Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

Luo Ye reached out her hand, allowing the paused world to resume its operation.

Thus, a boy named Kirito enters the world of Sword Art Online, where he encounters numerous adventures and perils in this virtual world. He and tens of thousands of other players are trapped within this virtual realm, where he discovers his true talent and befriends a digital soulmate. After years of adventure and growth, he defeats the developers who are behind the scenes and obtains the source code of the virtual world—the most powerful source of power that this world can sustain.

He returned to reality, but the script propelled him to create a new destiny—thus, one virtual journey after another drove him forward. Over the next few years, he entered several virtual reality games and made a name for himself. Finally, one day, with the help of many, he came into contact with the technological marvel born of humanity in this universe: a near-realistic virtual world constructed from source code and subjective time acceleration, capable of even abandoning the enormous physical cost and simply placing the soul within it.

——UnderWorld

Luo Ye clearly noticed that Alice frowned when she observed the girl named Alice Zuberg, the female protagonist of the Underworld incident, who was being observed by Kirito.

Then, time continued its course. The protagonist, Kirito, encountered numerous events after leaving the Underworld. His involvement also led to an explosive advancement in virtual reality technology during this brief period. It evolved from the Underworld, which could only be subjectively accelerated, to neural connection acceleration capable of influencing reality to some extent. Nearly a century later, human society had ceased to exist. People had abandoned their physical bodies and transplanted their civilization into a real, infinitely sustainable electronic world. Until one day—

The individual named Kiritani Kazuto reached his limit and died of old age.

The world thus came to a standstill, and the Great Cataclysm descended, annihilating everything within this universe, which was only the size of the solar system. Then—

—Everything in the new world begins anew from the moment that baby named Kirito is about to be born.

Luo Ye reached out and pressed pause.

"Do you understand now, Alice, my sister? With your intelligence, you should be able to see through the secrets hidden in this world."

“Hmm.” Alice nodded. “The script begins with the birth of Kirito and ends with his death. The content of the script is the legendary life of Kirito, and the setting is limited to Earth—this is the content of the script meme. Humanity, on the other hand, aspires to the supreme status and long-term continuation of humankind, with the former being superior to the latter.”

"Kirigaya Kazuto must be a mortal, possessing both a complete mind and a healthy body. Once either one is lost, the script meme will determine that the era has come to an end, and everything will be overturned and started over, as if nothing had ever happened."

“That’s very true.” Luo Ye’s fingers interlaced. “So, how can you leave a mark on this world without being erased by the corrective forces?”

Alice tilted her head slightly.

"I don't think it's difficult, as long as we can get support from either the script meme community or the humanitarian side. And because script memes are too rigid, leveraging the power of the humanitarian side might be a good option..."

She leaned forward and appeared directly in the delivery room where the baby was about to be born. And when she reached out and touched the pregnant woman's abdomen, the entire atmosphere of the city seemed to shift!

The sky was beginning to take the shape of a hurricane, the tectonic plates beneath the earth were starting to move, the city's power system was becoming unstable, and the water supply network was under immense pressure!

The script negates all of this; the script does not allow external forces to arbitrarily change the protagonist!

However, in the very next moment—

An airburst rain-inducing bomb dispersed a nascent hurricane. A secret exercise on the distant ocean distorted the direction of tectonic plate movement. Dozens of responsible and skilled electricians arrived early at their respective locations, miraculously calming the power supply before it failed. Meanwhile, the waterworks' machines and dams were accidentally opened ahead of schedule, significantly reducing pressure on the water supply system!

All of nature's corrections are overshadowed by the many influences of humankind. And as Alice's hand was removed from the pregnant woman, the nurses' cries of good news echoed through the delivery room.

"She's given birth! Mother and child... both are safe!"

"She's a healthy girl!"

—According to incomplete statistics, the average life expectancy of women in developed countries is four years longer than that of men.

In other words.

The script's timeline was extended by four years due to Alice's interference.

“A good start.” Luo Ye stood at the door, congratulating Alice with satisfaction. “Win-win and mutual assistance is an excellent solution. Congratulations, Alice, you have solved the first problem for a beginner.”

