Humans are in chaos, despicable outsiders.

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"Achoo! Do I have a cold...?"

Imotek, who was planning how to demonstrate his power in the North African operation from the World Serpent's underground base, suddenly sneezed violently.

Chapter 261 The Taste of the Gods Not bad at all! Not bad at all!

"The taste of the Void Tree God's needle is quite good~ The needle is quite good~"

Penglai Temple's Jiuxiao sat beside Snow, delivering his victorious post-battle remarks. Snow, having been "tasted" by Jiuxiao, stared expressionlessly at his purple-haired partner, seemingly lost in thought or simply sulking...

—From contemplating and planning the great undertakings and grand vision of human civilization in the distant future, or simply thinking about how long this smug purple-haired guy next to me will have to kneel on the washboard... or perhaps both?

...

"So, you really want to do this... my dear Miss Snow Apocalypse?"

The "Savior" savored the sensory experience shared with the "Apocalypse"... Penglai Temple Nine Heavens, who had logged back in, shook his head vigorously, banishing the scene filled with orange-red aura from his mind, and stared intently at the blonde girl sprawled on the ground.

The golden-haired goddess's body was wrapped in a white robe, and the red marks left by Jiu Xiao remained on her exposed limbs. The pure white robe casually draped over her body, perfectly outlining the girl's beautiful curves, causing Jiu Xiao, who was looking at her, to swallow hard... and blush slightly.

At this moment, Snow seemed to have also shaken off his previous sullen mood, and looking at the slightly blushing Penglai Temple Nine Heavens, he said in a teasing tone:

"Oh dear, you're blushing—what's wrong? Aren't you going to keep sticking to me?"

The girl turned to the side, deliberately revealing a somewhat alluring expression, trying to regain some ground from the now somewhat innocent Miss Jiuxiao... But, well, it seems that Miss Tianqi, who had pinned her to the ground and kissed her, hasn't completely disappeared yet? — Upon hearing this, "Jiuxiao" immediately sprang up, and Miss Tianqi, having tasted the sweetness, immediately pushed Miss Savior offline. Her scarlet pupils were like those of a big bad wolf smelling blood, and she pounced on her.

"Great, great! I've never encountered such a strange request before!"

"????! Get out of my way—!"

After another round of passionate lovemaking, Snow lay limp and exhausted on the ground, glaring angrily at the savior lady before him. Meanwhile, the satisfied Apocalypse Lady used her invincible offline escape technique, leaving the blonde goddess girl, who couldn't find her, seething with hatred.

"Um... it's still the same question, Snow, are you serious?"

Jiuxiao cautiously looked at the puffed-up golden-haired dumpling in front of him and asked tentatively...

"certainly!!!"

The golden-haired goddess stared at Penglai Temple's Nine Heavens with an expression that said, "I'm angry, you're all going to get what's coming to you."

"Ah... even if I've already set a bad example, what should I do?"

Jiuxiao wore a somewhat helpless yet anxious expression, as if trying to persuade the girl to give up this almost impossible plan.

“We can’t stay with them forever, Snow. Helping them cross the trial of the tree is enough... why be greedy and go any further…”

"This is the choice 'she' made, this is the decision 'we' made together... In the Nine Heavens, every god holds his own 'law'... Even the Honkai Will, which exists almost like a mechanism, has its own 'trial principle'... You know this very well."

Even if we are not bound by mission or responsibility, we still have our own pursuits and our own obsessions, which come from our instinctive will.

Snow glanced at the nine heavens before him...

"Just like you said when you fought with me and what you stated... you, who hold the doctrines of salvation and destruction—in a sense, don't care about what happens after salvation or destruction..."

"Salvation is salvation, destruction is destruction... Don't care what happens after salvation, or what happens after destruction, because most things are actually just fleeting moments in your eternal life."

"Even when he just beat me up, it was only because of our close relationship..."

“No… I care, Snow Apocalypse, I care—but I don’t know, I don’t understand how to ensure the continuation of the civilization of the saved, how to guide the survivors of the apocalypse back to the right path.”

"So I pretend to be indifferent and put them out of my mind... I can be a savior, a judge, but I am not a leader..."

"But I am."

The golden-haired god gazed intently at his partner, his expression solemn.

"Nine Heavens, the principle I uphold... is eternal, its name is—existence; what I yearn for is the enduring inheritance and continuation of all things in the world..."

"So, leave it to me... Jiuxiao. You just need to be your savior... to help the other 'me,' to accomplish this eternal great undertaking..."

As you said—let time give us the answer.

Deeper into the sea, the roots of the Imaginary Tree, following the call, found their master. The golden roots gently lifted the girl, gradually carrying her away until she disappeared before the eyes of the heavens...

"Let us meet again at the end of our journey, Penglai Temple, Kujou... after you have truly defeated me, surpassed me, and proven to me—what the path to salvation is..."

"Oh right...you're here to find Bronya and the others, right...?"

"Hmm...They're here...Don't interfere with their journey and trials...my partner."

......

The blonde girl completely disappeared from the sight of Penglai Temple's Nine Heavens, leaving only a golden, glowing world bubble floating in front of Nine Heavens.

The purple-haired girl raised her hand and grasped the peculiar world bubble in her palm, a hint of curiosity in her eyes...

"A journey and trials? What strange puzzles have you left them... Snow?"

