Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

She didn't know what they said or did.

All she knew was that after the conversation ended, the life form named Sirin turned its neck and focused its gaze and attention on her.

—and scattered phrases.

"...In short, I won't stop you from doing whatever you want. But while you're busy, could you spare a little time for me to have a few words with this young lady?"

Lin Xi didn't understand the meaning of those words, but the next moment, she saw the greatest secret and truth in the entire universe.

She saw Miss Luo Ai roll up a scroll, and as the scroll was rolled up, she clearly saw that the burning battlefield in the material universe was also rolled up by the scroll! The starry sky and endless spiritual blood were all wrapped up in it, and in this universe that should have been vast and boundless, two huge luminous objects were particularly eye-catching.

One luminous object was broken into several pieces, seemingly trying to escape by taking advantage of the scroll's movement, but due to its loose structure, it was easily broken one by one and thus captured by the scroll. The other luminous object, though slightly smaller, was much more concentrated and sharp!

It seems to have escaped from the scroll—three times in a row.

However, all three of its efforts ultimately proved futile.

The first time, it was blocked by a delicate little clock, unable to advance an inch at the edge of the scroll.

The second time, before it even reached the edge of the painting, two intertwined complex entities, resembling a double helix of genes, took action beforehand, preventing it from separating from the painting.

The third time, it ventured deep into the painting, into a depth that Lin Xi could not comprehend. Then, Lin Xi saw Miss Xilin in front of her extend a finger.

Then, the same finger appeared on the luminous object in the scroll, and ejected the elusive object from the hidden depths of the scroll.

She succeeded, it failed.

The woman who called herself Luo Ai closed the scroll, nodded to Xilin, and then vanished without a trace a minute later along with another doctor, Andromeda—Lin Xi even suspected that these two doctors had long since been usurped. In fact, from the very beginning, the two doctors Rhodes Island encountered were not controlled by the consciousness originally conceived in their bodies.

Then everything fell silent.

The warp still exists, but everything outside of it has been completely erased. In this frozen world, the girl named Sirin is alone with herself.

Lin Xi discovered that she could speak and move again.

But what's the use, value, or significance of this?

She couldn't help but give a wry smile.

“There’s no need to make that face, Miss Lin Xi.” Xi Lin extended a friendly hand to her, gesturing for her to sit down to the side, but she did not move.

“I won’t do anything to you.” Sirin looked at her, her eyes conveying sincerity.

However, Lin Xi simply retorted rather bluntly, or rather, in a self-deprecating manner—

What do you want?

She immediately received an unexpected reply.

I want to give you freedom.

"I want to entrust this world, this subspace, this battlefield to you. And then you can decide which direction this place should take in the future."

Outer Chapter: The Pursuit of Ideals (Part 2)

Xilin stopped there, not intending to explain her motives or purpose—she simply reached out and placed something unobservable yet undeniably real into Lin Xi's body. Then, her form vanished silently, like spring snow after a rain.

"You are free, Lin Xi, my afterlife that should never have existed."

—"From this day forward, there will be no further relationship between you and me."

Sirin's form vanished.

Along with it, the imprisoned spacetime also vanished.

When everything started working again, Lin Xi saw that Miss 'Luo Ai' seemed to smile at him. Then, she pressed the large red button in the center of a huge, unidentified instrument beside her.

She sensed something being triggered, something changing—if her vision could now extend above the multiverse, she would see this subspace consciousness ocean, originally attached to the Anubis Trial World, being separated from its original universe and entering the multiverse as an independent entity!

Alice and Patchouli's research was a success.

They created a 'boundary membrane' on the outer edge of this ocean of consciousness, much like the boundary of the universe. This separated the ocean of the subspace from its original universe, making it a boat that drifted freely among the many oceans—Terra truly became an Ark world. And yesterday's wrecked ship truly became tomorrow's Ark.

Where the ship will drift, no one knows. At least, the individuals who are still 'human' have no way of knowing. And when this great feat is accomplished, the witches who set the rules also leave this cosmic ark and go to some secret place whose name is unknown.

They left.

Their departure was, in the eyes of the Terran inhabitants who stormed into the research institute, manifested as a burst of white light engulfing their forms and the unknown instruments behind them—which, in the eyes of mortals, might signify death, and death brings sorrow.

Lin Xi was the first to regain consciousness—and Amiya was the second.

