Honkai, Survive

Knowing all of this, and more besides, but none of it helped Fang Jie cross the snowfield.

Back in the icy wilderness, he spat out a mouthful of black blood, freezing solid before he even hit the ground.

At this moment, his skin seemed to crack, spreading like interwoven circuits, revealing dark purple crystals.

Because he hadn't escaped immediately, the Great Eruption that broke out in Chang Kong City had overwhelmed his resistance with excessive Honkai energy, eroding his body from the outside in.

So, "I'm back."

His tone was quite... heartbroken.

Upon the pure white ground, a negligible speck of color, a simple shelter buried beneath the wind and snow. It was less a shelter against the winter and more a reliance on the Domain Anchor standing there.

A product of the Path of the Trailblaze, proof of the Nameless's visits to the planet.

Fang Jie tightly clenched his chattering teeth, forcing himself to suppress his fear of the snowfield environment, and reached out to it.

There was no activation, no bright lights. It remained silent, merely existing. But as he touched it, Fang Jie absorbed the pure, free Path energy.

Like dew nourishing the earth.

The cracked patterns on his skin, under the wash of this grander energy, began to melt away, much like how the energy had overwhelmed Fang Jie's 'helpless' resistance not long ago.

The pain of Honkai erosion gradually receded, replaced by the returning pain of the cold. He slowly got up and observed his surroundings. There were no wandering Honkai beasts, but he still felt terrible.

Truly terrible.

The last time he experienced such a terrible situation was right after he landed on this snowfield. He'd suddenly rolled over in bed looking for a charger, and in the blink of an eye, he'd plunged into the snow, lost and with nowhere to escape.

Alone, fighting for survival.

His life was like a candle in the wind.

Suddenly, dreamlike, he saw only the pale, frozen earth devouring all life. Nothing else existed in his vision. The urge to cry for help was choked by the frosty wind.

He didn't know why he was dying, nor why he was still alive.

It was so bad that he subconsciously avoided it, even fearing returning even once to replenish his imaginary energy, despite the Honkai energy eroding him.

But in the end...

"I can't live anymore, I'm going to die... but I want to live."

A certain lingering fear, or perhaps a residual effect, erupted as he faced a similar catastrophe again, making him tremble.

There was movement!!

Amidst the howling wind and snow, he felt something, and his breathing stopped.

He deliberately slowed his breathing to an extreme, almost ceasing to breathe altogether. His heartbeat dropped to a level almost indistinguishable from death. His blood flow, metabolism, body temperature, and other physiological functions became even more incredibly low than those of a crawling creature, a state of suspended animation more extreme than hibernation.

An incredible technology beyond human imagination!

It was more accurate to consider him a dead thing in this state. At least in front of the rift monsters, he was on the same level as the buildings, the ground, and the trash cans – mere "background elements."

While their primary logic of action was to kill life and they wouldn't spare these inanimate objects, they didn't have a specific targeting mechanism.

Even the Annihilation Legion wouldn't do that.

As long as he didn't block their path, impede them, or expose himself to intelligent beings, he would be safe.

Fang Jie thus survived. Although, at first, it was merely an accidental discovery when he was on the verge of death from the ice and snow but stubbornly refused to die. Back then, he was trudging and crawling through the snow, passing by wandering monsters. Towards the only anomaly in the pale white, his survival instincts almost shut down his thinking, and he finally touched the Domain Anchor...

He lived for this!

He could even move freely in this state, watching the direction of the wind and snow, seeing the patrolling Rift Elementals, the lowest-level monsters in the game, creatures that would kill an ordinary person if they dared to touch them in reality.

Fortunately, as always, the monsters didn't find him and left the vicinity.

Once again, he survived.

But Fang Jie didn't like this at all, especially when similar events had just happened before his eyes, a sudden, irresistible disaster...

Walking on the edge of death, how could humans ever adapt to such a thing?

He slowly withdrew his hand. The Path energy within him was replenished, at least to the point where he couldn't expand its upper limit. Perhaps he needed to truly forge something new.

As for the Honkai...

After being washed by the Path energy, its erosion was violently halted. But this didn't mean nothing happened. The Path energy granted Fang Jie passively enhanced physique, not purification.

Therefore, the Honkai, in a state of coexistence, like ordinary people who could survive in the Honkai world, even integrated into Fang Jie's internal energy.

Feeling it closely, he felt a jolt.

"Zzzt!"

