The Principle of Carrying On

They wear their emotions on their sleeves.

"Think of Honkai Energy as part of your body, not as a tool to be manipulated. You can't pick up something invisible." Bianca's face was still rosy, but her expression was stern as she taught. "At first, think of it as an extra knuckle on your finger, and all you need to do is manipulate that extra knuckle."

Lin focused all his attention on his body, but no matter how much he imagined it, the surrounding Honkai Energy did not move towards his body.

"It should be 'called', not 'absorbed'."

Bianca placed two fingers on Lin's lower abdomen, on the anterior midline, three inches below the navel, and said coldly, "There are many methods of manipulating Honkai Energy circulating in Shenzhou. They call them martial arts techniques. Most of them involve absorbing Honkai Energy into the dantian acupoint. Long-term practice will lead to being eroded by Honkai Energy and turning into Honkai zombie."

"So what you need to do is let the Honkai Energy 'flow' in your body, but not 'store' it. In the words of the Shenzhou people, it's about building a plank road rather than building a container."

Under her strict guidance, Lin was finally able to feel energy entering his body from the outside and then leaving his body's circulation. Before, he could only stand in the pool and splash water, but now he could manipulate the water pipes to draw water from the outside and then spray it out.

It took Lin about five hours to truly experience the feeling of autonomously controlling the Honkai Energy passing through his body.

"Is this... all right?"

Bianca shook her head. "Even a novice Valkyrie can easily control the release of Honkai Energy using the Valkyrie Armor after five hours of training with the system, but you can only feel the Honkai Energy. Your Honkai Energy Adaptability is quite low... but you can achieve it with effort."

She is a hard worker and never doubts the saying that hard work leads to success.

"Valkyrie Armor..." Lin's gaze fell on the simple armor on Bianca's delicate body. She had put it away for the time being. It was a set of armor that resembled knight's armor.

Facing Lin's scrutiny, Bianca smiled calmly. She clenched her fist to the side, and two phantom figures holding swords and shields appeared behind her. "The King and Queen are the combat system that Honkai Energy from this suit of armor, called the Phantom Spirit Module."

"Can I use it?" Lin asked, stroking his chin. "Or do you have any design drawings I can refer to?"

"The Valkyrie Armor is an anti -Honkai Valkyrie Armor designed for different Valkyrie, and it was actually created using technology from Previous Civilization. Don't you have one?"

The Fire Moth does indeed have Honkai weapons, but the Powered Armor and Valkyrie Armor clearly use different types of technology.

He frowned, searching his mind for a matching technology.

"What technology was it referenced?"

"A set of armor called 'Key of Blankness'."

Lin was stunned. He remembered the part he had sorted out and put in the corner. May and Vill-V had mentioned that they would create a set of Divine Key that could directly use the most fundamental power of the Herrscher Core.

Bianca continued, "According to the analyzed data, the Previous Civilization user of the Key of Blankness was a warrior with the code 'MSA-079,' do you remember him?"

"... MSA-079?"

"What's wrong?"

That's my number.

Bianca suddenly stopped all her movements. She stared blankly at Lin, as if looking at a bubble about to burst.

"The Key of Blankness... After embedding the Plague Gem, I developed the Fourth Generation God-Slaying Armor based on this prototype. Isn't it a truly awe-inspiring creation? Whether it's the technology of Previous Civilization or their 'will'."

"Willpower?" Bianca stood behind the blond man, his hands behind his back, like a poet.

"The original owner of this armor was numbered 'MSA-079'. According to the information extracted from the armor's disassembly, he wore this armor to defeat the Herrscher of Domination and successfully protect humanity."

"If the record ends here, then it can be considered a fairly standard record of resisting the Honkai."

The blond man turned his head, a subtle smile playing on his lips.

"But the way he died was unusually interesting."

"He was killed by 'humans'."

Bianca frowned slightly. In the dim light of the laboratory, the man's green eyes looked like two eerily burning torches.

Warriors fighting against the Honkai were killed by humans?

"MSA-079 was killed by humans. According to the records in the armor, the humans smashed all his bones, tore off his skin, cut off his limbs, and finally cut off his neck bit by bit and ripped his head off his body, like killing a demon in mythology, tearing his skin apart and placing his soul on the sacred fire."

"..." Bianca clenched her hands for some reason as she listened to the man's vivid description.

"Throughout the entire process, up until his neck was cut, he remained conscious, yet he offered no resistance whatsoever."

"The warriors who fought against the Honkai were ultimately killed by humans, which gave this armor a mythical and legendary quality."

The man opened his arms as if praising the soldier's greatness, but the smile on his lips seemed to mock his foolishness.

Chapter Fifty-Six: The Principle of Practice

Lin brought the cup to his lips, hesitated for a second, glanced to the side, and then reluctantly drank the coffee.

He didn't do anything, did he?

The girl hugged her tall body and curled up into a small ball, sitting next to him with her eyes fixed on him. Except for blinking when her eyes were dry, Lin never left her sight.

He's not going to disappear in the next second, why is she so nervous?

Would you like a drink?

"..."

Are you hungry?

"..."

"Want to go home?"

"..."

"..."

Asking it like that doesn't seem like you'll get any useful information.

Lin decided to ignore Bianca for the time being; it was her right not to tell him what she was thinking. He continued trying to control Honkai Energy.

