Didn't you go to Teyvat to earn money to support me?

He might...

He was truly loved by everyone in the Fire Chaser Base, and he was truly the embodiment of justice for the base all by himself.

it is good……

So domineering, so majestic, so chuunibyou... so cute!

For some inexplicable reason, Ling asked, "Um...do you have a girlfriend?"

"Mei said I'm not old enough to have a girlfriend yet." Shen Liang tilted his head. "No."

He didn't tell Ling that Mei also said, "But if you need it, everyone can fulfill their responsibilities as girlfriends first, and you can give them your official status when you grow up. If we talk about official status now... it will cause turmoil within the 'Moth Chasing the Flame' group."

"So, in a few years, when you want to find a girlfriend, will you contact me?" Ling's face was very shy. She didn't know how she could say such a thing, but unlike that gentle older sister, if she had any feelings for someone, she would definitely make a move immediately!

As the school beauty and hottie, Ling isn't going to be shy or flirtatious. She'll just make a contract first and then be the first to claim him when she's older!

“Okay,” Eve nodded, “count you in.”

What do you mean, count me in?

A sense of crisis surged through Ling in an instant. She keenly realized that there was definitely more than one girl who shared her thoughts and was engaging in angel investing with Eve! Inevitably, this handsome young man with black hair and red eyes, destined to become a domineering CEO, had his eye on more than one older woman!

"It's settled then. Let's exchange contact information first. Don't worry, my sister is joining the Firemoth soon, so I'm practically a relative, and contacting me isn't against the rules." Ling eagerly added Eve's number. "Keep in touch, and remember your sister, whatever you do, don't get a girlfriend! You won't find one as young and beautiful as me! Trust me!"

“Yes.” Eve nodded again.

Ling always felt that she and Eve had made a gentleman's agreement long ago, and that she had already reserved the position of his girlfriend. After all, Eve had nodded in agreement the whole time without raising any objections! He must be very satisfied with me and like me a lot!

But after several years of contact, Ling had vaguely sensed that the child lacked common sense.

But she remained confident that a beautiful girl like herself would at least keep Eve in his thoughts for a long time. Even if he lacked common sense, he still had a fondness for pretty girls and was surely waiting for her to keep their appointment.

"Sigh." Ling sighed, feeling the boy in her arms' arms still full of vitality even in his sleep.

Who would have thought that this child would be so pampered by everyone? He even said he couldn't find a girl as young and beautiful as himself, only to discover a second later that the girl they randomly picked was none other than Sister Sakura.

—She's as pretty as me, gentler and with a better figure, and she even has a pair of fox ears that I can pet.

—That's too arrogant, Ling!

But I kept my promise after all. My lovely baby... never grew up and never found a girlfriend.

Ling stroked her lower abdomen, feeling the special warmth, and lazily closed her eyes. Just as she was about to hug Shen Liang and go to sleep together, a communication came through the terminal.

"I'm home, Ling. I even brought some guests."

The pink-haired JK girl suddenly woke up from her warm and comfortable state! It was so comfortable that she almost forgot the time!

Looking at the messy, damp bed and bedding, Sakura's clothes and her own skirt and stockings scattered everywhere, the smell in the air, and the two people who hadn't even started dressing yet... Ling panicked. She realized that there wouldn't be enough time to clean up!

There's not even enough time to take a shower!

Chapter Ten: Aponia and Alicia in Nurse Outfits

The elevator doors opened, and Sakura stepped out carrying two full plastic bags, followed by two women—or rather, two elegant adult women.

One is Alicia, the most famous pink fairy of the Fire Moths, with slightly curly pink hair, a beautiful and delicate face, elfin pointed ears, and a graceful figure that never gains weight no matter how much she eats.

But the other one is somewhat unfamiliar to most people. She is tall and voluptuous, with straight, waist-length hair and her eyes are slightly closed beneath her light-colored eyelashes, even when she walks. She places her hands together on her lower abdomen, in the gesture of a nun's prayer, which gives her an almost sacred and compassionate air.

Aponia, the strongest psychic fusion warrior of the Firemoth.

Her beauty was exquisite, embodying both the divinity and maternal instincts of a clergyman. While Cecilia still possessed the captivating beauty of a woman in her early twenties, Aponia had completely transcended that. She didn't need that innocent, naive aesthetic; instead, she exuded the soft charm of a mature woman, irresistibly drawing you in, like a guiding angel reaching out to you on her deathbed.

However, today Aponia was not wearing her usual black and white nursing home nun's habit. Instead, she was wearing a fitted nurse's dress like Alicia, with pure white over-the-knee nurse stockings covering her thighs below the short skirt. Her long hair was neatly combed, and she was wearing a hat decorated with a cross.