Section 6, Question 2

Thus, the story of the second era unfolds. Due to some hidden mechanism that isn't very adept at arranging Japanese names, Kiritani Kazuto's name is quite abruptly changed to Kiritani Kazuko. And she experiences a second life that is not much different from the previous era.

Fourteen years passed uneventfully, she encountered Sword Art Online in her second year of middle school, and was trapped in this newly formed virtual world, where she successfully distinguished herself. And when she defeated the mastermind behind Sword Art Online and obtained the source code under the name of the 'Black Swordsman' who was once famous in the previous era, the heroines with the same identity as those in the previous era were still surrounding her.

Perhaps this should be called 'historical inertia'? Because in this new era where the male protagonist has become the female protagonist, nothing has changed.

Her younger sister went from being a brother-complex character to a sister-complex character. The female protagonist she met, who runs throughout the entire script, is Yuuki Asuna in the real world, while the girl with the in-game ID Asuna, just like the girl who fell in love with Kirigaya Kazuto in the previous era, distorted her own orientation and fell in love with her as a woman. And it wasn't just this female protagonist, who should perhaps be called the 'main heroine'; the slightly less important female supporting characters also swayed their orientations.

Kazuko Kiritani is very beautiful, a girl who would easily score 90 out of 100 in a modern city. However, apart from a few insignificant nobodys, no men with significant roles harbor any improper thoughts about her—the male friends she made in the previous era, those brothers who shared life and death with her, still regard her as brothers in this era, and only as brothers, as if her extraordinary charm and temperament simply do not exist.

Alice noticed this change, but when she was about to offer her insights, Loye gestured for her to continue reading.

Soon, the story progressed to the next arc, ending Sword Art Online and its aftermath. In this arc, Kirito from the previous era, for certain reasons, disguised himself as a woman and met a female protagonist named Asada Shino. The revelation of Kirito's male identity during his interactions with this female protagonist marks a significant turning point in their relationship.

However, now, Kazuto has become Kazuko. This somewhat amusing part of the story should naturally be gone.

Yes, it should no longer exist.

Then, when the plot progresses to the point where the two women are alone in the dressing room, and Kirito from the previous era, forced by his own moral conscience, voluntarily reveals his identity—

"Wait a minute!" Kirigaya Kazuko, still in her original form, frantically waved her hands just before Asada Shino was about to cancel her appearance in the virtual changing room. "Um... this... I like girls!"

"...?" Her flustered actions only earned her a puzzled look from her companion, and a question that was both confused and bewildered: "Is there a problem with a girl liking another girl?"

"I...I mean I'm a lesbian!"

The next moment, the girl named Asada Shino blushed, then turned black, and then—

Alice pressed the pause button.

“It’s too abrupt.” She repeated and emphasized. “From the context to the events, and then to the history and moral values ​​of Kiritani Kazuko as an individual. She has no reason to say such things or do such things here—I modified her gender at the genetic and conscious level, she shouldn’t—and she has never had such a strong sense of self before!”

"Not bad." Luo Ye tilted his head slightly and winked at her. "Then what does this mean?"

“This means…” Alice paused to organize her thoughts, “The operation of script memes is extremely brutal; it doesn’t care about logic or reason at all. If it’s arranged this way in the script, then it must operate that way. And this also means that by adjusting even a tiny parameter, a considerable gap will appear in the operation of the script meme…”

"You mean I should fill these gaps with as much power as possible... No, you mean the value of these gaps is that I fill them with power?"

“This is [Interference], Alice.” However, Luo Ye acknowledged her achievement. “Twisting a point, creating a void, and then filling it with things related to yourself. Just like what you did at the circular table in the Moon World.”

Alice lowered her eyes; in that instant, she thought of many things yet seemed to think of nothing at all. And at the end of her thoughts, she set the world running again.

And so, Kiritani Kazuko continued her protagonist's journey. Just like the history unfolded in the previous era, she experienced several more magnificent and legendary journeys, making numerous confidantes and becoming entangled with them. And then... time pointed to the end of the script.

