Chapter 289 But You Can Choose How to Die

"Ta-ta-ta-"

Mikael clenched his fists with five fingers and cracked his knuckles lightly on the table, making a series of sounds.

This sudden movement and sound undoubtedly caught the eyes of the other three people in the conference room.

"Let me tell you."

Although May pulled the trigger of the starting gun that symbolized "beginning", the final executor was still Mikael.

After all, what Mei got was the "script" of the second song, and only he could lay out the matter clearly.

He first looked past Sakura and landed on Ling:

"Ling, although you are not a member of Fire Chaser Moth's establishment, you know more about Honkai and Herrscher than most people in this world, right?"

The bell rarely made a sound, but lowered its head and pursed its lips tightly. Mikael didn't know where her eyes were focused, maybe it was the hand on her thigh, maybe it was just a meaningless blank in the air, but people's eyes must have a place to stay, just like some words must be spoken by someone. Let’s talk.

"Let me conclude first, Ling, you are the right person for the Twelfth Herrscher."

No need for any embellishments or roundabout metaphors, Mikael still maintains a straightforward style.

"Oh……"

Ling opened her mouth slightly, took in a breath with all her strength, and then held her breath tightly.

Sakura stretched out her hand, but stopped in mid-air. Perhaps she was considering whether she should hold Ling's shoulders, hold her hand tightly, or pat her back to let her breathe out to maintain normal breathing. .

Mikael's eyes were also lowered. He did not look at Sakura and Ling's reactions, but temporarily placed his eyes on the empty tabletop, which was filled with field gray and metal reflections.

As long as you don't get close to a fire, the blood will still be cold and the ice won't melt, or so it seems.

"As you can see, the reason why you and the two of them were sent to the World Bubble, including sending Xi'er to the World Bubble before, is only for one reason - you are the Herrschers who will appear next. Only Where the ends of the tree of imaginary numbers cannot be connected, you can escape from the threads spun by fate."

As if he was sure that Ling would accept all this quickly, Mikael continued talking to himself:

"What is different from them is that they only need to [escape], but what you, Ling, need to do is [control]. We need you to return to the original world and take the initiative to become the twelfth Herrscher. "

"boom!"

Although there was silence at the moment, Mikael still matched two explosions that sounded at the same time in his mind.

"Why?"

The first one to speak was, not surprisingly, Sakura.

Her voice was still clear and clear, and there was no cold hostility. Naturally, she was not happy either. What lingered in her heart was the lingering doubts.

"Why do they just need to escape and Suzu needs to become the Herrscher?"

After Mikael completed her words, he slowly explained:

"It's very simple. Whether it's the Sixth Herrscher group corresponding to Seele, the Tenth Herrscher group corresponding to Yimer and Klein, or the Eleventh Herrscher group who didn't know the qualified body in advance, the characteristics of these Herrschers are I know all the powers in advance, and I have methods to defeat them while minimizing casualties.

"As for the Twelfth Herrscher, I still know its power, but even so, or because of this, if it is randomly born, there is no way for me to guarantee that I can defeat it easily."

"Is that why?"

"That's why. Although the so-called Paradise Plan also requires the power of the Twelfth Herrscher, it is something that the God Key can also do. It's just a little more troublesome. The fundamental reason is still this."

"Just because..."

"Brother Mikael!"

Sakura wanted to ask again, but was suddenly interrupted by Suzu.

"Um."

Mikael just said "hmm" softly. He didn't even shift his gaze or even blink, but his meaning was clearly expressed - I heard you, you can start talking.

Ling didn't seem to understand the subtext. She took a long breath, and then used both hands to hold the hand stretched out by her sister.

How long did the silence last?

No one kept time.

Mei, who was sitting across from everyone, had not made any move since she fired the starting gun. She just watched everything that happened gradually through the cold lenses. She was across a table, feeling somewhat like watching the fire from the other side, although she did not feel that way. mean.

In this situation, even if she wanted to speak, she didn't know how to speak.

The silence started with Suzu exhaling a long breath and ended with her taking a long breath.

As she breathed out, she seemed to have made some kind of decision, and then resolutely let go of her sister's hand:

"Brother Mikael, you...actually can see 'destiny', or 'future', just like Aunt Apponia, right?"

