The collapse started when Kiana came to the door

"Pseudo-time crystals..." Li Shubai searched his mind for a while. After understanding what Ai Yi said, he couldn't help but frowned deeply. "I have heard of pure time crystals. It is a concept simulated based on the theory of time symmetry breaking, right? If the pseudo-time crystals constructed by the Stigmata Project are also similar things..."

Just as the quantum sea is not a real ocean, the tree of imaginary numbers is different from trees in the conventional sense. The concept called time crystal by humans is certainly not a crystal on the material level.

Usually, what humans classify as a crystal is an ordered material structure constructed by a repeating lattice or particle grid in a certain arrangement order. The so-called time crystal is a theoretical model that can normalize the behavior that violates the ordinary laws of physics according to the material laws of crystals.

To give a simple example, as long as it is on the earth, all matter will be restricted by gravity. No matter what time it is, as long as you release an iron ball in the air, the iron ball will of course fall.

But if we assume that humans have successfully constructed a time crystal in which [the iron ball falls only once every three minutes], then in Yi's virtual model, because the development of events shows an orderly regularity, the physical law that [matter is constrained by the gravity of the earth] will be broken.

As long as the iron ball is not released at that point in time, even if it is released, the iron ball will not fall due to gravity. On the contrary, even if the iron ball is held tightly at that point in time, the iron ball will fall to the ground anyway.

If the pseudo-time crystal constructed by the Stigma Project has similar properties—

"... In other words, when the Stigmata Project is completely completed... the time of that world will be completely cut off from the external time?" Li Shubai touched his chin and whispered to himself, "No wonder... Kevin is so sure that as long as the Stigmata Project is completed, the end will never appear again."

Before this, Li Shubai had always felt quite strange about the content of the Stigma Project and had some doubts about it.

Although the technology in the pre-civilization era had indeed developed to a terrifying level, from another perspective, such cutting-edge technology in the pre-civilization era did not allow them to conduct deeper exploration of outer space, which was enough to prove that their development path was actually quite biased.

Long before the Herrscher came, the atmosphere and gravity alone could not constrain human beings from exploring space. After the Second Herrscher of the pre-civilization era was defeated, the Key of the Sky, the Thousand Worlds, was created by Velvi, and the biggest limitation of human beings in exploring space - the difficult distance to cross - was also eliminated. Under such circumstances, the pre-civilization era humans still did not reach out beyond the planets they lived on, which probably only showed that Kevin and his team were indeed too good.

Although they had reached the top of the field of biological transformation, the level of aviation industry in the previous civilization era had not even gone beyond the Earth-Moon system. Li Shubai was completely unable to understand why they had always firmly believed that the Stigma Project was a plan that would definitely succeed.

It's just a planet. How can it limit the collapse of the universe?

Even if it is just drinking water, when it exceeds the limit, it will turn into an act that is enough to kill humans; people can walk freely in the drizzle, but they will be swallowed up by the surging tsunami.

No matter how harmless something is, it can easily take human lives due to the change in scale.

Therefore, in Li Shubai's understanding, even if the Stigmata Project is completely completed and all the Honkai energy in the world is evenly distributed in the bodies of the Stigmata Awakeners and circulates endlessly, as long as there is no way to truly suppress the growth of Honkai itself, then no matter what, the human population will still be blown up by Honkai that exceeds the limit one day.

By that time, perhaps there won’t even be a need for an end, as humans will be driven to self-destruction by the Honkai energy flowing in their bodies.

It is hard to imagine that given Kevin's attitude towards Honkai, he would approve of using such means to delay the pace of Honkai. At least from Li Shubai's point of view, this level can hardly be called a victory over Honkai.

But if the construction of time crystals is also part of the Stigmata Project, the conclusion will be completely different.

While destroying the laws of physics, the existence of time crystals will put all events on Earth into an unchanging cycle. Although Li Shubai is not sure whether the collapse energy, which ignores the basic laws of physics, will destroy the structure of the time crystal itself constructed by the Stigmata Project, at least after the theoretical model of the time crystal is completely constructed and becomes a reality, let alone [external], at least the collapse energy from [internal] will not pose any threat.

