Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

The next moment, her form vanished completely from the Earth's outer reaches. It caused no spatial shifts, no disturbance to a single free particle. Her existence was like a phantom existing only on the retina, and when she reappeared, she had already silently arrived on Earth under the overwhelming surveillance system.

She had one last person to see.

Chapter Thirty-One: Under the Moon

Luo Ye's last visitor was Xi Lin.

She didn't need to see Chang'e, because Chang'e already knew everything she wanted to express. And since she hadn't encountered any unforeseen accident so far, it meant that Chang'e had already agreed with her point of view.

[Information Magic...]

She gently landed atop a hive city, overlooking the majestic and vast industrial metropolis, which resembled a disc, from its highest point. Thanks to the Reincarnators, the entire hive city, inside and out, top to bottom, was under the surveillance of nanites and a mental network. Therefore, there were no dark corners, no junkyards, no abandoned districts, and no gloomy sewers. And evil and darkness naturally had no place here.

To be precise, there is no room for criminal elements to survive on the entire planet. Because as soon as they show any signs of emerging, they are immediately detected by the nanite swarm, and then, naturally, forces beyond the imagination of these criminals will come to teach them a lesson.

Alice might slack off a bit, because a pure white world with no darkness held little meaning for her. However, Zhang Heng and Ming Yanwei were particularly interested in fighting crime and eliminating lawbreakers, especially troublesome street thugs. Although their relationship hadn't improved—and perhaps it never would—that didn't stop them, one in the Eastern Hemisphere and the other in the Western Hemisphere, from controlling the entire globe's police force and sweeping away the dust from every corner.

This is a good thing. At least for the two of them, it should be considered a good thing. While the possibility of rekindling their romance has diminished with time, the bond of comradeship, though broken, may still be forged. Perhaps after some time, they can fight side-by-side with smiles on their faces and open hearts. And the mental barriers preventing them from reaching higher levels will be completely removed.

Naturally, Luo Ye wouldn't interfere with them. The reason she thought of these two before visiting Xilin was because they had been working to eradicate darkness from the planet.

Darkness, darkness, profound darkness—Luo Ye blinked, and the once pristine city transformed in her vision into a decaying city engulfed in pus. Countless wisps of black liquid swirled and flowed through the city, unknown to both the upholders of justice and the succumbs to evil.

True darkness exists in this world. And for mortals who cannot even observe it, this darkness is utterly inescapable. No, they cannot even perceive it. For to all beings that are not extraordinary, and to those who are extraordinary yet unaware of information magic, these crawling darknesses dwelling within the hives are as if they were nonexistent as a dragon that cannot be perceived by any means.

That's why that woman trapped Alice and Patchouli in the Lunar Capital. Because once their true forms descend, they can observe the dense darkness that pervades the Earth. Then they will recall similar beings and retrieve crucial clues from the corridors of their memories.

Luo Ye stretched out her fingers and gently touched the crawling darkness. However, these tiny wisps of light carefully veered away before her fingers could even touch them, as if oil were avoiding water.

If the two information mages were to descend to Earth in their true forms, they would immediately discover that they and their companions had already come into contact with this dark force within the world of Ju-on. They would then instantly recall certain hidden and inconspicuous messages within the world of Ju-on, and the fact that it could no longer be entered after Patchouli's purge.

In the world of Ju-on, there once lived a witch named Nirvana. Four hundred years before the events of that world began, on a devastated land, there was a record of the witch's tumultuous transformation from ordinary to extraordinary. If either Alice or Patchouli were to descend, they would inevitably discover, through this dark similarity, that this self-proclaimed Chang'e is connected to the witch Nirvana.

They would recall that fragments of Chu Xuan had appeared in the world of Ju-on's memories. From this, they would deduce that Chu Xuan had been connected to the woman who called herself Chang'e since then. They would realize that Chu Xuan and that woman had already formed a partnership, and they would anticipate that the woman's appearance in this world was not accidental.

Then they would realize that the woman who claimed to be Chang'e might not actually be Chang'e.

This isn't unacceptable; the woman claimed to be Chang'e, but not a single word of her self-proclaimed idealist pronouncements was credible. Of course, that's not important. What is important is that these two materialistic followers were indeed misled by the concept of Chang'e, actively promoting rituals related to the moon in order to counter 'Chang'e,' and imprisoning themselves in the Moon Palace without realizing it due to their flawed judgment.

