And he, Chen Tianwu, was just an ordinary person. He had no foundation, no connections so strong they were practically black market, and no status or achievements that could serve as a get-out-of-jail-free card.
In other words, he probably couldn't even win against a nonsensical "social justice warrior," let alone those "fattened pigs."
What's more, this wasn't one of those "fattened pigs" that were just loud and ate a lot, destined to be slaughtered for a feast for the common folk. This was a true "bloodline nobility" that had been passed down for over a thousand years.
This kind of nobility couldn't be dealt with by something like a "New Deal." Throughout the entire history of human development, the only way to deal with such nobility was the Chinese mainland's "genealogy check."
...You want to check the Schariac's genealogy?
Do you know that, generally speaking, the Schariac's two allies are the ones who check your genealogy?
Forget it, forget it. I can't win against her.
Chen Tianwu just felt it was bad luck. He had finally saved up a little money and wanted to travel alone. He had even just arrived in Sapphire City today. Why did he have to encounter this situation?
He didn't even dare to tell her to leave now, because he couldn't read her emotions.
When Chen Tianwu was in university, he had heard that every Schariac was a social rogue. They would sit there like a robot, showing no expression, and it was impossible to see any psychological activity.
Even the diplomats from the Chinese mainland were afraid of having a one-on-one casual conversation with a Schariac. They weren't afraid of major diplomatic events, but of one-on-one banter without regard for their respective backgrounds.
You just couldn't win that argument. You could only speak with facts.
And that was the domain of the Kaslanas and the Apocalypses. Do you want a knightly duel, or an inevitable trend?
Three rogues... two rogues and a fool.
This was the view of Chen Tianwu's university professor on these three families.
Influenced by this professor, Chen Tianwu truly felt that the Chinese mainland was better. There were no deeply rooted behind-the-scenes power holders, only "fattened pigs" raised by the highest level of government.
These guys could bully two or three generations at most. Their descendants would only get fatter and fatter.
Forget it. I should first think about how to deal with this sudden appearance...
"Click."
Chen Tianwu's thoughts suddenly stopped. His ears caught an extremely faint mechanical sound. He turned and saw that Ana had stood up, her hand resting on her waist, on a suspicious-looking bulge.
Hey, hey, hey, this is not good.
Chen Tianwu's dead fish eyes finally widened. He looked at Ana's hand on her waist and suddenly remembered that "guns" did exist in the world. It was just that the Chinese mainland's control was so strict that most of its people would never see one in their lifetime.
But the person in front of him was a foreigner, from a great foreign family, and had appeared suddenly, as if she had traveled through time.
Wow, that just ticked all the boxes. He wouldn't even be surprised if she suddenly pulled out a gun and pointed it at his head.
This was no longer a simple case of trespassing. This was a terrorist attack.
The laziness on Chen Tianwu's body was swept away. He began to look at Ana with a serious expression, while his hand quietly crept towards his phone.
His phone had an emergency call function. If he long-pressed the power button for a few seconds, the police would receive his current address and come to his rescue.
It didn't matter if they couldn't save him. At least he couldn't let his murderer...
"Where is this? What time is it? Who are you?" Ana spoke, firing off a three-part question.
Chen Tianwu's small movements stopped. His already open eyes were now wide with anger.
Wait... you're asking me?
Why does it seem like I'm the one in the wrong here? This is the hotel room I paid for, registered with my ID. I was here first, you're the one who came later!
Chen Tianwu felt his breathing become a little heavier. The last layer of his filter for these great families shattered in an instant, finally turning into a simple and direct thought.
Is she a bit stupid?
Is she from the Kaslana family?
Regardless of whether the other party was really from the Schariac family, at least when he asked, she did give a name. Chen Tianwu decided to reciprocate. He felt he was a little too well-mannered.
"This is room 1207 of the Coral Hotel in Sapphire City. It's five in the morning. I am just a poor, law-abiding citizen of the Chinese mainland whose sleep you have disturbed."
Chen Tianwu's voice grew heavier with each word. By the last question, his words were filled with deep resentment.
But he still didn't give his name. For no other reason than fear of retaliation.
Ana was taken aback by Chen Tianwu's answer. It was hard to believe that after receiving so much "new era" information, she would one day hear such a response.
And the other party's answer was very formal. The strong resentment could only arise if everything he said was true.
So this really was a hotel in Sapphire City?
And five in the morning...
Ana suddenly realized something. She tried to keep her expression calm, suppressing the excitement in her voice. "The date? What's the date today?"
"...Why are you acting like you just traveled through time?" Chen Tianwu raised an eyebrow and commented, then casually picked up his phone, glanced at it, and put it down. "It's December 1st today. What's wrong?"
It seemed he was just checking the time, but in reality, his finger was already on the emergency call button on his phone, ready to press it at any moment.
Why hadn't he pressed it yet, you ask?
He was a coward. In the Chinese mainland, filing a false police report and wasting police resources was a cardinal sin. There were many such cardinal sins in the Chinese mainland, such as forgetting to hang out the family's clean laundry, forgetting to press the power button on the rice cooker...
Out of this concern, even though Ana was suspected of carrying a dangerous item, he didn't press the alarm immediately, but waited for the situation to develop further.
And it was because of his highly focused observation that he successfully caught a flaw in Ana's expression.
It was an overflowing emotion of surprise, a hint of true feeling leaking from under a barrier so thick it was impenetrable.
Chen Tianwu suddenly felt that the probability of him being deceived was even higher. He wasn't a doctoral student specializing in psychology, and his mentor had clearly said that even the top psychology PhDs couldn't read a Schariac's emotions.
How could he possibly see an emotion that clearly had traces of being hidden? Either this person in front of him was playing with him, or her bloodline was impure.
