I am a hero of the former civilization.

Like a charging female leopard, she covered hundreds of meters in the blink of an eye, using both hands and feet to quickly climb up the cliff. Ryan turned his head and saw two dark figures emerge from behind a rock.

Sure enough, there was someone.

Ryan kept his surroundings under surveillance with electromagnetic waves, fearing that the Herrscher might descend from the sky. Otherwise, in such a dense Honkai energy environment, he would not have been able to detect the two of them at all.

Da da da......

Gunshots rang out, and Sakura, in mid-air, drew her sword and slashed repeatedly, cutting all the bullets in half. She then landed in front of him, chopped the assault rifle in the man's hand into scrap metal with a single stroke, and reached out to pin the two men to the ground.

Ryan quickly floated over and peered inside: "It's a child."

Sakura was holding down two teenagers, a boy and a girl, who were staring at the two of them with wide, fearful eyes. They were dressed in tattered clothes and their hair was like weeds.

"Hmm, there's no threat." Sakura loosened her grip slightly, watching the two children cough violently on the ground.

Ryan glanced at her, knowing that Sakura wasn't exactly ruthless, so he bent down and tore open the boy's sleeve, and sure enough, he saw signs of decay and erosion on the surface of his skin.

They are patients with Honkai disease and are naturally adaptable, otherwise they wouldn't have survived until now.

Seeing that the two had stopped coughing, Ryan squatted down in front of them and asked as gently as possible, "Did you two come to investigate after hearing the noise? Where is your hiding place?"

"We..." The girl opened her mouth instinctively, but the boy quickly covered it.

"Don't speak, Liz, they're monsters!" The boy stared at Sakura with wary eyes. "Look, she has ears on her head, and that person can fly."

They're quite alert, and they don't seem to feel any joy at seeing their own kind.

Ryan raised an eyebrow, preparing to use mental manipulation, when Sakura tugged at his hand.

"Let me do it."

Ryan looked at the girl intently, understanding what she meant. Mental manipulation can leave lasting effects, especially on children like her, who are unlikely to withstand it.

"Okay, you have five minutes."

He turned and walked away, stepping onto the edge of the cliff and gazing at the distant corpses.

Ryan knew that Sakura was thinking of her younger sister. This assassin was not as cold and hard as her blade; beneath her icy exterior lay a gentle heart.

He was different; he reserved his remaining gentleness only for those he knew, and focused more on efficiency in his tasks.

Not long after, Sakura returned and walked behind Ryan, whispering, "I found out. The gathering point is fifteen kilometers to the southeast, in a valley."

"Do they believe you?"

“They’re just kids, a little coaxing and scaring will do.” Sakura smoothed a strand of hair behind her ear and smiled. “I told them the gathering point is definitely not far, we can find it by searching the surrounding area for 20 kilometers. It doesn’t matter whether they tell us or not, only by taking us there can we avoid hurting their families because of misunderstandings.”

Ryan remained silent for a while, then muttered, "It wouldn't have made any difference whether they said it or not."

"Sigh, it's not easy for these survivors to have struggled until now. If a fight really breaks out, you won't hold back. Why not give them a chance?"

"Sakura, you are indeed gentle, and you often think of the weak."

"You're the one who helped me retain more of my humanity, and Ryan, it's also very kind of you to go through all this trouble."

Sakura blinked, turned around and let the two children lead the way. She made sure the boy went ahead to report, while she held the girl's dirty hand and told the man to hurry up and follow.

Ryan had nothing to say. He respected the personality of every hero and, as long as it didn't hinder the plan, he would let Sakura be. There had to be some good people in this world.

The nearby Honkai Beasts had all been killed, so no one dared to jump out and seek death. The three of them traversed among the rocks and climbed a rope ladder to the depths of the valley.

Sakura held the girl tightly, even putting a lollipop in her mouth, and occasionally chatting gently with her.

After walking and stopping for about half an hour, Ryan, who was leading the way, saw electric lights flickering in the valley. By the light, he also saw some disheveled men and women.

As expected of a gathering point, most of the people there suffered from Honkai disease. The hostility wasn't too strong, but there was also no joy.

