Detonate

After sitting on the edge of the bed, Lin was as quiet as a pine tree in stillness, his hands clasped under his chin, a thoughtful look flashing in the depths of his eyes.

What followed was a long, agonizing silence. The quiet room was so still that even the slightest movement of the blankets would make a sound. Elysia was so uncomfortable that she didn't even dare to turn over.

"Clatter".

Suddenly, a hand was placed on the blanket covering Elysia. She almost screamed, but fortunately, the hand was only on her shoulder as she lay on her side.

Why is this guy suddenly getting physical? He doesn't usually approach people like that.

"There is an opera called 'Magic Bullet,' in which the devil gives mortals seven Magic Bullets that never miss, but they sign a pact that the victim hit by the seventh Magic Bullet will belong to the devil."

"In order to marry the woman he loved, the mortal used Magic Bullet and hit the target six times out of six in a shooting competition. The woman's father asked him to shoot a white dove flying by, but the mortal knew that it was the woman's incarnation. However, the bullet had already been fired, and the woman fell to the ground."

"In the end, the soul fell into hell, the Magic Bullet took away life and also took away the humanity of mortals, and he became the new devil."

"..."

A steady voice told a short story, which Elysia couldn't understand why he would tell such a story at this time.

The purpose of telling the story is probably only known to Lin himself.

"I don't know where I should go, whether they abandoned me or I left them, I have no idea now."

"Gray Serpent is right. Humans always want others to make decisions for them."

If there were someone who wanted him to stay, Lin might actually stay in this world that originally didn't have him.

No longer dwelling on the past world, no longer considering the root cause of the Honkai outbreak, he truly became an ordinary person, living the life that Guohen wished he could.

Lin could no longer distinguish between his own wishes and the entrustment of others, just as he could not distinguish whether what was within the Pseudo-Herrscher Core was the Herrscher's consciousness or his own consciousness.

Lin's first half of life was that of a puppet made up of the wishes of others, and so was his second half.

The room was quiet. He had been talking to himself. He might have wanted to talk to someone, but he was probably talking to himself the most.

"... You changed the ending of that stage play, didn't you?"

A muffled sound came through the thick blanket.

"..."

"I have a good friend online who likes to watch stage plays. She told me about the ending of 'The Magic Bullet Shooter.' In the end, the ranger who got the Magic Bullet fired the last shot, but the bullet changed direction and hit the person who had deceived him and wanted him to become a substitute. He ended up marrying the forest ranger's daughter."

Lin turned his gaze and stared at the wriggling motion inside the blankets.

"I might be mistaken."

"You've got it wrong," a muffled voice affirmed.

The two paused for a while before continuing their conversation, "Do you want someone else to make decisions for you?"

"I don't know," Lin answered honestly.

The girl sighed, "I have two questions for you, and you can't lie."

"Um."

"First, do you still have your first kiss?"

"..."

Does he still remember his first kiss? This is a question that Lin needs to think about. Yan Luo has said that just touching lips doesn't count as a kiss, so the one with Sakura shouldn't count. But his consciousness is different from Yan Luo's...

"You hesitated," Elysia snorted.

"... Gone."

"You're honest." Elysia paused, then asked her second question, "Have you ever kissed that person who looks a lot like me?"

"No."

"Good."

As soon as she finished speaking, the pink-haired girl lifted the blanket, grabbed Lin's wrist, and pressed him down onto the bed.

Her long, shimmering hair swept across Lin's face, her dazzling eyes fixed on his, her long eyelashes trembling slightly, and an unusual blush of shyness graced her beautiful cheeks. Her usual carefree cuteness and mystery, like the intoxicating aroma of wine, were even more mellow at this moment.

Lin couldn't feel the breath on his face, but he could hear Elysia's breathing getting heavier. He didn't make any movements, simply letting the girl do as she pleased.

"Lin, one person cannot make decisions for another."

"Because everyone is different and has a completely different life, even the smallest joy makes us different."

That's why people are so lovely, and that's why the world is so beautiful.

The girl smiled slightly, and the pink floral banquet exuded a sweet fragrance in the warm sun.

"I wish you could stay with me forever, but you won't, will you?"

"I..."

Don't lie to me~

"..."

"There must be someone who is waiting for you and missing you. They are in a distant place I don't know, thinking of Lin, just like... I was last night."

Elysia chuckled at his silence, "Lin, you haven't changed at all after all this time. You usually use sharp words to cover up your softness, but once it's exposed, you turn back into a helpless silence."

"..."

"Let's go back."

Lin slowly raised his head and saw the girl's pure and innocent smile, as if an angel had lowered her head to kiss his forehead.

"Go back to where you belong."

"... And what about you?"

"I'll probably start traveling again, to meet more people as beautiful as Lin, to witness their stories, and..." The angel tilted her head and smiled, the saintly appearance fading away, leaving behind the sweetness of a little girl, "I will miss you, wait for you, and even if you leave again and never come back, I will... love you forever."

The snow of winter will melt when spring arrives, disappearing without a trace, but its whiteness is proof that it once existed here.

The girl leaned down, her cherry lips touching Lin's. Her smile was filled with shyness, but she did not back down at all.

After a long while, their lips parted.

The winter snow melts away as if it never existed.

Chapter Fourteen: Detonation

"Waaah..."

Elysia glared resentfully at Lin, who was calmly taking cotton swabs and iodine glycerin from the medicine box, and covered her mouth, letting out two dissatisfied sobs.