The dry, cold air crackled suddenly. A burst of static electricity, a dark purple electric light flashed, piercing and vaporizing the falling snowflakes.

Seeing this, Fang Jie didn't know how to describe his feelings, but he couldn't resist mobilizing the energy within him further. He could finally release it outwards, rather than passively accept enhancement.

"Zzzt!"

Another electric light.

"What is this?"

He tirelessly absorbed it. Fang Jie didn't find anything wrong with the Path energy itself, but the feeling was like a parched person at sea suddenly caught in a downpour. There was endless fresh water falling, yet all he could do was open his mouth to catch a tiny bit to moisten his throat.

After moistening his throat, wouldn't he want to find something to eat?

Honkai energy, it's edible!

He instinctively described this phenomenon in a certain way, explaining it. It wasn't hard to find, given the many examples of people who gained abilities after being baptized by Honkai energy. He could just consider himself one of the lucky ones.

Whether this thought was right or wrong didn't matter. The key was to reinforce this understanding, which would help him convince himself to accept it.

Just as he had convinced himself to accept the Path energy, to accept the world he was in, and the common sense of this galaxy.

It was easy to convince himself. Even in his original reality, it was common knowledge that their little broken planet orbited the sun and rotated on its axis, giving rise to the changing seasons and day and night. But from another perspective, it was the sun that pulled their little broken planet, hurtling through the universe at a speed of 790,000 kilometers per hour.

He could already imagine the Pluto, left behind, shouting hoarsely: Wait for me, wait for me, I didn't get on the bus, I didn't get on the bus!

In short, energy existed in the universe. Even if cosmic energy wasn't present everywhere, when the sun brought their little broken planet to a place rich in cosmic energy, all life on the planet would be nourished by it, and new common sense would emerge.

Path energy was such common sense, actively accepted by Fang Jie's body and mind.

So, what about Honkai?

"I admit I was a bit dismissive before, and I still am. This power is too dangerous, and I need to study it carefully."

Stopping the sizzling sound, Fang Jie touched the Domain Anchor again to replenish his energy.

The influx of Path energy dispelled his physical fatigue and healed his injuries, making him readily accept the new power.

There was nothing to be suspicious about. Didn't Welt come to Honkai: Star Rail and create black holes? Honkai energy and Path energy were both energy, but the former was born with disaster and was not friendly. It could even cause one to turn to ash upon contact.

But he wasn't turned to ash, was he?

Perhaps simply absorbing Honkai energy would be like a shipwreck survivor drinking seawater, dying faster the more they drank. But he still had Path energy, which could continuously provide fresh water. The seawater could then be used to supplement salt and minerals. Even if it was poisonous... humans had been eating poisonous salt all along.

No longer doubting himself or worrying that he would be instantly killed by Honkai without Stigmata or being a Fusion Warrior, Fang Jie felt that even Honkai energy at the concentration of the Great Eruption couldn't kill him. The appeal of the Honkai world for him instantly soared.

After all, this was Belobog.

The future was promising, there was still hope, and the road ahead was vast... The Anti-Matter Legion was right at his doorstep, and the encroaching Honkai energy from the Stellar Nucleus was about to extinguish the last embers of civilization.

He hated the snowfields, hated them intensely. Without hesitation, he activated what was in his mind, no, in his consciousness, 'Kiana, attack!'

It was as if he had touched a massive cosmic energy field. In his imagination, in his self-hypnosis and self-conviction, space would be distorted within this energy field, wormholes would be opened, and two very distant planets could briefly connect. Wormholes might even lead to parallel worlds.

And he was connected to a wormhole. With sufficient energy, he could open a wormhole. Although it was brief, this short period allowed him to travel to the world on the other side of the wormhole.

In the past, he didn't know where the other side led. Now, it was clear.

—Chang Kong City!

It was springtime.

Not far from Chiyu Academy, Fang Jie, who had suddenly disappeared and reappeared, looked at the shattered shop wall on the street and averted his gaze from the direction of the sun.

"I'm back."

Immersed in an energy field with a Honkai concentration of over 1000HW, he restored the protection of the Path energy within his body while slowly absorbing Honkai energy.

And he saw rivers of blood.

"This is Honkai."

You should remember, this is poisoned wine.

Compared to the snowfields of Belobog, where he only needed to survive alone, in Honkai, it was a city collapsing. When the settings he knew were presented so bloodily before his eyes, it was inevitable that his soul would tremble.

