Inside the workshop, gears turned with a sharp click-clack, locking the massive gyroscopic mechanism into its most... imperfect position.
As steam hissed and the doors slowly opened, Vill-V stepped forward with steady strides into the Fourth Honkai Eruption Response Command Center.
"Strange. Why is the transmission system so unstable today? Could it be because of the Honkai?"
The moment she received intelligence of the Honkai energy outbreak, Vill-V had rushed back to the workshop inside the operations command building. Now, blue holographic projections filled Helixcraft, each displaying scenes of Honkai outbreaks across the globe.
There were too many affected regions—New Zealand, the Atlantic Ocean, North America. At present, all three locations registered high-intensity Honkai energy.
Fortunately, the eruptions had not occurred simultaneously. There were intervals between them, which allowed Vill-V to confirm the Herrscher of Wind's trajectory.
"So she still chose North America in the end..."
Wherever the Herrscher of Wind passed, vast numbers of Honkai Beasts and zombies were born in her wake. They brandished claws and scythes, harvesting the lives of humans who had yet to react.
And the Herrscher of Wind was not even deliberately spreading Honkai at this point. She was simply flying—flying without restraint, without purpose.
She encountered no opponent worthy of her attention. Fighter jets, missiles, artillery—when they struck her wind barrier, they were like tickles, all deflected away, instead causing considerable damage to the surrounding buildings.
Anything that stood in her path did not even merit her notice. A casual collision was enough to tear through it. Whether reinforced concrete or soulium, there were no exceptions. It was as though she were playing inside a sandcastle.
The blue glow of the screens reflected in Vill-V's clear eyes. Excitement colored her voice—along with a trace of fear.
The Fourth Honkai Eruption had begun.
That meant humanity would once again confront a Herrscher-class Honkai enemy head-on.
The Herrschers under Honkai had never been disasters one could casually overcome. They were born wielding authority capable of destroying the world—even the Herrscher of Wind.
They dragged powers that belonged only in scientific fantasy into reality and brought despair to human civilization.
The last time the two sides clashed, the entire Far East region was destroyed. The number of dead and missing exceeded seven hundred million.
And this time?
Magician would treat the battle against a Herrscher as an exhilarating carnival performance.
Conductor would regard the battle as merely another part of the plan.
Expert would see it as a validation of her own creations.
Scholar would consider it the manipulation of fate.
Lecturer would view it as a hymn to humanity.
Pure Evil would scoff—"A Herrscher? That's it? Know why my cloak is red? Stay right there and don't move. I'm coming to kill you right now." Then she would pilot a starship and make a confident strategic retreat... wait until the planet-destroying cannon was built before coming back to wipe the Herrscher out, and then retreat again before Finality descended...
Even though preparations were thorough and every plan was progressing smoothly, Id still harbored immense fear toward the existence of a Herrscher. In the face of a Herrscher, Id felt utterly powerless.
This was not some invincible cheat code.
It was the suffocating oppression that objectively existed in this Honkai world.
Compared to the massive physical form of a Chariot-class Honkai Beast, the unknown born from Honkai was far more terrifying.
In the original world, at least science could understand and explain phenomena.
But in this Honkai-ravaged world, humanity's fated destruction intertwined with the Honkai phenomenon, giving birth to unimaginable horror.
Faced with such bottomless fear, those with clear minds were more likely to feel the insoluble despair and confusion—just like the scientists of the Crisis Era when they realized that "physics no longer existed."
Do you know how MOTH came into being? Humanity's elites were driven together by this suffocating pressure.
It was precisely this oppression that forced them to unite, struggling like moths drawn to flame.
Living within the Honkai world, Vill-V could deeply empathize with the despair and terror those scientists once felt.
At least in the previous life humanity still had four hundred years before it's destined destruction.
Vill-V, however, faced the reality that world civilization would be utterly annihilated by Finality in just seven short years.
The cheerful romances and playful banter in those Honkai fanfictions—smiling in the face of the apocalypse—were illusions.
What Vill-V felt was the constant terror of standing at the edge of the abyss, forced to deceive herself just to keep breathing.
She was merely a supporting character blessed with extraordinary intellect. Even after three lifetimes, her heart had not been tempered into the iron resolve of a hero. Heroes were heroes. They were not forged simply by enduring time like some unnoticed side character.
Vill-V had always been somewhat cowardly.
So cowardly that in her previous life, even knowing the truth of the Three-Body world, she had not dared to step beyond Earth into unknown interstellar exile.
Even in this world, where she had companions to support one another, Vill-V had never fully accepted it. After all, when she first arrived in this healthy, sunny, optimistic world, she had been met with its malice.
Opening one's heart to others was already difficult.
For Id, it was even more so.
Fortunately, in this world, the other personalities accompanied her timid self.
Obviously, each personality was merely a fragment Vill-V had split apart. Each one was a facet of Vill-V. Before she became a MANTIS and gained divided cognition, the boundaries between them had never been truly distinct.
Yet Id still believed that all of them were truly living Vill-V.
This had nothing to do with form.
Nothing to do with definitions of personhood.
Perhaps this was merely Vill-V's wishful thinking.
But life itself advances on wishful thinking.
Falsehoods can also be real.
Then let this lie make the world a better place...
"Vill-V, are you okay? You don't look so good." A round little face suddenly appeared before her. The cat was very worried about you.
"Mm, I'm fine, Pardo... Hm? Pardo?"
"Why are you here?"
Pardo's pupils suddenly shrank. So Vill-V didn't look pale because she had discovered that she had secretly snuck in?!
She had originally planned to confess proactively and beg for leniency.
Flustered, Pardo hurriedly explained, "Oh, um, I heard the organization's got a big project going on, so I came to see if there's anything I could... help with, for you, Vill-V."
A trace of helplessness flickered through Vill-V's eyes. She smiled. "Thank you, Pardo. As long as you don't touch anything, you'll be helping me immensely."
Pardo's gaze darted nervously. "Uh... sorry, Vill-V. On the way here, I, um... picked this up. It should... probably not be a big problem, right?"
As she spoke, Pardo revealed a small crystal-like conical gear.
She had taken a liking to the glittering gear at first glance and casually "picked" it into her pocket.
"?!! Directional Embedded Transmission Core!" Id's smile froze, her eyes widening.
Don't be fooled by its small size.
That gear was the core component of the entire building's mechanical system. All mechanisms within the structure revolved around it in synchronized engagement.
Well done, Pardo. With one casual pick-up, you just scrapped my 1.95 billion.
And yet, looking at the cat's concerned, adorable smile, Vill-V simply couldn't bring herself to get angry.
She even felt the sudden urge to suffocate on the spot.
My 1.95 billion! My Helixcraft!