Although Mikael did not hide this, he could quickly extract the information from his words and judge that Mikael's so-called knowledge of the power of the qualified body and the corresponding Herrscher in advance was not from Aponnia. The second-hand information obtained actually comes from the future that I see...

It has to be said that Ling has the same talent as her sister in this regard.

"Let me just say... If it were Aunt Aponya, she would try to change that fate regardless of the situation, instead of like this... telling everything to us first... Thank you, Brother Mikael! "

"Um?"

Mikael turned his head in surprise, only to find Suzu looking at him with a smile.

Compared to her sister who rarely smiles, and even if she is happy, she only slightly raises the corner of her mouth, Ling's smile has the unique vitality of a girl. She is not as carefree as Padu of the same age. , even the melancholy that could not be erased remained between his eyebrows, and he did not let out a naive laugh. He just bent his eyes into the same arc as his eyebrows, then grinned, facing forward.

It was as if someone had first neatly drawn two pairs of arcs as eyebrows on her face, which was a little less cold and a little more lively and gentle than Sakura's, and then drew an arc upside down for her lips. Wire.

Simple, clear and to the point.

For a moment, even Mikael was stunned.

But he was not shaken by this. He just closed his eyes and sighed in his heart, unwilling to look at the girl's smile again.

"bell……"

Sakura bit her lower lip and held her sister's hand again.

Ling smiled at this again:

"Sister, why are you so sad? If you make me a Herrscher, you don't mean that I will die!"

"Um?"

Sakura didn't understand where Suzu's confidence came from. Of all the Herrschers who had appeared so far, only Mikael and Ellie had escaped Honkai's control.

To be precise, there is only one Mikael, because Ellie is very different from other Herrschers. She does not even have a core, at least not a gem-like core in the general sense, nor does she show any special powers, but in In some aspects, she does meet the definition of a Herrscher, such as being able to sense a strong connection with the Tree of Imaginary Numbers when she uses all her strength...

In short, according to Mikael's explanation, she is a special Herrscher who escaped from the control of Honkai and stood on the side of mankind from the beginning.

Therefore, the only one who truly escaped the control of Honkai was Mikael.

Once the rest of them become Herrschers, if they don't want to cause more damage, they have no choice but to kill this path as soon as possible.

And she felt that Mikael's meaning was very clear. Although he did not say what the power of the Twelfth Herrscher was, it must be a very difficult ability to handle.

According to him, once the Herrscher is randomly born, even he cannot "defeat it easily."

Naturally, this needs to be expanded upon to explain. The so-called ease may not mean that it cannot be killed in a short time.

It should also include that it is difficult to find, difficult to locate, and even if it can be found, it is difficult to deal with. Or, no matter what, if it cannot be solved the moment it is born, it will inevitably cause unbearable sacrifices for mankind.

What sacrifice can be made? There are still nearly 2 billion people on the earth. They can't be wiped out by such a collapse, right?

According to Sakura's speculation about Mikael's intention, it is obvious that Ling, who has a suitable body, can return to her original world, and then use the power of knowledge at the moment when the twelfth Herrscher follows fate and descends on Ling. Or some other way to kill with one hit.

But Ling can't come back after all, and all this is at the expense of Ling.

If this plan was indeed proposed by Mei, she would still be able to accept it. Mikael himself predicted so. He said:

"Maybe Mei will tell you a lot of great truths about saving the world. That's why I want to remind you."

But now, all these cold calculations were made by Mikael himself.

Sakura couldn't imagine that this was completely different from the gentle and fragile Mikael she remembered. No, I should say, quite the opposite.

But she couldn't blame Mikael. Because it was not Mikael who was cold-blooded, but the words themselves.

However, in their original plan, these words might have been spoken by May, who was always known for her rationality, rather than by Mikael.

Moreover, their starting point is correct. To the rest of the people, Ling is just an ordinary girl. Her life is no more noble than anyone else. If she is sacrificed alone, two people can be saved. From a purely rational point of view It's a "good deal".

Not to mention saving thousands of people?

"Since Ling is the sister of all of us, your hesitation actually represents the hesitation of all of us. Which choice do our emotions tend to prefer? If this is a matter that can be voted on democratically, what choice will we make? , you should understand.”

Mikael's originally comforting words kept echoing in her mind like a nightmare.

She is not questioning the authenticity of this sentence - on the contrary, she knows that this sentence is completely sincere, at least for people who are very close to Ling, such as Mikael, Aili, Pado, and Aponya. He does regard Ling as his sister, at least half a sister.

