Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

Ah...we've arrived.

The giant silver serpent reached the targeted branch, flicked its tongue, and its mirror-like eyes precisely locked onto two of the trillions of leaves on that branch. One was the small world where Alice resided, and the other was the small world where Zhan Lan resided.

Yes, that's right. Alice and Janlan don't exist in the same world, because all the trillions of worlds along this branch are part of 'The Witcher 3,' and they were simply randomly placed into two of them. Janlan is a probe, a probe in the open. Alice is also a probe, hidden behind the visible probe, another probe made possible by her own secrecy and uniqueness.

The original fragments of Chang'e will definitely discover Zhan Lan. Even though Chu Xuan has placed a disguise on her, this disguise has flaws—while her inability to reveal her name is indeed a disguise, it will disappear when she absorbs the power of the original Chang'e to break the genetic lock's restrictions. The killing intent that erupts along with the release of the genetic lock's restrictions will inevitably lead her to death—stepping into the abyss of death is both compensation for using her and the spark that exposes her identity.

The fragments of the original Chang'e will discover her and become wary. They will then further discover that she is merely a decoy—another probe, Alice, carrying purification authority, has already infiltrated another world while she is distracted. Undoubtedly, the fragments of the original Chang'e's power will notice Alice and pay her even closer attention.

This is enough.

Chu Xuan didn't expect to find his target in the vast ocean of worlds using simple methods. All he needed to do was determine a general location—his goal would be achieved when Alice made contact with Uma. After all, Alice herself was well aware that all beings possessing primal magic might harbor the will of the original Chang'e. It's just that she might not have thought about the matter that deeply.

The intelligence asymmetry might allow her to deduce some of the causes and consequences of this operation and take countermeasures. But that's a matter for later. For now, Alice can only passively fulfill her assigned duty: to act as a probe, pinpointing the fact that a valuable fragment of power within this branch is nearby. And once the area containing the valuable 'leaf' is successfully marked, the rest will naturally become simple.

The branches of 'The Witcher 3' began to tremble. Perhaps anticipating their impending fate, all but the locked worlds among these trillions of worlds put up fierce resistance. Some disrupted the internal script, using natural disasters to destroy everything in their worlds in an attempt to break free from the 'script branches' and escape to other branches. Some directly opened the membranes on the outside of their worlds, drawing in seas of energy to wash away the small worlds themselves into a blank slate—and a considerable number even gathered together, merging and piecing together, accelerating the flow of time within their worlds billions of times in a short period of time, directly using heroes from among the native inhabitants to create a massive transboundary army, attempting to launch a war to save the world.

However, it was all in vain. Escape was futile, self-destruction was futile, and resistance was futile. The silver serpent, three million light-years long, simply opened its mouth at a speed completely contrary to the upper limit of the speed of light in classical physics, and then, starting from the outside, swallowed all the countless tiny worlds that had made different choices.

The Hunt for Saints' Cage—the hunted is for Saints. These are Saints whose scale rivals that of a galaxy; even using an entire supercluster as raw material, it would take a considerable amount of their power to construct a cage. Faced with such a colossal existence, a few Reincarnators, even if they were to eat until they were bursting, could at most reach the fourth tier… Even if they purified countless amounts of power, what fraction of a Saint's power could they possibly possess?

Only Luo Ye and Chu Xuan witnessed the sublimation of the ideal Chang'e and the descent of the original Chang'e. Others who failed to grasp this information would inevitably fall into the trap of misjudging the situation—that only the Hunting Saint ritual could truly kill the original Chang'e, while other strategies were merely superficial attempts to subtly attack her.

Then, the snake's snout closes.

Trillions of heavens collapsed, trillions of earths shattered. Countless legions clashed in the void, composing a magnificent epic that even a mere fragment of which could shake the ages. Then… the silver serpent opened its mouth for the second time.

Everything quieted down.

