Honkai Impact: Starting from Wandering with Kiana

"Why do you suddenly want to step down as leader? You should know that everyone needs your leadership now. Bronya, I need a reason."

"Leadership? Reason? It's ironic to hear those words coming from Himeko..."

Bronya turned to the side and looked coldly at Himeko.

"The engineering department is left with only Iserline and a few others, the medical department with only Emisha, and as for the combat troops..."

Ah... the moth that chased the flame has ended, dying meaninglessly like a moth, falling into the water without even making a ripple...

"I've been such a good leader; those comrades you killed were also driven to their doom under my leadership. What right do I, with my abilities, have to lead anyone?"

“You should know that’s not what I meant. I’m not blaming you, and I don’t want to excuse myself. At that time, this was the only right thing to do.”

"The most correct thing to do...sacrifice a few to save the many...? Today we send these people to their deaths, tomorrow we send those people to their deaths, and now look what's happened, they're all dead!"

I'm not questioning your actions, but Himeko, you simply don't care about their lives anymore! You treat the Ash Moth unit this way, and you treat the combat units the same way!

You treat those living, breathing lives as tools to be discarded at any time! Every time, if you had just waited a little longer… none of us would have died…

"But the Honkai won't give us a moment's respite; time is life... Every second we delay making a decision could mean even more deaths..."

"Heh... and then we were the last ones left to die? Next time, should I be the one to cover for you?"

Bronya turned and left, leaving Himeko standing there silently for a long time.

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Jiuxiao and Penglai Temple Jiuxiao headed towards the power room, preparing to help Iselin repair the power furnace.

"Iserline, how's it going?" Jiuxiao reached out and greeted Iserline.

Iselin, with thick dark circles under her eyes, glanced at Jiuxiao and Penglai Temple Jiuxiao, then turned back to continue her work.

"The situation is not optimistic; many things cannot be repaired due to missing parts."

"Is there nothing that can replace it?"

"Yes... I wrote many solutions all night, but they're all unworkable because many parts are missing. Take a look, this is a list of parts I've compiled. If we have these, we can barely manage to fix it..."

Iselin took out a large stack of scrap paper from her pocket, on which were written all sorts of parts that Jiuxiao had never seen or heard of.

"Uh...we'll try our best to collect these..."

"Keep it up. Although we could use some car parts as substitutes if all else fails, to be honest... I really don't want to convert a warship into a car if conditions allow..."

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Himeko gathered all the survivors on the bridge and explained the situation to them.

There are two options: go back to Changkong City and fight the Lawyers, or just continue to live on the run.

But whichever option is chosen, the first issues are repairing the Hyperion and electing a new leader.

Seele, just like her name suggests, embodies the spirit of a moth drawn to flame; her innocent smile symbolizes everyone's hope for a bright future…

But now, because of the tragic state of the Flamemoth, Seele can no longer smile. Less than a tenth of her family remains, and her sister Bronya is lost in confusion and self-blame, even giving up on herself…

Seele doesn't know what to do now...

Seele, who once brought smiles to everyone's faces, no longer smiled, and the remaining people knew that survival was hopeless...

After Himeko finished explaining the situation, and seeing Seele's appearance, the remaining people immediately started chattering excitedly.

Suddenly, someone stood up and shouted:

"Damn it, I can't take it anymore! I've already clashed with the Herrscher!"

The scene fell silent instantly, but after a brief silence, people erupted in even louder shouts.

"Exactly! Let's fight them back!!" "I'm tired too... let's go all out!" "We're all going to die anyway... let's take them down with us!"

This time, everyone was surprisingly in agreement. Not long ago, they were arguing with each other about wanting to survive, but the repeated blows had completely eroded their hope for the future.

Even if it means fighting the Herrscher to the death, or being slapped to death by the Herrscher, it's still better than living a life of racing against Honkai creatures and fighting for food to survive.

Bronya taught them to cherish their lives and live well; Seele's smile gave them hope for the future; and Himeko's strength gave them the confidence to survive.

But even the hardest weapons will develop flaws over time through repeated battles, let alone the human heart made of flesh and blood...

Everyone was exhausted; death was a relief for them.

"Uh…"

Himeko looked troubled. Although the situation was indeed rather awkward, and Himeko had given them the right to choose, going to explode with the Herrscher like this would be pure suicide...

"Ahem... Everyone's getting a bit agitated. Let's discuss this later. Right now, let's elect a new leader! I vote for Penglai Temple's Nine Heavens!"

Himeko grabbed the Houraiji Kusho beside her and raised her hand.

"Huh? Wait a minute! I can't handle such a heavy responsibility. I think someone else is more suitable. Like... my brother!"

