The Fire-Chasing Herrscher Who Destroyed the World

Chapter 270 Welcome to...

"Hey! Hey! Look at that girl over there, she's dressed so tackily——"

The originally sharp voice had a somewhat disgusting exaggeration after being prolonged, but this was the scene when Hua and Carol first met.

Looking back on this sentence now, in fact, there is no malice in it. If there is, the speaker himself is just too straightforward in some aspects.

Otherwise, she would not drag her out of the dormitory or the playground every weekend, take her to hang out in various shopping malls in the city center, and take her to pick out various clothes, so that The girl who came here alone from a small town finally took the first step to integrate into the big city in front of her.

Hua was sitting in the corner, thinking about these past events, while gently rubbing the light green sweatshirt in his hand with his fingertips.

This dress was exactly what Carol had chosen for her.

There was also the white beanie hat. Hua picked up the hat from her legs and put it gently on her head. Although there was no mirror in front of her, she still straightened it carefully.

Although Carol may be outspoken and talkative, she is actually very good at taking care of others - Hua Shen knows this.

Her family is very rich, but when they go out to play, she always takes Hua on the cheapest public transportation, goes to the cheapest noodle restaurant with her, and always chooses clothes at the right price for her. The workmanship and materials are all good...

Moreover, she never pays Hua's bills.

This may be disappointing to some people who want to take advantage of it, but for Hua herself, this kind of interaction further maintains her self-esteem as a "local girl" born in a small place——

That kind of "little bargain" is more like a kind of alms from above, and this kind of AA is the embodiment of true equal friendship.

Speaking of which, the relationship between the two was too close at that time. Carol even used her money power to switch to the same dormitory as Hua. In the middle of the night, when she was supposed to be sleeping, she would crawl into Hua's bed, feeling dazed. Talking about interesting things that happened during the day, we fell asleep while chatting...

Of course, her voice would never be quiet. For this reason, the two of them were caught on the spot by a teacher who made a surprise inspection in the middle of the night.

Among those boring and talkative girls, there were even rumors about the two of them...

These are memories from long ago.

Six years, at the beginning of a relationship, people always feel that the time ahead is long, and six years is just a blink of an eye.

But regardless of the length of the six years themselves, the six years they experienced completely divided the world into two halves.

A world that has not collapsed and can move towards a happy future as ordinary people.

One is a world filled with death and despair, until the other person dies inexplicably in front of you, until you or will die inexplicably one day.

Watteau hopes... I hope these memories don't exist in her mind.

Or, even if people can't delete the memories in their minds, but... can they not be so clear?

With just a slight thought, the brain will naturally replay everything that happened in the past exactly -

This kind of hyperamnesia is a side effect of super-changing surgery. When Mikael asked about it, she thought it didn't matter, and she was even a little happy because she would no longer worry about "forgetting certain things."

She can deeply imprint everything in her mind, and retrieval is more convenient than a computer.

Yes, before this, she had never felt that hyperamnesia was a side effect, but a convenience.

And before that, although she understood that her power was limited, she always believed that she had something she could do and something she had to do, so she never felt that her power was small.

Until now...

"I can't do anything..."

"Hoo..."

Hua wanted to take a long breath, but the breath got stuck in his throat and only made a weak, fuzzy sound.

Mebius asked her before:

"Has she ever mentioned her parents to you?"

"No, not after the third collapse."

Hua gave the answer in his mind.

But Mebius wouldn’t understand that kind of thing——

Also in the third collapse, she lost her father, but Carol's parents survived.

Whether it was due to good luck or some kind of relationship, now that this fact has been created, then for Carol, not mentioning her parents in front of herself is also a...taboo.

Hua pressed the light green sweatshirt to her heart, silently curled up her legs, and covered them with her hands.

She has been thinking about the past with Carol like this for who knows how long.

However, his thoughts stopped abruptly at this moment.

Mebius was right when he said that the time she and Carol had really spent together could only be counted on one's fingers, only a few months... only.

But Mikael also said that feelings cannot be measured in any "dimension", not even time.

Some people have known each other for ten or decades, but they are still strangers, while some people feel like they have known each other for 50,000 years the moment they meet for the first time.

Perhaps, her and Carol's situation falls into the latter category.

Because of this, she felt even more regretful.

She thought that one day, Carol would hold her hand carelessly, and she wanted to take her hand out shyly, but in the end she did not do so, and the two of them were just like they were six years ago. , walking on the streets of Canghai City after reconstruction.

But now, all possibilities have been wiped out.

