Good Fortune and the Truth / And So the Stars Look Down on Humanity

"The hero was killed by the Demon King, but he returned to the beginning of the journey and experienced it all over again. We thought the hero could change the past and save his companions, but nothing changed. He tried his best, but he could only watch his companions die in a different way."

"What tormented my sister and me even more was that after our companions died again, their original story expanded once more, becoming more complex, contradictory, kind, and brave... With each death, they became more vivid. At that time, I felt like an executioner, killing one living person after another."

"Just like the first time, every time a partner dies, there is the option to go home. Every time... every time... I don't know when my hand pressing continue turned from light to heavy. We stood silently in front of our partner's body for a long, long time."

"To learn about the stories of these admirable people, you must first confront their deaths."

Her voice was so gentle, yet full of sorrow.

Chapter 209 Good Luck and the Truth

"... And then what?" Lin stared at the target on the screen, unconsciously drawn into Delta's explanation of the game. "Was the hero ultimately unable to defeat the Demon King?"

"Yes, no matter how many times you start over, the hero can never win. He can only helplessly face the death of his comrades. After they die, he loves them even more and misses them even more."

"..."

So it's just meaninglessness in a different way.

The hero can never defeat the demon king; to win, he must give up. But even if he gives up, he will inevitably face the loss of his first companion.

Giving up is tantamount to abandoning the significance of the sacrifice of the first comrade.

Continuing on would ultimately not lead to victory, rendering the sacrifices of all partners meaningless.

An infinite loop.

If it were him... what would he do?

"But after countless times, I can't even remember exactly how many times I came before the Demon King, there was an extra option. That option was very simple."

"Should we choose to defeat the Demon King?"

Lin stopped.

Delta continued, seemingly oblivious. "In countless cycles, the hero finally mastered the way to defeat the Demon King. Now he can defeat the Demon King, but he can also return to the very beginning when his first companion died."

"The game told me that if I chose to defeat the Demon King, I could never go back to the beginning, and even if I rebuilt the game and started over, I would never be able to start the game again."

"If you choose to return to the time when your first companion died, you will never be able to defeat the Demon King again, but you can be in this cycle of reincarnation forever and reunite with your companions. Alternatively, you can choose to give up after a companion dies and live an ordinary but not bad life."

"My sister told me that choosing to defeat the Demon King would be too cruel for the hero. He would only be able to forever cherish the memory of his fallen comrades and search for their traces in his memories. The price would be too heavy. But if he chose to go back to the past, even though only one comrade died, he could live with the other comrades."

"I originally wanted to give up, but then it suddenly occurred to me, why do all the companions in the game have their own stories, but the hero doesn't? He's just a simple protagonist, but why is it that someone who seems to have nothing but a cheerful personality can become the hero and shoulder the beliefs of his companions?"

"After thinking about it for a long time, I realized that the experiences I had with my companions, this endless cycle, is the 'story' of the hero."

"Players can start over countless times and have choices, but for the hero in the game, he will eventually defeat the Demon King because his companions 'choose' him. Every time, he doesn't know that other heroes will defeat the Demon King in the future, nor does he know that this one and only time he will give up will make it impossible to defeat the Demon King again. He only knows that this journey has been paved with blood."

"If you give up on your own and your companions' perseverance, you've truly thrown everything on the journey and the meaning of being a hero into the trash heap."

"So in the end I chose to defeat the Demon King. The hero welcomes victory in the dawn, and only when he calmly faces the light does he truly become a 'hero'."

Delta finished explaining the complex game, which wasn't too long or too short. The room fell completely silent. She lay quietly on the sofa, her head tilted back, lost in thought.

After a moment, she softly asked, her voice tinged with mixed emotions, "Will I become my sister's hero?"

"... It's not that you become a hero by defeating the Demon King, but that you can defeat the Demon King by becoming a hero."

"Huh?"

Delta thought she had misheard. She looked up in surprise at Lin, who was sitting in front of the arcade machine with his hands on his lap. The score on the screen was frozen at 590,000.

It was exactly the same as her score, but ten thousand points behind.

"You lost?" Delta asked in surprise.

Lin let out a long, murky breath.

"I lost."

"I've been under a lot of pressure lately."

"You guys only go on one mission a year, right? What's so stressful about that? Doctor Mobius here has different ways to torment us every day, and we have to write papers until our hands are sore. Doctor Mobius himself is too lazy to write them, so we have him write them for us. That's what's stressful."

"Sigh, you don't understand."

Erwin was chatting with Danzhu in a dark web chat room, venting to his friend about the pressure he was facing.

Investigating traitors is a risky endeavor, and he felt as if he were standing on a creaking wooden stick that could break at any moment.

Danzhu was secretly chatting in private, so she typed a little slower, and there was some dissatisfaction between the lines: "What do you mean I don't understand? Why are you talking like a high and mighty doctor? What kind of pressure are you under?"

"I can't say, and it's not good to say."

"... Does this mean that everyone who knows understands?"

"For your own good, it's best not to ask."

Erwin ultimately didn't want to involve his good friend. Over the years, he had only a handful of people he was close to. After all, he was just a lowly private. Danzhu was simple-minded and had a silly air about her. If he dragged her down, Erwin would feel guilty for the rest of his life.

Moreover... the dark web is likely monitored in real time; he might type something and then his picture might appear on the monitor's screen the very next moment.

"Ugh, so boring. When did you become such a boring adult?"

"Please, we're not young anymore..."

"Forget it, I'm too lazy to ask you. Anyway, it's probably just a matter of whether Lieutenant Lin noticed how hard I've been working. Wouldn't it be too impolite to just nod when we bump into each other on the street..."

