The Flame-Chasers' Scapegoat / Kalpas's Reputation Takes a Hit

Kiana: "?!!"

Raiden Mei: "Herrscher of Reason, did you remember something? Why do you sound so heartbroken?"

Elysia: "Curious. I'm very curious!"

Pardofelis: "I also want to know about Hua protecting Shenzhou."

Herrscher of Reason: "What? That old fossil protected Shenzhou for five thousand years, and for at least four thousand nine hundred of them, she was up in the mountains pickling your damn Spring No Old!"

Just thinking about how she had eaten pickled vegetables on that mountain for five thousand years, with the same flavor through spring, summer, autumn, and winter, made the Herrscher of Reason want to throw up.

Fire Moth's Top Scapegoats

Kiana: "I'm shocked! That actually happened?"

Theresa: "Seriously? Fu Hua ate pickled vegetables for five thousand years? Didn't she get sick of them?"

Fu Hua: "There were wonton noodles occasionally."

Herrscher of Reason: "Old fossil, shut up! Your damn wonton noodles only had pickled vegetables in them too! When I get back, I'm definitely smashing all your damn Spring No Old!"

Elysia: "Pfft, hahaha! Spring No Old, five thousand years of unchanging Spring No Old."

Having stumbled onto such a huge piece of gossip, Elysia laughed so hard she could barely close her mouth.

She had originally thought that Hua, with her diligent style, would surely have protected the people of Shenzhou and fought the Honkai in every possible way.

But who would have thought that she spent most of her time up in the mountains pickling vegetables!

Fu Hua: "Senti, immortals guarding Shenzhou naturally must eat sweet dew and drink fine grain. All kinds of mortal delicacies affect our state of mind. It is enough to understand their flavor."

Herrscher of Reason: "Pah! Who says immortals have to stay untouched by the mortal world? If you're untouched by the mortal world, then why go down the mountain to protect the people of Shenzhou? Immortals need to eat too, and if you're eating, then of course you should eat good food!"

Kiana: "I agree with that. Five thousand years of pickled vegetables... just thinking about it is terrifying."

Raiden Mei: "Even if you researched new recipes and changed the flavors every year, pickled vegetables are still pickled vegetables, Class Monitor. This is just..."

Herrscher of Reason: "Pah! That old fossil would never change her cooking. Five thousand years of Spring No Old, and the taste never changed! Just thinking about it now fills my mouth with the taste of pickled vegetables. Old fossil, I'm not done with you!"

Fu Hua: "..."

Sigh. It seemed no one could understand the appeal of her Spring No Old.

She had clearly eaten it on the mountain for five thousand years. Break open a steamed bun, put some pickled vegetables inside, and that was a meal. Every meal was the same.

One batch of Spring No Old could last an entire year. Make more, and she could keep eating it the next year.

Why couldn't everyone understand the charm of Spring No Old?

The quiz began.

Which two people in Fire Moth took the most blame?

[A: Mobius.]

[B: Kevin.]

[C: Pardofelis.]

[D: Chakravartin.]

This was a multiple-choice question. Getting even one answer right would earn a reward.

Pardofelis: "Eh? Another multiple-choice question this time?"

Elysia: "Multiple-choice questions are great. They have double rewards. If someone gets both right, they'll hit the jackpot."

Kiana: "Ahem. From my many years of experience doing multiple-choice questions, I think choosing three out of four is actually better."

Theresa: "Why?"

Himeko Murata: "Theresa, are you really that dumb? Isn't choosing three out of four the same as choosing one out of four? And Kiana, if you only do the multiple-choice questions again on the next exam, you're in for it."

Kiana: "Auntie Himeko, I was wrong!"

Himeko clasped her hands together and made a deeply apologetic gesture.

Quick to admit her mistakes, yet stubbornly refusing to change—she was exactly that kind of troublesome student.

Bronya: "Two out of the four are correct, so even guessing gives a fifty-percent success rate. But there's no need to guess this one, right? Chakravartin and Mobius in Fire Moth are practically old acquaintances of ours."

Kiana: "Chakravartin, you definitely know the answer, right?"

Chakravartin: "Heh. Rumors like 'if something breaks, Chakravartin did it' are nothing unusual in Fire Moth. A pack of filthy beasts, lunatics who call themselves justice, monsters that deserve to go to hell."

Just from Chakravartin's tone, it was obvious he had taken plenty of blame for others.

Pardofelis: "Oh, so it's that kind of rumor! Then I know the answer! I choose Mobius, A!"

Chakravartin: "Count me in. D, Chakravartin."

Correct answer.

The first multiple-choice question was taken down effortlessly. One of the successful respondents was Chakravartin, who had answered a question for the first time so far.

The hot-tempered man had originally disdained playing along with a group of kids and Herrschers, but this question was simply too easy for him.

It was practically shoving the answer right in Brother Jie's face.

Theresa: "I don't know why, but even though Chakravartin answered correctly, I feel like his back looks just a little tragic."

Kiana: "Same."

Elysia: "It's really nothing much. If something breaks, Chakravartin did it. If someone feels unwell, Mobius did it. That's just Fire Moth tradition."

Raiden Mei: "...Your Fire Moth is really united."

Pardofelis: "You'll get used to it. Luckily, there haven't been any rumors so far like, 'If something goes missing, Pardo definitely did it.'"

Canned Food: "Meow~"

Congratulations to Pardofelis for receiving the reward: Shadowless Snow-Treading Lightness Skill.

Description: As a qualified cat, one must come without a trace and leave without a shadow, easily sneak into the heart of Fire Moth, then depart unhurriedly.

Pardofelis: "Lightness skill? Could it be those Shenzhou martial arts Hua is best at?"

Halfway through speaking, the cat suddenly swayed, then did a backflip and landed steadily on the ground. The light feeling in her legs brought her an unprecedented sense of ease.

