Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

A complex mix of emotions swirled within the young woman's heart—she was inclined to ignore the warning sign and continue with her actions. Yet, she also knew that the source of this warning wasn't her most likely unreliable intuition, but something else entirely. Something she had long forgotten, yet for some reason, had suddenly resurfaced.

That warning sign came from her 'time'. That 'time' that had been lost long ago, without her even knowing when!

[Strange, when did I regain my 'time'...? No, when exactly did I lose it in the first place? Why do I have no recollection of it at all!?]

Longing intertwined and swirled, constructing strange, bizarre, distorted, or illogical complex structures in the sea of ​​consciousness. Pain and emptiness that shouldn't have existed arose one by one, extending outward from the depths of her heart. Xilin instinctively covered her head, and countless inexplicable questions sprouted up like mushrooms after rain.

—What happened? —Why did this happen? —What does this feel like? —What's going on?

Is this my time? Why is my time here? Why have I forgotten my time?

Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?

The eyes of the oblique cross star became cloudy, and the mental state within his mind shifted rapidly. The surrounding scenery flickered and swayed like an unstable old television. The stone path beneath his feet seemed to soften, then transform into writhing mud. The endless questions seemed to transform into tangible words that burst forth from his mind, and upon touching the outside world, they would turn into colorful fish swimming in the air!

What happened? What happened? What happened? What happened? What happened? What happened? What happened? What happened?

Thinking has become a luxury, and perhaps in time, even the concept of 'luxury' will cease to exist. From within 'Sirin,' something strange seems to be breaking free. And the outer shell, as the container and carrier, will naturally decay in this process!

She didn't understand. She had absolutely no idea what was going on. It was just a warning sign, just a flower about to be touched. Why did it lead to such consequences?

However, she understood in the next second, because in that very second, all the doubts and confusion in her mind vanished in an instant. In its place was a huge object, its structure indistinct, yet its function was clear to anyone who gazed upon it.

—It was an upside-down silver clock.

[Kolos, I will... as the price for this deal, in exchange for...]

................................................

Celine blinked, her posture remaining bent over—she felt as if she wanted to pick the little white flower at her feet. But now she thought it might not be a good idea.

"Although I don't know what's going on here, it seems like this place has an owner. It's best if uninvited guests don't touch the flowers and plants without permission." She thought about it and came to a conclusion. So she put her original thought aside, stood up, took a deep breath, and walked along the stone path towards the end of the road.

The materialized powers surrounding and protecting her vanished silently. Matter, energy, space, and even time that shouldn't have existed vanished without a trace—she didn't care much, because she hadn't paid much attention. The act of shutting down her powers was perfectly natural to her, as natural as instinct—perhaps she herself didn't even realize what she had done.

A breeze seemed to blow, and the vast sea of ​​flowers swayed slightly. She wasn't sure if it was just her imagination, but when she straightened up, the small white flower swaying gently at her feet felt like a timid little girl hiding in the shadows, cautiously and furtively peeking at her—she even felt she could imagine the little girl's name, origins, background, and her entire life up to her death.

She was a girl named AA, with no surname and no parents. Or perhaps she had parents but didn't know. From the moment she was born, she lived in a place called the 'Louxing Engine Affiliated Underground City,' and was taken in by people in an orphanage numbered 016. All her parents left her were two letters written on a nameplate, and nothing else.

The little girl was unfortunate. When she lived peacefully to the age of nine, the Earth entered a hopeless era. In that era, everyone cursed a woman named 'Cheng Xin'. All production and education activities virtually ceased. AA was no exception; as an orphan, she had almost no way to make a living in that era. She couldn't even steal, because every adult in the base carried a gun.

And so, she, who knew nothing and could do nothing, breathed her last on a day that was neither day nor night, after accidentally ingesting toxic waste. She didn't die slowly, so it wasn't particularly painful, and in her last thought before death, she still harbored resentment towards 'Cheng Xin'.

Why did you create that 'protect children's food rations' policy, only to mess it all up and then just walk away? Didn't you know that because you proposed this policy, when you become the target of public condemnation, the children who benefited from it will also suffer terrible retaliation?

With such resentment, the little girl died. She lived quietly, and she died quietly. She left no trace in this world while she was alive, and her death caused no ripples.

Xilin rubbed her head, trying to shift her attention away from the scene. However, as soon as she completely looked away from the little white flower, all those illogical, seemingly imagined things vanished without a trace.

This might be an illusion.

[This is not an illusion; extraordinary beings could not possibly have such a rudimentary illusion. Everything I witnessed just now was real—there truly must have been a girl, like a delicate white flower, who once existed somewhere in this world, and then, as I saw, quietly died before she could fully grow up. So…]

[...So, the place I've arrived at is the underworld of this universe? Or some other similar place?]

