Definition / In Theory

"I'll gather all the necessary conditions. If anything goes wrong, just pin the blame on me."

"I don't need to. When I decided to get involved, I never thought about getting away. Once the arrow is drawn, there's no turning back."

"...Okay, thank you, Spasi."

"No matter when, hearing you say thank you is always a novel experience."

The communication was interrupted. Lin Shen took a breath and looked down at the Nun kneeling behind the iron bars with her eyes closed.

His conversation with Spasi did not avoid Aponia, and the other party did not seem to care.

"Aponia, I have something I want to ask you."

"Lin..." Aponia, who hadn't seen him for a long time, didn't show much surprise. "I welcome you anytime... You can also ask me any questions..."

"Okay, what I wanted to ask was..."

"However, I need to charge a certain fee for my consultation."

"..."

Remuneration?

Lin was surprised by what Aponia said. What did she mean by "reward"? Had she gone back to her old profession as a Nun? But did Nun need to be paid?

"What kind of reward do you want?" Lin asked tentatively.

"Even in the Deepest Place, there are still people who come and ask me nonsensical questions. Even I sometimes find it annoying." Aponia didn't say it directly, but explained why she charged a fee. "So I charge different fees depending on the questions different people ask. For example, for people outside the Deepest Place, I ask them to bring some crafting materials. For people inside the Deepest Place, I ask them to listen to me tell some 'stories'."

As Lin listened to Aponia's words, he suddenly realized something.

Aponia only said she would answer, but did not say she would definitely tell the truth. In other words, whether or not to tell the truth during consultations was entirely up to her mood, and the same applied to her payment.

"Then, Lin, what do you mean..."

Aponia opened her breathtakingly beautiful eyes and looked at Lin.

Then he curled his thin lips into a smile.

"Please come in first."

Chapter 197 Definition

What kind of person is Aponia?

Mei asked the woman's voice. She finally had some free time to rest. This person's understanding of Thirteen Heroes and Lin was deeper than Mei had expected. She should be able to get more information through this person.

There are many mysterious places in the Imaginary Tree, and the Deepest Place where Aponia is located is one of them.

"Those who truly believe in God often have a unique kind of neuroticism, and Aponia is particularly severe in this regard." This time, the female voice didn't beat around the Mei; she said directly, "That Nun devoutly believed in God, and when God was still a vague and ethereal 'thing,' she was no different from any other believer."

"Wait a minute, you're not going to tell me that the god she worshipped later came into reality, are you?"

Mei knew that the World Serpent was actually similar to a religion, except that the World Serpent's Venerable Lord, Kevin, was a real, living person, and those people believed in Kevin's power and his promises.

The woman paused for a moment. "Not exactly the same... except that the object of her faith changed from an unknown god who never showed mercy to a human being."

"That person..."

"Herrscher of Thunder, hasn't anyone told you that interrupting someone is very rude?"

"..."

Mei quieted down considerably, and the female voice continued, "However, I do want to ask you something: if your god came to the real world, what would you do?"

"I don't believe in God."

"God is just a form; to be precise, what you consider good is concentrated in one person."

A figure immediately flashed through Mei's mind.

"I'd probably... want to be friends with her."

"There's no need to hide it so much, it's nothing more than possessiveness."

The female voice mocked without any attempt to hide her sarcasm. "Aponia is a believer in God. She is gentle, kind, and compassionate. However, as I said before, people who truly believe in God are generally a bit neurotic, Aponia's pathology in this regard is particularly severe."

"She has a deep understanding of human nature, and her abilities allow her to easily manipulate other people's thoughts. Therefore, she does not suppress her possessiveness, which is more frantic than anyone else's, especially after she focuses her faith in a specific person."

"... Wait a minute, wasn't I asking about her as a person? Why are you keeping talking about her beliefs?"

"Fifty percent of what constitutes Aponia is the destiny she sees, and fifty percent is her faith." The woman's laughter vanished.

"But the person she believed in only wanted her to have 100% of herself."