Ryan made a quick judgment. He saw that the men were carrying rifles or steel pipes. As they approached, a man in old camouflage clothing came out.

His face was covered with a thick beard, and his brown eyes looked very tired. He carefully examined Ryan: "You... are the Moths of Fire?"

“Yes.” Ryan nodded slightly, and a commotion broke out in the crowd, but no cheers were heard.

All that remained was silence, a deathly silence. Although North Britain had only been abandoned a few months ago, it felt as if it had been detached from human society for countless years.

"Don't you want to return to the human world?" Ryan asked, somewhat puzzled.

"Go back and be thrown into a concentration camp to fend for yourself? Or escape and be stoned to death by people who are afraid of infection?" The man pulled open his collar, revealing the marks of decay and erosion, and said in a strange tone.

"Welcome to hell."

Chapter 138 Therefore, they were called heroes!

Ryan eventually entered the gathering point. The survivors had no eyes, but their intelligence had not been completely eroded. They understood that these two men had fought their way from the coast to the inland, and that their two broken guns were no match for them.

The gathering point was nothing more than a huge cave, with a few diesel engines humming and a few light bulbs providing dim light.

There weren't many people inside, just over a hundred, and not a single one was over fifty. The Honkai was like a natural selection process, a perfect example of the Dark Forest theory.

The weak, the old, the sick, and the unlucky are eliminated first, and those who survive all have a skill or at least are lucky enough.

'This is much harder than in a zombie movie; even the air is thick with killing intent.'

Ryan sat on a rock, watching a group of people busy at work. The woman carefully scraped the moss off the rock wall, the man went out with a gun to find food and brought back precious canned goods from the ruins, while several children helped wash clothes.

They had to fetch water from the stream outside, so they washed very carefully and sparingly.

A strange feeling permeated the cave, neither pessimistic nor optimistic, for even if the fire-chasing moths rescued them, there was no cure.

Such strange emotions mixed together make it feel very eerie.

“Savior? Ha, there is no savior in the world.” Ryan shook his head with a bitter smile. Even he could not change the fate of these people, but he felt it was somewhat ironic.

He had just seen the 'raven,' the pinnacle of human civilization, and then he encountered modern humans who had reverted to primitive ways. It was truly...

It fills one with murderous intent towards Honkai!

Ryan quietly clenched his fist, crushing the stone into powder. These people should be working in office buildings or studying in bright classrooms, but instead they are hiding in holes like rats to survive, and then, at most, they will all die in two years.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have gone to all this trouble." Sakura approached silently, looking somewhat uneasy.

This scene is indeed hard to be happy about; it's depressing to watch. It's easier to extract information through psychological manipulation.

“I expected this all along. After arriving here, I never thought I could find a quiet town and sit with you by the roadside drinking coffee.” Ryan chuckled self-deprecatingly, finding the idea even more fantastical. “Whether it’s here or a vacation villa in Hawaii, they are all part of the world, without distinction of high or low status.”

"And observing the real world is also my destiny."

He would never have seen these things if he were spending his days in sweet nothings with Alicia and the others. But Ryan wasn't tired of these scenes; only by witnessing suffering could he truly live in this world.

Sakura's eyes widened slightly, not expecting Ryan to say that. She thought she would be blamed, but she just smiled and said, "Ryan, you are really a kind person."

"The world can tolerate gentleness, but it can't tolerate a saint. You have to understand the difference. Sakura, do you want to do something for them?"

"Hmm, but I don't know what to do." Sakura nodded first, then shook her head. Asking the raven to send a plane to pick them up was a saintly act, and she wouldn't even consider it.

Ryan thought for a moment and replied, "Then do what you can, do what you won't regret."

Her jewel-like purple eyes widened slightly, and the gentle yet cold-blooded assassin nodded gently.

"I see."

Sakura has left. There's no need to blame her or say anything grand or righteous. All we need to do is fully respect her thoughts.

As Ryan watched her scrape moss off the women, mend clothes for the children, and provide first aid to the injured, he gradually discovered that most heroes had something in common:

Living in purgatory, they yearn for the light. Even after countless tribulations, they long for a home. Perhaps it is because of this quality that they did not become vessels for the Herrschers.

