Chapter 36: Everything is getting better...right?

[You accepted the mission assigned by Fire Moth and sent Griseo to the "Deepest Place," a super prison built by Vill-V to detain some criminals and failed experiments of Fire Moth. Many of them were sent there by you.]

[And this trip is not just you and Griseo Elysia is also with you, as she has a mission to go to the "Deepest Place."]

[According to Elysia, she went there to "recruit someone," and you know that person—the one who fought with you in "Twilight Street" before.]

[Although you don't know how Elysia convinced the Fire Moth to accept that "alien," you don't care. You just cherish the time you spend with Elysia and Griseo.]

[I don't know if it's because Griseo received your "abnormal blood," but she's closer to you than before and especially likes to draw on your body.]

[According to Griseo, you have "familiar colors" and "favorite colors" on you, but they are all hidden and covered by other things, so she has to repaint them.]

[Although you don't quite understand what Griseo said, you just let her do what she wants. After all, you don't mind her getting close to you.]

[When you reach the "Deepest Place," you and Elysia meet Aponia, who is in charge of guarding and restraining the prisoners. The nun you brought back has become a special and powerful fusion warrior, but she seems to have refused to directly participate in the battle for some special reason and can only do some auxiliary work or help with certain things.]

[Of course, the more important thing is that the Fire Moth is afraid of her ability, the ability called "Discipline."]

[Your meeting went smoothly. Aponia did not show any special emotions towards you and did not seem to care about the fact that you knocked her out and brought her back to the Fire Moth.]

[However, during this process, you noticed that Aponia often looked at you, and occasionally a puzzled look appeared on her face, as if there was something strange about you.]

[You didn't care much about it, just played with Griseo and waited for Elysia and Aponia to negotiate.]

[After a while, they seemed to have reached an agreement and stood up and walked deeper into the cave. Before leaving, they both turned back to look at you and Griseo.]

[Aponia looked at Griseo, with pity and worry in her eyes... Although she had agreed to take care of this cute and pitiful child, she was still worried about the little girl continuing to stay in such a dark and desperate place.]

[And Elysia looked at you with a smile, asking you to take good care of Griseo they will be back soon—she is not worried about Griseo's safety because you are here.]

[This is indeed the case. When Aponia and Elysia gradually disappear into the depths, and when all things belonging to the "Deepest Place" climb out from the shadows, the azure water will reappear.]

[That is the familiar blue, the familiar stinging pain. They are too familiar with it. Too many people have been arrested and trapped here because of you. After being trapped for a long time, their hatred for you is hard to describe, but... they still can't get close to you.]

[Even if there is no "rain" scene at this moment, even so, you are not someone they can contend with. Moreover, you only need to show a little bit of strength, and the fear in their hearts will force them to retreat.]

[You don't care about them, but just play with Griseo and draw on the ground with her. You will draw a similar but slightly different "painting" next to Griseo's painting. Compared with Griseo's, your "painting" is more real and less fantasy, giving people more of a real scene reflected by a blurry mirror, although according to the picture, whales that can swim in the clouds should not exist in reality.]

[You didn't know you were so talented in painting. Add to that your previous talent in music. Hmm... maybe you are unexpectedly suited to be an artist like Eden?]

[Of course, in order to prevent Griseo's "painting" from causing any negative impact on the prisoners here, after finishing the painting, you will use water to wash off the "painting" on the ground, and tell Griseo that it is best to only paint on special canvases and drawing paper in the future, and not on places like floors and walls... As for clothes and sheets, they are not allowed.]

[Although Griseo didn't quite understand, she still agreed to you.]

[Perhaps because she was a little tired from painting, Griseo fell asleep in your arms, feeling safe and peaceful.]

[After a while, Elysia and Aponia came back with a man who also looked familiar to you, the guy in the mask.]

[According to what Elysia said before, his name should be Kalpas.]

