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

—The one he loved most could only ever be…

Aponia suddenly realized she was almost lost again; she snapped back to her senses, alarm bells ringing in her mind.

—No! I almost fell for it again! I really need to avoid Eve. If we get too close, we'll just attract each other, and sooner or later something that no one wants to see will happen!

But another thought flashed through Aponia's mind.

—But besides me… is there really anyone who wouldn't want to see a moth drawn to fire?

The incomparably beautiful nun sighed inwardly. She looked at Alicia's teasing expression, then turned to look at Sakura's deliberately averted gaze. Finally, she closed her eyes and calmly felt the boy's vigorous and fiery life force.

Is the future truly predetermined?

—Even if I can glimpse the future, will I ultimately become a sacrifice offered to the "Son of Man"?

At this point, they were about halfway through their meal. Shen Liang curled up in Aponia's arms, letting her take advantage of him without daring to speak. Sakura quietly peeled fruit. Alicia raised an eyebrow at the nun, whose expression remained dignified, and then clapped her hands with a smile.

"Seriously, am I the one who brings up the main topic this time?"

“Normally, you should be the one to bring up these kinds of things. You’re one of the current leaders of the Fire Moths. We’re all just here for eating and fighting.” Sakura handed the papaya to her sister and then said, “Hurry up and finish what you’re saying, I have something to do.”

"What's up so late at night?"

“Of course it’s time to sleep at night,” Sakura glanced at Aponia. “This week it’s my turn to take care of the dolls.”

Ling's face flushed, and she was no longer so surprised. It seemed that Sakura had never intended to hide anything from her younger sister; perhaps the spirit of the Fire Moths had already corrupted her, the older sister!

"So Sakura's in a hurry, huh~" Alicia covered her mouth and grinned mischievously. "Alright, don't make that face like you're going to hit me. Let's start, let's start. First of all, this still concerns the doll—hey Sakura, is it really okay for your sister to be listening here?"

“Ling is my family. She will only eat and live with me from now on, so there’s no need to worry about her leaking secrets.”

"If we eat and live together... what will happen to you and the doll?" Alicia couldn't help but let her thoughts wander again.

"Don't worry!"

“Alright, alright, let’s get back to the main topic.” Alicia shrugged. “As we all know, because of the fact that Doll can even fuse with Herrscher genes, she has helped us extract a lot of Herrscher cores. The first Divine Key was ‘Judgment of Heaven’, which was made from the Herrscher of Flame’s core, as well as Sakura’s ‘Seven Thunders of Purification’, Eden’s ‘Star of Eden’, and Doll herself is using ‘Black Abyss White Flower’, all of which are excellent weapons.”

“The creation of the Divine Keys itself relies on the doll’s ingenious concept,” Alicia said. “For example, how was the Judgment of Heavenly Fire designed?”

“I know this very well, after all, it happened right before my eyes,” Sakura said calmly. “When the doll made Himiko die in a state of pleasure, she took the core from her heart, and the core instantly transformed into a phantom red greatsword. It was because of this that Velvet designed the Herrscher of Flame's core as a greatsword. Every subsequent Divine Key was first conceived by the doll, and then Velvet designed it. Coincidentally, the doll's concept was always the one that best suited the way the Divine Key was used among all the design blueprints.”

Chapter Sixteen: No matter what, Shen Liang is indeed a good child.

Ling never expected that Shen Liang would be so useful. She had always thought that Shen Liang was just a simple canary, responsible for being a psychological and physiological caregiver for all the female fusion warriors.

“Yes, the strongest form of every Divine Key was conceived by Doll, including the Herrscher of Domination in the Tenth Honkai Impact.” Alicia laughed, “That mission really infuriated our Doll.”

Sakura couldn't help but smile slightly when she thought of this, and looked at Shen Liang. Sure enough, Shen Liang's face had also turned slightly dark.

The fact that the doll could clearly show her dislike for the mission shows how disgusting it was.

