I'm Not a Flame-Chaser - Chapter 591

I hope he knows.

And I hope he doesn't know.

People always walk at the intersection of light and darkness. Taking a step forward, they don't know whether they have stepped into the light of darkness or into the shadow of light.

"The last life in that world will not die with its head held high, but will end its life in hunger and fear."

The maid stood to one side with her eyes closed, while the man, under the hall lights, resembled a long-dead insect corpse, his empty shell casting a heavy shadow.

He hadn't moved for an hour, seventeen minutes, and thirty-two seconds, his eye sockets like solidified fossils, staring blankly at the World Bubble in the image.

The maid couldn't bear to look, but he wouldn't allow himself to look away.

The annihilation of a world, its final afterglow, shattering like bubbles in the vast, merciless ocean, is etched into the deepest recesses of the soul.

Three minutes and seven seconds later, the frequency of that World Bubble disappeared.

The World Bubble disappeared silently, as if it had never existed in the first place.

The maid knew that the remnants of what she had seen when they first met, which remained in that person's body, had also disappeared along with the World Bubble into the foam called the Quantum Sea.

"... I'm leaving."

That's what he said.

"... So, who will be the captain next?"

"Anyone is fine, it's up to you."

On the day he rescued her from the World Bubble, she never imagined that one day she would hate him so much.

"Are you trying to run away? Coward."

"..."

But he didn't answer, because he really was a coward.

A coward who can't save anything and only intends to save himself.

After Rita left, Lin stood there thoughtfully considering something. Seele tentatively asked, "Brother Lin... what you just said about the Herrscher..."

"..." Lin snapped out of his daze, looked at the delicate girl, and asked casually without much hope, "Do you know what Herrscher is?"

"Hmm... I know..."

Most people in the World Bubble have seen all sorts of bizarre phenomena. A myth recorded in one World Bubble might be an event happening in the World Bubble next door. However, Herrscher are quite rare in the World Bubble. They only came into being when Otto created the Herrscher in the world of Moon, which had just been downgraded to World Bubble.

So it's perfectly normal not to know about the Herrscher...

"..."

Lin suddenly realized what was happening. He stared blankly at the timid Seele, and perhaps his gaze was too frightening, which startled Seele again.

You know?

"Yes, yes..."

How could this be... Could there really be such a coincidence?

Coincidence is a way for people to deceive themselves.

When something seems like a coincidence, Lin always suspects the truth behind it.

It was Seele's answer that enlightened Lin. Some things he had previously overlooked turned into pearls at this moment and were strung together into a complete necklace.

Lin met Rita, Delta, and Himeko, and they entered the World Bubble together under his guidance, so he didn't initially think about the possibility that there were connections between the "participants".

But just recalling the few words Yae Kasumi and the Stargazer reveals a certain incongruity...

"Come with me."

Without saying a word, Lin picked up Seele and rushed out amidst her screams.

New Testament: Afterword of the Dirac Sea: Chapter 109 The Maiden's Reunion

Lin has a bold conjecture.

When Rita found him, he knew nothing and remembered nothing. At that time, he subconsciously believed that leaving his original world and losing his memory happened at the same time.

But what if his amnesia occurred after he left his original world and drifted in the Quantum Sea for some time?

Yae Kasumi asked Lin ambiguously if he knew her, and Stargazer also asked him pointedly if the "Theresa" he knew was her. Even Delta had said something similar to leaving with him according to their agreement.

Of course, these cannot serve as evidence to convince himself; his real suspect is Rita.

Lin had only been on the Hyperion for less than a year when Rita found him, yet she seemed to know him very well from the very beginning. She even seemed to know some of Lin's habits beforehand and served him very well. And the most crucial point is, would she be willing to hand over the Hyperion to a stranger with amnesia?

Rita said she found Lin on the instructions of the former captain, but Rita also said that she had mixed feelings about the former captain, with some hatred and some regret. So even if it was the former captain's instructions, she would not completely trust them and directly regard Lin as the new captain.

No matter how outrageous the truth may be, when all the clues point to it, you have to believe it even if you don't want to.

