Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

Things have changed...

"The 1001st world, Zhu Yanye's Blood Series. I really opened my eyes here, but after the novelty wore off, I found that it was nothing more than mental interference and physical control, with maybe a little more corpse processing. The idea was commendable, but the methods were just average. But it still had some merits, so in each cycle, I let this world develop freely instead of following a fixed script. Occasionally, it even brought me some unexpected surprises."

The scenes and objects before her eyes changed again and again, and countless strange worlds appeared one after another before Xilin's eyes. Whether it was heartwarming slice-of-life anime or twisted and bizarre midnight horror, it all was here. And the more she watched, the more uncomfortable she felt. An indescribable sense of hatred slowly rose from within her, but Cheng Xin, who was introducing all these scenes, was completely unaware of it—perhaps she didn't need to be aware of it at all.

Finally, a post-apocalyptic world built on wasteland pushed her to her limit.

"The world of Honkai Impact 3, you should be familiar with this. After all, it's Miss Sirin. Although it's not the same one, I have to admit that you are a character that really caught my eye. I used to be Theresa, and after the main story ended, I specially opened two IF side stories to satisfy my spiritual needs. One is a pure love yuri and the other is a twisted sadomasochistic love. Whether she is smiling in the sunlight with flowers in her arms or curled up in an iron cage soaked in blood and wailing, Miss Sirin in both routes left a deep impression on me."

"Enough." Sirin crushed the teacup in her hand into pieces, but the shards vanished from her senses the next moment, replaced by a perfectly intact teacup at her fingertips. She gritted her teeth, practically wanting to devour the woman before her.

"Is this what you wanted to show me? Is this the ranch you wanted to present to me? You... what exactly are you?!"

Cheng Xin suddenly stopped and tilted her head to look at her.

“This is of course my ranch.”

"The intertwining of hearts, love, friendship, persistence, faith, joy, pain, sorrow, loneliness..." Cheng Xin made a big hugging gesture. "Aren't the romantic tragedies and comedies constructed from these sediments of the human heart the best raw materials? Meeting, knowing each other, loving each other, parting, countless cycles repeating, and then, when the critical point approaches, the secret is revealed, and the resulting corrupted souls are a delicious treat. Moreover, after the sediment is removed, the newly cleansed souls can continue to be used, and their quality will only become better."

She paused for a moment.

"As for what I am..."

"I originally thought you should know these things, after all, you have the aura of a materialistic idiot. And in the multiverse I've encountered, there is no third force besides idealism and materialism that has mastered information enhancement... Oh, so you really don't know. It seems you've only known one or two materialistic idiots, and haven't known them for very long."

"Then let me reintroduce you."

"I am Cheng Xin, my father is Luo Ji, my mother is Zhuang Yan, and my adoptive mother is Cheng Xiuxiu. Before that, I was Theresa, Long Shuo, Lia Lisas, Erica, Kong Ci, and Xiao Tiaoji. If you remove all of them and continue forward, I am Chang'e."

"The Yaochi School is devoted solely to Qi cultivators, including Chang'e."

Section 12. Do you really want to fight?

“However, I think it’s better if you call me Cheng Xin in this world. After all, I’m a simple immersive traveler. I don’t have many hobbies, and I get quite angry if someone disturbs them.” Cheng Xin tilted her head slightly, looking at the shocked Xilin. “Alright, now you know what I am. So, is there anything else you want to know?”

“………………” Xilin pursed her lips, remaining silent.

“Even if you empty your mind and stop thinking, it’s meaningless. After all, a pond full of fish is bound to have ripples. Your thoughts… oh, did you think I was reading your mind again, which is why your guard has suddenly increased?” Cheng Xin smiled slightly. “Unfortunately, some information can be obtained without even involving the mind. The scattered information you carry is far too much and too complicated. I can read most of it with just a glance. Hmm… the team is called the Central Continent Team? There are six extraordinary beings in total, including you. Eh, two of them are already close to the ideal state of mind, just one step away. Is one of them even a materialistic idiot?”

"Hmm... There's a familiar feeling in the residual traces of the spell. It's the Alchemy School of Paracelsus and the Celestial School of Hypatia. Two Western information mages, and an apprentice who hasn't even scratched the surface... I see. One of them, the materialist, most likely from the Alchemy School, joined the Reincarnation Space first. Then, through some means, he brought the slightly weaker one into the Reincarnation Team as well. So, Sirin, you must be a member of another Reincarnation Team that recently merged with this team. No wonder the composition of your team is so strange..."

