Honkai Impact, please stop imagining it.

To prevent Lin Yu from telling his parents, Mei took out all the toys she had made in the basement and gave them to Lin Yu to play with.

Children's sadness always comes and goes quickly; within just a few minutes, Lin Yu was drawn to the toys.

Lin Yu pretended to be calm as he wiped away his tears, then wiped his hands on the hem of his clothes to clean them up from playing in the sand. He then carefully extended his right hand to Mei.

"Hello, my name is Lin Yu. Shall we be friends?"

Mei simply couldn't accept Lin Yu's friend request, whose face was covered in smears and whose nose was running from crying.

But she really couldn't refuse the victim who had just had her hair pulled by a toy she made.

After all, three-year-old Mei was still afraid that Lin Yu would tell her parents, and then she wouldn't be able to make toys by herself anymore.

That afternoon, Mei held Lin Yu's hand. The weather was slightly cool that day. Outside the basement window, the cheerful and melodious songs of crows and magpies were quite noisy. At that moment, Mei, who was holding Lin Yu's hand, did not realize that this handshake would last for seven summers like today.

"My name is Mei."

"You're sure to become a great scientist someday, so can I play with these toys you made?"

Lin Yu racked her brains before finally coming up with the word "great scientist." She felt incredibly lucky today, having found a toy supplier who made all the toys herself, completely different from those sold in stores.

"I want to be a big capitalist."

Mei felt a little embarrassed and tried to pull her hand back, but she didn't, and said this.

What is a big capitalist?

Lin Yu was curious.

Mei: "Those people who pay my father's salary, every time they make a request to my father, as long as it's for more money, he will do it. I want to be that kind of person."

Lin Yu quickly waved his other hand, "No way! My mom says money is a bastard, so wouldn't capitalists be even bigger bastards? So let's be great scientists, no way!"

Lin Yu, whose mind was full of ideas about the many novel and free toys he would play with in the future, offered his insights and advice to Mei.

Mei really wanted to correct Lin Yu's two grammatical errors, but then she thought, wouldn't it be stupid of her to argue with a three-year-old?

Mei rubbed Lin Yu's head and gave him the toy she had made before, then went to improve the little helicopter.

Lin Yu sniffled, then happily hugged his toy and started playing. "You must become a great scientist someday, Mei. Now we're friends, right?"

Mei turned around, "No."

The next day

"So, are we friends now?"

Mei: "No."

The next day

"now what?"

Mei: "What?"

Are we friends now?

Mei: "No."

Every day after that, Lin Yu would come here, whether it was during kindergarten or elementary school. Sometimes he would bring Mei desserts, and sometimes he would bring Mei some toy materials.

Of course, sometimes he would help Mei, but most of the time he would cause trouble. Every time before leaving, he would ask the same question again and again. Mei gradually got used to it, but she always answered those two words without hesitation, "No."

It wasn't for any other reason than that I found Lin Yuchao's answers like that always amusing.

From the heartbreak of being three years old, leaving every day crying, to returning the next day as if nothing had happened, continuing to bring her desserts and snacks, and helping her experiment with new toys.

They leave sadly at four or five years old, and feel a little sad at six or seven, but still tell themselves full of energy that they will never come again, and then arrive as usual the next day.

When Lin Yu was eight or nine years old, he had grown up a bit, but he was still like a fool. In order to protect Mei, a classmate who was a head taller than him, from being isolated and bullied by her classmates, he got into a fight with several girls who were much taller than him. He fought four or five girls by himself, and a piece of flesh was scratched off his collarbone. But the price was that his classmates also isolated him. For two whole years when he was eight or nine, none of Lin Yu's classmates paid any attention to him, but he didn't care and still went home with Mei in a carefree manner.

Mei asked Lin Yu curiously why.

"As for classmates, aren't you one? As for friends, having you is enough."

Lin Yu answered in this way, and Mei fell silent. Perhaps it was a long-standing habit, but she still blurted out those three words, "I am not."

Lin Yu was very disappointed. When he got home, Mei felt that she had gone a bit too far. But the next day, Lin Yu still came to visit her as usual, so Mei put the matter out of her mind and treated Lin Yu a little better than before.

Mei thought that life would be fine if it could always be like this.

Until that day came....

Just like the spring when they first met, the sun was shining brightly, the breeze was gentle, the weather was slightly cool, and the cheerful songs of crows and magpies outside the window were quite noisy.

As always, Lin Yu found Mei in the secret basement beneath the doghouse.

Mei sat on the ground, the morning sun shining through the window onto her. She was making the robot toy that Lin Yu wanted to play with, but this time Lin Yu didn't have any snacks or desserts.

Ten-year-old Lin Yu stood in the shadows of the basement and extended his right hand to Mei, who was sitting in the sunlight. "Are we... friends now?"

"No."

Mei smiled and answered confidently as usual. For the first time, she saw that Lin Yu was not as sad or upset as before after being rejected by her, nor did he throw a tantrum.

Lin Yu withdrew his hand from Mei, chuckled dryly, and scratched his head. "Oh, I see."

Lin Yu left.

Mei didn't try to stop him. Today is still Mei's birthday, just like the day they first met when they were three years old, exactly seven years ago.

She thought Lin Yu had gone out to buy snacks or desserts he hadn't brought, but Mei never saw Lin Yu again after that day.

