Honkai, why do you only throw me into high-level battles?

With a heavy "thud," the iron gate slammed shut.

Listening to that sound, Lin Wei was finding it hard to understand how he had pushed it open so easily back then.

"Well, I ended up coming out anyway..."

Retracting his gaze, Lin Wei sighed, his feelings a mix of regret, nostalgia, and hesitation.

"Yo, our young master Lin Wei finally decided to come out?"

A girl, clad entirely in black, as if she had merged with the dim tunnel, walked over and patted his shoulder. Her crimson eyes, barely visible under her hood, looked rather eerie in the low light, yet they weren't scary at all, just full of playful teasing.

"If you hadn't come out, we were starting to wonder if you were planning on living in there permanently, becoming the 'Fourteenth Flame-Chaser'."

Ever since that time Lin Wei had unfortunately "passed out after one drink," forcing Raven to carry his unconscious body to the guest room and put him to bed, she started calling him "young master" to tease him.

Raven was fuming about it – you think you're so great, huh? Daring to order me around like your personal maid?

"That's not a bad idea, actually! How about we make a deal? You turn around, I turn around, and we go our separate ways like nothing happened?"

Lin Wei followed her lead, half-jokingly.

He really did want to go back to the Elysian Realm, but he also knew that World Serpent wouldn't let him.

Raven completely ignored him and turned to leave.

"Wait a sec... Whoa!"

Lin Wei was about to follow her, but the moment he took his first step, he knew he was in trouble!

He suddenly realized his body felt incredibly strange. On one hand, his limbs and breathing felt as heavy as a swimmer just climbing out of the water, yet on the other, his strength felt like it was free from gravity's pull...

The result? He just wanted to walk a bit faster, but instead, he lost his balance the moment he stepped forward. The force of his foot pushing off the ground had sent his body flying, but his upper body was still stuck upright, completely out of sync.

And then, naturally, he fell on his face...

Raven, who had been walking ahead and ignoring him, heard the commotion and quickly turned back to catch Lin Wei before he face-planted, preventing him from kissing the ground right after leaving the chamber.

"Seriously, if you want to do slapstick, please find another audience, okay? I'm not into that."

Raven roughly pulled him upright, glaring at him with annoyance. What's his deal now?

"Wait... I just got out of the Elysian Realm, I need to adjust..."

Lin Wei said helplessly, feeling like he had a lot of unspeakable grievances.

At that moment, he suddenly understood how suffocated Senti must have felt inside his body.

It was really suffocating!

His brain: I want to take a step forward.

His body: Slowly responding...

Is this even my body? Why is it so stiff?

(╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻

While he was still trying to figure things out, a faint red glow emerged from Lin Wei's back. It was the glow of his Stigmata, and it seemed to lessen the tightness he felt, easing his breathing.

Signaling for Raven to let go, Lin Wei planted his sheathed katana on the ground as a makeshift cane, slowly trying to regain control over his body's balance.

Raven took a look at his situation and understood why he was so clumsy. Her annoyance faded, replaced by amusement.

"You're quite the character, you know? When others go to the Elysian Realm for trials, it's for a 'baptism' and to unlock potential. But you? You went in empty-handed and came out bursting with potential..."

Here, she smiled mischievously,

"So, how about I set up a 'trial' for you in the real world?"

Lin Wei rolled his eyes, feeling extremely annoyed.

I knew those buffs I grinded in the Elysian Realm wouldn't transfer over!

What's the saying again?

"You're only strong in the Elysian Realm..."

So, all that suffering was for nothing?

(╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻

"Okay, okay, I'm just teasing, it's not as bad as you think."

Seeing the look on Lin Wei's face, Raven pouted and started to comfort him,

"Your foundations were pretty weak to begin with, and you were in the Elysian Realm for so long. Hmm... How can I explain it? Think of it like eating. If you eat ten times your usual amount, you're going to feel stuffed. Or, to put it another way, your body is 'too weak to handle the nourishment'?"

"So, you need to move around more and digest it. To put it more accurately, you need to let your body adapt to this extra power as soon as possible."