"Swish, swish, swish."

"Aponia".

"What's wrong?"

"Swish, swish, swish."

"No... it's nothing."

Lin Mo shut his mouth. He was now a little confused about what Aponia was thinking. No, he had never really understood what Aponia was thinking.

For example, right now, she's holding a towel and rubbing his ears.

Her movements were perfectly timed, both in terms of force and speed. Even though Lin could barely feel anything, the crisp sound alone gave him a pleasant sensation deep within his heart.

Aponia took out a bunch of things from somewhere, including the ear pick she used last time, and Lin also saw a bottle of liquid of unknown composition.

Aponia's eyes narrowed, as if she were the one enjoying the attention, not Lin: "Lin... you can ask now..."

"Aponia, you once said that I am destined."

"Yes... but you don't believe in fate..."

"No, I believe." Lin lay on his side on Aponia's lap as a pillow, deep in thought. "I believe in you, but I also believe that fate can be changed."

"Hehe..."

Aponia didn't say much; she neither refuted nor agreed.

"What I want to ask is... when I die, will I still be human?"

Lin lay on Aponia's lap, and whether it was because the treatment injected by Vill-V was taking effect further, or for some other reason, he seemed to clearly feel the softness of Aponia's body and the faint fragrance she exuded.

In the Deepest Place silence, apart from the voice emanating from Aponia, no "person" dared to make a sound. As long as this Nun was present, even the most irrational monsters would instinctively fall silent.

Her breath was warm and moist, and whether intentionally or unintentionally, it always ended up in his ear.

Aponia chuckled softly, gently stroking Lin's earlobe before her fingers slid down to the pendant around his neck. "Lin, what is a human being?"

"Am I, a Flame-Chaser, human? Am I, Honkai Energy, human? Am I, who harms my fellow human beings, human? Am I, who shows no consideration for humanity, human?"

"..."

"How you define others is how others will define you. Lin, a Herrscher with a human heart, would you consider her human?"

Lin Jingjing nodded.

"If a human is more devoid of humanity and morality than a Herrscher, would you consider him human?"

Is he... human?

At that moment, Lin realized that Aponia was intentionally guiding him.

Lin's biggest principle was: he could not kill humans, and even if they were guilty, it was not a reason for him to take the law into his own hands.

Those Herrscher smiled before they died were lost in their own destructive tendencies; they lacked humanity and were bewildered by it.

If a human being possesses and understands humanity, yet still chooses to abandon it, is he still a human being?

Which is the real human: the Herrscher saved humanity, or the human who harmed humanity?

Whether it is the physical body or consciousness that determines race.

Lin sat on the return transport plane, gazing at the distant sunset, recalling what Aponia had said in that silent darkness.

He will not harm humans.

But does he also want to "define" humanity himself, just like the High Council at Moth of Fire?

Lin wanted to ask more questions, but Aponia gave a mysterious smile that sent chills down his spine.

"If you want to continue the consultation, the fees will be higher."

Although he didn't know what the charging method would be next, Lin Sejue's weak vision seemed to catch a glimpse of crimson in Aponia's eyes, so after careful consideration, he quickly left.

She wasn't giving answers, but rather helping Lin figure out the consequences of each answer.

"Drop--"

Just then, the communicator rang like an alarm bell. Lin looked up and silently stared at the communicator.

"Drop--"

It's as if it's announcing something.

The caller ID above is... Sakura.

Chapter 198 Logically speaking

The bright moonlight swallowed the setting sun, and the ark, full of human hope, floated quietly in the eastern sea of the Mu Continent. Lin stood in front of the completely transparent "wall" and looked at the vast sea of clouds in the dark night.

There was a slight breeze on the skin indoors, but it was just an artificial illusion; it only made you feel a chill.

Lin found this quiet place.

Sakura had almost never initiated contact with him, so he was actually quite surprised.

"What's the matter?"

"It's very quiet around you. Is it somewhere deserted?"