“Look,” she turned to look at Celine. “I don’t need to read your mind to easily obtain so much information, and if necessary, I can delve even deeper into the investigation. I’ve even deduced the general reinforcements and formation structure within your team. But I’m not really interested in doing that right now, so I think we should be more open… Is there anything else you’d like to know?”

What exactly do you want to do?

"What do you want to do?" Cheng Xin tapped her head. "Has my language and literature skills deteriorated to this extent? Is even understanding human speech a luxury for you? Didn't you voluntarily intrude into my territory? Haven't I been answering your questions all along? And now, you actually ask me what I want to do?"

"You barged into my territory uninvited—thankfully you didn't break anything—so I gave you the opportunity to meet me and answer your questions. Didn't I tell you I'm a kind and benevolent person, only intending to play the role of Cheng Xin, the female protagonist, and peacefully complete this game in this world? If you hadn't appeared here, you and your team wouldn't even have had the chance to meet me. And yet you still ask me 'what do you want to do' after all that?"

"While I do like the silly Sirin, and I absolutely adored her as Theresa Apocalypse, I am Cheng Xin now, devoted and loving only myself, not Theresa Apocalypse. I'm not ready to tolerate your foolishness any longer—I'll give you one more chance to organize your thoughts. Either state your question directly, and I'll answer it. Or, with your already satisfied thirst for knowledge, tell me directly—'No, I don't need to know anything more.'"

"Wait, don't you intend to..."

"What are you planning? To fight you all? To wipe you all out here? Why would I do that?"

Cheng Xin's tone was harsh, and her words were as sharp as knives.

"Because of those two materialistic idiots? What a joke! The war between idealism and materialism ended for me hundreds of thousands of years ago. The materialists chose to stay in the mother world and argue with those mortals who were destined to betray us, while we idealists broke through the limitations of the esoteric ritual and crossed the gap between worlds with our hearts—from that time on, materialism and idealism were no longer in a state of hostility. We have become gods, while they have fallen to the dust of the earth. Although seeing a materialistic idiot with a transcendent status in the reincarnation team surprised me a little—it was just a surprise."

"Heretics are certainly more hateful than pagans, but the means of information interference are the power I hold in my own hands, not the gods I need to worship. I have already collected enough gods, there is no need to create one for myself, and no god is worthy to stand above me and point fingers at me."

Her tone shifted slightly, and she leaned close to Celine, startling the latter into instinctively leaning back.

"Or do you think I would do this for you? Ah... if I were still Theresa Apophis, then I might indeed be interested in collecting another Sirin. One to pamper, the other to torment—comparing the two would be a good pastime—but I am Cheng Xin now. Cheng Xin doesn't kill people, doesn't kill aliens, and even if someone dies because of Cheng Xin, it shouldn't be directly caused by Cheng Xin. So—"

"I won't kill you, nor will I fight you. Of course, that's on the condition that you don't come and ruin my gaming experience. I'll continue being this incompetent, saintly heroine, and you can continue completing your reincarnation missions—hmm, let me see, transporting Earth to the Samsung system? That doesn't really conflict with my schedule, at most it'll be a little troublesome but still barely acceptable, at least as Cheng Xin I can accept it. However, if Cheng Xin is no longer Cheng Xin but Chang'e, what happens will probably not be what you like."

She leaned back, returning to her original seat, one hand supporting her chin, her clear eyes fixed on the astonished Sirin. She said, "Alright, now you should know what I want to do. I'm going to be my heroine. Next, I'll have the Trisolarans attack Earth, and then I'll stay in Australia for a while. When the time is right, I'll have the Singer civilization flatten Earth and the Trisolaran system. After that, I'll take a spaceship to a planet that nominally belongs to me, and from there, I'll bring the entire universe to its end."

“This is what I’m going to do, and I don’t want to change it. You can choose to complete the cycle tasks you need to complete according to the schedule I’ve given you… I can even back down a little and let the Singer come later to smash that two-dimensional foil that’s been hyped up in so many science fiction novels. But in return, you have to maintain the integrity of the plot that I need.”

