Soon, the sense of weightlessness dragged at him like a massive lead stone, hauling his organs into a frenzied plunge.
Su Yu sucked air into his lungs in great gulps.
His throat was so dry it felt like it was burning.
He tried to push himself up, but the moment he put weight into his arms, his muscle fibers screamed in agony, as if someone were plucking them apart one by one.
He collapsed back down.
"Squad Monitor..."
In his mind, he called out to the voice that always answered him first.
No answer came.
The Spiritual Link was empty — not even the faintest static remained.
Gritting his teeth, Su Yu braced his elbows against the ground and forced himself up.
Something felt wrong beneath him. It wasn't the cold, oil-scented concrete of the abandoned factory, nor was it the purple crystal.
It was sand.
Fine, dry sand the color of dark rust.
He lifted his head again, and this time the scene before him came into sharper focus.
A lifeless red wasteland stretched out before him, all the way to the horizon.
There was no wind, no clouds — even the sky was an unsettling, deathly gray.
A few hundred meters away stood several thick black stone pillars, their surfaces covered in strange, unsettling patterns.
And beyond those pillars—
Su Yu's pupils contracted sharply.
He saw a tree.
A colossal tree, its size so vast that no words could describe it.
Its roots plunged into the void, and its crown held aloft countless faintly glowing, bubble-shaped spheres.
Even from such a great distance, a boundless sense of power crashed over him like a tsunami, pressing down until he could barely breathe.
He'd seen that thing before, on a screen in his previous life.
In the opening cinematic of Thus Spoke Apocalypse.
The Imaginary Tree.
"What in the world is going on," Su Yu panted. "Did the fold-jump... send me straight to the base of the Tree?"
Just as his mind filled with questions—
"Just as you suspect."
A voice sounded behind Su Yu, gentle in tone, unhurried.
"This is, indeed, where the Imaginary Tree resides."
Every muscle in Su Yu's body tensed at once.
He mustered all his strength to turn around.
It was a man dressed in something like a long robe.
Pale gray hair, eyes closed, features soft and gentle.
The moment Su Yu made out the man's face, he froze.
This was even more absurd than seeing the Imaginary Tree itself.
"You're..." Su Yu stared at the man's face. "Su?"
The one who bore the Signet of Heavenly Wisdom, the Awakened One who had once observed countless possibilities from within world bubbles, was now actually standing before him.
The man tilted his head slightly, a faint smile touching the corners of his mouth.
"I'm afraid I may disappoint you — I'm not the Su you know."
"I know."
Su Yu leaned against his own knees, making no attempt to stand.
In his current battered state, standing or sitting made little difference.
"You must be the one called Heavenly Wisdom," Su Yu said. "The companion of Kevin Kaslana, from the Honkai world."
The man nodded.
"Indeed I am."
He paused. His closed eyes never opened, yet Su Yu had the distinct sense he was being sized up with great interest.
"Though, now that you've seen me," Su's smile widened a little, "aren't you going to say something?"
Su Yu's expression froze.
He remembered how, just hours ago in that collapsing Spatial Rift, he'd worn a deathly pale face and spun a wild story to fool Kevin — claiming to be Su's "avatar," Su's "lingering obsession."
Now, of all things, the impostor had run smack into the genuine article.
Su Yu rubbed the back of his hand across his nose, cleared his throat twice, and pressed on with brazen nerve.
"Well... it was an emergency. So in the moment I just — I trust you're a big-hearted man, Brother Su, and you'll understand, right?"
He tried to paper over the awkwardness with a bit of clowning.
Su shook his head, smiling.
"No, that's not what I meant."
He took two steps forward; the red sand beneath his feet left no footprints.
"In fact, in a certain sense, what you said wasn't wrong at all."
Su Yu blinked.
"...What?"
"In a certain sense, you truly are my [Avatar]."
Su stopped two paces from Su Yu.
"Or perhaps — a piece in my hand, named the [King]."