Lin dipped a cotton swab in iodine glycerin, squatted down in front of her, and calmly instructed, "Open your mouth."

She stared at Lin for two or three seconds before forcing herself to open her mouth despite the pain. Lin gently pinched her chin and then applied iodine glycerin to her bitten tongue with a medical cotton swab.

"Don't eat spicy or irritating foods for the next four or five days, and don't eat snacks either. You must rinse your mouth after eating," Lin instructed Elysia after treating her wound, which earned him an even more resentful look from her.

"Waaah... It's all your fault... I won't be able to eat anything delicious for the next few days."

"..."

This was indeed Lin's fault. Because of the deep impression he had left from kissing someone before, and because he himself had no feelings, he subconsciously bit when Elysia pried open his teeth with her tongue.

The result was... Elysia's tongue was bitten and bled.

However, after being angry for a while, Elysia looked at Lin and smiled. Lin didn't know why she smiled.

"Hmm... that means you're still a bit rusty." Elysia blinked her bright eyes and smiled gently. "Me too."

I really can't understand what's so happy about it.

Elysia touched her lips and smiled, "It feels different from what I saw online."

"What's different?" Lin asked calmly.

"It feels like... all my strength has been drained, and my head is spinning."

"... You're oxygen-deprived."

"Let's try again."

Without saying a word, Elysia pushed him down onto the sofa.

Lin has met quite a few women, including Mobius who is much older than him, and Pardo and Hua who are much younger than him. There are also women of similar age, but Elysia probably needs to be categorized separately.

He thought that Vill-V was already... well... too biased, but he didn't expect that after Elysia seemed to have some kind of restriction lifted, she became even more... indescribable.

Regardless of what Elysia tasted from the kiss, he definitely felt a lack of oxygen.

Fortunately, they made up.

... It might seem strange to say this, but Elysia returned to her usual self. She didn't ask Lin what he had done last night, nor did she inquire when he would leave, even though they both knew it was only a matter of time.

Both of their lips were slightly red and swollen. She went back to sleep when she was too tired to kiss anymore, while Lin sorted through the clues he had found at the archaeological site.

Honkai, Soul Steel, Herrscher... all of these exist, just like in his original world, with almost no difference.

He had long suspected that since the original world's Honkai existed earlier than their civilization, the remains on the moon were likely just a trigger that accelerated the emergence of the Honkai. But even if Qian Zhu Huo had not set foot on the moon, the Honkai would have erupted at some point in time.

This specific point in time is most likely related to the progress of human civilization.

The evidence is the existence of the Herrscher of Reason.

The last Herrscher destroyed the Previous Civilization was the Herrscher of Reason. Her power was to reproduce what she understood. This ability was highly targeted at human technology. The fact that Herrscher have never appeared in a form other than human suggests that Honkai is likely to coexist with human civilization.

But this raises another issue.

If humanity and Honkai are closely linked, then is the existence of Honkai solely for the purpose of destroying humanity?

There is a pattern here that he can't quite put his finger on but can vaguely sense, just as the word "leaf" that Yan Luo said must symbolize something, and the true face of Honkai becomes elusive.

How did it come about, and how will it end?

Elysia was awakened by a refreshing fragrance. She staggered out of the room, the pain in her tongue still making her gasp for breath. When she arrived in the living room, the aroma instantly sobered her up.

On the table was a large pot of mung bean porridge with some lean meat mixed in. Its refreshing appearance immediately whetted Elysia's appetite. She rushed to the table and stared longingly at Lin, who came out of the kitchen.

Lin took off her apron, set out the bowls and chopsticks, and glanced indifferently at the kitchen. "Wash your hands."

Elysia dashed into the kitchen. Lin filled Elysia's bowl with a large bowl of porridge, then sat down and calmly listened to the sound of water and Elysia's soft humming from the kitchen.

Is that what Hen thinks?

There will always be someone waiting for him to come home, to have a simple dinner peacefully under warm lights, and for laughter to soothe the noise around him.

So, even if you're on the battlefield, would you still want to go home?

Lin thought of Bianca and Griseo, and he silently clenched his fist, but quickly relaxed it again.

Dinner passed quickly amidst the girls' laughter and chatter. Lin had planned to sort out her thoughts after dinner, but Elysia pulled her into her room and led her to the computer.

Watching Elysia excitedly adjusting the camera and computer, he paused for a moment, then asked, "What are you going to do?"

"So you can say hello to them."

"Them?"

"My audience."

"..." Lin briefly went through Elysia's words in his mind, and after confirming that what she said was the same as what he was thinking, he blurted out. "Your lack of oxygen caused your brain cells to die."

"... Lin, you really don't need to show off your sense of humor sometimes."

After Elysia finished debugging, she immediately started the live stream, and she and Lin appeared on the screen together.

After two years, Elysia's popularity has reached the top of the top. As soon as she starts her live stream, a sea of comments appears. Many people specifically wait for her live stream at this time so that they can see her as soon as possible.

[Huh? There are other people here?]

[Eri, watch out, there's someone else in your room!]

Wow, this one is so pretty too.

[Eri's brother?]

Is she my older sister?

Due to Lin's unusual appearance, many people were unsure of the relationship between Lin and Elysia. Some guessed he was her brother, some guessed he was her sister, and some guessed he was her uncle from a higher generation... but no one guessed that the two were not related.

Elysia simply watched all of this with a smile, after all, she had never said or admitted that she lived alone.