I'm not Yingjie

"Kosmo, get ready."

Kevin gave Kosmo some instructions and left. He also had to go pack up his equipment. Next, Team 1 and Team 13 would have a second contact with Xingcai.

He and Mei had discussed Xingcai's request, and it seemed that Alicia had figured it out on her own.

Research the Hermit Core.

This request is intriguing, not in terms of benefits, but in terms of the "collapse" of their planet as mentioned by Xingcai.

Their first contact was with Imer and Hua, after a Xingcai hacked into Imer's computer, learned the human language from the data, and read most of the knowledge in it, including Honkai and Fire Moth.

So they wanted to study the Herrscher Core, most likely because they discovered that the Herrscher Core was stored in the Fire Moth, but they had never come into contact with the Herrscher Core.

This points to one possibility.

The collapse of the Star Planet, the absence of the Herrscher Core, or rather... the absence of the Herrscher.

Based on this speculation, more questions arise.

Is it the collapse of the Xingcai planet that is special, or is it the collapse of the earth that is special, or is it... the collapse itself is a kind of existence that will cause different phenomena depending on the different civilizations?

……

"Hello, Earthlings."

The almost transparent mechanical creature spoke a friendly voice to Kevin and Alicia who had arrived.

This is a hidden jungle, where three starfish are waiting for their arrival.

Even though there was no atmosphere of negotiation, both civilizations understood that a meeting between the two sides represented the beginning of the negotiation, so there was no excessive greeting. Kevin got straight to the point and said, "We want to know how many 'people' there are in Xingcai. This will affect humans' evaluation of you."

I don't know which one of the stars replied, "1432. This is the total number of stars we have for interstellar travel."

Are these the only stars that survived the planet-destroying collapse?

Kevin's eyes narrowed, and he continued, "We can agree to your request, but we also have corresponding requirements, and before this transaction is completed, you must pay a part of it."

"..."

The stars were silent, and there seemed to be no communication between them, but this kind of mechanical life form should be able to transmit information without the need for dialogue.

So now, are they discussing this?

After a moment, they answered: "What are your demands?"

"We want to know the information about Houkai, but we don't need too much. You have already browsed the records of Houkai in the past, so what you need to provide is the part we don't know yet."

"I understand. Then, let me tell you about the 'collapse' phenomenon we encountered during our interstellar voyage."

"Wait a minute." Kevin frowned and stopped him. "Interstellar travel? Wasn't Earth the first civilization you encountered? Why did you encounter other Honkai phenomena along the way?"

The emergence of collapse is targeted at civilization, so it is natural to think that collapse is caused by civilization and appears to destroy civilization.

"Yes, because, under that 'phenomenon', the original civilization of that planet has been destroyed."

"..."

"Any question?"

"No, go on."

Kevin confirmed that his equipment was recording this crucial conversation, and what Xingcai said next was beyond the expectations of everyone, including Alicia.

"During our interstellar journey, we briefly stopped for one minute and twenty-one seconds on a planet with a destroyed civilization."

"After thirty-seven seconds of stagnation, we detected Houkai energy."

"After one minute and thirteen seconds, the Houkai energy content has risen to a level that exceeds the total value of all Houkai creatures we have ever detected."

"In one minute and twenty seconds, Honkai creatures appeared on that planet."

"In the last second, we captured a scene of a Houkai beast that was so huge that it was unimaginable."

Honkai beast?

Kevin and Alicia were both stunned for a moment.

"It takes up one-fifth of the planet's surface."

"We classify it as a 'planetary-level Houkai beast'."

Chapter 56: An accidental encounter

"Is this the hacker who caused rumors to spread all over your intranet?"

Himiko leaned closer to look at Qianqi, took a look at her whole body, and said with a sly smile: "You are still really young, but you have played Lin around. Why don't you just repay the debt with your body? It's a good opportunity to put yourself on the table, isn't it?"

"No, don't." Qianqi shook her head like a rattle. She had already developed a psychological trauma towards the people of Fire Moth.

“Hahaha…” Himiko laughed loudly and patted Lin on the shoulder. “You should handle it from now on. Let’s have a drink when you’re done.”

"..."

Lin and Ying watched Himiko leave in silence, then turned their attention back to Chisu.

"What? Are you serious about this?"

"…Your disguise is terrible."

"..."

The panicked Qiansu was stunned after hearing Lin's calm words, and then looked at Ying who was equally calm.

After they both had the same attitude, her panicked expression disappeared.

Instead, there was a sarcastic smile.

"You're quite sensitive. No matter how you look at it, you're a guy with a very low sensitivity to emotions." Her weak eyes were replaced by sharp, feline eyes, staring at Lin's viewing window, "How did you detect that?"

"Your actions are too inconsistent with your character. A person who is able to hack into the country's internal network and create those machines cannot be so weak in character."

Even though Lin is not an expert in psychology, the professionals at Fire Moth can roughly profile the hacker's information through profiling.

Bad taste, boldness, willfulness, conceit... these character traits all come from the information revealed by her various behaviors in the Fire Moth inner network, so Lin knew she was acting the moment he saw her in person.

