I said you are all war criminals

...After all, everyone is living a good life.

"Why don't you go find everyone?"

Ichiri asked again, "Ryo and Kita missed you very much, and Xiangzi also sent you a wedding invitation."

"...You were the ones who left me first, weren't you?"

Hong Xia whispered.

She still didn't look at Yili.

Yili didn't look at Hongxia, but looked at Hongxia's house.

Yili's gaze slowly swept across Hongxia's living room, from the shoe cabinet by the door to the coffee table by the window, from the single sofa to the bare TV wall, finally resting on the polished, almost reflective floor. The simple furniture had hard lines, devoid of life. The unadorned walls, not even a single painting, seemed deliberately erased of any personal presence. The air was filled with the faint scent of disinfectant, not the warmth of home. It was spotless, spotless, without even a speck of dust to be found, unsettlingly clean. This didn't feel like a place where someone lived, more like a cold model apartment, built for show, not for living, a false facade deliberately created to maintain a certain order.

"here……"

Yili paused, "There's no sense of life at all."

"...I'm not a delicate person like Kita."

Hong Xia defended herself.

"Or maybe it's because you know that this life is just a 'passing point' on the journey?"

Ask a question.

Hongxia didn't answer.

So Yili continued talking.

"My holy letter is A, for Absoluteness, which stands for the everlasting existence... Nothing that has ever happened in this world escapes my sight."

Hongxia remained silent.

The second hand of the wall clock made a slight ticking sound.

"I know your past."

Yili said this amid the ticking sound.

"Everything. No, I should say 'everything' of everything."

——Then, Ichiri told Hongxia everything.

Cyberpunk Ronin.

A sword and helmet made from living people.

Gravekeeper of the Wood Planet.

The sinner who prevented human evolution.

These were the former identities of Ichichi Hongxia.

"You keep reincarnating in parallel worlds. Are you trying to find a place to stop, or are you simply unable to stop?"

Yili walked towards Hongxia.

Her steps were neither light nor slow, neither fast nor slow.

If I had to say... yes, those footsteps sounded like the Last Boss's footsteps.

"...I think, Hongxia, you're addicted to saving the world."

——Do you know the savior complex?

The savior complex is a manifestation of excessive motivation to help others. People with a "savior complex" always have a strong sense of mission towards the world or a certain person, and want to help others, make them feel happy, and experience as little hardship as possible... The savior complex is different from common helping behaviors. People with a "savior complex" always imagine the other person's difficulties, magnify the other person's pain and needs, and even sacrifice themselves to satisfy the other person. When the other person refuses help, they will have great emotional fluctuations and still want to interfere in the other person's affairs and try to influence the other person.

To put it in an extreme way.

People with a savior complex will even take the initiative to create disasters to satisfy their need to "save others."

“In a world without crises, what would you do?”

Yili approached Hongxia step by step.

Hong Xia retreated step by step until her back hit the cold wall and she had nowhere to retreat.

If Yili was just talking nonsense, Hongxia could certainly refute it immediately. Although she didn't like arguing, that didn't mean she wouldn't argue with her own reason...

but.

Hongxia knows.

From a certain perspective, what Yili said is right.

"—You've been having dreams lately, dreams about me becoming a bad guy and being killed by you."

The cold wall pressed against Hong Xia's back, bringing a slight discomfort. Hong Xia's breathing became tight, and her heart was beating wildly in her chest. "No, that wasn't a dream, it was a nightmare..."

"A nightmare...?"

Ichiri chuckled, "If that was a nightmare, why were you smiling when you woke up...Hongxia?"

Yili took another step forward, almost touching Hongxia. Hongxia could even smell a faint metallic odor on her, like the odor of some precision instrument running.

"You crave crisis. In this peaceful world, you feel out of place. Subconsciously, you hope for an enemy powerful enough to force you to put on your armor once again and save the world."

"no!"

Hong Xia raised her head suddenly, "I don't... I don't have that kind of thought! I just... I just..."

"Just what?"

Yili pressed on, "Are you just afraid of losing your goal? Afraid of becoming useless in this peaceful world? Afraid of being... abandoned by everyone?"

“We are not that heartless!”

Hong Xia retorted loudly, "Yili, you obviously know that everyone is definitely not that superficial--"

"So,"

Yili said, "It's just the other way around."

"You're afraid of seeing everyone happy."

- Exactly.

Hongxia bit her lip and couldn't speak.

This is why she gradually lost contact with everyone.

"You know that one day the world will end again. So you avoid close interactions with friends, avoid socializing with everyone, avoid everything... You're avoiding it. Because as long as you don't have expectations in the first place, you'll never get hurt again."

Hongxia closed her eyes.

Yili didn't say anything, just held her tightly in his arms.

Hongxia's body stiffened for a moment, then slowly relaxed, burying her head in Yili's shoulder, letting her tears soak her clothes.

This hug doesn't feel like comfort between friends, but more like... possession.

Yili tightened her arms, rested her chin on the top of Hongxia's head, and gently stroked it. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, as if to absorb all of Hongxia's breath into her lungs.

"Hongxia,"

She whispered, "Please stop saving the world."

This is what Goto Ichiri said.

"I know you want to save the world, but... this world doesn't need your salvation."

160

Chapter 160 Yi Di knows Hong Xia.

After walking a mile, Hongxia immediately went into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator.

On the inside of the refrigerator, she used the "spell" she learned from studying cooking over the years to carve a portal. Just by reaching her hand into it, she could teleport her body to the backup hiding place.

to be frank.

Hongxia really doesn't want to use this thing.

