I've already said this isn't a life simulator!

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Today, Xi Wang arrived at Möbius's laboratory as promised. As soon as he entered, he saw Mei and Möbius waiting for him, as well as Hen sitting to the side, with Gretchen in his arms, who was drawing.

"Brother Wang..."

Perhaps it was Xi Wang's footsteps that disturbed Gretsch, pulling her back from her painting world. The girl looked up at Xi Wang as he approached, and without putting down her paintbrush and palette, she jumped out of Hen's arms with her art supplies in her hand, took small steps to Xi Wang, looked up, and blinked her pale purple pupils, as if confirming something.

Then, she skillfully and naturally opened her arms towards Xi Wang.

"hug--"

So Xi Wang gently and carefully picked her up, just as the sea embraces rainwater.

Gretchen wrapped her arms around Xi Wang's neck, and her paintbrush and palette slapped against Xi Wang's back. She could feel the paint getting on her clothes, but Xi Wang didn't care. She just gently adjusted Gretchen's posture so that she could sit in her arms.

Looking up at Hen and Mebius, if it were in the past, when Hen saw Gresh abandoning him again and running to Xiwang's side, he would definitely be there to jokingly sigh, "Why is Gresh so close to you that she doesn't even want me, her father?" Mebius's gaze would also carry a strange sourness.

But there's nothing today.

They were no longer in the mood for jokes.

"Can you tell me what happened?"

Ignoring Gretchen, who was painting on her face with a paintbrush, Xiwang asked Mebius in as calm a tone as possible, since he had already sensed the aura of a fusion warrior on Gretchen.

"Let me tell you."

Mei then took the initiative to speak, saying that compared to the three people present, she, as an "outsider," was undoubtedly more suitable.

May told you about Gretchen's situation and also mentioned your unusual behavior.

"This is the 'small experiment' you were talking about?"

Looking at the jar of dark blue liquid in Mebius's hand, Xi Wang asked expressionlessly.

"It was indeed a small experiment~ After all, I only drew a little of your blood, you little guinea pig~"

Are you sure it's really just a little bit?

She glanced at the jar in Mebius's hand again. It was nearly half full of dark blue liquid. Considering that she had used herself to test the effects and then injected a lot of it into Gretchen, the jar should have been full.

Goodness, this capacity must be at least 1000cc, is this what you call "a little bit"?

However, considering that his Honkai Beast genes were abnormally active at the time, it was not a problem for Mebius to directly extract the mutated "blood". After all, this level of blood loss is not a big problem for a fusion warrior, let alone someone with [Specialty].

"so what?"

Feeling Gretchen gently pat her, Xi Wang put her down and let her return to Hen's side, where she continued to sit in her father's lap, painting on the canvas with her paintbrush... It wasn't that Gretchen had clung to him enough, but rather that there was simply no more room to paint on his face.

...Tsk, Gretchen just likes to draw on his face, or even on his clothes...So it was Hen who made her do it, wasn't it?!

"What's the problem now? The abnormality in me has been removed by you, and the Fire Moth is keeping me in the base without restricting my freedom... What is the problem with me? And... has Gretsch also been affected by this?"

Xi Wang said this while controlling the water flow to wash the paint off her face.

"In some ways, yes."

Mei replied.

"Although your previous abnormality did not last long, and you were the only one truly affected, an anomaly did occur within you, and you did indeed emit Honkai energy... Because of this, Moth of the Flame was worried that you might be affected by the [Gabriel] gene backlash, but based on the data detected later and with Dr. Mebius's guarantee, Moth of the Flame decided to observe you for a period of time to confirm that your abnormal reaction was only due to the influence of the [Eighth Herrscher]."

"This is also why you have been confined to the base recently, but not completely placed under house arrest."

"How about that? Aren't you touched? I've saved you a lot of trouble, you little guinea pig~"

Mebius smiled and aptly entered the conversation.

"……Thanks."

Xi Wang sincerely thanked them; he never hesitated to show his kindness to those who had helped him.

"It's nothing, just a small thing~ But... I just hope you can come here more often, little lab rat~ I miss you so much~"

"No."

