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Xia Chen lay on the hospital bed, enjoying the attentive care provided by Wendy after Rita left.
Wendy promptly took over upon seeing the fruit salad beside Xia Chen's bed and began feeding him spoonfuls.
"Uh, actually, I can eat it myself," Xia Chen inadvertently remarked, feeling uncomfortable with being looked after so closely.
Nevertheless, Wendy insisted, scooping up the fruit salad with a spoon and bringing it gently to his lips.
"Alright," he reluctantly yielded, taking one spoonful after another.
Only when the fruit salad bowl emptied did he sigh in relief. Despite the comfort, the idea of someone else feeding him was psychologically challenging to accept.
Only after finishing the fruit salad did Xia Chen let out a sigh of relief. Despite it being comfortable, he still found it mentally challenging to accept being fed by someone else.
Satisfied, Wendy placed the empty fruit platter on the nearby cabinet.
"You seem really happy," Xia Chen inadvertently asked, "Did something good happen recently?"
"Isn't your awakening itself good news?" Wendy's response left Xia Chen momentarily speechless.
He almost forgot that his recovery was part of the 'good news.'
"Well, o-of course it is," Xia Chen cleared his throat and said, "After all, I'm Schicksal's handsome man."
"So what happened to you?" Wendy directly questioned, "When you fell unconscious, I was the one who discovered it. You were mumbling something about Aponia... Who is she?"
"She is one of the Heroic Spirits from the previous civilization era." Xia Chen didn't hide this information from Wendy, explaining, "Remember when you asked me how I could change the future? It's connected to the previous civilization era."
"Was it due to Aponia?"
"No, it was Finality."
Wendy paused, seemingly puzzled.
For some reason, facts about Aponia that Xia Chen deliberately wanted to conceal from Ana were easily shared with Wendy. It wasn't that he trusted Wendy more than Ana; rather, their connection was not as deeply entwined.
Ana's concern could cloud her judgment, but Wendy remained unaffected.
Xia Chen explained, "My body essentially serves as a testing instrument for data, granted by Finality itself. This additional ability allows me to alter the future."
"Initially, I didn't realize this," he continued. "I thought I was the protagonist of this world, and Aponia was someone who would help me uncover the truth."
He took a moment before adding, "The recurring fevers also occurred because my ability vanished. Now, there is no significant difference between you and me."
Wendy reflected thoughtfully, "That might actually be a good thing."
"A good thing?"
"Yes, at least now you won't have to change anyone else's future, and therefore, you won't bear responsibility for anyone anymore." The girl smiled warmly. "You've already altered the futures of almost everyone, including myself. Perhaps your mission is accomplished, and it's time for you to rest."
Wendy encouraged Xia Chen to see the positive side, "Perhaps Finality sensed that Honkai's imminent collapse was about to be overcome."
"Can we truly defeat Honkai?"
Having encountered Finality multiple times, Xia Chen remained deeply apprehensive even now.
"I don't know either," Wendy shook her head and said, "But there's no other choice at this point. We can't just wait for the next era indefinitely."
"Honestly, it doesn't matter whether defeating Honkai is easy or difficult; all we need to do is strive our best. There's no use worrying too much."
"Oh right, Ana hasn't been eating well these past few days, always preoccupied with concern. You should take good care of her; girls like her are rare."
Xia Chen smiled, "I would treat her well regardless of your reminder."
He still hadn't resolved his emotional entanglement with Wendy, but fortunately, she didn't seem bothered by it either. Thus, he chose to feign ignorance and act as if it didn't exist.
After all, bringing up such matters would only create awkwardness between them.
"Well then, I'll be going now." Wendy maintained a distance from Xia Chen.
With hope for overcoming Honkai now within reach, it implied that moral order in society would soon return. She wouldn't want to put her friend in a difficult position; doing so would not be true to herself.
Two days later, Xia Chen was discharged from the hospital.
His recovery went smoothly with minimal lingering effects. Naturally, the cause of his illness remained unknown, but Xia Chen didn't dwell on it. It wasn't unusual for such conditions to go undetected during examinations.
Upon returning to the Immortal Blades' training ground, he received several updates:
The Anti-Entropy personnel had mostly returned to their base, except for Einstein and Theresa who stayed behind. The rest went to Babylon Tower, as they were preparing Kiana to communicate with the Will of Honkai soon.
Sakura, along with Rin, also left. She did not trust Einstein's proposed method of using Finality to eliminate Honkai.
Uncharacteristically disregarding Rin's objections, Sakura directly took her away to the Ark Fortress.
Similarly, out of safety concerns, Durandal dispersed many Valkyries to various branches, including members of the Immortal Blades and numerous researchers.
Now, within the vast Headquarters, only a handful of individuals remained to maintain its operations.
It was rumored that Amber had already begun gradually shutting down the floating island's power sources.
Regardless of whether they could defeat Honkai or not, Schicksal would no longer stand so aloof and detached from humanity in the future.
This is undoubtedly a positive change. At least for humans, it signifies that Schicksal will soon return order back to their hands.
Indeed, amidst widespread skepticism towards Einstein's theory, Durandal alone made the decisive choice. She started planning the gradual downsizing and dissolution of Schicksal.
As if guided by a unique intuition, she believed that Honkai would inevitably be overcome.
Therefore, she needed to prepare Schicksal for after defeating Honkai, ensuring the restoration of human order.
However, to Xia Chen, these actions seemed more like arranging affairs before her demise.
He wasn't alone in this thought; Kiana shared the same sentiment.
Xia Chen encountered Kiana once again.
This time, she wasted no words and directly stated, "Durandal is my father's biological daughter, isn't she?"
"You know?"
"I can guess; I'm not that foolish," Kiana replied nonchalantly. "After all, to contain Finality requires a powerful bloodline, and who else could it be besides the real Kiana?"
With a bitter smile, she added, "In the end, I was the last one to find out."
Curious, Xia Chen asked, "Actually, you could have pretended not to know. At this point, there's no right or wrong answer to this issue; dwelling on it only adds unnecessary distress."
"I couldn't do that." She took a deep breath, seemingly making up her mind.
"What do you intend to do?"
"Do you know..." Instead of answering Xia Chen directly, Kiana continued speaking as if lost in thought, "I've also communicated with the Holy Mark Terminal. In truth, initiating the arrival of Finality itself isn't complicated."
"Moreover, on the moon right now, enough Honkai Energy has accumulated for Finality's descent. This preparation was made by the previous era civilization for our current age. It should have succeeded during the Second Honkai back in 2000."
"You mean..."
"Humans must be freed from the cycle of Honkai. Victory will undoubtedly belong to humanity."
After sharing her thoughts, Kiana promptly left.