For the next few days, Ryan fell into a familiar rhythm—his path tracing a straight line between the dormitory and the laboratory.
He entered formulas into the supercomputers, conducted experiments, joined project meetings, and prepared for the upcoming particle collision tests. Morning to night, he was constantly busy.
He was used to this kind of life. On the bright side, this disciplined research helped him deepen his understanding of Honkai energy, fine-tuning his control and increasing his efficiency. It was, in a way, the embodiment of his 'Trailblazing' philosophy—pushing forward through understanding.
The downside? Honkai Impacts were sporadic. Fire Moth couldn't possibly respond to every incident worldwide, and he no longer needed to be everywhere at once.
Still, something felt off.
Honkai incidents kept happening—around him. At first, he'd dismissed it. But ever since the appearance of the Herrscher of the Void, the frequency had increased.
"The more data points, the better the model's accuracy," he muttered to himself, biting into an onigiri as he sat in a quiet corner of the cafeteria. His fingers flew across the keyboard, only to pause, delete, rewrite, and pause again. "A few months ago, I'd run into Honkai maybe once every few months. Now it's every other week."
He scowled at his screen, then looked up at the crowded cafeteria.
"If I were causing Honkai buildup," he reasoned aloud, "there would've already been mass destruction. Fire Moth would've designated me a mobile disaster by now."
Could it be something stranger?
One of those fringe theories, perhaps? The cult-like idea that Honkai was a god… and had identified him as an 'alien intruder'?
He snorted. "Unscientific. Not rational." At least, nothing currently explained it.
There was no real proof Honkai possessed consciousness. If it did, it wouldn't have started with mindless Beasts and Zombies—it would've gone straight to the Herrschers.
Nineteen years he'd lived in this world. Ten of them as a Pathstrider.
He had evolved far beyond an ordinary human. And yet, even now, he didn't fully understand his own limits.
He opened a hidden folder on his laptop, encrypted and sealed with multiple layers of security. After typing in his password, a file bearing the Fire Moth emblem appeared on the screen.
No theories here—just raw, brutal data. Reports. Photos. Measurements. All of it cataloging humanity's most direct threat: the Honkai Beasts.
Excluding rare aberrations, Fire Moth categorized them into three tiers, ten types.
First tier: corrupted living creatures—Zombies and infected animals. Still bound by biology.
Second tier: low-level Honkai Beasts—pure manifestations of Honkai energy. Not flesh and blood, but something worse.
Seraph-Class. Knight-Class. Chariot-Class. Templar-Class.
The ones from a few nights ago had been Seraph- and Knight-Class. Despite his calm demeanor then, he'd required heavy anti-tank weaponry just to deal with them—and they were only getting stronger.
He paused on a particularly devastating image. A forest reduced to scorched earth. Fire Moth's notes labeled it: "Operation Emberfall — Euro Honkai Emperor Engagement. Result: 70% tree coverage annihilated. Deployment: four armed helicopters, two heavy missile strikes."
"That's the edge of what conventional firepower can handle," Ryan murmured. "But beyond that…"
He scrolled further.
High-Rank Honkai Beasts. Emperor-Class. Judgment-Class.
These monsters had Cores—an inner nucleus that sustained them. Unless the Core was destroyed, they wouldn't die. Ryan had yet to encounter one.
"This is bad…" He closed the document and leaned back, his gaze distant. "Feels like the gears of fate are accelerating."
His brows furrowed slightly. Since the Herrscher of the Void, everything had been changing.
And now he faced several immediate problems.
First: the Honkai frequency around him was rising. At some point, Fire Moth would notice. If they deemed him a threat, they'd either imprison him, dissect him, or worse.
"That's unacceptable," he whispered. "I won't be locked in a glass box until the end of the world."
Second: Honkai Beasts were evolving. If a Judgment-Class emerged nearby, it would be Game Over. Ryan had no illusions—he couldn't handle that yet.
Anyone else would have panicked. Ryan didn't. He simply analyzed.
"I need to accelerate my growth. Take risks if necessary. Each crisis is a test. But it's also an opportunity."
If stronger Honkai emerged, they could become valuable research specimens. Solving one problem might answer another: were the Honkai appearances near him random… or inevitable?
Worrying wouldn't help. Neither would rushing. In this fragmented world, all he could do was move forward—always forward.
Worst case? He'd end up fighting both Honkai and Fire Moth.
So be it.
A Trailblazer never despairs.
Click.
He closed the laptop. The very next moment, a shadow fell over his table.
Kevin stood there, lunchbox in hand. Beside him was a young man with long hair, refined features, and a warm, tranquil smile.
"Su, you're free today?" Ryan asked, gesturing for them to sit. "Did the med school zombies finally stop gnawing on you?"
"I skipped a level," Su replied with a calm chuckle. "I'm not as gifted as you or Mei, but I can keep up. And the cherry blossom festival's coming—there's a small break before things pick up again."
"With your IQ, you should've joined the physics department. Why medicine? You'll be stuck in internships and hospitals."
"My goal is different. Someone has to push civilization forward, but someone also has to heal the wounded," Su said earnestly, his smile as gentle as the spring breeze.
Ryan blinked. "Great. Now I feel like a moron."
Kevin sat down and opened his lunchbox. "Enough with the philosophy. Let's eat."