Xilin blinked, her senses, which had been preparing to expand, instantly receding. The boundless sea of ​​flowers around her gave her a feeling that 'touching it would bring bad luck.' And this conclusion was based on her observation of the surrounding environment, not some wildly unreliable whim. Since that was the case, she decided to subdue herself slightly, preventing any part of her from touching anything in this space.

Her hands and feet were part of her, as were her spirit and senses. In any case, this place, where every flower, tree, blade of grass, and stone was so pure and unparalleled, didn't seem like a naturally formed landscape. And since it wasn't natural, it was a man-made, artificially created place. And since she had already decided to act cautiously, why not be thoroughly cautious?

Anyway, if I can discover any important clues, I won't need to use my senses to see them. After all, I'm not exactly a smart person; self-awareness is the advantage I need to hold onto most.

Sirin pondered, putting the matter of the little flower out of her mind—she even temporarily deactivated all the constant detection spells that were usually fixed on her body. She simply used her mortal senses to observe this unfamiliar place.

The surrounding sea of ​​flowers swayed gently, and in a daze, she seemed to see billions of completely different lives. Some were epic chapters, as magnificent as fiery peonies. Others were gloomy and dark, like the arduous years of a datura flower. And most were plain and monotonous variegated flowers and grasses, telling one mundane story after another of ordinary daily life.

Celine closed her eyes, and the countless lives of countless different people vanished. When she opened her eyes again, she had discarded all unnecessary thoughts and simply strolled along the stone path into the distance.

Keep moving forward.

Time seemed to lose its meaning here, or its meaning was reinterpreted. When Celine's mind counted from one to ten thousand per second at an absolutely precise rate, and nothing changed around her, she gave up on calculating time.

It took nearly three hours to go from one to ten thousand. In such a long time, even if the rest of the team had to crawl, they should have reached this location by now. Yet, after those three hours, she hadn't sensed the slightest change in the outside world. No one had breached this space, no other beings like herself had appeared. In this vast and boundless world, it seemed as if only she and the endless flowers swaying gently in the wind existed. Therefore, it was obvious that her external or internal flow of time had undergone some kind of alteration.

The counting was no longer worthwhile, so she had to give up. And just as she stopped counting, the surrounding environment subtly changed.

The boundless sea of ​​flowers was gone, replaced by a vast beach stretching from one side of the field of vision to the center. It was a beach, not a desert, because from the center to the other side, it had been replaced by the boundless sea—the rolling tides washed countless delicate seashells ashore. They piled up along the coastline, forming a long, endless white line that stretched from Celine's feet all the way to the horizon.

Shell paths have replaced stone paths, and ocean tides have replaced flowers.

Celine looked to her left, and in the sea of ​​sand, numerous magnificent buildings appeared—some towering and majestic, others grand and imposing. Some were ancient, some modern, some inhabited, and some that seemed utterly uninhabitable. From ancient brick and earthen fortresses to dark pyramids on the seabed, everything was there. And each one seemed remarkably real; even from a distance, one could clearly sense the overwhelming aura of history emanating from them. At the edge of her vision, she even saw a steel star covered in machinery!

She blinked, and all the ancient and modern architectural wonders vanished. Then she looked to her right at the ocean, where she saw vast, epic battlefields. From the oldest tribal wars fought with stones and sharp sticks, to agriculture and nomadism, steam and steel—countless battlefields representing turning points in history were clearly presented before Sirin. And in the blink of an eye, wars between humans ended, replaced by wars between humans and otherworldly beings, otherworldly beings and otherworldly beings, otherworldly beings and aliens, and aliens and humans.

She saw swarms of insect fleets soaring through the void, saw planets crumbling under orbital bombardment. She saw space flattened into pancakes, and then the paper-based legions continued their battle in a two-dimensional world. She saw nebulae boil, and vast cosmic domains, spanning thousands of light-years, transformed into desolate, lifeless deep-space dead zones.

Then, everything vanished. Those unparalleled realities vanished before she could touch them, leaving only the ocean, the beach, the seashell path, and the blue sky above Celine's head.

Celine felt she was about to self-destruct. She knew what she was seeing wasn't a hallucination, but rather events happening now and in the past. And these events were likely closely related to the ruler of this space…

She looked up at the sky; the azure dome was so pure it almost reflected her image. Just as she placed her hand on her heart and prepared to set off a firework that had been set off many times before, she suddenly noticed a shadow covering her ankle.