After all, everything in this world seems so beautiful.

Goto Ichiri's governance is not as brutal as Yamada Ryo's, and the Quincies and Shinigami do not only bring death like the swordsmen and warriors. Xingge has finally managed the LiveHouse to a good level. Ryo and Kita are no longer busy with work, but can start to entertain themselves like ordinary people... Even Suyo has climbed into Xiangzi's bed.

This world is so beautiful.

Too beautiful to be true.

Hongxia reached her hand into the area on the inner wall of the refrigerator marked with special symbols. A familiar feeling of spatial distortion came over her. Hongxia closed her eyes and let this force swallow her.

When she opened her eyes again, Hong Xia found herself in a dim basement. The air smelled of motor oil and dust, mingled with a faint musty odor, which made her wrinkle her nose uncomfortably. This was one of the shelters she had secretly built over the years to prepare for the end of the world.

In the center of the basement, a massive machine stood silently, like a sleeping steel behemoth. This machine was the culmination of Hong Xia's years of hard work—a machine capable of replacing human bodies. Every part, every screw, was crafted by her own hands. She had imagined countless doomsday scenarios, and this machine was her final weapon.

Hong Xia walked over to the machine, her fingers gently caressing the cold metal casing. This machine was a testimony to her loneliness and a symbol of her paranoia. She had imagined countless times how she would use this machine: when the world was destroyed, everyone perished in the disaster, and only she, relying on this machine, could replace her prosthetic body again and again, continuing to fight, until...

“…It’s time.”

Hongxia turned on the machine.

Just now, Goto Ichiri's reactions were too obvious... Something must have happened to her, or Ichiri was about to do something.

To be honest, Hongxia was a little surprised when Yili first arrived at her house, but everything she did after that was just an act.

When you can control your heartbeat, fear and excitement become physiological processes that can be overcome through willpower. Even memories can be backup thoughts pre-programmed into the brain. Hongxia has never changed her prosthetic body because she wants others to think she's still a normal human. This way, they won't realize she's using her emotions and physiological processes as a tactical deception. Similarly, her life and those disturbing nightmares are also part of this tactical deception. To be precise, this is the 160th attempt in three years.

Hong Xia believed that if she tested them enough, they would reveal their flaws.

Goto Ichiri immediately revealed a flaw.

——If everything will continue to prosper, why would Goto Ichiri come to see Nijigasaki and ask her to [stop saving the world]?

Hong Xia pressed the start button firmly. With a muffled click, the long-dormant steel beast seemed to awaken from its slumber. The complex mechanical structure began to slowly work, emitting a low humming sound, like the heavy breathing of a giant beast. The humming gradually intensified, transforming into a low roar that shook the entire basement. The various indicator lights on the control panel lit up one by one, from dim to bright, like a beast opening its eyes. The already pervasive smell of motor oil intensified, stimulating Hong Xia's sense of smell. At the same time, a faint smell of burning electricity also permeated the air, signaling the full start of the machine.

Then, she shed her clothes piece by piece, the soft fabric sliding down her smooth skin. Her snow-white skin shone in the dim light, like a meticulously crafted work of art. Hong Xia hadn't neglected her training over the years, sculpting her body into this athletic figure. However, her training wasn't confrontational, but rather seemingly harmless exercises like fitness and running. Some might be wary of boxers, but no one would be wary of runners, right?

During the years when Goto Ichiri controlled the world, Hongxia accumulated her strength bit by bit.

Use cooking practice to stock up on a variety of spells.

Prepare props for prosthetic transformation in a place where surveillance cameras cannot see.

Maintaining high-intensity training in a way that won't be guarded.

He shows his inability to adapt to this perfect world and performs a dual performance of decadence and love for the band.

——All this is for today.

“…It would be wonderful if today never came.”

Hong Xia sighed softly, as if talking to herself, or as if she was talking to someone who didn't exist.

She lay on the operating table.

The roar of the machines began again, this time even more intense, shaking the entire basement. Hong Xia closed her eyes as countless robotic arms emerged from beneath the operating table and coiled around her body like cold, venomous snakes. They flashed with a faint blue light and began scanning her body, collecting data for analysis. Hong Xia could feel the cold touch of the robotic arms and the tingling sensation of electricity coursing through her skin.

Then, in Hongxia's pitch-black vision, rows of prosthetic parts appeared. From simple mechanical prostheses to complex biological ones, everything was available. Hongxia's eyes quickly scanned the options, finally settling on one called "Spirit Prosthesis."

Simply put, it's the technology of transforming humans into Zanpakutō... During these years of research, Nijika unexpectedly discovered that the so-called "Zanpakutō" is actually very similar to a "sword armor." And the so-called Shikai and Bankai, like the Yinyi of a sword armor, are actually means of invoking the power of the soul. However, compared to a sword armor forged from the lives of others, a Zanpakutō is like invoking the power of one's own soul.

For Hong Xia, who had forged swords and helmets before, it was not difficult to transform the manufacture of swords and helmets into the manufacture of Zanpakuto as long as she understood the similarities between the two.

Hongxia opened her eyes and wanted to forge herself into a Zanpakuto.

"Begin the operation."

The pain came immediately like a tide.

It wasn't the sharp pain of a knife cutting or burning, but a dull ache that penetrated deep into her bones and shattered her nerves. It was like a rusty file, slowly and firmly scraping every nerve and every inch of her bones.

It's ok.

Compared to the pain of saving the world, these are just dull aches.

161

Chapter 161: Yamada Ryoichi.

Eye of the Soul King.