Honkai: Fire Moth Herrschers-Chapter 230: Trust

"Ugh..."

He groggily opened his eyes. Dim light intertwined with the sound of wind outside the window, taking a moment to sort themselves out before finding their way into his eyes and ears.

"Why'd I wake up so early?"

Michael muttered a complaint, clamped the covers between his legs, and rolled over, ready to drift back to sleep. But a sharp pain suddenly twisted in his abdomen.

"Hnng..."

He let out a muffled groan, then silently pulled the covers out from between his legs and rearranged them properly, taking special care to smooth them over his waist and stomach.

"Gurgle—"

The abdominal pain subsided slightly. Michael let out a long sigh of relief.

"It's fine, just gotta sleep it off."

He squeezed his eyes shut, but it was mere self-deception.

Not ten seconds later, the sharp pain returned. While insignificant compared to battle wounds, its persistent, nagging assault on his nerves made further sleep impossible and forced him to face reality—he probably had diarrhea.

"Tsk!"

A black rift tore open above the bed. Michael fell through, landing squarely on the toilet seat.

An indeterminate amount of time passed before the sound of flushing water echoed in the bathroom.

Michael limped to the mirror. Just as he reached out to touch his reflection, the scene within the mirror shifted rapidly. He thought he saw the "self" he had confronted yesterday.

Thump-thump— Thump-thump— Thump-thump—

Their heartbeats began to synchronize. Countless images flashed before his eyes...

Suddenly, he doubled over, clutching his mouth, his expression filled with struggle. After a long moment, feeling slightly better, he hesitantly lowered his hand.

The next moment, the faint, unpleasant odor in the bathroom drifted towards him. A spasm seized his stomach, and Michael experienced a bout of violent vomiting.

After a long while, he wiped the residue from his mouth and turned on the faucet, washing away the remnants in the sink.

"Gargle, gargle, gargle— Ptooey! Looks like I need a big breakfast to make up for that."

He rinsed his mouth, muttered to himself, and walked out of the bathroom.

The sudden brightness was jarring, making him shield his eyes with the back of his hand.

"Been that long already..."

He pulled back the curtains and opened the window, letting the air pressure carry away the stale smell that had accumulated overnight. The fabrics in the room fluttered. Michael stood by the window, surveying the underground city he had reconstructed just yesterday.

Though it appeared identical to his memories, Michael felt something was missing.

It was an elusive, profound feeling. This place truly lacked something—something that had once existed and been destroyed, something not entirely gone, still struggling to be reborn.

A strand of hair slightly obscured his vision. Only then did Michael realize his bangs had grown out. And in the sound of the wind, he finally perceived the missing element—life.

Waking up today, his ears weren't filled with the chirping of yellow birds, only the cold, blustering morning wind.

It felt somewhat strange.

He could restore the entire city, and with the help of Abyss Flower and Seele, even bring a spark of life back to this land. But that was merely a beginning, and the distance between the start and where he stood felt vast.

Under the morning breeze, green ripples flowed across the distant brown earth—the swaying of tender shoots. In the depths of the artificial lake, beyond human sight, molecules underwent changes humanity itself didn't fully comprehend. Numerous elements merged, forming the earliest shape of life—single cells.

Now, reflected in the gears of Michael's eyes, those first cells had already begun to divide.

Beneath the fertile soil, earthworms, ants, and countless other nameless insects stirred once more. Had they grown overnight, or had these observers of human civilization never truly left?

Yes, life had never truly departed. From this starting point, it would eventually return to its former state. But that didn't negate the previous ending. Even within identical cycles, things were lost that could never be recovered.

Michael glanced up at the "moon," still lingering stubbornly after the "sunrise."

He hoped only the two yellow birds were lost forever.

Calculating the time, his morning contemplation period should be over.

Michael closed the window and turned to leave—he wasn't idle. After two consecutive Honkai Eruptions, there was much for him to handle.

But just as he stepped towards the door, his ears twitched. He heard a door close to his right.

"..."

Followed by footsteps.

"..."

Michael reached out, opened a spatial rift, and phased directly into the base's office.

"Eh?"

Before he even landed, he heard a surprised sound.

Hua, holding a large stack of documents, tilted her head, looking at Michael who had unexpectedly appeared in the office.