"you……"

"That's right. Any civilization with a 'heart' or 'individual' is utterly vulnerable to me. This world isn't some original world watched by those who can do whatever they want. The Trisolarans, the Singers, the Zeroers, or any other random bunch of people are all pretty much the same to me. Even if they all unite, they're just crawlers that I can wipe out with a little more effort. So I can naturally manipulate their actions at will."

Is there anything else you'd like to know?

"...No, I don't need to know anything more."

“Very good.” Cheng Xin clapped her hands lightly. “The story of this world isn’t over yet, so I can hold off on taking away the collectibles I’ve reserved for now. You can take the souls from the garden and let them play their final roles in this world. However…”

She looked up at the blue sky.

"Your companions are quite proactive; even those materialistic idiots can have some insight sometimes. Hmm... I'm actually thinking of meeting them. After all, I made such a strong request, and you and they, as extraordinary beings, must be quite resentful. So, to reduce unnecessary conflict..."

She suddenly reached out and gently pushed Celine's chest. As the latter fell into darkness in astonishment, her calm and indifferent voice rang out.

"You and your teammates need to really understand the difference in strength."

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

Meanwhile, in the observation window of the Great Library, as Alice gazed at the enormous, planet-like mass of information, coalescing in a way she couldn't comprehend, a profound sense of foreboding surged within her.

No, this wasn't a simple premonition; supernatural beings don't have such things as premonitions. This was purely a judgment made deep within the soul after supernatural senses had gathered enough external information. And the result of this judgment made her head throb slightly, as if some kind of instrument called a retreat drum was about to be struck.

She reached out and entered a string of complex code into the external terminal of the observation window.

"Cognitive filter, unfold."

The invisible, traceless collection of messages revealed a recognizable form through the filter. It was a moon without light; even in the dim cosmic environment, the lunar maria and craters on its surface were clearly visible. But Alice knew very well that this was not its true appearance.

[Moon, information gathering. Damn it, could this really be the Moon Palace? The Yaochi School? But shouldn't all the idealistic wizards have disappeared long ago? Could they have traveled here...? No way, if the idealistic wizards really did travel here, the solar system wouldn't be like this now, and there wouldn't be no trace left on Earth... There must be some reason I don't know about... Could it be that those idealistic lunatics are on the side of the aliens?]

The girl was deep in thought, while a slight ripple was stirred on the other side of the communication network.

"What's that strange thing?" Zheng Zha frowned, peering through the same cognitive filter as Alice at the unidentified mass a light-second away. In his eyes, it was a floating fortress piled up from various architectural ruins of different sizes. It looked like an incomplete ruin, pieced together from the main cities of humans, monsters, and mutated creatures in a fantasy game. Classical towers and futuristic glass skyscrapers were crudely crammed together, and from within, one could vaguely see armies clashing and fighting.

"...An ecological park in space?" Zhao Yingkong answered somewhat uncertainly. What she saw was a floating continent with numerous flowers, birds, and trees. Many adorable little animals (across a light-second) hopped and skipped among the grasslands and forests, butterflies fluttered, streams flowed, and a gentle breeze caressed the earth; everything exuded a rich vitality. "Why would there be an ecological park in space?"

"What?" Zheng Zha frowned slightly. He rubbed his eyes. "Are you sure you're seeing an eco-park? But why do I see a battlefield built on space debris...? But my senses aren't wrong, this shouldn't be a hallucination. What's wrong?"

Zhao Yingkong ignored him and turned directly to look at her brother, who was frowning, and asked, "Brother Zhuikong, what did you see?"

“I…” Zhao Zhuikong’s pupils contracted slightly. He changed his words slightly before uttering what he had originally intended to say. “…I saw a rather peculiar garden.” His eyes reflected a boundless mountain of corpses and a sea of ​​blood. A 'garden' sculpted from bones and flesh, a light-second away in the void, writhed involuntarily as if alive. The thick blood mist gushing from the various fissures like a fountain, at a rate exceeding one hundred million tons per second, was like the breath of this living thing. And this breath condensed into clouds in the air, transforming into enormous 'flowers'.

“It’s a little special.” He emphasized his words slightly.