Ana's bloodline was very pure! In the entire Schariac family, Ana could be considered part of the main line. Cecilia had become the Holy Maiden of the Schariacs because she was too outstanding. In terms of bloodline alone, Cecilia was not even as good as Ana.
So Ana actually suspected she had some kind of hereditary disease, precisely because her bloodline was "too pure," so pure it was like the product of inbreeding.
But it wasn't. Ana could only pinch her nose and admit that she was just stupid...
Compared to Cecilia and the entire Schariac family, she was indeed very stupid, so stupid that she was in a class of her own, quite outstanding.
But in the grand scheme of humanity, she was still in the upper echelon of the three quotients!
The "December 1st" Chen Tianwu reported made Ana instantly understand her situation.
She had traveled back again?!
No, she had simply traveled to another world, or fallen into the range of that thing called a Herrscher's ability.
She still remembered what she was doing before she fainted. She was the unlucky one who tried to get Kallen out of the range of the Sapphire Pearl. When everyone else had pulled away, she was the only one who had approached.
And while everyone had reacted to the surge in Honkai energy, she, for some reason, had felt almost nothing. By the time she realized something was wrong, the thing lurking inside Sapphire City had already quietly expanded its domain by a fraction.
And just her luck, it was just enough to lull Ana, who was preparing to lasso Kallen, to sleep.
And when she woke up, she saw this guy who looked like she owed him her life. Not only did he have a sour face, but his mouth wasn't any better.
December 1st... wasn't that the day she "lost consciousness"?
The Honkai descended at five in the evening. At that time, she was indeed in Sapphire City, but she was on a special route from Future City, commissioned by someone to pick up a person and bring them back.
She had come here just fine, but now she couldn't go back.
The person who contacted her was Joachim, a high-ranking official in Future City and the recognized next leader, as well as the unprecedented second leader.
Ever since the first candidate, Otto, had fled Future City with Kallen, Joyce had spent a great deal of effort cultivating this second-generation candidate.
It could be said that in terms of character, coordination ability, and even relevant professional knowledge, Joachim had been cultivated by Joyce's super team to be a world-class talent. The last time such a lineup was deployed was for the final three miracles of Future City—Peach Blossom Spring.
But who would have thought that such an outstanding person would run away from home like those Kaslanas because of some aesthetic issues?
This guy actually didn't like Homu! He preferred that black, villainous-looking Alahato?
Joyce suspected that a Kaslana had infiltrated the teaching team, but he had no proof. Francis stuck his neck out and said it wasn't him, and he didn't know who did it.
Francis's confidence was so strong it could lay a foundation. It definitely wasn't him, and he definitely didn't know.
As everyone knows, Kaslanas can't even tell a misleading truth. Their definition of lying is completely idealistic.
But it was fine. Joachim had grown up in Future City. It would be good for him to see the outside world. So, Joyce let him out, planning to retrieve him in three or four years.
And she was the one Joachim had called over from Future City today. At that time, Joachim had also said something like "we'll talk in detail when we meet."
That meant Joachim was also in Sapphire City right now, right? And around four in the afternoon, her other self would arrive here...
She really wanted to see herself, but she probably could only take a quick look.
One more look and she would be crushed to death by that white monster... a monster called a Honkai Beast.
Speaking of which, this guy really did look familiar. She felt like she had seen him somewhere... Huh? Wasn't this the guy she had protected in her memory?
Ana's gaze suddenly became strange. Her hand on her waist slowly relaxed.
It really was this guy... His hairstyle was different from what she remembered, but his face looked more and more similar. It was just that the face in her memory was filled with unconcealable terror and despair.
But the face in front of her only had deep resentment and indignation, and even a kind of "hit me if you dare" eagerness and provocation.
Is there something wrong with this guy?
Her brow furrowed slightly, then quickly relaxed, replaced by a sense of guilt she knew she shouldn't have.
Based on her speculation about her missing memories, her last memory from six months ago was actually a fantasy.
A fantasy where she became a hero like Lady Cecilia, protecting a defenseless ordinary person, and was ultimately defeated by a Honkai Beast after giving her all.
In that timeline, she obviously wouldn't have survived. But now she was still alive, which meant... she had actually run away, and had been avoiding reality ever since. Even after joining Fire Moth, she was still in that dazed state.
Until her personality's self-preservation kicked in, forgetting the relevant memories, and she returned to normal thinking.
She couldn't have found such an identical person just by imagining it. So she must have seen him somewhere, or rather, the Honkai Beast, the defenseless weakling, and herself were all real.
It was just that her choice was not to protect, but to escape.
That made the development of this matter quite intriguing... Without anyone's protection, what would this fragile person become when facing a Honkai Beast? Ana didn't want to think about it too much, only knowing that it would definitely be a tragic sight.
She could have saved... no, no, no, that hadn't happened yet! Why was she feeling guilty about it?
And... and... and...
And even if she could have saved him... the price would have been her... life.
She was just an ordinary person with mediocre talent. She also had things she liked, dreams she hadn't fulfilled, and places she wanted to go.
She didn't want to die either.
So... in this situation, even if she didn't choose to step up, but ran away instead, that would be very reasonable, right?
Right? That's really reasonable, right?!
The logic was sound. Ana could be sure she was not wrong. Even if you asked most people, they would say Ana had done nothing wrong.
Her only mistake was that she didn't have the ability to save two people at the same time. No human could blame her for "not even being willing to sacrifice her own life." Saving people was a kindness, not saving them was her right. This was the best reason.
And it was the reason almost everyone would tell her.
But for some reason, her heart felt empty. She felt like she was missing something... something very important.