One thing at a time, even though Mebius helped him, Xiwang still didn't like coming to Mebius's place because it reminded him of bad things... especially since he had just experienced that nightmare not long ago.

"As for Gretchen's situation... it's a bit more complicated."

Mei subtly steered the conversation in a direction that both of them cared about, thus ending their unnecessary dialogue.

"Although Gretsch survived thanks to Dr. Mebius's efforts and even became a Fusion Warrior, the use of the anomaly that appeared on you halfway through made the Fire Moth suspicious... Furthermore, Gretsch's abilities... made some members of the Fire Moth feel dangerous."

As she spoke, Mei took out a terminal and projected a video for Xi Wang to watch.

Inside, Gretchen is painting, while next to her sits a Fire Moth soldier... Judging from the scene, it seems that Gretchen is painting this soldier.

During this process, Xiwang noticed that Gretchen didn't seem to have prepared any paints when she was painting... or rather, she was "making" the paints herself.

As she moved and expressed her will, her brush would be stained with liquid paints in three colors: red, yellow, and blue. Gretchen would then use this as a base to mix the colors she wanted on the palette, and then use the mixed colors to paint.

When she wants to change colors, the paint on her brush will disappear on its own, turning back into one of the three colors: red, yellow, or blue.

Midway through, Gretchen mixed several colors she liked, and then gently dabbed the paintbrush dipped in the color into one of the empty compartments of the paint box that only contained water. The clear water was then saturated with the paintbrush's color, eventually turning into a somewhat viscous paint.

As it stands, Gretchen's newfound abilities seem perfectly suited to her love of painting; they're merely the ability to color by air and convert "water" into "pigment," which doesn't seem like much.

But what happened next was rather strange...

First, the [Honkai Energy Detection Device] placed nearby emitted a sound, indicating that Honkai energy had appeared in this area, although the data showed that the Honkai energy was very weak.

Then, the Moth of Fire soldier began to feel uneasy, constantly adjusting his posture, his expression becoming impatient and tense, and then panicked and fearful, as if he had seen something extremely terrifying.

When the soldier's emotions reached a certain breaking point, he stood up and said in great fear that a Honkai Beast had appeared next to Gretsch.

As soon as he finished speaking, the Honkai Energy Detection Device immediately sounded an alarm. The Honkai energy around them surged wildly in an instant and quickly generated a Honkai Beast next to Gretsch. The soldier immediately pointed to the Honkai Beast that had just appeared, indicating that this was the one he was talking about, and that it had "walked out" from Gretsch's painting.

However, looking at the whole process, Xi Wang was absolutely certain that before the soldier said those words, the surrounding Honkai energy was unusually stable, and the [Honkai Energy Detection Device] did not produce any data fluctuations. But after he said those words, everything around him was changed in an instant, becoming what he described.

"Gresh's abilities are too dangerous."

After the entire video finished playing, Mei put the terminal away and said...

"Perhaps because she absorbed your [abnormality], she gained the ability to turn water into [pigment]. At the same time, the paintings created using this [pigment] have a certain degree of cognitive interference, somewhat similar to the power of the [Eighth Herrscher]. Moreover, this power produces different effects depending on the [painting], thus having different effects on people. It can even turn a relatively peaceful person into an irritable and easily angered person."

"However, these are not the biggest problems. The problem is that the influence of these paintings on people will ultimately lead to a certain result."

"Is the increase in Honkai energy due to delusion?"

Xi Wang frowned and explained the true nature of the Honkai Beast that suddenly appeared in the video.

"...That's right. Essentially, the emotions of those affected by the [painting] are influenced, leading to the creation of various fantasies in their minds. When a certain critical point is reached, the Honkai energy begins to rise, turning the fantasies into reality...However, as things stand now, the rise in Honkai energy will only lead to the appearance of Honkai Beasts."

Mei was somewhat surprised that Xi Wang could see through the essence of the matter so directly, but she quickly stopped caring about it.

"According to subsequent tests, the root cause of this increase in Honkai energy is the pigment that Gretsch uses for painting."