Su Yu's eyes went wide.
Ignoring the agony wracking his body, he snapped upright.
"Are you saying that this so-called System inside me—"
"It came from a [Wager] between myself and a higher being."
Su's voice was calm, as though discussing the weather.
"In your eyes, perhaps it could be called the [Mastermind], or the [Hand Behind the Curtain]."
Su lowered his head slightly, as if trying to soothe Su Yu's frayed nerves.
"Rest assured, this power will never harm you. And you needn't worry about the price behind it, either — because someone has already paid that price for you."
Su Yu didn't relax at all. If anything, his brow furrowed deeper.
In this godforsaken Honkai world, a windfall like this — one where someone had even prepaid the bill for you — was never a good sign.
"But why me?"
Su Yu stared at the Awakened One before him.
"Or rather, I don't see any special reason I'd have been chosen."
Su fell silent for a few seconds.
"Hm. That question is rather complicated to explain."
He turned to face the distant Imaginary Tree, which held aloft countless world bubbles.
"Do you know that time isn't truly a straight line extending backward and forward?"
Su raised his hand and traced a line lightly through the void; the line split into countless branching tributaries.
"At certain instants, certain moments, it diverges into different nodes. But once a particular force reaches a preset [Endpoint], time begins to contract back toward that [Endpoint]."
Su lowered his hand and turned back to face Su Yu.
"To put it in terms you'd understand — it's roughly equivalent to a [Convergence of World Lines]. Your being chosen is the [Inevitable] result of someone else's doing."
"What does that mean?"
Su Yu wanted to press further, but Su shook his head.
"I'm sorry. I can't reveal anything more to you."
Su Yu sat on the red sand, muttering inwardly at that cryptic non-answer.
Had every Fusion Warrior from the previous civilization fried their brains in cryo-sleep or something?
Why did they all talk like some kind of riddler?
But he didn't argue. He knew that once these riddlers set their minds on being cryptic, there was nothing he could do about it.
"Let's talk about something lighter."
Su seemed to sense Su Yu's silent grumbling, his tone turning gentle again.
"Your body is still in Arc City right now. I've simply pulled your consciousness into this space this way."
Su Yu let out a long breath, his tense shoulders sagging.
"Don't worry — someone's already saved you," Su added. "And to you, that person isn't a stranger."
Only then did Su Yu's heart truly settle back into place.
It seemed the fold-jump had drifted from its intended coordinates, but at least it hadn't dumped him into the deep sea or a pool of lava.
"Was it you who saved me?" Su Yu asked.
"Merely a small effort — a token gift, nothing worth mentioning."
There was a note of admiration in Su's voice.
"How does a person, facing a power thousands upon thousands of times stronger than himself, muster the courage and wit to hold his ground?" Su said. "You certainly gave that [Being] quite the vivid performance."
Before Su Yu could respond, Su's tone turned unbearably heavy.
"And next—"
Su faced Su Yu directly.
"When you face your fated death, what will you show us then?"
Su Yu's heart skipped a beat.
"Su Yu... I look forward to seeing how you handle it."
Once that equally cryptic line had left his mouth—
Su Yu felt his vision begin to shake violently.
The red desert around him, the black stone pillars, and the distant Imaginary Tree all warped and shattered in rapid succession.
A sensation like being jolted awake by an electric shock crashed over him.
"Wait! Su!" Su Yu shouted. "You haven't actually explained anything!"
Su's projection grew fainter and fainter within the disintegrating space.
"Just remember this — you can indeed present yourself to the world as my [Successor]."
Su's final words echoed in Su Yu's mind.
"And in Arc City, an old friend will tell you the meaning of your [Fated Death]."
"Farewell, Su Yu."
"Remember this — never become an utterly boring person. Once He loses interest in you, that will be your ending."
Pain. A tearing, ripping agony.
Su Yu's eyes snapped open again.
