Yellowish dust swirled through the grey, monotonous city—no, ruins.
Michael couldn't quite recall the last ti he was here.
Counting on his fingers, it seed like it really had been two years ago.
After completely quelling the chaos of the Seventh Honkai Eruption, he had returned to this World Bubble, checked the Sea of Quanta infiltration phenonon caused by the repeated transfer of Authority, and then never ca back.
Since then, because his control over Authority had beco increasingly refined, he stopped controlling the space within the World Bubble, allowing it to flow with normal space-ti.
The result was that this city beca even more desolate.
"Cough, cough, cough!"
Klein, Imr, and Rin followed closely behind him. Even though he had erected an Imaginary Barrier, the fine dust carried by the pervasive sandstorm made one's throat tighten just looking at it, prompting involuntary coughs.
Reaching a stone bridge where the terrain opened up and the wind and dust were relentless, Michael suddenly stopped. He gazed at the carvings on the bridge railing, almost worn smooth by the sandstorm.
"If you can't handle it, rest here for a mont."
"Co on, Uncle Michael, this little walk is hardly tiring!" Klein and Imr wisely kept quiet, only the girlish Rin complained nonchalantly.
Michael walked to the edge of the stone bridge, touching the patterns whose original form was barely discernible. He looked at the water flowing beneath the bridge... No, where was the water? It had long dried up, leaving only a riverbed overgrown with moss and aquatic plants.
"You called 'Big Brother' two years ago. Earliest, you called 'Gege'. So only I'm getting older, and you're not, right?"
"Heehee!" Rin flicked the lock of red-dyed hair on her forehead, head held high, chest out, and replied: "You're already an uncle pushing thirty. I'm still an underage little girl. Is there a problem!"
"Where am I pushing thirty!"
"Twenty-three, rounded up is twenty-five. Twenty-five rounded up is thirty!"
"Did your gym teacher teach you math?"
"Master Kalpas taught !"
"..."
If not for saving Michael's face, Klein wouldn't have had to cover his mouth, struggling so hard to hold back laughter. But this didn't stop Imr beside him from nearly rolling on the ground with laughter.
Michael really couldn't win against Rin. He could only sigh dejectedly, his expression growing older, truly resembling an uncle pushing thirty this ti.
He closed his eyes, humd softly, and when he opened them again, the white shirt of the girl before him billowed gently. Seemingly caught off guard by the montary breach in the Imaginary Barrier, she raised her arm to shield herself from the wind.
His vision blurred for a mont.
Sa place, sa girl, sa "sister."
Sa fate.
He wondered how she was faring, drifting in the Sea of Quanta. When would she be willing to return?
"...Hmph." Michael plugged the gap in the Imaginary Barrier caused by his emotional fluctuation, then coughed lightly twice. Imdiately, both Imr and Rin adopted serious expressions.
They had only received transfer orders and followed Michael here out of habitual obedience.
But honestly, neither i nor Michael had told them the purpose of this trip. They didn't even know where this desolate city was. If forced to say, only Rin squinted and looked around, finding it sowhat familiar yet uncertain.
After all, the streets here had suffered considerable damage in several battles, especially the one between Michael and "himself." Most surface buildings had collapsed. It was a miracle this bridge survived; not recognizing it was normal.
In reality, among the three, even the seemingly silliest Rin was quite intelligent beneath her facade. They must have pondered much in secret—since the location was unknown, analyzing the personnel involved in the mission might offer clues about the task itself.
Klein, researcher.
Imr, a jack-of-all-trades, sent wherever needed, except for research.
Rin, responsible for being cute.
Okay, completely clueless.
It wasn't that they absolutely needed to know the mission objective beforehand, but people generally prefer having so certainty.
But judging by Michael's expression, the ti to reveal the answer had finally arrived.
"First, let tell you a truth—this place isn't the world you know, but a World Bubble within the Sea of Quanta. After experiencing the Ninth Honkai Eruption, I believe you should be familiar with these two terms."
Klein and Imr were naturally familiar; only Rin was completely lost.
Michael then rembered that unlike Klein and Imr, who had higher clearance, Rin wasn't even officially part of Fire Moth and naturally wouldn't know about World Bubbles.
Fortunately, Klein noticed the awkwardness and leaned close to Rin's ear, whispering explanations, saving Michael considerable effort.
"Sea of Quanta? World Bubble?" Imr mumbled the terms twice, then suddenly slapped his forehead, excited: "Captain Michael, are you hoping we can use this World Bubble as a forward base to search for the whereabouts of the Mu Continent?"