The mind-based spellcaster has achieved her goal. Therefore, whether she is Chang'e or not is irrelevant. Just as Luo Ye gave Chu Xuan a way to make peace on the gray moon, whether that heartless man gained affection or not is ultimately unimportant. After all, this is how the internal conflicts among information-based spellcasters operate—the battle between information and intelligence is the main focus, and if it devolves into hand-to-hand combat, it only indicates that one side is struggling in its death throes.

—Luo Ye gently rubbed her fingers, her gaze searching for her target in the nest city. She sensed that Xilin should be nearby, but something indistinct was affecting her, making it difficult for her to pinpoint Xilin's location immediately.

That woman who called herself Chang'e… let's just call her Chang'e for now. Her scheme was supposed to be flawless, every step proceeding as planned. However, the one thing she hadn't foreseen was Luo Ye's unique nature. She hadn't anticipated a demon capable of detaching itself from its host, nor that this demon itself craved destruction. She hadn't expected that this self-destructive demon, after escaping its host through a wisp of doubt, would find the former protagonist, who possessed destiny, and hide within his mind for years until it saw through everything. And this led to her defeat in her confrontation with Luo Ye.

She hadn't even met Luo Ye yet, but she had already lost. Luo Ye had seen through everything, or at least most, of her plan and could easily disrupt it. She was helpless against Luo Ye—she couldn't trap him, kill him, or bear the consequences of his disappearance. Therefore, she could only compromise, becoming one of Luo Ye's bargaining chips to force Chu Xuan to compromise as well.

—Luo Ye still couldn't find Xi Lin. This caused a slight displeasure to arise in her heart. Faced with this situation, her strategy was to gently rub her head, allowing the non-existent but present brainwaves to operate along with her thoughts.

What is Chang'e's purpose? Four conditions are currently known. First, Chang'e may not actually be Chang'e. Second, Chang'e had already been in contact with Chu Xuan. Third, Chang'e is very likely the Nirvana of the Ju-on world, meaning the first world she arrived at was not the so-called Guilty Crown. However, she chose deception in such a trivial detail. Fourth, the Ju-on world is irreversible.

From this, we can deduce the following conclusion.

[First, Chang'e already knew that the Central Continent team would arrive in this reincarnation world. She deliberately came ahead of time and made arrangements here. The reincarnators of the Central Continent team are closely related to her plans. If this information is exposed, the Central Continent team's forced withdrawal using the artifact will inevitably lead to an outcome she does not want to accept.]

Secondly, she, or Nirvana, came into contact with Chu Xuan in the world of Ju-on. However, she or they didn't appear at that time. This proves that the Central Continent Team was useless to her or them at that stage. Therefore, it's highly likely that she needed the Reincarnation Team because only Reincarnators could do something she couldn't. Considering the special nature of Reincarnators, and Patchouli's actions in the Ju-on world and the resulting closure of that world, this matter is very likely related to some element in the world's structure. That is…

Luo Ye blinked, the changing filter clearing away the thick black fog before her eyes. She suddenly realized that her target, Xilin, who had been wandering aimlessly on Earth for the past two years, had appeared in her field of vision, accompanied by a strange, white-haired young woman.

Ah... as expected, Chang'e won't compromise unless she's pressured. However, this also confirms another conclusion for Luo Ye. That is...

[Of all the things Chang'e said, this is probably the only one that's true: 'Theresa Apocalypse' from another world has fallen for Sirin.']

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

When Luo Ye reappeared, she was already inside a giant concert hall. She appeared in the center of the orchestra, replacing the second organist with a twisted, idealistic view of reality. Her movements were elegant and natural, easily blending into the orchestra and performing indistinguishably from the original organist.

The conductor was Johann Sebastian Bach. The repertoire was the 'St. Matthew Passion,' a piece that was appearing for the first time in this new history, yet was renowned in orthodox human history. As its grand and magnificent melody resounded throughout the hall, a solemn and dignified atmosphere seemed to fill the entire venue.

Luo Ye's gaze shifted, and she could clearly see Xilin and her female companion in the second row of the audience. She saw the white-haired little girl devoutly praying with her eyes closed to this religious music that should not exist under the rule of the World Government. However, before the sound of the prayer reached her ears, she first tasted the scent of blood.