“I don’t think what you saw was a garden,” Zheng Zha replied, his tone serious. “Besides, I think there’s something wrong with both you and Ying Kong. Ever since you arrived in this world, the two of you, and even Norreji, have been in an unstable mental state. At least the old Zhao Ying Kong wouldn’t complain at inappropriate times, and Norreji herself could see the signs of mental breakdown. But you, Zhao Zhui Kong, you shouldn’t be so ambiguous about such a small matter.”

“Zheng Zha makes sense.” Before Zhao Zhuikong could reply, Patchouli’s voice came through the communicator. “Everyone sees different things through their cognitive filters, and what is revealed depends on each person’s mental state. I’m sorry I couldn’t explain this properly from the beginning, but this serves as a verification. It proves that we have been subjected to a certain degree of interference since we arrived in this world.”

"Alice and I have considered some possibilities, but we can't be certain yet. I suspect we've encountered another type of information mage from the same mother world as Alice and me. And we're very likely to be in a hostile relationship with them. Chu Xuan analyzed the information we provided, and his proposed solution is—"

She didn't finish her sentence.

Because at that very moment, the entire library suddenly and silently split in two!

Section Thirteen: Nail Clippers

Like a fruit knife slicing an apple, or a diamond cutting through glass, the Great Library—so incredibly sturdy in the eyes of the Zhongzhou Team's reincarnators, a building that had undergone countless modifications, incorporated hundreds of layers of defensive structures made of different materials and thousands of types of solidification spells, a building that could struggle to escape even if thrown into the sun, and could withstand attacks from several extraordinary beings for only a few seconds—was silently shattered in two. There was no warning beforehand, and no trace afterward.

The Reincarnators who were attacked reacted quickly and immediately went into battle. However, something was faster than them. Neither Zheng Zha, who directly activated the Yinglong Transformation, nor Zhao Yingkong and Zhao Zhuikong, who worked together to create a spatial well, nor Patchouli and Alice, who barely controlled the Great Library, could compare to it. Because what changed was the entire universe before them!

The information aggregate, which appeared differently to everyone, collapsed. Yet, in that instant of collapse, something else beyond reason was born. It was a geometric structure built from an infinite number of polyhedra, its color a mixture of pale and crimson due to the impact of cosmic rays. Initially, it resembled a disc, and then, on the side facing the reincarnators, four separate branches appeared. Five columnar objects of different sizes extended from these branches, tapering as they lengthened, revealing several bent nodes.

It was a hand, a woman's hand.

A hand with a diameter of about one light-second, capable of holding the sun in the palm of your hand like a bowling ball!

The five fingers of the hand suddenly merged together towards the center the instant they took shape, aiming to grasp the entire universe within a light-second radius of the Great Library that had been severed!

This is illogical; it's completely illogical no matter how you look at it. Such a massive mass simply cannot exist in this universe in a dynamic form. The linear velocity of the finger's tip when it closes, spanning half a light-second—that is, 150,000 kilometers—has already exceeded the speed of light limit in the physical universe, yet it has not caused any anomalies in the overall structure of the universe.

The mass-energy equivalence equation ceased to exist at this moment, and the law of conservation of energy became worthless. However, this astronomical anomaly, enough to make all scientists on Earth realize the shattered and frozen state of the world, did not trigger even the slightest bit of the Reincarnators' computing power, because their entire minds were already boiling with energy to deal with the impending catastrophe!

Zheng Zha unleashed the full power of his Primordial Creation Technique, reaching its twelfth level. The Zhao siblings combined their efforts to create a spatial collapse, attempting to slow down the closing of their five fingers. Patchouli and Alice went all out, compiling an instantly effective apocalypse for defense or diversion. However, no matter what they did, the energy they released seemed so insignificant on a scale of light-seconds.

Zheng Zha's full-force strike could blast a fissure through the Earth's mantle, yet the Earth's radius is only a mere 6,000 kilometers. The aftershocks of Alice and Patchouli's battle could shatter the moon into pieces, but the moon is only 22 billion cubic kilometers in size. Even with the addition of the Zhao siblings, the destructive range would at most double, and such power would be utterly meaningless against that giant hand, a mere light-second in length.

The reincarnators' efforts ultimately amounted to nothing more than cutting off a small section of their fingernail. And the instant their five fingers came together, the collapsed earth, water, fire, and wind plunged everything into utter darkness.