All the kings are dead, all the rebels have vanished into nothingness. In the unimaginably long and meaningless time, civilizations are born, develop, evolve, sublimate, decline, and return to the void—this cycle has repeated itself billions of times. When the snake's kiss closes for the second time, everything is classified as 'worthless'.

No trace, no record, no history, no cause—the silver serpent swallowed forty percent of the 'leaf' on this branch, leaving behind an energy sea tremor far greater than the previous hundred. The remaining sixty percent fearfully gathered together, enveloping and squeezing each other, ultimately merging with the two 'leaf' where Alice and Zhan Lan were. It transformed into the sole fruit on this bare branch.

The billions of twin worlds vanished, leaving only the unified one. Then, the giant serpent opened its mouth for the third time.

It failed to bite down because an alarm from the base point world stopped its next move.

That's enough. Any further, and the ceremony risks spiraling out of control.

The message from the tree roots successfully pulled it from its gluttonous pleasure. It raised its head, gazing at the top of the Tree of Events, and noticed that the outermost canopy was already somewhat dim—if it recklessly took its third bite, the stability of the Sacred Hunting Ritual would be tested. Even if this one bite could elevate the ritual's master to a higher level, directly converging a flawless, unblemished spiritual light from mortal matter, when there was even a one in a billion chance of the ritual collapsing, the sealed saint, even in slumber, could amplify that one in a billion into a billion upon a billion.

Indeed, victory against a saint is not easily achieved. Even a saint imprisoned, whose main consciousness has fallen into slumber and whose strength is reduced to less than one ten-thousandth of its original power, is no match for them. Even with perfect timing, location, and support, the reincarnators' painstaking efforts only resulted in the unification of a small fraction of the seven or eight trillion fragments. They transformed a small world, essentially an illusion, into a complete world with some potential… And if the project to destroy the original Chang'e were measured in percentages, the current progress would probably be only about one percent.

The giant, silvery-gray serpent detached itself from the branch, no longer yearning for the single fruit on its tip—a fruit far more valuable than any of the billions of leaves combined. Its task at this stage was complete; the rest would naturally be handled by others.

Just as it had come, it returned to the roots of the tree. Though the return was relatively quiet, it still caused more than a dozen massive tremors in the energy sea. When it passed through the base point world again, even the mentally disturbed Miss Xinlu, who had been working overtime to the point of madness, couldn't muster the urge to scold it. And when this serpentine body, spanning three million light-years, finally vanished at the bottom of the energy sea, in the now unified world of the 'Wizards III' fruit, Alice had just put down the scalpel she had raised.

Time has no meaning, at least not to the one who leads the ritual. Space has no meaning, at least not to the one who manipulates the ritual. As the silver serpent lurked within the sea of ​​energy, at the very top of the treetop, at the heart of the Sacred Hunt ritual, Chu Xuan's true form opened his eyes.

He slowly removed the glasses from his nose, and as soon as he lowered his hand, a massive amount of putrid blood gushed from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. The liquid spurting from his body was a terrifyingly poisonous substance, instantly dissolving his entire body into a smooth skeleton!

New flesh and blood sprout from the bone marrow, only to decay and perish in an instant. In the second cycle, even the bones themselves dissolve completely. And when the third cycle begins, even the soul decays and withers away piece by piece.

Using a mortal body to carry out the will of the gods will ultimately come at a price. When the fourth cycle ended, the individual named Chu Xuan had completely disappeared from this worldview. The glasses that had been removed fell downwards, but before they hit the ground, they were caught firmly by another hand.

A silver, serpentine shadow swirled around him as a new Chu Xuan replaced the old one, donning the glasses he had removed. The Supreme God's Reincarnation Wristwatch remained on his wrist and functioned normally—he made a gesture, and the silver shadow vanished without a trace, just as it had appeared.