Raven said, while also scolding herself. Why am I so soft-hearted?

"...Thank you."

Lin Wei breathed a sigh of relief. All that abuse from Hua, with her stick and her fists, wasn't for nothing.

Okay, I can work with this.

After getting used to it for a while, Lin Wei felt like he had mostly adjusted to his body.

Wait... "Adjusted to his body?" What kind of weird way is that to phrase things?

(ノへ￣,)

"How long was I in there?"

Lin Wei moved his katana, which he was using as a cane, and looked up, asking the question he wanted to ask for a while but was interrupted by the sudden "change".

Raven glanced at him, her tone casual and nonchalant, like they were just chatting,

"Quite a while, long enough for me to think you had really died in there. What, you actually miss it?"

"Yeah, there, you don't have to worry about the Honkai or the future. It was quite suitable for me... Anyway, what's the exact time, what day is it?"

Lin Wei said honestly, giving Raven a helpless look. If you hadn't suddenly showed up in the Elysian Realm to chase me out, I wouldn't have wanted to leave!

"January 30th, 2015, let me see... 3:15:42 PM... Why are you looking at me like that? I was just following orders!"

Raven lowered her head to check the time, and then looked up, noticing Lin Wei staring at her with a strange expression, causing her annoyance to flare up again.

"It's nothing, I just didn't expect it to be so long."

Lin Wei chuckled and shook his head, using a random excuse to cover his true feelings.

Entering the Elysian Realm at the end of April and coming out at the end of January, that was almost half a year, truly quite long.

"I'm just lamenting that time really flies..."

Yes, it had already been a whole year.

Thinking back to the last January 30th, when he had opened his eyes to find himself in this world, desperately seeking cheat codes, and then desperately seeking a place to hide, until he was forced to go completely insane by the Honkai.

He had stumbled to the second January 30th, feeling as if he had come full circle, yet he wasn't back at the beginning, but rather at a new, unknown starting point.

The only thing that he could console himself with was that 2015 was a relatively peaceful year before the storm.

"Time always slips by unnoticed. If you feel like time flies, either you are focusing on something, or you are just aimlessly wasting it."

Why do I feel like time was passing so slowly?

Raven couldn't grasp Lin Wei's true thoughts, but she was unhappy with his distracted attitude. When she had first met him a year ago, he wasn't like this!

"Haha, you make a good point. I feel like Miss Raven hasn't changed at all since I met you a year ago, and you don't feel any sense of unfamiliarity towards me, even though we barely know each other."

Lin Wei laughed somewhat emotionally,

"It's a nice familiar feeling, thank you."

There it is again, just another delusion. He hasn't changed at all!

Raven couldn't help but roll her eyes,

"If you're not comfortable with it, I can adopt a colder attitude. It's customized for you. And, hey, it's free of charge."

Raven said with a straight face, cracking a cold joke. Even if she had an expression on, it would be impossible to see it under her hood.

Not to mention that the lighting around them was dim and hard to see through.

Lin Wei chuckled, using the curved blade of his sheathed katana as a cane, and started walking towards the exit. The "tap, tap, tap" of the cane echoed through the long, quiet tunnel, along with its muffled reverberations.

Seeing Lin Wei not taking the bait, Raven followed him, feeling a bit annoyed, and walked beside him.

"I swear, you really make yourself at home here, don't you? Staying in the Elysian Realm for half a year without any hesitation!"

Raven teased him with a lazy tone,

"You were having fun in there, but we had a terrible time! Countless World Serpent members' training schedules were pushed back, more and more people were affected, and we had to keep calming them down. Don't you think you owe us an explanation? ...Hey, what kind of look is that now?"

Raven was very displeased with Lin Wei's strange looks.

"Does World Serpent have that many people?"

Lin Wei felt a bit helpless, he had been targeted since the beginning and he couldn't figure out what he did to offend her.

I guess if I don't let her vent, I'm not going to get any peace today.

"Just say it, what explanation do you want? Do you want me to join World Serpent?"

Since they had sent someone to deliver the message, they must have had that intention, right?

