Honkai Impact 3rd experience, starting with a thousand Herrschers

It was precisely because of this feeling that Mebius kept holding Cheng Xing, because she really felt that if she didn't hold this guy, he would really disappear. This made Mebius, who was already very curious, immediately have an idea. Although it was a small thing like being taken advantage of, it was more important to her because of this strange symptom.

"...Actually, I have a mental illness."

"I knew it! I knew you shouldn't be this mature and capable at your age. So what's your mental illness? Hyperthymesia or something?"

"Dissociative identity disorder, and I suspect there are hundreds of personalities."

"...Go back to the lab immediately, I need to check this carefully."

The two of them, without even having breakfast, changed their clothes and rushed back to the research institute.

Chapter 68: The First Herrscher's Departure

When the two arrived at the research institute, before they could even examine Cheng Xing's physical condition in detail, Klein immediately began her report.

"Doctor, although I really want to know what exactly happened yesterday, the situation is extremely urgent. The mutated individual that appeared yesterday has already caused the destruction of a city. The Firemoth has now launched a full-scale meeting, and I think you need to get involved immediately."

Faced with this urgent situation, Mebius knew that now was not the time to examine Cheng Xing's body, so he immediately went to the data station and joined the upper-level conference call.

As soon as Mebius entered, he saw a group of people arguing fiercely.

"Therefore, under these circumstances, we must use a large number of missiles to flatten that area! We are prepared to use nuclear weapons if necessary; we must kill this extremely dangerous individual immediately!"

"No! What we should be thinking about now is to weaken the enemy's strength as much as possible, and then find a way to capture him. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. This inexplicable natural disaster is undergoing its first major transformation. We must seize this opportunity. Otherwise, if such an anomaly occurs again in the future, are we just going to keep fighting like this? How much land will be left for you to squander then!"

"But we don't have enough capacity to weaken that guy. All the planes we deployed have been intercepted from high altitude by those strange life forms. And because of this strange disaster, it poses an extremely strong threat to humanity. All the planes we deployed were unmanned machines, and these unmanned machines are no match for those beasts!"

"Besides bombarding that area with missiles, tell me what other ways there are to weaken that monster!"

Different factions within the United Nations were arguing incessantly, while the representatives of the Moth of Flames watched coldly from the sidelines, one of whom noticed that Möbius had joined the call at this moment.

He immediately perked up and shouted, "All we know right now is just speculation. Luckily, Dr. Mebius from our organization is the most knowledgeable person in this field. Let her explain what this disaster is all about."

Then Mebius's small screen instantly took over the entire main screen, and everyone could clearly see her standing in front of the camera with a frown, while behind her stood several researchers who looked like assistants.

Mebius took a deep breath, knowing that she had to say something at this moment. She began to describe the various changes brought about by the natural disaster of the Collapse, telling them how incomprehensible and terrible this disaster was.

Cheng Xing stood calmly at the back, listening to Mebius and the higher-ups talk about the Honkai, while he himself pondered a very troubling question.

“Since I was a child, I have felt like I was being guided forward from behind. Many times when I am doing things, I always feel like I can hear someone pointing me in the right direction. And when I was finally able to see people, it was two years before that disaster... If it really was because of the Honkai... that means the world had already experienced the Honkai several years ago.”

"From what I heard last night, those people all called themselves losers, constantly heading towards the abyss of destruction. Yet they firmly believed that I could change everything, that I could do things they couldn't. Dissociative identity disorder can indeed cause such inexplicable delusions, but if I really had split into so many personalities, I would definitely not be standing here so quietly right now. Is this dissociative identity disorder, or am I just suffering from delusions?"

"No, that's impossible. I should have realized that last night when I carried Dr. Mebius for such a long distance and still didn't feel any significant physical damage or wear and tear."

"I am also transforming into that so-called special individual."

"So that means... let's assume, let's assume that everything I saw yesterday wasn't a delusion, and everything they said was real... plus that inexplicable sense of familiarity... my consciousness isn't complete right now. I must be missing some memories, no, I might even be saying that my past memories could be fabricated."

"My current identity, body, emotions, and even past memories may all be fake."

After reaching this conclusion, Cheng Xing did not feel any strong shock or sense of unreality; he felt a strange... calmness.