A mortal is ultimately just a mortal. Even though he could cross that line at any time, for now, he chooses to continue existing as a mortal. And since he is a mortal, his long memories as a tree-eating serpent can only be temporarily sealed away. The results of devouring billions of small worlds cannot be directly applied to his main body; it will take time to slowly summarize and absorb them.

Time, time had taken on meaning for him once more at this moment—the Sacred Hunting Ritual had been activated once, so at least until time became worthless to him again, both the prisoners in the cage and the visitors outside had an opportunity. He knew very well what this meant, and he knew very well what it would cause. And so, with this insight and understanding of all these changing circumstances, he slowly closed his eyes.

He had only made one move, placing his first piece on the center point.

Next, it was his turn to give his opponent the opportunity to make a move.

Section 10 The Road to Death

"This is also part of the cooperation."

Luo Ye blinked, sealing the only passage to the core of the ritual while Chu Xuan fell into a dormant state. She was the guardian of the dream world and the gatekeeper of the base point world. Although she couldn't drive the Hunting Saint Ritual to perform actions with a wide reach like Chu Xuan, as long as she remained here, there was no enemy in this universe who could slip past her.

The tedious, million-year-long memories churned in her mind, then she purified and erased them one by one, ultimately transforming them into the driving force that propelled her forward toward her goal. In the past, she couldn't understand how an emperor could remain in a universe for six hundred million years, nor could she understand the idealistic Chang'e, or rather, the countless years of wandering and Nirvana across thousands of universes. She couldn't understand, especially, what enabled them to endure such a long period of time. But now, she felt she had gained some insights.

No, she actually knew all along.

"I dislike people who live simply to survive. What's the point of a long life if you have no ideals or beliefs?"

She repeated the words she had once told Alice in a slightly modified form. She knew very well what she was living for, and how long she would have to fulfill this duty—though time didn't mean much to her at the moment, she knew that day was not far off.

We're almost there, very soon, very soon.

Her gaze descended from the void—or rather, traveled back in time—effortlessly anchoring on the Wizarding World III, where billions of 'leaf's' had transformed into a single 'fruit'. Under her watchful eye, Alice within the Wizarding World III had just completed her research on Uma, cleverly bypassing the curse akin to a malevolent transformation to obtain the coordinates of the Isle of Mist from within Uma…or rather, Avalak's soul. Then, Alice cleaned up the mess at Raven's Nest, erasing all traces, and embarked on a new journey.

She blinked, and the various possibilities that Alice might have faced after leaving Raven's Nest flashed through her mind. In some cases, she encountered the Wild Hunt; in others, she became an enemy of the Witchers; in still others, she slaughtered every living thing in the world, causing the story to reset; and in yet another, she became Ciri's friend and, with Ciri's help, traveled to the other side of the world.

With so few variables, she could immediately discern the numerous developments within this unified wizarding world. Ciri did indeed possess the blood of a saint, and Alice's deduction was not incorrect. It's just that before Chu Xuan's actions, there were trillions of Ciris on the wizarding branch tree, and now only one remained.

Therefore, Alice's deduction is correct, even though it only recently became correct from absurd. But correct is still correct, and as long as she can find Ciri, she can rely on this destined heroine to travel between worlds. Although it's hard to say where she'll ultimately end up... it will ultimately be outside the world system of The Witcher 3.

Since it's outside the 'one and only' world, it can only be another branch of this tree of phenomena. When she comes into contact with a new script, the plan will naturally move to the next stage.

"Should I offer her some help, so she can avoid some detours?" Luo Ye muttered to herself, then immediately realized that there were no such things as detours in this world—Chu Xuan's act of devouring countless things had already made the world of The Wizarding 3 unique, and truly valuable fragments of power were already hidden within it. Capturing and purifying them was Alice and Zhan Lan's duty and benefit. Moreover…

The myriad events before her eyes suddenly blurred, and the once clear and distinct chain of cause and effect began to stagnate. Factors capable of greatly interfering with her had descended upon the world of The Witcher 3, and the future, which had previously been traceable, had now become indistinguishable.

