I've already said this isn't a life simulator!

Xi Wang remained silent for a moment.

Although I knew she meant to drag me to the lab, the timing and wording... well... not very good.

While the others were still confused, Xi Wang, with Sakura in one hand and the drunken Mebius in the other, walked towards Alicia, who was greeting them, and then quickly left the ball and headed towards Mebius's laboratory.

After a brief silence, the ball erupted... with countless people discussing it heatedly and enjoying the spectacle.

As for what rumors will circulate the next day... that's no longer important. [Sad]

"...Thank you very much. Doctor is not good at drinking. If she drinks a certain amount, she will... um... do some things that seem strange or even incomprehensible to others. I hope you can understand."

"It's okay~ After all, a drunk Mebius is also very cute~?"

"I'm so glad you don't mind... Well then, I'll take the doctor to rest first."

After handing over Mebius, who was still muttering things like, "Oh my, it's rare for a lab mouse to be so proactive, I'm so happy!" and "Come on, get on the operating table, let me study you properly!" to her assistant Klein, Xiwang and the others finally breathed a slight sigh of relief.

The three of them then silently left the laboratory and strolled slowly down the quiet corridor... As for the ball, it was impossible to go back; if they did, there would probably be some strange rumors circulating.

"……Feel sorry."

Xi Wang said softly.

"Hmm? No need to apologize, Wang~ After all, it wasn't Wang's fault~ It's more like Möbius was just unlucky~"

Alicia said with a smile.

"She knew she couldn't hold her liquor, but when she got the drink, she was too proud to switch it, and that's how it ended up like this... It's really Möbius's own fault, isn't it? Hmm~ I'm going to have a good talk with her about her behavior tonight when she sobers up tomorrow~"

"Please spare the Doctor, Alicia..."

"Don't worry~ Möbius won't care about such a small thing~"

I was just worried that she might take her anger out on me... Sakura didn't say this out loud, after all, if Möbius went out, she would have to go with him, and it would be funny if she took her anger out on him... I hope Dr. Möbius really doesn't care about such a small thing.

"But... Wang still owes me a dance!"

Alicia took two quick steps forward with light strides, then turned around and said with a smile.

"Not only that, even Sakura's dance wasn't finished~"

"……Feel sorry."

"No need to apologize~ After all, it can be made up for~"

"Look, isn't this a perfect place?"

Alicia smiled, pushed open the door, and looked up, only to find that the group had unknowingly walked into the sky garden inside the Fire Moth.

This is where Alicia and Sakura like to whisper secrets, and it's also where Sakura and Nozomi often take walks.

It's quiet and sparsely populated here, especially now that the ball is being held. There are almost no people here, only the moonlight shining on the ground, mingling with the blooming flowers.

"Da da? ~ Da da ~ Da? ~ Da da?~"

As Alicia sang a cheerful tune, she led the two of them on a stroll through the garden. Against the backdrop of blooming flowers and moonlight, the nimble Alicia looked like an elf from a fairy tale.

In a clearing in the center of the garden, Alicia stopped and turned to face him, her white skirt rising and falling gently.

"So, this handsome gentleman?"

She lightly jumped in front of Xiwang and said this.

"This beautiful lady~?"

She lightly jumped in front of Sakura, then stood between the two of them, gracefully bowed, and extended her hand to them.

Would you be willing to accept a dance invitation from a cute girl?

"…………"x2

Xi Wang and Ying exchanged a glance, both seeing the helplessness in each other's eyes, but then they both smiled and gently placed their hands in hers.

"My pleasure" x2

With the moon as a lamp and flowers as decoration, the gentle breeze is the audience, and the rustling of leaves is the applause.

Their dance steps became the rhythm, and the songs they hummed became the music. At this moment, in this scene, no one but themselves could appreciate it.

Chapter Twenty-Two: The Joyful Daily Life Is Always Broken

[■■Month 27, 34 stars. Today is the celebration of the Sixth Herrscher subjugation battle. Although there were some accidents because of Dr. Mebius, it was still a very happy day.]

Sakura is beautiful, and Alicia is beautiful too. Compared to them, I haven't paid much attention to my clothes... Maybe I can go shopping with them sometime?

Tomorrow, there will probably be some strange rumors circulating in the base again... I just hope those people don't get caught by Dr. Mebius, otherwise I'll definitely go and help them out... I'd better not go, otherwise I'll be dragged onto the operating table again.

