I am a hero of the former civilization.

Ryan stood in front of the notice board in the East District Plaza, looking at the four yellow wanted posters with black lettering. One of them was a screenshot from a video; the person had white hair, red eyes, and a sweet appearance. Fortunately, the poster specifically noted that the person was male, which made Ryan nod in satisfaction.

Qianjie is a portrait, and you can tell that the painter is very skilled. It is nine or even eight parts similar to the subject, and the painting even gives off a violent and unapproachable look.

Padofelis's photo is an ID photo, and it's unclear when it was taken. But Aponia's photo is strange; her profile picture is just a question mark, and her identity as the director of the sanatorium is only mentioned below.

Ryan thought for a moment, then reached out and took down Padofelis's photo, at which point the onlookers burst into laughter.

"Brother, you have good taste. You picked the easiest target right away."

Ryan turned his head and saw several bounty hunters wearing cowboy hats, belts, and covered in dirt. With an optical simulator, he now looked like a fierce bald man.

This was also his real identity; he was a bandit he casually killed on his way to Dusk Street.

"What do you guys have to say?" Ryan sensibly handed over a few euros.

The lead bounty hunter took the money and nodded in satisfaction: "Forget about the two with the 30 million. I have special information, and since we get along well, I'll tell you at a low price. The West District was destroyed by these two monsters. Think about it, such a large area was destroyed. How could ordinary people like us fight against that?"

"It's indeed tragic to earn money but not live to spend it, so why can't we touch Aponia?"

"This woman is very strange. She is clearly the owner of that sanatorium, but no matter which gang searches the place, they can't find any patients there."

"Hey, it's more than just weird, brother, you don't know, several patients with Honkai syndrome have been taken in for interrogation. No matter how much torture they were subjected to, they all said they had never been to the sanatorium, and it seems like they weren't lying."

"Yes, there are hundreds of people in the sanatorium, but now we can't find a single one."

It was indeed bizarre, but it was too easy for Aponia. All she had to do was tell the patients to forget their time in the sanatorium. Even if they were confronted face-to-face, they wouldn't recognize Aponia.

Ryan knew how powerful the nun was; even sending a mental fusion warrior was useless. This was not an implication at all.

"I heard the town is gathering people in preparation for evacuation. Aren't you guys going to take refuge there?" Ryan asked again, which elicited a burst of laughter.

"The Moth Chaser isn't that kind-hearted. Besides, even if they were to leave Twilight Street, they'd need to take a large sum of money with them to enjoy life. If there were a way, who would want to go to a restricted protected area and become a lowly commoner!"

"Yeah, yeah, what kind of residency you can get by providing clues? I don't care."

"I'm used to being free and can't stand being treated badly. Hey, where is he?"

Ryan had already quietly walked into the alley next to the square. The question he asked earlier was his only remaining act of kindness. However, the bounty hunters were right; the Firemoth didn't care about the life or death of Twilight Street at all.

This was just the earliest human experimentation site, and the results were quite good. It is estimated that the success rate of the fusion warriors' surgeries is higher than outside.

"But that has nothing to do with me."

Ryan turned to the side and saw the burly man with a full face of tattoos running past him. He made eye contact with him and then lowered his head slightly. As the man slowed down, he gave him a mental suggestion, and the group continued on their way.

The search was thorough, but to no avail, because even I don't know where Aponia went, and if Pado had listened to me, you wouldn't have found her either.

He didn't know if Pado had listened to him, but he knew he shouldn't go looking for her at this time.

So, should we just keep waiting?

Ryan kicked open the lock on the door next to him and walked into the dark bar. The owner chose to be taken in, and the bar was already empty.

He walked to the bar, poured himself a glass of whiskey, took a few ice cubes from the refrigerator, and took a small sip.

"The Herrscher will arrive by tonight at the latest. The information obtained from the Firemoth is already detailed enough."

The wine was slightly cool on his palate, and his fingertips tapped out a rhythm unconsciously. He was playing a blindfolded game of chess, just like them, with all his thoughts being guesses.

But Ryan has an advantage: he understands the nature of the 'Herrscher' better than anyone else.

"They can be very careful and extremely cautious, but they have no concept of life, including themselves, who are merely expendable objects for their mission."

If given the chance, the Herrschers would not hesitate out of fear of death, and their current mission is very clear.

Killing me is now synonymous with destroying civilization. When their own strength is insufficient, they will cleverly borrow the power of humanity, and this time is the best opportunity.

Whether it's figuring out the reason for the pseudo-Herrscher's betrayal or beating 'Adam' half to death and handing him over to the Fire-Chasing Moth, the rest of the plan has already been arranged, and there's not even a need for irrefutable evidence.

Once 'Adam' is captured, his confession will be fabricated at will. Then I will become the target of everyone's hatred, and they can unite with the Moths of Fire to kill me. Without me, this civilization will have no hope.

Ryan swirled his wine glass, having already clearly arranged things from the perspective of a Herrscher.

"But before that, I have to use my verbal skills."

After a moment's hesitation, he put down his wine glass and stopped tapping his fingers.

He took out his phone, dialed the number, and after a brief busy signal, there was no response from the other end. He then adopted a relaxed tone.

“Mei, I’ve decided to take the final step. This time, you have to gamble with your own will.”

There was no reply for a long time, and then a sigh finally came.

“Ryan, I hate gambling.”