When Kazuko Kiritani's lifespan exceeded that of Kazuto Kiritani, a change occurred. Kazuko, who had been enjoying her retirement, suddenly ignited a fire of ambition the moment she crossed the threshold of lifespan. She displayed a decisiveness and ruthlessness beyond anyone's imagination, using her century-long accumulated reputation to bring the entire Earth under her control within just a few weeks—and her actions were far more successful than anticipated!

Without the slightest resistance, without a single dissenter, as if the crown was born to be placed upon her head, and she now displayed its brilliance—she easily unified the world, seized control of the entire civilization's productive forces, and poured all resources into the research and development of virtual reality. In the following four years, Earth's civilization's technology in the field of virtual reality lagged behind by at least two generations compared to the end of the previous era!

—She even loaded all of humanity's bodies into a giant immigrant ship, equipped with enough technology and automated machinery to build an early Dyson sphere, and took human civilization to the sun!

Alice transformed her from male to female, adding four years to her lifespan. Through her own will and the combined efforts of all human civilization, she managed to extend her physical lifespan by nearly thirty years. And after solving the energy supply problem, she was even able to put all of humanity in a virtual world accelerated a hundredfold, single-handedly stretching human civilization for a full three thousand years!

And the end of the era only came belatedly.

Thus, the second era came to an end. And then...

As everything returned to nothingness, the third era of Kiritani and his people arrived once again with the cool morning breeze.

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

“I see.” Alice lowered her eyes. She could clearly see that the unborn child in the womb of the pregnant woman at the hospital had male characteristics. “All the changes are external; the key is ‘distorting a single point’?”

"Yes, the second step beyond the species, after finding the means of intervention, is to create a twisted origin in the script. A marker, an anchor, so that the changes you make to this universe will remain, instead of all your previous efforts disappearing at the end of the era."

Luo Ye gently clapped her hands, and the relative flow of time between the two of them was immediately adjusted to its limit by her—she let Alice see Kirigaya Kazuto as a man being born, growing up, experiencing various hardships and dangers, and then achieving success, and finally dying with the world surrounded by his partner and relatives—and the next era begins again.

The third era was exactly the same as the first. And after the third era came the fourth era, which was identical in content to the third era.

And then came the fifth, the sixth, the seventh… In the blink of an eye, Alice witnessed the thousand births of Kirito and the thousand deaths of the world. And apart from the second one, each cycle was exactly the same as the previous one!

The continuation of life is meaningless.

The workings of the world are meaningless.

Because everything is just a series of recurring stories, everything is predetermined, everything is unchangeable. All efforts, all struggles, all dedication, all sacrifices are all pre-arranged, like mechanical and uninteresting plots of well-oiled gears meshing together.

A silent sorrow, accompanied by the illusion of the setting moon, silently appeared in Alice's heart—

Then, as if sinking into an abyss, the illusion, along with the memory, vanished without a trace.

Luo Ye's voice and expression became solemn and dignified, like a teacher testing a student on whom high hopes were placed. "Tell me," he said, "what is 'interference'?"

“Interference is a change made by the universe because of the existence of beings beyond the species.” Alice answered decisively. “This can be seen as a higher form of erosion, just as fish in water will flee because of the shadow of a traveler. The universe makes corresponding adjustments because the light of my soul has lingered here.”

“Exactly, exactly.” Luo Ye stretched out his hand, altering the relative flow of time to freeze the 1001st era at the very moment before the birth of the first infant. “Then let me ask you again, if the reflection in the water remains after the traveler has left, what value does it hold for the traveler?”

"...This means that even if the traveler dies far away, their presence remains on the edge of this watery landscape." Alice's reply was swift as ever. "This is...another source world. This is the means and process by which a transcendent species breaks free from the constraints of the source world, transforming from a finite being with inherent weaknesses into the infinite!"

