Honkai Impact 3rd, a simulator of lifelong regret!

That kind of thing will never happen.

"Don't worry, you're Raiden Mei."

This is the kind of thing he would say.

"—Mei, there must be something else behind why you did this."

That's the kind of answer he would give.

This is the only one.

That's all.

Even if there is a vague sense of disappointment in my heart, even if I have done such a thing, Jiang Cheng will definitely be tolerant and supportive.

This isn't because she's arrogantly delusional and shamelessly believes others will forgive her; she's simply stating a fact that's inevitable.

The trust of a young person is always so heavy, like a black hole in space, constantly exerting gravity, forcing one's gaze, soul, and self to drift towards it, drawn by an irresistible force.

Even though they weren't looking directly at each other, and could only perceive each other through touch in the darkness, contact with the boy was something to be extremely avoided.

At least the thing called the heart can still be understood, just like it is suspended in the air, without the limitations of distance or light and shadow.

All you need to do is reach out and touch; you can feel the emotions within and hear the voices that emerge from them.

……

In the room where only the two of them were, the contact of their skin caused their body temperature to rise, and the temperature and atmosphere seemed to rise as well, making their fair skin blush slightly, and their bodies seemed to become a little weaker.

Raiden Mei leaned against Jiang Cheng, her shoulder against his back, as if even her aloofness had disappeared and been absorbed into his intense aura.

Even the stars will eventually fall, their beautiful starry eyes misty, their eyelashes fluttering, their delicate noses trembling as they exhale bursts of rich, fragrant scents like orchids and musk.

My head is inexplicably dizzy. I've been here for too long, and what the girl has done has gone too far.

Even though it was just my own random fantasy, it somehow invaded my whole body, leaving me feeling limp and weak, like a lump of mud.

Until a clap of thunder flashed, a certain lightning queen, deep within her heart and in her own abode, who was already in a state of shame because of her own perverted behavior, with her soul and personality flushed pink, decided to strike once again, briefly taking over the girl's feelings for a moment.

"Don't be King You of Zhou anymore; being King Zhou of Shang would be better."

'At least King Zhou succeeded; he chose his own ending.'

'Stop being so perverted, you idiot.'

Perhaps realizing that hints alone could no longer change the fate of a simp, all she hoped for was that he wouldn't be so perverted.

As for the boy in front of him, who had his back to him and exuded mystery from the very beginning, and who always seemed perfunctory in their interactions, he was a stranger to him.

Ugh……

Whatever.

At least the personality that has not yet been replenished by Honkai energy can only act as a substitute, giving the girl in the mountains a little bit of doubt and thought.

……

Varied……

what?

—All of this is indeed very effective.

Briefly freed from the constraints of her body, Raiden Mei even had the illusion of not existing in the world for a moment, until a low-amplitude electric current tingling sensation swept through her entire body, and she finally realized what the problem was.

After a strange sense of disharmony, she briefly left the chessboard, becoming an external spectator, observing herself from a third-person perspective.

The girl realized that she had unintentionally accepted something strange without ever exploring it further, doubting it, or even giving it any serious thought.

On the contrary, it was the bizarre, indescribable feeling that appeared just a second before, like something out of a light novel or a hallucination, that made it feel like a completely new perspective had been suddenly inserted into my mind and memory.

trust.

Agree.

Unconditional trust.

Unfounded identification.

The crack was found; the only disharmony in their relationship, the only abyss, the cliff that blocked their progress, the wall that trapped them was finally discovered, and the girl who had given up and put on a mask to hide herself was found out.

……

"Jiangcheng-jun, do you really think my swordsmanship is very good? Or that I'm very cute?"

Raiden Mei asked the question knowingly, pushing her body further against the upright back, exhaling steam from her mouth, her long purple hair disheveled, her head rubbing against the back of her collar, like a well-behaved puppy.

"--certainly."

This was an unthinking response, the voice leaving no room for pause, the last word even coinciding with the lingering echo of the girl's voice.

There are always some things in the world that are common sense, just like apples fall to the ground, vampires love to eat bread, and Wilvi loves Jiangcheng.

This is something that cannot be rewritten or refuted; as long as someone raises this question, one will instinctively open their mouth and give the most accurate response.

At least for the boy, answering this question required no thought whatsoever; his deep blue eyes didn't even bother to flicker.

"The Lightning One-Sword Style is a powerful secret technique, enough to leave a name in the whole world. After a short period of training, it is enough to easily crush all normal humans, let alone you who is using it."

"As for your appearance, it may be impolite for a man to comment on it, but I think you should never doubt this. Even the biggest idiot knows this."

……

"I……"

"Is it really that good...?"

The head pressed against the boy's back was already shaking back and forth; even a well-behaved puppy would become shy after being excessively praised.

The deep purple eyes that should have resounded like thunder in the sky, displaying her strength and decisiveness, instead became swirling with anger.

The questioning after calming down only made me feel more drowsy, and the atmosphere in the small cubicle became increasingly intense.

"If you always like to describe yourself as a mob, then it only means that your goal is to become a mob."

Jiang Cheng gently shook his head, extending the twisting motion to his shoulders. Even the girl behind him could clearly sense this undisguised self-doubt and denial. "But you are not. You cannot become a mob. You have absolutely no chance of becoming a mob."

"No reason or cause is needed. It's simple, so I'm too lazy to correct it carefully again and again, especially on this matter."

"If I absolutely have to find a reason..."

"—Because you are Raiden Mei."