But at the same time - also because of the existence of time crystals, humans on the surface will also become

"Not completely. At least at the time you left that world, the pseudo-time crystal constructed by the Stigmata Project did completely isolate the Earth from outer space in terms of physics and space, but it did not allow the development of events on Earth and the laws of physics to present a periodic repetition." Ai blinked her eyes. "Of course, if the Stigmata Project is completely completed, perhaps the situation in that world will really become what the captain said."

"..." Li Shubai was silent for a moment, but he didn't seem surprised or panicked. He raised his eyes and casually glanced at Ai Yi, who looked calm. Instead, he became concerned about another thing: "You claim that you are a life born from a time crystal, and you also said that what you did to me is the same as what I did to Kiana. So, to you, am I your [past] or [future]?"

"So, what does the captain hope for?" Ai Yi leaned forward slightly towards Li Shubai, her gentle eyes gazing at Li Shubai's face from bottom to top, looking quite charming and alluring. "Captain, it's hope. Am I better to be from the [past]? Or is it better to be from the [future]?"

"From a utilitarian point of view, I certainly hope that you are from the [future]." Li Shubai said calmly, "In this case, whether you are a life born from a time crystal or not, you should have knowledge and information that surpasses what I know now, and can also bring more help to my next actions than I expected."

"But before that, there is another question—" Li Shubai suddenly changed the subject, "Just like what you said before, if you are really the little Baocai I know, that is, Ai Yi Hyperion, then, like Kiana, I should also unconsciously give you the permission to join the Hyperion, right?"

"That's right." Ai Yi smiled, "In fact, I have indeed become the captain's Valkyrie a long time ago. Is there any problem?"

"In that case, why is your name not on the crew list of my Hyperion?" Li Shubai calmly questioned Ai Yi, who was smiling all the time. "As my Valkyrie, I can understand that you are not on my ship. After all, not all Valkyries like to stay on Hyperion all the time, and I have never restricted your freedom - Prime Minister Rita and General Youlan, who need to govern the country and cannot leave; Brownie, who likes adventure and only regards the Hyperion as a place to stay; and the Forest Elves and Spring Elves, who have always fulfilled their duties as guardians; and even..."

Halfway through his speech, Li Shubai suddenly fell silent.

After a long silence, he couldn't help but groan. Repressing the irritability and irrational anger that suddenly surged in his heart, Li Shubai said at a very fast speed: "In short, even if I lost my memory... it is better to say that it is precisely because I lost my past memories that I carefully confirmed all matters related to the Hyperion more than once in my free time. If you think that I will neglect my understanding and cognition of the Hyperion just because I lost my memory, you are wrong."

"You are worthy of being the captain. Just as I expected, you are flawless." Although she was questioned so bluntly, Ai Yi didn't seem to think at all. Instead, she covered her mouth and smiled softly. "Of course, if you are not such a serious person, you probably can't become our captain, right?"

"..." Because he was unsure of Ai Yi's true intention, Li Shubai neither objected nor accepted her obvious flattery. He just watched her silently with a cautious attitude.

Although he didn't think that Ai Yi, who claimed to be his Valkyrie, would do anything to hurt him in the short term, after all, if she really had this intention, there would be no need to go to such lengths to intercept him from the time-space shuttle and bring him to this world. However, because Li Shubai knew very little about her and was limited by the existing information, he couldn't simply put all his trust in this guy.

"Before answering your question, have you ever thought about a question?" Ai Yi stared at Li Shubai's seemingly indifferent face calmly and said softly, "You have obviously regained your power and authority as a captain, and can get the help of the Herrscher of Consciousness at any time. You even have Yu Duchen, the key to consciousness. But even in this situation, why can't you recover your past memories?"

"...That's because when I came to the original world, I needed to hide my past, so I deleted my past memories myself." After a moment of silence, Li Shubai still answered Ai Yi's words.

"Is that so?" Ai Yi chuckled. "But, can the so-called split consciousness really delete the memory together? Even if the captain really deleted his memory, with the power of Yu Duchen and the Herrscher of Consciousness that you possess, it should be easy to get it back, right?"

"..." Li Shubai didn't say anything.