"No one could have imagined that the Tenth Herrscher was actually composed of a thousand individual Herrschers. After Mei gathered them together, she had dozens of Fusion Warriors subdue them. On one hand, she used Mebius's violent methods to obtain the Herrscher cores, and on the other hand, she had Doll use gentle methods to obtain them. But even when she used violent methods this time, there were still more than a hundred of those who were of higher quality and required Doll's personal intervention." Sakura laughed, "After that, Doll probably wouldn't want to touch any girls for a month."

"I heard that the academicians even tried to get the doll to take the cores of several male Herrschers. Mei slammed her fist on the table at the highest research meeting and pointed at an academician, warning him to shut up. It's the first time I've ever seen Mei so angry." Alicia ruffled Shen Liang's bangs and laughed. "You're Mei's most beloved little cutie. She probably wanted to tie you to her body for a whole month, right?"

Shen Liang didn't want to answer the question and simply turned her head away.

"The funniest part was that during the week after the experiment ended, Pado was on duty to take care of the doll. Pado waited so long for the doll, but when the doll came out of the lab and saw her excitedly, it hid behind Mei~ Hehe, Pado was heartbroken. She cried more than anyone else and told everyone that the doll didn't want her anymore and who would take care of her for the rest of her life—it was so funny and cute~"

“Padre is different from us. She probably really hopes to marry the young master who inherited Eden’s wealth. She is also determined to find a way to marry Doll.” Sakura chuckled. “After that, Padre and the others never allowed Doll to continue executing Herrschers. Hehe, the highest leaders of the Flame Moth took turns comforting her. It took a whole month to cure Doll’s fear of women.”

Ling listened silently, thinking to herself, "Is this the reason why you top leaders turned this little wolfhound's public bus into your private car?"

I'm so envious... oh no, I'm so awful.

"And during the incident with the Herrscher of Death, the doll showed some abnormalities." Alicia looked at Sakura. "You were the one guarding her that time, don't you remember?"

"The Herrscher of Death? The Herrscher of Death is a dark blue-haired girl who is about the age of a high school student. She is disguised as an unawakened Herrscher and has been imprisoned in a solitary confinement cell. I remember that Kevin was supposed to execute her, but Kevin... couldn't bear to let the Herrscher of Death, who showed human emotions, execute her instead."

"Oh dear, Kevin didn't want to be the one to wield the butcher's knife against humans, so he applied to have the doll do it, oh dear~" Alicia's tone was flippant, but her expression was somewhat sad. However, she quickly regained her composure and laughed, "I remember Mei didn't even know the higher-ups had approved it, and she even had a fight with Kevin about it later. Hmm~ it seems that not long after that, Mei was taken down by the doll~"

Aponia, who had been listening for a long time, was slightly surprised. "Mei... has also..."

"Oh right, Mei can be quite irrational sometimes too~ She indulges Wawa's unreasonable demands because she feels sorry for Wawa's psychological trauma. Kevin still doesn't know that the reason Mei was cold to him after that incident was because Wawa was jealous. He even bought a lot of delicious food to talk to Wawa and try to win back Mei's favor."

“Really…” Aponia looked down at the innocent-looking boy on her lap and couldn’t find the words to describe it.

Ling also felt a pang of sadness for the Mr. Kevin she had never met. The world is always like this: while you are lying in bed tossing and turning, wondering why your goddess is ignoring you and not replying to your messages, your goddess is also lying in bed, encouraging your cute little wolf dog to try new knowledge with a gentle smile.

"When faced with the Herrscher of Death, who was no different from an ordinary person, the doll should have simply seduced and executed her, because at that time, the doll would have done the same without hesitation even if he encountered a real ordinary person. But the doll hesitated for about three minutes." Sakura sighed softly, "In those three minutes, he actually started chatting with the Herrscher of Death, calling each other brother and sister. The researchers in the entire 'Child of Man' project were stunned."

"In the end, Doll chose to kill the Herrscher of Death. Unlike his treatment of other Herrschers, where he fully exposed his possessive desires, Doll treated the Herrscher of Death very gently, even using simple kisses to bring her pleasure. Of course, this also meant that the Herrscher of Death did not revel in the bliss. Realizing that his Herrscher core was gradually slipping out of his control, the Herrscher of Death felt that he could no longer hide and began to unleash his power directly."

