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

"Keep wearing this."

The Fire Chasing Council released Alicia not without a backup plan. For example, as usual, they planted a heart explosive on Alicia, with the detonator given to Shen Liang. And Alicia not only needed Shen Liang by her side, but also Aponia, who could simultaneously control Shen Liang.

This way, if anything happens to Alicia, at least we can be certain that she will be killed.

But the Fire Chasing Council... in essence, the current high-ranking members of the Fire Chasing Moth are all people Shen Liang knows... even the so-called backup plan is largely meaningless. For example, the person who performed the surgery on Alicia was Mebius himself, and Aponia, who controls Shen Liang, is also a friend of Alicia.

In a sense, the supervisory role these people played over Alicia is questionable.

But there's really nothing we can do. The old council has long since fallen, and in the current council, Alicia herself is a socialite. Even if Qianjie were to manage the detonator, it might not be as effective as Shen Liang's... In fact, making a certain degree of criticism is already the council's last demand. When Shen Liang stood up to speak, the Alicia issue became pointless to discuss, and everyone knew that it would eventually fizzle out.

The three of them sat down at an ice cream shop on the second floor of the shopping mall.

"After all, none of the entire Moth Chaser group really considered me a proper Herrscher." Alicia ordered a milk tea, added a whole menu of toppings, handed the order to the waiter, and grinned as she leaned on the table, watching Shen Liang. "Honestly, I never expected this ending. Everyone actually believed me! Even that nasty woman, Mebius, who gets angry just looking at me, secretly didn't perform the surgery. I asked her to at least make a show of it, and she just left me on the operating table and went to sleep~"

“Part of the reason everyone trusts me is because of this.” Shen Liang ordered an orange juice from the waiter. “As long as I… and Aponia are by your side, you won’t be able to cause any trouble.”

"If you said those things to me like you would to a villain, I would be sad."

“Anyway, you’re not a villain.” Shen Liang shrugged. “Just like they can’t really trust me. If you, Alicia, really become a Herrscher, I’m afraid I won’t have time to deal with you… and I might not even care whether I can deal with you or not.”

"Oh?"

"Even if you don't need me, I don't believe you would become a Herrscher who betrays humanity."

"is it?"

“After all, if I go down that path, Alicia, it will take me a long time and I will have to overcome many difficulties to be with you,” Shen Liang said. “You won’t make things difficult for me, right? From childhood to adulthood, you have always been my favorite older sister. We will be together forever without any ups and downs, and we don’t want any of those melodramatic plots.”

So frank, so frank, that even the eloquent Alicia was rendered speechless.

She pondered for a moment, unsure whether Shen Liang's words were truly romantic. If they were, they were too plain; his face remained completely expressionless, devoid of any romance. But if they weren't romantic words…

Alicia felt a sweet warmth welling up inside her, as if honey were about to spill out. Yes, I am the doll's favorite older sister! The path to winning over this little wolf was smooth and effortless, a truly uninterrupted sweep. How could there possibly be any drama involving betrayal, grudges, righteousness, race, or any other messy stuff later on?

Women who are like moths drawn to a flame will relentlessly pursue the boys they like until they grow old!

The two women sat on opposite sides of a small table. Interestingly, they had chosen a booth for two. Shen Liang glanced at them, thought for a moment, and then sat down next to Alicia.

Alicia looked up at Aponia across from her; the nun's expression remained calm.

She suddenly pouted and snorted with disgust, "How can I sit on a cute girl in public? Sit on you, Aponia... sit on Ms. Aponia, I'm a pure girl who hasn't even been in a relationship yet. What if a reporter takes a picture of me here? I'll be ruined."

Shen Liang was pushed and stumbled, falling in shock onto Aponia.

—What are you doing! When did I say I wanted to sit on you?

—And what do you mean by "pure girl who hasn't been in a relationship"? Can we even talk about this between us? Afraid of reporters? Even if there are reporters around, there have been countless photos of you hugging me over the years. Your followers are all guessing when you'll get engaged to me.

—And Aponia is clearly purer than you! You can't just sit there and dump me on Aponia, okay?!

Despite internally complaining three times, the boy was still caught steadily by the nun.

“I’m sorry, Mother Aponia, I…” Shen Liang was about to break free when he heard the nun’s gentle voice and heard her arms wrapped around his waist.

"It's alright, the space is small, just sit here, it'll give me a good hug." Aponia's voice always had an ethereal quality, gentle yet sacred, irresistible. Shen Liang subconsciously tensed up, the words of refusal stuck in his throat.

Alicia's eyes still held a hint of helplessness.

Shen Liang had called Aponia "Mom" in an unfamiliar way since she was very young, but now that she has grown up, this unfamiliar way of addressing her has not changed.

Shen Liang's habits from childhood to adulthood have never changed. He doesn't use suffixes when addressing people he's close to, but he does when addressing strangers. For example, when he was a child, he and Qian Jie and Kevin shared a bed and had no concept of elders. He would just call them "Qian Jie" and "Kevin" without thinking. But now that they're older and need to keep their distance, he calls them "Brother Jie" and "Brother Kevin" directly.