Ryan didn't know the answer; he preferred to do things efficiently, so he just watched quietly until it got dark outside the cave.

The whole day passed just like that. Ryan didn't speak to anyone or contact the other two teams. He just quietly watched Sakura busy herself.

Perhaps it was just his imagination, but Ryan felt that the dejected atmosphere seemed to have disappeared somewhat. At least with the help of a powerful warrior, the people struggling to survive felt a little more at ease, and they finally smiled when they saw the large amount of food that Sakura had brought back.

Like candlelight, it can only illuminate a tiny bit of darkness around it, but it is indeed light.

Ryan's lips curled up slightly without him realizing it. He was used to passionate speeches and tired of grand plans, but seeing this small candlelight was actually satisfying. At least it was truly shining and giving off heat.

“You’re not what I imagined.” The bearded man climbed up the cave, looking somewhat surprised. “I thought you would say some boastful things or make some promises to rescue us.”

"What's the point? Even if I notify the Firemoth to send helicopters, you'll all be dead within a year, or thrown into a lab to make some small contribution to the future of humanity." Ryan glanced sideways; he knew what this man was doing.

They spent the whole day hiding in the small hut observing, their hands always on the detonator. They had no hope, but they didn't want to be dragged back and tortured. Since they were already dead, why did they care when they died?

"Has the Fire-Chasing Moth been here before?"

"Yeah, they tricked them away, then threw them back not long after. I heard they were injected with some kind of drug to see the effect. I'm actually quite grateful to the Honkai Beasts that killed them."

"You hate them?"

"Of course." The bearded man's eyes were filled with hatred as he spoke in a hoarse voice:

"I was once a member of the Fire Moth. During the Great Retreat, my entire squadron was left here, surviving amidst Honkai Beasts, Death Squads, and Mutant Beasts. You know what? They even had the nerve to contact me later, hoping I could help them recruit volunteers!"

“No wonder you said welcome to hell. Spiritual betrayal is more despairing than physical pain.” Ryan said expressionlessly, unaffected by the tragic experience. “I’m not making excuses for them, but for humanity to survive, the bottom line must be lowered again and again, just like you, where the instinct for survival overrides all morality.”

The bearded man was speechless. If this man suddenly pulled out a miracle cure for Honkai disease, he was sure that this dejection would immediately turn into greed.

Everyone wants to live, but they just can't.

"That's why I feel you guys are different. You didn't just say nice things, but she genuinely helped. Even though it's not very useful, at least it makes us feel like we haven't been completely abandoned," the bearded man replied quietly, a bitter smile appearing on his face.

“I still have friends out there. Perhaps humanity will not perish in the end, and perhaps civilization will continue. At least this responsibility is much better in the hands of people like you than in those other people.”

As he spoke, he pulled an old notebook from his camouflage uniform and placed it in Ryan's hand.

"This is what I've recorded over the past six months. It might be useful to you, after all, I used to be an intelligence agent."

The notebook's cover was already worn and tattered. Ryan stroked it, feeling a mixture of surprise and irony.

This is much more effective than mental manipulation. Most people in this cave know nothing, but this bearded agent is somewhat resistant to mental infiltration, so it won't be so easy to get information out of him.

His only purpose was to obtain intelligence, but he didn't expect to get it so easily.

"You think we're very honest?"

"That's part of the reason. But mainly, I hate people who hide in the back and give orders, treating living, breathing people like expendable resources. There are very few big shots like you who are willing to go to the front lines."

When the bearded man revealed his identity, Ryan was not surprised. Since he came from the intelligence department, he must have seen the information on the Third Herrscher. All he wanted was to be treated as a human being.

Ordinary soldiers would feel disgusted by these Honkai patients. Even though the medical department had already explained that the disease was not contagious between people, they were still treated as monsters and rejected. Their only value in the world was to be used as research material to drain themselves dry.

"I'm no big shot. I'm just a survivor like you," Ryan replied calmly, without a trace of arrogance.

"But you possess power."

Ryan glanced at him and pointed to the busy cave: "So I'm also facing a Herrscher, needing to protect more people and take on more responsibility, no different from you."