Blood, the blood of extraordinary life, blood voluntarily donated by extraordinary life. The white-haired little girl was an artificial vampire who fed on blood. And Sirin was nourishing her with her own blood—Sirin did even more for her, because in this reconstructed world, there was originally no room for God or faith. Naturally, it was even less likely that the Gospel of Matthew, which could inspire the famous composer Bach to create the Passion of Matthew, would exist.

It was obvious that Sirin had used her privileges for this white-haired little girl. The entire concert, including the performers and audience, existed solely for her. However, this little girl was different from Theresa Apocalypse, whom Loye had obtained from the records.

[An artificial human, a composite created by modifying the genes of a powerful individual. Similar in nature to the Zhao siblings, but the original prototype is far less powerful than the nameless assassin who created them. The vampire gene must be the result of a secondary adjustment during the embryonic stage—recorded data indicates that Theresa Apocalypse is a modified clone of Kallen Kaslana, an important character in the Honkai world. Therefore, this artificial vampire must be a clone of a clone.]

[So, calling her Theresa Apocalypse makes sense. It also explains the illogical reality in the original story, where a Valkyrie with a pre-existing love interest falls in love with her mortal enemy, the Herrscher. Ah, this woman really is a liar.]

Luo Ye blinked, and her idealistic illusion was activated again. Without a trace, she sent the replaced organist back to her original position without triggering anything unusual. When she reappeared, she was sitting to the side, a seat away from Xilin, as an ordinary listener of the music.

She arrived without a trace, her movements silent. And just a few minutes later, when the audience member between the two had to leave early due to illness, she positioned herself so that her gaze met Celine's in mid-air.

Naturally, Sirin didn't know that she recognized her. So the purple-haired girl simply nodded at her and naturally looked away. Her companion, however, cast a slightly curious and questioning glance at Luo Ye, and gave her a pure and polite smile.

[Not Chang'e.]

Luo Ye tilted her head slightly, and in this brief encounter, she came to this conclusion—the soul of the artificial vampire before her was clean and pure. It was not a reincarnation, not an incarnation, and there was no trace of idealism within it.

She was slightly surprised, though this didn't change her unspoken conclusion. It still surprised her somewhat. Because of this, she decided to postpone confronting Celine, choosing instead to remain a quiet observer for a while.

After all, Earth hasn't even crossed Pluto yet, and she still has plenty of time to waste before that crucial moment arrives.

Chapter Thirty-Two: I am the one chosen by Heaven.

A fleeting dream.

Sirin felt as if she had returned to that day many years ago, the day when she existed as an apostle of the Honkai... or rather, the world's will. She was chosen as the second one in the hands of God, granted immense power and resurrected from the dead, to wipe out the civilization on a planet.

Then, he faced defeat and death in the war.

Destruction wasn't unimaginable, because I was too naive and narrow-minded back then, lacking both knowledge and experience in dealing with people. In terms of pure strength, I was very strong, far stronger than the strongest warrior in the entire world at that time. But if strategy and tactics were considered as parameters in combat power, then my true strength was nothing special.

So I lost, lost, and died. My death was merely the inevitable result of my immaturity, arrogance, and the overlapping of my opponent's cunning. I may have been angry, I may have felt hatred, I may have felt resentment. But in any case, I certainly did not despair in my heart at the moment of my defeat.

How can one enter the Main God Space without despair?

Obviously, that was impossible; in the instant before his death, he was simply not qualified to enter the Main God Space. In fact, he hadn't actually left the world at that moment—that was the greatest secret he had never revealed to anyone. He slumbered in the Abyss of Death, drifting in nothingness. Then, in that mysterious space between existence and non-existence, the true nature of the world manifested in the eyes of the dead.

It turns out that everything was meaningless: Sirin's birth, Sirin's demise, Sirin's enemies, Sirin's friends. None of it mattered.

The world follows a static script: civilizations rise and fall, develop and leap forward, only to crumble into dust just before reaching the stars. Mortals may rebel and struggle, but the outcome remains unchanged. New eras will replace the old, but the story will always remain the same.

Is it merely a cycle of eras on a planet? No, it's not that simple. Perhaps some wise individuals can observe the changing of eras on a planet. However, beyond the changing of eras lies a far more terrifying truth.