“Our struggle is a gamble from the start. Facing the Honkai’s numerous and varied methods of targeting us, there’s no chance of winning if we follow the established procedures. And do you know why I’m expanding the operation and starting to gamble?” Ryan’s tone remained calm, as if he were talking about someone else’s business.

He picked up the half-empty cigarette pack from the table, lit it, took a light puff, and gazed at the billowing white smoke, asking himself, "When I killed the Takeuchi brothers, according to the testimonies, their numbers were increasing. You should know what that proves?"

“They possess an unparalleled allure that makes those big shots change their allegiance one by one,” Mei replied coldly, showing that she understood the situation perfectly well.

“That’s right. They are not the same kind of people as us. They are not pursuing the same things. So I choose to fold in this detective game.”

"Fold? And then what?"

"Use the most ruthless methods to completely transform the Moth of Fire, no longer wait, the sooner the better."

Full of murderous intent, it sounds cool, but May remained unmoved. As an absolutely rational person, she didn't care about Ryan's emotions.

"Logically, this is impossible, or the losses would be too great, and now is not the best time."

"Of course, the power hasn't been gathered at all, which is why they're so confident, but I'm sure."

"How sure are you?"

"At least 80%."

......

May listened as if it were a joke. It was impossible to do, because after spending so much time and effort, she couldn't even confirm the identities of the 'Faith' members, let alone remove them from the fire-chasing moths.

If we take forceful action, it will be a challenge to the entire organization. Civil war will exhaust all hope, and we might not even survive.

A mocking smile appeared on the girl's lips. She wanted to imitate Möbius's tone and ridicule the man's arrogance, but the words wouldn't come out.

Ryan is the hero she chose herself, humanity's last hope, the kind of person who would entrust the most important plans to her even if civilization were to perish.

"How about it, dare to gamble with me? Gamble with your life and fortune."

The man's voice, like a death knell, rang out again. Mei bit her lip, leaving clear teeth marks.

"What do you want me to do? Destroy the Moth of Fire from within?"

“I’ve already said I want to minimize the losses, and you, like Mebius, seem to think I’m a brainless brute?” Ryan frowned slightly, somewhat annoyed, and didn’t bother to beat around the bush.

"I need you to find a way to gather the vast majority of the members of parliament together. They can hide their identities, but they must be present in person."

"And then? Slaughter them all and replace them with your own people?"

“That’s impossible, but as a physicist, I always try to reason, but it’s not me who tries to reason.”

"Then who will come?" Mei was even more confused. Could it be that they would have to use a mental fusion warrior? But the council could also deactivate it.

Ryan was stroking his glass when he saw a woman in a black nun's habit walk into the bar and look at him with a gentle gaze.

He gently tapped the table, pointed at the woman, and laughed:

"she."

Chapter 240 After the Oriole, What's Next?

Ryan hung up the phone. May didn't give any clear answer, but he knew this shrewd woman would make the right choice.

As the attacker, Honkai has full initiative. Apart from taking risky moves and confronting them head-on, Ryan has no better options. This is the helplessness of being a passive defender.

If we wait any longer, the infiltration will only deepen. When a certain critical point is reached, the world's trajectory will return to the direction of the Thirteen Heroes.

"Besides, I haven't even gathered all thirteen heroes yet."

Ryan smiled and propped his head up, looking at the nun in front of him. Aponia had been quiet all along, and only smiled slightly when she saw his gaze.

"Did you finish the call?"

"You've got all the preparations done. By the way, how did you find me?" Ryan raised his glass in a toast, then suddenly realized, "Paddo, you really didn't listen and secretly ran away."

No sooner had she finished speaking than a small head popped out of the doorway; it was Padofilis, who was somewhat frightened.

"Hey, I just felt that the hidden cat nest couldn't be hidden, so I simply ran out."

Most people can't hide from a second search, but who are you? Your luck is unpredictable.

Ryan glanced at her and promptly exposed her: "You can't let go of those treasures, can you? Have you hidden them all away?"

"Hmph, they've all been buried in holes." Pado answered subconsciously, quickly covering her mouth with her hands. When she saw Ryan's gaze, she looked away, drawing circles on the ground with her feet while whistling a clumsy tune.

"Please don't blame Pado. She met me, and without her, I wouldn't have found you."

How did she know I was here?

"I was just wandering around when I came across this bar. I thought I'd stop by for a rest and then I bumped into you."

Oh, this doesn't make sense.

Ryan's gaze turned strange as he scrutinized the two men for a long time before finally letting out a sigh.

This is a truly mysterious duo. Despite the fact that all the forces in Twilight Street are determined to find them, they choose to play the victim.

“No need to explain, I can’t learn your kind of luck, but Paddo—” Ryan slammed the wanted poster on the table and said in a low voice, “Your photo is the clearest, so you’d better keep a low profile.”

Padofelis quickly jumped in front of her, picked up the wanted poster, glanced at it with a smug look, then smoothed out the wrinkles and carefully put it into her handbag.

"What are you doing?"

"This is our first photo, and it turned out pretty good. Of course, we have to keep it safe."

It sounded a little sad, and Ryan immediately lost his intention to blame her. He then turned his gaze to Aponia and gestured for her to enter.

The latter sat down on the round stool next to him, still with that gentle demeanor, and smiled, "Do you want to ask me what my opinion is on the current situation?"

"Yeah, I have this idea."

"I can't see anything, which makes me even more curious about your thoughts, just like an observer."

Did you know I was coming back to find you?

"do not know."