"Has a Reincarnation Squad descended...?" Without making a futile attempt, Luo Ye abruptly withdrew his gaze. The Reincarnation Squad that descended into the world of The Wizarding III wouldn't be a particularly powerful one, because the world of The Wizarding III is now the safest and least threatening place within the Hunter's Cage. After the many smaller worlds converged into one, the power fragments trapped inside had essentially become bait and sacrifices. They would only cause trouble for the Reincarnators, not pose a real threat. This is because they were also probes, luring the Reincarnators out so that the fragments in other branches could take advantage of the situation.

"...There's no need to waste time on this."

"Alice's work and profits are best left to her to manage herself."

Luo Ye slowly closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, she had already discarded all the millions of meaningless years she had spent. She returned once again to the bubble world of Alice Daoji, to that region where light and darkness intertwined, and where land and sea clashed.

The Bubble World, the world of ship girls. This world is in disarray due to Alice's arbitrary extraction of concepts to weave an apocalypse. The Abyssal Fleet, representing 'darkness,' nearly drives the ship girls, representing 'light,' and humanity to the brink of destruction. When humanity and the ship girls have only one island left to live on, Luo Ye, as the last admiral on this land, descends upon the front lines of the battlefield.

This is the foundation of Alice Margot Royd's aggregate, the source of all her magical power. Repairing this place can only be done through gradual, painstaking effort without external assistance, not through the brutal crushing of the outer world using the Hunting Saint ritual. Therefore, even though Luo Ye only witnessed Chu Xuan's silver serpent form, the giant serpent, crush trillions of small worlds of the same size as the Bubble World into an energy sea just moments before… or even millions of years ago, she can only act as an admiral, guiding the power within the Bubble World to rebuild the balance of light and darkness.

It was a tough job, but Luo Ye didn't actually dislike it.

After all, compared to spending millions of years adjusting the turbulent sea of ​​energy in a perpetually silent base world, any act that allows for information exchange is, in a sense, a form of relaxation.

Thus, space changes.

When she looked at herself again, she found herself sitting peacefully in the admiral's office, just as she had left, with a document on the table before her that she had only read half of. According to her sense of time, she had only read the first half of the document in a mortal way four million two hundred and sixty-four thousand four hundred and thirty-four years, nine days, fifteen hours, five minutes, and five seconds ago, and only when she began to read the second half did the second hand of the clock beside her, which had been frozen for over four million years, finally tick—a sound that should have been heard long ago.

It's something that's far away, but it doesn't matter.

She exhaled and shifted her gaze from top to bottom. The document contained a request report submitted by the ship girls under her command, requesting the expansion of the surrounding port area to accommodate the ever-increasing number of ship girls—as an admiral, she was naturally a construction enthusiast. Although this bubble world, due to its outdated settings, couldn't simply create ship girls by pressing a button and waiting for hours, the island she controlled boasted multiple ship girl academies, ensuring a steady stream of personnel during wartime.

Yesterday... or rather, more than four million years ago yesterday, no ship girls were sunk within the defensive line.

Luo Ye thought back for a moment and found that the memories from more than four million years ago were as new and dazzling as pearls just emerging from the water. She still remembered the names of every ship girl under her command, their hobbies and habits, every order she had given before, and the subsequent changes that resulted from them.

So she picked up her pen and signed her name and approval at the end of the document.

—A dozen seconds later, there was a knock on the door.

"Please come in."

The door opened slowly, and the footsteps that followed were light and rhythmic. It was a beautiful woman with waist-length flaxen hair, dressed in an elegant white military uniform. If someone familiar with a certain outdated mobile game were here, they would surely exclaim "Mrs. Lexington!" and dance with excitement. And she was indeed Lexington, the ship girl Lexington.