Every cell in his body was screaming pain signals to his brain.
His skull especially — it felt like someone was drilling frantically into his temples with a power drill.
A low, muffled groan escaped him.
His vision, doubled and blurred, slowly came into focus.
What he saw was an arched ceiling built of gray stone blocks.
There were no lights in the cracks between the stones, only a faint, ghostly blue glow flickering.
This wasn't his rented apartment, not Anti-Entropy's underground base, and not the abandoned factory.
Su Yu tried to move his arms, if only to prop himself into a sitting position.
"Clank."
The cold clatter of metal rang out sharply in the dead-silent room.
Dazed, Su Yu turned his head toward the sound.
A dark silver metal band, etched with intricate inscriptions, was clasped around his wrist.
The band connected to a thick chain, the other end anchored firmly to the edge of the stone bed.
Left hand. Right hand.
Even his ankles had them.
He'd been chained down.
Su Yu's brow knotted tight instantly.
He still had no idea who had saved him, or why they'd chained him up here.
"Creeeak—"
A heavy iron door was pushed open from outside, its hinges grinding out a teeth-aching screech.
Su Yu turned his head.
By the faint light, he made out the figure stepping inside.
A deep black nun's habit, a pure white veil over her head.
Her face carried an expression of sorrowful compassion, as if it could bear the weight of every suffering in the world.
In her eyes, tenderness and unease intertwined.
Aponia.
The tenant from the Golden Courtyard he'd crossed paths with a handful of times before.
Whether by design or coincidence, Su Yu had rarely had a chance to be alone with her. Even at the team-bonding parties Elysia threw, she'd always kept a distance from him that bordered on excessively polite.
Only when the topic turned to Griseo would she linger a bit longer to chat.
Which made sense, really.
There were over a dozen residents of the Golden Courtyard, and naturally some got along well with Su Yu — like Eden, and Elysia.
As for Kevin and Su, he'd known them since high school.
Hua was even a junior schoolmate of his.
Of course, some were downright dangerous — like Mobius, and Vill-V, who was always scheming up some spectacular chaos.
Then there was the kind of danger that hit closer to home socially — Griseo was one example, and so was that chuunibyou kid Kosma, who'd probably grab a machete and go on a rampage with Su Yu the moment Su Yu talked him into it.
As for Kalpas, according to Elysia, you shouldn't be fooled by his perpetually sullen face — he'd actually been quite grateful to Su Yu for fixing his range hood.
The two he was least familiar with, and rarely even spoke to, were Aponia and Sakura.
Both of them had their own jobs — Sakura in particular was a Part-time Warrior, an overtime-grinding Office Slave, and every time Su Yu had run into her, it had been buying instant noodles together at the convenience store.
That was why he'd been so shocked to see her the last time he was out racing with Eden.
Thinking about it now — if even Sakura had a hidden identity like that, and Kevin's own father was an S-rank agent, then it wasn't exactly unreasonable that Aponia might have some side business of her own.
Still — jumping straight into this kind of captivity play seemed a little intense, didn't it?
"Sister Aponia..." Su Yu eyed the lantern in her hand. "What exactly is this?"
Aponia walked to the edge of the stone bed.
The lantern's glow lit up Su Yu's pale, scar-covered face.
The look she gave him was heavy with some unspeakable emotion.
She didn't answer right away.
Instead, she set the lantern down on the stone platform beside her, clasped her hands together over her chest, and drew a deep breath. "Long ago—"
Aponia spoke softly, her voice echoing in the empty stone chamber.
"I've had an ability I was born with."
She looked at Su Yu.
"I can see the future."
Su Yu's heartbeat slowly steadied. He listened in silence.
"From the very first time I saw you," Aponia's tone carried a trace of bitterness, "I already knew you'd be caught up in a spatial storm today, and end up somewhere else entirely."
"So I'd already been waiting there for you, for a long while — all so I could bring you here."