But I promised Hen I'd go see Gretchen, so I can't not go... I have a feeling tomorrow will be really unlucky.

Two days later there's another mission involving poisonous pupae, but this time it's not about killing them; instead, they're being handed over to the poisonous pupae's personnel, supposedly to be taken to some "deepest place"... It's a bit disgusting, and it reminds me of bad things.

Xi Wang paused slightly, then poured out another candy from the candy box, put it in his mouth, changed the number to [35], and continued writing.

[The tasks assigned to the Poisonous Chrysalis lately have been rather strange, and they're gradually decreasing... Even the sugar supply is dwindling, it seems like they're limiting the amount I get, but the tasks from the Fire Moth are increasing, and they're getting more and more dangerous.]

At this point, Xi Wang paused slightly, going over her clues and deductions in her mind before writing it down as if to confirm her point.

"...They may be abandoned, which is to be expected, since there are other alternatives."

Starting next time, I'll probably be assigned to the Herrscher extermination team and officially face the core of the disaster... Fortunately, Sakura is currently directly under Dr. Mebius and Dr. Mei's team, only nominally under the Poison Chrysalis, so I don't have to worry about her being transferred away.

Thinking about it carefully, being included in the extermination team isn't so bad; at least it brings me closer to Alicia.

Xi Wang paused slightly, his mind flashing through images of his adjutant and the members of his team.

Because of his and Sakura's "special combat methods," their team suffered casualties, but far fewer than other teams. After all, he and Sakura had already completed the actual combat, leaving the team members to serve as rescue and support personnel, and do some logistics. The atmosphere within the team was not exactly loving and harmonious, but at least peaceful. Many people would even joke in their spare time, "Those guys are just a burden to the two captains. Why don't we just merge them into a rescue team and let the two captains have their own team?"

Now, Sakura's team has been taken over by others, and after participating in several Honkai operations, they have all died one after another and been replaced by new members. As for Xiwang's own team, they were wiped out in one wave during the [Sixth Herrscher Extermination Battle], leaving only him.

This does not mean that the team members were incompetent or lazy in combat. On the contrary, they were very brave. Even when they received missions with extremely low survival rates, they never questioned them or ran away.

Having survived from the early Honkai outbreak to the present, they were acutely aware of what they were facing, yet they never retreated—and then they all died, dying in heroic battles, or more often, being infected by the Honkai while trying to save others, ultimately sacrificing themselves.

Speaking of which, Xiwang still remembers that when one of his squad members was lying on the ground waiting to die after being infected and collapsing, he jokingly asked him for a piece of candy, saying that he "wanted to taste what the candy the captain eats every day tastes like"... Naturally, Xiwang didn't give it to him, but fulfilled his last wish - Xiwang personally ended his life, allowing him to die painlessly as a human.

There was another person who used to be in Sakura's team. If I remember correctly, she was the last person Sakura led. She was also carried back. In the ward, she was still gossiping with people about "the progress of her captain and Captain Xiwang"... Then she died the next day because of the spread of Honkai. Her body was collected by Dr. Mebius for research.

They're all dead... Because of the Honkai, there are hardly any familiar faces left.

Xi Wang closed her eyes to calm herself down. When she opened them again, her eyes had returned to their usual calm. Finally, she wrote:

【I will Survive.】

hiss-

Skillfully tear off two pieces of paper, burn them, and rummage through the cherry blossom-colored bag to find a cherry blossom-shaped pink candy, which he then threw into his mouth along with the ashes.

----------

Although you are unwilling to admit it, the loss of your team members has left a deep impression on you and strengthened your resolve not to be defeated by the Honkai... You will live on and will never die in any battle against the Honkai.

The next day, although you were reluctant to enter Möbius's laboratory, you had to keep your promise, so you eventually went with the Hen couple.

Here you also met an acquaintance—Kosmo. He and another teammate, Desdovia, occasionally come to look after Gretchen. After you arrived, Gretchen ran briskly to her parents and greeted you sweetly.

It's strange, really. Gretchen seems to like you a lot. There's something about you that attracts her. Sometimes, she even teases Gretchen that she's closer to you than to them... Naturally, this earned her a glare from Blanca, while Gretchen responded with a puzzled look.