Luo Ye remembered her. Over four million years ago, when Luo Ye first arrived on this island, it was this Miss Lexington who led the last ship girl force in a final stand on the island's coastline. It was Luo Ye who took command when the defenses were nearing their breaking point and saved the last ship girl force. From that moment on, Lexington had always stayed by her side, as her secretary and her personal bodyguard.

Time, time has no meaning. So what Luo Ye perceived as 4.26 million years ago was actually only nine months away for Lexington. She could vividly recall everything in her recent memories simply by closing her eyes—she had just come to the admiral's office with a refreshing drink, as she did every afternoon, and then taken away the already annotated documents.

Strangely, Admiral Luo Ye disliked neither coffee nor black tea. She had no interest in the elegant drinks common in the old generation, but instead had a particular fondness for a carbonated beverage called 'Cola,' which was often considered junk food in the past. Because of this peculiar preference, all her afternoon teas were designated as cola with biscuits, and this time was no exception.

"You must be tired from reviewing official documents, Commander. You should take a good rest." The gentle-natured ship girl placed the tea and snacks on the table. The way she used the exquisite enamel teacup to serve cola always made her feel unable to look directly at it, which was why her gaze subconsciously shifted from the plate and lingered on Luo Ye's cheek.

A woman's intuition is terrifying.

"You seem very tired. Is it because the renovation in the port area was too noisy at noon?" Before Luo Ye could speak or object, she lightly stepped to the side and came behind Luo Ye. Her soft hands were placed on Luo Ye's shoulders, and she immediately felt the stiffness coming from the woman's shoulders.

"...You really should get some rest." The concerned voice carried a hint of worry.

"I'm fine, I just took a nap. I'm probably still a little dazed." Luo Ye waved her hand, but when she tried to stand up, she found the hands on her shoulders pressing down hard—she shook her head, making her tone serious before her scribe could dissuade her. "How's the situation overseas? The Deep Sea Fleet has been quiet for a few days, but I'm sure they're planning something big. Has the reconnaissance fleet detected anything unusual?"

"Aren't you really going to take a rest?" Lexington's voice grew increasingly worried, but she had no choice but to give in after Luo Ye expressed her insistence. She opened a document and reported to Luo Ye on the many detectable events that had recently occurred in the deep sea. Luo Ye then took the opportunity to stand up and straighten her clothes.

Nine months ago, when Luo Ye arrived, the Deep Sea Fleet's offensive was already nearing its end. So, after Luo Ye won the war with her art of command, she also gained a brief period of peace. After that, she tirelessly organized several counterattacks, consolidating her home port while also recovering six or seven surrounding islands that had fallen. After that, she used several islands to build fortresses, creating a ring-shaped sea defense line.

She didn't use any power beyond mortal levels... after all, using power here would only push the already collapsed balance into an even worse situation—she was simply here as a mortal commander, using her strategic wisdom honed over many years to guide her subordinates and lead them from one victory to another.

This is no war to be celebrated, compared to the epic clashes of countless heavens and earths in the prison world, where countless civilizations burned themselves to ashes in despair. This war within the bubble has neither a sacred cause nor a thrilling development. There is only precise calculation and calm command, and an ending that, even if victorious, will have no positive impact on the entire multiverse.

But this was still war, a war to victory. Under Luo Ye's command, the ship girls' army won thirty battles out of thirty, severely curbing the Abyss's offensive, and even the island where the home port was located showed signs of economic recovery. People whispered their hopes for the future in private, and many even worshipped Luo Ye as a hero—though it meant nothing to her.

Just then, Lexington, who was giving a report to Luo Ye as instructed, suddenly shut his mouth.

“Commander, you…” she asked tentatively, “…is there something puzzling you?”

Section 11 The Road to Suicide - Part 2

“That’s your imagination.” Luo Ye got up from her seat, put on her military cap, and walked towards the door. As she passed the desk, she casually picked up the cola served in an exquisite tea set from the plate and took a sip. By the time she reached the door, her secretary had already quietly tidied up the clutter on the desk and was following quietly behind her with a stack of approved documents.