In fact, he had been puzzled about this issue for a long time.

After the South China Sea incident, he once thought that he lost his memory because his past self split his consciousness into two parts. After regaining his power as a captain, although he had not yet asked the Herrscher of Consciousness for help, Li Shubai did try to use Yu Du Chen on himself more than once to try to find his past memories, but the results were not satisfactory.

——Because when using Yu Duchen to examine his own consciousness, no matter how hard he looked, Li Shubai could not find any signs that his memory had been erased.

At that time, he naively thought that it might be because the memory was deleted too thoroughly that even Yu Duchen could not find it again. However, after reading Wei Erwei's deeds, Li Shubai became a little uncertain about his speculation.

Can memory erasure at the conscious level really reach the point where even Yu Duchen can’t find it?

"It seems that you have thought about this question before, but you have tried to find the answer, but you didn't get a satisfactory result." Looking at Li Shubai's expression lost in thought, Ai Yi's mature and steady face suddenly showed a kind and gentle smile similar to that of a mother, "It doesn't matter. After all, the answer to this question is not with you, but with me."

"However, before I can answer your question, I seem to have to gain your full trust first." Ai Yi smiled gently, "If you don't mind, why don't you accompany me to Tiankong City for a stroll? Just think of it as... a date to relax your body and mind before engaging in serious topics and actions, how about it?"

Chapter 4: The Eigenworld in Chaos (k)

Eigenworld, January 2014, 1, 8am.

Feeling a little tired, Kiana opened her eyes slightly, and the winter sun shone warmly on her body through the gaps in the curtains.

In the past, Kiana would not get up so early. Although with the physiological mechanisms of these Valkyries, there would not be any big problems even if they did not rest for several days and nights. However, as long as she thought about having to continue attending classes after waking up, Kiana's instinct would inevitably make her brain fall into a state similar to fatigue, and she would be completely unwilling to wake up.

But last night, after almost all-night training with Theresa, Kiana's body is still in an excited state. Although she took a nap after returning to the dormitory and barely completed the sleep process, Kiana still feels some soreness all over her body from excessive exercise.

After lying in bed for about half a minute, when her mind became clearer, Kiana sat up from the bed without hesitation.

She opened the curtains to let the sunlight from outside into the house, then changed out of her loose pajamas and put on the school uniform that St. Freya had tailored for her not long ago. Then, in her usual good mood, Kiana opened the bedroom door with a click.

"Everyone! Morning—"

"Okay." Before she uttered the word, after seeing the scene that came into her eyes, Kiana's voice, which was full of yearning for a better future, suddenly stopped, and the smile that she had just put on her face completely froze.

If you want to ask why——

Why... in my own dormitory, I see so many crew members from the Hyperion?

Standing in the corridor on the second floor, Kiana had a clear view of the crowded scene in the living room on the first floor. In addition to the few people who originally lived in this dormitory, the sofa and the dining table were full of people. In addition, Kiana was very sharp and saw several busy figures in the kitchen. Judging from the outlines of the figures, there were probably three Ritas and three Raiden Meis.

"Hi, you're up early." The Herrscher of Fire smiled and waved to Kiana who was standing at the edge of the corridor on the second floor.

"Why are you standing there motionless?" Theresa looked up and urged in a tone like an elder, "Why don't you go wash your face and get ready for breakfast."

"..." Kiana didn't say anything. She just walked to the bathroom and washed her face silently. Then she walked down the stairs silently. She came to Theresa's side and sat down next to her. Then she lowered her voice and said, "Aunt... Am I dreaming?"

Theresa did not answer Kiana's words, but raised her fingers and pinched Kiana's face.

"Ouch!" Kiana felt pain and aggrieved, "What are you doing?"

"Didn't you ask me yourself if I was dreaming?" Theresa glanced at Kiana with surprise.

"But..." Kiana rubbed her face and looked around. "This should be Saint Freya's dormitory, right? Why is it..."

Halfway through the conversation, Kiana looked around and realized that she was not the only one in a daze. Although Himeko pretended to be calm, judging from the slightly trembling wine in the glass she was holding, this adult woman was obviously not as calm as she appeared; Raiden Mei, who had just walked out of the kitchen - this should be the Raiden Mei in their world, showed a numb expression as if her worldview had collapsed. She mechanically put a plate of breakfast on the dining table, and mechanically returned to the kitchen and started to work again with herself and Rita.