Mebius was an exception. Shen Liang learned what it meant to be wicked from her. He and Gretchen always called Mebius "Auntie," which made Mebius extremely irritable every time.

“Too light,” Aponia suddenly said.

What's too light?

“You’re only about eighteen kilograms heavier than Gretsch, that’s too light. As a boy, you shouldn’t be so frail.” Aponia pulled her legs together to make the boy more comfortable, and whispered, “Gretsch is only ten years old this year.”

Shen Liang thought to herself, "Yes, but I'm only a dozen centimeters taller than Gretchen, and I weigh a full eighteen kilograms. Isn't that enough to show that I'm quite muscular? How about we arm wrestle and see who's stronger?"

But he didn't realize that he was complaining because he felt a little annoyed.

To remember Gretchen's weight so clearly, you must have carried her a lot in that deep prison, right? Did you spend your free time holding Gretchen while she painted? Over the years... you've been more like a mother to her than her own mother, haven't you?

Chapter Sixty-One: The Little Wolf Dog's Tail Was Wagging in the Sky

It feels amazing.

Although I genuinely didn't want to be near Aponia, once I actually sat on her lap, I found her body softer than anyone else's, and her embrace warmer. It was as if I were vaguely recalling a long, long time ago, somewhere deep in my memory, the wind rustling through the windows and tiles, the bells on the cradle jingling, someone cradling a baby in their arms, warming milk against the wall, the steam rising from the pot blurring my vision, obscuring her face.

Are you kidding me? Shen Liang didn't have an infancy. He developed extremely quickly, eating the equivalent of three adults' meals at each meal. He entered puberty at the age of three, which is equivalent to a normal fourteen or fifteen-year-old.

Even if he had an infancy period, it would only have lasted three or four months at most...

Three or four months...

Three or four months is quite a long time.

It's just that people can't remember things from their childhood; all déjà vu comes from subconscious expectations. Shen Liang studied psychology, and those who study psychology need to learn to understand the subconscious. Perhaps it's because he's an artificial being... that he always has this fantasy of having a mother? Indeed, one's regrets may take a lifetime to make up for.

“It’s truly a rare privilege to be able to invite my dear Aponia and even more dear Doll to afternoon tea.” Alicia raised her glass to the two people opposite her. “I’ll trouble you two to be the Thirteenth Herrscher, well, I should say the First Herrscher, but Herrschers are determined by the discovery time of the Flame-Chasing Moth…”

She glanced at Aponia and saw the nun wearing a smile she rarely saw, stroking the boy's hair while reaching her hands into the openings on either side of his clothes to wrap around his waist.

Shen Liang seemed very uncomfortable being so intimately close to a woman he wasn't very familiar with, even though this was the way Mei, Alicia, and others often hugged him. He could only sit stiffly, and out of instinctive fear, he dared not resist, turning a blind eye to the nun's groping.

only……

As expected of a devout nun, although the term "groping" could be used to describe her, she was fundamentally different from girls like Aponia and Alicia. She put her hand inside his clothes only to soothe his emotions. She seemed to understand Shen Liang's fear of her, and it was only by repeatedly touching his heart with her icy, slender hand that she could barely keep Shen Liang sitting on her lap instead of hopping away like a rabbit.

However, from an outsider's perspective, it seems to have a bit of a "playing around" feel to it.

“It wasn’t entirely because of you, Alicia, that I was released from the deepest depths.” Aponia finally looked up from her smiling observation of the boy’s awkwardness and turned to Alicia. “There’s another reason. The Thirteenth Herrscher has emerged. Based on the monitoring of Honkai energy intensity, the next Herrscher might be the end that destroys everything.”

"Is this your prophecy?" Alicia asked, biting her milk tea straw.

“It’s not just a prophecy; May’s experiments also prove it. The end times are here, and we have no choice but to fight,” Aponia said softly. “But thankfully, everyone’s fighting spirit is very high.”

“Yeah, in a post-apocalyptic world, others might be carefree because they don’t know the end is coming, but the carefree attitude of the Fire Moth really puzzled me.” Alicia finished her milk tea and grabbed Shen Liang’s juice as well, since he was currently being held on Aponia’s lap and couldn’t struggle to get his juice anyway. “Everyone knows when the final battle is coming, and that they’ll most likely die in it… so why doesn’t anyone seem to be under any pressure?”

Shen Liang silently watched as the pink fairy popped the unopened drink in his hand. Come to think of it, is this the power of a Herrscher? Alicia probably spends the least time in the training room and gym in the entire Firemoth, even less than the researchers. Why doesn't she gain weight after eating so much?

"This is also my dilemma. Before I entered the deepest place, Mebius came to me. She told me that one day, the idea that 'human beings are destined to fail' will inevitably emerge. At that time, the Moth of Fire will definitely be on the verge of collapse for various reasons. So at that time, I must return to the Moth of Fire and use my ability to impose 'commandments' on everyone."

What is the use of precepts?

