I said you are all war criminals

In his dream, he was back in high school, sitting in the back row of a classroom, boredly flipping through a comic book. Outside, the sun shone brightly, the shadows of trees swayed, and in his ears, he could hear the teacher's dull lecture and the drowsy breathing of his classmates. Everything was so familiar, yet with a sense of unreality and alienation.

He suddenly realized that this wasn't his high school. His high school wasn't always so sunny and bright. And why was he dreaming about high school? He had clearly graduated from college several years ago.

“Because this is my high school.”

A gentle voice sounded in his ear, with a hint of smile. Bai Ye turned around suddenly and saw a red figure standing beside him.

It was Kita Ikuyo, the character he controlled in the simulator. She was wearing a school uniform, her red hair gleaming in the sunlight like a freshly cut ruby.

"You've heard the saying, 'What you think about during the day, you dream about at night.' Right now, all you can think about is me."

"My mind is full of the Kanesada's powerful armor, don't slander me!"

Hakuno was furious.

Kita smiled again.

"You always fall in love with anime characters easily, right? Just like me, just like Ryo-senpai."

She put her fingers to her lips and used her fingertips to lift the corners of her mouth, bringing a smile.

"But we're not characters in anime anymore. Not me, and not Ryo-senpai either."

It was a delicate and endearing smile.

"—What do you think of Ryo-senpai, Mr. Hakuno?"

Hakuno woke up.

He rubbed his cheeks and looked at the light screen beside him to make sure he was still dreaming.

Faced with the question of "Do you want to continue simulating?" from the simulator, Bai Ye first slapped his face, and then put this strange dream behind him.

"Okay, continue the simulation!"

You said you like the characters in anime...

There is no difference, I fuck real women the same way!

Chapter 18 Rainbow Summer Twenty-five Years Later

Hongxia stood up from the hot spring filled with white dust.

Water droplets slid down her long, soft hair, reflecting the afterglow of the setting sun, shimmering with golden light. She shook her head lightly, scattering the water droplets around her hair, and then stepped onto the ground beside her.

Like the hot springs, the ground was covered with white dust.

That was a long, long time ago, in the dust called "nuclear snow".

Hong Xia looked around. The trees surrounding the hot spring had withered, the once vibrant green now covered in relentless dust. In her prosthetic head, she vividly remembered this place twenty-five years ago. This was once one of the most beautiful forests in the world... Now, nothing was left.

Ever since Kita gave the manufacturing method of the "Sword Helmet" to the world for free twenty-five years ago, the world has gone crazy.

Hongxia originally thought that they would unite and take action against Kita, who changed the world... However, the facts were completely the opposite.

After experiencing the power of swords and helmets, the countries attacked each other without hesitation.

The flames of war spread rapidly, and human greed and fear drove them to constantly create new swords and helmets, which became tools of destruction. The forest where Hong Xia and Liang lived also became a victim of war at that time, and was dropped with a nuclear bomb by a madman from an unknown country.

Kita didn't even take any action, and the entire earth was plunged into endless war.

…That was a long time ago.

Hongxia left the hot springs, white dust rising from her feet like a miniature avalanche. She reached the edge of a cliff. Below this cliff was a river, a popular summer retreat for the band members. Hongxia remembered Liang once trying to teach Yili how to swim here, but Yili, who couldn't swim, tackled him. The two of them got into a fight in the water, nearly drowning in the ankle-deep river.

And now, there is no river.

"Thinking about it now, those were truly carefree days..."

Hongxia pulled out an old photo from her pocket. The four girls in the photo were smiling brightly, and the breath of youth seemed to overflow from the yellowed photo paper. It was taken after the band's successful live performance, which was located in the back alley of the live house [starry]. Kita was wearing a second-hand lolita dress that she had found from somewhere, a cat ear headband on her head, and exaggerated smoky makeup on her face, which looked completely out of place. Ryo was still as handsome as ever, wearing a black motorcycle leather jacket. Hongxia remembered that it seemed to be a birthday gift from Hakuno to Ryo. Ichiri was dressed like a good girl, standing behind Kita, smiling a little timidly.

Only Hongxia herself, wearing the most ordinary T-shirt and jeans, stood at the edge, like an outsider who didn't fit in.

Hongxia looked at the photo of the band taken by Bai Ye and sighed slightly.

"It was me who suggested forming a band, but in the end, I was the one who felt most like an outsider..."

Of course she would feel like an outsider.

The memories from the future have been forcing Hong Xia to prepare for the sad future early.

Hongxia's fingers gently stroked Kita's face in the photo.

In the future memories that Hongxia obtained, it was Liang, who had Hongxia's favorite musical taste and could play the most beautiful bass music, who destroyed the band, destroyed their dreams, and destroyed the world.

That was an extremely tragic memory.

From birth, people are burdened with massive loans, and everything is taken away from them. For the rest of their lives, even thinking costs money, and even the price of emotion is exorbitant. The distinction between humans and robots has become blurred, and almost all natural people have lost their human rights... Mega-corporations like the Yamada Corporation squeeze every penny they can, and even the air they breathe is taken from the noses of ordinary people.

It's really disgusting.

In order to prevent the world from developing like that, Hong Xia tried her best to stop Liang and racked her brains to change the fate of the world.

She thought she had changed the fate of the world.

But unexpectedly, the world has become worse.

Liang is just a waste who is greedy for beauty in this world, and the one who destroys the world is Kita Ikuyo.

