"I... where is this..."
Chen Ran murmured to himself, a hint of bewilderment in his eyes.
"Deep within?"
He was not unfamiliar with the place he found himself in, as this cage was what he had seen while assisting Vill-V.
His memories were a bit chaotic, but he quickly sorted them out.
He remembered that he and Bronya were in the world bubble of Mu Continent, where they found Seele.
At the same time, a huge serpent had chased after them.
Then...
It seemed he heard Kevin's voice?
Chen Ran took a deep breath and surveyed his surroundings.
The deep within was where Fire Moth held prisoners, and Kalpas and Aponia had both been here.
Essentially, it was a prison for Fire Moth's 'dark side'.
"What does Kevin want me to see?"
Chen Ran glanced around and found that there was not a single person nearby.
He manipulated the fluid to directly destroy the chains here.
This place was quite different from his impression of the deep within; it had been reinforced significantly.
Initially, Vill-V had set up five mechanisms here, stripping away a person's vision, touch, mental perception, thinking ability, and suppressing Honkai.
Leaving those who escaped here to rely solely on their instincts like beasts.
Chen Ran had experienced all of that.
However, unlike Vill-V at that time, Chen Ran had a system.
Yet even so, he knew he had not experienced the full power of the deep within.
After all, the complete deep within was governed by Aponia's laws.
He pushed those thoughts aside.
Just as he had just stepped out from the entrance of the deep within, the entire Fire Moth base suddenly blared alarms.
Numerous autonomous robots raised machine guns at Chen Ran.
At that moment, these autonomous robots suddenly malfunctioned.
A glimmer of cold light flashed, and Chen Ran saw the newcomer.
It was Elysia.
Elysia smiled brightly: "Oh dear, you've only been imprisoned for a day, and you can't stay still. I suppose I have to agree, right?"
The girl wore a pink and white dress and said, "So, what should I do?"
Chen Ran: "Uh…"
A memory began to flicker, coursing through his consciousness.
Chen Ran knew this was something that happened to 'future him'. And the agreement Elysia mentioned referred to the Stigmata terminal.
He suppressed his surprise and asked, "Are Kevin and the others already on the moon?"
"They are about to set off."
"Then I understand."
The memory guided him on what to do.
Chen Ran walked with Elysia through the apocalyptic Fire Moth.
There were few traces of people left here, and many autonomous robots were patrolling.
Project Stigma, Ark Plan, Project EMBER... a series of plans required manpower, and MEI had become the sole leader in the apocalypse.
Elysia had someone cancel Chen Ran's imprisonment permissions, and he took her to the former first research institute.
"Senior Chen Ran."
Klein's voice was somewhat low: "The doctor was looking for you. Where have you been?"
"Sorry, I was delayed by some matters."
Nuwa and Fuxi were not here, and Chen Ran did not care where they had gone.
"Bia, I need to trouble you with something."
"Okay."
Bia did not ask any questions.
Before Chen Ran left, Klein suddenly spoke: "Senior, will you come back?"
"I will," he said.
Walking through the corridors of Fire Moth, memories of the future became increasingly clear in Chen Ran's mind.
In the apocalypse, humanity still retained the vast majority of places, except for the fall of Mu Continent, holding an absolute advantage.
The establishment of the War God system forcefully repelled multiple Herrschers, eliminating many Major Honkai Eruptions invisibly. The Universal Connection made the Herrscher of Sentience and Herrscher of Corruption unable to hide.
The Moonlight Throne was proven to have the ability to decompose Honkai, and its NUEXS system could theoretically shatter the Herrscher Core.
Humanity held unprecedented advantages.
Until Finality was about to descend.
Unlike the twelve Herrschers that appeared before, the arrival of Finality only brought a suffocating despair.
And beside him, Elysia had already manipulated the authority of fate, unlocking the shackles of the next generation Herrscher.
"This truly is a despairing era."
Chen Ran couldn't help but look at Elysia.
Elysia's smile remained as bright as ever.
"Indeed, but it is also filled with hope, isn't it?"
The two walked for an unknown amount of time before finally arriving at the location of the Stigmata terminal.
It was a massive building that Chen Ran had seen on the moon.
And through Honkai's alteration technology, this massive building had become a Honkai Beast akin to a War God.
Chen Ran stepped inside, where an internal sleeping pod was presented.
This was prepared for Elysia.
"Well then, we'll see each other next time."
"Mm."
Elysia lay down, and Chen Ran took a deep breath as he placed Bia in the core.
"Bia."
He caressed the doll's cheek, and the doll looked back at him with her eyes.
The deep blue pupils seemed to express some emotion that was hard to articulate, but in the end, it turned into a sentence: "I will definitely complete the task."
"Mm."
Chen Ran's eyes slightly widened, and then he felt a bit empty inside.
He was not prepared for the separation.
But before him...
As the device slowly activated, Chen Ran exited the massive building.
He turned around and saw a man standing not far from him.