He instantly pieced everything together—Klein provides technical support and interfacing, he carries out the actual search mission, and Rin... heard she learned a lot of psychology from Aponia and Su, and previously enjoyed counseling those "people" at the sanatorium... Her presence was perhaps to prevent psychological issues arising from long, tedious missions.
His thoughts, influenced by the Eighth Herrscher's Authority, were transmitted perfectly into Michael's mind. Michael, who was still racking his brain for an excuse, instantly let out a long sigh of relief and chose to adopt Imr's idea wholesale—
He wasn't a certain blonde; he naturally didn't want, nor was willing, to have the kind of "showdown" he had with i with everyone.
Again, it wasn't about frankness or trust. Even looking back at Seele's tragedy now, it couldn't be solely blad on Michael's lack of frankness.
Sorry, standing here, Michael found it truly hard not to recall Seele's matter.
His concealnt did negatively affect Seele, possibly even causing so psychological trauma. But if he had directly told her then that she would beco the Sixth Herrscher, Seele would certainly understand his decision, but how would she face the Elysia and i of this world?
Given Seele's personality, blaming herself for "things yet to happen" wasn't impossible.
Moreover, whether Seele returned to the real world due to fluctuations in the Sea of Quanta, the awakening of her own Stigmata power, or a combination of both, could no longer be verified, nor was there a need to.
However, if given another choice, Michael would definitely make the opposite decision. But that decision would be based on the outco.
In the current situation, explaining "knowing a possible future" required significant effort. His conversation with i felt relatively easy mainly because i did most of the talking, voicing her own speculations.
And she was asured, focusing on the key points. She cared only about the results, not why Michael knew.
But with others...
After finally explaining the mission, the wind and dust surprisingly began to settle.
Michael turned abruptly. A pink light appeared on the horizon. With excellent eyesight, one might discern it was a pink rose.
Just like two years ago, she waited for him here.
Her voice arrived before her figure—
"Hiii~ Long ti no see! Did you miss ? Wow, so many people ca this ti!"
Klein, Imr, and Rin's gazes instantly filled with confusion.
---||---
The spacious underground base buzzed with activity again. It already held enough supplies to sustain tens of thousands for a century, so survival wasn't a concern. Ely knew Michael probably had things to discuss with i, so she used the excuse of preparing a welco banquet to both trick and drag the three newcors, whose duration of stay was uncertain, away.
i didn't co out to greet the guests. Michael guessed she probably felt there was plenty of ti later and left such matters to the more adept Ely.
Besides, she probably didn't want to be called "Auntie" and "Big Sis" by Rin, like Michael and Ely were.
However, for Michael, facing i twice within less than two hours, and "different" is at that, induced a sense of temporal dislocation.
"Three people ca this ti?"
Michael knew i had long noticed the situation outside through surveillance. So he didn't rush to reply, waiting for i to continue.
"Which Herrscher number?" Although phrased as a question, her voice was sowhat flat.
"The Ninth just ended. These are two individuals of the Tenth Herrscher, and the Twelfth Herrscher." Feeling sowhat weary, Michael prepared to explain again. But for so reason, i didn't press further on this matter. As she fell silent, the atmosphere grew slightly awkward.
"Ahem! This ti, besides bringing these three people over, I have two other matters."
"Speak." i's reluctance to utter an extra word made Michael mistakenly think he had done sothing wrong.
Speaking of which, leaving this World Bubble idle for two years really wasn't right. Facing the sa faces daily, the sa cold walls, the sa Protheus who couldn't be considered truly alive despite its human emotion module, i... this i in the World Bubble's ntal state was sowhat concerning...
But it wasn't until he walked closer that he realized i was simply staring blankly at a pile of formulas.
In fact, she even apologized proactively to Michael, "Ah—sorry, I got lost in thought."
Michael shook his head and placed a small, pocket-watch-like device on the table before her.
"This is..." i couldn't help but put down her work, curiously picking up the "pocket watch" and examining it under the light for a long ti.
Exquisite workmanship. But to think she'd actually mistake it for a real pocket watch would be too insulting to i's intelligence.
Apologizing silently in his heart, Michael shalessly plagiarized a na: "I call it Gnus. It's the masterpiece of your counterpart in the real world, primarily used for communication within the Sea of Quanta."
"Oh?" i raised an eyebrow, feeling both excited and disappointed.
She suddenly reached out and deleted all the formulas Michael hadn't even seen yet. Protheus was about to say sothing but was muted by her.
