I am a hero of the former civilization.

"Yeah, after eating so many carb bombs, it's more than just..."

Before she could finish speaking, a warm index finger touched her lips, and the girl in front of her raised an eyebrow: "Stop, it would be impolite to say that again."

Ryan swallowed hard, and then he saw Alicia twirl around lightly, her skirt fluttering like butterfly wings.

"I will not gain weight, absolutely not!"

"Alright, I haven't thanked you for buying me coffee yet. Logically, the man should pay." Ryan returned to normal, and for some reason, he always found it difficult to entertain any wicked thoughts.

"Since I invited you to dinner, of course I'll come. By the way, how was your day?"

"Uh......"

This morning he was somewhat lost, feeling the pressure of the Honkai and the loneliness of being separated from his friends; around noon he was still pondering the internal struggles within the Firemoth, and then—

Then I chatted with the girl for a long time, and I lost count of how many words I said. I felt like I hadn't done anything today, but I was also frustrated that I hadn't wasted any time.

Ryan thought for a moment and replied with certainty, "At least it's easy."

"Really? That's great!" The girl clapped her hands, without saying anything more.

He saw Alicia step onto the curb, walking on it with her arms outstretched, looking rather childish. Because of her striking appearance, passersby turned their heads, some with lust, some with admiration, and some filled with jealousy.

Cute Licia seemed oblivious to everything, focused solely on her feud with Daoya. Ryan remained silent, not even asking where she was going, simply following behind, watching her long pink hair sway back and forth.

This was a waste of time, but Ryan didn't hate it. He was even somewhat grateful to the netizen who stood him up. If it weren't for him, he wouldn't have been able to meet Alicia.

"Ryan, what do you usually do?"

"Hone your skills, research various topics, do your best to understand the Honkai, and occasionally solve some disasters."

"Seriously, I didn't ask about your job, just what you like to do for fun, drinking or something else? Doesn't your roommate really like playing basketball?"

Ryan paused for a moment. Basketball was both too easy and too difficult for him; he could easily shatter the backboard if he wasn't careful.

"I'll write something, just to kill time."

"A novel? Where is it serialized? Can I take a look?"

"Oh, forget it, these are all things that can't be shown in public." Ryan felt a sense of shame for some reason, for example, he had never let Kevin see them.

A clumsy work, not worth mentioning.

"Hmm, they're keeping it a secret from me, but... oh well, it's more interesting this way."

Interesting? What do you mean?

As Ryan was thinking, Alicia jumped down from the curb and came closer, looking at Ryan's gentle smile in the light of the streetlamp.

"Yes, this smile is genuine, and it's less about politeness. This is my first time going on a date with a boy. Thank you, it feels great."

"Ahem, don't say things that could be misunderstood." Ryan looked away.

"What's there to misunderstand? I like you. Don't you like being with me?"

hiss......

Ryan gasped, wanting to ask if Alicia was a succubus reincarnated, given how alluring she was, but looking at her pure purple eyes, he couldn't answer for a moment.

She meant it sincerely. She seemed to know everything, yet she also seemed to know nothing. On the contrary, thinking in that direction made her seem incredibly vulgar.

Alicia loved everything, whether humble, noble, vulgar, or refined; she loved humanity itself.

She's such a fairy-like girl.

Ryan silently recited "love gate" in his heart, just about to discuss the meaning of "love" from a philosophical perspective, when he heard Alicia's phone ring. It was the opening theme of a children's anime, a pure nursery rhyme.

"Sorry, oh no, I forgot something important." Alicia quickly answered the call, and a cold female voice came through.

"Alicia, where did you go? Didn't you promise to shield me from the questions from above?"

"Sorry, I was chatting with a friend for a long time today and forgot about it."

"Forgot? Fine, you really didn't take me seriously. Ha, you don't need to ask me about that problem anymore."

"No, I'll be right back."

Snapped.

The girl hung up the phone and turned to run: "I have to go back. Before I knew it, it was evening. Happy times really do fly by. Goodbye, Ryan."

Before Ryan could react, the girl had already run far away. Her thinking was indeed beyond the comprehension of ordinary people. After a few seconds, he finally raised his hand.

Goodbye, Ellie.

As soon as the words left his mouth, he realized that he had subconsciously changed the way he addressed her. He stood there stunned for a long time before shaking his head with a self-deprecating smile.

Alicia, how terrifying!

This affability is simply unreasonable. Because of too many secrets, Ryan has never drunk alcohol over the years and is very cautious in his words and actions. Only a few people can treat him with sincerity, but that is the result of years of hard work.

But in just half a day, he made a friend, and looking back now, it all seems perfectly natural.

'Does treating others with sincerity guarantee sincerity in return? Even when hurt and betrayed, she can still love everyone equally and powerfully—truly worthy of Alicia.'

After much deliberation, all that remained was a sigh. He truly was a unique individual, the last ray of sunshine in despair.

Love Gate.

Ryan made the sign of the cross on his chest and felt his steps become much lighter.

"Let's go back to the hotel. This Alicia is so unpredictable, she's really hard to deal with."

He felt he couldn't handle such overly enthusiastic people. It wasn't that he disliked them, but the thought of the outcome made his heart feel heavy, and the joy of gaining power vanished.

It's hard for one person to survive, but changing someone else's fate and surviving together is as difficult as climbing to heaven, which is why I rarely make friends.

He had already gained some insight last night, and after being treated by Alicia again today, he finally understood what the twisted feeling in his heart was.

Selfishness, resentment, fear, and a bit of the desire to be a hero.