“Exactly, exactly.” Luo Ye clapped his hands gently. “Just as the existence of sages is a story or legend passed down through the multiverse, transcending the species is precisely the process of moving towards this realm. There are orthodox methods that allow one to ascend to heaven in one step, relinquishing one’s own obsessions and letting the unobstructed light of the mind shine throughout the heavens, and there are also the foolish paths of accumulating slowly over endless years, climbing the infinite with the finite, and thus infinitely approaching the sages. That is life, the further one goes, the more one hopes to break free from constraints… So, one last question.”

She carefully examined Alice's face. Then she asked one last question: "How can you make the reflection in the water remain after the tourists have left?"

Alice's answer remained crisp and concise.

"To invest a part of oneself in something, so that it benefits humanity or the script meme and thus earns its right to continue, is like erecting a portrait of a tourist on the lakeside. It leaves a trace and also attracts people to the lakeside. Like this—"

She lifted her foot, about to take her first step into the material universe before her!

However, Luo Ye grabbed her hand.

"The theory is correct, but the methods are wrong. Have you forgotten that you have multiple identities?"

Alice then stopped moving.

Ah, she's right. While the transcendent beings are indeed noble, the authority of the reincarnated beings surpasses them. Why? Because the reincarnated beings are all the fingers and hands of that being called the supreme god. If a reincarnated being descends in their true form, then the authority of the supreme god will arrive in this world before the reincarnated being's path-corrosion phenomenon.

Wasn't that why Aichidra cooperated with Chu Xuan? Even though she was a quasi-saint at that time, a sublime being who surpassed the infinitely transcendent beings and could even contend with saints, her authority could only reshape one predetermined script into another. Unlike the Reincarnators, even the weakest among them, the insignificant beings who hadn't even unlocked their first-tier genetic lock, when they descended upon all worlds, their every move would cause absolute changes to the world in that script.

Because it is the supreme god who changes the script, and the reincarnators are merely executors who borrow this authority.

So……

“Sister.” Alice pondered for a long time, then reached out and adjusted the timeline of the 1001st era to the middle of the script, to the moment when the AI ​​girl named Alice Zuberuk was about to be born. Then, she turned around.

“Everything happens for a reason, and there’s no reason why you chose this world for me. I suspect that the girl’s name is one of the reasons. Because she has the same name as me and plays an important role in the script… Am I right?”

Luo Ye smiled without saying a word.

Alice understood. She reached out, and a drop of blood detached from her fingertip, falling from the outer edge of the universe into its innermost layer. The vast majority of it, upon entering the material universe, willingly became 'tax' consumed by the universe, serving as the foundation for its expansion. Only a negligible amount, perhaps just a few atoms, successfully reached its destination and merged into it.

The results were immediately apparent.

Alice ignored the subsequent changes and instead readjusted the relative flow of time to observe the soon-to-arrive 1002nd era from the outside of the universe.

Then, she arrived once again at the moment of the heroine's birth. And she clearly saw that, as the UW system was about to generate the girl's name, several atoms that had not existed in the previous thousand eras, but would exist here now and in every future era, affected the operation of the system's random numbers.

Then, the newborn girl opened her eyes.

“My name is…” the AI ​​girl uttered her first words since her birth. “Alice… Alice Margotrovid.”

Her name contains power; the surname 'Margotrovid' represents code with a miraculous structure and effect in this virtual world. And as long as she continues to live with this name, her 'Fluid Light,' or rather, her virtual soul, will grow even faster under the influence of external interference's knowledge!

The technology of artificial souls gained an opportunity for advancement because of this name change. Humanity accepted this change, while the script meme ignored the minor alteration—because even in previous eras, the protagonist's name, [Zuberuk], would soon be changed by accident, and since it was destined to be modified, its importance to the script was negligible!

At that very instant, Alice, outside the universe, clearly sensed a change. And from that moment on, this universe and she were connected!

From this moment on, she possessed a second worldline of the source world.

Then, she found herself standing with Luo Ye once again before the doors of the Infinite Tower.

"Congratulations, Alice. Although it is only a correction in an external world, and although this name will only accompany this second female protagonist for a few years, you have indeed left your own immortal mark in it. Although you have not yet become a transcendent species, you have already taken a firm second step towards the realm of sainthood in the realm of transcendent species."