Alicia then added, "But perhaps the conversation had an effect; the Herrscher of Death's power to decompose biological tissues avoided the dolls and was only fighting the other fusion warriors."

"Yes, at that time it was mainly me fighting the Herrscher of Death. Later, Qianjie arrived and killed her. From beginning to end, Doll just watched without saying a word."

“That Honkai event was probably the one that caused us the least damage. The Herrscher of Death didn’t cause much damage. With half of the Herrscher’s core being absorbed by Doll at the Fire Chaser Base headquarters, she went berserk and couldn’t cause much trouble.” Alicia looked at the silent Shen Liang and finally said softly, “However, the Herrscher of Death’s last words before she died raised Doll’s danger rating by several levels.”

Cherry remained silent.

She vividly remembered the look the Herrscher of Death gave Eve before she died. At that time, Eve was just sitting in the corner with her knees drawn up to her chest, watching Seele, who was about to be killed, with a blank expression.

“Look, boy, I didn’t run away, I didn’t…harm too many people, right?” Seele said with her last ounce of strength. Many fusion warriors saw her broken smile. “I kept my promise, I didn’t lie…but this world is like this…there is no future, if there is…”

"I also want to experience what it feels like to have an older brother... who protects me..."

"The academicians concluded that the Doll knew the Herrscher of Death was already an Awakened Herrscher, but he communicated with her privately without informing anyone else. This possibility was dangerous enough, so the Doll was subsequently placed under closer surveillance." Alicia was a little unhappy. "Really, the Doll might have just shown compassion that time! That's such a significant step forward! Where was the danger! At least the outcome was good! Didn't the Herrscher of Death listen to the Doll and stop causing trouble? The Doll deserves a great reward for that!"

“It’s definitely unfair,” Sakura agreed.

“But now there aren’t many people left in the Fire Moth. Even Doll, who was considered dangerous, is now an important member of our team.” Alicia stroked Shen Liang’s face and shook her head. “The ‘Child of Man’ project is no longer hindered. The highest leader of the Fire Moth is now Doll’s girlfriend, Mei, and us. All resources can be used on Doll.”

"What are you trying to do?" Sakura frowned slightly. "You've been building up this for so long, what are you trying to say?"

"The Moth of Flames is suffering massive losses. Of the tens of thousands of fusion warriors, only a handful remain. If we can't win the final war, we must push forward with all our might those 'post-defeat plans'," Alicia said, her eyes gleaming. "And every plan needs a supervisor, namely, the Paradise of the Past! Only the Paradise of the Past can continue the Child of Man plan! We all know that the doll can't grow up quickly, but... if he can't grow up in our time, we'll give him the chance to grow up in a second civilization, or even in other worlds! I will design a new system that will guide him in the right direction every time he awakens! So..."

"Are you prepared for failure, Ellie?" Aponia suddenly interrupted her.

“Compared to grand narratives like whether the struggle against the Fire-Chasing Civilization will fail… I’d rather see the dolls grow up.” Alicia’s eyes shone with hope. “We may not have a future, but only when the Paradise of the Past is established can we see the dolls’ future.”

“Even if the Fire-Chasing Civilization perishes, it will leave behind a spark,” Sakura whispered.

“I look down on projects like the Holy Mark Project and the Hengsha Project, which rely on future generations. I believe that only the children of the Fire Chaser Civilization can achieve the salvation of the Fire Chaser Civilization. Aren’t the children of humanity, the children of the Fire Chaser, meant to do this?”

"You want to see the dolls establish a new era for the Fire Chaser millions of years from now?" Aponia looked at the breathtaking longing in Alicia's eyes. "Like... a dynastic restoration, a prince's revenge?"

“The doll’s story is far more exciting than that,” Alicia said softly.

------------

Time passes day by day.

Three more months have passed, and the Twelfth Herrscher has yet to be born after the tragedy of the Restraint. Shen Liang, like the other warriors at the Fire Chaser Base, waits every day for a new Honkai event to occur.

The difference is that others are afraid, but Shen Liang doesn't understand what fear is. He only hopes that the new Herrscher is good-looking enough and not so easy to break.