"What's wrong?" Michael instinctively felt sothing was odd, but couldn't pinpoint what.
"Nothing, just wanted to properly experience it... What a pity. If possible, I really wanted to sit down and have a good chat with my other self."
Two is sitting together chatting?
Michael tilted his head. His limited imagination failed to simulate such a state.
However, the image of two is, one holding scrambled eggs with tomatoes, the other a plate of sushi, sandwiching Kevin between them, instantly flashed through his mind.
"Pfft... Hnhnhn... Hehehe... Hahahahaha!"
"What are you laughing at?" i, caught off guard, was startled, then narrowed her eyes slightly, asking nonchalantly.
"i... No, nothing. Just thought of sothing happy."
They bantered for a couple of sentences before returning to business.
"Actually, according to i, er, that i, this little thing also has the ability to maintain the user's unitarity to so extent, aiding travel in the Sea of Quanta. But I don't need that, nor have I done any experints. You could try it out if you have ti."
After Michael finished speaking, he noticed i's expression grew even stranger.
It seed to hold both lancholy and unwillingness, yet also anticipation and excitent.
Michael couldn't help but marvel that, compared to the i before him, the one in the real world was better at hiding her emotions.
It was also sowhat strange. Michael had assud this i in the World Bubble, having experienced life and death separation with Kevin, would be more mature than her real-world counterpart. Of course, this wasn't to say one was more childish, just relatively speaking.
But thinking carefully, growth is really about patching up one's weaknesses. So people cannot accept or face life and death separations, thus often achieving overnight growth in such situations.
While others, rather than facing it, need tempering through experience.
From this perspective, the i who had governed Fire Moth and guided humanity's destiny for four years was naturally closer to the image of i in Michael's mory.
He answered his own questions this way, unknowingly forgetting what sparked the confusion in the first place.
And i, seemingly noticing her own lapse, subtly steered the conversation in another direction—
"You said earlier there were two matters. One was giving this Gnus. What's the other one?"
From i's perspective, Michael's expression suddenly turned sorrowful, but vanished without a trace in an instant.
Just like before i in the real world, Michael waved his hand, and a stack of docunts appeared. He handed it to i.
"This is again..."
"There's a plan concerning the retreat path for our civilization. Although the proposals from Mobius and Aponia... oh, you might not know Aponia yet. Anyway, I agree with their plans, but I'm not entirely satisfied—
"I don't wish for fifty thousand years of struggle to end up as just a string of data, nor do I want a brilliant civilization to survive only in the mories of a few dozen people. I want to combine their plans with this World Bubble, so that data... is no longer just data. Of course, you and Elysia are the masters of this world; I need your consent first."
i was stunned by his words. As if suddenly rembering sothing, she looked down at the cover page of the plan—Project Elysian Realm.
"Of course, I hope even more for your help. With our resources and ti over there, mainly ti, there's not enough left to make more choices for this plan."
Tap— i's finger tapped lightly on the desk—"Understood. Leave it to ."
Michael didn't expect her to agree so readily. He couldn't help leaning forward, pushing his luck: "Ahem! That... the previous Ninth Honkai Eruption had so minor issues. Could you help out one more ti?"
"Fine." i helplessly rested her forehead in her hand.
"Michael, two years' ti... we've really grown distant, haven't we."
"..." Was this distance truly just brought by ti?
---||---
"Look! Dumplings I made myself... Er, is that the right na? Anyway, it's a delicacy from Hua's hotown."
Michael, forced to stay for dinner, looked awkwardly at the rosebud-shaped dumplings in his bowl, feeling sothing wasn't quite right...
It wasn't the shape of the dumplings... not exactly strange, just very... Elysia-style.
The real problem was—
"Elysia, you... shouldn't know Hua, right?"
In this world without Michael, everything should have largely unfolded according to the future he knew.
In that case, Hua and Ely shouldn't have had much interaction before the Tenth Honkai Eruption, whether they even knew each other was debatable.
But it wasn't absolute. After all, the ending of this World Bubble had already deviated from that future, so minor deviations in the process were plausible.
Not to ntion, Hua, as an "old antique" who joined Fire Moth during the Third Honkai Eruption, might have crossed paths with Ely before becoming a MANTIS.
Before Ely could explain, Michael had already rationalized a plausible answer.
After all, no matter what, she was Elysia. That na itself ant many things.
At the very least, it ant complete trust, both given and received.