"Phew, what should I say? Long time no see, Kevin."
…
…
At the same time.
"Big Sister Bronya, where are we?"
"I can guess a little, but Chen Ran is missing."
Fire Moth, resting area.
Seele and Bronya were here, watching everyone come and go.
A variety of goods were still being sold here, even at an enticing discount of one-tenth, or free drinks.
But no one lingered here.
Everyone moved about with gloomy expressions, treating them as people from outside the world.
To be precise, they indeed were people from outside the world.
At that moment, a voice called out to them. "Who are you? I've never seen you before?"
"Fu Hua?"
Bronya's eyes widened slightly in surprise as she saw Hua wearing Fire Moth's armor, her expression serious.
"Fu Hua? Sorry, I'm Hua."
She said, "Where are you from, and which department do you belong to?"
Seele, feeling a bit timid, instinctively hid behind Bronya.
Bronya paused and said, "I'm Bronya, and this is my Little Sister Seele. We have some connections with Chen Ran."
"Dr. Chen?"
Upon hearing that familiar name, Hua gradually lowered her guard: "Since you know Dr. Chen, why are you here?"
Bronya did not answer directly but asked, "Can you help me contact him? I got separated from him."
"Forgive my boldness, but what is your relationship with him?"
"Cousin." Bronya asserted firmly.
Hua: "…"
"Well, Dr. Chen certainly has quite a few cousins."
A voice, uncertain whether it was a sigh of emotion or a question, emerged. Hua smiled and said, "I'm afraid it's too late now; Dr. Chen should be imprisoned in the deepest part."
"But you don't need to worry; this is just a special circumstance. You can just wait here."
Seele then asked, "So what is happening here?"
"Finality is about to descend upon the moon, and Fire Moth is arranging personnel for evacuation, preparing for the worst."
She did not hide the truth: "There are three shelter centers in this city. I need to head to the moon immediately, so I can't take you with me, but I'll give you the location."
"Finality?"
Upon hearing this name, both Bronya and Seele's expressions changed.
The Stigmata within Seele contained all the memory data of this civilization's era against the Honkai, and naturally, this data included Finality.
The consciousness in her mind often spoke of the terror of Finality. Although most of it was just idle chatter to soothe Seele's emotions, Seele had absorbed some understanding.
As for Bronya, being by Chen Ran's side, she naturally knew of the terror of Finality as well.
In other words, she was witnessing the end of a civilization.
"Bronya wants to participate in this battle."
She looked at Fu Hua, expressing her request.
However, Fu Hua shook her head: "The candidates have already been decided, so I'm sorry."
Bronya was slightly taken aback.
At that moment, Fu Hua handed Bronya a shelter device.
"Well then, let's meet again if we have the chance."
Fu Hua left.
Seele grabbed Bronya's hand and asked, "Are we traveling through time, Big Sister Bronya?"
"What time travel? It's just a database made up of memories." Before Bronya could respond, the voice in her mind chimed in: "This is just a large Stigmata space, silly Seele."
Seele blinked and looked at Bronya.
She saw Bronya calmly say, "Let's go check out other places first."
From her earlier conversation with Hua, she at least had gained something.
This was fifty thousand years ago; perhaps it wasn't the real fifty thousand years ago, but it was still a related data space.
And Chen Ran held a significant position here.
Relying on her identity as 'Chen Ran's cousin,' Bronya found it not exactly like a fish in water, but she could say it was smooth sailing.
However, before she could find a way to the moon, alarms blared throughout Fire Moth.
[Warning, warning, a Honkai incident has occurred in the eastern Pacific.]
[Warning, warning, European countries have reported that airborne viruses are being mutated by the Honkai.]
[Warning, Shenzhou has buildings that have been mutated by the Honkai.]
[...]
Countless warning sounds rang out, leaving Bronya and Seele at a loss.
They hurried to find an exit to the outside and discovered that visible Honkai incidents were increasing.
Just as these Honkai were about to wreak havoc, a beam of laser descended from the sky, directly annihilating its source.
"That is…" Bronya squinted her eyes slightly.
She couldn't see far, so she naturally didn't know that in the Pacific waters near Australia, a massive Honkai Beast stood like a mountain.
As the internal alarm system of Fire Moth issued warnings, the colossal War God began to launch destructive strikes against all sources of Honkai incidents.
Many Honkai Sources were destroyed before they even formed.
This included the Honkai incidents that had formed near the Fire Moth base, all of which were obliterated.
"This is the War God system, a major Honkai Eruption beast used to protect the world. It not only has the ability to quickly respond and eliminate Honkai but can also deal with Herrschers."
"I proposed this; it's not bad, right?"
Bronya looked over and saw a person who looked over ninety percent like Mei walking towards her.
"You are… Dr. MEI?" Her tone carried a hint of uncertainty.
Seele had never seen MEI or Mei, but the Stigmata consciousness within her urged her to keep her distance from this woman.
MEI nodded and said, "Prometheus told me that Fire Moth had two unfamiliar faces, so I came to take a look."