But precisely because of this, precisely because of this...

Precisely because she knew this, she could not feel a trace of hatred towards Mikael who said these words, and towards the others who proposed this plan...

She and Ling were admittedly the most painful people to make this decision, but others were also deeply hurt by this decision, and she could not spread her negative emotions and hatred on everyone.

In this way, there is no outlet for emotions to be vented.

Your decision to sacrifice Ling was right, and my determination to protect Ling was not wrong either. What was wrong was just this world.

However, the mistakes made by people can be corrected by humans, but the mistakes of the world can only be passively accepted. If you don't accept it, you have to accept it.

She has a knife that almost no one can stop. If the person she is wronged is a specific person, she can naturally cut him in two with one knife.

But she can't cut this world, she can't destroy this world that she hates so much now, and she can't save this world where she and Ling exist together.

There was mist in front of her eyes, and at the moment when she felt almost unbearable, a familiar voice came in her mind again:

"Ling is your sister, and the sister of all of us. The next decision may be a little cruel, but you must remember-be selfish!"

Decision!

Yes!

Decision!

What Mikael said before was not an [order], but a [decision] handed to her!

This time she is no longer a machine that executes orders, but a person who can control the direction of the entire plan!

And Mikael said:

"Be selfish!"

Be selfish!

He has hinted very clearly! Isn't it?

If he doesn't reject this approach in his heart, why would he say this!

The choice is in my hands, the choice is in my hands!

Ying's eyes suddenly became clear. She turned her head and looked at Mikael stubbornly, about to say the word "no" that might also be what he expected.

But... but her lips kept moving, and the muscles in her neck and vocal cords kept trembling, as if she had just done intense activities, and she was dry and about to crack, and could only make a "boo" sound.

She just couldn't say the word "no".

Her eyes were like the mist on the lenses in winter, and they were hazy again.

She thought she had been fighting just to protect Ling from beginning to end.

She thought Ling was the only reason for her to fight.

But if that was really the case, why couldn't she say a word "no" lightly at this moment?

"Sister!"

Ling's coquettish voice sounded behind her head, and she suddenly realized that it was an illusion.

Until Ling broke free from the restraints of her hands, moved her whole body to herself, and held her hands tightly.

She gently wiped the tears from Ying's eyes, so Ying could see her bright smile.

"Ling, what time is it, you are still smiling!"

Ying wanted to say this, but just like the word "no" that she could never utter, she just realized that maybe she was not unable to express negation, but she had temporarily lost the ability to speak and express herself under the sadness.

"Sister! You are too anxious! Didn't Brother Mikael say so?"

Ling still smiled heartlessly, and she repeated in Mikael's tone:

"[Although the so-called Paradise Plan also requires the power of the twelfth Herrscher, that is something that the Key of God can also do, it's just a little more troublesome, and the fundamental reason is still this.]

"Hehe! Sister, look! [But that is something that the Key of God can also do], sister, you know better than me, only a dead Herrscher can make the core into the Key of God, right? Just like your third Key of God! But Brother Mikael obviously meant that he wanted a Herrscher who could master his own power, like him! "

"Ah-ah?"

Sakura hummed two syllables in a row before finally regaining the ability to speak:

"Is... is that so?"

With a glimmer of hope, she turned to look at Mikael again.

But she felt something was wrong. If it was really as Ling said, it would be a perfect solution that would have the best of both worlds. Why did Mikael and Mei create such a heavy atmosphere, and why did they hint at her to make a more selfish choice?

Ling didn't care about that. She stood up, knelt on the chair, turned the chair with her toes, and then put her head on Sakura's shoulder, smiling and asking Mikael:

"What do you think, Brother Mikael, am I right?"

Mikael met the sisters' gaze and fell silent again.

"Dongdongdongdongdong! "

Mikael seemed to be hallucinating, as if someone was hammering nails into the wall next door.

But it must be an auditory hallucination. The wall is made of armor made of special alloys, and nails cannot be hammered in with a hammer. Besides, if someone really did it, who would it be? Ellie?

If all this really happened, why didn't the others react?

It seemed that it took a long time for Mikael to realize that it was not the sound of the hammer, but the sound of his heart - the heart was stimulated by adrenaline, sending the increased amount of blood to various parts of the body, making a harsh sound.