After leaving his own world for unknown reasons, Lin drifted in the Quantum Sea, where he met Yae Kasumi, Delta, and Stargazer. He then boarded the Hyperion became its new captain.

Afterwards, Lin, who had been traveling in the Quantum Sea with Rita for some time, went missing and lost his memory. With the help of information given by the former captain, Rita found Lin after he lost his memory.

This is the truth Lin reconstructed about his amnesia, based on the idea that "the participants in the Great Elf Tournament are all connected."

So, if we continue to explore this line of thought, is there some kind of connection between him and Seele, Bronya, and Joachim?

There's no need to think too deeply; a single word immediately comes to mind.

"The Herrscher".

Herrscher cannot be born naturally within the World Bubble. Joachim and his companions came to the Quantum Sea from the normal world, and Lin also possesses Herrscher consciousness, so he is very likely a traveler from the normal world as well. Now, Seele says she also knows about Herrscher ...

"Brother Lin! Where are you taking me?!"

Lin ran wildly, much faster than before. Seele was so windy in his arms that she couldn't open her eyes and could only try to raise her weak voice.

She barely managed to open her eyes, which felt like they were being pricked by fine needles in the wind and sand.

Then, she stared in disbelief.

In the rushing wind, the man's flawless face, which she had previously been unable to see clearly, was now right in front of her, less than five centimeters away.

That frightening face, like a lifeless sculpture, now held a complex meaning that was hard to decipher.

Like a child who has found something important that has been lost for a long time.

Seele's mind went completely blank.

My heart is beating so fast.

My breathing quickened without me even realizing it, and a rush of sweet heat gushed from the tip of my nose.

Some unfamiliar images flashed through her mind. She had no memory of them, but she saw a man wearing a helmet in one of the images.

He always walked ahead, never looking back at her.

A melancholy mood seeped out from those images, piling up in her heart like a small pool.

As Lin ran, he checked the direction. He remembered the direction Bronya and Joachim had left from, and judging from the time, they shouldn't have gone very far.

Finally, after Lin once again climbed over the roof of a tall building, his vision caught sight of two small figures about a hundred meters away. The two people who had been on guard also noticed him and thought he was an uninvited guest. The mechanical humanoid behind Bronya reappeared and stared warily at the indistinct Lin.

Lin Cong the high-rise building. The rapid fall and weightlessness made Seele scream in terror, fearing that she would be smashed into a pile of minced meat in the next second.

Halfway downhill, Lin braced himself against the wall of a tall building, shooting off like an arrow. He then grabbed a streetlamp mid-air, spinning once to cushion the impact before finally letting go and landing steadily on the ground after a mid-air rotation.

At the same time, it landed in front of Bronya.

After seeing who it was, Bronya became even more alert, thinking that Lin had suddenly changed his mind and wanted to take the Poké Ball back. But when she noticed that there was someone else in Lin's arms, she glanced at them out of the corner of her eye and couldn't take her eyes off them. She stared incredulously at the girl who had buried her head in Lin's chest and dared not lift her head.

"Brother Lin, have we landed yet? Why are you stopping?"

Seele's trembling voice made Bronya freeze and lower her hand, her lips trembling.

After seeing Bronya's condition, Lin no longer needed to ask any questions. He gently exhaled, released Seele, and placed her on the ground.

"Brother Lin?"

Only after her feet touched solid ground did Seele feel slightly relieved. She opened her eyes and looked at Lin, who was silent behind her, with a puzzled expression. Seeing that he was looking ahead, she turned around...

"Whoosh!"

Before she could even see clearly, someone had already hugged her.

"Xi... er? Seele! Are you Seele?!"

Her confused and panicked eyes cleared the instant she heard the voice she had longed for day and night. Before she could even think, hot tears welled up from her tear ducts. The girl hugged Bronya tightly and asked in a trembling voice, "Sister Bronya? Is it Sister Bronya?"

"It's me!"

His firm and unwavering answer made Seele completely abandon her last bit of pride and burst into tears.

"Ugh... Sister Bronya... did you come looking for Seele...?"

