I've already said this isn't a life simulator!

Taking a deep breath, Xi Wang readjusted her breathing.

Sometimes I really hate those higher-ups at Moth Chaser. Every time they issue these annoying and infuriating orders, they never say it themselves, or even send their own people. They just tell Mei the order and let her relay it... This increases Mei's pressure and makes it difficult for those who know the order to lash out.

It's really annoying.

"……I see."

Xi Wang responded in a calm tone.

"Little lab rat, it's just us here, so feel free to swear if you want. Don't hold it in, it's bad for your health~"

Mebius lightly touched his lips with his fingertip, offering a kind reminder.

"No need. Alicia said it's bad to swear... and I don't really want to use foul language either."

"Tch, all you ever do is talk about Alicia... But whatever, just remember to report back later, you little guinea pig~"

Mebius pursed her lips, and after saying that, she ignored Xi Wang and went to Gretchen's side to play with her... She had to cherish this time, after all, she wouldn't have many chances to see Gretchen again in the future.

“…Dr. Mei.”

Xi Wang's gaze lingered on Gretchen for a moment before turning to Mei, who was standing to the side and had not left.

"Everything is for the fight against the Honkai...right?"

"……Yes."

Mei and Xiwang looked at each other, nodded firmly, and slightly corrected Xiwang's words.

"Everything is for the purpose of defeating the Honkai."

Chapter Thirty-Six: Is everything steadily improving...?

[You accepted the mission given to you by the Fire Moth: to send Gretchen to the "Deepest Place," a super prison built by Velvey to hold some of the Fire Moth's criminals and failed experiments. In fact, you were the one who sent many of them there.]

[And this trip isn't just for you and Gretchen; Alicia is also on her mission to go to the "deepest parts."]

According to Alicia, she went to "poach" someone, and you know that person—the one you fought in "Twilight Street" before.

Although I don't know how Alicia convinced the Flame Chaser to accept that "outsider," you don't care; you just cherish the time you spend with Alicia and Gretchen.

[I don't know if it's because Gretchen accepted your "abnormal blood," but she's become closer to you than before, and she especially likes to draw on your body.]

In Gretchen's words, you have "familiar colors" and "favorite colors" on you, but they are hidden away, covered up by something else, so she has to repaint them.

Although you didn't quite understand what Gretsch meant, you just let her be, since you didn't dislike her closeness.

Upon reaching the "Deepest Place," you and Alicia meet Aponia, the nun you brought back who is in charge of guarding and restraining prisoners. She is now a special and powerful fusion warrior, but for some reason, she seems to refuse to participate in direct combat, only performing auxiliary tasks or offering assistance in certain matters.

Of course, the main reason is that the Fire-Chasing Moths are wary of her ability, the ability called "Discipline".

Your meeting went smoothly. Aponia didn't show any particular emotion towards you and didn't seem to care about the time you knocked her unconscious and brought her back to the Firemoth.

However, during this process, you notice that Aponia's gaze often falls on you, and occasionally a puzzled look appears on her face, as if there is something about you that makes her feel strange.

[You didn't seem to care much about this, and just played with Gretchen on the side while waiting for Alicia and Aponia to negotiate.]

After a while, they seemed to have reached an agreement, got up and walked deeper into the area. Before leaving, they both turned back to look at you and Gretchen.

Aponia looked at Gretchen, her eyes filled with pity and worry... Although she had agreed to take care of this lovely yet pitiful child, she was still worried about the little girl continuing to stay in this place full of darkness and despair.

Alicia smiled at you, asking you to look after Gretchen, saying they would be back soon—she wasn't worried about Gretchen's safety because you were here.

[And indeed, as Aponia and Alicia's figures gradually disappeared into the depths, and as the various beings belonging to the "Deepest Place" climbed out of the shadows, the azure water reappeared.]

That was the familiar blue to them, a familiar stinging pain. They knew it all too well. So many people had been arrested and trapped here because of you. Their resentment towards you after such long imprisonment was indescribable, but... they still couldn't get close to you.

Even without the presence of rain, you are still more than they can handle. Moreover, a mere display of your strength will be enough to force their lingering fear to retreat.

You paid no attention to them, only playing with Gretsch and drawing pictures on the ground together. You would draw a similar but slightly different "picture" next to Gretsch's. Compared to Gretsch, your "picture" was more realistic and less fantastical, more like a scene of reality reflected in a blurry mirror. Although, judging from the picture, whales that can swim in the clouds should not exist in reality.

[You had no idea you were so talented at painting, and considering your previous musical talent... well, maybe you're surprisingly suited to be an artist like Eden?]