"Didn't think you'd even skip the walk now."

Her expression was remarkably like that of a mother catching her child slacking off. Michael gently poked her forehead. He felt that Hua, having spent so much time with Rin and Pardofelis, had awakened some strange new attributes.

He waved his hand, and the half-human-height stack of documents Hua held moved neatly onto the desk. He sat down silently and reached for the topmost file by habit.

"Hey! Wait, I haven't sorted them yet."

Hua quickly pressed down on his hand.

Michael blushed slightly. He easily guessed he'd arrived too early, before Hua had finished her preparations.

He could only sit awkwardly on the chair, legs together, hands on his knees, watching Hua organize the files.

"Hmm... this one, this one, and this one just need stamps for routine supply requests. Here you go."

Michael took the three files, stamped them mechanically, and placed them on the other side of the desk.

Seeing this, Hua temporarily paused her sorting, took the three stamped files, slipped them into a white folder, and attached a label.

"...Seriously, why are we still using paper in this day and age!" Michael grumbled casually.

Hua's movements paused slightly. "There's no choice, I guess. Technological advances don't immediately reflect in every corner of life. The ancients of Shenzhou didn't completely abandon bamboo slips until centuries after usable paper was invented. The reasons are complex, but for confidential documents, since high transmissibility can't compensate for storage vulnerability, multiple preservation methods are necessary—it's unlikely the database and the archive room would be destroyed simultaneously, right?"

She raised her index finger to push up non-existent glasses on her nose.

Michael's lip twitched. "If Mei could see you imitating her like this, she might actually smile for the first time in a while."

He took the opportunity to gently check the girl's forehead again. Ultimately, although she'd been with him for a long time... oh wait, she was practically ancient herself.

But at the end of the day, she was still just a teenager. Though not mischievous, she had her playful moments.

Hua continued working, sorting the remaining files while handing the urgent ones to Michael. For a time, the only sounds in the office were the rustling of pages and the thud of the stamp.

Thump!

Michael stamped a bright red seal, then shook his hand. He wasn't physically tired, just mentally drained. Such repetitive, almost useless actions were truly exhausting... He could endure the repetitive training needed to hone his core muscle memory back then, but documents that made him sleepy just by looking at them...

Besides, back then, he was the equivalent of a high school student, supposedly at his "peak intelligence." After becoming an adult, entering the equivalent age of a university student, both his learning ability and endurance had rapidly declined, severely degenerating.

Yawning, he reached out habitually to take the next file from Hua, but his hand grasped empty air.

"Hm?"

He looked up questioningly. Hua gestured upwards with her chin. He turned to look at the wall clock behind him. Unknowingly, it was almost noon.

Fire Moth didn't have fixed meal times. The cafeteria served six meals a day, and units ate according to their combat readiness schedules. Personnel without current missions decided their own meal times.

Michael glanced back at the neatly organized files on the desk. He'd processed over eighty percent in one morning. Satisfied with his stamping speed, he stood up and gestured for Hua to go eat.

"Um..."

Hua suddenly gathered her courage and stopped him again.

"What's wrong?"

"Maybe... you rest here, and I'll bring lunch back for you?"

"Ah—oh..."

Seeing the worry on Hua's face, Michael seemed to understand something. He silently sat back down. It seemed his direct phase-teleport to the office had been inadvertently wise.

Hua saw his expression and, thinking he might be feeling down, quickly explained, "Not everyone thinks that way, really. It's just a small minority. Most people still acknowledge you... it's just that seeing you devour the Great Serpent back then was too... shocking?"

Hearing this, Michael deliberately stuck out his crimson tongue, licked his upper lip, bit down showing one canine tooth, rubbed his stomach, and stared wide-eyed at Hua.

Hua's mouth stretched into a wide, flat line, and she shook her head. Clearly, she, at least, had moved past that shadow, or perhaps it was purely her trust in Michael.

Although the joke didn't land as intended, Michael's actions still conveyed a change to Hua—he seemed genuinely unaffected by this... misunderstanding, or perhaps being seen differently by others.

No, perhaps it was purely based on trust, just as Hua trusted that his expression just now was merely a joke.

Hua raised an eyebrow, distinctly feeling that Michael seemed somewhat changed after this incident.

