it, at least not as bizarre as in Vill-V.

"What's wrong?" Aponia tilted her head when she saw that he was not moving, and her beautiful white brown hair cascaded down from her veil.

"...nothing."

Lin took a deep breath and took off his helmet.

Aponia gazed at his face after he removed his helmet, glancing at the barely noticeable, inconspicuous silver-white at the ends of his hair.

He slowly leaned down and lay face down on Aponia's lap.

...Then what?

Then Aponia seemed to give no further instructions. She sat on the side of the moonlight, looking down at Lin's profile in the moonlight on her lap. When she saw the cross on his neck through his collar, her eyes softened a lot.

Lin gazed at the darkness beyond the railing. Was this the world Aponia had always seen?

"Splash, splash..."

Suddenly, Lin heard a soft sound that instantly soothed his mind.

"On that day, He fell from the sky. The people on earth looked up and saw the starry sky..."

Aponia hummed a lullaby, holding a small ear pick in her hand, gently turning the end and rubbing it against Lin's ear, making a pleasant soft sound.

Lin stood there, stunned and motionless.

Despite having no sense of touch, he felt Aponia's gentleness enter his mind through those subtle movements, and his tense mind relaxed.

Just listening to the sound rubbing against my ears, I experienced a feeling of relaxation that I hadn't felt in a long time.

In the Deepest Place, even the low growls that rose and fell had disappeared, leaving only Aponia's low hum and the ringing of bells in one's ears.

Before they knew it, a long time had passed. Aponia stopped what she was doing, bent down and blew into Lin's ear, asking softly, "Does it feel good?"

"..."

Lin did not answer.

Aponia leaned forward slightly and saw Lin Jingmi's sleeping face glowing white in the moonlight.

She smiled softly, gently stroking his hair, closing her eyes as she sat in the light, peacefully enjoying the tranquility of the corner.

Time was stretched out for a very long time.

When Lin woke up again, he felt as if he had slept for a very long time, as if a century had passed between closing and opening his eyes.

I felt a lazy, satisfied feeling all over, just like when I woke up in the morning and didn't want to get out of bed.

Is he asleep?

He raised his head slightly and then stopped.

Something soft and sinking in was pressing against his head.

"..."

Aponia was also resting with her head down, and her overly magnificent part covered his profile, obscuring her face. Her abundant beauty rose and fell with her master's sweet breath.

... Wait a minute, why did he use the word "sweet"?

At this moment, Lin actually smelled a faint fragrance emanating from Aponia, which filled his nostrils and his consciousness.

Has your sense of smell returned?

No, Lin couldn't smell anything else besides this fragrance.

While he was wondering, he didn't notice that Aponia had already opened her eyes, her eyes glowing crimson.

... She was very patient as Nun, but not someone who could tolerate everything.

For example, if Lin arrived here carrying the scents of more than one other person, her mood might not be as good as it appeared.

Therefore, the most direct way to "take revenge" is to replace someone else's scent, and also to use the ability to make Lin's consciousness "think" that it smells her scent, which is something that no one else can do.

So Lin lay there for hours, enveloped in Aponia's body odor, smelling this somewhat strange fragrance, until Aponia "woke up."

Lin ate simple carbohydrates for breakfast on the return transport plane, lost in thought as he ate.

Currently, Prometheus is being repaired by Vill-V, Elysia is dealing with the Honkai Energy disorder in some areas after the Honkai ended, and Me is tirelessly researching the Eighth Herrscher. Everyone else also has things to do, but he is nominally an injured person and seems unable to do anything.

Why did I suddenly become so free?

However, this gave him time to think about some things.

Just as he connected to the Firemoth's database to look up some information, his communicator rang. He glanced at the contact and paused for a few seconds.

He then shut down the database and reconnected the communication.

"..."

"..."

Both sides were so quiet that only the sound of breathing could be heard.

"... Lin, can I come see you now?"

"..."

There was a lot of bitterness and sorrow in her voice, and Lin didn't even recognize it as Ying's voice at first.

Did something happen to her?

"..."

However, Lin couldn't speak now, so he could only listen silently as Ying continued, hoping she would understand his tacit consent.

But this silence, to Sakura's ears, meant something else entirely.

"Is that so... I'm sorry..."