Xilin turned her head sharply, only to find a tall osmanthus tree had appeared beside her. The shadow of the tree's canopy fell, touching her ankles and obscuring a young woman sitting under the tree, holding what appeared to be a thread-bound book—her appearance might be considered unparalleled, but the almost incomparable presence she exuded, comparable to that of a blazing star, rendered her beauty utterly worthless.

Celine stared at her, her lips slightly parted. Then, before she could speak, the woman under the tree snapped the book shut.

"Chang'e should regret stealing the elixir; her heart aches for the blue sea and sky every night."

She turned her head to look at the uninvited guest.

"Welcome to my domain, outsider."

"I am Cheng Xin."

Section 11 Idealism

“Cheng…Xin?” Xilin felt her facial muscles twitching uncontrollably. Having read the entire Three-Body Problem and memorized every detail, she naturally knew exactly what role 'Cheng Xin' played in the story. She had seen clues about 'Cheng Xin' in several of her previous readings. But she never imagined that meeting her in person would be like this!

She's clearly an ordinary mortal, a heroine of an epic tale whose virtue doesn't match her status, a young woman who, even if their worldviews overlapped, would at most be a national idol. So why does this woman with this name possess such a truth?!

“You look surprised, but it’s true.” The woman stood up from under the tree, and somehow a small, elegantly decorated table appeared between her and Celine. She gestured for Celine to sit down, and Celine found herself sitting in a chair at the table without any warning!

“My biological parents abandoned me, and my adoptive mother gave me the surname ‘Cheng’ after her own, and then she named me ‘Xin’. Therefore, I am undoubtedly ‘Cheng Xin’ in this world.” She reached out and poured clear tea from a teapot that appeared out of nowhere into a teacup that had somehow appeared on the table in front of Xilin. “Yes, the Cheng Xin from ‘The Three-Body Problem.’ The one that many readers call a hypocrite, who never did a good thing in life, single-handedly destroyed both Earth and the Trisolaran civilization, and might even destroy the universe in the end.”

Xilin felt like she couldn't even speak anymore.

“Don’t be afraid, I won’t do anything to you. Because I am a compassionate and loving person,” Cheng Xin poured herself a glass and took a small sip. “I don’t kill people, aliens, modified aliens, or native animals. Don’t worry about me squeezing you into a quark, and you don’t need to look like you’re ready to self-destruct at any moment.”

“You… are not Cheng Xin.” Xilin looked at the elegant woman in front of her as if she were staring at a monster in human skin.

“Yes, that’s me,” Cheng Xin replied with a smile. “My biological father is Luo Ji, and my biological mother is Zhuang Yan—oh, don’t worry about their names, it’s just a personal preference of mine—my adoptive mother is Cheng Xiuxiu, and I don’t have an adoptive father. And not many years later, my adoptive mother left me early.”

“I grew up in the underground city affiliated with Changning, and studied aerospace and spaceship piloting. I graduated early at the age of eighteen, and became a senior doctoral supervisor at the aerospace research and development center at the age of twenty-one. I started my political career at the age of twenty-two, and then was elected to the government at the age of twenty-three, becoming the chief executive of The Wandering Earth.”

"I reigned for eleven years, during which time I peacefully resolved thirty-five rebellions. The thirty-sixth rebellion, however, proved too difficult to quell—they wanted nothing but my death. So I had no choice but to leave Earth in my newly built spaceship. I was pursued at approximately six thousand kilometers in near-space—if that pilot had successfully returned to Earth, the people of Earth would have known that my spaceship had been destroyed at the edge of space. But it seems that brave warrior failed to return to the surface."

She spread one hand, displaying her life as if telling a story. And at the end of the story, she added a touch of self-satisfaction to her words. It was as if she were saying—'Look, I am Cheng Xin. From beginning to end, inside and out, I am Cheng Xin.'

Xilin suddenly realized that wasting time on this topic was a mistake. Although she wasn't quite sure why, and her mind was overflowing with questions, she felt she couldn't possibly win an argument with this woman who called herself Cheng Xin. So she took a breath and changed the subject.

"...You know 'The Three-Body Problem'?"

“I know, it’s a science fiction novel by an author named Liu Cixin. He started serializing it in 2006 and didn’t publish the complete work until 2010. Although sometimes the author’s name changes to Liu Xinci or Wang Cixin, and the publication date can be ten or twenty years earlier or later, it’s just an occasional phenomenon.” Cheng Xin answered easily, a faint smile on her lips. “After all, it’s a very interesting story, and I occasionally look for some intellectual nourishment with unusual tastes.”

"Are you a time traveler?"