Chapter 22 No matter the cost!

........

The next morning, it was a bright and sunny day. Compared to yesterday, the wind was particularly strong. I could hear the sounds of cars driving on the street, and my mother was making a racket in the kitchen downstairs. Mei was awake from her sleep.

She touched the corner of her eye and wiped her face with a tissue.

I dreamt a little about the time I spent living with Lin Yu.

It was because of this period that Mei agreed to take care of Lin Yu when she saw him again at school, even though she didn't take good care of him.

That sports meet was the first time Lin Yu and Kevin met, and it was also the first time Mei publicly acknowledged her relationship with Lin Yu as friends.

Mei thought Lin Yu would be very happy, but in fact... Lin Yu was very calm, as if he had said something insignificant.

Mei washed her face in the bathroom, feeling like... yesterday she had done the things Lin Yu would have done on her tenth birthday when he left.

Is it an illusion?

My phone lit up; it was a call from Mebius.

Möbius: "The experimental records from back then have been found."

Mei frowned, puzzled. What experimental records?

Mei: "What experimental records?"

Möbius: "Lin Yu's experimental records, the reason he contracted that strange disease."

Mei: "Experiment?"

"Don't you know? I thought you were genuinely interested in biology. You just wanted to cure him, not do research, right?"

"What research? Has Lin Yu conducted any experiments?"

Wait a minute, when I first asked Möbius, Möbius knew Lin Yu's name.

Lin Yu's illness was clearly only contracted by one person, and it was not contagious and not life-threatening for the time being. How could Mebius possibly understand this kind of illness that only causes weakness?

Mebius: "About six and a half years ago, Lin Yu's parents and I studied the effects of Honkai on the human body. Dr. Lin thought that Honkai might improve the inferior genes of humans, allowing humans to advance to a new realm. I was very interested in this, so I worked with them to study a plan to integrate Honkai with the human body."

Mebius tapped the virtual screen to look at Lin Yu's information from six years ago.

“We call this the Fusion Warrior Project, or... the Chimera.”

Looking at the information on the virtual screen, Möbius thought of the day of the surgery.

The little boy, under anesthesia, lay on the cold operating table. His father held the scalpel, his mother held the hemostat and gauze, and he himself looked at his physical data.

That was the first human experiment Möbius conducted, and the memory remains vivid to this day.

The research continued from when Lin Yu was nine and a half years old until he was ten. On April 12th, the Chimera Project was officially launched. Although the project had major flaws, even simulations on highly intelligent computers showed a success rate of 0%. Without that experiment, Lin Yu would not have lived past sixteen, and even if it had succeeded, he would not have lived past twenty-five.

After Lin Yu greeted Mei, they took him to Canghai City, a place far from Shenzhou. They successfully performed the surgery, but while the surgery was successful, it was uncertain whether it would fail during the growth process.

They saved Lin Yu's life, but were then discovered by the Far East. The Far East began to hunt him down. On the night of April 12th, Lin Yu had only been asleep when his parents were in a car accident...

On April 13th, Lin Yu returned home and asked Mei one last time, "Are we friends now?" He received a negative answer, then went to deal with his parents' remains, and never returned.

Mei: "No! Lin Yu's parents are physics researchers."

Möbius smiled, and the chair he was sitting in spun around. "Why do you think you need me?"

His parents were ostensibly ordinary applied physics researchers, but in reality, they were high-ranking members of the Moth of Fire research department. From the age of four, they had Lin Yu practice swordsmanship, running, and physical training to prepare him for optimal experimental conditions at the age of ten.

Möbius: "His illness is difficult to cure because, in essence, it is the price he pays for living. He has already turned sixteen, which means the experiment has truly succeeded."

Because of this experiment, the Fire Moth began targeting Möbius and sealed off the entire Chimera Project, which has not been restarted for six years.

Möbius: "He won't live past twenty-five, unless...."

This is precisely the purpose of Möbius and Mei's discussion of biology.

"Unless you join the Moth of Fire, restart the Chimera Project, begin human experiments, and start researching from scratch—no, from the very beginning—and find a way to save him during the experimentation process."

"Choose, Mei. The whole truth is laid out before you. Do those human experiments, experiments with a 0% probability, experiments that might not succeed even if countless people die, or do nothing."

Mei's mind went blank, her hand holding the phone trembled uncontrollably, and she fell silent.

Mei: "I...I study physics..."

Möbius: "Lin Yu's parents also studied physics. You will be like his parents. Moreover, his parents have my help, and you will have my help too."

Mei: "I just want the medicine to keep him alive. I can help you with your physics research."

Mebius: "It seems you haven't figured out the situation yet. Due to the aftereffects of the experiment, Lin Yu's physique will become weaker and weaker, but the Fusion Warrior Project will also make his combat power stronger and stronger. Every battle will reduce his lifespan. This world is full of crises, and there is no medicine that can cure it. This disease is a byproduct of the experiment."

Mebius deceived Mei. Lin Yu is beyond saving. She only wanted to study the Fusion Warrior project, but the Fire Moth forbade human research led by her. Other researchers called her a devil and refused to help her.

She can't fool many people, and there aren't many geniuses like Mei who are so talented that Moth Chaser would personally invite her and Einstein.

Möbius intercepted Einstein's communications and communicated with Mei unilaterally.