The Great Eruption meant instant annihilation for those without Honkai resistance. Those with Honkai resistance lower than a B-Rank Valkyrie would basically turn into Death Troopers within half an hour.

The second Great Eruption, the greatest threat in current human history, disregarding the direct destruction caused by the Herrscher of the Void and Honkai Beasts, the mere accelerated diffusion of excessive Honkai energy completely covered Siberia within three hours and could cover Earth within 117 hours, bringing about the doom of civilization.

The ongoing third Great Eruption was not to this extent, but Chang Kong City was already dead.

A city perishing in front of him in this manner...

It was springtime. Despite the lingering cold, despite the overcast sky that hid the sun, he, who had walked out of the snowfields, didn't feel cold. He still felt warm, but his entire body was tensed as if frozen by an bone-chilling cold. It was a cold that came from the depths of his heart.

Any sense of joy vanished. He let out a heavy breath, feeling a pang of sympathy.

But in a sense, it was also a luxury.

No one in Chang Kong City now was more luxurious than him. Those who couldn't find a way to live, the Herrscher who couldn't find a way to die, and countless more struggling to survive, lives annihilated unknowingly, lives mutated unknowingly. Yet he could remain detached.

Fang Jie deeply, deeply observed all of this, remembering it well.

"I am also just trying to survive!"

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ps: It's been signed, so you can rest assured and follow the story. Please collect and vote! (?o?o)??

Chapter 6: Snow, Hunger, Madness, and Blessings

As one of the few private schools in the Far East Region, Chang Kong City's Chiyu Academy was considered a prestigious institution by the public. The surrounding area was naturally a high-end community, with various facilities and buildings occupying a large expanse of land, divided into independent zones, like a small town, serving as the epicenter of this Great Eruption.

Therefore, not only were multiple Death Troopers, which even B-Rank Valkyries, the minimum standard for combat-ready superhumans, had to deal with, appearing here, but massive Honkai Beasts, which only A-Rank Valkyries dared to claim they could stably defeat, were also constantly appearing and rampaging through the city.

"It's good news. At least they are still just lower-class Honkai Beasts, and there are just a few more of them."

Witnessing the terrifying sight of a monster, as tall as a ten-story building and roughly square, charging at high speed – and that was just a weaker, Chariot-class among the many lower-tier Honkai Beasts... Damn Chariot-class! What did it eat to get so big! Ten or twenty meters would be one thing, but this one's over thirty meters!

Fang Jie had no doubt that a single Honkai Beast like this could wipe out Paradis Island.

With the 'discharge' ability he had just gained, he held his breath, his eyes clear, searching the city's ruins for usable tools – something for self-defense, a weapon with power greater than a railgun that could penetrate a Honkai Beast's defenses.

The requirements were a bit high, but Honkai Beasts over ten meters tall were just that resilient!

As for those not exceeding ten meters in size…

For instance, a swarm of Death Troopers also roamed the city's ruins, a nightmare for survivors who had endured the erosion of the Great Eruption.

So, Fang Jie being able to move through the ruins was a luxury. No one in Chang Kong City was more luxurious than him right now. People longing for life but unable to find it, Herrschers who couldn't die even if they wanted to, and countless more lives annihilated unknowingly, or mutated unknowingly. Yet, he could quietly stay aside as if unaffected.

Swish, swish, swish!

Multiple Death Troopers approached, their wandering in pursuit of survivors' traces.

So ugly, not as clean as the models in games. Their ferocious human forms were coated in death, maximizing the uncanny valley effect.

"Roar!"

A Honkai Beast, also colossal like a skyscraper but only five or six stories high, roared and charged, flattening a tall building. It pursued traces of living people detected by the advancing units circling the city at low altitude amidst the collapsing steel and concrete.

This was also a Chariot-class. It wasn't that humans without the 'chariots' created by Honkai were so small and cute, but visually, they were like moving castles, bringing with them a sense of gigantism while efficiently carrying out destruction, far more so than any bulldozer.

Even if it flattened a street and affected a group of Death Troopers, it would still efficiently kill one person!

Fang Jie was also within that affected range.

As faint purple-black electrical sparks flickered, he leaped high. With a few bounds, his greatly enhanced body moved towards the Honkai Beast's flank. Through a safe gap he could pass through, he moved by it.

The distance between them was so close, yet they were clearly separated.

Amidst the collapsing sounds, he escaped danger without any surprise. Just as monsters from the rift erosion wouldn't prioritize destroying a trash can, neither would Honkai Beasts.