Since Evan and Kiana hadn't talked about what they experienced in the virtual reality, Theresa didn't know the specific developments, only harboring some guesses.
They might have experienced some maliciously frightening scene—perhaps bloody slaughter, perhaps desperate loneliness, or perhaps something else—which was why they behaved strangely after leaving the virtual reality.
Theresa worried that Evan and Kiana might develop psychological problems, especially Evan.
Kiana was okay; she seemed to have learned something in the virtual reality. Even facing ordinary course knowledge, she showed diligence and effort different from before. But Evan, apart from not chatting with everyone as usual after eating and hurriedly returning to his residence, seemed to have no abnormalities. But this was precisely the biggest abnormality.
Theresa had already learned some things about the time before the Third Honkai Eruption from Raiden Mei and Kiana. At that time, Evan also behaved normally, yet various signs later indicated that he had been training his body in a way that would make ordinary people collapse. So, one couldn't judge Evan by appearances.
In Theresa's view, Evan must have encountered something special, which was why she tried to probe the situation from Grandpa Otto.
Hearing Otto's question at this moment, Theresa fell silent for a brief while, then nodded.
"Yes, I went to Schicksal's historical database to check some information."
Theresa had already asked Bronya before. Although Bronya's hacking skills could quickly breach Schicksal's historical database, she couldn't do it without leaving a trace. Sooner or later, Schicksal's technical staff would discover this incident. Since it was destined to be exposed, Theresa decided to just say it proactively, and incidentally take the blame herself.
Theresa's response made Otto raise an eyebrow.
Besides himself, who possessed the highest authority, only those with the Kaslana family bloodline could enter that special space hidden in the database. Perhaps, as he suspected, that story existing deep in memory—that space long shelved as a failed product—had been discovered by someone other than himself.
But compared to Theresa, Otto was more willing to believe that Kiana had broken in.
After all, the timing was too coincidental. According to the information he knew, Kiana and the other survivors from Nagazora City seemed to have just entered St. Freya Academy not long ago.
This was something Otto hadn't anticipated, something beyond his original plan.
It was a pleasant surprise.
If Kiana could witness that past history, her will should become firmer, right? In the future, there would also be a greater probability for his plan to be successfully executed—mastering the power of a Herrscher with a human body.
Thinking of this, Otto revealed a faint smile.
"I didn't set any bad things in the historical database. You don't need to worry. Even if you accidentally destroyed something while witnessing history, it's the same. After all, everything will reset. It's all just data set in advance that won't change."
Seeing that Otto didn't seem to be lying, Theresa secretly breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed she had worried too much.
In any case, at least she had taken the blame for Evan, Kiana, and Bronya. It wasn't a wasted effort. If Grandpa Otto knew that Bronya had hacked into Schicksal's database, he might hurt her.
Seeing Theresa disconnect the communication, Otto leaned back in his chair and pondered for a moment. Then he operated his terminal device for a while and entered Schicksal's historical database.
The virtual reality regarding the history of Kallen Kaslana's death was created by a Schicksal technician commissioned by Otto decades ago.
This was a history Otto didn't want to make public, and hadn't made public. He had it recreated merely to revisit past memories.
Otto didn't think his plan back then—releasing Honkai Beasts to create chaos and taking the opportunity to rescue Kallen—was wrong. The reason for failure was simply forgetting to consider Kallen's personality. Kallen's death pained him, even drove him to madness. But after that virtual reality was completed, Otto, witnessing that history from a bystander's perspective time and again, came to an important conclusion.
The main culprits for Kallen's death were naturally the Schicksal higher-ups of that time, who had since been liquidated by him one by one, their bones ground to dust. But a part of it was also due to his own mistake—miscalculating Kallen's personality.
After that, when formulating various plans, Otto would consider more. This was also the reason why, for hundreds of years, even though his true goal was never to fight the Honkai or protect humanity, he still hadn't been exposed.
Those who discovered a clue were disposed of by Otto before they could explore further.
However, there were still some small mistakes.
Just like back then, when Otto planned to secretly execute the technician who knew the true history and created this virtual reality, she unexpectedly escaped. Afterward, a series of events occurred, and that technician, along with some other "ants," established Anti-Entropy.
Otto had originally intended for the virtual reality to be interactive, considering it a way to slightly make up for past regrets in this false manner. The result was very weird: he could only enter at a fixed point in time, briefly replacing his younger self.
Otto was slapped by Kallen in the virtual reality a total of twelve times. It hurt. He wanted to explain further, even modify his plan to avoid being treated like this. But that damned technician seemed to have made certain arrangements in advance. The time Otto could truly enter the virtual reality was only the five seconds of getting slapped; afterward, he would be forcibly kicked out to be a bystander.
If not for the fact that this virtual reality indeed perfectly restored history and allowed him to see Kallen, who was no different from his memory, many years later, Otto would have deleted this failed product long ago.
Otto recalled the past for a bit, then operated his terminal with the highest authority. A moment later, discovering that the display wasn't the expected prompt text, the Overseer frowned deeply.
"Failed to search for the designated target? was that virtual reality destroyed... Kiana, what exactly did you do? Or did Sirin awaken ahead of time? It seems I need to send someone to further understand the situation. That fellow Fu Hua only transmits intelligence regarding Kiana's status; she has learned a cunning she shouldn't have."
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