At this moment, the roar of an engine came from afar, breaking the silence in the valley. Hong Xia looked up and saw a black motorcycle speeding towards them.

The motorcycle did a beautiful tailspin a few steps away from Hongxia, coming to a steady stop. Liang then removed her helmet and tossed her neatly cropped hair. Even though a few gray strands fell from her blue temples, she didn't care at all and strode briskly towards Hongxia.

Unlike Hongxia, who has been cyborgized and turned into a non-human machine and transformed into a "sword armor", Liang is already fifty years old this year and looks like an old aunt.

But she still looked heroic when she came riding on the motorcycle.

He really is a guy who can trick little girls into bed at his age.

"Why did you come to a place like this alone?" Liang's tone was full of undisguised concern. Compared to when she was young, she was less sharp and more calm like a mature woman.

Hong Xia didn't answer Liang's question directly. Instead, she looked her up and down, her lips curled up slightly. "Are you still the same as before, drinking and sleeping with different women every day?"

"The only one I like is you, Hongxia." Liang said sincerely.

"Let's stop joking," Nijiya gently stroked her cheek. "You've probably heard... the Iron Cross was also destroyed by Kita. Now the only swords left in this world are me and the first Kanesada, controlled by Kita."

During these twenty-five years, humans have created hundreds and thousands of swords and helmets, each of which can overthrow a country.

Most of those sword armors were destroyed in the attacks between each other. It was not until five years ago, when the last country was declared extinct, that the sword armors and their owners finally no longer needed to fight for their country... Only thirty sword armors were left scattered around the world, barely maintaining the survival of mankind.

At this time, Kita, who had disappeared for twenty years, finally showed up.

One by one, she destroyed the legendary swords and helmets that survived World War III, just like a glutton devouring delicious food one by one.

I'm afraid this is Kita's plan.

Through war, Kita selected opponents that could satisfy him and destroyed them all.

"Now that she's finished eating all the other delicacies, she wants to eat me."

Hongxia said this to Liang.

"I had anticipated this day would come."

This is not a joke.

Twenty-five years ago, Nijiya knew this day would come. Just as she had killed Yamada Ryo, who capitalized everything, she would one day kill Kita Ikuyo, who had started the war.

I'm afraid this is the reason why Hongxia exists in the world.

To write epitaphs for friends who have gone astray.

"So, you want to come with me?"

Hongxia asked her master whether he wanted to die with her.

In response to this question from his sword, Ryo used his usual joke.

"Anyway, let's get to bed."

Chapter 19: Liang's Farewell

【A night of tenderness.】

[The next day, you and Hongxia set off for Washington, D.C., USA.]

On the light screen, the text of the simulator flowed.

Liang snored loudly.

In fact, alcohol does not affect dreams.

Perhaps a materialist would say that dreams are nothing more than hallucinations caused by the interaction of hormones in the brain... but at least the dreams created by the simulator are not like that.

This is a temple of the soul, unrelated to reality and the body.

In the same dream, hundreds of hours had passed on Bai Ye's side, but less than an hour had passed on Liang's side. This wasn't because time flowed faster on Bai Ye's side, but because time was inherently fuzzy in dreams.

So, the reason why Liang was drunk was not because her body was drunk, but because Liang refused to believe that this was real, she thought she was drunk.

Therefore, Liang was drunk, but also sober.

This is not pretending to be drunk, nor is it a deliberate performance, but a "sober drunkenness" that only exists in dreams.

It could be said that although Liang was drunk, she was fully aware of everything and could wake up at any time. Of course, Liang also had a clear understanding of everything she had seen during the simulation during that hour.

——As for the choice to expose lust, that was the truth spoken after drinking, probably.

[Please note that the following plot is the final plot of this simulation.]

【Do you want to adjust your equipment? 】

【Do you want to do other work? 】

【Should I say goodbye to Hongxia? 】

The bubbles on Liang's nose burst.

Her eyes opened and her voice was no longer drunken.

“…Farewell.”

Just from this one word, Liang already knew that Hongxia would die in the subsequent plot.

Don't underestimate the new otaku's familiarity with comic plots. In the past few years, Liang has read hundreds of comic stories eagerly, and she still understands the general plot flow.

same.

Liang had long known that this couldn't just be a dream.

This is a dream, but also some kind of supernatural phenomenon.

This simulation is likely the "future".

...And precisely because of this, Liang had to get drunk and had to face this simulation with such a nonsensical attitude.

Liang would never allow a dream to determine his entire life.

"Isn't it a little too late to say goodbye now?"

As a result, Liang was almost drunk and messed up the entire simulation.

If that's the case, getting serious only at the very end is pointless. Perhaps, instead of waking up like this, it might be better to stay drunk...

【Should I say goodbye to Hongxia? 】

Liang looked at the ceiling of the cell without saying a word.

She probably understood that this cell was a "dream," Yamada Ryo's "true heart." This meant that she was bound by something, like a prisoner in a cell.

"Say goodbye? What's the point? We're all going to die anyway."

Liang muttered, as if talking to the air, or as if talking to himself.

The light screen did not move with Liang's gaze, but Liang could still see the words on it.

【Should I say goodbye to Hongxia? 】

On the screen, the cold words seemed to be mocking Liang's weakness.

"I just want to have some fun!" Liang propped himself up and gave the screen a middle finger. "Besides, even if we say goodbye, does that change the ending? We're still going to die, aren't we?"

Liang knew that she was making excuses, but she just didn't want to face it.