The fate of the universe was decided from the very beginning. In the Abyss of Death, the girl named Sirin was actually observing her past life, the life before that life, and the life before that life... However, no matter how many lifetimes she went back, Sirin's past life was always just Sirin. Sirin as an orphan, Sirin as an experimental subject, Sirin as the Second Herrscher, Sirin as a defeated corpse.

Countless times, a girl named Sirin was born amidst war. Countless times, a girl named Sirin became a vessel for experiments. Countless times, a girl named Sirin became an apostle of God amidst the cycle of life and death. Countless times, a girl named Sirin was defeated when she acted on behalf of divine authority.

The whole world is like a pre-recorded movie. A fixed beginning, a fixed ending, a fixed development, a fixed plot. Whether it's the girl named Sirin, the Valkyries who are her enemies, the mortals and Honkai Beasts struggling to survive in the war, or the Honkai Will that manipulates everything behind the scenes, all the resistance and struggle, the clashes and confrontations, are nothing but a mirage. Because everything will begin at a fixed point in time, and then end at a pre-planned point in time.

The story begins at the end of an ancient civilization, where the corrupted apostles battle the wise men of that civilization. Before that, nothing existed. There was no history, no past, no birth or development of the universe—ancient history could be observed through certain means, but that history did not actually exist. Everything unfolded exactly as the Central Continent Team did on Earth in this universe; the world was nothing but a void five minutes before the end of that ancient civilization.

The end will occur after Sirin's civilization is destroyed by the Herrscher of the End. It won't be sooner, nor later. After that, everything will end; all matter, energy, time, and space will be restored to their original state at the beginning.

Sometimes fate can change, perhaps with the arrival of one or more time travelers, or the awakening of one or more native inhabitants. The chosen script will be subtly altered as a result. Perhaps the collapse will be repelled, or perhaps the world will prematurely perish. Perhaps all the important characters, including Sirin from that incarnation, will be abducted by the time travelers who descend from the sky, but in the end, nothing will change.

The world will restart, and what has happened will eventually happen again. The characters taken away from the world are nothing more than empty shells with the same memories and appearances. And in the Abyss of Death, as one of the native awakened ones, Sirin watched this repetitive puppet show over and over again.

One hundred times? One thousand times? Ten thousand times? One hundred million times? Memories from the Abyss of Death cannot be easily brought out, and every time Sirin faces death in a fixed script, she will relive her past experiences upon arriving at this old place.

Finally, she despaired and, in the abyss of death, abandoned all hope in a state of utter desolation.

Then, in despair, she arrived at the God Realm.

Even now, Sirin doesn't know whether what she saw in that Abyss of Death was a constant repetition of a universe or the overlapping of many similar world lines—but that doesn't really matter, because after she became a reincarnator, this once heavy past became light.

Because she returned to her mother world and proved through the methods of a reincarnator that she was not a copied imposter—undoubtedly, if there is a manipulator behind this eternal cycle, then that manipulator's authority must be subordinate to that of the Supreme God. The Sirin taken from this world by the Supreme God is the real Sirin. And as the chosen one of the Supreme God, she has the authority to destroy the script of this eternal cycle.

She disrupted the plot of the Honkai world, completely disrupting everything that was written and inserting her own unique original script—neither Moonfall nor the memetic virus were things that should have been in the Honkai world's script. And after she had successfully destroyed everything, she obtained the ending she had hoped for after a long wait.

Without the Herrscher of the End, the world will not perish, will not restart, and will not cycle. Friends and enemies in their own world have all been completely liberated at this moment.

Celine hid this secret, keeping it firmly buried in her heart—and for a reason. After she did that thing, she noticed a subtle shift in her luck. Even with the protection of the supreme god, she was met with hatred when she descended into other worlds. Good things turned bad, and bad things became worse. Her plans always inexplicably went awry, and even without plans, problems would find their way to her.

One unlucky soul like myself is enough; there's no need for others to suffer the same fate. Perhaps when my companions advance to a level where they no longer need to fear this hatred—like the mid-to-high stages of Gene Lock Level 4—I can share this information with them. But until then, it's best to keep everything secret.

Ah, that's right, keep it secret.