She saw the usually composed Ms. Carter scream and call out Dr. Andromeda's name as she lunged towards the now-empty ground, like a child who had lost a loved one. She was then pulled back by her allies and guards.

She temporarily lost her ability to command, no longer able to think or make decisions rationally—and before she recovered, Lin Xi, having roughly understood everything that had happened, took over command. She led the Terra residents who had stormed the research institute, taking most of the institute's research results with them as they retreated.

After all, the war was still ongoing, and mortals showed no mercy to the inhabitants of Terra who had once lived under the same roof.

Lin Xi can understand.

Because she was once human, she knew the inherent nature of humanity, or rather, intelligent life. She knew that trust and etiquette existed only between individuals. And a group could never be measured by individual standards.

Powerful races plunder and devour weaker races. This is simply a natural phenomenon. It has nothing to do with the level of civilization or anything else. It's simply because limited resources cannot support an excessively large population. Just as mortals on Earth are causing the extinction of numerous endangered species every day—the powerful possess everything, the weak lose everything, and then the powerful can stand atop the corpses of the weak, using their self-defined morality to reflect on themselves… or perhaps even sing praises.

Mortals are normal, and wars among mortals are normal too. Lin Xi can understand them because she herself is one of the mortals. She knows that mortals have always been like this, always able to slaughter other alien races without batting an eye, even with glee, and then reflect on their 'mistakes' while stepping over layers of corpses and rotting bloodstains.

Because that wasn't 'wrong'. It was merely the leisure of the victors, the tranquility of the survivors. A crown of self-satisfaction, and a tool for unifying thought. She knew that mortals would never consider anything comparable to themselves—perhaps some individuals within a group might have unique ways of thinking, but individuals and groups could never be confused.

Individuals and groups are different. The fundamental purpose of a group's existence is to perpetuate itself.

In order to perpetuate and expand the group, all actions are justified.

Lin Xi could understand these mortals, and she could understand everything these beings, who shared a similar past with her, did—in her eyes, the real problem lay with the inhabitants of Terra. Because they, as a unified group, had placed the continuation of their race below morality, and a race with such characteristics should not have survived long in the dark universe!

Terra was wrong. From the very beginning, Terra should have properly controlled this alien race of mortals. It should have suppressed, restricted, or at least assimilated them from the start, instead of allowing them to grow and thrive until they were entitled to control everything.

—That's what Lin Xi thinks.

but.

She knew all too well that if Terra hadn't entered this strange state, it would never have been able to achieve peace, never have been able to unite into a single, cohesive force, and never have been able to develop warp-like escape technology. From the very beginning, it would have been destroyed by war, or become mere remnants in the boiling cauldron of cosmic conflict.

Terra should have been destroyed—even with individuals like Amiya sustaining it and prolonging its fate. It couldn't have survived the ensuing war—even if it had surpassed that one in infinite possibility of living to the end. When Roa closed the scroll in her hands, it too would have met the same fate as the many other kingdoms in the physical universe.

Terra should have been destroyed.

Terra's fate was not originally like this.

However, this Terra survived because of its own distortion, and even though it is now embroiled in a war of division, it remains largely intact.

So--

Perhaps my previous views were somewhat biased... Perhaps a group doesn't necessarily have to be entirely self-interested to continue to exist in this vast universe.

【perhaps……】

"...Perhaps I can be of some help. Perhaps I can witness firsthand what this distorted civilization will eventually become. And what answers I can gain." — Lin Xi murmured to herself, revealing a glimpse of her thoughts in just a few words.

She spoke softly, and as she said this, she had already led Terra's infiltration team, carrying the spoils from the research institute, away from the battlefield and back to another piece of land that had been torn apart.

The war continues, a one-sided continuation.

After the life forms that inhabited it restored order, the torn earth came together again and formed another star for the inhabitants of Terra to live on—of course, before that, the earth that mortals ruled had long since been formed into a completely new star.

Two stars, each bearing the name 'Terra' on either side.

The mortals, believing themselves to be the rightful heirs and determined to reclaim their lost homeland from those despicable parasites, named their planet Terra. Meanwhile, the inhabitants of Terra on the other side never felt that their new planet should not be called Terra.

And so the war continued—the war did not change the strange way of thinking of the inhabitants of Terra. They still longed for coexistence and peace—while mortals believed that only through war could peace be achieved, a true peace that belonged to mortals and was entirely in their best interest.

Therefore, war is always waged under the will of mortals—until one day.