Of course, to avoid Gretchen's "painting" having any negative impact on the prisoners here, you will wash the "painting" off the ground with water after she finishes painting, and tell Gretchen that it's best to only paint on special canvases and paper in the future, and not on places like floors and walls... As for clothes and bed sheets, those are not allowed either.

Although Gretchen didn't quite understand, she still agreed.

Perhaps she was tired from painting, Greta nestled in your arms and fell asleep, peacefully and serenely.

After a while, Alicia and Aponia returned, bringing with them a man who looked familiar—the one wearing the mask.

According to Alicia, his name should be Qianjie.

The moment Qianjie saw you, he rushed forward, clamoring for a rematch, shouting things like, "That battle isn't over yet! Come on, let's fight!"—things you couldn't understand.

However, you didn't intend to waste words with him. You simply raised your hand and threw a blue water ball at his head, silencing his loud shouts so as not to disturb Gretsch, who was still asleep. This action undoubtedly provoked Qianjie, who approached you at an even faster speed, but you threw him back with tentacles made of "water".

Although Senju finally stopped causing trouble after being persuaded by Aponia and stopped by Alicia, his actions still woke Gretchen.

Perhaps out of consideration for Gretchen, Qianjie remained quiet afterward, but the dangerous aura emanating from him caused Gretchen to tremble slightly and unconsciously clutch his clothes.

Seeing this, Qianjie seemed somewhat disgusted, but silently moved a little further away to avoid further provoking Gretsch.

Could he be a good person by accident? — You can't help but wonder.

But there's no need to think about it too much now; it's time to say goodbye.

Before parting, you chatted on and on with Gretchen about various things, and also had a brief conversation with Aponia, hoping she would take good care of Gretchen. Alicia even said you were like Gretchen's older brother, too talkative.

[You don't see anything wrong with this? Since Gretsch's father can't come to see her off, you naturally have to send your concern along with her.]

[Aponia and Alicia clearly understand your feelings, so they are simply waiting patiently.]

However, halfway through, you felt Aponia's gaze lingering on you again, a gaze filled with doubt and confusion, but you didn't care, since you weren't familiar with her anyway.

During their final farewell, Gretchen asked you if you would return to visit her, and your answer was naturally—yes.

Gretchen seemed pleased to receive the promise and offered to paint a picture of you as a gift for your next meeting, which you readily accepted.

Before parting, Aponia still looked at you with a strange and questioning gaze, opening her mouth several times as if she wanted to say something, but hesitated.

But in the end, Aponia still spoke up.

"Please always believe in yourself"—this is the advice she gave you, which is quite puzzling.

[Alicia seemed to realize something, her gaze lingering on you for a moment before she resumed her original smile.]

She seemed somewhat happy.

You and Alicia left the "Deepest Place," carrying with you Thousand Calamity, who may very well become a new member of the Poison Chrysalis.

[After joining the Moth of Flames, Qianjie has been restless, always coming to find you, wanting to continue the battle you didn't finish last time, and even interrupting your time with Sakura several times. You could even hear Qianjie challenging you to a fight when you were being dragged to try on clothes by Alicia and Eden.]

[Damn it, how come after Mebius's harassment ended, something even more troublesome has appeared?]

You have absolutely no interest in fighting him. He's a comrade-in-arms now, and unless the "mission" specifically specifies otherwise, you don't want to, and are too lazy to, swing your blade at a comrade-in-arms; it's pointless.

[Some outrageous rumors have started circulating in The Moth to Flame again... such as "the scumbag Xi Wang stole someone else's girlfriend and now he's being held accountable," "the poor masked ex-boyfriend," and "the unspeakable things that happened between Qian Jie and Xi Wang late at night," etc.]

[Especially the last one, you don't quite understand it, but you are greatly shocked... By the way, the last rumor mentioned above was spread by Danzhu. After you found out, you took away several figurines that Danzhu made based on you and Sakura, which made Danzhu cry and make a fuss in the laboratory for several days, and the research could not be done.]

[But in the end you still returned the figure to Danzhu... mainly because she's too much of a troublemaker, and Mebius is going to come looking for you.]

[After realizing that directly targeting you was ineffective, Qianjie began to target those around you.]

[Rin naturally disdained bullying children; it held no appeal for him, so he targeted Sakura first.]

Then he and Sakura fought to a draw... although in reality, both of them held back.

For Sakura, Qianjie is a companion and comrade-in-arms. Although he is a bit strange and irritable, there are plenty of strange people among the Moth Chasers, so one more won't make a difference. Therefore, there is no need to fight with all your might. Qianjie just wants to force you to accept the challenge. He doesn't care about the others; he just treats it as a pastime.

Since searching for Sakura was of no use, Qianjie naturally set his sights on Alicia.

