Witnessing it all, Li Mo didn't answer. His empty eyes were like a stagnant pool of water, without a ripple.
"Does this place feel familiar?"
Li Mo walked to the bed, bent down, and reached out to touch it. The firelight illuminated the cabin, warming everything.
"This place gives me a very satisfying feeling," Otto said bluntly. He was now desperate to get an answer from Li Mo about who he was.
"I see," Li Mo replied calmly. "Indeed, if it's you... it's normal to feel this way."
"So who am I? Tell me, what is my real identity!?"
Li Mo lowered his head, silent. After a half-minute pause, he stood up and walked over to Otto. For some reason, a sense of fear arose in Otto's heart, compelling him to flee.
Li Mo didn't restrain him, letting Otto rush out into the icy snow. No matter where Otto ran, to the ends of the earth, even if he left the planet, Li Mo could find him. He didn't care if he tried to escape.
The snowy plains were vast. If you kept running, you could get out. Li Mo had tested this himself a long, long time ago.
But there was one condition... if his guess was correct, once Otto entered the snowy plains, he wouldn't be able to leave.
Knock, knock, knock!
A few days later, there was a knock on the door. Li Mo heard the noise, went to open it, and found Otto collapsed on the ground.
Half a day passed. Otto awoke from his faint and, upon seeing his surroundings, asked in terror, "You brought me back!?"
Li Mo shook his head. "You came back on your own."
Otto looked around, then left again, unwilling to give up. Indeed, the other party had no reason to lie. If he didn't want him to leave, he wouldn't have gone through such an elaborate, calculated scheme to mess with him. Moreover, according to previous information, after Li Mo entered this state, his human consciousness was faint; he wouldn't have such a malicious sense of humor.
So why couldn't he leave this snowy plain?
A few more days passed. There was another knock on the door. Li Mo repeated his previous actions, bringing the unconscious Otto into the room. This time, however, Li Mo didn't wait for him to wake up. Instead, he reached out his left hand to Otto's face.
"In my memory, I couldn't leave this snowy plain only when I was alone."
"I understand what Beichen meant now. Kiana... is indeed the first Bizarre."
"And you are the me of the future."
"The me of the future will become the Imposter Li Mo, change the past, and save the people that the living me could not."
His voice stopped abruptly. He hadn't made any requests, but as the Corruption in his body erupted and his human consciousness dissipated, Li Mo, without any hindrance, became Otto Apocalypse.
And after becoming Otto Apocalypse, Li Mo's consciousness fell dormant deep within his soul, waiting for a certain trigger to awaken. Now, he had lost his memory and consciousness, completely forgetting what he was supposed to do.
He didn't turn back time to before the Bizarre spread in the Main world, nor did he turn back time to before Kiana became a Bizarre.
Only by becoming Otto could he help himself. But as Otto, all his thoughts and actions were for one thing—to change Kallen Kaslana's destined death.
Li Mo returned to five hundred years ago, to the point in time when Kallen was thirteen.
As Li Mo's consciousness slowly awakened from the chaos, the world before him unfolded in an unbelievable way. The sun should have been gently shining on this peaceful land, but now, the sky was overcast. A dim light enveloped the entire city, illuminating a scene of chaos and despair below.
Li Mo struggled to sit up. Everything around him was both familiar and strange. Otto was incredibly familiar with it, while Li Mo's subconscious found it utterly alien. As his consciousness returned, familiarity overwhelmed the strangeness.
Old houses teetered in the firelight. The once-peaceful city was now a ruin, with thick smoke billowing and obscuring half the sky. The air was filled with the pungent smell of burning and blood—the unique scent of disaster.
Just as Li Mo tried to clear his thoughts, a deafening wail pierced his eardrums—the final cry of humanity in the face of despair.
A woman, clutching an infant, her eyes filled with helplessness and fear, stumbled through the ruins, only to be pierced through by the claws of a Honkai Beast emerging from an alley; an old man, supported by his family, staggered and fell, and as his family tried to help him up, they were trampled into a bloody pulp by a Honkai Beast, blood splattering everywhere; the cries of children rose and fell, their world collapsing overnight, replaced by terror...