Lin Mo glanced at the empty open area nearby, whispered "Wait a moment," and then strode into the base. He jogged through the corridor to Mobius's laboratory, and then walked straight into Mobius's private office under the unsurprised gazes of his three assistants.

"Hey! You—" At this moment, Mobius was changing clothes. When she saw Lin rushing in, she didn't even have time to put on her coat. She could only put on her white coat, cover her private parts, grit her teeth, and hide behind the desk.

Lin locked the office door from the inside, then said to Sakura on the other end of the communicator, "Wait a minute, my signal is bad, I'll call you from somewhere else."

He abruptly hung up the call, then glanced at the office desk before finally fixing his gaze on Mobius's petite figure.

"What are you doing! Are you possessed by a pervert! Get out of here! You pedophile!" Mobius clutched her collar, clenching her teeth, trying to scare Lin away with her fierce look using her snake-like eyes, but little did she know that her flushed face made her look even more delectable and adorable.

Lin walked over silently, and after a loud scream, he took the Mobius communicator from his white coat and went to the corner of the room to dial Sakura's number.

"Alright, you can speak now."

"What happened over there?" Sakura seemed to vaguely hear a little girl's cursing voice.

"Nothing."

When Lin heard Sakura's first words, he knew that what she was about to say was most likely something that couldn't be told to others, or even to certain members of the Fire Moth. Since most of the headquarters and communications were being monitored by the Fire Moth, Lin figured that Mobius's room and the frequency of her communicator shouldn't be being monitored by the Fire Moth.

"Just say what you have to say, no one can hear you now."

Sakura wasn't stupid. She had originally planned to tell Lin Gray Serpent the information subtly, and now that she wouldn't be eavesdropped on, she could say it openly.

Sakura jumped onto an old tree. She was no longer in the Branch 10, but in a remote residential area.

"Lin, I don't know if this information is true. It comes from Gray Serpent. He encountered Honkai in Svatogor 51 and then appeared after we cleared out the Honkai Beast. He wanted to pass on some information to you." Sakura calmly scanned the pedestrians around her. No one noticed that there was a person who blended into the shadow of the tree, but she would not let her guard down. There would not be only one "Poisoned Cocoon" among the Fire-Chasing Moths.

"..." Lin held his breath. At this moment, he recalled the Gray Serpent in the dark room, its red eyes flashing, telling him about the organization and its beliefs.

"The Honkai of Svatogor 51 was not a natural occurrence, but rather an artificial creation within the Moth of Fire."

"The newly emerging special type of Honkai Beast is tentatively named Quantum Honkai Beast. Their types and numbers are unknown. However, the Quantum Sea is a dimension that cannot be measured by any unit, so we assume that there are countless types of Quantum Honkai Beast in the Quantum Sea. Even so, they are just a drop of water in the Quantum Sea itself."

Mei pushed a component into its slot, watching the surrounding circuitry light up as she wrote something on the electronic board in her hand.

"Quantum Honkai Beast have both superposition and collapse states. They usually operate in the superposition state, but under certain circumstances they will enter the collapse state. In the collapse state, they lose their usual outer protection, and some Honkai Beast will also lose their special abilities."

"To make Quantum Honkai Beast enter a collapsed state, we need to use the Second Herrscher's ability. Remember the Time-Space Rupture System? Amplifying its output by 7.35 times can destroy the superposition state of the surrounding Quantum Honkai Beast. However, only Flame-Chaser can withstand the output."

Vill-V nodded with a smile. From a distance, she looked like May's assistant listening to May say things she couldn't understand at all. But May knew that Vill-V would definitely understand what she meant, especially since she was using simple and easy-to-understand language.

"Can I take a Spatial Fracture Device back and try to improve it?" Vill-V asked with a smile.

"Of course." May adjusted her glasses with her wrist, a gesture that added a touch of intellect to her. Her calm gaze shifted behind the glasses to Vill-V's face. "However, you don't seem to have a precedent for improving other people's work. Why do you want to try this time?"