Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

"Not long ago, some of my investigators went to Earth and collected research papers on cosmic sociology from some underdeveloped areas by amateur scholars. I've read through them, and I think a considerable amount of it has some value. So I think you might want to take a look."

Her words were not brief, yet they conveyed a sense of conciseness. Her movements were not swift, yet they made it difficult to react immediately. Even after observing all these discordant elements, Luo Ji still regarded her as an ordinary woman.

The original conclusion has changed slightly. But the thinker is completely unaware of this.

[This woman... probably got into Gray Moon through connections and back channels, which is why she was assigned to my research group. And now, she probably just wants to produce some results to prove herself.] Luo Ji thought to himself, immediately confirming the accuracy of his idea. Once he felt he had obtained enough evidence, he abandoned any further communication with Luo Ye.

She's just a mediocre person, and not even pretty. There's no need to waste time here.

He picked up the file folder, nodded, and turned to leave without a word. He didn't make any other move, nor did he utter a single unnecessary word.

He closed the door behind him as he left the room. He was about to go straight home, but a few thoughts that welled up in his mind made him stop in his tracks.

[...Perhaps I should take a good look at this document at the research center. After all, it's been so long since I've been back to work; I should at least make an appearance once in a while.]

Luo Ji pondered and confirmed his conclusion. He looked around and quickly found his office—it was actually right across from Luo Ye's office. After getting this result, the original "quickly" turned into a long ten minutes.

"It took me ten minutes to find my office," Luo Ji muttered under his breath, pushing open the door without closing it. He simply walked across the gleaming floor cleaned daily by the cleaning robot, clutching a file folder, and sat down in the executive chair behind his desk. His leather shoes kicked off casually, and his two socked feet rested on the desk.

Nobody cares about him, and nobody will care about him.

The first thing he did after settling into his seat wasn't to open the file folder, but rather to activate his personal terminal and use his privileges to access the file records of 'Luo Ye' across the office—naturally, as the highest authority in this research center, he encountered no obstacles whatsoever. The terminal quickly verified his identity, and then information about Luo Ye soon came into view.

—Luo Ye, born in the new era, graduated from Tian Shu Academy with excellent grades and a diligent work ethic. After graduation, she was transferred to several important positions and performed outstandingly. After repeated evaluations, the review committee specially recommended her for transfer to the Gray Moon Research Center, where she served as the deputy head of the sociology project team.

Luo Ji spent five minutes reviewing the file of the woman named Luo Ye and summarized it succinctly into the long sentence above. He didn't find anything unusual, nor did he think there would be anything unusual about it.

[Looks like my previous assumptions were wrong. She's not mediocre; she's got some skills. My brain really has gotten a bit rusty from not using it in so long… But what does it matter? She's still just average-looking, and I have no interest in wasting my time on an ugly woman.]

Luo Ji reached out and turned off the terminal in front of him. Now that the only question in his mind had been answered, there was no need to waste any more time on it. He stretched and decided to end his monthly workday early and go home.

Then, he noticed the file folder again.

"I almost forgot." He scratched his head, sighed helplessly, and then shifted to a more comfortable position to open the file folder.

Then, his gaze fell upon the contents of the file.

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

After Luo Ji left, Luo Ye quickly finished processing the documents in her hand. She closed the file, packed it up, put away her pen, and placed the sealed file bag on the file rack. She stood up, straightened her clothes which were slightly wrinkled from sitting, and left her desk.

The saplings have been planted, watered, and fertilized; all that's left is to wait for the harvest. She has plenty of time, but she won't waste it.

Her steps were neither light nor heavy, neither fast nor slow. But when she reached the door and pushed it open, what appeared before her was no longer the Gray Moon Research Center. Instead, there was a steel corridor stretching for dozens of miles, and from the observation windows at the edge of the corridor, she could easily observe the two moons, one gray and one white, orbiting the Earth.

It wasn't the Gray Moon, nor the White Moon, nor Earth. So, naturally, the ground beneath her feet was the Dark Moon. Unlike two years ago, after a period of development, the Dark Moon was no longer Alice's solitary abode—she had trained many useful assistants from among the mortals, and these assistants, in turn, trained many new apprentices. Gradually, the mortals had come to master a small part of the Dark Moon's functional areas.

Several engineers carrying documents walked through the corridor, completely ignoring Loyal.

Several patrolling robots floated past the door Luo Ye had opened, but they ignored the unfamiliar room whose style didn't quite match Dark Moon's.

The heavy wooden door closed naturally as Luo Ye left. The moment it closed, it merged with the wall, as if it had never existed in the first place. Luo Ye walked along the metal corridor, easily bypassing several key checkpoints marked 'Do Not Enter'. The mechanical guards, monitoring systems, and even the defensive spells buried in the ground—the dynamic information chains forming a balance in the air—remained completely unresponsive. Not even her image appeared on the monitor screens.