So with their comparison, Kiana suddenly felt that she was not so confused anymore. She subconsciously straightened her chest and put a confident expression on her face again, as if saying: "What? It's just this kind of thing! Of course I am an insider!"

Although she still didn't understand why the people on the Hyperion appeared in her dormitory, compared to Ji Zi and Raiden Mei who had never experienced consciousness mapping and did not know the specific identity of Li Shubai, at least Kiana knew these people who appeared here.

At this moment, Herrscher of Fire came and sat down next to Kiana. She patted Kiana's shoulder and motioned her to put her ear closer.

Although they are of different species, Kiana, who is also a bug like the firefly, quickly understood the other party's intention and moved her ear closer according to the other party's instructions.

"Not long ago, the captain had a little accident." The Herrscher of Firefire lowered his voice. "Although the specific cause has not been found out yet, according to the testimony of the colleagues and Yulandel and others in your world, the captain seemed to have been kidnapped during the process of time travel?"

"Huh?" Kiana's brain was a little overloaded. "Something happened to Shubai? Was he kidnapped while traveling through time and space?"

"Well, you may not know yet?" The Herrscher of Fire said softly, "Before you woke up, the captain and your world's Yulandel, the Herrscher of Knowledge, and Alysia traveled through time. Although the purpose of the time travel was achieved, when they came back together, the captain disappeared inexplicably."

"Missing?" Kiana suddenly became nervous. "Did he encounter any danger?"

"We can't say for sure yet, but if Guanxing's inference is correct, there shouldn't be any danger." The Herrscher of Fire and Fire glanced at Guanxing who was sitting with the Twilight Knight from a distance, and said hesitantly: "But for us, it might be a little troublesome."

"You two." At this moment, a mature and resentful voice suddenly sounded in the ears of Chongchong and Firefly.

The person who spoke was Himeko Murata. She suddenly appeared in front of the two bugs with a gloomy face and a smile that looked completely unfriendly.

Jizi gently shook the wine glass in her hand that had long been empty. She glanced at Kiana on the left, at the Herrscher of Fire and Flame on the right, then turned her head and glanced at the Twilight Knight who was sitting next to Guanxing and talking to her. Finally, she focused her gaze on Theresa's guilty face, with veins popping out on her forehead one after another.

"Are you happy whispering?" Ji Zi said with a smile, "But when you whisper, shouldn't you consider the feelings of other people who don't know about it?"

"Uh... ahahaha..." Chongchong and Firefly laughed at the same time, and couldn't help but shrink their necks under Ji Zi's cold gaze.

"That's right." At the same time Ji Zi said this, a figure with the upper body swaying like Sadako appeared in front of them. She raised her head, revealing her lifeless face covered with dark clouds, and sharp arcs of electricity flowed through her hair one after another.

After forcibly interrupting the conversation between Himeko and the two bugs, Mei Raiden, who had been devastated by the shocking facts for a whole morning and whose entire worldview had become fragmented, showed a creepy smile: "It's okay that the dean doesn't want to tell me, but why do Kiana and Bronya seem to know everything, but I am the only one who is a complete outsider? Aren't we close friends who have been through life and death together?"

"Objection!" Hearing Mei's words full of resentment, Bronya raised her hand high and clarified expressionlessly and firmly: "Bronya is not an insider. Even if she accepted the consciousness mapping of the grown-up Bronya, what Bronya knows is still very limited. And the consciousness mapping they carried out was not led by Bronya, so Bronya has nothing to do with them."

"Oh——?" However, just as Bronya was determined to distance herself from the Hyperion, the voluptuous Bronya [Secondary Silver Wing] suddenly laughed delicately, "So, Seele's matter doesn't matter to you anymore?"