Don't even bother thinking about refusing, I'll say yes on the spot!

Don't even think about rejecting it, or this tunnel, thousands of meters underground, will become my grave.

This is World Serpent's base, after all!

A wise man doesn't stand under a dangerous wall. If worse comes to worse, I'll just join for now, my life is important. Besides, World Serpent's benefits are pretty good.

At least they pay well!

Lin Wei had thought it through—I'll just write a resignation letter to Kevin when he comes back, if the big boss agrees, the HR people should just shut up, right?

Plan successful!

Raven suddenly stopped, stared at Lin Wei's back, and chuckled,

"Never mind, I guess I find you somewhat tolerable, so I'll let it go. I was just saying it casually, if you want to join World Serpent, just talk to Gray Serpent. He should be waiting for you at the sacrificial site by the exit."

World Serpent really did seem more like an underground religious organization, their headquarters even had a sacrificial site.

"Don't expect me to be your referral though. I've already submitted my resignation letter to the organization. Escorting you out of the Elysian Realm is my last mission in the organization, and I'll be free after that."

Resigned? Hearing Raven's hopeful and longing tone, Lin Wei's heart skipped a beat,

"Then I'm truly honored to be Miss Raven's last mission. Do you have any plans on what to do after leaving here?"

The long, narrow tunnel was coming to an end, and they could see white light in the distance, making the hooded girl next to him look less shadowy.

"Hmm... I haven't thought about it yet, maybe adopt some kids, and find a secluded place to live a peaceful and quiet life... Heh, does it sound unambitious? You can't laugh at me, okay?"

Don't buy an island, please!

Lin Wei was thinking about how to phrase his warning reasonably when he suddenly saw that her gaze had become extremely wary.

Lin Wei understood that look, it was like a child who was afraid that someone would steal their toy.

"Why would I? Do you think that I chose to live near St. Freya Academy for no reason? It's because it's safe enough and people won't bother you there. A peaceful and quiet life is what I desire most."

"By the way, when are you planning to move? Don't forget to invite me to dinner when you have your housewarming."

Sadly, it's not going to happen. Lin Wei knew that.

Raven also knew that, but her eyes told him that she didn't want to acknowledge it right now.

After all, you can't wake up someone who is pretending to be asleep, right?

There's still time, take it slow.

Raven scanned Lin Wei from head to toe, and laughed, letting her caution down,

"You sure are straightforward... Alright, it's a deal. I'll invite you to dinner when my new home is ready."

For the last bit, they walked together, no longer talking about World Serpent or the Honkai, just sharing bits of their lives.

Lin Wei shared some of his embarrassing moments, like the time he painted everything at home in blood, thinking there might be some treasure hidden inside; Raven mocked him for reading too many novels.

Raven talked about the troubles of raising kids, like who was the noisiest, and who was the most destructive; Lin Wei teased her for being like a kindergarten teacher.

They walked out of the tunnel and onto the ground, squinting to adjust to the bright sunlight. Then, Lin Wei looked towards the direction Raven indicated, where Gray Serpent was waiting for him.

"See you around."

In the end, they waved goodbye to each other and exchanged contact information for the sake of their joke of a "promise."

She finally acknowledged their shallow friendship, and then turned around to leave without any hesitation.

"I hope I don't see you again..."

Lin Wei smiled and shook his head.

That small figure walking away was just a girl after all.

Even though he knew it was impossible, Lin Wei still hoped that she would get to enjoy the ordinary life she desired.

After all of that, Lin Wei took a deep breath, adjusted his mindset, and walked towards the direction that Raven had pointed out earlier. Gray Serpent was there.

He pushed open the door and entered a rather peculiar meeting room—

A sofa, a long bench, a few green plants decorating the corners, historical murals on the walls, a tea table with steaming hot tea,

And sitting there, waiting for him, was "the person"—Gray Serpent.

Seeing that Lin Wei had arrived as planned, Gray Serpent chuckled and said in his muffled voice, like he was wearing a breathing mask,

"Mr. Lin Wei, we meet again..."