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

So in these final moments of the apocalypse, Eve will no longer obey them; she will no longer obediently carry out their requests… She will not allow the moths drawn to the flame to seek death; all she has ever sought is a warm home and a future.

"Which ending is more suitable for this world, the monster or the human?" Eden asked softly.

“I can’t answer that question because I don’t care,” Shen Liang replied.

The white-haired girl beside him seemed to have a supernova explosion in her pupils, with dreamlike symbols gathering in her eyes, and then a gate of light opened.

The Second Herrscher, the Herrscher of the Void, possesses the ability to traverse space, and when a Herrscher uses their power personally, it is far more powerful than the Divine Key! They could open a passage between the Earth and the Moon without any difficulty, and even transport so many objects!

Then, the ice-haired girl froze the entire Fire Chaser Base, and all the civilians collapsed uncontrollably, falling into a deep sleep—the Fifth Herrscher, the Herrscher of Ice.

Immediately afterwards, the Eighth Herrscher, Blanca, the Herrscher of Consciousness, cast a dream on everyone to prevent them from falling into brain death during a deep sleep.

The Honkai Beast horde has no way of getting into this place.

The Herrscher's control over the Honkai Beasts will soon disappear. The Flame-Chasing Moth proved that even if a Herrscher leans towards humanity, she can no longer command the Honkai-side beasts. Therefore, the Herrscher's pressure alone is not enough to protect these humans. The Herrscher of Ice's defensive capabilities may be able to hold out for several days... Several days will be enough for Shen Liang.

What he needs to do won't take several days.

Shen Liang looked at the base, where millions of displaced ordinary people lay asleep. In fact, Mei and the others were fighting for a possibility for these people. If they could kill the Herrscher of the End, these last batch of ordinary humans could survive, and the world could slowly recover. But he had no interest in waiting; he preferred the feeling of having everything in his hands.

He was finally going to rebel and take the initiative for the first time in his life.

“Come with me to the moon.” Shen Liang turned to look at Eden and stretched out his hand. “Let’s all go to the moon together.”

"Do I have the right to refuse?" Eden smiled helplessly. "I'm not good at fighting. I'm only staying here for you, child."

“I will win,” Shen Liang said. “Now I am the commander-in-chief of the Fire Moths. You all have to do what I say. Without me in this war of the end, we would lose half our fighting strength. Foolish… Mei can be foolish too.”

"A Fusion Warrior and a Herrscher working together?" Eden looked at the two Herrscher girls blocking her from the front and back. It was obvious that Shen Liang had to take her to the moon today. He was very confident in this child. He was even willing to take Eden, who had little combat power, with him. He was so confident that he could bring everyone back alive no matter what.

"So... Stockholm syndrome, huh? You're Herrschers, aren't you a bit too much of a jerk following the doll around like that?"

"Don't act innocent after getting the benefit, you red-haired human!"

"Hmm, to use a popular internet phrase... Doll, you and your group of Herrscher sisters are a bit... tsundere?"

Eden laughed nonchalantly; she didn't care about surviving or not. Since she had already lost control, she couldn't very well draw her sword.

What's wrong with giving it your all for your beloved child?

The light door closes.

Thirteen heroes and thirteen heralds, an unprecedented force in human history, have set up their formation.

No one left a way out, not because they were desperate and had no other choice but to fight to the death, but because there was no need to.

An ending where everyone survives, a future where everyone is saved.

To forge such a future, that is what it means to be a son of man.

—They are the children of the fire-chasing civilization.

The boy stepped onto the moon, with a massive following behind him!

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

"The difference in daily behavior was 1.775%."

"The difference in the comparison of major decisions was 89.356%."

"The difference in personality comparison is 0.001%, which is too low to be ignored."

"The difference in self-perception is 0.001%, which is too low to be ignored."

"A discipline assessment is underway... This violates the definition of humanity. Inspectors, please strengthen the discipline constraints..."

"The third precept is: Do not betray humanity."

"The twenty-ninth commandment: Do not harm your closest relatives who trust you."

"The 634th precept: Do not betray your beloved."

"The first 1307 of the Vinaya Pitaka is: Do not indulge in carnal desires."

“The first 1,900 precepts: Do not neglect mercy.”

“The precept, number 2245, states that one should not be limited to delusion and illusion.”

"The Vinaya, Part Two Thousand..."

chatter.

Shen Liang kept his eyes open for an unusually long time this time.

It was as if countless lives were unfolding in his mind, his cerebral cortex so active it seemed to be fighting. He curled up in the darkness, silently contemplating everything that had happened, like a child curled up in the womb.

Finally, he managed to piece together the intelligence.

Amidst the chanting of precepts, Shen Liang hugged his knees and whispered, "Haven't I done it?"

What kind of outcome do you want?

"Did you pass the assessment?"

"Apo... Nia?"

The moment the sound was uttered, the surrounding darkness vanished as quickly as the tide receded, and Shen Liang calmly opened his eyes and looked around.

This place feels familiar.

The decor is inspired by Eden's Golden Garden, and according to my memory, this should be a church specially built within the Golden Garden, where he rests atop the holy coffin placed in the center. Eden was not religious, but she once said that churches are a form of architectural aesthetics, and one doesn't necessarily need to believe in anything to enter; churches are more suitable for believers of all faiths to come and rest.

At that moment, light streamed through the stained-glass windows of the church, illuminating the nun kneeling before a white wall. Indeed, there were no statues or shrines in the church, only white walls; each person could only face the blank space and believe in their own heart—this was also Eden's design.

Shen Liang was very familiar with the nun, or rather, he was too familiar with her. With the passing of the test and the return of his memories, Shen Liang was clearer about his identity than ever before, as was the identity of the nun in front of him.