“…Guwu.” Bronya choked up. She silently leaned towards Seele who was sitting next to her, and stared at her adult self with a pair of emotionless but equally emotionless grey eyes that seemed completely harmless, trying to show her anger and resistance: “You actually threatened Bronya with Seele’s matter. Bronya will never acknowledge that you are Bronya…”

If Kiana and Mei Raiden felt shocked and bewildered when they suddenly saw the crowds of people in the living room when they woke up in the morning, then for Bronya, who was very sharp-eyed and saw Seele at a glance, it was a surprise that almost made her think she was dreaming.

It was also for this reason that, although Bronya tried her best to distance herself from these people and claim her innocence, no matter how you look at it...even Bronya herself felt that the words she said were not based on any confidence.

Although her emotional module was burned out, Bronya is not completely emotionless after all. It can even be said that compared to her seemingly cold and rational appearance, Bronya has always been a person who values ​​emotions more in essence.

So, no matter how much Bronya's reason told herself that she had nothing to do with the Hyperion, from the moment she saw Seele being fished out of the Quantum Sea by the people of the Hyperion and brought to her, Bronya understood... she would probably never be able to sever her relationship with Li Shubai and the Hyperion in her lifetime.

Watching the interaction between Bronya and the Second Silver Wing, Mei Raiden, who was originally relieved that she was not the only one who was betrayed, suddenly felt even more upset.

She and Ji Zi, who was standing beside her, looked at each other. At this moment, the teacher and student, who were equally ignorant of the current situation, saw in each other's eyes a kind of confusion and helplessness as if they were abandoned by the whole world. So after reading each other's eyes, the two people who had a common language patted each other's shoulders tacitly to comfort each other, and they both felt a sense of relief that they were both people who were in the same boat.

But soon, Ji Zi was no longer happy.

Because she saw the Herrscher of Thunder walking up to Raiden Mei's side.

"What are you talking about here with Kiana and the others?" The Herrscher of Lightning walked to Mei Raiden and first glanced at the Herrscher of Fire and Kiana who was sitting next to her. After nodding as a greeting, the Herrscher of Lightning said to Mei Raiden, "Breakfast is almost ready, and the finishing work has been taken care of by Rita and the others. Before the meeting starts, please come with me. We are all Mei Raiden, so let me briefly explain to you about the Hyperion and the captain. Do you have any objections?"

"No...no!" Although there was a stern atmosphere around the Herrscher of Lightning, it was hard for Mei Raiden to imagine why her future self would become like this boy, but as the same person, Mei Raiden could still understand the other party's intention to help her. So, under Himeko's eyes that seemed to be looking at a traitor, Mei Raiden left with the Herrscher of Lightning in a swift and decisive manner without even saying goodbye to them.

"...Well, the last companion who shared the same suffering also ran away with the others." Himeko shrugged and said in self-abandonment, "But, the situation of the other me can't be considered as that of others, right? Is there another Wuliangta Himeko who can explain it to me? I'm just kidding."

"If the other you came to this world with me, there would be no one on the Hyperion with enough experience to take charge of the situation. So, I let the other you stay on the Hyperion for the time being." Theresa was still in front of Jizi, but the same childish voice as the dean suddenly sounded behind her, "Or, if the other Wuliangta Jizi didn't come to explain it to you in person, you wouldn't believe us?"

"Hey, hey, hey, so there really is another Muliangta Himeko?" Himeko covered her face, not knowing whether to smile bitterly or cry, and turned her body to face the person who was talking to her, "I was just kidding."

"I'm sorry, I'm not kidding you." Twilight Knight looked at Ji Zi calmly, "So, are you interested in participating in our conversation? It doesn't matter if you're not interested. According to my remaining memories of St. Freya's College, you should still have classes to attend this morning, right? If you don't care about our affairs, you can almost get ready to go to the teaching building. As for everything that happened this morning, you can just pretend that it never happened from the beginning, how about that?"

Chapter 4: The Lost Rosemary Flees Again (k)

Although the Twilight Knight's words seemed to be just simple advice and warnings, for Ji Zi, who knew Theresa very well, she easily understood the other layer of meaning revealed in the Twilight Knight's words.

"That's a very old way of provoking someone." Jizi spread her hands, and gradually looked at the Twilight Knight with interest. "I didn't quite believe it at first, but now it seems that you are indeed the same person as the Dean Theresa I know."