"What kind of cosplay is this, the International Red Cross outfit?" Sakura looked helplessly at Aponia's nurse uniform. "Our Firemoth nurses' uniforms aren't the kind that are so restrictive, are they? Our nurses are all fusion warriors, so wearing such tight clothes wouldn't be convenient for fighting."

The tall, sage-like nun, who had kept her eyes closed, finally opened them and looked at her attire, slightly puzzled. "...I don't understand."

Her voice was full of love, but slow and soft, as if nothing could make her impatient.

"Because it's just a nurse's uniform that I asked Pado to find out from outside. It's made of ordinary fabric, the kind that can be torn apart with a gentle rip~" Alicia seemed very happy today, her tone quite cheerful. "Seeing Aponia wearing that nun's gown every day, although it's very pretty, can get a bit visually tiring. Aponia finally gets to come out, so of course we should let her try on all sorts of pretty little dresses!"

"The pretty little dress you're wearing means you two cosplaying as nurses?" Sakura asked with a smile.

"After all, what we do is indeed the work of doctors and nurses. Wearing some pretty clothes that catch people's eye will make people less resistant~ This is Alicia's little knowledge lesson, so remember it well."

"...Thank you for your help. Without Alicia's assistance, most of the fusion warriors would probably be very resistant to me as a sinner," Aponia said softly.

Sakura knew what they had been doing these past few days. As a mental fusion warrior, Aponia was feared by everyone, and no one wanted to have contact with her because she had an extremely powerful ability to influence the behavior of others.

This ability is called "discipline".

Aponia can exert a very strong psychological suggestion on people, such as "the water is poisonous," making those given this suggestion afraid to even drink water. While this ability isn't very efficient in real-time combat—after all, psychological suggestion often requires the recipient to actively accept it—no one likes to have their mind manipulated.

Therefore, Aponia has always lived in the "deepest part" of the Flame Chaser, a place used by the Flame Chaser to imprison the most dangerous prisoners or experimental subjects, a prison that even the Herrscher of Death was not once qualified to set foot in. Aponia is responsible for purifying evil thoughts here, and can also avoid contact with most people.

If it weren't for the tragic events surrounding the Restraint, which have caused widespread panic among the Fire-Chasing Moths, she wouldn't have stepped forward.

This was the first time she had applied "Discipline" to all Fusion Warriors since joining the Firemoth.

“The Commandments have been implanted in all the warriors, and their fear of the Honkai should have been almost completely gone. However, I don’t know what the price will be for the courage gained from the Commandments.” Aponia walked along the road, her voice ethereal as she spoke. “Fate has taught me that every time I try to gain something from it, I always lose something in return. The will given by the Commandments is ultimately not the true will.”

“We have nothing left to lose, Aponia,” Sakura whispered. “The Firemoth is reduced to just over five thousand men, and the Fusion Warriors to only a hundred or so. Without discipline, the Firemoth is on the verge of falling apart. What could be more unacceptable than this?”

"Yes, this is the fate chosen by the fire-chasing moth, but the future I see is not so good."

Sakura and Alicia knew that Aponia had possessed some ability to glimpse the future ever since she became a Fusion Warrior. Although it was just glimpsing, Aponia's intuition was rarely wrong.

So Sakura was silent for a while, then said, "I'm afraid this doesn't need a prediction. Our future is unlikely to be much better."

Seeing that the atmosphere seemed to be getting tense, Alicia frowned her cute brows and immediately put her hands on her hips.

"Alright~ I came here today to have hot pot with Sakura. Doll and Ling are waiting. It'll make the kids sad if they see the adults looking so gloomy! Aponia~ Sakura~ How can you bear to show this kind of expression in front of Doll? This isn't how a responsible adult behaves~" the fairy lady rebuked righteously, "Especially you, Aponia!"

Aponia's expression turned slightly flustered. Her composed and divine demeanor vanished, and she seemed to transform into a young mother being reprimanded for a mistake. She looked at the other person helplessly and asked softly, "Is... there something wrong with me?"

“Aponia is so beautiful, with such a great figure, and she’s a tall, 1.75-meter-tall lady~ But don’t look so pitiful. How can Doll like you if you look like that, right?” Alicia gave her a sweet smile with her hands behind her back. “Although I know Aponia is a very nice person, and she’ll be happy with anything if I just act cute towards her, Doll isn’t good at acting cute. All he sees of you all day is you saying things that are hard to understand and acting all high and mighty. Of course, he’ll think you’re hard to approach.”