Erwin stopped typing and stared silently at each of the seemingly glaring words on the screen.

Danzhu suddenly realized she had said the wrong thing, and she immediately typed back, "Sorry."

"It's alright, Lieutenant Lin... it must just be a misunderstanding."

"Yes, I see him often too. Although he's cold and sometimes tells jokes that are hard to understand, and he gets thrown out by the Doctor after just a few words, he's definitely not a bad person."

"... Let's talk about something else."

Erwin gave a wry smile.

He is now in the eye of the storm. Is Lin a traitor? Have Lin's countless sacrifices all been for personal gain?

How could Erwin possibly believe such a thing?

Therefore, after Lin was wanted, he became even more determined to investigate what exactly happened with the traitor.

"Oh, and remember to draw cards for me."

"Come on, you're not without hands, why do you need me to help you?"

"Haha, aren't you Lucky Erwin? Private Erwin, who has survived so many Honkai, must be very lucky."

Luck...

Erwin smiled helplessly.

But... well, hopefully this luck will allow him to find out the truth.

Chapter 210 So the stars looked down at humanity

Seawater rushed into my ears, creating a pulsating sound in my mind, and I could hear my soul and life gradually dissipating in the unfathomable ocean.

In the vast ocean where one loses oneself, not even a few scattered points of light can be seen.

Death came more peacefully than I had imagined; the incessant chattering and clamor that seemed to be squeezing my brain was gone.

However, even though the nose has lost its sense of smell and the tongue has lost its sense of taste, it can still taste a faint fishy and astringent flavor.

By the way, this is...

He remembered, but it was too late. His consciousness was blurred, and he could only let his helpless body drift in the sea of blood.

In a place that is both very far away and very close, a person turns around in a sea of blood and opens his tightly closed eyes.

A dazzling Prismatic Eyes calmly bloomed amidst this endless sea of blood.

Lin opened his eyes on the sofa. In the darkness, he heard some soft rustling sounds, which disappeared after a while.

"... Aren't you asleep?"

A weak voice came from inside the closed bedroom door. "I had a nightmare."

"..."

What a coincidence, he also had a nightmare, and he clearly remembered every detail of the dream. The blood froze the moment those emotionless, inhuman eyes stared at him, as if they would appear before his eyes at any moment.

"I can't remember my dream." Delta lay weakly on the bed, one leg dangling off the edge, her lips twitching numbly. "But I have a vague recollection of it. I was running on the beach, chasing something."

"Oh... I remember now, it was something from when I was a child..."

"..."

The conversation ends here.

"Lieutenant Lin, what were you like when you were a child?"

"I didn't have a childhood."

Lin lay on her side on the sofa, gazing at the starry sky outside the window.

Every star winks at us, but that's just Earth's lie, a natural phenomenon caused by atmospheric effects, not their true intention.

"I was very naughty when I was little. I often fought with the neighbor's kids. People around my house called me the king of the kids. I would also bully my sister." Delta's pink hair fell down her cheeks, covering her eyes. "Why do Mom and Dad have to share their love with my sister? Why do I have to take care of my sister who took half of me when I was born first?"

"Later, after my parents left, I realized why my father had scolded me so harshly for bullying my sister, and why my mother had held my sister, who was crying loudly, and looked at me reproachfully."

"It turns out that growing up is so simple; all you need to do is look down at your family."

Lin listened to her words, wondering who she was trying to say them to, or perhaps it was just her talking to herself.

"So, on the day I lost my sister, it felt like half of me was taken away and replaced by the identity of Flame-Chaser."

"Lieutenant Lin, tell me... can we, the Flame-Chaser, look down on humanity? Will we be humanity's 'heroes'?"

The wind howled against the window, and the dark clouds that had been brought in obscured the bright moon.

Lin hugged his knees, looking down at the lies written on the paper.

"Yes," Lin said softly and gently, seeing the three different shadows he had cast. "You will become heroes of humanity."

"Haha... I think I understand why Sakura said those things about you." Delta couldn't help but let out a silvery laugh. "And you? What kind of person will you become?"

"I can't become anyone else."

"..."

Delta seemed thoughtful upon hearing the bland reply.

There wasn't a sound in the room, where no stars were watching.

"Click".

The door was pushed open, Delta walked out of the bedroom in her pajamas. She walked up to Lin, her delicate face in the darkness, her breathing rising and falling gently. She looked down at Lin, who was hugging her on the sofa.

He didn't lift his head, as if staring blankly into the distance.

"Lieutenant Lin, you lost to me, so you have to promise me one thing."

"..."

The girl smiled brightly at him, "You must become a hero of humanity."

Lin raised his emotionless eyes to meet her gaze, and saw the determination in her eyes, like the blinking of a glittering star in a daze.

"No matter how many cycles of reincarnation there are, you must never give up until the day you become a hero."

His Adam's apple bobbed. "Why me?"

"Why..." A moment of confusion appeared in her eyes, but it quickly disappeared. "Maybe it's because when I was little, I thought that since my younger sister has me as her older sister, then I, as her older sister, should also have an older brother."

"..."

"He must be a reliable, mature, and steady person who never gives up easily and always appears before me like a hero."

For some reason, Lin wanted to look away.

"When I make a mistake, he corrects my mistake; when I succeed, he praises me; when my father wants to discipline me, he stands up and says that I am also a sister, and as the older brother, he will protect his two sisters."

"Doesn't it seem strange? I'm clearly not a good older sister, yet I want a good older brother."

After a long pause, Lin shook his head. "No."

Upon hearing this word, Delta laughed heartily, "But you're not my brother. My ideal brother is much more perfect than you."