I Won't Let You Have It / Melted Sundae

Kallen's expression suddenly changed halfway through her sentence. She looked warily at the corner to her right, drew her pistol from her waist, and pointed it at the deserted path.

"..."

"..."

Theresa also noticed the change in wind direction, and a familiar yet strange feeling welled up inside her, as if she had experienced the scene before her before.

"Da, da, da..."

The sound of two footsteps, one heavy and one light, rang out. Two figures, one tall and one short, emerged from the shadows around the corner. Surprisingly, the lighter footsteps came from the taller person.

His stride length seemed to have been carefully measured and calculated, with each step maintaining the same distance.

When the two emerged from the darkness into the not-so-bright moonlight, Theresa and Kallen were both utterly shocked. Kallen even instinctively lowered the muzzle of her gun.

Kallen looked around blankly, unable to find any difference. "Two... Theresa?"

"I'm not Theresa." The petite figure spoke in a voice that was the same as Theresa's but much colder. She gripped the man's hand and stared intently at the bewildered Theresa. "I am Moon."

"... The process is rather complicated, so I'll keep it brief."

The hooded man spoke to the two disheveled figures, his voice like a cold white mist drifting from a block of ice.

"My name is Lin. Nice to meet you, and it's been a long time."

Chapter Sixty-Eight: I Won't Give It to You

"Durandal, regarding the information you asked me to search... what are you doing?"

A short-haired brown maid walked into the room with her hands folded in front of her apron, intending to report on the progress of her mission. However, she found the person she served sitting on the floor in a smart vest, doing the splits and stretching his ligaments while flipping through a cookbook.

"Rita, is something the matter?" The dashing blonde girl closed her book and asked the maid who had walked up to her, looking slightly surprised.

"Are you... looking to learn how to cook?"

"Yes." Bianca didn't try to hide it. She readily admitted it and smiled at Rita. "I may need to ask you for advice in the future. Please don't hesitate to give me your guidance then."

"Of course, Rita will do her best to help you whenever Durandal needs her."

Rita said this, but she had some doubts in her heart. She felt that Bianca's desire to learn to cook was not as simple as just wanting to do it on a whim.

"We'll talk about it later." After stretching her ligaments, Bianca propped herself up with two fingers and slowly stood up. Her healthy and beautiful body curves were accentuated by her thin tank top and hot pants, revealing a mature charm. "Okay, go ahead and say it."

"Well, there's been some progress regarding the information you asked me to gather about the 'cold-looking Asian man with black hair and black eyes'."

Rita maintained a smile befitting her elegant maid persona, pressed a button on the remote control in her hand, and a projection appeared on the wall.

As Bianca used the towel Rita had prepared to wipe the sweat from her hair, she looked at the projected video that had started playing.

"The categories of 'men with black hair and black eyes' and 'Asian men' are too broad and lack key characteristics. Even the 'man who is very cold in his words and actions' you described is just a common feature. However, within the category of 'closely related to the Honkai,' there happens to be someone who fits the characteristics you described."

"Who?"

Bianca was surprised that Rita could actually find a clue. She was a little excited, but she calmly restrained herself.

She believed that the person was still alive.

This was her intuition.

"Do you remember the incident in Sky City? That Herrscher of the Void stopped World Serpent's Stigmata Project and was eventually captured by you."

Bianca listened quietly as Rita, smiling, spoke slowly and deliberately. On the projected screen, a video clip, accidentally captured by a camera in Sky City, showing the Second Herrscher's whereabouts, began to play. A silver-haired girl in a white hoodie flashed across the screen.

"At the time, when I was in contact with the Herrscher of the Void, I noticed a detail: she would hold a communicator in her hand from time to time, but she never communicated with anyone else. I didn't pay attention to it at the time, but in the subsequent investigation and other people's information, I discovered something."

"At that time, it seemed that the Herrscher of the Void was not acting alone; there was another person with her."

In a blind spot on the projection screen, a figure slowly walked into the camera's view, gazing thoughtfully in the direction the silver-haired girl had gone.

He had his back to the camera, seemingly blending into the darkness of Sky City, but his jet-black hair was so striking in Bianca's eyes.

Then, he reached up and pulled up his hood, slowly turning to face the camera.