It was as though her Ren and Du meridians had been opened.

Pardofelis: "It works! I think I learned something incredible. From now on, I'm a legendary martial arts expert too!"

Elysia: "Oh? Pardo is especially confident today."

Kiana: "No, no, no. What kind of martial arts expert only knows lightness skills?"

Raiden Mei: "Even a chivalrous thief should know a few sword techniques or something, right?"

Fu Hua: "If you're willing, Pardo, I could teach you Taixu Swordplay..."

Pardofelis: "No thanks. Hua, you know me. In Fire Moth, I'm just a freeloader. Fighting has absolutely nothing to do with me, so let's forget about Taixu Swordplay."

It wasn't that the cat did not work hard. She was simply a weak little cat who only wanted to stock up on goods and resell them.

With an invisibility cloak and lightness skills, the world was so vast. Was there anywhere Pardofelis could not venture into?

Why would she need anything else?

Even the legendary Far East Demon Cave, St. Freya Herrscher Vocational Technical Academy, was somewhere she dared to visit.

Congratulations to Chakravartin for receiving the reward: Life Coin.

Pardofelis: "Brother Jie actually got a Life Coin? I really wanted one too. I wanted to bring some food to the stray cats on Dusk Street."

Elysia: "Don't be discouraged, Pardo. Your turn will come next time."

Pardofelis: "Thank you, Sister Elysia. When the time comes, I'll introduce all the kitties to you."

Theresa: "Um... am I the only one worried that something might happen after Chakravartin gets the Life Coin? What if he goes back and starts slaughtering everyone?"

Based on what everyone knew about Chakravartin, they did not doubt for a second that he would do something like that.

After all, even Elysia was dissatisfied with Fire Moth's higher-ups, let alone a hot-tempered man like Chakravartin.

Chakravartin's Reputation Takes Another Hit

Elysia: "There's one part you got wrong. It's not that Chakravartin might go back and cause trouble. He'll definitely go back and slaughter everyone."

Pardofelis: "After all, even I can't stand some of the things they did."

Chakravartin: "A pack of vile people, beasts in sheep's clothing. You all say I'm crazy, but they are the real lunatics from beginning to end."

Chakravartin: "They brutally killed a little girl, then shamelessly claimed that fear made them pull the trigger. Those scum actually became heroes in the end. They deserve to die!"

Chakravartin used the Life Coin. Experience duration: twenty-four hours.

Elysia: "Wait, Chakravartin. I understand your anger, but Eden and I have worked hard. Things finally took a turn for the better, so don't do anything reckless."

Chakravartin: "A turn for the better? Hahaha, Elysia, it's nothing more than strangling those vile people in the cradle. I'm far better at that than you!"

Chakravartin: "What you don't dare to do, let me do it! The people you refuse to kill, let me kill them!!!"

Pardofelis: "Can't stop him, can't stop him. Brother Jie definitely can't be stopped now!"

This was bad. Pardofelis could practically hear the screams inside the Fire Moth base.

Tragic. Truly tragic!

After using the Life Coin, Chakravartin landed directly inside Fire Moth's base.

Looking at the place where he had once stayed, Chakravartin felt no familiarity, no pride at returning in glory, and even less of the freedom of being alive again.

Fire Moth had brought Chakravartin nothing but anger, nothing but disappointment time and time again.

And now, the rage that had been suppressed for so long was finally about to erupt.

Chakravartin: "Insects, you hypocritical wretches, come! Don't you call yourselves righteous? Aren't you heroes who conquered fear? Then come stop me!! Let yourselves fully experience this endless rage, and then—go die!!!"

Kiana: "Hey, hey, hey! What's going on? Chakravartin really seems to have gone crazy. This is worse than when Mei angered him!"

Pardofelis: "Can't stop him, can't stop him."

Elysia: "Can't talk him down, can't talk him down."

Theresa: "What terrible things did your Fire Moth people do to make Chakravartin this furious?"

Even when Mei had repeatedly danced on Chakravartin's head last time, constantly hovering at death's doorstep, it had only made him want to kill her.

At least he had given Mei a chance to leave her last words. How gentle of him.

But this time, everyone could clearly feel that it was different.

If last time had been a powder keg, then this time was a nuclear reactor. They were not even in the same league.

Elysia: "Sigh. Fire Moth's very existence has problems. The phrase, 'Fire Moth definitely did it,' did not come from nowhere."

Fu Hua: "Many decisions made by Fire Moth's higher-ups are things even I cannot agree with, especially Captain Himiko's death."

Herrscher of Reason: "Exactly. Old fossil, you're just too reasonable. If I went back, I'd beat them all up from beginning to end."

Pardofelis: "All I know is that Sister Snake and Brother Jie took the blame for a lot of things. The higher-ups did plenty of bad things behind the scenes."

Kiana: "I get it. 'If something breaks, Chakravartin did it. If someone feels unwell, Mobius did it.' Those were the scapegoats they threw out, right?"

Theresa: "Your circle is a mess."

Good heavens. She had originally thought her grandfather Otto letting the Herrscher of the Void go was already an unparalleled feat.

Who would have thought Fire Moth's actions were even more outrageous, one after another.

Were you people really here to fight the Honkai?

In the image, Raiden Mei had rarely come to Mobius's territory. Sister Snake still looked so small, yet gave off a faintly dangerous air.

"Hi, little white mouse. Meeting again. Want some tea?"

"..."

Raiden Mei frowned as she looked at the tea Mobius offered her.

The green liquid proved that it had been brewed from premium tea leaves, while the white bubbles rising one after another represented Mobius's sincere affection for her.

"I feel like many people have told me not to get on Mobius's operating table, and not to eat anything Mobius gives me."