Honkai Impact 3rd, a simulator of lifelong regret!

……

A simple, unwavering silence, an inexplicable atmosphere rising in the stillness. In the absolutely quiet room, without a single sound, the boy stayed by the girl's side, holding her hand, never separating.

The flow of time cannot be estimated because there are no clocks, no sun or moon, as if the passage of time has been stripped away.

Even Jiangcheng seemed to have transformed into a statue, yet it also released its scorching and heavy presence without reservation, just like the sun.

Once captured, one can never escape; as an individual, one will be forever bound to that cage called love.

Only when he finally sensed a certain fluctuation, as if a subtle harmony had been reached, did the boy gently bend down and recount his past.

"Actually... I'm not a hero at all."

"I have also felt inferior, sad, and hesitant... I am not some omnipotent superman, nor a hero prince destined to save him."

"What I experienced was being truly hurt and ignored by the person I love. Even though I really needed someone's care, even though I was her most important family member, she didn't even glance at me."

"At that moment, I was thinking—why? Why? I'm the most important person to you, so why would you rather spend your time on strangers I don't even know, than stop and look at me?"

“Even my birthday felt exceptionally cold. Everyone only cared about him, everyone ignored me, and everyone was casting malice at me, simply because I was her relative and the closest person to her.”

……

The darkness was almost deathly silent, like chaos and a black hole. She had fallen to the very bottom of the abyss, and there was no light that could penetrate her despair. The girl who had fallen into self-destruction should have been completely hopeless. Her heart, which was deep inside, could not be saved by simply reaching out.

Even if he could pinpoint the location, he couldn't dive down; even if he found the direction, he would have already exceeded the limits of his reach. The only princess the prince could save was the one imprisoned in the castle by the black dragon.

If the person named Jiangcheng is really just an ordinary prince, if he has never experienced the trials of another life in the simulator.

This is no longer just a simple consolation.

Instead, it's about tearing open one's own heart to reveal it.

That was the life of a boy named Jiangcheng that did not belong to this point in time; it was a life filled with tragedy, a despair with only a little sweetness as bait.

Everything I had once run away from, cut off, and given up resurfaced in my mind, including my initial contact with Alicia and the indifference I showed her during our journey.

Like everyone else, she suffers malice and is hurt by others for no reason. Alicia's charm is so terrifying that anyone who can get close to her will be envied by others. Her undisguised charm can actually bring peace to war-torn countries and dispel people's thoughts.

A goddess from the heavens above, no one dares to touch her, and they inevitably despise anyone who has the ability to approach Alicia, because even they dare not go up to greet her, so why should others reach out to her?

Even though he was the older brother, once it was discovered that he wasn't their biological son, some people still tried every means to make the boy leave the journey on his own.

In fact, if it weren't for the fear of upsetting Alicia and hurting the girl, the way they persuaded her to leave wouldn't have been so civilized and gentle.

If we can truly empathize, if we have truly experienced similar things, if two different hearts can resonate at a certain moment, and if we can truly see the scenery below the abyss that no one else has seen, then even in the darkness, we can dive down, right?

……

what……

So that’s it.

When she opened her eyes again, they were a brilliant crimson, the scarlet madness gone, and she should have returned to reason and rationality.

The girl simply straightened up once more, gazing at the boy who had never let go of her hand since the beginning, displaying his feelings without reservation.

Gazing into pupils now completely replaced by the dark hues of the starry sky and the deep sea, the slightly upturned corners of her lips convey a willing empathy. Just looking at her makes one feel as if they are about to be completely drawn in and captured by the pressure, from the pressure of billions of tons of deep sea, from the infinitely vast depths of space.

The boy was still the same boy, seemingly unchanged. Even after experiencing a battle for no reason, even after witnessing the self-destruction of a fool, he could still smile, and could still smile at that big fool.

what……

Why can you still smile like that?

Why are you still so far away?

How far do I have to go? How much running do I have to do to catch your hand?

A few more streaks of lightning leaked out, flashing in his pupils and mixed in with his deep purple hair. The noise generated in an instant was like the screams and cries of a thousand birds, and even the bed he was sitting on was turned to ashes in an instant.

The girl, wreathed in lightning, stood in the air, her eyes now back to their normal color, yet her fingertips still wielded the power befitting a Herrscher.

This is something that belongs to Raiden Mei. Negative personality traits only represent incompleteness and non-acceptance, not that the ability can be stolen by others.

Everything that is happening now is simply the girl's own self-destruction; no one else has intervened, and no one can decisively change the outcome.

Can not accept.

unacceptable.

Just seeing that seemingly perfect, otherworldly smile evokes intense dissatisfaction, as if an unreasonable, self-destructive rage is burning within—because that excessive perfection makes it impossible to grasp, just as an absolutely smooth sphere can never be held.

A boy who is too perfect is simply unapproachable and unattainable, just like the sun, which can be seen at any time but cannot even be touched.

That light was so magnificent, so intense, bringing warmth to the world and dispelling all shadows, yet it was given equally to everyone.

