Chapter 35: Griseo's Paints and Paintings

[After a night of revelry, you still need to face the aftermath of the "Eighth Great Honkai." Due to the special abilities of the "Eighth Herrscher," it is difficult for combatants like you to play any role... because the mental damage caused by the "Eighth Herrscher" to humans is far greater than the actual physical damage.]

[Even if the Fire Moth locked onto the physical coordinates and sent Sakura to kill it quickly, even if Aponia assisted in the process in advance, so that the "Sleeping Sickness" released indiscriminately on a large scale by the "Eighth Herrscher" did not actually kill many people, after all, even if the time flow in reality and "dreams" is inconsistent, there is still a process from falling asleep to dying in dreams, and Sakura and Aponia were stuck in this time point and killed it.]

[So in fact, the actual casualties caused by the "Eighth Herrscher"'s dying counterattack were not as large as imagined, but after the "Eighth Herrscher" dragged a large number of people into the "dream," many people developed psychological and even spiritual problems to varying degrees, which is the most troublesome.]

[Even some of the soldiers within the Fire Moth were so obsessed with the ideal world in their "dreams" that they refused to accept reality. In the end, they fell into madness and began to attack their companions, not to mention the ordinary people.]

[There have been varying degrees of unrest in various cities, and vicious incidents have occurred one after another, but in the final analysis, they are all caused by "difficulty in accepting reality." After all, "dreams" are so beautiful that dying in a "beautiful dream" does not seem to matter.]

[But more importantly, we should resist this world where disasters happen frequently and we have to worry every day.]

[That is why, as the "vanguard" of the Fire Moth, and as fusion warriors, you need to work harder to fight against the Honkai.]

[Everything is for humanity.]

[Everything is to defeat the Honkai.]

[By the way, speaking of fusion warriors, you have a new companion, and in a sense, you also know him - Su.]

[Like Kevin, you saw them both when you and Sakura went to see the Eden concert together. It was a chance encounter.]

[Of course, you remember, after all, you have always had a good memory. Su was just like Kevin when he first saw you. He just thought you looked familiar but couldn't remember who you were.]

[As for Su, he can be said to be a great contributor to the "Eighth Herrscher Crusade." It was he who entered the spiritual world and then further locked the physical coordinates of the "Eighth Herrscher"... Unfortunately, in order for him to survive, his mentor, Spasi, died.]

[And now, Su has taken over the mentor's position and become the head of the fifth science department of Fire Moth and also works part-time as Fire Moth's "psychologist."]

[There is nothing we can do about this. After all, the aftermath of the "Eighth Herrscher" has had such a huge impact that many people have developed psychological problems. Those who already have psychological problems are in even worse condition. If we don't arrange for a psychologist to treat them, many of the Fire Moth's soldiers may suffer mental breakdowns.]

[Thus, the Fire Moth plans to arrange psychological consultations for the combatants, especially the fusion warriors, and consult with the big star Eden to hold several small dances and performances inside the Fire Moth to ensure that the soldiers' psychology is within a safe range.]

[You will naturally need psychological counseling, but you don't care much about it and respond to Su's questions with a calm attitude.]

[And finally, Su's evaluation of you...is not very good.]

[A dangerous person disguised as a normal person - this is how I simplify my evaluation of you.]

[You are very normal, even peaceful in normal situations. If you can accept your slightly strange way of speaking or can see your hidden emotions, then it will be pleasant to get along with you. But once you touch on certain things or words, your emotions will become particularly... vivid, even a little paranoid, and may become extreme in the end.]

[Although you didn't see the detailed report from Su, you can tell from his expression that he thinks you are... a bit troublesome.]

[Su began to persuade you to come for psychological counseling more often, and would mention it almost every time he saw you. After all, your problem... is somewhat serious.]

[But you don't care much about this. Compared to Su, your new companion, you care more about Griseo's condition.]

[During this period, you went to Mobius's laboratory almost every time you were free to inquire about the situation, but in the end, you were not allowed to enter. Even Hen, Griseo's father, was not allowed to enter. The two of you were even warned by the Fire Moth at one point, which made you both feel confused, but correspondingly, you also became anxious inside.]

[Hen has already experienced the departure of his wife, and now he doesn't even have the chance to meet his daughter. The Fire Moth even wants to transfer him out. How can he not be anxious?]

[Although Hen knows that this is his duty as a soldier, but... Fire Moth shouldn't be so cold-blooded, right? Can't he just see his daughter?]

[Not to mention that based on the current situation, Griseo's condition may be very bad, and she may even be struggling on the brink of life and death.]

