129. Quitting the Cocoon
Ling submerged himself in the hot spring, letting out a comfortable sigh.
There was no one here, and it was already late at night.
Kalpas had said she would come later, as she had some things to attend to.
Footsteps approached from behind. Ling turned around and saw a person wearing a mask, swimming trunks, and a white shirt walking towards him.
"Are you here on vacation?" Ling couldn't help but joke.
"It's none of your business."
For some reason, Kalpas seemed a little angry, no… more like shy?
Ling thought he must be going crazy. How could Kalpas be shy?
Besides, they were both grown men; what was there to be shy about?
"Speaking of which, your hair hasn't been cut in ages; it's already shoulder-length." Ling looked at her hair.
The grayish-white strands were quite long.
"Too lazy to cut it."
Kalpas walked into the hot spring, leaned against the edge, her back to Ling. It was impossible to tell what she was thinking behind the mask.
"Be careful, or the shopkeeper kicks you out if you do that," Ling warned Kalpas as she walked in fully clothed.
"Do you think he'd dare?" Kalpas retorted.
"Strange quirk," Ling shook his head, ignoring her and continuing to enjoy the hot spring.
Seeing Ling make no further moves, Kalpas relaxed and immersed herself in the hot spring, enjoying the moment.
"By the way, how did you develop those pectoral muscles? They're so big." Ling had appeared beside Kalpas at some point; because her white clothes were soaked, the bandages on Kalpas's chest were visible.
Yun Ling even patted her chest, quite recklessly.
As for why she was bandaged, Ling didn't think much of it; perhaps Kalpas had been injured during a mission.
Anyway, Ling had never considered her as a girl.
Kalpas felt as if she had been struck by lightning; Ling could even feel the lingering killing intent emanating from Kalpas beneath her mask.
Seeing Ling's foolish expression, Kalpas somehow couldn't stay angry.
She silently got up from the hot spring and walked outside.
"Could it be that I touched his wound?" Ling wondered, watching Kalpas suddenly leave.
Soon, the Eighth Honkai Eruption struck.
The Herrscher of Sentience appeared and put the entire Fire Moth in dire straits.
The Herrscher of Sentience was extremely difficult to deal with because it was impossible to locate her.
Fortunately, a MANTIS Warrior named 'Su' stepped forward and resolved the crisis.
His excellent qualities led Dr. Mei to select him for the 'Stigmata Project'.
Ling's power continued to grow through continuous battles.
The simulation training room was no longer enough for him.
Many times, he had to drag Kalpas along for combat training.
After training, they went to a hot spring together...
Ling's reputation within the Fire Moth was growing, and many knew of this combat maniac who was no less skilled than Kalpas.
However, he was a lone wolf; he even rarely went on missions with Kalpas.
Because the calamity and misfortune he carried often introduced unnecessary variables into the mission.
In a mission-priority organization like 'Cocoon', this was extremely fatal.
Even with their formidable strength, they faced more than just a simple combat mission.
Sakura had cooperated with Ling on a mission once before, but they hadn't done so since then...
Therefore, Ling mostly completed missions alone.
This was not only more efficient but also wouldn't affect the others.
Sometimes, he complained that Sakura and Kalpas's disguises were practically nonexistent.
Sakura's donkey ears were incredibly distinctive, while Kalpas didn't bother with disguises at all...
When the topic of Sakura's ears came up, Ling almost got chopped off by her.
After Elysia explained, he realized they were fox ears, not donkey ears, as he had thought...
Although Ling remained skeptical, the slightly murderous look in Sakura's eyes made him flinch.
Even though he wasn't terrified of Sakura now, he inexplicably became vulnerable around angry women.
After all, he was the one who caused it.
After a sincere apology, Sakura generously forgave him, and their relationship improved considerably.
The 'Stigmata Project' continued steadily, though with little progress...
Ling had lost a considerable amount of blood drawn by Mobius.
Aponia went to the Deepest Abyss, considering herself a sinner, but would occasionally visit Ling and the children who survived the disaster.
Elysia continued to run around with a smile every day, nodding with satisfaction whenever she saw Ling.
The gloomy aura that had always clung to Ling had completely disappeared.
She even introduced Ling to her friends. Ling was quite content with his current life, even sometimes wondering childishly, "Is this happiness really possible?"
Even with his "jinx" constitution, he had gained so many genuine friendships.
When the Ninth Honkai Impact arrived, Ling and Kalpas, being members of "Cocoon," didn't need to participate in the main battlefield.
However, post-war reports revealed that the campaign against the Ninth Herrscher had suffered devastating losses, with the immense destruction resulting in the death of one-sixth of the global population.
Human society completely collapsed, and the survivors could barely survive...
"Kalpas, I want to quit from Cocoon."
One day, after their combat training, Ling suddenly said this to Kalpas.
"...You want to fight the Herrscher?" Kalpas saw through his thoughts at a glance.
"Yes...The Herrscher has caused too much damage to the world, and even after all we've done, we can't protect anything at all." Ling nodded.
Their mission had absolutely no impact on the overall battle against Honkai.
It was merely a minor skirmish.
The real battle was against the Herrschers!
Only by killing the Herrschers could more people be saved!
Only then could more people be freed from calamity!
"Then go." Kalpas didn't try to stop him.
Because she knew Ling's character very well, he would never joke about such things.
The next day, Ling applied to quit the Cocoon.
On the third day, Kalpas also applied to quit the Cocoon.
"You…" Ling looked at Kalpas, unsure how to describe his feelings.
"Don't misunderstand, I just found the Cocoon missions rather boring. Perhaps the battle against the Herrschers is the real fight I want!" Kalpas's hands clenched so tightly they cracked.
"Mm." Ling nodded; he trusted Kalpas.
The two were incredibly powerful, so powerful that they entered the top tier without needing any further testing.
Here, they also encountered Kevin, the strongest warrior of the Fire Moth.
However, Ling and Kalpas had never fought him, so their strength remained relatively unknown.
But only six months later after they quit Cocoon, the Tenth Herrscher appeared.
...