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

"That was it? So easy to leave?"

Lin Wei left the sacrificial site and walked out without any obstructions, so smoothly that it made him a little confused.

Is the World Serpent usually this easy to deal with?

Wake up, how is that even possible!

Lin Wei scoffed at his naive thought and looked back at the tall, old pyramid behind him. He had just come out of there, as if he had stepped out of an ancient history book and back into the real world. It gave him a surreal feeling.

That was the location of the World Serpent's "sacrificial site," but Lin Wei guessed that it might not be the location of World Serpent's "headquarters base."

After all, a pyramid this tall was too conspicuous.

Lin Wei turned away, no longer paying attention to it. He walked towards a rather deserted small town in the distance.

Keeping his word was one of Gray Serpent's many good qualities.

Since he had said that he wouldn't make things difficult for him, and they had temporarily reached a consensus on the fundamental issue of the "Stigmata Project," he should be relatively safe for the time being, Lin Wei mused to himself.

This was North Africa, and as far as the eye could see, there was nothing but barren desert. Even if he wanted to leave, he would need to go to that small town to seek help, whether it was to find transportation or something else.

Or perhaps, that town was the start of a new trial?

Lin Wei stopped in his tracks, a thought occurring to him.

Since it was so close to the sacrificial site, the residents there were most likely World Serpent executives, or their families, or their descendants, in any case, they would definitely be World Serpent's people.

"Ms. Yae Sakura, are you there?"

Lin Wei took a breath and called out the name in his mind, feeling a little nervous. This was the first time he was trying to contact her outside of the Elysian Realm.

In the Stigmata space, the Yae Village was at midday, but the sunlight was as gentle and warm as spring. The leaves rustled as they swayed, the warm breeze brushed over the flower beds, bringing gentleness and fragrance into the ordinary homes,

"Big Sister, good afternoon. Big Sister has important things to do, I will take a nap obediently, and won't cause any trouble for Big Sister."

In an ordinary house, a little girl was nestled comfortably in her blanket, her big, bright eyes were closed obediently, and her pink short hair was spread softly on the pillow, with a few strands of bright red mixed in, which made it look quite striking.

"Okay, good girl. Big Sister will be right back."

Yae Sakura smiled gently, tucked her in, and then got up lightly. She then quietly closed the door, not wanting to disturb her sister's rest.

In the flower bed outside the house, there wasn't a riot of colors, just a few ordinary flowers.

Just as she exited the room, she was drawn to the eye-catching flowers. Although they were ordinary, her younger sister liked them very much. She would often weed them, water them, and take good care of them.

It's really good, isn't it?

It seemed like she had made Lin Wei wait for a little too long, how impolite.

Yae Sakura smiled slightly and began to connect to Lin Wei's consciousness.

"Why is Lin Wei-kun still so distant? If you keep doing that, Yae Sakura might really disappear, you know~ What do you need? You can tell me directly."

Yae Sakura joked playfully, she was always quite proactive.

"...Okay, sorry. And don't call me 'Lin Wei-kun' either, it sounds weird. Just call me Lin Wei, that's what my mom and dad always called me, I'm used to it."

Lin Wei sighed in relief, as long as he could communicate with Yae Sakura. It would be best if their friendship could continue,

"So, should I call you 'Sakura,' or 'Yae Sakura'? Um, I hope you won't think I'm being too distant."

Yae Sakura turned her head, looked at the sleeping girl through the window, and sighed,

"I don't like 'Sakura,' so you should call me 'Yae Sakura' from now on."

Okay, it does sound a bit uncomfortable like looking in a mirror.

Lin Wei shook his head helplessly, Yae Sakura did have some stubbornness in her personality.

"It's nothing, I just wanted to chat with you. We've left the Elysian Realm now, and we're about to leave the World Serpent as well. They didn't make things difficult for me. This has made me a little confused, I don't really know what to do."

Lin Wei found a bare rock by the roadside and sat down. There was no one to bother him now, so it was a good time to organize his thoughts and information.

As for plans for the future? Lin Wei felt like he had lost the motivation to plan his future.

It was a very strange feeling. The two of them were clearly in two different worlds, one in reality and one in the Stigmata; one in the past and one in the present; and even once, one was inside the game, and the other was outside the game.