Bianca watched as Lin closed his eyes and focused intently on controlling his energy. She sighed, sweeping away the confusion deep in her eyes.

If this World Bubble is a genuine spacetime distortion, then Lin will return to his own time after the event ends.

He will die, and he will be tortured to death by the very humans he was protecting.

Bianca won't let that happen.

She doesn't care whether it's a so-called quantum disorder or someone's intentional act; she just doesn't want to see someone die so tragically, so she takes action.

"Scum Mushroom, if I told you you would die, would you still want to go back to your time?"

Lin slowly suppressed the rough sensation of Honkai Energy, opened his eyes and looked at Bianca's solemn face. After thinking for a moment, he replied, "Everyone will die sooner or later anyway."

"What if you were killed?"

Lin looked at her calmly, the flickering firelight casting a shadow on his face that even the bright moonlight could not dispel.

"My record is in the Key of Blankness; I was murdered?"

It's not hard to guess. The only thing Bianca mentioned about him was the Key of Blankness. Her drastic change in attitude must also be related to the Key of Blankness. It only takes a little thought to find the answer.

"Yes."

"Oh."

Lin replied with a single word, then closed his eyes to feel the flow of Honkai Energy within his body; he seemed to have grasped the key.

Bianca said solemnly, "You don't believe me?"

"I believe you," Lin replied casually. "Someone has already told me."

Aponia had told him about the ending, so Lin wasn't surprised.

Aren't you scared?

What are you afraid of?

Even if you're not afraid of death, don't you have any attachments? What about your family?

"Dead."

"What about your friends, your closest friends, your seniors and juniors?"

"They are all dead."

"..."

So, what are you afraid of?

Is death a terrible thing?

It is said that what people fear is not death itself, but the unknown after death. Lin may have once set foot in that unknown place, which is why he is not afraid of death.

Death is nothingness, emptiness, nothingness.

If Lin were to die someday in the future, it would mean he had lost; but if he were to die, it would mean he believed that death was the right thing to do.

Lin wasn't prepared to die; rather, death never prepares anyone for it. He simply accepted this fact with equanimity.

So he simply...

"Since you lost to me before, you need to grant me a request."

Bianca stood coldly in front of Lin, pointing at him and saying, word by word, "My demand is that you promise not to go back to 50,000 years ago."

Lin shook his head without hesitation. "I refuse."

He always keeps his promises to others, so there's no way he could agree to this request.

"You can't refuse." Bianca appeared in front of Lin in a flash, her gaze looking down at him with an unquestionable tone. "I don't really need your promise either."

This is her best and favorite way of solving problems.

Bianca firmly believes that the outcome of this world is everything, and all efforts and battles are for that desired result, so she will use violence to make this world submit.

No matter how much effort you put in, it's all meaningless to achieve such an absurd ending.

The Previous Civilization was destroyed. Everything that this man protected and cherished was worn away by time and turned to dust. Even his own significance was erased by the humanity he protected.

What's the point of going back in time and then giving everything for a predetermined tragedy?

She didn't think it made any sense.

"... Didn't you also say that if you were in that situation, you would also try to change everything?"

Lin rose gracefully amidst the night wind and firelight, his silver hair swaying gently in the breeze.

"But you have no intention of changing anything!" Bianca shouted sharply, her expression solemn and indignant. "You're just going to accept your death! You already planned to give up after hearing me say that someone would inherit your will fifty thousand years from now!"

"It's just your imagination." Lin's cold gaze was revealed at this moment. "The one you believe cannot be changed is you."

In that instant, he shed his disguise, all the absurdity he displayed in front of Bianca vanished as if it were an illusion, and his sharp, blade-like gaze met Bianca's directly.

Bianca clenched her fists even tighter when she saw this; she knew that she had finally truly understood this man.

"Some people say I'm a stubborn person." Bianca clenched her fist. "But I think you're the one who's stubborn to the extreme."

Lin stretched out his hand, Oath of Judas in the distance automatically unfolded, chains encircling his sides. "A junior fifty thousand years younger than me, do you dare to judge me with your own eyes?"

"To be precise, I'm only a little over ten years younger than you." Bianca sneered. "Even if I had to tie you up, I would have tied you up and taken you back. You want to carry out your idea of dying, but you don't have the corresponding power."

"And what about you? What kind of philosophy are you practicing?"

Bianca raised her head, her eyes resolute as she looked directly at the man carrying the cross. "For those I love, and for all those they love—I am willing to give everything to protect them. I will never stand by and watch them step into the abyss, not even a single step."

"..."

Lin gazed silently at Bianca, whose long golden hair shone like a rising, brilliant light in the night.

He suddenly realized that he could now see colors.

He slowly exhaled, the chains were retracted into the Oath of Judas, and he stood alone in the darkness, his deep black eyes fixed on the night.

"So, why?"

"Hmph." Bianca saw him put away his weapon and abandon his fighting stance, instead raising a proud smile. "I've taken a liking to you and plan to kidnap you. What do you say?"

"..."

"You wouldn't refuse a request from someone who likes you, would you?"

Lin glanced at her coldly, then turned away without a word.

"If you can do it, then give it a try."

She was taken aback for a moment, then quickly caught up with him, skipping along with her hands behind her back, and laughed, "Are you shy? Were you just pretending before?"

"..." Lin remained silent, his face cold, not even glancing at her.