Why did you suddenly apologize?

Lin had never quite understood this Miss Assassin since he met her. She always seemed to be thinking about a lot of things, and when she expressed her thoughts, she would only state the conclusion, which made it impossible for others to understand what she was trying to say.

Lin listened to the busy tone of the disconnected call, completely bewildered. It seemed he would have to go find Ying again when he got back.

Is he really bad at socializing? I always feel like something unexpected always happens when he interacts with girls. He either can't express himself clearly or only says half of what he means, and he has to guess what they're thinking or what inexplicable reason they're angry about.

He finished his breakfast in a huff, and the transport plane had already landed on the tarmac.

However, Lin never imagined that what was about to happen would amplify his troubles many times over.

Chapter 137 So-called jokes

After returning to Headquarters Base the next day, Lin was taken away by Kevin and Su as soon as he got off the plane and brought to the Research and Development Department.

The Research and Development Department was the area that suffered the most damage. Whether it was the presence of many media that could spread contamination videos or the Eighth Herrscher's attempt to kill Mei immediately, it was attacked by both sides.

However, its reconstruction efficiency was also the highest after the Eighth Honkai War, and it has already been half repaired in just two days.

Lin Cong walked through the crowd of repairmen and Armed Puppet, eventually arriving at a familiar place.

A storage room used to store Herrscher Core.

Mei had been waiting for them for a long time. She was still calculating something when Lin entered the room, then she looked up, put down her pen, and picked up the hot coffee next to her.

"You're here. Sorry to have interrupted your intimate time with your 'good friends'." After taking a sip, Mei grabbed a few sugar cubes from the side and put them in, then smiled at Lin. "But now there's a problem that needs to be solved. I've been thinking about it, and it was you who asked you and Ying to bring her back, so it's up to you to decide."

[Regarding the Eighth Herrscher?]

"Well... to be precise, it's not just that."

Led by Mei, they arrived at the depths of the storage room. Apart from the Herrscher Core that had already been contained, there were two people being held in room number "VIII".

Due to the unique nature of the Eighth Herrscher's abilities, even though measures were being taken to continuously extract Honkai Energy from the room to prevent the Herrscher from regaining power, Lin and his group could only observe the interior through electronic devices.

Through the electronic screen, Lin saw the two "people" who were both awake. One of them was silent with her head down, while the other looked at the camera and sneered.

Qianqi, and the Eighth Herrscher has taken over another person's body.

One is the host body that possesses the Herrscher Core after the Eighth Herrscher is born, and the other is the original consciousness of the Eighth Herrscher.

Two people who meet the standards of Herrscher —this is an unprecedented and special case.

"Qianqi is the host body from which the consciousness of the Eighth Herrscher was born, and the core of the Eighth Herrscher still remains in her body. However, this core cannot be used by Qianqi's consciousness. Even if the Eighth Herrscher is in someone else's body, she can still call upon the power of the Herrscher Core."

"Based on preliminary deductions, Qianqi's original consciousness disappeared the moment the Eighth Herrscher was born. The consciousness in her current body is an artificial consciousness created by the Eighth Herrscher to replace her when she was asleep and evaded the inspection of the Fire Moth. In other words, she is also a part of the Eighth Herrscher, rather than the real Qianqi."

Mei sipped her coffee and explained the current situation to Lin, while Lin stared at Qianqi, who was hanging her head on the screen, without making any move.

"It's up to you to decide what to do with 'Qianqi'."

He gazed at Qianqi, and Qianqi seemed to sense something, raising her head and looking wearily at the camera.

How should we... handle this?

Lin walked out of the research department and headed towards his room. As for what had just happened, the matter had already been resolved.

... In fact, Qianqi's fate was not up to him; he had neither the right nor the authority to deal with a Herrscher.

So, as early as when Mei took him there, she had already decided on how to deal with Qianqi, and she also knew that the way to deal with him would be the same as his decision.

So what exactly is Mei thinking? Is she testing me? Or...?

"Bang!"

Lin bumped into someone, took a step back, but the other person didn't move an inch.

"..."

Even if Lin was distracted, it was impossible for him to bump into someone without looking where he was going, so it must have been someone from the other side who deliberately bumped into him.

Chrono, now wearing a brand new mask, stood there and sneered.