But now, it was like a common thread was connecting them, a sense of trust that allowed Lin Wei to feel that he could speak his mind freely.

He stretched out his hand, and a delicate black box obediently appeared in the palm of his hand. It then floated into the air as if it had a life of its own, circling Lin Wei's body slowly and affectionately, just like it did in the Elysian Realm.

The presence of Yae Sakura and Pandora reassured Lin Wei's inexplicably panicky heart. His past efforts were not in vain.

As for the future...

"Heh, don't laugh at me, but I have this feeling like I've finished a game and I don't know what to do next. I want to hear your advice."

Lin Wei complained to Yae Sakura. She had learned a lot of modern knowledge in the Elysian Realm during the past year, so she was no longer a village girl and could understand what he was trying to say.

Yae Sakura chuckled, "Are you sure you want to listen to the advice of someone from five hundred years ago? Be careful you don't get the short end of the stick!"

"It's good to listen to different opinions, and you've also read my memories, so there are things that I can only talk to you about."

Lin Wei said helplessly.

Actually, Fu Hua could also be a listener, but first of all, she wasn't by his side, and secondly, she had already stripped away her memories of the future.

"You know that I don't have any sense of belonging to this world, I just ended up here by some strange turn of events. Then it felt like I was being pushed by fate, with death chasing me until I got to where I am today."

Lin Wei reached out, made a fist, then opened it, then made a fist again, then opened it, feeling the changes in his body's strength. Although it wasn't as obvious as it was in the Elysian Realm, he was still much stronger than he was a year ago.

"Look, now I seem like I can control my own destiny, at least I don't have to worry about being corrupted by Honkai and dying anymore. But what about after that?"

Lin Wei thought of Raven, who just wanted to live an ordinary life away from fighting. It felt like he was seeing a reflection of himself,

"I can't go back to my past life anymore! Although I don't want to admit it, I'm already on the edge of the storm. If I'm not careful, I will really step into it."

Lin Wei laughed bitterly, what is the truth of this world?

Honkai, humanity versus Honkai, and the organizations that represent the war, that control humanity's fate, as well as Herrschers, Stigmata, and Divine Keys...

Which of these things have I not gotten involved in?

Yae Sakura climbed onto the shrine, looking down at the peaceful Yae Village at the foot of the mountain, understanding Lin Wei's struggle.

Yes, if you could live a good life, who would be willing to fight and kill?

Moreover...

"And what if, because of my excessive activity, I caused unpredictable changes in the future? What if I have to clean up the mess I created because of my recklessness? What if I have to shoulder such a heavy mission as fighting the Honkai and saving humanity? What a joke!"

Lin Wei thought about that terrible future, and jumped up. Absolutely not!

I'm just an ordinary person, I was in the past, I am now, and I will be in the future!

I don't want to be a hero, and I definitely don't want to be a savior. I don't have the ability!

"This world already has its heroes and saviors. I just need to make sure that I don't make trouble, right? I just need to restrain myself, endure, and not do stupid things, and make sure that everything doesn't deviate from its path. Once everything is over, I can just find a quiet place to live peacefully, right?"

Lin Wei was rambling to Yae Sakura, his tone somewhat excited, and he seemed quite uneasy.

Yae Sakura also felt his unease, and smiled, directly pointing it out—

"You don't even believe these words yourself, do you?"

Silence...

Lin Wei suddenly found himself wanting to deceive himself like Raven, burying his head in the sand, and pretending that nothing had happened.

But he couldn't.

"Yeah, it's impossible. Even if I've escaped Schicksal's sight, I've already exposed myself to their eyes again, how can I possibly hide?"

The power of the Divine Keys was vital in this world.

And as someone who possessed a Divine Key, he was no longer the nameless nobody that was struggling to survive a year ago!

The World Serpent's plans for the future must have already taken into account the variable that he had become.

And Schicksal...

Elysia was right, he had already changed a lot of things!

"Huff... huff... huff..."

The more Lin Wei thought about it, the more frustrated he became. The more frustrated he was, the more he wanted to vent. As soon as he had the urge to vent...

Lin Wei forced himself to calm down and was scared of his reckless thoughts.

No, I can't be reckless, I can't act willfully. I can't afford the consequences.

"After all, I'm a transmigrator..."

Yae Sakura, who was connected to his consciousness, sensed the fear and anxiety in Lin Wei's heart and gently comforted his uneasiness.