In the dark, damp crevices, some mice always hope to monopolize the warmth of the sun, raising their heads and gazing longingly at the distant radiance, hoping that this beauty will belong to them alone, and stay only by their side.

"Jiang Cheng...why, why can't you be a useless piece of trash? Why can't you become incompetent and unable to do anything?"

"If that's the case, then I definitely have a reason to stay by your side, a reason to take care of everything about you, to hug you, and to help you."

"yes……"

"As long as you're a piece of trash, that's fine."

"Isn't it enough that you're a piece of trash?"

"Ahhh!! It took me so long to understand something so simple. If I didn't want you to go out, all I had to do was break your legs, right?! If you didn't even have hands, wouldn't I have to feed you by hand?"

……

Her malice was almost undisguised, and her increasingly exaggerated lips resembled those of a yandere villain in an anime, an evil female cadre who had her eye on the male lead.

The flashing lightning, along with the manic voice, seemed to be more eye-catching than the scarlet, its extreme purple light.

The first reaction anyone would have upon seeing this scene is an instinctive urge to distance themselves from and escape the madman. This instinct, buried in their genes, is the age-old instinct to avoid the mentally ill—just as one feels desolate when waking up at dusk, in ancient times, people moved with their tribes, and waking up to dusk meant being abandoned.

The sadness that washed over me in that instant, the melancholy that flowed into my heart like rain, was not merely the pain and resentment that followed being abandoned, forsaken, and discarded.

More likely, being abandoned means death itself, and a lone human being is incapable of living in a world teeming with wild beasts.

It doesn't matter...

It doesn't matter.

This smile was far too kind compared to Mebius's.

Even after witnessing such a cruel truth, the only thought that arose was the possessive desire to break her legs. She is indeed too gentle.

Given that anyone would feel extreme anger, and it wouldn't be an exaggeration to feel a desire to destroy the world, the girl named Raiden Mei is merely a bit yandere, only thinking about breaking her own legs and arms. No matter how you look at it, she cannot be said to be dangerous.

So there's no need to run away.

There's no need to stay away.

Even moving is pointless.

Jiang Cheng remained calmly in place, offering no reaction whatsoever. Even the color in his eyes did not change. His gently raised eyebrows revealed a smile that was the instinct of life when seeing something it loved.

Like a fairy who once existed in the world, she naturally smiled when she saw what she loved and liked.

……

233. Just trust me.

It wasn't that he was so arrogant as to think that Raiden Mei could never harm him, or that even the Herrscher of Thunder posed no threat to him.

That's far too arrogant. There's no life form in this world that would dare to call itself a Herrscher, and it would never pose a threat to me under any circumstances.

Perhaps only the final cocoon can do that.

Even so, it is still possible for the Heralds to interfere to some extent.

There is only one reason why he still smiles at the girl, and that is all there is to it.

"—You won't hurt me."

……

With just one sentence, the high and mighty Queen of Thunder went limp, her slender fingertips finally drooping helplessly, trembling as if her bones had been ripped away, until she finally lost control of her body and fell to the ground.

The Herald, who was limp and collapsing, was capable of easily wielding his power and transforming into thunder, yet he sat helplessly on the ground like a lump of mud.

It was as if it were a rewrite of last night; they were sitting blankly on the ground, and even the expressions on their faces were remarkably similar—the collapse of having lost everything.

Tears welled in the corners of her eyes, tinged with the pearly red of a Herrscher, and fell gently, their sorrow overwhelming, causing her beautiful pupils to lose all color.

The slender fingertips gripped the ground, the distinct knuckles trembling slightly, proving the effort, proving the unfolding of conflicting and contradictory forces, the hand fragile, like that of a seriously injured patient.

For the first time, her lips, which had always served as a barrier between her pearly white teeth during her melancholy or emotionally charged periods as a girl, were not caught in the middle. This was because her sharp canine teeth had pierced her delicate flesh in the very first instant, leaving bright red marks. This was not a mere act; it was real blood. The biting behavior was truly beyond instinct and had caused her harm.

Can't do it...

Can't do it at all.

How could I possibly hurt Jiangcheng?!

……

The yandere and madness she displayed just now seemed to be merely a mask she wore to ward off others and instill fear, just as a hedgehog grows quills to protect itself from harm, wraps itself up in a ball, and points its sharp edges at the outside world, seemingly believing that this way it will not be hurt.

What can those spikes possibly stop?

What can you hide from by wrapping yourself up in a ball?

Driven by the malicious desire to touch, even a spiky ball made of steel cannot stop human desires—weapons born of fear ultimately crumble as easily as a tower built of sand.

There is no minimum requirement for staging a lament for a sinner, because no problem or fault lies with the boy, but only with a sinner.

They didn't even have the ability or the right to forcibly possess these things, because it wasn't the boy's voluntary departure, nor did the boy make a firm decision to save the world, even if it meant sacrificing his own body and collapsing.

It was only because of the girl's departure that she foolishly destroyed her good relationship with Benying in just one night, and everything collapsed.

All courage, all strength, all perseverance seemed to have been shattered at this moment. The Herrscher of Thunder, who could easily destroy the world, was ultimately just a self-destructive person who collapsed to the ground.