“Let’s go, Lexington.” Luo Ye paused briefly at the doorway, her neck swaying slightly, a few crisp grinding sounds emanating from her ordinary spine. She rubbed her slightly reddened eyes, trying to revitalize her unenhanced body as quickly as possible.

“I’ve reviewed all the intelligence from this period, and combined with what you just mentioned, I feel the recent peace on the sea frontier is somewhat eerily quiet. The Deep Sea Fleet is definitely going to make some big moves soon.” As she reached the entrance, the port’s topographical map formed a complete model in her mind. So she chose a passage that she had often used before.

"We must be prepared."

"Everyone is ready, Commander. We are confident that we can crush any enemy at your command."

“No, not everyone.” Luo Ye shook her head, feeling the slight bloating from the carbonated drink churning in her stomach. She walked along the fast passage outside the office to the observation deck leading to the port area, and as the automatic doors opened, a scorching sea breeze carrying the smell of gunpowder rushed towards her, while the continuous roar of artillery fire echoed from afar.

"They are not ready."

What came into view was a vast bay stretching from the horizon to the very edge of the sky, an area of ​​approximately one million square kilometers firmly enclosed by the island chain defense line built by Luo Ye. This bay was the training and garrison area for the ship girls, with several massive industrial ports situated at non-adjacent points along its edge. There were four ports in total, and three of them were still under construction at varying stages.

Luo Ye was currently standing atop the completed port. Behind her were the residential areas for ordinary people and the training academy for ship girls. Beneath her feet were the various basic facilities of the naval base, from heavy weapons factories and supply warehouses to ship girl dormitories and other necessary resource production units with different functions. And in front of her, or rather, before her, was the training ground for the ship girls.

Approximately one hundred ship girls are divided into several groups for combat exercises in the bay—using live ammunition. The threat posed by training rounds isn't enough to quickly train a group of top-tier warriors in this situation, and the ship girls, essentially high-tech humanoid weapons, wouldn't be easily killed by the firepower in the exercise—this was Luo Ye's decision. Under her command, these new recruits, fresh from the ship girl academy, are growing rapidly. But rapid growth doesn't mean they meet the standards.

Luo Ye was referring to them just now, because when she appeared on the observation deck in the harbor, some sharp-eyed ship girls noticed her on the observation deck several kilometers away. Among these girls, some were so nervous, either wanting to impress her or because of her gaze, that they made several mistakes that could be fatal on the battlefield.

With several muffled, intermittent explosions, more than a dozen ship girls were rendered severely injured and unable to fight further during the live-fire exercise. The entire exercise had to be called off prematurely. Even without turning around, Luo Ye knew that Lexington's face must have turned ashen.

“They’re not ready yet,” Luo Ye repeated. “But the deep sea doesn’t have much time left for them.”

“Those children are just concerned about your opinion, Commander.” Lexington quickly composed herself and replied, “And Bismarck and Hindenburg will educate them well. When they go to the battlefield, I guarantee that each of them will be able to take on a hundred men.”

Sure enough, as soon as she finished speaking, Luo Ye saw two ship girls with the air of veterans kicking and punching the ship girls who had interrupted the exercise, giving them a good beating. Those wounded by direct hits from main guns and missiles during the exercise were quickly moved to a rest area—they hadn't suffered any real injuries; their field shields and composite armor protected them well. What needed maintenance was their high-tech outer shells, while their fragile bodies were sent to a healing pool called the 'bathhouse' to slowly soak and alleviate the phantom pain caused by the damage to their neural links.

Luo Ye's expression remained unchanged, and she offered no comment. She knew that the ship girls could clearly see the changes in her eyes from several kilometers away. If she said anything harsh here, perhaps a few of the more emotionally fragile ship girls would even secretly commit suicide in a corner later.