His face beneath the hood was obscured, but his cold, cruel gaze pierced the camera from his sharp, black pupils, leaving an indelible mark on the soul of everyone who met his eyes.

That's how it happened.

After Lin finished explaining the cause, process, and result in three minutes with concise language, Theresa and Kallen both had expressions of their worldviews collapsing. Yet they had no choice but to believe it, because the real Herrscher of Erosion was standing in front of them, holding Lin's arm, staring at Theresa with an unfriendly look.

"So... your name is Lin, right? Lin, you came to us to investigate the reason why Theresa and this... Miss Yue lost control three days later?" Kallen carefully chose her words. She was not used to a man who suddenly appeared and seemed to know her very well. No, anyone would feel uncomfortable in this situation, right?

But she did feel that Lin gave her an unusual feeling.

"Yes." Lin nodded in acknowledgment. He glanced at Theresa, who was silently watching Lin and Yue. "The structure of this World Bubble is already very unstable. If that situation continues to occur, it is very likely to bring forward the demise of the World Bubble."

This is what is known as the end of the world.

Even a large-scale Honkai is merely a catastrophe-like event occurring within the world itself. The demise of the World Bubble is a fundamental law of the Quantum Sea. At that time, for the people of this world, the world they inhabit will instantly collapse and dissipate.

To the entire Quantum Sea, it was just one of countless bubbles bursting, but to the inhabitants of this world, it was everything.

The laughter seen on the road, the orange-yellow sunset, the cicadas chirping in summer are all reflections on bubbles. The moment they are punctured, even the proof of their existence ceases to exist.

Lin's original plan was to bring Yue, who was closely related to the Aether Anchor, directly back to the Hyperion. However, the cycle that Otto said should have stopped continued, and Yue, like Theresa, was out of control. He realized that the problem might not be with Theresa and Yue, but with the World Bubble itself. Even if he took Theresa and Yue away, there was a high possibility that more people would go out of control in the World Bubble. It could be Otto, it could be someone else, or even some abnormal phenomena that defied common sense would occur.

"Wait a minute, I have a question."

Kallen is a foodie, but that doesn't mean she's slow-witted. She looked seriously at the man in front of her who had covered his face.

"You said that by using Theresa's blood-sucking, you and Himeko could retain their memories in the loop, but why can't Theresa herself, me, and those attacked by Theresa retain their memories?"

"That's what I want to know too."

Indeed, this is also a mystery. Since Theresa can help others retain their memories, why is her own memory erased every time she is in the loop?

The moon is related to the Aether Anchor. Lin is an outsider from outside the World Bubble, so it's not surprising that they can retain their memories. But what about Himeko?

Most importantly...

"Most importantly, how did that man... Otto, retain his memories?"

"..."

As the instigator of everything, it's normal for Otto to have the means to retain his memories, but how did he do it?

"These are all things I will be researching next," Lin said coldly, exhaling a breath of stale air.

At this moment, Theresa finally spoke, "Humans..."

"I won't give it to you."

"..."

The moment she opened her mouth, Yue gripped Lin's arm tightly and stared hostilely at the bewildered Theresa.

Chapter Sixty-Nine: The Melted Sundae

"If the world were to end in 72 hours, what would you do?"

Ah, so I already knew the answer all along.

The Moon, the Herrscher of Erosion, is what others call her. She is also very self-aware, knowing that she and humans do not belong to the same species and should be listed separately in the subject.

If a person must have a label, then it should be something like "inhuman," "monster," "naive," or "idiot."

But in reality, Yue is neither naive nor stupid. She just feels that most things don't matter, just like her previous view of humans. Whether to kill or not doesn't matter, which is why she seems a bit stupid.

Lin didn't tell her that she was just a manufactured prop, without any parents, and even her birth was after Theresa. She was a complete imitation of an imitation, and her only value was to serve as a tool for Otto to research how to truly resurrect Kallen.

But Yue already knew.

Lin already knew this when he went to fight Otto for her sake.

But Yue didn't feel anything was wrong with it like Theresa did. She didn't care. Wasn't it enough that she could stand here and think?

So she didn't care about Lin's previous opinions, Himeko's opinions, or other people's opinions; she was indeed a person who did things her own way.

The only thing I'm unhappy about with these labels is... I wonder if that guy sees it the same way.