Aponia glanced around at the cold stone walls surrounding them.
"This is the [Deepest Place] — deep beneath my church."
Su Yu tried to call out to Fenghuang in his mind.
"Squad Monitor, are you there?"
No response.
Aponia seemed to see right through what he was doing.
"Don't waste your energy," Aponia said. "The [Deepest Place] is set with a special field that disrupts thought and spirit — you can't speak with your friend from the other world."
Su Yu gave up trying.
He looked at Aponia, his gaze sharpening.
"Sister Aponia, what exactly do you want, chaining me up here?"
Aponia met his gaze.
"I came here today to make something clear to you."
She closed her eyes, as if reliving some deeply horrifying scene.
Then she opened them again.
"Su Yu."
"Five months from now."
"The purple sky will be blotted out by monsters, wall to wall."
"The earth will tremble. The cities will burn."
Something glistening shimmered at the corners of Aponia's eyes.
"A shooting star will streak backward across the sky."
She spoke each word deliberately, one at a time.
"And you — in that very moment — will die."
The stone chamber fell so silent you could have heard a pin drop.
Su Yu's eyes widened.
The words struck his chest like a hammer blow.
A moment passed.
"A prophecy..." Su Yu stared up at the stone ceiling above him. "Is this the ability you mentioned, Sister Aponia?"
"From the very first moment I saw you, I already knew your final ending," Aponia said, her voice trembling slightly.
"The ending cannot be changed. Any attempt to intervene only leads to the worst possible outcome. That's why I've always done everything I could to avoid meeting you, to avoid appearing before you."
Aponia lowered her head.
"But in the end, fate still swept you here before me. And I had no choice but to reveal my true self to you."
She looked back at Su Yu, her eyes filled with desperate entreaty.
"I had to tell you this — because it's a part of fate itself."
Aponia took a step forward.
"And of all the futures I've seen, there is only one where you survive—"
Aponia pressed both hands against the edge of the stone bed.
"Leave Arc City. Get as far from here as you can."
"Only that way can you escape your fated death."
Su Yu looked at Aponia's face, on the verge of tears.
The prophecy didn't frighten him. Instead, a calm, utterly cold expression slowly settled over his pale face.
"If I leave," Su Yu said, watching her, "and this world gets overrun by Honkai — wouldn't that just be waiting to die anyway?"
"Honkai won't destroy the world all at once," Aponia pressed, urgent. "When it arrives, it will claim many lives, yes — but the people you cherish won't be among them."
Her voice carried absolute certainty.
"They'll gain the power that was always meant to be theirs, drawn from Honkai itself, and they'll fight against it."
"And someday, you can still be reunited with them. They won't blame you for running — they'll only be glad to see you again."
Aponia gripped the edge of the bed tightly.
"And in the end, this world won't meet its ruin, either."
Su Yu listened quietly. It did sound wonderful, put that way.
Even without him, the world wouldn't be destroyed.
To stay was the death foretold.
To flee meant living on.
"That does sound good — but what about Kiana's world?"
But—
Su Yu looked at Aponia. If she knew Fenghuang was a friend from [Another World], then she surely knew far more than she'd let on.
Aponia's lips moved, but no sound came out.
She fell silent.
Watching her eyes dart away, Su Yu already knew the answer.
"The world that loses Kiana," Su Yu said, resting his head back against the stone pillow, "I know better than anyone what happens to it in the end."
His right wrist gave a slight, subtle twist.
"Sister Aponia," Su Yu said, his voice level. "Have you ever heard of the Trolley Problem?"
Aponia went still, unable to fathom why he'd bring this up now.
Inside Su Yu, the power of his second-stage Genetic Lock was quietly stirring through his bloodstream.
Overloaded cells divided at a furious pace; the muscle fibers torn in battle and the damaged organs were mending at a rate visible to the naked eye.
Strength was flooding back into his body.
"A trolley speeding down the tracks."
