Hua was a little dazed for a moment, and Eden was just stunned where he was. It was obvious that they did not expect that the fire would spread to the entire Australian continent.
"…and Miss Eden."
After a brief pause, Xi Wang changed the subject and turned to look at the big star Eden.
"You may be recruited by the Fire Moth in the future. Whether it is your fame or wealth, or the fact that you can survive in this situation, the Fire Moth will choose to contact you... Maybe we will be companions in the future."
"As for what the Fire Moth is, you can think of it as an organization that responds to special disasters like this fire. I think you will know the truth about this fire in the future. A specialist from the Fire Moth will explain more details to you later."
"……Ok, I see."
Xi Wang said everything he wanted to say at once without giving Eden any chance to ask any questions. Eden opened his mouth, but in the end he could only swallow back the questions he was going to ask and just nodded to show that he understood.
"Please take a good rest. We will send you away when the reinforcements arrive... Hua, what are you going to do?"
Wang stood up and looked at Hua who wanted to leave.
"If you want to go find Himiko, I advise you not to go unless you can handle this."
As if he had guessed what the other party was going to do, Xi Wang tugged at his collar as he spoke. It seemed that the high temperature caused his combat uniform to stick to his skin. With a painful tearing sound, the collar at Xi Wang's neck was lifted up along with part of his skin, revealing the obviously burnt flesh underneath.
"Captain Wang, you?!"
"The protective suit you are wearing can't withstand the temperature around her right now. If you go there now, you can't even get close to her, let alone see her. You will be burned unconscious by the high temperature halfway through."
Xi Wang let go of his hand as if nothing had happened, and continued speaking with a calm tone.
"Then he fell to the ground and was engulfed in flames, adding another body to the collapse. That was all."
"No matter what you want to confirm, or what you want to do with her, you can't do it now."
"Of course, if you insist on going, I don't mind, provided that you are mentally prepared and ready to deal with the consequences of doing so."
Xi Wang rolled his eyes, waiting for the answer from the young soldier in front of him.
"I... I still have things I can do... and this is what I should do."
"I want to go back to the captain and ask her in person... Is the person in that body her or the Herrscher? I want to know if I still have a chance to save her."
Hua spoke bit by bit, and finally seemed to have made up his mind and responded firmly.
"Oh, then you don't have to go."
"...?"
"She is asleep. She is floating in the air above the city without moving. She has no reaction to the outside world, but the temperature around her is still rising. This condition of mine was caused by getting close to her. My weapon also completely melted when I was 10 meters away from her. You can't touch her without special methods, and you can't talk to her."
"why is it like this……"
Is it impossible to achieve what I wanted to do in the end...Is it impossible to even just talk to her...
Hua was a little dazed. The strength he had gathered with great difficulty was dissipated at this moment. He fell down powerlessly and knelt on the ground like a puppet.
"........."
How come this child is more fragile than I thought... But it's better this way, at least he's still alive.
Xi Wang tilted his head and didn't say much. He just walked forward calmly, grabbed Hua's collar and lifted her back like a kitten, and put her next to the broken wall so that she could have a place to lean on. Then he returned to the gap facing the outside of the ruins, paying attention to the surrounding environment and paying attention to the communication to confirm the time of arrival of the support troops.
"Mr. Wang..."
"No need to be so formal, Miss Eden. Just call me by my name. I'm half a fan of yours."
"Basic etiquette is still required... But since you request so, you don't have to be so formal when addressing me. After all, I am just a singer."
Eden shook his head and spoke slowly.
"As for the details of this disaster, since you said someone will explain it to you later, I won't ask you. However, the injuries on your body..."
"Don't worry, everything will return to normal after a while."
Eden was stunned by Xiwang's calm tone. She could hear the calmness and sincerity in Xiwang's words... but that was why Eden felt confused. This degree of burns could not be "recovered after a while", right?
"If you want to lighten the mood by chatting, I'd be happy to do it...at least until help arrives."
"……grateful."
"It doesn't matter. Now is a rare time for rest. Of course, if you want to thank me, please sign an autograph for me later."
"Ha...of course you can."
Eden really needed something to divert his attention and get rid of his tension and panic, but Xiwang's calm tone made people feel relaxed at this moment... There was a feeling that everything in front of him was "nothing more than that."
"So...were you trying to stop this soldier? Stop her from...going to find her captain?"
"I'm just trying to persuade you."
Xiwang said indifferently
"If she doesn't listen, or insists on going, I won't stop her."
"After all, she is not my person, so there is no need for me to keep her by force... Besides, the mission I received was to search for survivors and find her by the way, and that was just to find her."