"Heh, yeah... A transmigrator!"

Lin Wei laughed mockingly.

Changing a world, how grand and romantic does that sound!

But the pressure and responsibility that came with it was not something that ordinary people could understand.

How many people would live because of you, and how many innocent people would die because of you?

The world might be plunged into chaos because of you, civilization might be annihilated because of you;

Are you ready to shoulder all of this?

Someone seemed to be asking him in the darkness.

Lin Wei wanted to scream, "To hell with you! I'm not!"

But it seemed that God wasn't going to give him that chance.

"I really want to go back to the Elysian Realm and hide. Why should I care about the troubles of this world!"

At that moment, Lin Wei seemed to understand why Gray Serpent had generously let him leave—

He seemed to have planned from the very beginning for me to stand in the center of all this!

But what was his motive? Lin Wei didn't understand.

Although Lin Wei knew that Gray Serpent had always been tolerant towards humans with value. Just like how he had insulted Cocolia but made an exception for Einstein—even the shot he had fired at her was just a tranquilizer, and he even gave her a life lesson.

But she was one of humanity's top scientists, she should be protected. So what am I?

If I can't understand, I'll just stop thinking about it for now.

"Have you made a decision?"

Yae Sakura smiled slightly. She hadn't said much from beginning to end, and she hadn't offered any advice. She knew that the man whose soul was connected to hers had a very strong will, and that he would make his own decisions. As for her, she just needed to listen, and...

"Yeah, thinking about all that stuff is useless. Let's find a place to settle down first."

Lin Wei sighed and gathered his thoughts.

Those were too big of questions. He wouldn't be able to figure them out by just idly thinking about them.

Let's just take things one step at a time.

Fine, whatever!

"No matter what the future holds, Lin Wei-kun, this body and this sword will only fight for you."

And to support him...

To the man who had used such an unreasonable and forceful way to save her from the nightmare and give her a new life, Yae Sakura felt that this was all she needed to do.

"Ah, thank you..."

Lin Wei was a little touched by Yae Sakura's confession. What had he done to deserve this?

And the feeling of having someone by his side, it was really good.

Yae Sakura smiled gently, cut off the connection, and left reality to Lin Wei.

Lin Wei stood up and took a few steps forward. Then, he turned around sharply and drew his sword. The crimson blade flashed by, slicing the rock he had been sitting on into two halves.

Lin Wei sheathed his sword without even looking, that's so cool.

And then...

"Thump!"

Lin Wei planted his sheathed katana on the ground, and his whole body slumped against it like a dead dog, barely supporting his trembling limbs from falling on the ground. He was panting heavily, his vision was black,

"Damn, dizzy... This sword is really something..."

Fu Hua was right, don't just randomly unsheathe it, he couldn't handle it.

After catching his breath and his vision no longer blurry, he gradually began to recover his strength,

"Hah, that outburst felt so much better."

His body was very uncomfortable, that was true, but his heart felt much lighter.

Now that he had gotten rid of all the complicated emotions, his mind could focus on thinking.

In addition, he really did need to train this body. After being nourished by the Stigmata for half a year, in game terms, it was like he had accumulated a lot of skill points, which he could now use to level up his skills.

Lin Wei clicked his tongue, Hua was right, even when back in reality, he still needed to train.

Ugh, why is Hua's shadow everywhere I go?

After resting for a while, Lin Wei felt like he had mostly recovered his strength.

He took out his phone and made a call.

"Hello? Seriously, why are you so troublesome? It's only been a short while since we separated, alright? Just so you know, if it's for some private request, I'm sorry, but I'm not available today."

The call was picked up and a lazy female voice came through, her tone was rather impatient and not polite at all.

Who else could it be but Raven?

"Oh, it's nothing important. I guess you haven't gone far. I do need your help with something. It's not really a request... To put it simply, I'm homeless, and I want to ask if I could stay with you for a few days. Please take me in! ...Oh right, you've already resigned, so calling you 'Raven' doesn't seem right. What should I call you from now on?"

Lin Wei spoke as if it was the most natural thing in the world, as if he was just stating the obvious.

Raven, who was leisurely drinking wine alone in Gray Serpent's meeting room, was so angry that she almost crushed her phone.

How can someone be so shameless?!