"Just like a plant, Gretchen's [paint] is the seed, the thoughts of the person influenced by the [painting] are the nutrients, the critical point is the flower, and the Honkai Beast that is finally generated is the fruit."

"What's more troublesome is that when multiple affected people are within the scope and have different ideas about the same event... the number of Honkai Beasts that eventually appear will also increase accordingly, and will change slightly depending on each person's ideas."

Simply put, when all three people have the idea that "a Honkai Beast has appeared next to Gretsch," different Honkai Beasts will appear due to their own imaginations. In the end, three different Honkai Beasts will appear next to Gretsch, each corresponding to the one that each of the three imagined.

Mei rubbed her temples, clearly troubled by this troublesome ability, especially now that the Eighth Great Collapse had just passed. Too many people's minds and spirits had become fragile because of the Eighth Herrscher, making Gretchen's ability even more dangerous.

"Fortunately, as long as one's will is strong enough, one can resist the influence of the [painting]. Moreover, the Honkai Beasts that appear using this method are much weaker than those that appear normally, and they will revert to the appearance of paint after being defeated..."

"However, this ability is far too dangerous, and the higher-ups believe that Gretsch is no longer suitable to stay with the Moth of Fire."

This is understandable, since they can't completely stop Gretsch from painting. Her ability is to create paint, and as long as there is paint, she can paint anytime, anywhere. Her hands are the best paintbrush, and the walls and floors are the best canvas and palette... But if Gretsch were to actually paint a picture like that, the entire Moth of Flames would probably be affected.

And then... well, I'm afraid a Honkai beast tide is about to erupt inside the Firemoth.

"Actually, they originally planned to get rid of Gretchen."

Mebius said expressionlessly.

“They say Gretchen is too dangerous. Her ability to mass-produce Honkai Beasts reminds them of that Honkai Beast… Yes, yours—[Gabriel].

"You have to understand that the ocean is still a [forbidden zone]. Even if we want to transport supplies to the islands, we have to rely on air transport, and we have to make sure that the aircraft is above the clouds, otherwise they will be attacked by the Honkai Beasts in the sea... Hmph, to take it out on a little girl for this, is that really typical of them?"

Mebius seemed to have a great disdain for the higher-ups at Moth of Fire.

"...So what? What are their plans for Gretchen?"

Xi Wang squinted, seemingly unconcerned about everything they were saying.

"...They plan to place Gretchen in the [Deepest Place], relying on her abilities to deplete the excess energy of the prisoners there and assist Aponia in guarding the prisoners in the [Deepest Place]. As for Gretchen's daily life, Aponia will be responsible for it...Aponia herself has agreed."

"And you will need to take Gretsch into the [Deepest Place] and safely deliver her to Aponia... Meanwhile, because Gretsch has shown properties similar to [Gabriel], the Fire Moth suspects that your [abnormality] caused this result, so... you must be placed under supervision and undergo regular psychological treatment and physical examinations... Dr. Sue and Dr. Mebius will be in charge respectively."

Mei explained the arrangements for the moths chasing the flame.

"...What about the mark?"

Xi Wang's gaze remained calm as he pointed to Hen, who hadn't said much, and asked.

"I... still have to accept the transfer order, and I'm afraid I'll have to stay on the front lines for a long time."

Hen hesitated for a moment, then shook his head with a wry smile.

"I'm afraid I won't be able to see Gresh again... But I've met Aponia, so I'm at ease having her take care of Gresh. Also... I might have to trouble you to visit Gresh for me whenever you have time."

"Dad... are you leaving?"

Gretchen, sitting in Hen's lap, raised her head, blinked her pale purple eyes, and asked softly.

"...Well, Daddy's going to save the world, so I'm afraid I won't see you again~"

"Well... Dad, good luck!"

"Oh!"

"Oh~!"

Xi Wang remained silent as she watched the father and daughter cheering and encouraging each other.

"...Is this the order from the Moth of Fire?"

Xi Wang turned to look at Mei and asked in a calm tone.

"Yes."

Although she felt helpless, Mei still nodded.

"This is the best result we could have achieved."

"……call."