Su Yu continued, his tone utterly flat.
"Ahead, there are two tracks. One has the majority of people tied to it. The other has a minority."
He gazed at the stone grain patterned across the ceiling.
"Would you pull the lever — sacrifice the few to save the many?"
Aponia watched him, saying nothing.
"There are many answers to that question. Everyone sees a different one as the right one."
The muscles in Su Yu's wrists began to tighten.
"But Sister Aponia, the truth is, most people never even get a choice. Because they were never the one holding the lever to begin with."
His voice grew steadily colder.
"Most of them can only stand there, powerless, and watch it all happen."
The dark silver chains let out a faint cracking sound.
"And the ones who can truly make that choice—"
Su Yu sat up.
"Or rather, there's only one kind of person who can make that choice without being condemned by the world for it."
He met Aponia's startled gaze.
"It's the [Few] who are willing to sacrifice themselves."
BOOM!
The power of his second-stage Genetic Lock erupted all at once.
Su Yu's arms wrenched outward with tremendous force.
"Crack!"
Under sheer overwhelming physical force, the thick dark silver chains snapped clean off their anchor points.
The broken iron rings clattered onto the stone floor with a sharp ring.
Su Yu threw off the blanket covering him and rose from the stone bed.
He rolled his freed wrists and met Aponia's shocked eyes.
"You might call people like that [Heroes]."
Su Yu shook his head.
"But to me... a hero is just someone who did what they wanted to do. And who was willing, for that reason—"
Su Yu grabbed a clean black coat off a nearby rack and threw it over his shoulders.
"—to hold on until the very last moment."
He fastened the buttons of his coat.
He strode toward the heavy iron door.
As he passed Aponia, he paused.
"Thank you, Sister Aponia. You must have kept this secret for a very, very long time."
He didn't look back.
"But I'm sorry — I have to go back to that world over there."
He rested his hand on the rusted door handle.
"There are people waiting for me there."
A blood-red frame suddenly flashed up in the center of Su Yu's vision.
It was a new mission prompt.
Unlike the usual glittering gold of his Main or Side Missions, this one was steeped in a dark, despairing red.
[High-Risk Main Mission Triggered — Fated Death]
[Host, if one day you learned for certain that you had only five months left to live—]
[What would you do?]
The red text surfaced line by line.
[Would you go wild — indulge in every reckless thing you've never dared do in this lifetime?
[Or would you finally do the things you've always wanted to, but never had the courage for?
[Or perhaps—]
The lettering darkened.
[Fight with everything you have, refusing to give up on that one-in-ten-thousand chance of survival, right up until this body grinds to a final halt?]
[Your resolve moves this foster father greatly.
[That trolley-problem spiel you just gave Aponia? Pretty slick, too.]
The red frame began to crack apart, reassembling into the mission's detailed description.
[Mission Description: Transcend the death that's coming for you. Become a man who stands beyond life and death.]
[Mission Reward: Tiered final settlement based on the Host's performance over these five months.]
[Failure Penalty: Death (well, obviously.)]
[Friendly Reminder: Saving the world and saving yourself often amount to the same thing. For this world's sake — and for your own survival — do everything you can to advance every means of saving it, including but not limited to harvesting player Emotion Points, reinforcing Arc City's defenses, and raising your Tarot Bond ranks—]
[P.S.: Or if you don't like the mission name, how about we rename it 'Real Men Survive Five Months'?]
The corner of Su Yu's mouth twitched up. This System, as ever, never had a single kind word to say.
"Whether I'm a real man," Su Yu said, pushing the door open, "why don't you conjure up a body of your own and find out?"
Wind rushed in, carrying the scent of this world with it — freshly rained-on earth mingled with the smell of grass.
Su Yu drew a deep breath and waved back at Aponia, who still sat frozen on the stone bed.
"Sister Aponia, if you ever kidnap me again, I'd much rather wake up to a lap pillow from you instead. See you around."
____
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