"Sigh, I've become so deeply involved with this world without even realizing it. In the end, I'm not capable of shutting myself off, nor am I cruel enough to treat each and every one of these vibrant people as NPCs." Ryan walked down the long street and glanced at the dim moon in the sky.

He couldn't be absolutely rational. Looking back now, he realized that when he approached Fu Hua, a primary school student, he had already fallen into a trap and embarked on an even more difficult path.

"I originally wanted to find a powerful backer to cling to and slowly survive, but if that doesn't work out—"

The man clenched his fist and walked forward in the moonlight.

"I'll be the one to take the lead."

Chapter Seventeen: Möbius?!

Ryan's plan when he was supposed to arrive was actually quite simple: let the tall ones handle things while he stayed behind and developed his strength. When the end came, he would find an opportunity to sneak into the hibernation pod and live to see the Valkyries in the next generation.

But he has spent nearly twenty years in this world. What he has seen and felt along the way has gradually changed his thoughts. In addition, the feedback from his destiny has given him a vague impulse. As his strength increases and he goes deeper into the world, this impulse becomes stronger and stronger.

Just then, the Chiba Academy incident ignited the fuse.

He suddenly realized that he couldn't stand by and watch his friends die. The world had changed because of the butterfly effect, and if he hadn't intervened, Kevin and May would already be dead.

At the same time, he also discovered that he had become tall, at least at this stage, there were few people in the world who were stronger than him.

This is awkward. He's become a big shot in the industry, but he's also quite self-aware. He's not arrogant enough to pretend to be a savior, nor is he as selfless as Alicia.

"At least make some preparations, do as much as you can."

Those who follow a path are inevitably influenced by their beliefs. Once Ryan made his decision, he swept away his previous confusion and stayed in his room for several days, even refusing several invitations from the Far East Branch.

"almost."

In the dim sunlight outside the window at dusk, Ryan took off his glasses, put down his crayons, and stared at the wall in front of him with bloodshot eyes.

The wall was covered with writing and various arrows, which was his summary of the information gathered from the Moth of Fire.

Honkai, Herrscher, and of course, a dense array of numbers and photos.

"The First Herrscher was hunted in Europe, and the Second Herrscher was in the northern ice plains. Before their appearance, the Honkai disaster in the area was increasing exponentially, and the individual strength of the Honkai Beasts also increased."

Ryan squinted. He remembered that even the Chariot-class was rare ten years ago, but before the Second Herrscher, he encountered the Temple-class while traveling in the northern part of China. Coincidentally, the Second Herrscher was born in the ice field a thousand kilometers away.

According to particle collision experiments, the collapse energy in the air is also increasing, which is already quite evident at least in the microscopic world.

“The Second Herrscher was five years after the First Herrscher, and the Second Herrscher has been around for two years now, so it’s almost here?” Ryan’s eyes showed a hint of seriousness as he drew a red circle on the map.

The area they landed in is in the Far East, which explains why the Far East branch's strength is increasing, although most of this area is ocean.

The result he could calculate, there was no reason why the Fire-Chasing Moth couldn't calculate as well. However, both Honkai and Herrschers are random, and based on experience, they generally appear in sparsely populated areas.

"This probability is unscientific, but unfortunately the world has changed too much."

Ryan knew that he had over-interfered with the timeline; for example, Kevin and May had joined the Firemoth ahead of time, and the subsequent impact was difficult to calculate.

The Third Herald, the Third Herald...

He kept repeating to himself that, according to his previous thinking, he didn't need to think about this problem. As the saying goes, a wise man doesn't stand under a dangerous wall. Once the calculation was done, he could get out of this range.

“But not now. If I want to take a more difficult path, I need greater power and I want to try to see if I can touch the power of the Herrscher.”

Ryan's breathing became heavy, not just because of the pursuit of power, but because of a call from his soul, an intense desire to explore the unknown.

No, facing a Herrscher now would be suicide; I have absolutely no chance of winning against one of them.

Ryan closed his eyes. As the 'Apostle' of Honkai, the Herrscher has unique authority and can mobilize a hundred times more energy than the lower-ranking Honkai Beasts. Moreover, it also generates a bunch of Honkai Beasts. How is he supposed to deal with that?

I can only rely on the power of the fire-chasing moths, and I must not let them discover that I can touch power.

The crayon was raised and then put down again, a dead end with no solution. Even if we called on Alicia, there was little chance of success. We couldn't just stay in the ocean, could we? What if she moved to another place?

"Let's find an opportunity slowly. It's good to resolve a few more Honkai events and increase our power." Ryan wasn't worried. He picked up a handkerchief and wiped away the patterns all over the wall. He couldn't let the Fire Moth find out that he wanted to deal with the Third Herrscher so early.

Let's have dinner first, then find an opportunity to meet with the Far East branch and try to find a breakthrough from them.

Ryan felt like he was back in the research institute, where all the problems needed to be solved step by step; there was no point in just daydreaming.

It was late at night, and dinner at the hotel had already ended. Ryan didn't care about the quality of life. Considering that he had practiced long-range Honkai energy control in his room for a while, he simply headed to the convenience store.

The street fell completely silent, with the occasional car whizzing by. Some teenagers with brightly colored hair were smoking in the alleyway, their eyes gleaming with anticipation upon seeing Ryan.

Before they could even surround him, the seemingly harmless man had already opened his trench coat, revealing a two-foot-long military knife. The men swallowed hard and sat back down to smoke.

They at least have some sense, otherwise they might kill someone and then have to ask the Far East Branch for help with the aftermath.

Ryan didn't even bother to look at it. He didn't like being contradicted; he usually went straight to the point.

Walking along the dimly lit street, he soon saw a 24-hour convenience store ahead. There were hardly any people there late at night, and the cashier was yawning.