The silver-haired girl's sinister gaze pierced through the gaps in the ice cream and fruit, radiating undisguised malice, causing another girl with the same appearance not far away to tremble.

That's right, what she was most unhappy about was that Theresa might also see her that way, and she absolutely did not want to be inferior to Theresa.

Perhaps that statement was too frightening, because when Lin was talking to Kallen and Theresa, he deliberately arranged for Yue to continue eating her sundae at the next table, and this time he even replaced the jam with apple juice.

"So you're planning to lock Theresa and Moon up first?" Kallen's expression was serious, but her puffed-out cheeks and mouthful of rice made it hard to be serious. "Even if they get out of control, it will restrict their movements. It is indeed a method."

"The problem is that Yue is very difficult to control; her power is too great."

Once Luna gets out of control, there's practically nothing in the world that can contain her. After all, she is Herrscher of Erosion capable of eroding electronic devices and consciousness, and neither human supervision nor device control can stop her.

Do you have any good ideas?

"... I've come to see Shouyue."

"You?"

Kallen couldn't tell if the man was genuine or not, but since he was so confident, he must have a way.

"There's another way." Lin's chilling gaze beneath his hood swallowed the warm light. He glanced at the distant moon and Theresa, who had been scrutinizing him. His single eye finally settled on Kallen. "Otto."

Quiet.

Otto should have a way to control the moon, and Theresa doesn't need to worry about attacking others if she goes out of control under Schicksal's facilities.

But... would Otto agree to help? And even if he did, what would his true thoughts be?

The man's very existence is a threat; he will only choose to destroy what he cannot control.

After glancing at the three silent people, Yue expressionlessly scooped up a large spoonful of jam-covered ice cream and stuffed it into her mouth.

Even if it fails, can't we just keep going? What are they worried about?

"Sister, are you and that other sister over there twins?"

A childish voice rang out from beside her. Yue swallowed her sundae in confusion and turned to look.

This was the first time she had to look down to see someone.

The little girl with black pigtails looked curiously at Yue Binghan's pretty face. She wasn't frightened at all by Yue Feiren's red eyes. Instead, she smiled and pointed at Yue's eyes, saying, "Sister, your eyes are so beautiful."

"... Is there something you need?" Yue didn't like being disturbed while she was eating. In her opinion, humans didn't have many valuable things, but food and entertainment were pretty good.

"No," the little girl replied innocently. "I'm just curious why you don't sit with that other girl. You're sisters, right?"

"No, that's not it."

Before, when Yue heard Lin mention Theresa, she already felt a little uncomfortable, as if her existence was bound to Theresa. Even when Lin named her, he deliberately chose a name that was sarcastic to her, "Yue". At first, Yue didn't care, even though she knew the meaning of the name. But now she both liked and hated the name.

What she liked was that it was the name Lin had given her; what she hated was... she didn't want to be Theresa's reflection.

Did you two have a fight?

"No."

"Then why don't you sit together?"

"Because we're not sisters."

"But you all look exactly alike!"

"Does looking exactly the same mean they're sisters?" Yue took a big bite out of the spoon; if she hadn't been careful, she probably would have bitten it in half. "Do insects of the same species also look exactly alike? Are they all born from the same insect?"

"But we're not insects."

"You..."

Yue wanted to say that humans and insects are no different, but she swallowed the words back. She glanced at Lin, put down her spoon, and said seriously to the little girl, "Even if we are sisters, our relationship doesn't necessarily have to be good. Even insects that are brothers sometimes kill each other for survival."

"But we're not insects, sister. Why do you always use insects as examples?"

"..."

Yue does have a habit of using insects as examples, which stems from her previous belief that there is no difference between humans and insects. However, now that her most reliable "theoretical basis" has been disabled, she doesn't know how to refute it.

"Anyway, humans are a species that will perish on their own even if you leave them alone. Even you have heard some history, right?" The silver-haired girl held up a finger and said to the little girl who was tilting her head and staring at her, "Although I don't know much history either, I heard from Lin that human history is full of instances of killing each other."

"But humanity has still survived to this day."

"..."

Why does this little girl always manage to say something so insightful?

"Hehe, although I don't know what happened between my sister and her family, they will definitely make up in the future."