It cannot be seen with the eyes, it cannot be seen with machines, it cannot be seen with science, it cannot be seen with magic.

Luo Ye easily traversed all the obstacles, arriving directly at the core of the Dark Moon. Billions of light screens flickered throughout the vast hall. Countless commands were issued, and countless messages were relayed. And at the very center of this seemingly endless expanse of light and information, floated a blonde, blue-eyed girl.

Luo Ye walked up to her and stopped exactly ten meters away. She gazed at her, but instead of directly observing the girl's face, she looked at the constantly shifting light barrier around her. The light barrier flickered, but the girl being observed remained oblivious.

The girl is Alice, Alice Margotrovid. Her genetic lock has reached the critical point of the middle stage of the fourth level, and her obsessive soul is about to converge with the light of her heart—a super-powerful being. She has clashed with Luo Ye several times, gaining the upper hand each time. She only needs to exert a little effort to dismantle the Earth into parts, and she can do so at any time.

She was strong, yet despite her strength, she felt absolutely no discomfort even when Luo Ye stood ten meters away. Her delicate brows furrowed, not out of concern for her mental well-being, but rather to resolve the current stalemate. And even after a hundred seconds of Luo Ye standing there, she made no move to react.

She knew nothing and felt nothing. But when she suddenly turned her head, her tangible will impacting the floor of the Dark Moon Control Room, Luo Ye's form had already vanished upon touching the surface of a light screen.

The light screen displayed images of the white moon, representing the sun, outside the Earth. The next moment, Luo Ye stepped out of the light screen into reality, traversing a vast distance in a single step to reach the core of the white moon—the great library that was constantly being repaired.

Patchouli stood in the very center of the Great Library, while Luo Ye stopped seven meters away. She observed the purple-haired girl's busy daily routine. Her gaze softened, losing its strength.

She looked at Patchouli, but Patchouli could neither see nor sense her. It seemed as if a hidden message had crossed time and space to reach Patchouli's ear. And as the purple-haired witch went into alert mode, Luo Ye stepped a full meter away.

A meter is neither far nor near. Ultimately, Patchouli returned empty-handed. The warning she received from Alice heightened her vigilance, but this increased vigilance yielded no tangible benefits.

Ten minutes later, Luo Ye left the Great Library on the White Moon. She went directly to a globe, and when she reappeared, she was already in the World Government capital at the center of the Earth.

Zheng Zha was attending a meeting in the capital, while Luo Ye listened to the entire meeting as an audience member. She left again, and when she reappeared, she was beside Zhao Zhuikong, who was developing Earth's internal space within the mantle. This sister-obsessed girl had specifically chosen a job that allowed her to work alongside Zhao Yingkong. And their achievement over the past two years was that they had transformed Earth into a steel death star that looked like a planet.

The planet's core was still burning, but thousands of kilometers of natural rock, including the entire upper mantle, had been transformed into utterly mechanical constructs. Loye spent a little longer observing them, and by the time she left, the timer had completed a full cycle around twelve.

Then, she left silently once again. Before heading to contact Sirin, she returned to Gray Moon, and this time her target was Chu Xuan at the Star Research headquarters.

She saw Chu Xuan a second later.

Chu Xuan spotted her two seconds later.

Their eyes met in mid-air, and before Chu Xuan could speak, Luo Ye spoke first, saying what she wanted to say.

"I have solved the puzzle."

Section 30: Even the Most Convenient Thing Can Have a Flaw

Chu Xuan adjusted his glasses. His gaze remained as indifferent as ever, revealing no trace of emotion.

"How much have you cracked?" Chu Xuan asked, continuing to oversee the experiments that were currently being processed.

“I know everything Chang’e wishes to do,” Luo Ye replied.

"That's all?" Chu Xuan asked again.

“I know what you wish to do,” Luo Ye replied again.

Chu Xuan stopped the experiment in his hands. He pressed several buttons around the experimental table, and many of the data being calculated and the systems that were running stopped at the same moment. It seemed as if something invisible was wriggling around him, and then immediately stopped completely at his will.

A signal popped up on his lab terminal—it was Alice's warning. Similar alerts had been issued dozens of times in the previous hours—he glanced at the message, then switched the terminal window to an idle desktop state.

"What does she want to do? And what do I want to do?" Chu Xuan asked his third question.

“I can’t say,” Luo Ye gave her third answer. As soon as she finished speaking, all the stopped processes in the laboratory resumed operation. Interrupted processes restarted, and stopped machines began running again. Everything was restored to the state it was in before Luo Ye spoke. Then, Chu Xuan adjusted his glasses for the second time.

