Collapse Iron: Cosplaying the Near-Death Star, but with a full destiny.

Hoshi opened his mouth, wanting to brush it off with his usual joking remarks.

For example, "I am contemplating the ultimate mysteries of the universe" or "I am deciding whether to have Fairy Happy Tea or soda soy milk tonight."

But when she met Shang Xing's earnest and somewhat stubborn eyes, she swallowed back the words that were about to come out.

She put down her teacup, and the cooled tea created a murky ripple in the cup.

"star."

Hoshino's voice was low as she turned to look out the window.

The sky above Luofu was a clear, deep blue, with several starships streaking across the horizon, leaving long trails of flame, creating a scene of peace and tranquility.

Do you believe... that memories can lie?

"Memory?" Xing frowned.

"There's nothing wrong with my body. These hands are perfectly fine; I could kill ten bountiful monsters with a single punch right now."

Mohoshi raised his right hand and clenched his fist tightly.

She then released her hand and gently touched her temple with her fingertips.

"Here's the problem."

She took a deep breath, as if to exhale the stale air that had been accumulating in her chest for a long time.

"These past few days, whenever I have a moment of free time, or when I see certain specific images, some... memories that I shouldn't have come to mind."

"Shouldn't I have it?" Xing was even more confused.

"Are you talking about before time travel? Or in the future?"

"No."

Hoshi shook her head. Her gaze became somewhat profound, as if she were seeing through the scene before her to another dimension of purgatory.

"That's... a memory of the 'disaster'."

"A few words."

She stretched out her finger, dipped it in the remaining tea in the cup, and slowly wrote a few words on the dark brown wooden table.

Her movements were slow, each stroke carrying immense weight, and her fingertips even left shallow scratches on the wood due to excessive force.

衃.

衡

骾.

nightmare.

After those four characters were written, a chilling aura seemed to instantly envelop the desktop.

These words are obscure and ancient, each one exuding a nauseatingly bloody aura.

"衃 (pēi), congealed bad blood."

"臡 (ní) means meat sauce with bones."

"骾 (gěng) means a fish bone stuck in the throat."

"Nightmare (yǎn) means being held down by a ghost or monster in a dream."

Hoshi whispered the meaning of these words.

Her voice was eerily calm, completely flat, as if she were reciting some ancient eulogy.

"These things...fill my mind."

"They are not words, they are images."

"I saw the sky turn into congealed rotten blood, the earth into a swamp of meat paste, and countless living beings like fish bones stuck in their throats, unable to spit them out or swallow them, struggling to suffocate."

She paused for a moment, then her fingers trembled as she wrote the last two words.

Disaster.

"When a person dies, they become a ghost; when a ghost dies, it becomes a demon."

"This is a catastrophe that is deeper than death and more complete than oblivion."

Hoshi closed her eyes and leaned back in her chair.

"In those fragments of memory, the whole world was red. Not the red of flames, but that... fresh, flowing, warm blood red. The sky, the clouds, even the air were dyed that color."

"And beneath that blood-red sky..."

She opened her eyes, her pupils slightly contracting.

"I saw that thing that the Black Swan had seen deep in my memory before."

"That...corpse with three heads, its body made of piled-up flesh and blood."

The second floor of the teahouse fell into a deathly silence.

The previously noisy voices seemed to have faded away.

Xing frowned deeply as she looked at the few water stains on the table that were gradually drying.

She did not doubt Hoshino's words.

As her companion, she knew Hoshino all too well.

This guy, who usually seems carefree, is actually more sensitive than anyone else.

Moreover, these words... are too specific.

It's too "fairy ship".

This habit of using obscure and ancient characters to describe disasters and physical conditions does not belong to the Interstellar Peace Corporation, nor to the industrial civilization of Belloberg.

This is clearly a recording method that only appears in the ancient books of the Immortal Boat Alliance.

"衃, 臡, 骾, 魇..."

Xing repeated it in a low voice.

"These words do sound like some kind of...ancient record."

She looked up and tapped her fingers lightly on the table.

"Dohoshi, do you think this is related to your previous changes to the timeline?"

Hoshi gave a wry smile.

"I have no idea."

"But I have a gut feeling."

She turned to look at the seemingly calm sky outside the window.

"That butterfly... has already flapped its wings."

She has changed so much.

The robin she remembered was not dead, nor was Sunday.

Then came reality: Bai Heng hadn't died, and Jing Liu's demonic body had been healed.

The blade's lifespan was also extended by itself.

I am the End, the [End] Star God.

So much has changed.

Even though this "End" Star God sometimes seems fake, at least it's something I can control at any time.

Is fate constant?

If fate is a river, and she forcibly changes its course, where will the dammed floodwaters flow?

Those tragedies that should have happened, those lives that should have been lost—will the karmic consequences they carry accumulate and eventually erupt at some weak point, unleashing an even more terrifying catastrophe…?

"Disaster".

Once this thought appeared, it grew wildly in Hoshino's heart like weeds.

"This may be... the world's backlash."

She murmured to herself.

Seeing her worried expression, Xing suddenly reached out and slapped Xing on the shoulder.

"Snapped!"

The sharp sound startled Hoshino and also dispelled much of the somber atmosphere.

Don't scare yourself.

Xing stood up and straightened his clothes.

"Now that we have these clues in mind, let's investigate."

"Where is this? This is the Luofu Immortal Ship."

"One of the oldest civilizations in the universe with the most complete historical record." (Not the oldest.)

Xing pointed in the direction of the Shence Mansion, and then in the direction of the Grand Diviner's Office.

"Since these words are so similar to the style of the Immortal Boat, there must be records in the Taibu Si's database or the Shence Mansion's files."

Instead of trying to solve riddles here, why not just go and look up the answers in the book?

"Walk."

Xing grabbed Xing's wrist. The force was firm and brooked no refusal.

"Let's go and find out the ancestors of this 'disaster' for eighteen generations."

Mohoshi paused for a moment, feeling the pulling force on his wrist.

As she watched Xing's retreating figure, her previously flustered heart miraculously calmed down.

Yes.

Why think so much?

there is always a solution to a problem.

Since she could change her fate once, she could change it a second time.

If that butterfly really does bring a storm, then let's tear the storm apart too.

"it is good."

Hoshi grasped Hoshi's hand and used it to stand up.

"Go to the Apostolic Secretariat."

"I want to see which old fogey is playing tricks on my head."

The two walked out of the teahouse, and the midday sun shone on them.

One last look at the sign that read "The Lord of Never Sleeps," and then at the clear blue sky above.

Deep within her retina, that eerie crimson hue seemed to flicker once more.

That's more than just a memory.

That's more like... a harbinger of the future.

A storm begins with a single ripple.