After speaking, the Doctor didn't linger and turned to leave.
Once the Doctor was gone, the guards outside the cell reappeared, but they all kept their distance. Only the weapons held at the ready proved that they weren't slacking, but rather acting out of fear.
*A Herrscher... is it really that terrifying?* Ming Yu looked at his own hands, studying them for a long time, but still found nothing special.
*I'm probably a fake Herrscher,* Ming Yu thought with a self-deprecating smile. Those soldiers were already so strong; something that even they feared couldn't be simple, yet he couldn't even escape a prison cell.
In this place, Ming Yu could clearly sense the fear and hatred from the soldiers.
They always stared at him intently. Any movement he made would make them tense up immediately, their weapons aimed tightly at him. Even the food they brought was crude, just hard, dry bread that was difficult to swallow, as if they were afraid that if he ate well, he would get out and kill them.
Confined in the cell, Ming Yu could do nothing, and there was nothing he could do, but a strange sense of urgency always lingered in his heart. He could feel that outside this cell, someone was waiting for him, waiting for him to come back.
He couldn't remember who it was, but he knew that person was very important to him, more important than his own life!
Ming Yu begged the guards, but no one paid him any mind. Only that Doctor would occasionally speak with him.
At first, the Doctor came every day, but each fruitless visit wore down her patience. Gradually, even she stopped paying attention to Ming Yu.
Every time the Doctor visited, Ming Yu's treatment would improve slightly. Though it wasn't much, it was the only thing left here to be happy about. After the Doctor disappeared, his treatment deteriorated again, barely enough to keep him alive.
Alone in this place, he didn't know the meaning of his life. Everyone here hated him, wishing he were dead. The physical pain grew day by day until he became completely numb.
If he didn't know someone was waiting for him outside, and that he had a promise to keep, perhaps he would have chosen to die long ago.
Although Ming Yu chose to live on, the soldiers who hated him would not allow it. in their eyes, a Herrscher was the natural enemy of humanity and would sooner or later set out to destroy it. This had nothing to do with Ming Yu's choices, nor whether he was inherently good or evil.
Humans and Herrschers were, in the end, irreconcilable existences!
They made a decision: kill Ming Yu!
Rather than live in daily fear of a Herrscher, afraid of when he might erupt, it was better to kill him while he was weak. This way, they might even save humanity from the threat of the Honkai. And they themselves would become the heroes who saved mankind!
With this noble goal in mind, they opened the door to his cell.
Watching the fully armed soldiers file in, Ming Yu wearily opened his eyes and said weakly, "Are you... here to... kill me?"
"You are a Herrscher. We are human," the leader said firmly.
Although they didn't say it outright, Ming Yu understood their meaning and the killing intent in their words.
But he didn't want to die! He still had someone to see, an unfinished promise to keep. He couldn't die here!
Ming Yu wanted to escape, but the long-term abuse had drained all the strength from his body. His struggles were futile.
Seeing Ming Yu's unwillingness to give up, the leader didn't hesitate. He immediately pulled the trigger, and a bullet whistled through Ming Yu's heart.
Seeing their leader fire, the others opened fire as well, volley after volley of bullets propelled by gunpowder into Ming Yu's body.
For a moment, the only sound in the cell was the *rat-tat-tat* of gunfire.
When everyone had emptied their magazines, the cell fell silent again.
Looking at Ming Yu's mangled remains, the men cheered.
They had defeated another Herrscher. They had saved humanity. They were heroes!
Although his physical body was destroyed, Ming Yu's consciousness did not disappear. In his eyes, the entire space had frozen. Whether it was his own tattered remains or the cheering crowd, everything was frozen in time.
His body seemed to have appeared in another, overlapping space, and a tachi suddenly materialized in his hand. Looking at the cheering people in the cell, those who were celebrating because they had killed him, a voice screamed in his heart: "Kill them! Kill them!"
He slowly raised the tachi, aiming it at the excited crowd, at their joyous smiles. He could clearly feel the happiness in their hearts, a happiness brought about by his death.
Boundless hatred rose in his heart, and that voice grew clearer, urging him on: "Kill them!"
"Kill... them?" Ming Yu murmured. To him, it seemed like a very simple and easy thing to do. Time was frozen here; he could calmly plunge his blade into their hearts, ending their sinful lives.
There seemed to be no need for hesitation. After all, they were the ones who tried to kill him first.
Suddenly, Ming Yu smiled faintly, tossed the blade aside, and said, "Higokumaru, is this your choice?"
"You knew all along?" A black fox shadow abruptly appeared in front of Ming Yu and asked coldly.
Ming Yu smiled but didn't answer. He had known this story for a long time, but only by experiencing it firsthand could he truly understand Higokumaru's fifty-thousand-year-old hatred.
Seeing Ming Yu's reaction, Higokumaru naturally took it as mockery. She shrieked, "Was I wrong? I never did anything wrong, so what right did they have to treat me like that! What right!"
As Higokumaru screamed, the entire space began to tremble violently, swaying as if it would collapse at any moment.
Hearing Higokumaru's words, Ming Yu's expression darkened as well. He sighed, "You're right, you did nothing wrong."
After a pause, Ming Yu continued, "But what wrong did they do? Living day after day in fear, waiting for you to reveal your Herrscher side, waiting for death to arrive?"
"In this world, how many things can be neatly divided into right and wrong?" Ming Yu looked at Higokumaru, his eyes filled with seriousness. "Higokumaru, the people who killed you are already dead. Even you have existed for fifty thousand years. What hatred can't be let go of?"
"You want me to lay down my weapon and be killed by humans again!?" Higokumaru roared, her words filled with suspicion and hatred.
"No, that won't happen. This time, no one will hurt you again," Ming Yu said, stroking Higokumaru's head comfortingly.
In this space, he had personally experienced this girl's sorrow, pain, and despair, as well as the helplessness of having the whole world as her enemy. Even though she had cooperated fully, dropping all her defenses and resistance, she still couldn't escape a tragic end.
"It's all in the past. In this era, not everyone will hurt you just because you are a Herrscher, just like Kallen and Yae Sakura. Even Herrschers have the right to live." Ming Yu gently hugged the fox in front of him and said, word by word, "I promise you, I will absolutely, absolutely not let anyone hurt you again!"