"To be precise, he is the acting captain who has stepped down from the bishop's position." Twilight Knight shrugged nonchalantly and corrected Himeko's understanding. Then, he glanced in the direction of the Herrscher of Fire and Lightning who was explaining something to Mei in a corner of the living room, and suddenly changed the subject and said, "However, compared to Kiana and Mei, it's okay for you to treat me as the same person as Theresa over there."

"Indeed." When talking about this, Jizi couldn't help but reveal a subtle expression, and there was a bit of sighing in her words. "It's really hard to believe why Kiana, Mei, and Bronya became like this... Compared with the three children I didn't even dare to recognize at first sight, at least you and our dean don't seem to have changed much in character or appearance. How should I put it? Is this also the benefit brought by the Shenwu androids?"

"This joke is not funny at all." Although she said this, Twilight Knight did not feel angry. After all, the atmosphere between her and Jizi has always been similar to that of bad friends.

After casually exposing Ji Zi's joke, the Twilight Knight hugged his small chest and looked into Ji Zi's eyes calmly and seriously: "So, what's your answer? We will stay here for a very short time. After discussing the next course of action, we will leave this world immediately. By then, you will not have the chance to see us again after class when you return to this dormitory. You can completely treat this incident as if it did not happen today."

"Does that mean that Kiana, Theresa, and Xiao Shubai on our side will also leave this world with you?" Ji Zi asked.

"No, Kiana and the others and I in this world will of course stay in this world." Twilight Knight shook his head, "But Captain... we can't let him leave the Hyperion for a long time again."

"Are you planning to restrict his personal freedom?" Ji Zi frowned.

"That depends on how you understand it." Twilight Knight did not refute Ji Zi's words at the first time, but quietly listed the facts that had happened one by one in her ear: "He left the ship without permission, erased his own memory and split his consciousness, and did not come back to report his safety to us immediately after he found his power. He also used up his power of time travel and was kidnapped by others... If the captain could let us be a little more careful, we would not have made such an extreme choice."

After hearing the list of [crimes] against Li Shubai from the Twilight Knight's mouth, Ji Zi was suddenly speechless.

Rather than restricting Li Shubai's personal freedom, Theresa, who looked like the same dean as them but acted in a more decisive manner, seemed to be genuinely concerned about Li Shubai's personal safety.

Rather than being a kind of [imprisonment], it is more like something similar to [protective desire].

"And if the inference of the stargazer is correct, the captain is not in any dangerous situation that threatens his personal safety, but in terms of the intention to deprive the captain of his personal freedom, the other party's purpose is actually the same as ours."

"Stargazing, is that the little girl who looks exactly like you?" Ji Zi raised her eyes and glanced from afar at the third place [Theresa] who was originally sitting side by side with the Twilight Knight in the crowd. A hint of surprise flashed in her eyes.

No one could help but be amazed by Guanxing's otherworldly temperament. From the outside, she was no different from the two Theresa's who were around Jizi at the moment. However, just sitting there with her head down and a thoughtful expression, the little girl called Guanxing by the Twilight Knight silently released an ethereal atmosphere that was out of this world.

"She is also a member of your Theresa?" Ji Zi shook her head, "Isn't the difference in temperament too big?"

"Who knows?" After so long of consensus on the ship, no matter how unwilling he was to admit defeat, Twilight Knight had to recognize the objective gap between himself and Guanxing. "Guanxing is not a clone like the two Theresa. She does not have the blood of Kaslana's family flowing in her body, nor does she have Vishnu's Honkai Beast factor. Compared to us, her physical strength and stamina are quite poor. It is also because of her weak stamina that she is not very good at frontal combat, but prefers to use a power similar to formations."

"Formation?" Ji Zi touched her chin. "Isn't that a battle formation used by the ancient armies of Shenzhou? I remember seeing it in the book of military strategy. It is a command method that allows each soldier to perform at their best through reasonable deployment of troops. However, due to its limitation that it can only be used to organize ordinary troops, Tianming does not seem to attach too much importance to and promote the knowledge of formations developed by those military scientists from ancient Shenzhou. Now it should have almost become a knowledge that only exists in theory."