A slight dizziness enveloped him, and he suddenly raised his hand, and then quickly put it down.

No one knew what his incredible action meant - in fact, he just wanted to slap himself twice. That's all.

Stop pretending to be strong and rational! A voice shouted in my mind!

Now! Immediately! Right now! Give up this plan!

So what if the other two billion people on Earth die?

What does it have to do with you?

They may still hate you now! They think that you have reduced them to slaves in the name of collapse!

They probably don't know that you are a Herrscher yet. If they knew that you are a Herrscher... Hahahaha!

Why do you want Ling to sacrifice for these people who have nothing to do with you and her!

In fact, the silence may have lasted only for a moment, the heart is still beating dryly and hard, but the dizziness is slowly disappearing.

"Because what I want to save is not those two billion people, but this world, the civilization of this world."

ha?

What kind of nonsense?

The voice was still chattering endlessly, still asking questions like an ant attached to a corpse.

"As Mebius said - would you call a person who has no limbs and torso and only a brain a human being? Even Mebius can't define such a person as a human being, so I can't Naturally, it is impossible to call a civilization that has lost everything else except a fire-chasing moth a civilization.

"And what I want to change, what I want to save, is this kind of thing. The same is true for her and them."

Then why don't you hide the truth? Anyway, according to this plan, as long as you don’t say anything, Aponya doesn’t say anything, Mei doesn’t say anything, Sakura, and even Ling’s consciousness copy will not feel any problem! They can obviously continue to enjoy happiness in a daze!

"Maybe. But I don't want to deceive my family anymore, and I don't want to hide the truth from them anymore, just like Xier did at that time. Even if it is a sad ending, I hope they can understand the sadness instead of being confused. Another false happiness.”

This time, the sound completely disappeared, and even the heartbeat gradually became silent.

Mikael looked at Sakura and Ling, and silently leaned down. At first glance, it looked like he was bowing - but he didn't stand up, which showed that this was not the case.

He just leaned over, spread his legs, rested his elbows on his thighs, then crossed his hands and held them in front of his lips, and replied in a muffled voice:

"Not so."

A chill began to spread from Sakura's body, and Ling's smile froze at that moment.

Before the two of them could ask questions, Mikael planned to reveal all the truth in one go.

No more hesitation, no more hiding, just get straight to the point.

“We really intend for Suzu to become a [Human Herrscher] like Ellie and I, that is, a being who possesses the power of an Herrscher without losing the true nature of a human being.

"We are very confident about the process. First, Aponya will copy Ling's consciousness. She has copied Xi'er's consciousness before, and also copied the Eighth Herrscher's consciousness at a deep level, so she is very familiar with it.

"Then, Aponya and I will always pay attention to the status of the bell. When the Herrscher's consciousness comes to the bell along the imaginary veins, the consciousness in the bell will be erased, and then we will kill the Herrscher's consciousness. , and then the clone of Houling’s consciousness can regain control of the body that has become the Herrscher.”

Ling's eyes began to lose focus. Perhaps she didn't know the difference between her own consciousness and the copy of her consciousness, and she had never thought about the difference between "A" and the "A" obtained after copying.

But Sakura understood without a doubt. And she thought about more - why Mei had deliberately mentioned herself and herself in the original world before:

"From the definition of Mei itself, she and I are different individuals."

From the definition of bell itself, the original bell and the copy of bell consciousness are different individuals.

"Like a T-Rex and a chicken."

Ling used this metaphor awkwardly.

Like a T-Rex and a chicken.

"Consciousness copy..."

Sakura muttered this word, seeming to capture some distant memory.

Mikael thought she didn't understand yet, or maybe he simply wanted to say something, so he explained:

"The copy of consciousness is exactly the same as Ling's current consciousness. There is no difference in terms of content. She still has all the memories of being with you and us."

Of course Sakura understood this, but the memory she held onto was not this.

She sniffed and asked in an extremely depressed, cold, dry and slow tone:

"I remember that during the sixth collapse, Aponya also copied Seele's consciousness, right?"

"Um."

"There were two copies at that time, one was in Xi'er's body, and the other was transferred to her necklace, right?"

As soon as she said this, both Mikael and Mei understood what she meant.

Even though she was calm, incredibly calm, it was the last straw she could hold onto as she drowned.