"is that so?"
"Of course, and I don't agree with her idea."
Xi Wang shifted his gaze slightly and glanced at Hua who was unusually quiet.
"She wants to get close to a Herrscher, and she has to do it alone, without any help. Not to mention whether she has the ability to get close, this reckless action is likely to be questioned by the Fire Moth. If her actions cause the Herrscher to wake up from his slumber and cause greater damage, she will have to take responsibility for it."
"If she died directly at the hands of the Herrscher, it would be fine. At most, she would be accused of a crime and stigmatized after her death. But if she survived by chance... then she might be forced to bear more bizarre crimes, which would be a torture for her."
"Comparatively, I prefer to give the Herrscher a clean and neat release. This will benefit both her and us."
pat-
Xiwang gave himself a piece of candy and added another sentence as if to emphasize something.
"But like I said, I'm just trying to persuade her. If she insists on going, I don't care. After all, my mission is just to find her. As for what happens next, I don't care."
"You are unexpectedly a gentle person."
"...You are the fifth person who finds me [gentle]. I don't know how you came to this conclusion."
Xiwang rolled his eyes, feeling a little strange about Eden's evaluation.
"The fifth one? It seems you have four very good friends..."
Eden sighed, then leaned against the ruins beside him and explained softly.
"It's not an imaginary evaluation. I can sense from your words that you care about this soldier and feel sorry for your former colleague... Although you are doing your best to distance yourself from them and try to keep your concern for them as "dissuading them like a stranger", this actually shows that you value the friendship between you and them."
"As a singer, I have become accustomed to feeling the emotions from other people's words, and I am somewhat confident in this aspect."
Eden pressed her chest lightly and smiled with a hint of pride, but soon she lowered her eyes. Her golden eyes looked gray, like the jewel on her chest, buried in the dust.
"I don't know why you are so restrained in your emotions, but... it would be better if you could be more frank in your words."
"Ah, sorry, I may have said too much... If you feel offended in any way, please tell me directly. This is how I am. I always say a lot without realizing it..."
"It doesn't matter. I'm used to it."
Xiwang responded to Eden while looking around at the slowly dying flames and frowned.
"After all, I have a friend who is just like you. He talks a lot unconsciously, and his evaluation of me is similar to yours."
"Really? It's my pleasure... May I ask your friend's name? Maybe... we can get along well."
"Her name is Alicia. I'll introduce her to you later. Or rather, as long as you come into contact with the Fire Moth, you'll inevitably get to know her... Moreover, if it's a big star like you, she'll definitely be happy to come over and make friends with you."
"...Alicia?"
Eden was stunned, as if he didn't expect to hear this name here.
"Well, she is a very lovely and trustworthy girl... Wait a moment."
Xiwang raised his hand to signal Eden not to speak for the time being, and glanced around with a frown.
"...Hua, stop being dazed and get up and be alert."
"...?"
Only then did Eden notice that the sounds of the burning flames, the occasional sounds of the monsters moving, had all disappeared.
Silence enveloped the surroundings, as dead as death.
"……Yes."
Hua shook his head, suppressed all his complicated thoughts and low mood, stood up again, quickly adjusted his breathing, protected Eden behind him, and looked around vigilantly.
She had to pull herself together and fulfill her duty as a warrior, a soldier... to get the only survivor she had saved back to safety.
Looking up, in the still diffuse smoke and dust, one could vaguely see white frost spreading from afar, forming tiny ice flowers on the charred ground.
"........."
Xi Wang frowned, not knowing whether this was another new trick played by the [Herrser], or whether another special [Honkai Beast] had appeared. At the same time, he was still wondering why the support promised by the Fire Moth had not arrived yet.
But the news that came later stunned him.
[Seventh Herrscher Subjugation Campaign]——Ended, completed by Kevin alone.
Chapter 24: Alicia: Do you want to touch my ears?
[The Seventh Herrscher subjugation war ended with Kevin completing the subjugation alone. You don’t know how Kevin did it, but it’s a good thing anyway.]
[When the reinforcements arrived, Eden and Hua described your condition to others, so you were semi-forced to leave the battlefield and return to the Fire Moth to rest and recuperate.]
[You can't help but blame Hua and Yiden in your heart. After all, this will make Alicia and Ying worry. Instead of doing this, it's better to keep it a secret. Anyway, it will be fine in a few days... But in the end, you didn't say it, but silently accepted their kindness.]
[It was only when others lifted up your clothes that they discovered that almost the entire combat uniform had merged with your skin. It could be said that you had shed a layer of skin in a physical sense, so much so that the doctor in charge of you didn't know how to proceed.]