[Kalpas rushed forward the moment he saw you, clamoring to fight you again, shouting "That battle is not over yet! Come and fight!" and other words you didn't understand.]

[However, you didn't intend to waste time talking to him and directly raised your hand to throw a blue water ball at his head, blocking his loudly shouting mouth, so as not to disturb Griseo who was still asleep. However, this action undoubtedly stimulated Kalpas again, and he approached you at a faster speed but was thrown back by the tentacles you built with "water."]

[Although Kalpas finally stopped making a fuss after being dissuaded by Aponia and stopped by Elysia, this action still woke up Griseo.]

[Perhaps because of Griseo, Kalpas seemed very quiet afterward, but the dangerous aura emanating from him made Griseo's body tremble slightly, and she unconsciously grabbed your clothes.]

[Kalpas looked a little disgusted when he saw this, but he quietly moved away a little to avoid irritating Griseo.]

['Is he unexpectedly a good person?' You can't help but think so.]

[But there is no need to think too much now it is time to say goodbye.]

[Before leaving, you chattered about various things with Griseo, and also had a simple conversation with Aponia, hoping that she could take good care of Griseo. Elysia said that you were like Griseo's biological brother, too nagging.]

[You don't think there's anything wrong with this. Since Griseo's father can't come to see her off, you should naturally send her off with Hen's concern.]

[Aponia and Elysia understand your thoughts, so they are just waiting patiently.]

[However, halfway through, you felt Aponia's gaze on you again, with a confused and bewildered look, but you didn't care, since you were not familiar with her anyway.]

[During the final farewell, Griseo asked you if you would come back to visit her, and your answer was naturally - yes.]

[Griseo seemed a little happy after receiving the promise, and said that she would draw a picture for you and give it to you when you meet next time, and you naturally agreed happily.]

[Before parting, Aponia still looked at you with strange and puzzled eyes and opened her mouth several times, as if she wanted to say something to you, but was a little hesitant.]

[But in the end, Aponia still spoke.]

["Please always believe in yourself" - these are the words she gave you, which are confusing.]

[But Elysia seemed to realize something. After her eyes stayed on you for a while, she returned to her original smile.]

[She is somewhat happy.]

[You and Elysia left the "Deepest Place," taking Kalpas with you, who is likely to become a new member of the Poison Pupa.]

[After joining the Fire Moth, Kalpas has also been dishonest. He comes to you whenever he wants, wanting to continue the unfinished battle with you from last time. He even disturbed your relationship with Sakura several times. Even when you were dragged by Elysia and Eden to try on clothes, you could hear Kalpas shouting to challenge you.]

[Damn it, how come after Mobius's harassment ended, there came another more troublesome one?]

[You have no interest in fighting him. He is your companion and comrade now. If the "mission" is not specifically specified, you don't want to and are too lazy to swing your blade at your companion. There is no point.]

[Some outrageous rumors have started to spread in Fire Moth... For example, "The scumbag Xi Wang stole someone else's girlfriend, and now he is being harassed by someone else," "The poor masked ex-boyfriend," and "The unspeakable late-night stories between Kalpas and Xi Wang," etc.]

[Especially the last one. You didn't really understand it, but you were shocked... By the way, the last rumor was spread by Danzhu. After you found out, you took away several figurines that Danzhu had made based on you and Sakura. Danzhu was so anxious that she cried and made a fuss in the laboratory for several days, and she couldn't do any research.]

[But in the end, you still returned the figurine to Danzhu... Mainly because she was too noisy, and Mobius was going to cause trouble for you.]

[And Kalpas will start to attack the people around you after he finds it useless to go after you directly.]

[Kalpas naturally disdains it. Bullying children is meaningless to him, so he first goes to Sakura.]

[Then the fight ended in a draw with Sakura... although in reality, both of them were holding back.]