But someone has to cut the straw, because if it doesn't work, it won't work.

But this time, maybe he felt that Mikael had said enough, or maybe he felt that it was better for him to explain the technical part. Anyway, before Mikael could say anything, Mei spoke before him:

"Do you want Ling's true consciousness to be transferred to an object, or the body constructed by Mikael, and then hidden back in the world bubble? With all due respect, this won't work."

"Why, it was obviously successful then!"

The cold air on Sakura's body was completely out of control, and the frost-colored cold air instantly raged in the conference room. Mikael shook her shoulders while using the power of fire to exude heat.

"Sakura, calm down!"

The cold air disappeared without a trace in an instant.

"..."

"The technology of consciousness transfer has no possibility of complete success so far. The reason why Aponya dared to use similar means to transfer Xi'er's consciousness copy that time was precisely because it was a copy, and because Xi'er herself suffered from She has schizophrenia, and this consciousness is a copy of the dark and violent side, so she dares to do this.

"And whether she was completely successful? It can't be confirmed. We only know that this consciousness finally merged with the stigmata in Mikael's body. As for whether it suffered irreversible mental damage during the transfer process, no one can say clear.

"If you are willing to endure a 37% direct mortality rate, a 49% vegetative rate and a 14% consciousness impairment rate, we can do it.

"But this success rate is close to zero, which is much lower than if Ling returned to the original world, but the collapse did not choose her to become the twelfth Herrscher, or if the Herrscher was born before she could erase Ling's original consciousness, she was already solved by Mikael."

"Is that so..."

Ying's mouth curled up, but she couldn't even smile bitterly. Mei was obviously telling her that the result Mikael said was the worst result. What if a miracle really happened, such as the collapse did not choose Ling, such as Ling's self-consciousness persisted until the Herrscher's consciousness was killed.

But what is the probability of such a miracle happening? No one can tell, we can only say that it is greater than zero.

"Okay, sister! Don't say anything more, I accept it!"

Ling's voice mixed with laughter sounded again.

"Oh, sister! As long as you are human, you will die! I read a book here, which said: 'We can't choose how to be born, but we can choose how to die'. Since we will die anyway, why not choose a more meaningful way to die for ourselves?"

Mikael turned around, closed his eyes, and raised his head. Although his movements were very quick, there were still a few tears on his eyelashes.

Mei also lowered her head silently, clenched her right fist, and blocked the lower half of her face.

Ying stared at her sister in a daze, watching her sincere yet fearful smile, listening to her voice that gradually began to tremble and gradually began to cry:

"We are all going to die anyway. Although we are still children, we are no strangers to death! We are all going to die anyway, and I think this is a good way to die! It saves countless people, adds a Herrscher's fighting power to mankind, and won't make your sister too sad - there is another identical me who can accompany you, sister, right?"

Ying had clearly bitten her lower lip very hard, but her lower lip still trembled and pulled up uncontrollably.

Gradually, she couldn't even see Ling's smile clearly.

No, I must deeply imprint Ling at this moment in my mind!

Thinking so, she desperately wiped her tears with both hands, but her vision would never be clear again.

"Don't show that expression, sister! The other me is me, you must treat her well as you treat me! As for me, I am really satisfied with this way of death! You see, we have no choice to be born in a world without collapse, but I chose the way I like to die, which is also a manifestation of my free will, right? You should be happy for me!

"Besides...besides, what if there is a miracle? What if I can survive? Right? At that time, sister, you will cry happily again..."

Sakura turned and fell on the cold table, her shoulders kept shaking, and tears soon flowed from the edge of the table that her arms could not wrap around into a waterfall.

"It's just... hehe... sister... hehe..."

Rin finally couldn't keep a forced smile. While wiping away the tears that could not be wiped away, she got into Sakura's arms like a child.

"If... hehe... if it's possible... sister, Ling may not be able to accompany you anymore. "

Things that cannot be saved cannot be saved, and things that cannot be done cannot be done.

Mikael silently covered his ears, then walked to the wall alone and slammed his forehead against the armored wall.

One, two, three times...

The armored wall quickly deformed and cracked, but Mikael's head was disgustingly intact, without even a trace of pain.

No one came to dissuade him, and no one cared about Mei who wiped her glasses with tears and the corner of her shirt, and no one comforted the sisters who hugged each other and cried.

Just like no one can save this world destined to destruction.