Honkai Impact 3rd, a simulator of lifelong regret!

Even though the girl didn't try as hard as he did, she was already surpassing him in strength simply because she didn't use his body as an excuse not to engage in violent behavior.

Perhaps it was from that day that the boy truly realized the difference between genius and idiot. The line in the girl's PV was not a boast at all, but just a plain narration.

—If I want to, I can do it.

Yes.

This is true.

However, the boy would not deny his role; at least if he hadn't existed, Velvi would have already 'killed' him.

No matter how incompetent or ordinary one may be, once Vilvi falls in love with him, the originally incompetent mortal will become someone who is captivated by a genius.

Although the main reason for this was that Wilvi acted too humbly, she didn't even have the mind to think about the gap between herself and the girl all day long. The only thing she had to do, and the only thing she could do, which took up all her time and left her with no other experience, was how to comfort the girl.

To be loved so unconditionally and so intensely, more terrifying than a black hole, by Vivi, would be to belittle oneself as a betrayal of that love.

Ordinary people only need to do what they can and want to do. As long as they don't look up, they won't feel too much of a sense of loss.

Anyway, standing in front doesn't mean I think I'm better than Raiden Mei. I just need to keep a normal mindset. These messy things are irrelevant for now. This is undoubtedly my daily life.

……

The boy pressed his forehead and breathed softly, pulling his thoughts back from who-knows-how-far away. He kicked away all those shadows that should never have appeared in his life with Raiden Mei, whether male or female, intimate or stranger, as he had promised to travel and spend time with her—his eyes, which he opened again, were now free of those distractions.

Although I don't know why, and I can't find any reason why these thoughts are arising, I have a strange feeling that it's impolite to think about anyone other than Mei at this time.

Now, the focus is more on fully experiencing the haunted house, and the slightly relaxed fingertips once again tightly grip the girl's small hand.

As delicate and fragile as a flower petal, yet this very fragility allows her to send the staff working in the haunted house to the hospital with a single punch while being startled.

This is also why the boy chose to stand in front of the girl. It wasn't because he was worried that the girl would be frightened or faint, but simply because he was worried that she might accidentally make an attack and hurt innocent staff members while being stimulated—the physical abilities of a Herrscher's body are incomparable to those of humans.

To prevent innocent migrant workers from getting a month-long hospital stay, Jiang Cheng had no choice but to put his hands behind his back, take the initiative to explore the way, and be the first to overcome any potential dangers.

This place does indeed appear extremely eerie. Creating horror is something humans excel at, and the act of pretending to be supernatural has existed since ancient times.

Even though the changing times have rendered the methods of the last century somewhat clumsy, the basic analysis of fear had already been completed long ago.

The root of it is the unknown, the incomprehensibility brought about by darkness. It is precisely because we do not know what will happen, and our emotions are provoked by the excessive silence, that we feel our scalp tingling and frighten ourselves.

Even the slightest breeze can be imagined as something terrifying. The higher one's imagination, the more efficient the mental constructs become. This haunted house takes this mental construct to the extreme. So far, I haven't encountered anything particularly scary or bloody. Instead, there's the ever-present cool breeze and the occasional ear-piercing sound like fingernails scraping glass.

……

"Don't worry, there are no ghosts in this world..."

"At least the one in front of us is someone else in disguise."

The answer after hesitation was subtly unreliable, but the boy, who usually had a smattering of knowledge about everything, was stumped this time.

Although Jiang Cheng wanted to give the answer that there were no ghosts, it was only because there were holy wills, souls, and consciousnesses that existed independently in the world.

Well……

That doesn't seem quite right either.

In a world where everything can be explained by decay, it would be absurd to say that there are no ghosts or monsters at all.

Despite having inherited some of the knowledge from the Spiral Hero—Vilvie, her thoughts were now blocked by talk of gods and ghosts.

Perhaps it was because the girl studied too many different things; apart from a small portion required for her job, most of her knowledge came from her own lifestyle habits.

In a world in ruins, things like souls cannot be evaluated using normal language. Thorough research on them is almost impossible for humans to achieve; perhaps only beings at the level of the End can gain a deep understanding of them.

Jiang Cheng could only remain vague at this moment, letting his actions speak louder than words—he continued walking towards the shadows, towards the pre-arranged exit of the haunted house. The room was eerily quiet, with only the occasional strange sound of wind. His eyebrows and eyes drooped slightly, unlike the ease he had shown when facing the wind earlier.

Until a ray of light flashed at the edge of the ray, as if the white bones were reflecting a faint light, the heartbeat subconsciously slowed down.

"Eh……"

Watch your feet.

……

As a Herrscher's physical body, the enhanced physical abilities and enhanced vision allowed the skeleton made of special plastic to be seen from the darkness. It was currently standing to the left, triggered by a mechanism stepped on by the toes. It suddenly popped out from the openings on both sides and was illuminated by a ghostly light from above, designed just like that of the underworld.

It has been specially aged, and you can even see the bones that once had the texture of flesh and blood suddenly appearing at the side of the leg. You can vaguely make out the tips of the thick white metacarpal bones that are about to touch the calf under the school uniform pants.

Despite being a design from the last century, the instantaneous launch and the resulting primal aversion to skeletal remains, coupled with the shock of an intrusion into one's vision, can still be enough to make even the most timid person jump in fright.

This kind of fright has nothing to do with strength, because essentially these frights all stem from scaring oneself, and one can always scare oneself.

Only a sufficiently firm mind can shield oneself from distractions. The only problem is that a firm mind is precisely what the young man has always lacked.