He glanced at the laptop. "By the way, Ryan—what were you doing, typing away like a maniac in the corner?"
Naturally, he was planning his next move.
That's what Ryan told himself. But aloud, he simply said, "Nothing serious. Just gathering material for my novel."
Kevin shot him a look, still chewing. "You're still writing that thing? What about your experiments? Mei's MIA, and here you are, hiding out in the cafeteria."
He spoke with the air of someone who was clearly prioritizing romance over friendships. Luckily, Su was used to it and didn't mind. They'd known each other since high school—more than familiar with Kevin and Mei's long-distance dynamic, despite them technically studying in the same academy.
Ryan didn't take offense either. He gave a lazy grin. "You know, Kevin, I actually admire you."
"Huh? Admire me for what?"
"You've got the looks of a male lead in a romance anime, and yet you're still stuck at holding hands. I mean, seriously, years have gone by. Su and I are starting to worry. Should we send you to a remedial physiology course?"
Kevin froze, color flooding his face. "What—hey! I'm not some degenerate! And you don't even have a girlfriend! You don't get to lecture me!"
"I don't want one," Ryan replied smoothly, taking a sip from Kevin's bubble tea without permission. "That's the difference. You're slow."
"Who's slow?!"
"Alright, alright," Su cut in before things escalated, smiling as he gently defused the tension. "Kevin, you're a glutton. Save some food for tomorrow."
Ryan leaned back, satisfied. He liked teasing Kevin—especially when he remembered what this cheerful, excitable young man would one day become: a cold, stoic hero who bore the weight of humanity alone.
The contrast was… entertaining.
Still, Ryan respected Su. And before the gentle young man could press further, Ryan beat him to it.
"You want to know what I'm doing over the break?"
Su gave a sheepish nod. "We've got five days off, counting the weekend. The med school students are organizing a trip. I was hoping you'd join."
Ryan blinked. He understood the intent. While he wasn't exactly a recluse, his circle was undeniably small. People often viewed him as eccentric.
"I appreciate it," Ryan said. "But I've got a particle accelerator test scheduled tomorrow night. You know how sensitive those are—we usually run them when everyone's gone. So yeah, I'm busy."
"This is the fifteenth time you've turned me down," Su said lightly, though there was something searching in his gaze. "You're like Mei… but not."
"Oh? How so?"
"Hard to describe. Mei's singular. All logic and research. You, though… you're like someone standing against the world. There's something frenzied about you."
Frenzied?
Ryan smiled faintly. A little too accurate.
He didn't answer. Instead, he turned back to Kevin—and promptly stole another sip of bubble tea, earning a glare. Just as he was about to quip again, his phone buzzed.
Kevin peered over. "Another message from your adoring fans? Oh, wait—'junior sister'? What's this?"
Ryan didn't hide it. He flipped his phone around.
[Senior Brother, when will you come to Shanghai?]—Plain text. No emojis. Formal.
He replied: After exams.The girl simply responded: Okay.
He chuckled and locked his screen.
"Pretty much what it says," Ryan said. "Met her in Shenzhou. Haven't seen her in half a year—she's in Shanghai now."
"Ha!" Kevin smacked the table. "So that's why you vanished last summer! You do have a girlfriend!"
"Calm down." Ryan shook his head. "She's just formal. We exchange two messages, and she ignores me for the rest of the month."
He turned to Su. "Anyway, you didn't come here just to chat, right?"
Su inhaled quietly. His smile softened, but his tone grew serious. "Lately… you've been very interested in the project Mei and I are working on. Almost like something's about to happen."
Ryan paused. These Flame-Chasers were too perceptive for their own good.
He didn't answer right away. Instead, he looked around.
The cafeteria buzzed with life. Students laughed over esports highlights. Girls chatted about celebrity scandals. Cafeteria staff exchanged vacation plans. On the mounted TV, the evening news scrolled quietly in the background.
Life moved on. Helicopter sightings and evacuation drills had already faded from memory. In this pseudo-peaceful world built by Fire Moth, war and disaster felt like distant fiction.
Ryan broke the silence.
"Because we're running out of time. At this rate, in half a year…"
"Time?" Su repeated sharply, as if he'd heard something dreadful.
His mind was already leaping to conclusions. Was Mei sick? Terminal? Was that the secret?
"Don't overthink it," Ryan said, packing up his laptop. "My power has limits. I just… want you guys to enjoy the moment while you still can."
He stood, nodding to the two of them. "Take your time. I'm heading to the lab. Might not be back to the dorm tonight."
Kevin froze, chopsticks halfway to his mouth, noodles dripping back into the bowl. Su didn't move either. They exchanged a glance—then Su tapped his phone.
"…You should ask Mei," he said.
Kevin looked as if he'd been struck by lightning. Then, without another word, he grabbed his phone and started typing furiously.
Mei, why didn't you tell me you're terminally ill?! I'm coming to get you right now. We're going to the hospital. I don't care if it's nothing—I won't let you die!
He hit send and gripped his phone like a lifeline. Had Su not been there, he might've already sprinted to his motorbike.
And then—Ding!
Kevin snatched his phone, eyes wide. He read the reply once, then twice. His entire body stiffened.
"…Well?" Su leaned over to look.
The screen showed three words:
"You're being silly."