"Oh my! You noticed such a small detail, truly worthy of the First Herrscher! Actually, Hua and I t a few tis after the Third Honkai Eruption. It's just that she probably never realized... I was actually keeping an eye on her all along." Elysia's expression held a hint of regret, but she quickly brightened up: "Eat up! No! Quick, guess what filling is inside!"
Did he even need to guess?
Michael chuckled inwardly. The others at the table pretended to be engrossed in their food, but their eyes were secretly fixed on this side.
"Mmm!" Rin tremblingly picked up a dumpling with her pointed chopsticks. She opened her mouth, trying to gauge its size for a long ti. Unfortunately, the "flower" Ely wrapped perfectly followed a one-to-one scale replica principle. She couldn't swallow it whole as usual. She could only take a small bite from the corner, then her eyes lit up. She shot Michael a conspiratorial look, trying to secretly mouth the answer.
A pair of slightly cool hands quickly covered Michael's eyes.
"Hmph hmph! Trying to cheat right in front of ? Michael, hurry up and guess! Guess, guess, guess!"
Michael was helpless against her. He had originally planned to use his sense of sll to answer, but he couldn't detect any obvious filling scent.
He was about to randomly pick a lucky winner from "pork and scallion," "corn and pork," "cabbage and pork," "celery and pork," "shepherd's purse and pork," "carrot and pork," or beef/lamb to bluff his way through, but suddenly had an idea and changed his answer: "What's wrapped inside is definitely Elysia's true heart!"
Direct attack!
"Eh... Eh? Eh!" Ely cried out three tis, each louder than the last.
Then she quickly covered her cheeks, shaking her head frantically while squealing shyly: "Ahhhhhhh! Is this the current Michael? Your answer is way too foul!"
"Um... Ely, no need to be this excited..."
Honestly, the reason Michael could give such a near-perfect answer was mainly because he had already been trained by the Ely of the real world...
Mainly because he understood the real-world Ely so well that it was easy to grasp this world's Elysia's thoughts.
So he himself couldn't quite tell, no, he knew very well, the object of the confession mixed into his words was definitely not the Elysia before him.
What he understood even less was how he should face this Ely before him.
She truly was Elysia, yet she wasn't the Elysia.
In existing human philosophy, at least among those Michael knew, there was no concept to describe this problem.
After all, in a world without Honkai, the phenonon of two people being both the sa individual and two different individuals simply wouldn't occur.
Perhaps psychology had addressed such questions; Michael planned to look into it when he had ti.
Michael frowned, expertly picking up the flower bud before him with his chopsticks and popping it into his mouth.
"Mmph? Mmm..."
He finally understood why Rin looked like she wanted to say sothing but couldn't.
And finally understood why even his nose couldn't detect the filling's scent.
Because the filling inside the dumpling was... another dumpling...
Simply put... this wasn't a dumpling, but a stead bun.
Turning his head, he saw Elysia already doubled over with laughter, spitting out half a mouthful of rice.
Michael could only comfort himself with Ah Q's spiritual victory thod—Never mind, in a way, I still ate Ely's stead bun.
The so-called banquet ended quickly. Michael hadn't given advance notice, so Ely's preparations were rushed.
Michael left soon after, not staying long. He seed sowhat reluctant, yet also... eager to escape.
"My! Still working overti so late, i. You're working too hard!"
i didn't speak. The Gnus rested on the table before her, but her eyes were fixed on the wall clock.
"Oh dear, Michael seems a bit confused between and !"
"I think he's much clearer now than when he first arrived in this World Bubble. At least, faced with that choice again, he'd probably kill both you and the Sixth Herrscher without hesitation."
"Wow! That sounds scary! But you still don't understand Michael well enough, i. No matter what, he would never lay a hand on Elysia!"
i shook her head noncommittally.
The wall clock ticked steadily. In the extrely silent and oppressive atmosphere, the bright red ti digits finally all reset to zero—
[00:00:00]
Bzzzt... Bzzzt...
Sounds like electrical current suddenly emanated from the Gnus on the table.
"Hello?"
A voice utterly familiar to i sounded: "We finally et, my other self."
i smiled faintly: "Yes. Communicating through quantum entanglent via dreams was too tiring and unstable. But you're still amazing. I'm still in the theoretical verification stage, yet you've already built the device."
"After all, my Protheus... bzzzt..."
The Gnus's communication was suddenly interrupted. When it reconnected, accompanied by i's sigh, a cheerful voice rang out from the device:
"Hiii~ Long ti no see—eh, is that the right way to say it? Oh... huh? Should I say it like this? Oh oh!
"Ta-da! We finally et! My other self! The other i!"
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