He pulled out all the IV tubes from his body and jumped out of the coffin that had been used as a hospital bed. At that moment, he realized that he didn't know how long he had been asleep. His muscles were relaxed and weak, and his long hair had grown to the length of the ground during his sleep.

He staggered up to the nun, who was kneeling and praying devoutly. She trembled slightly, as if she realized something, but before she could turn around, she was embraced by the weak boy behind her.

Aponia suddenly opened her icy blue eyes, staring blankly at the white wall in front of her used for confession and prayer, tears welling up involuntarily.

"You're back?"

"I'm home, Aponia Mom. Your test was so hard! How many times did I take it?"

Aponia felt the boy's slow but powerful and passionate heartbeat behind her, and that familiar warmth that could only be embraced when she sat down. She sobbed and smiled softly.

“Six thousand five hundred and twenty-two,” Aponia whispered, “After six thousand five hundred and twenty-two cycles, you finally made a decision completely different from the one in history at the moment of the end.”

"The testing mechanism for the Paradise of the Past is truly twisted."

“This is so you can grow up.” Aponia stood up, turned around and hugged the boy gently so as not to hurt Shen Liang, who had been asleep for a long time and whose body was weakened. Her tone was gentle but firm. “Isn’t this exactly what you need, baby? You said that growing up is not necessarily a good thing, but people must learn from their failures and become more perfect.”

“Perfection is not necessarily maturity, but it certainly means not making mistakes,” Shen Liang and Aponia said at the same time.

The two then smiled at each other.

Over the course of millions of years, Aponia and he had developed an unparalleled understanding.

This is the paradise of the past.

After the destruction of the previous civilization, the Land of the Dead contained its information database, and the vessel for this information was the Golden Garden of Eden. Shen Liang, who possessed the ability to shed his serpent skin, and Aponia, who transformed into the server of the Land of the Dead, were the only two life forms existing in the Land of the Dead. For 50,000 years, from the previous civilization to Earth's civilization, the two depended on each other for survival in this space.

Until Earth's civilization developed to a point where it was normal for the "Children of Man" to make contact, according to the operating rules of the Child of Man Project, Eve shed her serpent form into an embryo, erased her memories, and lived again as an Earthling to carry out the Child of Man Project... until he rediscovered the paradise of the past.

However, the qualification to regain memories requires an assessment.

Each cycle of reincarnation is a test. Aponia, the administrator of the Land of the Dead, needs to observe his choices in each reincarnation until he makes a choice that is completely different from the one in history and that is consistent with his identity as the "Son of Man".

"Over six thousand assessments! Have I failed that many times?"

“In previous cycles, Doll, you made many unwise choices. For example, you once treated the Herrscher as a sister, helping her escape and being killed in the process; you treated the Herrscher as a lover, willing to die for her. This caused your behavioral difference value to be consistently high.” Aponia gently stroked his face. “Of course, there were also many times when you died for me.”

“I’ve experienced all sorts of deaths in over six thousand reincarnations, and it still hurts a little to think about it now.” Shen Liang chuckled, but his eyes calmed down. “Mother Aponia, the choice I made in reality and in history, I regretted for fifty thousand years… Of course I know what to do.”

Aponia looked at him sadly.

Shen Liang has now grown to the point she hoped for, or rather, she has grown to the point where her self-awareness is so strong that it cannot be stopped.

In that final dream, the boy was no longer an obedient child who only followed orders, but a warrior who led his own army, fought with his own will, and vowed to save everyone.

That intense sense of self and desire is not something the real Eve would have, but rather... the current Shen Liang.

In the true pre-civilization history, there was no perfect final dream.

Even if the real Eve succeeded in saving all the Herrschers, became the savior in the hearts of mankind, and did everything perfectly, even more perfectly than Shen Liang in the dream... the real Eve, without the interference of Shen Liang's subconscious, was even more meticulous than the Eve in the dream.

But his final choice was to stay on the ground, to make all the necessary arrangements, and to enter the afterlife.

The real Eve ultimately followed the orders of the Moth of Fire, carrying out the "Son of Man Plan" until now, until she finally became Shen Liang, who possessed "self" and "desire".

"I should never have become a hero," Shen Liang said calmly. "There was a major misconception in the past: before becoming a hero, I hadn't learned how to be a human being. Fortunately, it's not too late. To be honest, the only right thing you did was leave your pheromones in the Land of the Dead. Otherwise, you might have made another big mistake: I, who have grown into this personality, simply cannot accept that I cannot save your world... I might have died from a mental breakdown."

Although her twenty-odd years on Earth were short, they truly allowed Eve to grow into a human being.

The meaning of the Past Paradise is thus: Eve, who only knew how to be a hero, has been proven incapable of saving the world. Therefore, perhaps only Eve, who "became human," could achieve true salvation.

“I think that last cycle of reincarnation was enough to explain my humanity,” Shen Liang shrugged, then looked at Aponia with her arms outstretched and tilted her head. “Aponia, Mom?”

Helpless, Aponia could only gently lift her skirt and sit gracefully on the coffin. But as soon as she sat down, the boy pounced on her, her long skirt covering the entire coffin. Worried that Shen Liang was weak and might get hurt, Aponia dared not resist and even had to quickly hold his waist to prevent him from falling.

Shen Liang nestled unreservedly in Aponia's arms, burying her head in the nun's shoulder, inhaling the distinctive clerical scent emanating from her. Even in this paradise where she was all alone, Aponia still maintained the scent of incense, a fragrance that was the most familiar and deeply ingrained in Shen Liang's memory.

Shen Liang gently bit the bare shoulder exposed under Sister Aponia's robes. The taste was familiar, and he finally laughed out loud.

"So I really did wake up..."