“To be precise, I should be called a traveler,” Cheng Xin replied, her eyes sparkling as she toyed with the teacup that had somehow transformed into a stemmed wine glass, now a third full of red wine. “Unlike you reincarnators burdened with a host of limitations, I located and teleported to this world by my own will. I was quite surprised when I discovered that this world actually combined the worldviews of *The Wandering Earth* and *The Three-Body Problem*. Fortunately, although history is skewed, there's still a lot of room for maneuver. After spending quite a bit of time, I finally completed part of the great work that I, as Cheng Xin, should accomplish.”

Overwhelmed by the amount of information, Miss Xilin subconsciously took a sip of herbal tea to calm her nerves—she discovered that what she had wanted to drink was indeed herbal tea. Even the flavor was her favorite, the handmade herbal tea from the Shenzhou tablet that she had managed to trick into getting once after the peace was restored in the Mother World.

The herbal tea brought a sense of calm. Having regained her composure, Xilin began to work on her thinking.

Is this person telling the truth? — Maybe not, but the possibility of her lying is very low. Although she doesn't know how she could tell at a glance that she's a reincarnator, if her claim of being a traveler is true, coupled with her ability to alter the world and even interfere with Sirin's own perception—which is very important—then she couldn't possibly be lying!

“I’m not lying.” Xilin’s thoughts were abruptly interrupted, albeit with a seemingly elegant but actually rude tone. Just as she was about to give a look of utter disbelief, Cheng Xin chuckled and offered the explanation she wanted.

"The reason I know you are a reincarnator, and why you haven't heard that guy who should be the main god's point deduction notification, is because I dealt with some of you a long time ago. I can't pinpoint the exact time, but it should have been the fourth world before I came here."

She made a thinking gesture, her slender eyebrows slightly raised. "That should be a reincarnation team named after 'Arctic'. The captain is a Norse man named Gungnir, who has enhanced the Ice-Ice Devil Fruit from the One Piece world. The world I'm meeting with them in is called the Hunger Games—ah, I was hoping to experience the ordinary survival journey of striving to be a heroine. But they've ruined my vacation, which has really made me quite unhappy."

Xilin's eyelids twitched. She couldn't help but silently mourn for the Arctic team she had never met... for a second.

"Don't misunderstand, I don't kill people." Cheng Xin reached out and cut off the remaining half-second of her silence. "I'm a very gentle and kind person. I won't kill indiscriminately, nor will I cause trouble. Usually, I'll play my role as the protagonist, supporting character, or extra in the story well until the end. Even if I'm occasionally killed or do something excessive by those transmigrated, reborn, or fate-destined extra protagonists, I'll die once or twice in a good way, you know."

"I just made them repent properly and clean up their mess. I also asked them some questions about the Main God Space and the Reincarnation Squad. In the end, I was quite satisfied, and they all returned to the Main God Space intact. Although they looked rather grim when they left... I think it shouldn't be anything serious."

Sirin: [They were absolutely wiped out after having all their reward points deducted! Absolutely! How could a team capable of undertaking a mission in a low-level world like the Hunger Games possibly have many special reserves? And there certainly wasn't a single Tier 4 member in their team who wouldn't be easily eliminated by the Main God!]

"Oh? Is that how it works?" Cheng Xin raised an eyebrow slightly, a hint of surprise on her face, yet it also seemed like she was putting on an act. "And so it turns out that your so-called fourth-tier gene lock can't be easily obliterated by that so-called main god... I see, fourth-tier gene lock corresponds to the universal transcendent life form. No wonder your main god wouldn't let me in. Is it because transcendent life forms are already considered elite employees valued by the main god? What a pity, I thought I could get some good stuff."

Sirin glared at her, but her heart was ice-cold. It was clearly just her deepest, most subconscious thought, reinforced with numerous mental protective mechanisms, yet it had unexpectedly…

"I'm sorry," Cheng Xin said with a forced smile, waving her hand. "Your mind hasn't reached the ideal state yet; there are quite a few flaws, and your thinking is really scattered. I thought you were talking to me on purpose just now. Hmm, as an apology, how about I invite you to visit my ranch?"

As soon as she finished speaking, the surrounding sea and sand vanished in an instant. In its place stood an elegant pavilion perched high in the clouds. Looking down from the pavilion, a group of floating continents, with a topography identical to a map of Earth but structured as a flat, round earth, floated among the clouds below. Within the clouds, countless small creatures seemed to wander and roam. And on the continents, numerous figures could be vaguely seen.