[To Sakura, Kalpas is a companion and a comrade-in-arms. Although he is a little weird and irritable, there are so many weird people in the Fire Moth, so he is not a big deal. So there is no need to fight with all your strength. Kalpas just wants to force you to fight. He doesn't care about other people and just treats it as entertainment.]

[Since it was useless to look for Sakura, Kalpas naturally set his sights on Elysia again.]

[Then he didn't even touch the corner of Elysia's clothes, and he was so angry that he smashed and cursed in the battle room, and then he was confined for three days.]

[However, it didn't take long for Kalpas to stop looking for you because he had a new "hobby"—a man named Yimoer tried to assassinate Kalpas several times. Although he failed every time, Yimoer never gave up. He was imprisoned for attempting to assassinate Kalpas several times but continued to try again after being released from prison. This made Kalpas very interested in him.]

[In the end, Kalpas even injured the adjutant who tried to drive his team away several times, just to make Yimoer his adjutant... Finally, after Elysia's negotiation, the Fire Moth agreed to Kalpas's "request."]

[You are also happy about this. It is always good to have one less person causing trouble. However, there is still one... no, two people you need to deal with. One is Mobius, and the other is Su.]

[Su is quite simple. He just wants to treat your psychological problems. Although you don't think you have any problems, Su thinks you do, so he always wants to solve your problems... and because of the arrangement of the Fire Moth, you have to go to him regularly. Although it is troublesome, you just need to deal with it and shirk it.]

[And Mobius... Tsk, let's not talk about her.]

[Although you are controlled by her, as long as you don't admit it, then you are not controlled by her!]

[In short, it's winning!]

[Elysia and Sakura saw the whole process, but they didn't step forward to stop it. Instead, they watched it happily. It's really infuriating... Never mind, as long as they are happy.]

[However, Mobius is still very reliable when it comes to serious matters. She is concentrating on studying your problems, such as the reduction of the lines on your body.]

[After research, Mobius found that your body's self-healing ability has been significantly improved. Although the improvement in your physical fitness is not obvious, it is still there. In addition, your ability to control "water" has become stronger.]

[Although it is surprising, Mobius still concluded that you are not in a "complete" state now. The "marks" flowing on your body are shackles that bind you. You need to continue to break them in order to release your power and the full potential of "Gabriel" and your "traits" combined.]

[As for how to break through the shackles on you... Mobius has no idea yet, but it should come from external stimulation. After all, the abnormality in your body was because you were targeted by the "Eighth Herrscher."]

[Mobius is very excited about this. Apparently, your presence is a great "motivation" for her.]

[Mobius submitted her research on you to the Fire Moth. This should make the Fire Moth feel more at ease about you. At least for the time being, there is no need to worry about you suddenly turning into some kind of "Honkai creature."]

[Mei was very interested in this research and had some inspiration, so she started discussing the research with Mobius.]

[Soon after, a proposal for a "mass production fusion warrior plan" was placed on the Fire Moth's conference table.]

[This is a plan to simplify and improve the "Fusion Warrior Surgery" to increase the success rate and survival rate of the surgery at the cost of reducing the combat capability of the Fusion Warrior. The ideal situation is to compress the entire process into a "reagent", obtain the Honkai Beast gene by injection, and then activate the "super mutation factor" through external stimulation to become a Fusion Warrior.]

[Although in theory, those who become fusion warriors in this way will be weaker than existing fusion warriors in terms of strength, they have a high success rate and will not cause immediate death even if they fail. It can be said that this plan fits the name of "mass production of fusion warriors" very well.]

[This proposal, which is beneficial to the entire human civilization, was naturally passed, but the technical accumulation in this process still needs time. The improvement and simplification of "Fusion Warrior Surgery" and "Super Mutation Factor" also needs time to study, and the funds that can be obtained are also limited.]

[After all, in order to fight against the Honkai, the Fire Moth has successively promoted many plans. Now they pay more attention to another plan and focus their resources on it, which is the "armed puppet technology" developed by Dr. "Einstein."]