"ROAR!!"
Amidst the chaos, a massive body flickered in the firelight, its ferocious face twisted into a bloodthirsty smile. Every roar was accompanied by a deafening boom, nearly snapping the already taut nerves of the fleeing people.
In this era without advanced technology, the Honkai Beasts rampaged as if in an unmanned land, trampling this earth, treating all life as playthings. Wherever they passed, they left only bloodstains and ashes.
Run, run, run...
Fear propelled the thirteen-year-old Li Mo to flee.
However, his path was blocked. A massive Honkai Beast stopped him and lunged without hesitation. In the next second, a chill ran down Li Mo's back. It wasn't cold sweat, but Bizarre Corruption.
Driven by the instinct to resist, Li Mo, with his less-than-proficient right hand, quickly grabbed the Honkai Beast's outstretched arm and slammed it into the ground.
BOOM!
The loud noise immediately attracted the attention of the surrounding Honkai Beasts, and they all rushed toward Li Mo. But he couldn't be bothered with them, because the Honkai Beast beneath him wasn't dead yet.
"I have incredible strength... wherever it came from, I'll deal with this thing first!"
The bewildered Li Mo lifted the Honkai Beast and slammed it into the ground, then lifted it and slammed it again... It was a simple, unadorned attack, nothing fancy, but it dealt a fatal blow to the Honkai Beast.
What Li Mo didn't know was that he was left-handed. If he had used his Bizarre Mei left hand, he could have easily crushed the Honkai Beast in his grasp with a single blow.
"I need to get out of here quickly. There are too many of them. I'll have to fight my way out."
Li Mo swallowed. For some reason, he didn't find these adult Honkai Beasts particularly terrifying, even though he felt he should.
Several hours later, Li Mo had fought his way through, sustaining many injuries from flying debris and collapsing buildings. His arms, thighs, chest, forehead... Li Mo didn't care, as if the wounds were nothing. But after a long time, the wounds hadn't healed.
During one particularly forceful exertion, Li Mo finally felt pain. A wound had torn open badly. He looked down and saw that he was bleeding from all over his body. The danger was not over. Li Mo could only force himself to continue fighting until he encountered the rescuing Kaslana family.
The valiant Francis quickly led his clan to clear out the Honkai Beasts behind Li Mo, then came to where Li Mo was being treated, almost completely wrapped in bandages like a mummy.
"What's your name?" Francis asked.
"My name is..." Li Mo's brain suddenly short-circuited. He paused, then said, "I don't know."
"Amnesia? No, that's not important. You possess great power. If other families saw this power, you might never be as free as you are now. They might exploit your weaknesses and force you to do many things, or they might just capture you for human experiments."
"I want to live."
"Why?"
"I... don't know. I feel like I have to live..."
"Interesting little fellow." Francis extended his rough hand, inviting Li Mo. "Whether you have amnesia or not, join the Kaslanas. I, as the head of the Kaslana family, promise you absolute personal freedom. You saved many people just now. You have the qualities of the Kaslana family. No matter what your identity was before, as long as you follow the rules of the Kaslana family, I will protect you."
"Yeah, yeah! Maybe we can protect the people and fight the Honkai together in the future!" a Kaslana family member behind Francis added with a simple-minded expression.
After a long hesitation, Li Mo accepted Francis's offer and extended his "left hand."
Afterward, Li Mo followed Francis back to the Kaslana territory. There, he met a lively, cute, and mischievous little white-haired girl.
At night, a gentle breeze rustled, tapping at the door and window. Li Mo went to the window, heard the tapping, and opened it in confusion.
A ball of white fur jumped in with a "whoosh."
"Hehe, I knew you weren't asleep. My name is Kallen, Kallen Kaslana!"
"My name is... Otto. It's the name Senior Francis gave me."
"Mm-hm, Otto. Why are you so injured? Did you just come back from the front lines?!"
"Uh... yeah. I woke up and there were a lot of Honkai Beasts around. I took out a few and got injured. But Senior Francis said I seemed to have attracted a lot of Honkai Beasts along the way and saved a lot of people."
