Chapter 209: Similar, Yet Different

Xi Lian sat dumbfounded on the bed, slowly coming to her senses.

The suffocating chase just now, the fright in the corner, Ailixiya's sudden smiling face that popped in…

All were just a nightmare that was too real and too terrifying.

Realizing this, her tense body finally relaxed completely, and she sagged like a deflated ball, softly leaning back against the headboard.

But her heartbeat was still rapid, and her cheeks remained warm.

(Great… it was a dream…)

A feeling of post‑disaster relief rose in her heart.

But immediately after, the various details of Ailixiya's "enthusiastic care" in the Letu Hall uncontrollably resurfaced in her mind—the suffocating hug, the warm hands lingering on her waist and chest, the chin pressed against the top of her head and her breathing, and those ever‑smiling pink eyes that seemed to see through everything…

Xi Lian's face flared up and turned red again.

This time not from fright, but from helplessness and a lingering… shadow.

(Miss Ailixiya… she… she seems to really like… taking action…)

She couldn't help pulling the blanket higher, covering the heated half of her face, leaving only a pair of moist, still‑shaken azure eyes exposed.

Letu is very safe, Eden Miss and the others are friendly, there is no Weng Fa Luo Si dispute here, nor the unfathomable pressure of Heimu Lady…

But…

(It seems… there is something even more… harder to withstand than Heimu Lady…)

Inside the hidden carriage.

On the soft long sofa, Heimu Lady reclined at one end, holding a cup, her gaze fixed on Ti Bao, who sat opposite with legs curled, hugging a soft cushion.

On the hovering Light Screen before them, an image was frozen—a profile of Kevin Kaslana, silver hair, icy eyes, background of wind, snow and ruins, with a thoughtful side note of concise keywords: 【Pre‑civilization·Fusion Warrior·Salvation·Kevin】.

Ti Bao watched intently, her azure eyes unblinking; after a while she slowly turned her head toward Heimu Lady, her face bearing a complex expression.

"Mother… uh, Heimu Lady,"

She corrected herself in time, but the affection in her tone remained, "This 'Kevin'… and our Weng Fa Luo Si's 'Bai E', really seem alike."

She paused, seeming to struggle to phrase it, "It's not that they look a little alike, it's more like… hmm, aura? feeling? Like… both pressed down by something extremely heavy, walking alone on a snowfield with no end in sight. Even their hair colors are almost the same!"

Heimu Lady took a sip of the slightly hot liquid in her cup, feeling the warm current slide down her throat.

She looked at the earnestness in Ti Bao's clear eyes and nodded.

"Similar, yet different."

She set the cup down, lightly tapped the Light Screen with her fingertip, the display switched, showing more fragmentary information about Kevin—him holding Heavenly Fire Shengcai (Heaven Fire Holy Judgment), a silhouette standing before the Fire-chasing Moth emblem, and finally a frozen scene of him sinking into the Quantum Sea.

"What Kevin bears is the will of an old civilization already definitively destroyed, and a mission to combat the periodic disaster called Honkai. His path is both chosen and pushed by fate, his goal clear— even if that goal sometimes appears Despair‑filled."

She switched to another image, a system‑simulated rendering of Bai E, also silver‑haired and upright, but with Weng Fa Luo Si's dusk as the background, annotated: 【Weng Fa Luo Si·Golden Descendant·Bai E】.

"And Bai E,"

Heimu Lady's voice was steady, "What Bai E bears is, together with all of you, being trapped in an experiment spanning over thirty million cycles of reincarnation, intended to rescue yet seemingly caught in an endless loop. His suffering may lie in repetition, forgetting, and the promise of 'Re‑creation' that forever lies in the next life. His battles are more for the companions beside him and that faint 'possibility', rather than a specific enemy."

Ti Bao held the cushion, her chin resting on the soft fabric, deep in thought.

"So… Kevin is fighting Destruction itself, while Bai E is endlessly losing his way in a long trek to 'avoid Destruction'?"

"A very clever metaphor."

A hint of approval flashed in Heimu Lady's eyes, "One faces a surging tsunami and must build a high wall; the other searches for an oasis in an endless desert, but the oasis's map changes with every step."

"Then… who has it harder?"

Ti Bao couldn't help asking, and after asking felt the question was a bit childish, smiling shyly.

Heimu Lady did not answer directly, but tossed out a question: "What do you think—being constantly battered by huge waves, drenched and freezing, or trekking forever in a dry, scorching desert with no end, your throat smoking, which is more tormenting?"

Ti Bao thought for a moment, wrinkling her nose: "It seems… both are terrible. But if it were me, I'd rather be in the desert? At least… I wouldn't drown."

She said uncertainly.

"Kevin almost 'drowned' many times, but also almost used his 'high wall' to push back the tsunami."

Heimu Lady's tone was even, yet she spoke thrilling content, "Bai E… he seems not to have found that oasis, but across thirty million cycles, he never truly fell, which itself may be a miracle."

Ti Bao was silent for a while, digesting the information.

The Light Screen began automatically playing overviews of other Honkai World characters, such as one who loved saying 'milk enough perky', an over‑energetic white‑haired dough ball, a purple‑haired girl who cooked exceptionally well and always wore a gentle expression, and a golden‑haired bishop who spent all day thinking of resurrecting someone…

Watching, Ti Bao suddenly let out a 'pfft' laugh.

Heimu Lady looked at her.

"I'm sorry…"

Ti Bao covered her mouth, eyes curving like crescents, "I just suddenly felt… our Weng Fa Luo Si story, and this world's story, when placed side by side, seem like two completely different 'tragedy templates'."

"Oh? Tell me."

Heimu Lady raised an eyebrow slightly, intrigued.

"You see,"

Ti Bao sat upright, counting on her fingers, "On our side, it's 'the world fell into an eternal cycle of reincarnation, a group called the Golden Descendant, led by the Fire-chasing Moth, undertaking a tragic, grand march across countless cycles, hoping to re‑create the world'. It sounds grand, epic, right? But in practice…"

She recalled her companions' various struggles, shaking her head, "It's filled with countless personal struggles and… hmm, infinite repeated attempts."

She pointed to the flashing intense battles and sacrifices from the Honkai World on the Light Screen: "And this world seems more… 'direct'? When Honkai arrives, civilization is about to be destroyed, so we fight! Fight with technology, fight with superpowers, fight with our lives, blazing, everything burns. There are clear enemies, clear frontlines; even if the ending is tragic, the process… at least isn't bewildering?"

Heimu Lady listened to her clearly personal comparative analysis, a slight curve forming at the corner of her mouth.

"You mean, Weng Fa Luo Si is a 'chronic mental‑drain tragedy', while the Honkai World is an 'acute physical‑destruction tragedy'?"

"Yes, yes, yes! That's exactly it!"

Her eyes lit up, finding Heimu Lady's summary extremely incisive, "Although both are hard, the ways of suffering differ! Our side is like a dull knife cutting flesh, endless under the black tide; their side is… a meteor from the sky, bang! In one go… uh, though it may also be repeatedly struck."

She stuck out her tongue, realizing her metaphor was a bit too lively.

"Interesting perspective."

Heimu Lady nodded, then added, "However, don't forget, the Honkai World also has its long civilizational cycles and epoch‑spanning obsessions. And Weng Fa Luo Si, at some point, also faced the instantaneous end that Iron Tomb could bring. The form of tragedy may always sway between cycles and eruptions."