The violet eyes cast their gaze into the bubble of the world—

"This isn't what we agreed on—!!!"

Within the bubble of the world, the girls screamed as they dodged the thrusts of a golden spear from a white-haired, golden-eyed Herrscher who resembled Kiana. Meanwhile, the situation of the heroes standing nearby was no better, or rather, they suffered heavy casualties.

As the girl and her companions witnessed the Thirteenth Herrscher's self-sacrifice on her birthday... the final Herrscher soon arrived unexpectedly... The ultimate manifestation of divine punishment was something humanity was powerless to resist; all they could do was stall for time as much as possible, buying time for the survivors to take refuge.

"No... This shouldn't be a dead end for a trial... Hey, Miss Mysterious Voice, are you still there?!"

Bronya's mind raced, trying to figure out where things had gone wrong, while simultaneously calling upon something that had just appeared.

"Of course, I'm here."

"Bronya can request to reopen it—Bronya believes this has become a dead end!"

The girl quickly explained her demands.

"As you wish—"

Chapter 262 Loading save files is part of the strategy game.

"They actually reopened?"

It was the same familiar coffee shop, the same familiar companions. All the physical wounds had disappeared, and only mental exhaustion proved that the girls had just emerged from a fierce battle.

Brownie and Big Hill rubbed their thighs, looked at each other, and gave each other an incredulous look.

"Not only can I load saves, but I can also load them manually... This advantage is definitely mine!"

After confirming that he didn't need to be missing any parts, Brownie seemed to have figured something out and hurriedly prepared to rush outside.

Bronya advised Brownie to calm down. She explained that while they could reload their saves, they hadn't found a way out of the predicament. If things continued to develop the same way, they'd likely remain trapped here...

Bronya grabbed Brownie, who was about to rush out, and pulled her back.

"That white-haired, golden-eyed guy is on a completely different level from us... Is that guy really a Herrscher and not some other weird thing?"

Da Xi'er hugged Xiao Xi'er tightly and gave her a good squeeze, complaining somewhat dejectedly.

"So Bronya requested a restart... If Bronya's guess is correct, we lacked certain conditions to face this final boss, causing her to be in a state of invincibility."

"Of course, Bronya has another theory: this is indeed an ending, a total annihilation, or a partial annihilation, a bad ending... This may also be the true ending of the civilization of the previous era."

"What we need to do is not to complete the game with the existing bad ending, but to create a new side ending."

"You mean, this world bubble is a trial with multiple endings?"

After Bronya's guidance, Brownie, who was also a hardcore gamer, suddenly realized the truth.

“Indeed, before, we were more like bystanders watching the plot unfold until the Herrscher of the End appeared, when we truly became involved.”

"This was not our mistake... We, who were almost completely ignorant of this world at the beginning, naturally dared not arbitrarily interfere with the direction of the story."

Bronya shook her head, indicating that it was not everyone's mistake.

"So, now we know one thing: if we continue to follow the original story trajectory and do not interfere, it will lead to a bad ending."

“Bronya, but if we interfere arbitrarily, Seele thinks it might also lead to a bad ending... The people here don't feel like pre-programmed programs to Seele, but like living, breathing human beings.”

"If we do something wrong, we might be ostracized by the people here."

Short-haired Seele, who was being stroked by Big Seele, also offered her opinion.

“Hmm...Seele is right. Since there is a bad ending for the world bubble itself, we naturally also need to consider the bad ending for our own team.”

"Although we can theoretically reload and revive an infinite number of times right now, nobody wants to try it, right?"

Bronya looked at everyone, and they all shook their heads.

"One clearly defined bad ending scenario, and another possible bad ending scenario involving ourselves, but with unknown triggering conditions... What we need to know now is the variables..."

"What kind of variables will change the current outcome, and what kind of variables will lead us to a worse ending? Hmm... does everyone have any thoughts?"

Bronya mobilized her teammates, choosing to hold a brainstorming session. ⑥ 8,3 7 02, 9 95

“…”

A silence fell over the room, and then at the same moment, everyone looked up and uttered names that had left a deep impression on everyone.

"Alicia!"

"Hmm...it seems everyone is on the same page, so the goal is clear."

Bronya nodded, seemingly having decided on her goal.

"The story, or rather the center of the world bubble, is Miss Alicia."

"That pink fairy lady... we didn't even realize what was happening at her birthday party."

Brownie and Big Hill sighed in agreement.

"Sister Bronya, Seele thinks that Miss Alicia is a good person..."

Short-haired Seele also offered her opinion.

"Yes, Bronya knows... Actually, I think everyone from the Flamemoth group knew back then..."

"In other words, the key variable for passing the level lies in Alicia's death... We need to ensure that the pink fairy girl survives, right?"

Brownie scratched his chin in annoyance, as if he were stuck in some kind of deadlock.

"However... if we directly stop Mr. Kevin and the others from killing Miss Alicia... we might clash with the ideology of the Firemoth itself. Almost everyone there is a victim of Honkai—in other words, if we openly speak up for the Herrschers... we might be the ones who suffer the most."

"No, Brownie, don't be so discouraged... You forgot? Miss Alicia's banquet only invited the Heroic Fusion Warriors of the Firemoth and us, so we had a lot of room to maneuver—after all, at that time, everyone seemed to think that they were unwilling."