After Hua left, Michael opened the drawer under his desk, picked up a manga, and began reading with interest.

It was a rather old series, actually. Michael remembered seeing it serialized in newspapers he'd picked up off the streets to use as bedding during his past travels. It had ended abruptly several years ago.

"..."

As he read, he suddenly felt a sense of dissonance, as if something about today had been wrong from the start.

He didn't dwell on it, deciding he was just tired of this one. He casually tossed it back into the drawer and pulled out a worn-out history book instead.

He reached deeper into the drawer... tsk, thankfully, this level was near the bottom of the base and hadn't suffered damage. The sunflower seeds he'd hidden earlier were still there.

Crack—

Read lat𝙚st chapters at fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓ Only.

He cracked one open. Michael held it between his index fingers, then carefully pried it open with his thumbs to extract the kernel—yes, the reason he never ate sunflower seeds in front of others, besides it being impolite, was... he didn't know how to crack them properly.

Click—

Hearing the doorknob turn, Michael quickly put away the seeds and pretended to be engrossed in his reading. Only when Hua entered, holding a tray in each hand and leaning back to close the door, did he look up as if just noticing.

"Ooh, thanks! But how did you open the door just now?"

"That's not important."

Hua met Michael's rapidly blinking eyes with a deadpan expression, but eventually couldn't hold it and broke into a smile.

"There's beet soup and borscht today, but I remember you liked the cream of mushroom soup the most last time, so I got you this."

Michael looked at the two identical trays—yellow whole-wheat bread, creamy white cream of mushroom soup, and a hazy, multicolored Olivier salad coated in mayonnaise—and paused slightly.

"Hua, I grew up in Siberia, but only until I was ten..."

"Ah... sorry. I just remember that back in the Golden Courtyard, Vill-V seemed to make this kind of food more often."

"Could it be that she was operating under the same misconception?"

Michael didn't say the words aloud. He felt a pang of warmth, not because Hua had brought him food reminiscent of his homeland in some way, but because of her earlier explanation...

If she remembered his eating habits from the Golden Courtyard, she should also remember that Michael had no strong preference among those three soups. And Hua herself, if Michael recalled correctly, wasn't particularly fond of cream of mushroom soup.

"Thanks, Hua."

"Hm?"

Hua looked up, puzzled, then quickly realized her subtle considerations had been easily seen through. She immediately lowered her head and focused on eating silently to hide her embarrassment—

Beet soup had a purplish hue, almost like dark red, while borscht, though slightly brighter, contained large chunks of beef brisket...

Red, meat. Hua had thoughtfully avoided these combinations in Michael's food.

Michael even suspected she hadn't chosen black bread because she worried its color, slightly resembling the Great Serpent's scales, might make him uncomfortable.

The two suddenly, synchronously, picked up pieces of bread, dipped them in the soup to soften, and took a bite.

Although "silence during meals" was a long-standing custom in Shenzhou, Hua, cherishing the rare moment alone with Michael, finally broke the silence after much thought:

"Michael, actually, Herrschers... don't necessarily need to eat, right?"

"Hm? Right. Theoretically, Herrschers only need Honkai energy to survive. Why ask all of a sudden?"

"Uh... I just noticed you sometimes go days without eating and seem fine, but most of the time you eat like a normal person."

"Hehe." Michael chuckled softly and explained, "At this stage of civilization, the meaning of eating has evolved beyond the primitive need for [energy intake]. In a way, eating can also be a form of enjoyment, and food can be an art form, right?"

"But, you don't really like that kind of artistic food, do you? Hey—"

Michael poked her forehead for the third time and replied, "It's not that I completely dislike it. It's just that, for me, the enjoyment of eating is slightly different from others."

Hua didn't interrupt, listening quietly as Michael continued.

"For others, the enjoyment of eating typically comes from smell, taste, sight, perhaps a rare break from work, or simply the pleasure derived from spending money. For me, the act of eating itself is enjoyable because it reminds me that I am still human."

Hua remained silent.

Michael paused, then suddenly stared intently at her. "Hua, you..."

"Ah! I'm, I'm fine. It's just that sometimes I don't feel too hungry even if I haven't eaten for a long time. So I was a bit curious about how it is for you Herrschers."