“Discipline is actually a powerful form of inner suggestion. By using discipline to instill the belief of ‘certain victory’ in everyone, morale will not decline too much no matter what.” Aponia glanced at Shen Liang, her expression slightly complicated.

“Don’t worry about me, I know.” Shen Liang sighed. “I have three thousand precepts in my body to prevent me from betraying humanity. I understand, but I don’t feel there are too many problems. After all, as long as you don’t say anything, I can’t sense the precepts. Even if I am affected by the precepts, it doesn’t matter to me… Even if a person is not affected by the precepts, they will be affected by other environmental factors.”

“But the commandments work on the subconscious and can distort a person’s will to some extent, Eve…” Aponia wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him tighter. Shen Liang felt the back of his head resting on two sizable, warm mounds, and even sinking in a little.

Then everything went dark.

Aponia wore a black corset underneath her dress, which was a nun's abstinent attire. To make it more conservative, there was a draped overcoat over her breasts.

At this moment, Shen Liang's small head was deeply buried in his eyes, and the draped curtains that once covered his tall and straight eyes were now covering them, carrying a faint yet familiar fragrance.

I can't see anything at all.

“I’m sorry, Eve.” Aponia squeezed his waist tightly, as if trying to press him back into her body, her ethereal voice now carrying a pleading tone, “I don’t ask for your forgiveness, but please don’t hate me.”

"No, no, no..." Shen Liang was squeezed from head to toe, unable to hold any air in his stomach, and couldn't say a complete sentence.

"Don't hate me. I... can understand everything, but I can't control everything. I... can also make mistakes, and can also do unforgivable things." After hearing the rejection, Aponia's eyes became even sadder, and she hugged him even tighter. "If... there is a chance in the future, I will make it up to you for everything I can."

"I... ...

"Let's get back to the point. Commandments can corrupt a person's will, but you didn't impose any, right?" Alicia smiled as she watched the nun, who was struggling to breathe and slapping Aponia's back, but Aponia mistook her for being angry and gently accepted the "boy's anger" while continuing to "gently embrace" her.

Honestly, you wouldn't hug Gretchen this tightly, right? Wait, maybe not? That child had superhuman surgery and is physically stronger than the doll in some ways. Good grief, is this how you hug a child? No wonder the doll is distant from you. How could it not be distant? If this were an ordinary person, you would have broken their ribs by hugging them so tightly!

Aponia loosened her grip slightly, giving Shen Liang some breathing space, before turning her gaze away and becoming serious again. "Indeed, just like you ultimately didn't choose death."

Shen Liang was taken aback and looked at the two of them.

"Surprised? Don't look at me like that. Aponia foresaw that the collapse of morale wasn't an isolated case. Everyone could foresee it, including me." Alicia shrugged. "Prometheus and I discussed this. If one day—and I mean if—the Moth of Flames loses faith in defeating the Honkai, perhaps because of heavy casualties, or perhaps because the new Herrscher is so powerful that everyone is helpless, then what should we do to rebuild their confidence?"

Shen Liang hadn't thought about this question; he had never experienced anything like this in his life with the Fire Moth.

However, he vaguely felt that he had experienced something similar somewhere before.

“Prometheus told me that we either work together for a common goal or for a common enemy. The former is difficult, the latter is easy.” Alicia winked playfully. “But I’m a cute and genius girl, so of course I immediately thought of a way to have the best of both worlds… which is… to become the big villain.”

Shen Liang understood her meaning in an instant, and felt a mix of emotions.

"As Herrschers, I am their greatest enemy, and their desire to destroy me is also their common wish. As a friend, I have been infected by the Honkai, and they will see the Honkai as their greatest enemy, and their desire to avenge me is also their common wish." Alicia chuckled. "No matter how, when people's hearts are scattered, they can be brought back together. Only in this way can we be united in the fight against the end, and only then can those plans to save the world truly be implemented."

"This is also why I need to apply the discipline. If the Firemoths really go that far, even if it twists their will, I will impose 'determination' on them. When the survival of the race is at stake, the individual is insignificant."

"But in the end, neither of us was able to carry out this plan." Alicia stared at Shen Liang in front of her, clearly implying something. "Why was that?"

When Shen Liang looked up, he saw Alicia's teasing gaze, and when he looked up again, he found Aponia gazing at him tenderly.

……

Well, the sudden silence, followed by being stared at by both of them, made me quite uneasy.

"Why?" Shen Liang asked cautiously.

“Actually, to put it simply, my plan was simply to become the link connecting the Moths of Fire. And then… to use my sacrifice to gain a united front against the common enemy.” Alicia leaned forward, lifting Shen Liang’s chin to look him directly into his eyes. “But you are even more amazing. You didn’t need to sacrifice yourself at all; you fulfilled your responsibility as the link all by yourself. Amazing, no wonder you inherited my intelligence!”

"Confidence is something that you just need to keep winning. As long as you keep winning and don't lose or anyone dies, you can keep going." Shen Liang understood what she meant, took a sip of Aponia's black tea, and said confidently.