Come to think of it, Mikael once said that dreams are a very strange thing. Perhaps when we dream, our souls will jump out of the real number space and come to the so-called imaginary number space to browse what we have experienced in other worlds. future……

And the future she imagined had never appeared in her dreams, never.

Her arms holding her legs suddenly tightened nervously, and her whole body curled up more and more, her face buried between her thighs, and her body was like a piece of paper folded into three pieces.

But this almost self-mutilating behavior on others did not make her feel any pain at all.

Perhaps it was the blessing of practicing martial arts at a young age, or perhaps it was the blessing of fusion factors and divine sounds. In short, it was not difficult for her to stretch the ligaments to this degree.

But that's not what she wanted. She wanted to feel real pain.

practical……

"Ding dong!"

The doorbell rang at an inappropriate time.

"Who is it?" Hua instinctively wanted to shout, but she didn't.

When the words came to his mouth, his vocal cords tightened and he couldn't make any sound.

"Ding dong - ding dong -"

The doorbell rang twice more, but Hua still made no sound or made any move.

But there was a glimmer of hope in her heart for no reason - the people who would come to her at this time were just those two people, right?

She really wanted to open the door, but she didn't dare.

She was afraid that reality would not even satisfy her last wish.

"Ding dong!"

"Ding dong!"

After the doorbell rang twice more, it slowly fell silent.

The visitor must have thought that no one was in the house and left, right?

Hua's ears even heard the sound of footsteps that were getting further away. She thought it was an auditory hallucination, but that was not entirely true.

It wasn't until the door lock opened with a "snap" that she realized that the sound that she had mistaken for footsteps was actually the other party using his power to guide the opening and closing of the mechanism in the lock.

"As expected..."

"Oh! Sorry, I rang the doorbell for a long time and no one answered. I was afraid that something would happen to you, so I had to use this method."

Mikael poked half of his head in, and when he saw Hua for the first time, he immediately scratched his head and apologized.

"Actually, even if you don't do this, there must be a way to get in if you go to Pado."

Such a sentence came to Hua's mind, but he did not resort to it.

Even for family members, it is taboo to a certain extent to enter each other's room so rashly.

But at this moment, there is no dissatisfaction in Hua's heart, but a kind of expectation to be fulfilled... It can't be said to be satisfied. To put it bluntly, it's like flying for three days and three nights, and then finally stepping on the ground. Feel.

A sense of down-to-earth reassurance.

This feeling was very sudden and unreasonable, so Hua buried his face deeper.

"But...in this case, will Mikael think that I am driving him away?"

My heart was suddenly grasped by invisible hands again.

She didn't dare to raise her head or make a sound, even her breathing was long and gentle.

Fortunately, Mikael did not misunderstand, or in other words, every move and every thought of Hua was within his expectations.

He closed the door silently. Of course Ai Li was also concerned about Hua's condition, but she did not follow him.

The reason why Mikael knew every move and every thought of Hua was certainly not because he used the power of the Eighth Herrscher.

He just does it out of understanding and experience.

Out of his understanding of China and everything he has faced.

If it were Alicia, she would probably tell some funny jokes to cheer people up.

But Mikael didn't do that, and he couldn't tell cold jokes.

He put himself in someone else's shoes and cast his memory back to two years ago, thinking about what he wanted most at that time.

So he sat down next to Hua silently, staying close to her, curling up like her, but other than that, he did nothing or said anything.

Mikael had thought about what death meant countless times.

From a realistic point of view, this means the destruction of the body; from a fairy tale point of view, this means that there is an extra star in the sky, which will watch you for the rest of your life.

From a conscious point of view, this means that a person's connection with another person or another group of people ends here, and he/she can no longer build new connections with other people and write new stories.

Therefore, even though he has thought about it countless times, Mikael still cannot say words of encouragement, because all words are pale and powerless in the face of the heaviness of "cutting off all connections".

It’s not completely useless. If you want to overcome the heaviness of “cutting off all connections”, you must be brave enough to establish more new connections instead of hesitantly escaping.

But no matter what, this first step must be completed by the individual himself.

So he said nothing, because many words had not yet been spoken.

But he did do something.

He sat next to Hua and gave her a certain amount of support and warmth, which made her realize that she was not in a world of her own.

This could make her realize that she wasn't alone in her connection to Carol.

But these are not things that can be understood instantly or achieved overnight.

The two of them just sat curled up with their backs against the wall, letting time pass by invisibly.

Hua remained motionless, and so did Mikael, as if he didn't care much about the ongoing tenth collapse.

It wasn't until the sparse croaking of frogs came from outside the window that the two of them realized that a day had passed while sitting pointlessly.

"sorry."