[The armed puppet is made of "Soul Steel" as a whole, so it has strong resistance and adaptability to Honkai energy. With sufficient energy supply and combat AI, it can automatically complete the battle against Honkai beasts.]

[The whole process only requires the consumption of resources without sacrificing soldiers. This is undoubtedly a technology that is worthy of attention for the current Fire Moth.]

[Well... then the Fire Moth was slapped in the face again, or rather, the Fire Moth still underestimated the "omnipotence" of Honkai energy.]

[The armed puppets that use Honkai energy as energy have awakened their self-awareness after a long battle, and then began to protest everywhere, refusing to become consumables of the war, causing a headache for the top leaders of the Fire Moth.]

[Although the armed puppets were finally freed under the mediation of Dr. Einstein, the Fire Moth also sealed up the technology—what they needed was a weapon that could resist the Honkai, not a group of little guys who would resist fighting.]

[However, fortunately, the Fire Moth now has another plan that is progressing well. The "Eye of the Abyss" built on Mu Continent has successfully connected to the "Quantum Sea", and the exploration progress is gratifying. The technology of "building a micro-world bubble" is also progressing smoothly, and the core technology "Ether Anchor Point" is gradually maturing.]

[The top management of Fire Moth heaved a sigh of relief... At least there is a plan with a good profit ratio that is progressing normally. And as long as the "Ether Anchor Point" technology is perfected and "micro world bubbles" can be built in batches, the Honkai energy can be transferred into these "world bubbles" in batches to achieve the goal of eliminating Honkai. At least it can give them... No, it can give humans a way out.]

[But these have nothing to do with you.]

[What really bothers you is another thing...]

Crash——

In the bathroom, the warm water poured on his body, making Xiwang feel comfortable. He particularly liked this moist, water-filled environment. Well... this influence was probably brought about by Gabriel's genes, but Xiwang didn't care. He liked water very much, and his favorite weather was rainy days.

The only problem is...

"...here we go again."

Xiwang's nose twitched slightly, and the original sweetness on his body was mixed with a hint of the scent of lilies.

When he opened his eyes, he found a pure white lily lying quietly on the water valve.

"......"

Xiwang ignored it, turned off the water, wiped his body with a towel, and left the bathroom.

Along the way, the lily followed Xiwang wherever he went, on the edge of the sink, on the door handle of the bathroom door, next to the notebook on the desk, and even next to the pillow. It almost always stayed in his sight, which made Xiwang feel annoyed.

No one else could see this lily, nor could they smell its fragrance, as if this lily was just Xiwang's imagination.

However, Xiwang knew that this was not just his imagination. It was caused by the abnormal activity of the Honkai Beast gene belonging to [Gabriel] in his body. As long as he left the water-rich environment, the lily would disappear after a while.

"What a hassle…"

Xiwang confirmed again and again that the lily had disappeared before he fed himself a candy, feeling the sweetness in his mouth, then closed his eyes and slowly fell asleep.

......

.........

In the dim light, there seemed to be a horn sound, and the pure white wings trembled gently, bringing up some azure "water."

In a trance, it seemed as if a holy light fell in front of him. She was wearing a white robe, with long pure white hair, and two gold and blue [rings] on her head. She came in front of him and looked at him with her aqua blue pupils.

She held a pure white lily, gently held it, and handed it to him. Her eyes looked at him with tenderness and expectation, as if she hoped that he would accept her gift.

Snap——

Without hesitation, he slapped away the hand that she stretched out to him, and the pure white lily fell from her hand and fell helplessly to the side.

Obviously, it was a very impolite behavior, but her eyes smiled and curved into crescents, as if she was very satisfied with his choice and very happy with his attitude.

[■■■...]

She seemed to say something, but he couldn't understand it.

But in a trance, he found that there was no white-haired woman in front of him, but only the horn with six broken wings.