[Hen is getting more and more anxious, and you can only comfort him again and again - after all, you have been ordered by the Fire Moth to stay in the base and not go out, so you come to accompany him... Even Vill-V has been allowed to go out on a mission, and you still have to stay in the base. You also realize that there may really be something wrong with you.]

[But looking at Hen's anxious look, you would think from time to time, would it be better to shoot down some of the high-level people in the Fire Moth who always like to make stupid decisions? For example, those guys in the Poison Pupa who always like to threaten you with Rin and Sakura.]

[There is absolutely no personal vendetta involved, um, are you sure?]

[But fortunately, you all finally met Griseo, but what followed was bad news.]

[A... very bad news for Hen.]

Today, Xi Wang came to Mobius' laboratory as promised. As soon as he entered the door, he saw Mei and Mobius waiting for him inside, as well as Hen sitting beside them, with Griseo, who was drawing, in his arms.

"Brother..."

Perhaps it was Xi Wang's footsteps that disturbed Griseo and pulled her back from her own painting world. The girl looked up at Xi Wang, who was gradually approaching. Without putting down her paintbrush and palette, she jumped out of Hen's arms with the painting supplies in her hand, and came in front of Xi Wang in small steps. She looked up and blinked her lavender pupils as if she was confirming something.

Then, she skillfully and naturally opened her arms towards Xi Wang.

"Hug--"

So Xi Wang picked her up gently and carefully, just like the sea embraces the rain in its arms.

Griseo put her arms around Xi Wang's neck, and the paintbrush and palette hit Xi Wang's back. He could feel the paint staining his clothes, but Xi Wang didn't care. He just gently adjusted Griseo's sitting position and let her sit in his arms.

He raised his head and looked at Hen and Mobius. If it were in the past, when Hen saw Griseo abandoning him again and running to Xi Wang, he would definitely sigh there in a funny way, "Why is Griseo so close to you that she doesn't even want me as her father," and the look in Mobius' eyes when she looked at him would also be filled with a strange sour taste.

But today, there was nothing.

They were no longer in the mood for jokes.

"Can you tell me what happened?"

Ignoring Griseo, who was painting on his face with a paintbrush, Xi Wang asked Mobius in as calm a tone as possible. After all, he had already sensed the aura of a fusion warrior on Griseo.

"Let me tell you."

Mei took the initiative to speak, as compared with the three people present, it would undoubtedly be more appropriate for her, an "outsider," to speak.

Mei informed Xi Wang about Griseo's situation and mentioned her abnormality in the process.

"Is this the [little experiment] you mentioned?"

Looking at the jar of dark blue liquid in Mobius' hand, Xi Wang asked expressionlessly.

"It's really just a little experiment. After all, I just drew a little blood from you, little guinea pig."

"Are you sure it's just [a little]?"

He glanced at the jar in Mobius' hand again. It was nearly half full of dark blue liquid. Adding on the results of her previous experiment on herself and the fact that she injected a lot into Grace, the jar should have been full.

Wow, look at the capacity; it must be at least 1000cc. Is this what you call "a little"?

However, considering that his Honkai Beast genes were abnormally active at the time, it was no problem for Mobius to directly extract the mutated "blood." After all, this level of blood loss was not a big problem for a fusion warrior, let alone him, who possessed the [Specialties].

"So what?"

Feeling that Griseo had patted him gently, Xi Wang put her down and let her return to Hen's side. She continued to sit in her father's arms, painting on the canvas with a paintbrush... It wasn't that Griseo had stuck to him enough, but that there was no place on his face left to paint.

...Tsk, Grace loves to draw on his face, and it's OK to draw on his clothes... Surely it was Hen who asked her to do this?!

"What's the problem now? You have removed the abnormality in me, and the Fire Moths have kept me in the base without restricting my freedom... What's the problem with me? And... has Griseo been affected by this?"

Xi Wang said as he controlled the running water to wash the paint off his face.

"To some extent, yes."

Mei interjected.

"Although your abnormality didn't last long, and you were the only one who was affected, you did show abnormalities after all, and you did emit Honkai energy... Because of this, the Fire Moth was worried that you might be attacked by Gabriel's genes, but based on the data detected later and Dr. Mobius' guarantee, the Fire Moth decided to observe you for a while to confirm that you were just having an abnormal reaction due to the influence of the Eighth Herrscher."

"This is also the reason why you have been restricted to the base recently, but not completely under house arrest."

"How is it? Are you touched? I saved you a lot of trouble, little guinea pig~"

Mobius smiled and interrupted the conversation at the right time.

"...Thanks."

Xi Wang expressed his gratitude sincerely. He never hesitated to show his kindness to those who helped him.

"It's okay, it's just a small thing~ But... I just hope that you can come to my place more often in the future~ I miss you so much~"

"Don't want."