Until one unusual day arrived, overnight, the mortal army discovered that they had completely lost sight of the inhabitants of Terra.

It turns out that Terran scholars, during the ongoing war, developed and analyzed numerous achievements originating from their research institute. Their first creation was a large-scale teleportation device, ahead of its time. They spent a considerable amount of time placing it in several corners deep within Terra. Before its activation, a Terran raiding force, after suffering heavy losses, successfully reached the mortal planet and rescued all the Terran inhabitants still trapped there and alive.

So, once neither planet had any of the 'alien races' as perceived by the other, Lin Xi, located at the Terra command center, personally pressed the teleportation button.

The next moment, the two Terras separated. One remained where it was, while the other arrived in another region within this idealistic universe.

Even in a universe governed by idealism, dreams exist. And when the button is pressed, the gate between dream and reality is opened for the first time. From that moment on, the mortal Terra will never again be able to touch the Terra of the cosmic dream. Two completely different races will thus begin a new destiny in two completely different worlds.

Mortals might be pleased—after all, regardless of the process, the final outcome is that they rule over all regions of the present universe. Of course, they are far from achieving this yet, but that doesn't stop them from considering themselves the masters of the universe and putting their expansionist plans on the agenda. And until they have the ability to access the Dream of the Universe, they will have no further connection with the inhabitants of Terra.

The inhabitants of Terra were also delighted—their twisted minds and peculiar moral compass dictated their aversion to war and conflict. They were unwilling to use force against their own kind or to lay a hand on other races. Being forced to participate in wars waged by mortals was a nightmare for them. Now that the two were completely separated, the resulting peace naturally filled all the inhabitants with joy.

Everyone, human or non-human, was satisfied. The only one who was dissatisfied was probably Lin Xi, who pressed that button. She knew very well that the technology she possessed at that time, while transferring Terra, also had the ability to completely wipe the mortal race off the earth. However, she ultimately did not do so, because if she had, she would probably be the only one happy in the end.

No, perhaps she herself wouldn't be happy either. Because the fact that she ultimately didn't change the instrument's commands might have been aided by the subtle influence of traces left over from her twenty years of life hundreds of years ago—when she stood before the command console, before taking action, she actually leaned more towards the side of mortals. And that one decision of hers, she doesn't know how many lives it affected.

However, this can be considered a good thing, at least it made her realize this hidden secret.

And this led her to make a decision—

"From this day forward, I... will cease to be human." She severed all memories and perceptions she held as a mortal. From this moment on, she would never again think from the perspective of a mortal.

As she made that decision, her companions' response soon rang in her ears.

“You were never human to begin with, Lin Xi.” Skadi, holding the greatsword, reached out and poked the Liberian feathers on her head. “You are Liberian, a member of Terra, from the past to the present.”

“…You’re right.” Lin Xi was taken aback at first, then realized. “I’ve been Li Boli from the very beginning. It was my own mistake to think of myself as a human being.”

"...I won't make that mistake again." Lin Xi looked up at the empty sky in the dream of the universe.

She felt she now understood the purpose of the individual named Sirin—that person, that living being with a humanoid outline, undoubtedly possessed power beyond the universe itself. And someone like her probably couldn't be categorized as either a mortal or one of the inhabitants of Terra.

Since she doesn't belong to either side, then all the effort she's put into doing is—

If their sole purpose was destruction, then mortals and Terrans alike would be as fragile as dust to them. Therefore, their goal isn't simply to demonstrate their own 'strength' or crush the 'weakness' of those present. What they yearn for is something beyond this.

[...They also want to know what the ultimate fate of this civilization, and the mortal civilization that coexists with it, will be. I see...They chose me, instead of acting on my own, because their own observation and interference would have the side effect of distorting the conclusions?]

She closed her eyes, and all her confusion vanished.

“I…” she took a deep breath. “To become the new ruler of Terra.”

She said that.

A hundred years later, she achieved her goal with overwhelming advantage—she began to orchestrate the entire plan for this new Terra. And as she did so—

One day, her companion brought her information about the 'demon'.

Whether in the dream world or the real world, these twisted creatures known as 'Warspace Demons' have begun to be born in large numbers.

Side Story: The Pursuit of Ideals (Part 2)

Terra's universe is a universe based on the mind.

Its predecessor was the Sea of ​​Consciousness, which later acquired the characteristics of an independent universe through the hands of the transcendent beings. Whether they were the original inhabitants of Terra or the mortals who joined later, they were all essentially foreign entities.