Honkai Impact 3rd, a simulator of lifelong regret!

Silently, I will spend the rest of the day.

The time of the Pure Land of the Past is not connected to that of the present/outside world, nor is it related to day and night, sun, moon and stars. It is just that the instinct of a former singer in his heart declared that the most suitable time to hold a concert had arrived.

Even though he has become a dead person, no longer connected to the world, and unable to change anything, the memories and reality that he has excessively retained still haunt him.

Subconsciously, Eden raised her head and gazed at the sky, which was paved with information, never changing, always in the most brilliant daylight, always in the romantic twilight, and always a false sky.

Until those beautiful starry eyes suddenly trembled, no longer burning hot, no longer able to make that romance and brilliance eternally flicker, the already solidified gold reflected a stream of light like a shooting star falling from the sky.

……

"Light?"

……

197. Alicia, I beg you.

Light……

They should absolutely not be here.

The light that should never appear here.

Because Paradise doesn't have a definite roof, it's just a world woven from data that never changes and has no concept of time flow; in essence, it's even closer to a place of flowing coffins.

Eden, intrigued by the sound beside her, unconsciously looked up and unexpectedly saw a shooting star coming from the edge of the sky.

It was a touch of pink, flawless like a fairy, gentle yet seemingly indestructible, tearing through the clouds and the atmosphere as it arrived.

Even a paradise not belonging to the human world cannot block this light. It seems not to exist in the sky in a concrete sense, but in an abstract concept that allows everyone to see that miracle that belongs only to the gods simply by looking up, through walls, mountains, rooftops, data, and everything that might obstruct their view.

Even though it has been shattered into endless dust, that radiance, that hope that is within reach, is still within the realm of being felt—it is the unique star power belonging to the boy, something that the girl could never forget, rooted in the deepest part of her body, a place that even her soul cannot adequately describe.

It's even more important than one's own memories, more important than one's own self; even if it meant risking one's life, one would never choose to forget.

Even the Herrscher of Rock cannot completely replicate it; it is a unique Herrscher aura that only one person in this world can possess.

That was a calamity born from the power of the Herald of Jiangcheng, who made a wish upon the stars and the ocean, mixed with the primordial desire.

what……

……

—Is this just another false hope?

Alicia had long been wounded by endless blows, and her delicate, flower-like heart was now riddled with holes.

Nowadays, young girls even have some fear of hope.

I'm afraid of the light that might appear in my sight again.

There is a fear that one day it may become clear that there is room for a turnaround.

It's not that we don't yearn for salvation, nor that we don't yearn for beauty.

It's just that it's impossible. Those who have tarnished the name of Alicia... Herrschers have never been able to be redeemed or to redeem others from the very beginning.

Every ray of light emerges from the abyss.

Every straw they grasped at was a lifeline.

In reality, it's all just an effort to prepare for the next fall—it's precisely because there's a buffer, precisely because there's a clear awareness that you're at a high place, that you feel even more desperate when you realize you're falling.

From the moment the boy left with Vilvie, and the girl lost the most important person in her life for the first time, her fall began.

Choosing to be a voyeur, choosing to be a shameless person, even if it's just closing your eyes while falling, at least your heart won't be so tormented.

The first hope I had came from the fleeting petals of a past life.

He could have saved Velvi from the collapse in just a second, but his hesitation led to the tragedy of the young boy.

The second time I had hope was when I decided to sacrifice myself.

All you need to do is ignore everything and rush in like a wild boar, giving up your life and your desires, only to find that your recklessness renders salvation meaningless.

The third time I offered hope was with encouragement from Virvi.

The other party was willing to become Icarus, to be trampled upon, to use his own body as a stepping stone to get closer to the sun, just to pull the boy out of the abyss.

All I had to do was treat Jiangcheng well and be serious, but because of my own cowardice, I let hope slip through my fingers.

the fourth time……

the fifth time……

I've lost count of how many times this has happened.

Countless times, my hopes have been extinguished by my own hands.

Perhaps, before the boy left, if he had simply had a proper heart-to-heart talk like an adult, instead of foolishly letting Jiang Cheng, who had already lost his emotions, continue to act as the leader and the older brother, and letting things develop as they were, things wouldn't have come to this.

Jiang Cheng is clearly the one who needs help.

Jiang Cheng is clearly the one who needs to be cared for.

Jiang Cheng was clearly the one in dire straits, struggling desperately in despair.

Yet I am still so incompetent. As someone who can swim, I need someone who is already drowning in the sea to risk swallowing more water and dying faster by pushing myself up again and again.

How stupid.

How utterly incompetent!

How ridiculous.

Anyone in the world can hate fate and God when they encounter tragedy or are treated unfairly, but you absolutely cannot hate yourself, because everything you are in now is the result of your own repeated abandonment of hope and destruction of beauty. It is an ending you created with your own hands!

so funny.

I can't do anything.

I clearly can't do anything.

They'll only mess things up at every crucial moment, and even if they have the ability to change fate and tear up the story, they'll still make things worse.

It's as if this ability to change fate simply makes tragedy more tragic, and even the act of changing tragedy becomes a source of amusement for those in positions of power.

A play, a third-rate and boring farce performed by the most ridiculous clowns.

—I can't do anything anymore.

Because even the simulation has ended.

—I don't have a childhood sweetheart named Jiang Cheng.

There's no chance left to rewrite it.

There is no one named Jiang Cheng in the world; the story of that boy has ended.

The story has come to an end. No matter the ending, we can only watch helplessly as bystanders, feeling sadness, pain, and grief.

If we never gave hope, wouldn't it be less painful to lose it?

If there were no expectations, would the fall not be so sad and painful?

If we never see the light, then is the darkness not so unbearable?

Since we can't do anything, then we won't do anything.

Since nothing can be changed, then let's not change anything.

So the girl let herself fall, letting herself get infinitely closer to darkness.

It seems that as long as you close your eyes, you can no longer see the darkness so close at hand; it seems that as long as you cover your ears, you can no longer hear the constant weeping.

……

If only that were true.

If it were truly possible to simply bury one's head in the sand like this, to obscure all sight, to ignore all senses, and to let a gust of wind blow away a heart already shattered into sand, then those who no longer deserve the name Alicia wouldn't be so sad, right?

There's no such thing as a free lunch in the world.

There's no such thing as stopping something just by closing your eyes.

Realistic games don't have a pause function, and neither do emulators; at most, there's a little room for thought when making choices.

Even with my eyes closed.

You can also see the pain of those memories echoing before your eyes.

Even if you cover your ears.

You can still hear the sorrow in your heart screaming and wailing.

The experiences with my childhood are unforgettable memories, deeply etched into my soul, each word imbued with rich blood and bone.

Even though it only brings pain, even though this disharmony makes the choice to die in silence impossible, whenever Alicia tries to tear it apart and forget it, there are always young girls rushing out, clinging tightly to those memories, throwing their bodies onto them to protect and stop her, as if holding a precious treasure, refusing to let go.

—That was me in the past.

The body was creaking and making a sound like it was breaking.

But the girl's long eyelashes still trembled slightly, and her ashen, colorless pink pupils couldn't help but open.

"..."

"Eh?"

"It's... a shooting star?!"

……

……

……

During his spare time while serving as a guard, Kevin casually opened a bucket of instant noodles and was savoring it; Qian Jie remained oblivious to his own atmosphere and displayed the arrogant and haughty demeanor of Aponia; Kosmo wanted to say something to the Apostle, but couldn't utter a single word and could only shut himself off.

Even the "memory bodies" of Velvi, Gretchen, Padofelis, Hua, Mebius... everyone caught this light.