"Wow! Really? You're my age and you can already go to the front lines and kill Honkai Beasts? I've been telling those old fogies in the family for so long and they still won't let me go. Hmph! They look down on me!"
Kallen puffed out her cheeks like a little hamster secretly hoarding food, her cheeks round and chubby, looking exceptionally cute and a little childish. Her eyebrows were slightly furrowed, her long lashes trembling, her face full of grievance.
Though she tried to purse her lips into a line, the trace of a smile that escaped at the corners was like a flower blooming unexpectedly in spring, making one want to get closer and investigate.
"Hmph, forget them. So, Otto, can we be friends? I want to go to the front lines with you next time. I want to know if I can become a brave warrior like you!" Kallen's voice had a hint of a playful pout, like a small stream gently lapping against the pebbles on the shore, crisp and pleasant.
Her eyes burned with passion, her clear blue eyes filled with the enthusiasm of a bubbling spring.
Li Mo wanted to refuse. He didn't want to go to the front lines again himself, let alone take his benefactor Francis's daughter there. If anything happened, he would feel guilty for the rest of his life and wouldn't be able to face Francis.
"Please~ Please~" Kallen grabbed Li Mo's hands and swung them back and forth like a swing.
Li Mo suddenly found that he... might not be able to refuse this girl's request.
"Okay."
After saying it, Li Mo began to regret it.
"Yay!"
Kallen, having received a satisfactory answer, danced with joy, jumping up and down.
Li Mo stared blankly at Kallen, a smile unconsciously appearing on his lips.
Maybe... it wasn't so bad.
Three years later.
The sixteen-year-old Li Mo joined the Schicksal Valkyrie forces, standing on the front lines against the Honkai. In this era, women were generally physically stronger than men, so most of the army members were women. He was an exception.
His innate physical strength and combat instincts, requiring no practice to master incredibly proficient fighting techniques, had earned Li Mo numerous great merits in countless battles big and small.
During this time, the Apocalypse family had repeatedly sent people to negotiate with him. Learning that he was not a Kaslana, they wanted him to join the Apocalypse family, offering incredibly rich benefits that most people would find hard to refuse. If Li Mo agreed, he could easily become the vice-captain of the Valkyrie forces, or even get a high position in the Schicksal.
But Li Mo refused. He only wanted to be with Kallen and help her realize her dreams. It was as if that was his sole purpose for being there.
As for things like staying true to his original intentions, fighting to protect the common people, and following the teachings of the Kaslana family, those were all lies. From the very beginning, Li Mo only wanted to help Kallen achieve her ultimate ideal in life.
Saving the world didn't seem like such a big deal. If he and Kallen joined forces, they could surely save the people from the Honkai. Fame and fortune were not important.
As time passed, the economic situation in Europe gradually declined. Not only could the common people not afford to eat, but they also faced the life-threatening danger of the Black Death.
Faced with this situation, the Schicksal and the Apocalypse family joined forces. To divert domestic conflicts, they turned their attention abroad and launched an unjust war of aggression, marching towards the ancient country to the east.
It was called the Eastern Expedition.
Li Mo joined the ranks and, together with Kallen, continuously invaded Shenzhou.
At that time, everyone in the army, from the front-line soldiers to the logistics staff, believed that Schicksal's strongest S-rank Valkyrie, Kallen Kaslana, could easily lead them to victory.
And it was true. In the years of the Eastern Expedition, the Schicksal army never suffered a defeat. Even during brief periods of downturn, as soon as Kallen made a move, the situation would turn in their favor like an avalanche. There were no exceptions.
During these years, Li Mo mostly took care of Kallen's daily life. He didn't have as many opportunities to fight. The people sent by the Apocalypse family kept a close watch on him. Li Mo understood that they didn't want him to gain military glory.
If he wanted to go further, to get more opportunities to climb up, he had to compromise, to give in, to become one of them.
In response, Li Mo chose silent resistance. Since they wouldn't let him achieve military glory, he would just serve in logistics. Anyway, he had no intention of climbing to any position. He just wanted to watch Kallen realize her dreams, that's all.