It was as if he had known this outcome all along.

"Therefore, in conclusion, it is unlikely that we can eliminate it while preserving the body of that particular individual. So the best thing to do now is to use all of humanity's weapons to kill it."

After hearing about the incomprehensible infectiousness of the collapse, those who had originally wanted to preserve the body of that particular individual finally agreed to the hardliners' argument.

Subsequently, numerous destructive missiles, embodying the culmination of human ingenuity, were launched into the sky and bombarded the designated area.

Accompanied by endless flames, that area was reduced to scorched earth.

People currently do not know whether that particular individual has been eliminated; they can only wait until the subsequent changes are over before sending drones to investigate further.

If even this overwhelming barrage of missiles fails to eliminate this guy, then perhaps the only option left is to deploy the most terrifying weapons.

Fortunately, after the drones explored the area for a day, no one found the special creatures. And after sending soldiers in, no one was found to have mutated or died for no reason.

This cataclysmic disaster has barely come to an end.

After some discussion, people named that special individual.

The Lawyer.

As the soldiers explored the ruins, one of them discovered a blue crystal, like a bright gem fallen into the dust. Curious, he reached out to touch it, only to be met with horrified looks from his comrades.

Purple patterns lit up on the man's body, and then, amidst the soldier's terrified screams, his body underwent an extremely powerful mutation, transforming him into a white-purple monster.

Tank-class Honkai Beast.

Chapter Sixty-Nine: The Crow and the Snake

The monster that the soldier transformed into did cause some trouble, but even so, it couldn't withstand the barrage of artillery fire and was quickly blasted down by several soldiers carrying specially made individual combat rocket launchers.

Afterwards, many people stared in horror at the dark blue gemstone not far from the corpse. No one was willing to go forward, not even the researchers wearing hazmat suits dared to touch the gemstone.

Finally, equipment was brought in, and the gem, along with the ground beneath it, was placed into a sealed alloy box. It was then transported by machine to an unmanned aircraft. Only after it was transported out did the soldiers breathe a sigh of relief.

After learning about the gem's special characteristics, the higher-ups, after a series of discussions, decided to transport it to Möbius's laboratory.

Incidentally, Mebius has moved from the remote research institute to a research lab in one of the Moth of Fire's bases. As the doctor who knows the most about the Honkai phenomenon so far, the organization has given her a lot of power and money to study the unique characteristics of this gem.

Outside the sealed chamber of the laboratory, Mebius observed the gem that had been removed by the robotic arm through the glass. As she watched the Honkai energy on the instrument display rising exponentially, her eyes gleamed with excitement.

"This gem is spontaneously emitting Honkai energy. Oh, that's the name I gave to the special energy produced by the Honkai phenomenon. This energy has a very strong corrosive and infectious nature. As long as a living organism comes into contact with this energy, there is a high probability that it will mutate and become that kind of silicon-based life."

"It's simply unbelievable! This energy can directly transform a carbon-based life form into a silicon-based life form, and generate a massive amount of energy and incomprehensible changes in body structure out of thin air. This is a special energy that's practically divine. If we humans could perfectly utilize this energy to evolve ourselves, we could break free from our current fragile bodies and become an unimaginably powerful being, or even become gods!"

Möbius's face was filled with a fervent desire for research, a fervor that arose when he saw the possibility of realizing his lifelong dream.

Cheng Xing, as an assistant, continuously helped Möbius study the extent to which Honkai energy erodes the surrounding environment and the physical reactions of organisms when they come into direct contact with Honkai energy.

Klein was doing what he was used to: processing large amounts of residual data from experiments.

Cheng Xing calmly recorded the various changes that occurred when living beings came into contact with Honkai energy. This work seemed to be something he was born with. He didn't even need to conduct experiments to know what changes would occur to a living being after it came into contact with Honkai energy, and he could even know what kind of monsters a living being would become after it came into contact with Honkai.

He could even call out the names of those monsters.

This further confirmed a certain suspicion in his mind: he definitely had a memory that had been deleted or altered.

Or rather, one's present self is definitely not the complete self.

Although he easily accepted the truth of the matter, it inevitably brought a sense of uncertainty about the future. Knowing that everything about him might have been orchestrated by others, he couldn't help but feel this sense of uncertainty.

