Honkai Impact: Starting from Wandering with Kiana

"What a load of rubbish about children of trees and seas." Jiuxiao sat on the ground, speechless. Which creature on the imaginary side isn't a child of trees? He almost got fooled by the sea.

The Tree of Imaginary Numbers is very tolerant of everything. You can branch out from it and create entirely new worlds... or you can stand on its branches like Jiuxiao and Aha are now...

The tree will not object, for everything in this world is His child, and all things are forever in His embrace.

He simply watched silently and recorded everything.

Jiuxiao sat on a tree branch, gazing at the outer starry sky. Galaxyes converged, then separated. Stars were born, then vanished. The birth and death of the universe endlessly cycled.

I don't know how much time has passed—a few hours, a few days, or a few years.

In the vast universe, time seems to lose its meaning.

Aha returned, but this time it neither laughed nor cried, showing neither sorrow nor joy. It simply sat quietly with Jiuxiao on the branches of the Imaginary Tree, gazing at the outer starry sky.

The starry sky is a lonely place; that kind of utter silence, the stillness of heaven and earth, can destroy a person's soul.

Jiuxiao's hair gradually grew and spread until it reached down to the Milky Way in the heavens...

Jiuxiao wasn't as powerful as Kevin and the others, who could sit alone for ten thousand years... So, after an unknown period of time, Jiuxiao missed home...

"What's wrong, are you homesick?" Aha saw through Jiuxiao's thoughts and asked.

"Hmm..." Jiu Xiao put his hands behind his back and looked up at the starry sky.

"I remember my first encounter with Kiana. She was so cute when she was little... I also remember the first time I took Kiana to school, but she didn't listen to a word of the lesson, but she was always getting into fights..."

I still remember Hui Huo, a girl who absolutely adored sweets. Whenever there were sweets, she couldn't take her eyes off them...

And then there's Mei, she's a rich girl, and she's nicknamed the "Thunder Queen" at school. But actually, she's very gentle and considerate..."

At this point, Jiuxiao stopped speaking and turned to look at the clown mask beside him.

"Aha, but I've almost forgotten what they look like."

Ahha wasn't particularly elegant; the eerie smile on its mask, like the Nine Heavens, exuded a sense of desolation.

"Yes...I've forgotten what they look like..."

Aha conjured the humanoid phantom once more, laughing as he said, "Do you know why I'm just a phantom? Because I've long forgotten what he, or rather, what she looked like..."

I really don't want to laugh...

Before we even knew what was happening, disaster struck from the sky, and our brilliant civilization shattered and vanished in an instant, like a bubble.

The survivors gathered together. Confusion, fear, anxiety, and all sorts of negative emotions spread among them.

With no hope of survival and no future in sight, everyone gave up on living.

But one person put on a lost mask, played the clown, and tried to spread joy and hope to others.

The man succeeded, and laughter and cheers filled the shelter, but he knew it was all just a final celebration before his death.

But isn't that carefree, heartfelt smile between people and between lives the best thing in the world?

Through their smiles, they shared warmth, hope, and the greatness of life...

But in the end, they all died of despair... lack of food, cannibalism, mental breakdown under pressure, and so on..."

Aha took off the mask and gently stroked it in his hand, touching the tear stain on the mask.

"Until that person died, the world was utterly destroyed, and all traces of their existence were completely erased. And as the world vanished, that tear created this mask, created me..."

Ahha placed the mask back on his chest and said to Jiuxiao, both crying and laughing.

"Look at the trees beneath our feet? You call them the Tree of Imaginary Numbers, but I think the Tree of Existence is a more fitting name for them... because all things in the world exist within them, their magnificence, their immortality, everything about them fascinates me so much."

But I have even greater reverence for His mercy and His love for life.

I was born when the world was destroyed. I should have perished with that world, but I was brought out by the merciful tree.

The world exists on a tree in the form of leaves, and time flows in the form of branches.

Countless beings dream of escaping the world, transcending the laws of nature—that is, leaving the branches and ascending the trunk of the tree of existence—and I was born with this!

After Aha finished speaking, he looked at Jiuxiao with pride and satisfaction, wanting to get praise or... jealousy from Jiuxiao?

"Oh." Jiu Xiao picked at his ear and gave a perfunctory reply.

"Is this your attitude?! Shouldn't you be shocked, envious, jealous, or resentful?"

"That sounds impressive, but it's none of my business. I just want to go home." Jiu Xiao flicked the earwax at Aha and said to it with a disdainful look, "What a piece of trash. You asked me if I wanted to go home first, and then you started talking so much. I thought you could take me home, but this is all you've got."