[However, this was just a joke between friends. After all, Hen could tell that you and Kosmo are both the kind of people who really like children and are especially gentle with young children. Therefore, they don't object to Gretsch being close to you... They just didn't expect that you would be so popular with Gretsch.]

Of course, this will also lead to another problem... Möbius will be exceptionally "interested" in you, and this interest is different from the kind that "wants to drag you onto the operating table for research." It's a slightly sour and hostile interest... Especially when Gretchen chose to get closer to you first and then return to her side, her "interest" in you became even stronger.

Perhaps this is why she so desperately wants to drag you onto the operating table?

Ah... but after what happened last night, Mebius's "offensive" has become even more obvious. Although she hasn't resorted to outrageous methods like "pouring sleeping gas into your room at night," "putting a sack over your back while you're walking," or "slipping sleeping pills into your food," she is definitely becoming bolder, or rather... her interest in you is growing stronger.

[By the way, the things I mentioned above are all true. Möbius really did use them. Although the people involved were all fine in the end, such ruthless methods are still frightening. I just don't know why she didn't use those methods on you... Maybe it's because she's a good person?]

[And unsurprisingly, rumors began circulating in Moth of the Flame, such as "Captain Nozomi's tragic love triangle with three women," "Dr. Mebius forcefully declaring his sovereignty," and "Captain Nozomi's one-night stand with Mebius, Sakura, and Alicia."]

[By the way, the mastermind behind the last rumor was caught by you within ten minutes of it appearing. He ended up with a bruised and swollen face, wearing a sign that said "I shouldn't have talked nonsense," and was left hanging in the training room for a whole day, becoming the new source of amusement among the Moths of Fire.]

[Things gradually returned to normal after that. You went back and forth between missions and resting at the base, at most being pulled by Alicia to meet with other people and do some interesting things... at least interesting things for Alicia.]

[For example, going to Möbius's laboratory to tease the lab's owner, suggesting she change into a pink dress or something.]

However, the other party is clearly more "interested" in you. Perhaps it's because they can't verbally defeat Alicia, so they've turned their attention to you?

Alternatively, you could watch her amazing magic show at Vilvi's workshop and ask her to make some strange or wonderful little gadgets for you.

[You just don't quite understand why this person, who should be an "engineer," is so passionate about magic... But her magic performances are indeed quite entertaining, it would have been even better if she hadn't dragged you up as a "lucky audience member."]

[Furthermore, we could gather Sakura and a few other friends for a small tea party, and then go shopping together.]

[Although you don't know why they dragged you, a man, into a tea party that's almost exclusively for girls, since Alicia and Sakura are both there, you have no reason to object... Maybe it's just so you'll have someone to carry your bags when you go shopping later?]

You can tell that Alicia is trying to help you expand your social circle, but the results don't seem to be ideal... but you are still grateful to her, so you don't resist.

You know she's trying to help you, so you haven't refused her request, nor do you want to.

[And it was during these peaceful and carefree days... that the Seventh Great Collapse suddenly erupted.]

----------

pat-

With difficulty, she rummaged through her pocket and pulled out the candy box that was almost stuck to her combat uniform. She skillfully opened it and tried to pour out the candy inside. However, after being subjected to that terrifying high temperature, although there was nothing wrong with the candy box itself, the candy inside had stuck together. In the end, Xi Wang had to twist open the lid of the candy box to take out the sticky candy and pop one into her mouth.

Then, Xi Wang glanced at the knife she had discarded, which had been completely melted, and then looked at the familiar fiery red figure hovering in mid-air in the distance. She calmly took the new communicator and pressed the communication button.

"This is Wang. My weapons have been melted and my equipment has been destroyed. I am unable to continue the mission. The other ranged weapons in the squad are also unable to deal effective damage. I request a retreat."

"Received. Reject the evacuation request. Immediately coordinate with other teams to conduct rescue operations in the surrounding area."

"……learn."

Xi Wang calmly agreed, and then gestured to her new teammates.

"As you've heard, we can't leave. We need to continue our rescue mission, and headquarters won't be coming to pick us up for the time being."

"how so……"

"Of course, not many people can survive under these circumstances. The search is very troublesome, and the Honkai energy will continue to rise due to the presence of the Herrscher... Simply put, it is easy to die if you continue to stay here."

"........."

Seeing their timid expressions, as if they wanted to say something but didn't know how to bring it up, Xi Wang said casually.