[Then he didn't even get to touch Alicia's clothes, which made him so angry that he smashed and cursed in the battle room, and then he was given three days of detention.]

[However, not long after, Qianjie stopped coming to see you because he had a new "pastoral pastime"—a man named Imor had tried to assassinate Qianjie several times, and although he failed each time, Imor never gave up. He was imprisoned several times for trying to assassinate Qianjie, but continued to try to assassinate Qianjie after his release. This made Qianjie very interested in him.]

[In the end, Qianjie even injured the lieutenant who drove away his own team several times, all in order to make Imor his lieutenant... Finally, through Alicia's intervention, the Fire Moth agreed to Qianjie's "request".]

[You're happy with this, it's always good to have one less troublemaker. But there's still one... no, two people you have to deal with: Möbius and Sue.]

[Su is simple. He just wants to treat your psychological problems. Although you don't think you have any problems, Su thinks you do, so he always wants to solve them... And because of the Moth of Flames' arrangements, you have to go see him regularly. Although it's troublesome, you can just deal with it or make excuses.]

As for Möbius... well, let's not even mention him.

Even though she's manipulating you, as long as you don't admit it, then you're not being manipulated!

In short, we won! (Confirmation.jpg)

Alicia and Sakura witnessed the entire process, but instead of stopping them, they seemed to enjoy it, which was infuriating... Oh well, as long as they're happy.

However, Mebius is quite reliable when it comes to serious matters; she is diligently studying the issues on your body, such as the reduction in the lines on your skin.

[Through research, Möbius discovered that your body's self-healing ability has been significantly enhanced, and while your physical fitness has not improved dramatically, it has not been. In addition, your control over "water" has become stronger.]

Although surprising, Mebius still concluded that you are not in your "complete" state now. The "patterns" flowing through your body are shackles that bind you. You need to continue breaking them to unleash your power and the full potential of the combination of "Gabriel" and your "traits".

As for how to break free from the shackles on you... Mebius doesn't have a clue yet, but it should come from external stimuli, since the abnormality in your body was caused by being targeted by the "Eighth Herrscher".

Mebius was very excited about this; clearly, your presence was a great "motivation" for her.

[Mébius has submitted his research on you to the Fire Moth, which has reassured the Fire Moth somewhat, at least for now they don't have to worry about you suddenly turning into some kind of "Honkai creature".]

[Mei was very interested in this research and had some inspiration, so he began to discuss and study it with Möbius.]

Soon after, a proposal for the "Mass Production Integration Warrior Plan" was placed on the table of the Firefly.

[This is a project to simplify and improve the "Fusion Warrior Surgery," reducing the combat capabilities of fusion warriors while increasing the success and survival rates of the surgery. Ideally, the entire process would be compressed into a single "reagent," using injection to obtain Honkai Beast genes, and then activating the "hypermutation factor" through external stimulation, thereby transforming them into fusion warriors.]

Although theoretically, those who become fusion warriors in this way will be weaker than existing fusion warriors, the success rate is high, and even if they fail, they will not die immediately. It can be said that this is very much in line with the plan name of "mass-producing fusion warriors".

This proposal, which benefits all of human civilization, was naturally passed. However, the technological accumulation required will take time, and the improvement and simplification of the "fusion warrior surgery" and "hypermutation factor" will also require time for research. The funding available is also limited.

[After all, in order to combat the Honkai, the Firemoth has successively promoted many projects. Now they value another project more and are focusing their resources on it, namely the "Armed Doll Technology" developed by Dr. "Einstein".]

The armed puppet is made entirely of "soul steel," giving it a strong resistance to and adaptability to Honkai energy. With sufficient energy supply and combat AI, it can automatically engage in combat against Honkai beasts.

The entire process only requires resources without sacrificing soldiers, which is undoubtedly a technology that the Firemoth should pay close attention to.

[Hmm... and then Moth Chaser was proven wrong again, or rather, Moth Chaser underestimated the "omnipotence" of Honkai energy.]

The armed puppets, powered by Honkai energy, have surprisingly developed self-awareness after a prolonged battle. They then began to protest everywhere, refusing to become expendable resources in the war, causing a major headache for the higher-ups of the Firemoth.

Although the armed puppets were eventually freed through Dr. Einstein's mediation, the Firemoth also sealed away the technology—what they needed were weapons to fight the Honkai, not a bunch of little guys who would resist fighting.

Fortunately, the Fire Moth has another project progressing well. The "Eye of the Abyss" built on the Mu Continent has successfully connected to the "Sea of ​​Quanta," and the exploration is progressing well. The technology for "constructing miniature world bubbles" is also advancing smoothly, and the core technology "Ether Anchor Point" is gradually maturing.