"Yes! I promised I would take you back!"

The miraculous reunion, which should only happen in dreams, came so suddenly that we were not prepared at all.

The two girls, having let their guard down, were enjoying their hard-won reunion. They were so overwhelmed with emotion that they could barely speak, and tears streamed down their faces.

Seeing all this, Lin's angular and cold face softened as if it had melted away.

Joachim took in everything before him. He was much calmer than the two girls. He looked up and said to Lin, "Mr. Lin, it seems we need to talk some more."

He saw the change in Lin when the two girls met again; his initial wariness of the unknown Herrscher vanished at that moment.

"..."

Lin didn't answer, but just nodded. Then he glanced at the two girls who were crying so hard they could barely breathe, and took the lead in walking to the side.

Joachim glanced at them, but did not disturb them, and followed Lin's steps.

New Testament: Afterword of the Dirac Sea: Chapter 110 The Story That Was Missed

"Mr. Lin, I think we should be thinking about the same thing now."

Joachim placed his hands on the steps, trying to climb up, but his short legs couldn't reach the edge of the steps no matter what he did. His feet waved wildly in the air, making him look particularly comical.

He awkwardly tried to get down, pretending nothing had happened, but then a pair of hands reached out from behind and lifted him onto the steps.

"..."

Joachim stood silently on the steps, turned around with a complicated expression, so that he could just meet Lin's gaze at the same level.

"I used to be about the same height as you."

"... You don't need to explain this."

"I just want to say that you don't have to treat me like a child."

Seeing Lin's unmoved face, Joachim sighed. In the end, he did not continue to maintain his self-righteous dignity. He sat on the steps, swung his legs, and said in a childish voice, "Well then, let's get to know each other again. My original name was Joachim Nokian Vitanen, and my current name is Welt Yang. I am the Herrscher of Reason."

Lin nodded, while Joachim ... or Welt, not getting a chance to speak, asked in confusion, "And you?"

The black-haired man lowered his hand from his chin, his Prismatic Eyes peeking out from under his bangs. "I have amnesia. All I have about my past are scattered memories, some of which I don't know if they're true or false."

"Amnesia?" Welt shook his head. "If you were from our world, you shouldn't be unknown. Every Herrscher's birth is under Anti-Entropy's surveillance. Even Schicksal cannot completely hide the existence of a Herrscher."

"... What are Schicksal and Anti-Entropy?"

Welt paused for a moment, hesitated for a few seconds, and then said, "Both Schicksal and Anti-Entropy are organizations fighting against the Honkai, but there are irreconcilable contradictions between them. I am the leader of Anti-Entropy."

It seems that many things have happened in the world, but Welt doesn't want to say more. All the pain and scars don't need to be revealed to others.

They chose the path they are on, and they have no right to blame their past choices.

"Can we now confirm that you are from our world?"

"... I can't be sure, but there's a high probability that this competition is related to me." Lin quickly looked around Changkong City, which he had examined many times before. He was certain that he wasn't making things up, and his expression was solemn and serious. "If I were a resident of your world, then everyone in this competition would be connected to me in some way. This couldn't be a coincidence, and... I have a sense of familiarity with this city."

"Feeling" is a rather vague term, and Lin rarely uses such uncertain words.

"Could it be that you have some connection with snakes?" Welt raised an argument. Lin frowned and shook his head. He had no memory of it and could not verify it, but he had indeed encountered something when he entered the World Bubble before. Now it seemed that he had most likely encountered "snakes".

"Then we can only take it one step at a time." A mature smile, which didn't quite match his childish appearance, appeared on Welt's face as he extended his hand to Lin. "I didn't expect to meet a fellow countryman here, a Herrscher who isn't controlled by the Herrscher's consciousness... Perhaps you can become a new ally in the fight against the Honkai after you go back."

"Go back..."

Lin stared at Welt's hand, which was more than half the size of his own, and pondered the word "go back".

Yes, now that he has found his hometown, the wanderer should return home. Even though he has been to so many different World Bubble, he still feels a sense of separation from them.