"What should I do? How should I move forward? Is my path really predetermined? Is there any point in continuing down this path?"

Whenever Cheng Xing pondered these questions, he would force himself to focus on the experiment and his work in order to forget the confusion and bewilderment that made him feel uncomfortable.

To outsiders, this appeared to be his incredibly enthusiastic cooperation with Möbius's various capricious and illogical experiments, and no matter how horrific or bloody the experiment, he could always watch it with a straight face and record it in detail.

This led other researchers who sometimes came to help to describe him as a crow.

They calmly watch a creature die, and then eat its corpse.

Crows are scavengers, and Cheng Xing's current job is to send all sorts of creatures into direct contact with the Honkai, causing them to die and mutate, and then record the process to get the results, which is also like being a scavenger.

Sometimes people wonder if even if a human was thrown in, this guy could record it expressionlessly, without any pity or sympathy.

“Möbius is like a venomous snake; you can tell at a glance that he is a very dangerous person. As for Cheng Xing, at first glance, he seems harmless, but once you observe his work, you will know that he is an extremely cold-blooded guy, just like a crow watching its prey die.”

That's what everyone says in private, which has led to these two being increasingly ostracized within the Firemoth base.

Although Mebius didn't seem to care much, he never went to the cafeteria again.

And Cheng Xing...

"Doctor, I brought you some of your favorite dishes from the cafeteria."

Cheng Xing returned from outside carrying the packed food. He didn't care about other people's opinions or opinions of him, nor did he care about himself. When he went to the cafeteria, some people would leave him in fear. He just went about his business as he pleased.

Anyway, he was never alone.

Mebius didn't respond; instead, he was asleep on the table, probably having only slept for a few hours last night.

Cheng Xing put the food aside, checked the clock, and made sure that there was still about an hour and a half left before the lunch break, so she could sleep a little longer.

Although the so-called work and rest schedule was arranged by the PhD student, since it had already been set, neither of them would break the rule. Even if they had been busy for a long time yesterday, they would still arrive at the lab as scheduled the next day.

Cheng Xing hadn't been there long when she heard some commotion outside, and then she saw the two sisters arrive.

"Doctor, I bought the milk tea you asked me to buy... Oh, why is the Doctor asleep? Didn't you just ask me to buy milk tea?"

Danzhu looked at Mebius, who seemed to be fast asleep, with a strange expression.

"Let's put the milk tea aside for now. If there's nothing else, let's head out so as not to disturb the doctor's sleep."

Just as Cheng Xing was about to leave, Dan Zhu suddenly asked a question.

"I've been wanting to ask you something lately, but you're busier than any of us, so I haven't had a chance. Now that I have some free time, I wanted to ask you: Why are you so actively helping Dr. Möbius?"

As if sensing something, Möbius turned his head and then continued to sleep.

"Because the doctor needs my help."

Cheng Xing said this.

"Sigh, but because of this, your reputation outside has become very bad. Everyone says you are a cold-blooded scavenger."

"So what? Let them reject me if they want. I'm not alone anyway."

As Cheng Xing said this, he glanced at the old man smoking by himself in the corner.

Mebius turned his head again.

Chapter Seventy: Unwilling to Disappear

The experiment was unusually halted today because the higher-ups, in order to check the progress of the experiment, specifically called Dr. Möbius into the conference room for a discussion.

Klein accompanied them inside as an assistant in data organization and reporting, while Cheng Xing stayed in the lab to handle some follow-up matters.

He was now standing in that room without any protective gear, the room that contained some unknown gem left behind after the death of the Herrscher.

He had deliberately sent all the other researchers away and locked the current laboratory door to ensure that no one could enter while he was conducting human experiments.

Strange, there's no one else here, so the subject of the human experimentation... that's right, it's himself.

Cheng Xing was directly exposed to Honkai energy, but unlike the soldier, his body did not undergo rapid mutation and he did not experience the extreme pain caused by the physical transformation. Instead, he felt a sense of exhilaration, as if he were in his own water.

He took a deep breath, but instead of feeling relieved, he felt a heavy sense of inescapable burden.

“I’ve been completely absorbed in my work for the past three months. During these three months, I haven’t allowed myself to think and have focused all my attention on research. But now I have to face this problem: my body can no longer be considered human.”