Although the fusion warriors possessed extraordinary physical abilities, they were still people Shen Liang had to address as "sister" or "auntie." Having learned politeness from books, Shen Liang knew that as a well-behaved child, he couldn't bully them to the point of tears. The Herrschers, however, didn't have this concern. Researchers like Mei would even review his and the Herrschers' recordings, as those were considered important research data.

Chapter Seventeen: The Basketball Prodigy Endures Hardships!

In the basketball court of the sports hall, sunlight streamed in through the high skylight, illuminating the clean wooden floor.

The sound of basketballs slamming against the floor echoed in the empty arena. A boy with a high ponytail, wearing a blue and white jersey, sprinted forward, dribbling the ball with one hand and looking around for a way to break through.

"16 to 14, one minute left." Kevin was equally fast, following Shen Liang like a shadow.

"know."

The moment Shen Liang finished answering, he darted past Kevin's arm like a whirlwind. His height only reached Kevin's chest, making him inherently difficult to defend. However, having played basketball for so long, Kevin had anticipated Shen Liang's movements. He immediately jumped to block Shen Liang's three-point shot, but his prediction was wrong. Shen Liang didn't shoot; instead, he passed the ball to another girl running towards him, a barefoot girl in a black strapless cheongsam. The girl caught the ball and, without hesitation, tossed it to a petite girl with green hair. "Klein! Three-pointer!"

The green-haired girl, Klein, hesitated for a moment. She wasn't actually very athletic, but her teammates' high expectations made her decide to respond. She jumped up and hit a three-pointer!

"Snapped!"

Someone jumped three meters high and blocked the shot straight from the basketball hoop!

"You're bullying me, Qianjie!" The twin loli who looked exactly like the little girl in the black strapless cheongsam from before, with the same long black hair and petite figure, except that the strapless dress was now moon-white, stomped her feet angrily from the sidelines. "Danzhu is only 1.4 meters tall! You're taking advantage of your height too much!"

“We’re not tall, it’s because you’re short that we’re short,” Qianjie laughed.

Immediately afterward, Qianjie noticed a black shadow sweep past him. He sneered, knowing that Danzhu was about to intercept the ball, and decisively jumped up to block it! But all he saw was Danzhu's mischievous little face.

"Where's the ball?" Qianjie didn't see her attempt to make amends.

A loud thud echoed from the floor—the sound of Danzhu slamming the basketball to the ground! The ball bounced five or six meters high, and Shen Liang's shoes nearly shattered the wooden floor as he and Kevin leaped into the air! Their speed was so great that only the color of their jerseys could be seen!

"Three seconds left!" Cang Xuan, acting as the referee from the sidelines, shouted!

Shen Liang caught the basketball high in the air! He had nowhere to get leverage in mid-air, and in that instant, Kevin realized something was terribly wrong!

The boy stepped onto Kevin's shoulders in mid-air, performed a light backflip, and then threw the basketball toward the hoop! Yes, not a shot from below, but a powerful shot from above! Shooting is a parabolic motion, so it's slow, but a powerful shot is very fast, and because it's shot from five or six meters in the air, even if Qianjie reacted in time, it wouldn't be enough to stop the ball!

He can block shots easily, but no one can block a shot from six meters high.

"boom."

The sound of the ball going through the hoop and landing on the ground filled the air. The scoreboard showed 16:17. Cangxuan proudly puffed out his little nose and exclaimed, "Kid! Three points!"

Shen Liang finally breathed a sigh of relief, turned around and walked off the court to take the bottled water Cang Xuan handed him. His jersey was already soaked with sweat. He glanced at the scoreboard and was very satisfied, because this was a rare victory for him in his match against Kevin Qianjie.

Klein and Danzhu also ran over, and the four little guys, none of whom were over 1.5 meters tall, gathered together. This was a regular basketball game. Klein, Cangxuan, and Danzhu were all members of the Infinite Experimentation Institute, Mebius's assistants, and also some of his few friends of similar age at the Fire Chaser Base.

Danzhu and Cangxuan are twin sisters from Asia. Although they look like teenage girls who like to wear cheongsams, they are actually adults. Klein is Möbius's most trusted assistant, not only as a research assistant but also in charge of taking care of the entire Infinite Laboratory's daily needs.