[After learning about your condition, Sakura asked Mobius to come and check on you. Of course, you think that even if Sakura didn't say anything, Mobius would have come. After all, this is a rare opportunity for her to observe your "characteristics" as a matter of course.]
[That is exactly what happened. You rested in the ward for seven days. During these seven days, apart from Sakura taking care of you, Mobius came with her assistant to collect your physical data, and prescribed some medicine for you and did some tests.]
[Even with this "casual" treatment, your condition is recovering rapidly. The burn wounds are fading quickly. By the seventh day, only shallow marks are left on your body. After another two days, there will be no marks left.]
[Your recovery amazed everyone, and many people exclaimed, "You are worthy of being Dr. Mobius."]
[Mebius has become more "interested" in you, and her two new assistants, Cang Xuan and Dan Zhu, have also developed a strong interest in you... Although one of them is a money-grubber who wants to drag you into some "highly profitable job", and the other is an ACG enthusiast who is very interested in your body that can maintain perfect skin at any time]
[Perhaps because they both have petite bodies like little girls, you are more tolerant of them than others. Even though they always like to touch you, you don’t mind. But if Mebius wants to take the opportunity to approach you, you will immediately refuse her to get close.]
[During these seven days, you also gradually learned about the situation of the "Seventh Great Collapse" from Sakura, Mebius and others.]
[For example, Kevin was able to defeat the "Seventh Herrscher" alone because Mebius and May urgently activated the "Fusion Warrior Project" and fused the genes of the Honkai Beast into Kevin's body to gain inhuman power.]
[For example, even though the Herrscher was defeated, the fire she spread could not be extinguished. With the help of everyone, and even with the help of Kevin who became a non-human and had the power to control ice and snow, the fire that affected the entire Australia still burned for seven days. The entire Australia was in ruins and turned into scorched earth. There was also residual Honkai energy stranded on the land, making it difficult to carry out the recovery plan that was originally planned.]
[The whole of Australia could originally accommodate tens of millions of people, but now all the urban areas suitable for reconstruction combined can only support a million people]
[But the good news is that the number of people who survived in Australia is less than one million. It can be said that the rebuilt urban areas are just enough for them to continue living in their homeland, and other countries don’t have to worry about the refugee problem, haha~]
【Not funny at all】
[When all the operations were over, you met your teammates again... Well, although only a quarter of them were left, it seemed that they were lucky, at least not all of them died.]
[On the way, you also met Kevin. He has become inhuman and exudes a biting coldness all over his body, making it difficult for people to get close to him... He is still unable to control this power, and he doesn't have the energy to do so now. He seems to have some psychological problems and looks very depressed. After returning to the Fire Moth, he often needs psychological treatment.]
[This fire that directly affected the entire continent also attracted the attention of the world, and the Fire Moth had to stand on the stage and announce its existence and the disaster called "Honkai Impact" to the world.]
[Perhaps because the lesson this time was too painful, the Fire Moths temporarily put aside their internal conflicts and began to take active actions. On the one hand, they promoted the world's understanding of "Honkai" on a large scale, and on the other hand, they put more plans on the agenda and began to promote them at all costs. The "Fusion Warrior Plan" that had just achieved brilliant results was naturally the top priority.]
[Although the success rate of fusion warriors' surgeries is shockingly low, they can no longer care about that at the moment. Fire Moth begins to recruit volunteers within the army to perform surgeries, striving to get a few lucky ones to survive.]
[And you are naturally on the list of people who will undergo surgery]
[You are not surprised by this. You have already anticipated that you might be "abandoned" by the higher-ups, but you also know that they will not "deal with" you directly. After all, there are not many people who can "deal with" you, and they cannot directly command those who are capable of "dealing with" you. This plan with a very low survival rate is naturally a good way to "deal with" you.]
[If you die in the "Fusion Warrior"'s surgery, that's fine. After all, you are no longer necessary to them. They already have enough "knives", even if they are not as sharp as yours, they are enough.]
[If you survive, that's even better. The "knife" in their hands becomes sharper. Although it becomes more dangerous for them, they can still command you safely before they completely fall out. After all, although the "scabbard" plan was not completely successful, it did not fail completely, right? Especially since they still have a certain degree of control over the "scabbard"]
[Although you vaguely guessed their thoughts, you didn't mean to refuse... although you couldn't refuse either.]
[For you, these things don’t matter. You will survive. You will definitely survive.]
[But what you don't understand is... why are Alicia and Sakura's names on it? ]
[Also, when you found out about the situation, why was it all over? ]
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