It wasn't that she didn't want to say, but that she couldn't. Just by stating this message, it was clear that Luo Ye already knew about certain matters involving the core of someone's plan—obviously, her words had been confirmed. At least, Chu Xuan's reaction proved most of what she had deduced.

"Will you become an obstacle?" Chu Xuan asked.

“No,” Luo Ye replied. “Whether it’s what Chang’e wants to do or what you want to do, it doesn’t actually conflict with the outcome I expect. But similarly, I don’t want you and her to get in the way of my plans. Anyway, you’re just using each other with roughly the same goal, so what’s wrong with adding me to the mix?”

"All you desire is destruction." Chu Xuan's voice lowered slightly.

“That might have been true in the past, but not necessarily now,” Luo Ye replied. “I know that Chang’e is not as powerful as she appears. I know that Chang’e is actually in trouble right now. I know that she and you have reached a tacit understanding to cooperate. I also know that you are determined to succeed in this plan.”

"Illusions of the mind can alter the appearance of reality, but this is ineffective against you. From the beginning, you intentionally allowed Chang'e to act in secret, enabling her magical medium to smoothly enter the Great Library. Not only that, you also helped her cover up many traces of interference, diverting the attention of the others in the group—otherwise, they would have noticed the anomaly on the Reincarnation Wristwatch long ago."

"The Central Continent Team has stayed in this world for seven years. Five years were spent on planetary correction, and two years on natural deduction. In these long seven years, how many destinies did the Central Continent Team change? How much reality did they distort? The so-called Wandering Earth script has long been altered beyond recognition. Yet, to this day, not a single reincarnator has received even a single side quest."

Luo Ye tilted her head slightly and looked at a certain spot beside Chu Xuan.

"It's one thing for the strong to not get any missions, but the weak haven't gained anything either. And on top of that, no one has even noticed this anomaly. What does this mean? Do I really have to spell it all out for them?"

“But you noticed,” Chu Xuan replied, without making any comment on Luo Ye’s sideways gaze.

"Because I am different, and because I have benefited greatly from your actions. Using a fabricated trap to imprison Alice and Patchouli, two information mages, within the White Moon and Black Moon is indeed an effective countermeasure. As long as their true forms do not easily leave the two lunar wheels, it will be difficult for them to notice the information interference that permeates the Earth's surface through a medium—wasn't the reason why Chang'e suddenly appeared when Alice decided to leave the Black Moon Palace to influence her decision? And wasn't the result exactly as Chang'e predicted, that Alice never left the Moon Palace again after that?"

"However, you took this opportunity to escape."

“Yes, I took advantage of that opportunity to escape,” Luo Ye replied with a smile. “Chang'e’s performance at that moment was undoubtedly flawless, but change is change, and Alice’s heart was filled with some doubt. And I took advantage of this wisp of doubt to escape the abyss of her heart and successfully transform on the outside—”

Initially, I pinned my hopes on the former protagonist, Luo Ji. Naturally, Alice took notice of Luo Ji and dispatched a spy. However, I was very patient; I infiltrated Luo Ji's mind, gathering intelligence while secretly pushing him to do things that conformed to the original story's standards yet remained inconspicuous. And now, I've finally been freed.

"After all, he was the former protagonist. That man still possesses enough luck and talent to overshadow my existence. Although the wisp of doubt I represented made him suspicious of everything around him, I wouldn't have been able to intervene directly if he hadn't had some doubts from the beginning. As a way of repaying him, I left him some gifts when I left, which I suppose makes it even."

There seemed to be some invisible substance quietly writhing in the space around Luo Ye, climbing up her knees along her shadow.

"Therefore, the option of me leaving here is not available. Alice's inner demons are not yet resolved, so even if I die here, I will not disappear. On the contrary, my temporary death will restore that lingering doubt in Alice's heart. And I think you and Chang'e probably don't really want Alice or Patchouli to come out of the Moon Palace at such an important moment."

—The invisible, wriggling thing disappeared without a sound.

"One question: how do you know that idealistic illusions are ineffective against me?"

“Just like the third question before, I can’t say.” Luo Ye’s fingers gently came together, forming a stable triangular spire. “But I think you should know the answer. After all, Alice had hinted at it to you before, revealing a bit of the unspeakable secret she was keeping. And I don’t think you have the concept of ‘forgetting.’ So you can skip this trick of trying to deceive me.”

“I am not Alice, I am different from her. My relationship with her is also different from the relationship between all the entities and inner demons in this entire multiverse. The more you scheme against her, the more you prevent her from using her talents, the larger the share of wisdom I can mobilize becomes. And you should know why this is.”

Luo Ye's voice was clear and crisp, its sound waves echoing throughout the small laboratory. Her words weren't just for Chu Xuan; more importantly, they conveyed crucial information to something hidden within the lab—a secret lay hidden within her, and a crisis lurked behind her. Any irrational probing would lead to terrible consequences, and she knew the hidden being in the lab could easily grasp her intentions.