As for why... probably it is to be able to enter the Fire Moth smoothly.

Qianqi sneered and said, "Since you already know everything, why did you bring me back? Aren't you afraid that I will hack into your Fire Chaser Moth's system?"

"My job is just to get you back to headquarters."

Lin said calmly and indifferently.

"Next you need to learn the basics, right here."

"…What? Here?"

She was a little confused. There was only a big screen in the room and nothing else.

Wait a moment.

"Wow."

The door is closed.

She was left alone, staring blankly at the lit screen.

"Hello, MSA-999, I am Prometheus II. In the next three days, I will teach you the corresponding knowledge of Honkai and the basic structure of my system. If you cannot complete the course, you will be imprisoned in the deepest place."

"Timing begins."

……

"Today's itinerary is... here?"

After getting off the bus, the woman with long burgundy hair put on her sunglasses and baseball cap, and began to stroll around the city in this hot summer day.

She comes here every year, but every time she comes, the city's appearance changes a lot, which is really a new thing.

However, the temperature this year was indeed unusually high. As soon as she left the air-conditioning in the car, the hot air that hit her face almost made her faint because she couldn't adapt to the temperature difference immediately.

After taking a few deep breaths, she felt a little better and walked along the shade of the trees on the roadside.

After seeing people looking sick and as if the heat had taken away their life force, she couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

Maybe this cannot be considered a natural disaster, but our original life has been destroyed by this sudden accident.

Along the way, she didn't see a smile on anyone's face.

She found a small pavilion to sit down and looked at the busy but lifeless streets, and couldn't help but sigh.

"..."

At this moment, she found that there was a person wearing a hat, mask and sunglasses sitting not far from her.

He was different from the others who were in a hurry. He seemed to be stopping and observing something. As she also liked to observe others, she immediately realized the peculiarity of his behavior.

This immediately aroused her great interest. Would a person who was also hiding his face and observing have a different opinion?

"Really... tired." She spoke first. She knew that the man had noticed her and probably saw her before she sat down.

The things you see are different depending on the angle you stand at.

Judging from his body shape, he was a man, but he remained silent after hearing what the woman said.

"A piece of news about Australia said that three out of ten people in Australia now suffer from fever, and the remaining seven are not immune to the disease, but they just work in different environments."

"It's really sad, isn't it?"

Perhaps he was touched by the woman's words, or perhaps he just thought it was polite to reply, and after a moment's silence, the man also spoke.

"…30% is not accurate. The exact rate is 53.1%, and the probability of death from heat stroke is about 1%. One third of the people who passed by just now are about to have heat stroke." The man replied coldly, "Instead of reading the news reports, it is better to see these people's suffering with your own eyes."

This was equivalent to a direct satire on the woman, but she felt that the man's tone was not mocking her, but more like stating the facts, so she nodded silently.

“Do you think that art can give these people the motivation to live?”

"I don't understand art." The man said bluntly, "Spiritual abundance cannot satisfy material needs. What they face is scorching heat and a harsh working environment, not a lack of art."

"…Is that so? Then maybe I am just being too sentimental."

"But I have a friend who smiles every day. As far as I know and from my observation, she has never shown any anger or sadness in the past few years. She only shows her happy side to others."

"That person must be an excellent person."

"Yes." He admitted without hesitation, "In the environment we live in, the challenges we face are sometimes more cruel than the scorching heat, but she wants to convey hope and happiness to others through her smile. Maybe she can't change what is about to happen, but at least many people have learned to face the future."

The man stood up and tilted his head. “If you choose a path that you think is right, then go for it. Art may not be able to change anything, but I think it is enough to inspire people.”

After saying that, the man walked away without looking back, leaving the woman smiling and shaking her head.

This was truly an accidental but wonderful encounter.

I didn't ask for your name, but there was no need.

April Fools' Day Special: The annihilation of Yingjie in Snow Mountain Villa

"Lin is dead."

Along with the trembling words, Lina's dead body appeared with his eyes open.

"No ah ah ah ah!"

The screams were swallowed up by the endless wind and snow and disappeared into the black night sky.

All this can be traced back to one day ago.

……

An unknown cabin, PM20:30, heavy snow.

"Sorry, I'm late."

The warm wooden door was pushed open from the inside, and a woman with long burgundy hair wearing an apron appeared in the light, smiling demurely: "No, I'm on time."

Outside the door was a man with long black hair and a woman with long green hair.

Mobius raised his eyebrows and complained to Lin in dissatisfaction, poking his waist with his finger: "I told you to leave early, but this guy is still dragging his feet, really..."

Lin covered his head and sighed helplessly, but he did not refute Mebius's remarks.

"Haha...you seem to be even more in love after you got married." Eden chuckled as he watched their interaction, his eyes lingering for a moment on the rings on their left ring fingers.

"Who is in love with him? It's so annoying. If he hadn't proposed to me suddenly, I wouldn't have reacted and agreed..." Mobius stomped his feet in hatred. Lin's smile became even more helpless. However, it can be seen that they didn't have many complaints about their marriage, and Mobius only acted angry without any regret.