This was the first thing Hua said after lifting her face from between her legs.

Mikael was stunned for a moment, as if he thought of something unspeakable, and then couldn't help but raise the corners of his mouth.

"Is it okay if you stay here with me all the time? The tenth collapse..."

"It's okay. The battle plan has been arranged. Just don't worry."

"oh."

There was nothing more to say after that, and the room fell silent again for a while.

Mikael was not anxious either. He stared silently at the darkness in front of him. Hua sometimes couldn't help but glance at it from the corner of his eye, but couldn't tell what he was thinking.

For a moment, she couldn't tell whose subjective intention this silence was.

Is he being silent with her, or is she being silent with him?

The answer is obvious, but there are some unrealistic illusions.

This feeling is also wonderful. When Hua first fell into this state, she had imagined the possibility of Mikael being beside her.

But no matter how she fantasized, "Mikael" didn't speak, he just sat silently beside her, providing her with a little support and warmth without saying a word.

Just like now.

There is really an indescribable synchronicity between the two.

"Choo Choo Choo--"

Birdsong suddenly sounded outside the window. The two of them looked up at the window on the right at the same time. They saw a dim white color pouring into the house through the thick curtains. However, they were still outnumbered and could only isolate themselves. The dark world is tinged with a little bit of brightness.

But just such a small amount of brightness is enough to clear away the indelible turbidity in the darkness.

Of course, this also reminded Hua that another night had passed.

She felt it was time for her to say something.

"Mikael, do you remember...five years ago, it was the time we went to Eastern Europe to search for Thousand Calamities..."

Before Hua finished speaking, Mikael took it over naturally:

"Do you want to talk about what we said in the house after we arrived at the village where Qianjie was?"

"Um."

There was no trace of the flow of Honkai energy, which meant that Mikael guessed what she was thinking at this time simply by virtue of his mysterious and mysterious mind synchronization.

This should have been a very magical thing, worth talking about, but when it happened to him and between himself and Mikael, Hua already felt it was strange.

But two people are completely different individuals after all. No matter how high the so-called "synchronization rate" is, it cannot reach 4%...100%.

That’s why Mikael immediately asked:

"What you want to ask is why you are more sad this time than after the third collapse, when you learned that the town where you were born... no one survived, and your father... in short, was more sad than then?"

"Um."

Mikael knew it was so.

Although he has always claimed to know China very well, and their personalities are similar in many ways, there are never two completely similar people in this world.

Unlike Mikael who gave up on himself after being desperate, Hua's emotions at this time were more complicated.

Sadness, doubt, unwillingness, self-blame, and guilt were all mixed together. For example, on the one hand, she felt that the sadness she felt now was more intense than the sadness after learning that her father and everyone she knew had died, but on the other hand...

"You also feel that even the current sadness is not in line with the current situation of separation between life and death. So you will feel guilty, wondering whether you are too indifferent, and whether it is the separation that lasted for several years. The relationship between you has faded, but considering the behavior after the third collapse, you feel that you are still too cold-blooded, and you feel that your current emotions and attitude are wrong. "

"……Yes."

"Actually, there are so many things that are right and wrong."

Mikael put his hand on her hat and rubbed it gently a few times.

"The reason why you feel relatively sad about Carol's passing is actually very simple - compared to the father's love you received from birth and the relationship with your neighbors, Carol took the initiative and you Passively accepting it will make it more difficult for the two of you to build a relationship. Of course, this is just my personal opinion.”

"Um."

Hua responded mechanically.

"As for sadness, I told you before, it's because you have very little, compared to other people who have a lot. Their loss process is from nothing to nothing, but you are from nothing to something. Returning to nothingness, you will be more able to adapt to this kind of nothingness. You think so yourself, right?”

"Um."

"But, Hua...have you ever thought that maybe this is not the cause, but the result?"

"What's the meaning?"

"I mean, maybe it's not because you're more accustomed to this kind of nothingness that's why you're so strong, but because you're so strong, that's why you think like this when facing loss."

Hua turned his head sharply, and even though the surroundings were pitch black, a hint of gray light seeped in and hit Mikael's face.

Then she saw that gentle smile.

She was no stranger to this, Mikael smiled like this almost every time he touched her head.

However, he said she was "strong".

"I...no, I don't deserve the word strong, I just..."

"At least you are stronger than me."

"No, I..."

"Okay, let me put it another way. If the Herrscher attacks now, will you fight?"

Hua suddenly became silent.