So much so that when the eerie white bones appeared, and even the claws were about to touch his feet, Xinghai Xielu was just a hair's breadth away from descending, and the entire haunted house was just a hair's breadth away from falling into the black hole.

In that instant when no one knew it, his dark eyes flashed with the trajectories of starlight in the night, forming a cross-shaped pupil.

The symbol of the Herrscher, even when resisting becoming an apostle of God, is still displayed on this body that has already been engraved.

However, the ability to control oneself is ultimately stronger. The restraint from being a Herrscher ensures that no matter what happens, one will not harm others unnecessarily, unless it is a fight to the death and one has to go all out.

It's not that difficult yet; it's just a skeleton gleaming with an eerie light, and from any angle, it doesn't seem like there's anything special about it...

what……

It is indeed a little scary.

Just a little bit.

In the end, it's just a fake. Even if there are some real demons or monsters, we can just use the zeroth law to crush them into basic matter.

The shimmering blue starlight in Jiang Cheng's eyes dissipated, and the confidence given by the strength in his body had dispelled his fear. He subconsciously relaxed his fingers, but before they could even separate by a millimeter, he was once again taken by the initiative.

As if to express her dissatisfaction at being abandoned, the girl's fingertips, softer than silk, wrapped around her palms with both sides.

"Jiang Chengjun, please don't let go under these circumstances."

"—I can be scared too."

……

She tilted her head slightly, her subconscious attempt to explain herself caught in her throat—a previously unseen expression appeared in those mysterious and tranquil eyes, like the deep sea. The girl, whom she had only ever heard a few lines of dialogue from behind a screen, was now right in front of her. The wind blew her shiny purple hair in free arcs, and her slightly puffed-up cheeks showed her dissatisfaction.

Even with only a faint, dim light, which is more about creating a terrifying atmosphere, one can still feel everything happening in the girl's heart at this moment.

She could even clearly see her own face reflected in those deep purple pupils, and her usual calmness at this moment seemed more like ruthlessness.

At least in those tearful eyes, which seemed to have just rained and were still moist, one could see the girl's tender emotions.

A well-behaved, gentle, and reserved woman, even when expressing her dissatisfaction, prefers to use this subtle way to understand her feelings on her own.

For some reason, the boy felt that he needed to take some time to sort out all his feelings about Raiden Mei.

However, compared to these things that should all be returned to the end of today anyway, there are things that are far more important than anything else to do now.

"sorry."

"I promise I won't do it again next time."

……

The gentle girl didn't utter any words like "Do you want a next time?" Perhaps the mere fact of receiving a response was enough to offset the panic she felt at that moment when her finger was pulled away, as if she were being abandoned by the boy, abandoned by the last, only ray of light.

Such remarks are merely attempts to be clever; they are deliberate provocations to demonstrate and ensure one's superior status over the other party.

This kind of thing, besides making Jiang Cheng feel dissatisfied and nervous in order to refute his harsh remarks, does nothing to achieve any other effect.

It's like those ridiculously incomprehensible questions like, "If I and your mother fell into the water, who would you save first?" or "If you were married to someone else and saw me one day, would you choose to cheat on them?"

Essentially, it's about wanting to control the situation and taking pleasure in hurting your lover, so they deliberately create problems where no matter what choice you make, it's wrong.

Perhaps some people are simply afraid, unaware of how much the other person loves them, so they deliberately use this method to test the other person again and again.

Because those who create such topics are mostly not that stupid; they realize that if someone can continue the conversation along with this topic, it is essentially a form of accommodation, using the degree to which others accommodate them to prove their own status.

Feelings shouldn't be tested in the first place. If you don't even have confidence in the relationship, you should find a way to regain that confidence and prove that you are capable and qualified to stay by his side. If you don't even have that much courage, then why not just leave?

Love is never a one-sided indulgence. If you want the other person to make sacrifices for you, you must make sacrifices first, instead of just waiting for the other person to ask.

There are far too many relationships in this world that fail because people can't express them, relationships that end without a trace, as numerous as the stars in the sky.

It's not a pity if someone like that fails.

Even if I become a loser, there's nothing to say.

Even in light novels and manga, there are far too many stories like this, so many that even Raiden Mei feels nauseous and disgusted.

For a while, I would even avoid romance comics altogether, not wanting to see any of those clichéd plots. I only wanted to read those chuunibyou (adolescent delusions of grandeur) and passionate comics and novels, and transform into a chuunibyou girl.

There's never a rule that the person who speaks first is the loser. If you care so much about your position after starting a relationship, why not sign a guarantee and terms beforehand, discussing the outcome of the relationship like you would discuss business or politics? That would be much more convenient than just waiting around.

If you don't trust the feelings between two people and you don't trust each other, what are you waiting for if you don't use the most convenient terms to bind each other?

Do you have to wait for the other person to admit defeat first, and become humble because of your love, in order to derive pleasure from seeing your lover's pathetic state?

—Raiden Mei wouldn't do that.

……

Huh? Really? .jpg

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This is what a Yuzu chef is like. .jpg

183. Mei: I... am Jiangcheng's first time.

It's just morality, it's just upbringing.

Her upbringing as a pampered young lady did not support her doing this.

A pathological personality is essentially projecting one's own feelings onto others. Like a born simp, a girl who finds happiness in the happiness of others and moves with them is also incapable of such self-centered behavior.

If things really did come to that, the girl would probably resolve everything very quickly, without any hesitation or entanglement—because she would choose to pay the price without hesitation, even if it meant kneeling on the ground in humility, to fulfill the boy's wish.

People with low self-esteem like this are always like this: they always put others first and always put themselves last.