"I'm hard to approach... hard to understand?" Aponia's tone was slightly anxious, and she even opened her eyes to look at Alicia.

"It's okay~ Look, I dressed Aponia in a pretty nurse's uniform, she's so cute, and Doll loves this kind of corset. Aponia, you rarely come out, so if you don't take this opportunity to connect with Doll, he might forget what you look like."

The pink fairy smiled and tiptoed, teasingly whispering in her ear, "Aponia, my dear Aponia, don't forget, you're the most special one among us. You're going to live with the doll for a very, very long time..."

Aponia's beautiful, aquamarine eyes trembled slightly.

She gazed at the pink fairy for a long time, her chest heaving, and then she sighed softly.

“You know, I don’t need the doll to like me.” Her tone returned to its normal gentleness, and she smiled slightly, a very gentle smile. “We each give him different things, so it’s enough for me to just watch him from afar.”

“That’s not fair to you, Aponia!” Alicia pouted unhappily.

Sakura hesitated for a moment before speaking, "Aponia, you'll be with him for many, many years. Look at you now, stuck in the deepest place, surrounded by sinners and prisoners, with Gretchen by your side, yet it's still torment. Once humanity truly fails and the plan begins... you know, without the doll's company, you might spend thousands upon thousands of years in darkness and loneliness!"

“I’m ready,” Aponia said.

"This has nothing to do with whether you're prepared or not, darling." Alicia rubbed her head, unusually a little helpless. "Even for the sake of the success rate of the Son of Man Project, I think someone who's been lonely for thousands of years will definitely turn to the dark side. I have a feeling that this plan might not even succeed. At least Su's plan allows him to observe different worlds and satisfy his boredom, but what about you?"

Aponia remained silent.

“Aponia, you are a nun, and I know you are inclined to absolute goodness, but have you ever thought that even moral goodness changes with the environment?” Sakura looked at him with some worry. “The doll doesn’t dislike you. You… could try to reciprocate his love.”

“These days, children have no love, only lust,” Aponia said softly. “He doesn’t understand what love is, so I can’t indulge his lust.”

Alicia pinched her cheek angrily, "Dear Aponia, are you saying that everyone in the Moth Chaser treats dolls like toys? We're clearly spoiling him with love, not indulging him, it's creating beautiful memories!"

Aponia still shook her head.

“Perhaps millennia of loneliness, Aponia, you can’t bear it, no one can,” Sakura whispered. “When humanity is on the verge of extinction, some bases use corpses as food reserves, which is unavoidable. Aponia, you can even understand those people’s will to survive, because that’s how the morality is there. And now, you should understand yourself. For the next millennia, only the doll will be with you. In the cold, dark world, only the doll can embrace you. You will only have each other left, Aponia. You need the doll more than we… you need redemption more.”

Aponia crossed her arms over her chest, no longer responding, but silently praying.

This posture indicates that she has nothing more to say; she cannot listen to, nor dares to listen to, the advice of Sakura and Alicia.

As a psychic fusion warrior, she was terrified, because she was actually slightly swayed by Sakura and Alicia's persuasion—or rather, she had always been swayed, even she was afraid. The Millennia-Old Child of Man Project had only two most important members: Eve could undergo countless trials, while she could only wait alone in silence.

This……

That's terrifying.

But... faced with Eve's pure face, the guilt and moral torment in her heart prevented her from doing it. She could not, like others, obtain this beautiful young man without any worries.

Then they had reached the door.

----------

Let's jump back a bit to the moment Ling received the text message.

Perhaps because Ling was writhing like a spring roll in her terror, Shen Liang, who was holding her and sleeping soundly, was also awakened. He pressed Ling's shoulders down onto the bed and continued to lie down, his voice tired but commanding, "Don't move."

"Hey, hey, hey, now is not the time for you to continue being a domineering CEO! I don't want to move either, but we have guests coming later!" Ling was terrified and tried to struggle, but she had no strength to fight Shen Liang. Shen Liang was the second strongest person in the base after the fusion warriors.

"Guests...it doesn't matter." Shen Liang's words made Ling subconsciously want to retort, but I do care! I'm not Sakura! Does that mean Sakura can be indifferent? What kind of lives do you guys lead normally?!

"Ling, relax your muscles. You're too tense. It's uncomfortable to be a body pillow."

"Stop being so picky! Then let me go!" Ling shouted, then suddenly realized something, her face turning pale. "You...you called me..."

"Ling."

Ling stopped resisting, her eyes filled with panic. "Baby...you recognized me."

"Although I don't know why Ling disguised herself, I didn't recognize her at first," Shen Liang said calmly. "But my feelings and reactions were wrong. I'm not stupid."