But a few seconds later, she raised her head stubbornly again and said in a tone that even Mikael thought she was defending him:

"No, this is not a concept that can be compared horizontally. Mikael, I understand that what really made you not want to fight at that time was not Xier's death itself, but your constant attempts to change an already destined outcome, but things ended up being Back to the original track, even worse.

"So it wasn't that you didn't want to fight at the time, but you felt that since your efforts always yielded the worst results, you might as well just let everything continue on its original trajectory."

Mikael raised his eyebrows. This was the first time someone accurately stated his mentality at that time.

"But regarding the so-called destined outcome...how did Hua guess it? Well, maybe she mistakenly thought it was Aponia's prophecy."

Mikael thought secretly, and a mocking smile gradually appeared on his face - it was mocking himself:

"Speaking of who I was at that time, Hua, and what I regret most about that incident till now, do you know?"

"have no idea."

Hua answered simply.

"It was when I discovered that my inaction not only did not return everything to its original trajectory, but resulted in a worse result, I did not make a choice in time - whether to let it go to the end or let fate open a huge gap for me. It was a joke and the world was destroyed; or I corrected my mistake in time and bravely fought the Seventh Herrscher. I didn't make a choice in time."

"You didn't end up..."

"It was Mebius who scolded me to wake me up. But you, you are different, Hua, I really feel that you are the strongest one among us. In terms of ability to accept reality, whether it is me or Kevin, None of them are as good as you. We are destined to live in the past, but you are the one who lives in the present and the future.”

This sudden compliment once again caught Hua off guard, and the meaning contained in it made her even more confused - why specifically mention him and Kevin?

"Of course, let's go back to the previous topic. I once said that every individual is different, and the way they express sadness is also different. Not everyone has to use tears or hysteria to express their sadness, but for you For me, constantly raising questions, entangled, and questioning oneself is a form of sadness. This kind of sadness seems much more indifferent than ours, but it is better than... long. "

"Yeah... Then I'm still, very..."

Hua's voice suddenly choked up, and Mikael's eyes were facing away from the light, but he could already see the twinkling light in those eyes.

Whether Hua was crying because of sadness or because of his words, Mikael wanted to know, but he was unwilling to use the power of consciousness to pry into this.

Perhaps, it's both.

He held Hua's cheek with his hand, but only gently stroked her tears away with the back of his hand.

If it had been two years ago, he might have comforted her: "Just cry. Any emotion needs a way to vent. It's not a bad thing to be able to cry."

Did he not want to say that?

But for that future, he had to say something else, although those words also came from the sincerity:

"Don't cry, Hua. The only thing you can save by crying is yourself. These tears can't save anything else, can't restore anything, and can't change anything."

Rather than saying these words to China, it is better to say that he is repeating these words to himself - repeating the words that were burned into his heart two years ago.

"Death means the end of everything."

Mikael once said this.

But he doesn’t think so now:

"Death is not the end of everything, it symbolizes that a person's connection with the rest of the people ends here, and there will be no new connections, new stories. But the traces of their existence, the connections they left in the past, remain The stories below still exist and have not been erased. They will always become a part of your and my lives, and will be passed on to more people by us.

"Yes, death will never be the end of life, but a continuation, a new beginning. Hua, this is how human beings have been passed down to this day."

"Well, I understand, I just..."

"But that's not what I'm talking about."

"ah?"

"Hua, if I say that I have a way to reverse everything, that I have a way to make every harm caused to this world by Honkai no longer exist, but it is not in the form of erasure, would you believe me? ?”

Mikael suddenly stood up and stretched out his hand to Hua:

"I said, Kevin, I, and even Su... we are all people living in the past. Only you are always living in the present, and may live in the future. Therefore, you are also the only one who has the ability to connect the past and the future. "Hua, the method I just mentioned to reverse everything requires your help. Are you willing?"

"I……"

The hesitation lasts only a moment, or may not exist at all.

Hua naturally placed her hand on Mikael's palm - although her consciousness had not fully understood Mikael's words.

"very good."

Mikael pulled Hua up and hugged him gently.

The two people's bodies were inseparable at the first touch. Mikael's hand held her back, and without Hua noticing, he implanted something that looked like a feather into her body.

And Hua gradually regained consciousness, so the hesitation that should have been there was long overdue.

The reason why this hesitation exists is nothing more than a kind of distrust, but that distrust is not directed at Mikael, but at Hua himself——

"I...I don't know if I can help...I, I can't do anything..."

"No, Hua, I said that you have the only possibility. You just habitually belittle yourself. You are no longer the same person you were six years ago."

"Okay, okay..."

Hua still didn't understand what Mikael needed her to do and how to do it, but that didn't stop her from complying.

"Hua, welcome to World Snake."