Chapter 239

"Jiuxiao, have you ever thought that everything in this world is an illusion, that everything in this world is actually meaningless? The starry sky is so cold and hateful, the stars operate like machines, born, destroyed, born, destroyed... endlessly, unchanging throughout the ages."

"What's wrong? Has your brain finally gone bad from stargazing for so long?" Jiu Xiao patted Aha's mask, wanting to use physical means to fix its brain.

"No, I'm serious. Jiuxiao, you should understand that we stand on the branches of the tree, and we can observe the world through the leaves."

So... is it possible that we are actually just one of those being observed? The universe remains unchanged, endlessly cycling, like a pre-programmed sequence.

We might just be characters created by a higher being, like the creatures in the leaves, unknowingly kept in captivity.

"Yeah, it's really creepy to think about it like that..." Jiu Xiao rested his chin on his hand and pondered for a while, but couldn't come up with a solution.

Because anything is possible, isn't it?

Aha wanted to continue explaining his point of view, but Jiuxiao interrupted him with a slap.

"What's the point of discussing this? There's no point. Even if there really are higher beings keeping us captive and observing us, even if we really are just someone's creation... what does it matter?"

Jiuxiao led Aha to a leaf where they could observe the world inside.

"You see, even if someone is observing them, watching them, what does it matter? They still live, living their own lives. They think, they ask for, they laugh, they cry—aren't they all truly living?"

"...But what if it's all a lie? What if everything is just a fabrication, a preordained arrangement? What if we arrogantly believe it's all our own agency, when in reality we're just pathetic creatures being manipulated like puppets on strings..."

Jiuxiao was speechless for a moment, not knowing how to answer Aha, so he could only change the subject.

"We've known each other for thousands of years, how come I've never noticed this pessimistic side of you before..."

"Yeah, my brain hasn't been working properly lately. But since my brain has always been abnormal, this is probably the time when it's working properly, so it's natural that I'm thinking a lot more."

"Smile more, be more optimistic. The universe is cold and silent enough. If you also become depressed, I think I'll be driven crazy."

Aha stretched out his hands, pulled the corners of his mouth into a strange arc, and revealed a terrifying smile.

"Is that right?"

"You might as well just die."

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After several fruitless debates with Jiuxiao, Aha would often lie down beside the leaves of various trees and begin to observe the world inside them again.

The more Aha saw, the more engrossed it became. It hadn't been interested in these worlds before, because it was tired of them. But when it changed its perspective and looked at them with a fresh perspective, Aha was like a child discovering a new toy, completely captivated by it.

Whenever she sees something interesting or fun, she pulls Xiang Jiuxiao along to share it.

Gradually, gradually… Aha felt like he was beginning to understand something…

The tear stains on Aha's mask gradually faded until they disappeared. Aha was born from tears, but the smile of life accompanied its growth.

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One day, Aha suddenly said goodbye to Jiuxiao.

"Jiuxiao, I'm leaving."

"...Have you found the meaning you're looking for?"

"Yes. I am a fool, a clown... I observe all living beings from the perspective of a god, presumptuously believing what they should do and how they should act."

But all of this is wrong; all the conclusions I've reached after spending countless hours are wrong.

Life should not be defined, nor should it be coerced by others. Life has its own dignity; each life is unique, and nothing can dictate or limit its development.

Jiuxiao, have you ever seen a baby? Babies are the purest creatures in the world. They are not polluted by the things that come after their birth, and they possess only the most essential desires, the desire for life!

Babies are the greatest. Even though they are born into a cold world, they can still fight against the cruelty of the world with laughter and cries.

Just as the laws of the universe are magnificent and grand, yet ultimately nothing more than cold, lifeless things, life is as fragile as a reed, yet it can still use laughter to fight against the injustice and ruthlessness of the world.

I'm leaving. I've found my path, I've found the meaning of my existence.

Aha split off a piece of his mask and handed it to Jiuxiao, solemnly bidding him farewell.

"Wait." Jiuxiao grabbed Aha and said seriously, "You should know what you're doing...? Do you know the consequences?"

“I know… but so what?” Aha smiled gently, just like when Jiuxiao first met Aha, his smile unrestrained and innocent.

Even if I can never get out of this situation again, and can never be as detached as I am now, I don't want to be a bystander anymore.

I want to be like that person, bringing smiles to those suffering. I want to be like the tree that respected my life and saved me from destruction.

I want to become one of the living beings again, to be by their side in person, and to pass on laughter.

Life struggles in this cold and indifferent world; it needs redemption… I will pass on my smile to them, giving them the courage to face everything.

Ahha conjured a humanoid phantom and embraced Jiuxiao.