But Michael's thoughts went further—if everyone had witnessed his Artificial Cascade form, might they also feel some distance towards the MANTISes?

He shook his head. This was something to discuss with Mei and Mobius later; no need to burden Hua with it.

They finished their meal in silence, clearing their trays rapidly. Michael stacked the two plates and tossed them into a spatial rift—Thank you, Herrscher of the Void. Your presence and smile live on, always making my life convenient.

They resumed their work.

"At two o'clock, I need to head to Lab 1. Should be able to finish these before then, right?"

Hua gave an affirmative nod, but the speed of their work inevitably increased slightly.

In less than half an hour, only one file remained in Hua's hands.

Michael stamped the end of the previous document and held out his hand without looking up. But Hua hesitated for a long moment before gently placing the file in Michael's hand.

"Hm?"

Michael raised an eyebrow quizzically. He was about to stamp it with a large seal like the others, but Hua's hesitation piqued his curiosity.

So, instead of flipping directly to the last page, he looked at the file's title— Proposal for the SWARA Experiment (Final Version)

"...Hmph..."

Flipping further, he unsurprisingly found Hua listed as the primary test subject.

Hua lowered her head, nervously glancing at him. Based on her understanding of Michael, he would most likely reject this application.

She had hoped Michael would carelessly overlook it like the other documents, but her own unconscious hesitation had alerted him.

Or perhaps, that subconscious hesitation itself was the manifestation of some emotion she had been suppressing.

Michael rubbed his chin. After about ten seconds of silence, he suddenly flipped the document to the last page, stamped it, and handed it back to Hua.

He smiled. "Alright, with that, all the work is done."

Hua beamed, clutching the file excitedly. Flashes of helplessness from past battles flooded her mind—

During the Third Honkai Eruption, she could only tremble in the shelter with Carole.

During the Fourth, she was still a burden.

During the Fifth, she watched livestreams from the Golden Courtyard.

Before the Sixth, she finally obtained the MANTIS ICHOR factor she had craved in a sense, but she could still only watch livestreams.

During the Seventh, she finally had a chance to participate in battle, but her combat power was inferior even to Mobius, a researcher, and Vill-V, wielding a Divine Key. Her entire contribution was firing a single, ineffective shot at the Herrscher.

And now, finally, an opportunity lay before her. Although she didn't know what the so-called SWARA was for, or if it would be useful, and despite Mobius's notorious operating table, Hua didn't care.

Because she hoped she could do something in future battles.

She wanted, she thought, to help him. That was all.

Therefore, the most joyous thing was not only that he understood her determination but that he hadn't rejected it, instead offering his support.

Perhaps some young girls might prefer the person they faced to refuse, to reject them, as a display of "caring."

But Hua saw clearly that, ultimately, that was just insecurity about whether the other person would "care about me."

And from that perspective, support meant far more than rejection—it meant the other person trusted you, unconditionally supported your choice.

This was clearly more heartwarming than simple "caring."

"Thank you," she whispered.

Michael shook his head with an amused smile. "Alright, if there are no other problems, I'll head to Lab 1. It's a bit early, but Mei and Mobius probably won't mind, right?"

Ignoring Michael's banter, Hua suddenly turned serious.

"Actually, I do have one question."

"Hm?"

"Michael, how did you handle these files before? Logically, Elysia should have been doing my job today, right? It's just that you seem completely unfamiliar with this work..."

"Uh... ah..." Michael scratched his head awkwardly, offering a slight smile.

He suddenly understood the source of that earlier feeling of "dissonance."

After all, those days—two people at one table, bathed in sunlight, communicating through expressions, sitting for an entire day—compared to today's rushed, busy work, the difference was truly vast, vast indeed...

Hua didn't get an answer to her question and pressed on, "Then who arranged this work reassignment? At a time like this, you shouldn't normally give up an opportunity to be alone with Elysia, right?"

"Ah? That, well, I arranged it myself."

"Why...? Did something happen between you two?"

"Hm... wouldn't understand even if I told you, little kid..."

Despite his words, Michael gently tapped his own forehead with his index and middle fingers and explained:

"Simply put, I have a lot to say to her. I just need more time to sort things out, to prepare."

Hopefully.