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

“Now that you’re awake, there’s no need to pretend to be asleep, Hypatia’s disciples and followers.”

Patchouli suddenly opened her eyes, and before her stood a pavilion nestled amidst a sea of ​​flowers. She found herself sitting at an exquisite little tea table, opposite which sat a peculiar woman whose presence stirred emotions within her that she found difficult to control. When the woman looked at her, her first instinct was to unleash her most powerful spell, but she discovered that she couldn't muster even a single ounce of energy!

There was a scent in the air that was unfamiliar to her, yet she knew its essence. It was like a standard business card with a name, job title, and contact information already written on it. And when she quickly calmed down from her submissive state, she immediately understood the message that the invisible 'business card' wanted to convey.

"The Yaochi School..." Patchouli's face turned ashen in an instant, filled with disbelief. "You're a Qi cultivator of the Mind School... You're Changxi!"

"Don't use the character 'Xi' carelessly. To be precise, I am Chang'e." The woman in front of me waved her hand and corrected her a second time. "Perhaps it's more accurate, Cheng Xin. At least in this world, I am Cheng Xin. Originally, this meeting was unnecessary, but since Hypatia's disciples and followers have fallen to such a state, I can't completely ignore it."

"you……"

"What's wrong? Does it feel strange? Do you still think that idealism and materialism are mortal enemies who would fight to the death the moment they meet? Those days are long gone. I have no interest in killing a young upstart from the same mother world over an academic dispute from tens of thousands of years ago. Of course, if you want to fight, I can reluctantly agree to a match with you."

Patchouli silently glanced at her hands resting on the table. Slender, soft, and unlocked at the fourth level of her genetic lock. Yet, fingers that could theoretically crush a mountain were now only able to lightly lift a teacup. Her physical body, which belonged entirely to her, felt like a heavy shackle at this moment; even with all her might, she couldn't increase her strength by an inch.

External energy is completely imperceptible, and while internal energy can be controlled and interfered with, it cannot be manifested through the physical body. Whether she simply wants to drink tea like a lady or unleash tremendous power to smash the teacup in the face, the muscles in her arms ultimately reflect only the strength of a lady. Using this level of strength in combat would only make her opponents think she's being coquettish.

So she remained silent.

"Very good, very good. You are a rational child who knows when to advance and retreat." Chang'e, who called herself Cheng Xin, clapped her hands lightly, an expression of appreciation on her face. "In this way, I won't have to let the lineage of Hypatia be cut off. It can also be considered as repaying her for helping me calculate many parameters of the moon back then—although she wasn't very willing to help me calculate them at the time, but cause and effect are cause and effect, and it's always better to end something."

Patchouli stared at her and suddenly said.

"...You don't actually want to fight us, because you're in a critical situation right now."

“That’s right.” Cheng Xin readily admitted. “I’m trying to transform from an extraordinary life form into someone who can do whatever they want. In the words of reincarnators, it’s about unlocking the fifth-order gene lock or becoming an immortal. Although the systems are different and the power structures may also differ, the essence is similar. Having more cause and effect is always a good thing.”

“Since I’ve already brought up the matter of settling karma, I don’t intend to hide it from you. You should also know very well that I didn’t kill you just now. All your companions… or rather, the only lover you cherish is alive and well. Her near-ideal mental state is enough to resist most of my mental interference methods. And you should also know that since I’ve mentioned Hypatia, I won’t target you.”

Patchouli lowered her eyes.

She is not Alice, and in most cases, she wouldn't get involved with or take responsibility for people who have nothing to do with her like Alice does. Alice often belittles the value of mortals because she still holds them in some regard. Patchouli, on the other hand, is different. In her eyes, living or inanimate objects, except for Alice, are basically things that can be measured in numbers.

She usually acts kind and friendly because Alice likes to see her get along well with her teammates. And it is precisely for this reason that she is the one who will meet Chang'e here, rather than Alice, who is stronger than her, or Zheng Zha, who has a higher status in the team.

"What do you want?" Patchouli asked. "And what can we possibly get in return?"

“What I want is peace and quiet,” Cheng Xin replied. “And what you will get in return is also peace and quiet.”

"If you simply wanted peace and quiet, why didn't you just not show up in the first place? But you appeared in this world and launched an attack on us. I see no sincerity in seeking peace and quiet here."