[Simulation Preparation]
[Cabin pressure confirmed]
[User Neural Link complete.]
[Organ scan stable]
[Retinal scan confirmed]
[Simulation starts]
Lin stood in the desolate ruins, slowly taking deep breaths. Having not conducted a simulation training for a long time, he needed some time to re-adapt.
In the simulation device, all physical sensations, including the body, were products simulated according to real-world data and could not be 100% accurate. Thus, users would experience a deviation feeling of "This is not my body." In severe cases, it could cause rejection reactions that affect the normal functioning of real organs.
However, the speed of adaptation this time was surprisingly fast. In just a few breaths, Lin felt he could perfectly use the body.
"..." He held his palm up in front of him. The fair skin, free of armor, shone under the setting sun. He clenched his fist, feeling the strength within.
The last simulation was at least a year and a half ago. Yet, he was adapting faster than ever before.
No matter how much he wanted to dismiss the possibility, once it flashed in his mind, it could no longer be ignored.
After entering the Herrscher Core, he underwent some kind of change, a "change" that had not yet fully manifested.
"Lin, where are you?"
Lin, who was thinking, heard the voice from the box that popped up in the air in front of him. He casually swiped a few times in the air. The power armor and helmet slowly assembled onto his body from foot to head in the form of data streams.
"You can see my coordinates." Lin said as he took out his simulated weapon and checked it. Even data-simulated items could be flawed, and even if the probability was negligible, it still existed.
To prevent data errors and mixing, multi-person simulations were generally spaced apart by a certain distance, determined by the complexity of the data.
When the Sakura-haired woman appeared behind Lin, fully armed, his helmet data had just finished loading. Sakura only saw his eyebrows and black hair covered by the unpretentious edge of the helmet.
Even though she had witnessed it once before, Sakura still found it unbelievable when Lin soft, delicate eyebrows were obscured by the cold exterior, instantly transforming his entire demeanor from gentle to stern. It was amazing how much a small part of one's appearance could affect the entire personal aura.
"Can you adapt?" Lin asked.
Sakura attire was identical to her light armor in reality. These items and weapons could be replicated through specialized scanning. However, Lin wasn't worried about these things, but Sakura condition.
For martial artists like Sakura and Hua, their bodily control far surpassed ordinary people. For them to undergo simulation training, the required adaptation time and the probability of rejection reaction were equally extraordinary.
"Mhm... I haven't experienced the abnormal organ reaction you mentioned, but it is truly..." Sakura expression looked much gloomier than her usual self outside. She clutched her chest, her eyebrows furrowed. "It's very uncomfortable. It hasn't completely subsided since I came in."
"...Then we'll only do a simple simulation."
Lin and Sakura were conducting simulation training so they wouldn't need too much time to get used to working together during their mission later. They couldn't undertake simple missions now, so they had to use this new-recruit training mode to enhance their cooperation.
The simulation location was set to Changkong City during the Third Eruption. Among all the Honkai battlefields affected by environmental factors, the Third Eruption was particularly typical and was the location most new recruits chose for simulation.
After confirming the types of zombies and Honkai Beasts, they began the operation. Lin commanded the entire process, pointing out Sakura mistakes in working with others for the first time.
They trained non-stop for about seven hours, from noon until late at night. Since the projected bodies in the simulation device were only affected by mental fatigue, the two people, both with good mental resilience, only felt slight tiredness after the high-intensity training.
"Let's end the training for today." Lin noticed Sakura hadn't fully adapted after all this time and decided to end the training. "Take a break and get something to eat."
"Mhm... I made sushi..." Sakura mumbled hesitantly as she put her sword back into her scabbard.
"...Then let's eat together."
Lin said nothing more. He accessed the system backend and clicked to end the simulation.
"..."
"..."
After a moment, Lin hand, suspended in mid-air, trembled. He asked in confusion, "Hmm?" and clicked the end simulation button again.
But the system seemed to have crashed, showing no response. Just as Lin was about to switch to the system's database to check what was wrong, an anomaly suddenly occurred.
"Whoosh—"
The surrounding scenery of Changkong City suddenly changed drastically. Large amounts of architecture and the corpses of killed Honkai Beasts dissolved into data, reforming into another appearance. The immense data flow, within which they were situated, felt like a celestial cataclysm, the sun and moon changing places, winds and ocean roaring, instantly manifesting in an abstract manner before the two of them.
"What's happening, Lin—"
Lin turned his head at Sakura startled cry and saw a scene that made his pupils contract.
Sakura entire body was rapidly disappearing. Unstable information streams passed through her body, taking away her very existence.
What was going on!
Lin instinctively reached out to grab Sakura outstretched hand, but before his hand could grasp the fragile arm, Sakura scattered like falling cherry blossoms right in front of him.
"..."
The overwhelming data flow swallowed him whole, leaving him stunned.
...
When Lin regained consciousness, his environment and the color tones he could see were completely different.
What kind of world was this?
Lin found it hard to describe his current feelings in words. From the moment he saw the scenery, a surging emotion brewed in his heart, forcing him to keep his eyes wide open and observe every detail he could see.
Barren, ruined, cold, technology, and prosperity.
These words appeared simultaneously in the "world" he was seeing.
Endless ruins and wreckage, mechanical creations he could name and those he couldn't, buildings, and monster debris covered the ground, making it impossible for him to see an inch of the original land color. And in the center of this apocalyptic scene, a metal tower stood firm like a lighthouse in this dark world, radiating bright, gentle light from the very center of the world.
Lin instinctively took a step, chasing after that beam of light.