To put things one thing at a time, although Mobius helped him, Xi Wang still didn't like coming to Mobius' place because it would remind him of bad things... especially since he had just experienced that nightmare not long ago.

"As for Griseo's situation... it's a little more complicated."

Mei subtly redirected the topic to a direction that both of them were concerned about so that they could end their unnecessary conversation.

"Although, thanks to Dr. Mobius' efforts, Griseo was able to survive and even become a fusion warrior, because of the abnormality that appeared in you during the use, the Fire Moth became suspicious... and Griseo's ability made some people in the Fire Moth feel dangerous."

As she spoke, Mei took out a terminal and projected a video for Xi Wang to watch.

Inside, Griseo is drawing, and next to her is a sitting Fire Moth soldier... Judging from the scene, it seems that Griseo is drawing for the soldier.

During this process, Xi Wang noticed that Griseo did not seem to prepare any paint when she was painting... or rather, she was "making" the paint herself.

As she moves and wishes, her brush will be stained with red, yellow, and blue liquid pigments. Based on this, Griseo will further mix the colors she wants on the palette, and then use the mixed colors to paint.

When she wants to change colors, the paint on her brush disappears on its own and turns back into one of the three colors: red, yellow, and blue.

During the process, Griseo mixed several colors she liked, and then gently tapped the colored brush into a certain grid of the empty paint box that only contained water. The transparent water was then stained by the color of the brush and finally turned into a somewhat sticky paint.

As of now, the ability that Griseo has acquired seems to be extremely consistent with her hobby of painting. It just allows her to create colors with air and convert "water" into "paint," which doesn't seem to be a big deal.

But what happened next was a little weird...

First of all, the [Honkai Energy Detection Device] placed around made a sound, indicating that Honkai energy appeared in this area, although judging from the data, the Honkai energy that appeared was very weak.

Then, the Fire Moth soldier began to become uneasy, constantly adjusting his sitting posture. His expression began to become impatient and nervous, and then became panicked and fearful, as if he had seen something very terrifying.

When the soldier's emotions reached a certain critical point, he stood up and said in horror that a Honkai beast appeared next to Griseo.

As soon as he finished speaking, the [Honkai Energy Detection Device] instantly sounded an alarm, and the surrounding Honkai energy surged wildly in an instant, and a Honkai beast quickly formed next to Griseo. The soldier immediately pointed at the Honkai beast that had just appeared, indicating that he was talking about it and that it "walked out" from Grace's [painting].

But looking at the whole process, Xi Wang was extremely sure that before the soldier said that sentence, the surrounding Honkai energy was extremely stable, and the [Honkai Energy Detection Device] did not produce any data fluctuations. But after he said that sentence, everything around him changed in an instant and became what he described.

"Grace's ability is too dangerous."

After the entire video was finished, Mei put away the terminal and said.

"Perhaps because she absorbed your [Abnormality], she has the ability to change water into [Paint]. At the same time, the paintings made with this [Paint] have a certain degree of cognitive interference, which is somewhat similar to the power of the [Eighth Herrscher]. Moreover, this power will produce different effects depending on the [painting], and thus have different effects on people. It can even make a relatively peaceful person become irritable and angry."

"But this is not a big problem. The problem is the impact of these [paintings] on people, which will eventually lead to a result."

"Is it because of imagination that the Honkai energy has increased?"

Xi Wang frowned and told the truth about the sudden appearance of the Honkai beast in the video.

"...You are right. In essence, the emotions of the people affected by the painting are influenced, and they imagine various events in their minds. When a certain critical point is reached, the Honkai energy begins to rise, and the imagined events are turned into real... But as of now, the rise of Honkai energy will only lead to the appearance of Honkai beasts."

Mei was a little surprised that Xi Wang could actually see the essence of the matter directly, but she soon stopped caring.

"According to subsequent tests, the root cause of this Honkai energy increase is the [pigment] that Grace uses for painting."

"Just like a plant, Grace's [pigment] is watered and grown with Honkai energy. The more she uses it, the more the color will absorb the surrounding Honkai energy, until it reaches the critical point you saw in the video."

"What's even more troublesome is that when multiple affected people are within the range and have different ideas about the same event... the number of Honkai beasts that appear will increase accordingly, and will change slightly based on each person's ideas."

　　To put it simply, when three people have the idea that [a Honkai beast appears next to Griseo], different Honkai beasts will appear due to their respective imaginations. In the end, three different Honkai beasts will appear next to Griseo, corresponding to the one imagined by each of the three people.