Penglai Temple Jiuxiao quickly looked at Jiuxiao and blinked his eyes, pleading for help.

But Jiuxiao shook her head and refused. The Herrschers they were talking about had exploded, and those Herrschers weren't just Mei and Kiana...

Kukulkan is flying outside right now, otherwise someone would have already rushed up to question Jiuxiao. Even though they know Jiuxiao is on their side, his status as a Herrscher still leaves a thorn in their hearts.

Seeing the silence of Jiuxiao and the other survivors, Himeko knew that Jiuxiao could not become the leader...

"I'm sorry, but someone who could die at any moment is unfit to be a leader..."

Himeko glanced apologetically at the Gray Moth members who followed her, and they, too, lowered their heads in sullen silence. Not only the Gray Moth members, but Himeko herself felt the same way…

"If I could, I wouldn't want you to shoulder such a heavy responsibility, but in my judgment, you are the most suitable person..."

But the vote failed... and it only received a handful of votes.

Because Penglaiji Jiuxiao is a newcomer, and compared to believing Penglaiji Jiuxiao, people are more willing to believe Himeko, Seele, or Bronya.

Bronya refused, and Seele also felt she was not suitable, so the leadership position fell to Himeko.

“I understand, I will assume the position of leader… but if I die in battle later, the position of leader will be handed over to Penglai Temple Jiuxiao…”

Chapter 296, Part 296

With the leader selection complete, the next step is the repair of the Hyperion.

Jiuxiao suggested that they go straight back to ME Corporation and use the instruments left behind by ME Corporation to directly repair the Hyperion back into a space battleship. However, Jiuxiao's suggestion was completely ignored by everyone.

If they were to return to Changkong City and Mei were to be destroyed instantly, there would be no chance to repair the warship.

Furthermore, based on the map redrawn by the Gray Moth unit after their previous reconnaissance of Changkong City, it can be confirmed that there is a large abandoned parking lot far from the orbital path.

Iserlyn's sharp tongue has come true; now the only thing left to do to repair the Hyperion is to use car parts as a substitute.

Now that a plan was in place, everyone immediately began preparations for its implementation.

In order to avoid alerting the Honkai creatures, Himeko selected a few elite members of the Gray Moth unit and Horaiji Kusho and prepared to head to the abandoned parking lot alone.

Although Himeko brought Houraiji Kushou along mainly to train her, some things don't need to be so complicated.

While Himeko was still mustering her troops, at Jiuxiao's whistle, Kukulkan immediately entangled the Hyperion, lifting the entire warship into the sky.

Standing atop Kukulkan's head, Jiuxiao waved to the bewildered Himeko and the others, and shouted loudly.

"Forget about any secret operations or trying to alert the enemy. Let's just take the Hyperion there directly!"

The distance from here to the abandoned parking lot is quite far. It would take you all a day to get there; we might as well just go directly there.

Himeko frowned deeply. What kind of childish move was this? Kukulkan and the Hyperion were both behemoths. If they just flew over like this, how many Honkai creatures would they attract? Himeko couldn't believe it, let alone attract their queen, Raiden Mei.

"What a commotion that would cause! What if it attracts Raiden Mei? We can't afford any more losses!"

"Since the outcome is inevitable destruction anyway, why choose to live a life of ignominy? Why not make a big splash and cause a huge uproar!"

"Nine Heavens! I am the true leader!"

"Hmph, Himeko, you'll regret this."

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In the end, Himeko still couldn't win against Jiuxiao, because more people voted in favor of Jiuxiao's idea.

Human extinction is inevitable. Even if we survive the Herrscher's attack, we'll still die in a few years. We'll just starve to death in some unknown corner or become the excrement of Honkai creatures. So why not have a spectacular final showdown?

Now, some even disregard the risk of being corrupted by Honkai energy and curiously try to touch Kukulkan's body. Even though Kukulkan is extremely weak, it is still the feathered serpent god from mythology. People always have great anticipation and longing for gods.

Kukulkan doesn't mind being touched by mortals, after all, it is the god of life. Although its powers are not as outrageous as those of the Law of Life and Death, it still loves living beings very much.

However, mortals can never look directly at the gods, nor can they ever touch them.

Those who touched Kukulkan were all corrupted and eroded by the aura of decay emanating from him due to their prolonged time spent with him.

When Amisa found out, her face turned green with rage; the Honkai energy was beyond her ability to heal. And yet, people were still going to pay homage to Kukulkan, or even pray to it…

If gods truly exist, could they save this destroyed world...?

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"The turn of events is truly bizarre..."

Himeko held the map in her hand and couldn't help but sigh.

This map marks out areas with high concentrations of Honkai creatures, areas where resources might be found, and routes to avoid Honkai creatures, etc...