His voice was always so earnest; it was clearly praise, yet it also conveyed a sense that what he said was the truth, a sense that inexplicably convinced people.

That is indeed the case.

Raiden Mei...

This young girl certainly didn't have the chance to become part of the mob.

Whether from the perspective of the future or from the contest with that Herrscher.

Even ignoring talent, ability, and the fact that even if one escapes everything, one will still be drawn to the Stigmata Project because of their own Stigmata, they are born to be one in a hundred thousand, a million, a tens of millions, or even a hundred million.

The gem placed inside her body allows the girl to easily become the greatest and most cruel calamity to the world. This is just the beginning; the Honkai that her birth can easily take the lives of tens of millions of Herrschers.

He was powerless to change the outcome, or rather, the price to pay for changing everything would be too high, and the result of rewriting it might not necessarily be better for Raiden Mei than the original one.

For a Herrscher to have the opportunity to demonstrate their true combat power, they must face a world-destroying cataclysm. Even if an ordinary Herrscher is altered, they cannot compare to the Origin, who can transcend the locked rules.

Rather than continuing to associate with those people, it's better to bury the past with a single collapse, since someone else has already borne the sins anyway.

Killing those people one by one would be too troublesome and too bloody, and the damage to one's self-esteem could even drive one insane.

Most people who talk about being decisive and ruthless are just talking big; in reality, they might hesitate to even kill a chicken.

Taking lives is indeed a painful thing, but what is even more painful is that as more lives are lost, we also lose our sense of awe for life.

This numbness, when accumulated too much, is also a form of wear and tear. Jiangcheng is not yet a super-invincible villain or demon lord.

"You don't need to feel burdened by what I said. Just continue living your normal life. Don't make things worse. You can do it."

Although Alicia had accompanied him, Jiang Cheng cared more about the concrete person now standing before him than about the abstract and vague stranger.

Although he would not hesitate to extend his kindness when possible, saving others is not something that absolutely cannot be done.

During those two trips, it felt really good to help others. As long as I didn't encounter ungrateful people or those fanatics, it added kindness to my otherwise impoverished life and adorned it with a honey-like color.

If you can feel kindness from others, if you can empathize with others' situations, then why not try to save something?

After all, mass killings are ultimately the worst option. The reason for having this awareness is simply to avoid any archbishop.

Otto is capable of dropping missiles into a city, using the lives of its inhabitants to coerce heroes into sacrificing themselves. If no one can disregard the deaths of a city and its millions of inhabitants, they will inevitably fall into Otto's clutches and become his weapon, adding further calamity to the world that was given humanity and hope by Alicia.

Herrschers inherently possess humanity, and the First Herrscher was even willing to sacrifice his life for the world. After the Origin's sacrifice, the world has regained hope.

The Herrschers, possessing their own identities, have already opened the door to victory by going to Paradise. Even the fragmented music created by the insurmountable erosion that is like the end for the information body was successfully defeated by those heroes.

……

The biggest obstacle to communication between the two, the bottomless abyss, is ultimately the information gap—Raiden Mei doesn't know what she will become in the future, let alone that Jiang Cheng actually knows very well what he will become. At this moment, the girl is merely hiding in the shadows, not even yet in the posture of being pulled out by the savior Herrscher.

Even if her enlightenment and wisdom are as pure as a diamond, even if the girl who can't even cross her own current threshold will become one of the greatest heroes in the future, even if the hero who defeats the Demon King was just a level one newbie at the beginning.

Unlike the two girls Jiang Cheng had encountered before, who had already reached the pinnacle from the very beginning and whose expectations for a lifetime were already borne from the moment they met, the girl named Raiden Mei was still too naive.

The Herrscher of Thunder, the Herrscher of Origin, one of the warriors fighting against the savior, ending the Stigmata Project—these are all things Raiden Mei can definitely do.

The hero who hits the slime with a stick at the beginning of the story is destined to become a hero, because his ability is there, because he has enough talent.

This trust isn't based on stand-in fiction. Jiang Cheng truly believes that Raiden Mei can do what she does. Aside from occasional moments of absentmindedness, he genuinely sees the girl herself in his eyes. His recognition stems from his understanding of her. Because he understands, he is clear and therefore certain.

However, for the girl who was in the thick of it all, she couldn't find the source, or perhaps this trust, which knew her better than she did, was too heavy a burden.

Many people dream of being recognized by others someday. But if someone actually told you that you would become great in the future, most people would just take it as a joke and wouldn't believe they had the chance to be that amazing.

After realizing that this is not a joke or an unauthorized expectation, most people who have never experienced this will feel panicked, worried that they cannot live up to this expectation, and do not believe that they are worthy of being recognized by others.

—Because I have never been recognized by others in this way before.

Poor people don't know how to spend money. They either borrow heavily and squander it extravagantly, or they are so stingy that it's unimaginable. They know nothing and understand nothing, so naturally they can't possibly master the secrets of spending money.

A person who hasn't learned how to spend money normally, how to spend money simply, how to get what they want in the simplest way, and how to distinguish which of all the things they want to buy is what they truly want and what is most suitable for their own situation, can only be described as a leek in the eyes of those in higher positions.

If you can't even manage to spend money properly when you're incapable, let alone anything else, anyone with even a little self-awareness will only feel panicked by others' praise, because they know they can't do it, because they've never experienced it before, and they don't dare to muster the courage.

The recognition and praise from others are only because of her status as the eldest daughter of the Raiden family. Just as a direct rejection of a confession would be impolite to an ordinary person, it is described as decisive and efficient in the young girl.