The laboratory was completely silent.

Silence implies that the party unwilling to speak has adopted a tacit attitude.

“You cannot defeat Alice Margot Lloyd.” Chu Xuan’s tone returned to its initial calm: “No matter how special your nature is, you are not the one who is expected. Alice is destined to win in the end. Because even if she loses, you are destined to accept defeat before she perishes.”

"Your era has long passed. Unchanging old things will eventually wither in the face of changing new things. Those you trust, those you admire, those you hate, and those you despise have all vanished from the world. Even if you could turn back time, all you would get is a similar but different flower."

"You were destined to fail from the very beginning, Luo Ye. Because for you, neither the world nor yourself has long since lost any value. Your confrontation with Alice was merely a result of your going with the flow. And from what I've observed, until this one came into this world, you had chosen an ending for yourself, one that lay dormant deep within your soul awaiting your own demise—and now you seem to have gained a new motivation to live?"

“No, Chu Xuan.” Luo Ye dispersed the triangular tower formed by her fingers, her right index finger swaying slightly from side to side. “I was indeed destined to fail from the very beginning, and I don’t think I have any reason to continue living. The reason I was jumping around like this before was simply to push Alice’s growth so that she could gather the light of her soul as soon as possible and send me to a complete eternal sleep. And I still don’t think I have any need to replace her. The reason I appeared at this crucial time is because someone’s technology gave me some inspiration.”

She tilted her head slightly. "Alice will inevitably win, and her victory is destined to be accompanied by my defeat. But my defeat does not mean my demise—after all, carrying Patchouli's soul is already heavy enough for her. And I have little interest in taking a second-rate seat because of my own demise. It's a way of lightening her burden a bit."

"So, you don't need to worry that my actions in this world will lead to an unpredictable end for the Central Continent Team—tsk, you're clearly colluding with the enemy like a behind-the-scenes villain, but your ultimate goal is still for the sake of this team. I'm quite impressed with you, Chu Xuan. You haven't even unlocked the fourth-stage gene lock yet, but there are already signs of emotions emerging... Well, after all, it's just gene modification technology from the mid-21st century, so it's not surprising that you were able to crack it ahead of time."

She rambled on and on, shattering her usual ordinary and unremarkable facade. Yet the person she was talking to remained unmoved, simply gazing at her silently.

Watching, waiting.

Luo Ye shook her head.

"I'm scared of you." She stretched out her hand and tossed out a file folder. The folder was swallowed by an invisible maw the moment it reached Chu Xuan, vanishing from the world without a trace, not even a single quark remaining. "Here's the evidence. With your level of understanding, you should be able to read what I've written on it. After reading this, you should know that my actions won't have any negative impact on the Central Continent Team... Ah, if only you had unlocked the fourth-tier gene lock, then there would be no need for all this trouble. But if you really had unlocked the fourth-tier gene lock, then I wouldn't need to appear before you, would I?"

About a minute later, Chu Xuan finished reading all the information through some means.

"I accept your offer."

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

Luo Ye left Gray Moon, where Chu Xuan was located. She had no interest in getting involved in the many subsequent changes caused by her actions deep within Gray Moon. She also had no interest in the details of the cooperation between Chu Xuan and some unspeakable creature. All she needed to know was that neither Chu Xuan nor the hiding guy would cause any real damage to the Central Continent Team, and that Chu Xuan himself would strive to secure some benefits for the team.

Tsk, prediction records really can't be trusted entirely. The conclusions that the Supreme God deduces based on past information may not necessarily conform to the current causal chain. Although she had long guessed that Chu Xuan had changed a lot compared to the image in the prediction records, the extent of the change was still somewhat unexpected.

but……

"It doesn't matter anymore, the contract has been signed. Next is the process of turning my blueprint into reality." Luo Ye stood at the intersection of the Earth and the Moon, her gaze seemingly passing over the deep, dark moon to focus on the blonde girl deep within the lunar disk. She knew very well that Alice would notice the anomaly she had caused, and she also knew that as long as no further reaction was detected, Alice wouldn't spend too much time on this anomaly.

After all, she was already imprisoned within the Dark Moon's Moon Palace by her own judgment and perception. She would never allow her true form to leave the Dark Moon or actively seek contact with Earth without absolute certainty. Just like Patchouli, who only uses nanite swarms to monitor the entire world, her methods of observing Earth would only be indirect mental networks and surveillance.

"So she can't access the reality on Earth, and can't perceive the omnipresent idealistic illusion. And naturally, she won't know, and won't admit..." Luo Ye raised his hand, gazing at the torrent of information swirling around his fingertips.

Materialism and idealism are a complementary whole.