The terrain is the same, but its area is at least a hundred million times larger than the Earth's surface. A single glance reveals hundreds, even thousands, of civilizations spanning from the Stone Age to the Electrical Age thriving on this continent—all real, each possessing a physical form and independent intelligence, not illusions. Sirin remembers arriving here not long ago after descending from the outer edge of a celestial body the size of the moon, yet now she can't help but doubt her own mental state—even folding space to its maximum efficiency couldn't achieve this—space isn't paper that can be folded at will! And until now, she hasn't sensed even the slightest change in the spatial structure!

“Since I left the Mother World, I have traveled through 3,433 worlds. In each world, I take some local specialties with me before setting off for the next destination. Sometimes it’s a neighborhood, sometimes it’s a piece of history, sometimes it’s a country, and sometimes it’s some concepts. Over time, this place has become what you see here now.”

A continent suddenly appeared beside the pavilion, revealing a modern neighborhood clearly before Xilin and Cheng Xin. It was a mid-21st-century Japanese-style neighborhood with skyscrapers and elegant gardens. The pedestrian streets were paved with natural marble blocks, and occasionally, small electronic pets resembling rice cookers could be seen darting among the passersby. Huge buildings displayed real-time advertisements for popular female singers, their melodious, soft voices emanating from large amplifiers.

A flock of pigeons chattered and jostled for birdseed thrown by visitors near the park. Some moved quickly, some slowly, some lazily motionless—Cirin's gaze followed the pigeons outwards, until a handsome young man sitting on a stone bench came into view. The young man was blind, and one of his hands was a metal prosthetic. His empty eyes stared ahead, he wore headphones, yet a strange smile played on his lips.

There seemed to be a pretty pink-haired girl leaning against the young man, but when Sirin looked closely, she couldn't find her anywhere.

"This is the first world I arrived in after leaving my mother world. The person I identified with in that world was the male protagonist's childhood friend. Naturally, because she couldn't compete with the newcomer and had no flaws, the screenwriter killed her off in the middle of the story. But a story is a story. Although I was intoxicated by the love at the time, I would never do something as tasteless as a supporting female character rising up and overpowering the main heroine."

Cheng Xin gently placed her hands together, looking completely content.

"I obediently died and waited for the story to end. Then, when the story ended, I dug the male and female protagonists and their neighborhood out of the world. Unfortunately, I was weak at that time and could only dig out one neighborhood with all my strength. But I made up for it later. I went back and took all the souls from that world. After all, only in this way can my first collection be considered complete."

As soon as she finished speaking, everything before Sirin's eyes reversed completely. Time and space remained unchanged, but the material and energy levels all seemed to have been rewound three years in advance. The handsome young man became a clumsy Japanese middle school student, while the pink-haired girl materialized, gaining a body and becoming a popular songstress with a strange background.

The boy and girl's first encounter was about to begin, but everything was under Cheng Xin's control—Xilin suddenly felt uneasy, though she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

The scene before her shifted dramatically. The concrete jungle and the young couple she had unexpectedly met vanished, replaced by a classical street from the 10th century. A prosperous town appeared before Celine, but as her gaze moved upward, she saw a colossal Buddha statue sitting on the banks of a long river, miles away. It seemed that martial arts masters were battling atop the statue, while the river water at its base boiled and surged, reaching the Buddha's knees.

"The fifteenth world I arrived in was Fengyun. I was introduced as Kong Ci, a maid in a large gang. Unfortunately, I got caught up in the emotional entanglements between several main characters and some behind-the-scenes conspiracies. I died relatively early and it was rather boring. However, this world almost capsized me when I was collecting souvenirs. I really didn't expect that after killing Xu Fu and Wu Wudi, there would still be a hidden old monster like Xiao Sanxiao. It taught me a good lesson."

The situation changed; this time it was a dark city under the cover of night.

“Underworld, a casual world with no real challenges. But I spent quite a bit of time in this world, and the heroine was quite enjoyable. Both her heart and body were very comfortable to use.” Cheng Xin reached out and touched the cheek of a cool woman dressed in black leather across the pavilion. “Oh, my Serena, even if you decay into dust, your bones will still be beautiful.”

The scene shifts, replaced by a chain of landmasses floating in the void. Medieval fantasy and modern elements are interspersed, creating a distorted and incongruous feeling.

"Lance, a world created from an adult-oriented game. The male protagonist has amazing stamina, and the dozens of female protagonists are all unique. If I hadn't arrived here already in over seven hundred worlds, with a bunch of targeted items and treasures, I really wouldn't have been able to handle that primordial whale. After the story ended, I tried to have sex with all the male and female protagonists at once, which took me several days, and I ended up with a strange sense of defeat. So when I replayed the game later, I simply kicked the male protagonist out and did it myself, which felt pretty good."