Memories are stored deep within the heart, sealed away, and bound with layers of shackles to prevent any possibility of leakage. Even the method of sealing them is deliberately forgotten. Everything is made to return to nothingness as if it never existed in the first place. But why…

What if I remember these things?

Celine opened her eyes, feeling the softness of the bed beneath her and the warm breath emanating from the petite body nestled beside her not far away. Her thoughts repeatedly stalled.

She actually knew the answer. The reason she remembered these things was because she had unintentionally touched a pre-programmed catalyst that she had long forgotten. The most likely candidates for that catalyst were two objects—one being Chang'e, and the other being the girl beside her.

A clone of Theresa Apocalypse, a clone of a clone, the experimental subject codenamed A-872. She was created as a prop, imprisoned as a prop in a miniature garden, manipulated and used at will by her creator as a prop, and silently faded away in history as a prop.

Sirin knew her because in a certain time loop or a certain world line, Sirin had a rather deep interaction with this experimental subject codenamed A-872, also known as Luna Kindred. She discovered this subject girl during an attack on a hostile force's base when she was the Second Herrscher, and her shared fate as an experimental subject led her to spare the girl's life when she resisted.

It was truly a miraculous encounter. Two experimental subjects with similar fates met amidst the chaos of war, got to know each other, and became companions. From complete strangers to gradually becoming intimately familiar, their relationship shifted from that of victor and prisoner to that of princess and knight. In that lifetime, Sirin slowed her war against human civilization because of her companion, yet in the end, she still faced the same fate.

The warriors breached the princess's fortress, dismembering her to make weapons and brainwashing the knights into tools. Neither Sirin nor A-872 of that era could escape the fate already written in the script. And when the next era began, this miraculous meeting never repeated itself.

A miracle is a miracle precisely because it cannot be replicated. And this one-of-a-kind miracle, which cannot be replicated, is so insignificant in the millions of cycles that occur.

However, Sirin remembered this long-forgotten miracle in this world.

You are not her.

Sirin was certain that in that cycle of defeat and reincarnation, her past self, or even her empty shell, hadn't been forcibly taken away by a sudden outsider. Therefore, A-872 in that life wouldn't be the Chang'e obsessed with role-playing. And the white-haired girl appearing here wouldn't be the knight who once protected the princess.

She gently reached out and touched the cheek of the girl who was murmuring in her dream. The soft touch intoxicated her, and the warm breath made her palms tingle slightly.

You are not Chang'e.

She remembered how she met this girl in this world, who also bore the name Theresa Apocalypse but possessed a bloodline body. It was two years ago, on a morning, specifically the day the world was rebuilt and put back into operation. While wandering aimlessly across the land, she coincidentally arrived at the same location as the secret base in the mother world, and then, on the beach that had been transformed into a seaside by the world's reconstruction, she found this girl unconscious on the shore.

The girl's appearance on this beach wasn't without reason; she had a detailed background, parents, and a family—she was the only daughter of a small family in Western Europe, and in her childhood, contact with a remnant of the Winged People triggered a genetic mutation. Her hair turned white, her eyes red, and she craved blood—Sirin even used her authority to rewind to the corresponding record in the world's evolution. And she personally verified that the girl's transformation was purely a natural progression.

—A flower that is similar yet different should theoretically look like this.

However, Sirin inexplicably kept her and, without any resistance from her, lived with her on this reconstructed Earth for two years.

Two years is a considerable amount of time for a reincarnator. However, for Sirin, it felt as short as two days. During this extended period, she delegated all the responsibilities she bore as a reincarnator to the handcrafted AI. Her true self, meanwhile, traveled the world with the girl.

In a past life, the Second Herrscher, Sirin, had a similar wish, and now she is fulfilling it here.

She didn't understand the meaning of it all—they weren't the same person, they were just similar yet different flowers, yet she had taken her to do everything she had wanted to do but hadn't been able to in the past. She had tried to stop herself and break free from this futile act. But each time, when she was about to leave, she couldn't lift her foot to take the next step.

"Perhaps I've already become intoxicated by it." — Sirin thought to herself, and after several failed attempts to break free, she quickly gave up on thinking about it altogether. As time went on, even trying to think about it became meaningless.

She sighed softly, her fingertips sliding down slightly, then pausing briefly when they touched the girl's shoulder blade.