"You two are from the future, right?"
Bronya was slightly taken aback: "How did you know?"
"It's simple; you referred to yourself as Chen Ran's cousin." She teased, "Chen Ran's cousins are basically all from the future; I just can't be sure if you're from the same era."
"Then where are they?"
"They went back."
MEI said casually, "In the history of your era, we have already been destroyed, right?"
Bronya hesitated and nodded.
"Yes."
"Just as I thought."
Even though humanity had expelled twelve Herrschers while preserving the general civilization, and all Honkai incidents were resolved at the first opportunity thanks to the War God, destruction is still destruction; it is a predetermined ending.
It's like an author writing a novel, having already set the story's outline and nodes; only the process of the plot reaching those nodes remains unknown.
Her eyes held no joy or sorrow.
"Chen Ran has been imprisoned in the deepest part."
"Do you want to know why?"
Bronya nodded.
At this moment, the battle outside continued.
Although the War God had destroyed many Honkai Sources, the alarms regarding the Honkai were increasing, and the cacophony was numbing.
MEI said, "Chen Ran and I have both moved towards extremes; he stands on the side of humanity, while I stand on the side of civilization."
"He believes in the miracle of emotional outbursts, but I don't think that will succeed."
"However, the majority supports him. To prevent him from interfering with my plans, I became the evil leader."
MEI spoke lightly about a dazzling spectacle of blades and lights.
"However, it seems that you appearing before me is a reality telling me he is right."
"Five types of parallel arrangements; he comprehended order, I understood existence… never mind, let's not talk about that." MEI paused, suppressing her desire to vent.
She curiously asked, "So can you tell me how many traces of this era exist in your time?"
"A lot."
Bronya did not hide it: "Whether it's Soulium or Divine Key, they all originate from your era."
"Even when Chen Ran mentioned this era to me, I would think about how such a brilliant era would ultimately come to an end."
"Indeed, that's also the question I'm pondering." MEI feigned distress: "How will such a brilliant era ultimately come to an end?"
She led Bronya and Seele to her laboratory, where a massive screen was displaying scenes of the moon.
However, the images here were nothing but a blur.
"The satellite closest to the moon detected Honkai Energy concentrations reaching 10,000hw; all monitoring methods are being interfered with and shielded by the high concentration of Honkai."
In the distorted images, only sporadic fragments flickered.
MEI didn't mind.
At that moment, a voice rang out.
"Doctor, Dr. Mobius is looking for you."
Bronya looked over and found a voice similar to hers.
Before she could ponder, the laboratory door opened, and Mobius walked in gracefully.
"MEI, what on earth are you doing? Why are you carrying out that ridiculous plan?"
"The destruction of civilization is already the end; I'm just planting the seeds of revenge for the world."
MEI looked at Mobius, her expression calm.
Before Bronya could gather more information, a white light extinguished everything.
The data space here vanished.
In its place was a desolate land.
On this land, there were only two people.
One was Chen Ran, whom Bronya knew well, and the other was someone she had never seen before.
However, Bronya vaguely guessed their identity.
"I didn't expect we would meet in this way," Chen Ran said with a hint of emotion.
Kevin paid no attention to Bronya and Seele but spoke to Chen Ran: "You will come to help me, right?"
Chen Ran countered, "Did Elysia help you?"
Kevin did not answer.
Chen Ran said lightly, "I trust Ellie's judgment."
Elysia did not join World Serpent.
This indicated one thing: she also opposed the Project Stigma that was to be executed.
Perhaps future Chen Ran would change his mind, but the current him was a fundamentalist of humanity.
He was much more conservative than Mobius and MEI.
Kevin said lightly, "I understand."
His eyes suddenly turned indifferent, and he seemed to fall into a cold abyss.
The barren land suddenly developed a layer of ice, and Bronya quickly grabbed Seele to avoid it from a distance.
"I have seen the desolation brought by Finality, and I have also witnessed the resurgence of civilization."
"Honkai has its own rules, and humanity naturally has its own foundation."
He looked at Chen Ran and said, "Friend or foe, choose."
Chen Ran sighed slightly: "So why can't we be a bit calmer? I'm not Su; I don't have the intention to lock you in the Sea of Quanta."
"However, I must take these two children away." Chen Ran said quickly, "The Eye of the Abyss's passage is about to close…"
Before he could finish, an ice spear shot directly towards him.
Chen Ran's eyes narrowed slightly: "So it's down to choosing between friends or foes, I really don't know what MEI did to you."
"Or is there a bit of personal grievance involved?"
He manipulated the ideal fluid from beyond the world, shattering all the ice spears before him.
Chen Ran actually understood why Kevin would act this way.
The plan Kevin was about to execute, Chen Ran would not agree to.
So, he took direct action.
Perhaps Su's actions from fifteen hundred years ago made Kevin distrust the so-called 'comrade' relationship; Chen Ran understood.
Thus, he would not hold back.
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