　　Mei rubbed her brows, and seemed distressed by this troublesome ability, especially now that the [Eighth Great Collapse] had just passed, too many people's minds and spirits had become fragile because of the [Eighth Herrscher], which made Griseo's ability even more dangerous.

　　"Fortunately, as long as the consciousness is strong enough, then one can resist the influence of the [painting]. Moreover, the Honkai beasts that appear by this method are much weaker than those that appear normally, and they will return to the appearance of paint after being killed..."

　　"However, this ability is too dangerous. The people above think that Griseo is no longer suitable to stay in the Fire Moth."

　　This was understandable. After all, they could not completely stop Griseo from painting. Her own ability was to create [paint]. As long as there was paint, she could paint anytime and anywhere. Her hands were the best brushes, and the walls and floors were the best canvases and palettes... But if Griseo really painted a [painting] like this, then the entire Fire Moth would probably be affected.

　　Then... well, I'm afraid a wave of Honkai beasts will appear inside the Fire Moth.

　　"In fact, they originally planned to get rid of Griseo."

　　Mobius said expressionlessly.

　　"They said that Griseo is too dangerous. This ability to mass-produce Honkai Beasts reminded them of that Honkai Beast... yes, that's yours - [Gabriel]."

　　"You have to know that the ocean is still a [forbidden zone] now. Even if we want to transport supplies to the island, we have to rely on air transport, and we have to ensure that the aircraft is above the clouds, otherwise, it will be attacked by the Honkai beasts in the sea... Humph, they are really worthy of being called such a little girl because of this?"

　　Mobius seemed to dislike the top leaders of the Fire Moth.

　　"...So what? What are they going to do with Griseo?"

　　Xi Wang rolled his eyes, seemingly not caring about what they said.

　　"...They plan to place Griseo in the Deep Place, relying on her ability to consume the prisoners' excess energy and assist Aponia in guarding the prisoners in the Deep Place. Aponia will be responsible for Griseo's daily life... Aponia herself also agreed."

　　"And you need to take Griseo into the Deep Place and send her safely to Aponia... At the same time, because Griseo has a property similar to Gabriel, Fire Moth guessed that it was your Abnormality that caused this result, so... you must be under supervision and receive regular psychological treatment and physical examinations... Dr. Su and Dr. Mobius will be in charge of this respectively."

　　Mei explained the arrangements of the Fire Moth one by one.

　　"...What about the scar?"

　　Xi Wang's eyes remained calm. He pointed at Hen, who had hardly spoken a word, and asked.

"I... still have to accept the order to be transferred. I'm afraid I'll have to stay on the front line for a long time."

Hen hesitated for a while but finally shook his head with a wry smile.

"I'm afraid it will be difficult to see Griseo in the future... But I've also met Aponya, so I feel relieved to let her take care of Griseo. Also... I may have to trouble you to go see Griseo more often when you are free."

"Dad...are you leaving?"

Griseo, who was sitting in Hen's arms, raised her head, blinked her lavender eyes, and asked softly.

"...Well, Dad has to go save the world, I'm afraid it will be difficult for me to see you again~"

"Well...come on, Dad~"

"Oh!"

"Oh~!"

Looking at the father and daughter who raised their hands and cheered at the same time, Xi Wang was silent for a while.

"…Is this an order from the Fire Moth?"

Xi Wang turned his head to look at Mei and asked in a still calm tone.

"Yes."

Although she was helpless, Mei still nodded.

"This is the best result we can achieve."

"...sigh."

Taking a deep breath, Xi Wang adjusted his breathing.

Sometimes I really hate those high-ups of the Fire Moth. Every time they give orders that would make people annoyed and angry, they never say it themselves, or even send their own people. They just tell the orders to Mei and ask Mei to convey them... This increases Mei's pressure and also makes it difficult for those who know the orders to get angry.

Really, it's very annoying.

"...I see."

Xi Wang responded in a calm tone.

"Little white mouse, we are the only ones here, so if you want to curse, just do it. Don't hold it in, or it will be bad for your health~"

Mobius kindly reminded him, tapping his lips with her fingertips.

"No need for that. Elysia said swearing is not good... and I don't really want to swear."

"Tsk, you just keep talking about Elysia... But it's up to you, just remember to report back later, little guinea~"

Mobius curled her lips, and after saying this, she no longer cared about Xi Wang. She just walked to Griseo's side and played with her... She had to cherish this time, after all, she would not have much chance to see Griseo in the future.

"…Dr. Mei."

Xi Wang's gaze paused on Griseo for a moment, and then looked at Mei who was standing aside and had not left.

"Everything is to fight against Honkai...right?"

"...Yes."

Mei looked at Xi Wang, nodded firmly, and slightly corrected Xi Wang's words.

"Everything is done to defeat the Honkai."