The collapse started when Kiana came to the door

"But Kevin..." Li Shubai hesitated to speak

"Captain, haven't you noticed that Kevin hasn't launched any offensive against us since the beginning?" Bronya [Hersher of Truth·Adult Form] said lightly.

“……”Really?

Why did Kevin stop suddenly?

Is it because the spring spirit left?

He had been feeling a little strange before. They hadn't met Kevin yet, so why did this guy suddenly go crazy in the Quantum Sea?

Now it seems that his target is just the Spring Elf.

After the Spring Elf left this world, Kevin, who had lost his reason to take action, would certainly not attack other people casually.

"Let's not worry about Kevin for now... Anyway, since there's no other danger for now." Bronya [Herder of Truth·Adult Form] stretched out her mecha-covered forearm and grabbed Li Shubai's collar, "Then why not teach my good Xi'er how to kiss properly?"

"Wait, Kevin and Lao Yang are still watching down there!"

"If they want to see it, just let them see it. Kissing between lovers is neither something to be ashamed of nor something to be ashamed of, right? Bronya wouldn't be like Seele, blushing so much after kissing the captain that she couldn't face other people at all."

"Wait--"

On the other side, deep in the quantum sea.

Kevin and the wounded Walter Yang silently turned their gazes away.

Is she the Bronya who suddenly snatched away the power of reason? Walter Yang adjusted his glasses with a strange expression.

Although judging from the energy overflowing from the other party, the one who claimed to be the "Third" Herrscher was much more powerful than himself.

But why would the third Herrscher of Reason be such a... passionate person? Walter Yang thought, unable to think of a suitable adjective.

Compared to Walter Young, Kevin's ideas are a little simpler.

After all, he has lived for tens of thousands of years, so he would not show any unnecessary emotions when seeing a young couple being intimate with each other.

He was more concerned about something else.

Why are the clothes that successor is wearing... the same as what I'm wearing?

No, that combat uniform should have originally belonged to me.

Has he ever met [me] in the world bubble?

Or...what about [Kevin] from other parallel worlds?

Chapter 4 Like and Like (k)

Xier [The Twins on the Other Side] is gone.

To put it more accurately, after staring with her red eyes wide open and watching Bronya [Hersher of Truth·Adult Form] put her pink, soft and wet tongue in, she, who claimed to have a dangerous, cruel and indifferent personality, ran back to the real world in an extremely embarrassing manner, ashamed and angry.

"..." Watching Xi'er's [The Twins on the Other Shore] retreating figure, Li Shubai raised the back of his hand and quietly wiped away the crystal clear liquid at the corner of his mouth. Then he sighed silently, spread his five fingers and pressed them on his forehead. He said in a complex tone full of regret, "Every time you treat me with such a tough attitude, I feel like a gigolo fought over by rich women..."

"Isn't that the truth?" Bronya [Hersher of Truth·Adult Form] gently stroked the curly hair behind her head, then shook her head. The soft and beautiful gray hair fluttered slightly with the owner's movements. Her gentle tone was full of subtle teasing, "Could it be that the captain still has no awareness that he is actually quite popular with everyone?"

"No, I've been forced by you guys - bah bah bah!! You guys used such... uh, straightforward means to express your affection. No matter how slow I am, I have more or less noticed it." Li Shubai rolled his eyes, "But have you ever thought that I am your captain? As a Valkyrie, you should at least take care of my dignity as a captain. Is what you did considered as insubordination in some sense?"

"Can we make the captain like us by taking care of his dignity?" Bronya [Hersher of Truth·Adult Form] straightened her scattered curly hair and said nonchalantly.

"?"

What does it mean?

Li Shubai couldn't help but feel puzzled by the strange attitude. He tilted his head with a slightly confused expression on his face: "Haven't I always liked you guys?"

"Bronya's liking doesn't mean just saying it." Bronya [Herder of Truth·Adult Form] tilted her face and narrowed her eyes slightly. Her eyes, which were full of calmness just now, suddenly showed a hint of dissatisfaction. "You like every Valkyrie on the Hyperion and want them all to be your wives. Although the captain has always advocated this, and most people know and admit it, if it weren't for Yulandel, who had just joined the Hyperion not long ago, who took the initiative to attack the captain... the captain should never have been prepared to express his true feelings to everyone, right?"

"That's because..." Li Shubai was speechless for a moment.

"In the past and future observed by the captain, the space and time that belongs to us does not have the captain. Even without the captain, we can work together to move towards the future."

"And what the captain likes is the dazzling demeanor displayed by everyone in that time and space without the captain, so the captain is also very troubled. Who does he like? Kiana and others in [that time and space]? Or everyone recruited by the captain into the Hyperion——" Bronya [Hersher of Truth·Adult Form] smiled indifferently, "——Don't tell me that the captain is going to use this excuse to fool children to get away with it."

"Why are you like a worm in my stomach?" Li Shubai said with a bitter face.

"Who told the captain to always write what he wants to say on his face?" Bronya [Hersher of Truth·Adult Form] blinked her eyes.

Looking at Bronya's bright eyes that seemed to see through everything, Li Shubai couldn't help but look away: "...Let's not worry about this kind of thing for now. After this time travel, it's time to meet with my former crew members in person. At that time, I will try my best to give you an answer that satisfies everyone."

"Even if the price is that the captain's back will not be able to straighten up?" Bronya [Hersher of Truth·Adult Form] said with a smile in a playful tone.

Feeling that he was being teased again, Li Shubai glared at Bronya [Herder of Truth·Adult Form] fiercely and said, "Let's wait and see. Will you cry for mercy first, or will my physical strength fail first?"

Deep in the quantum sea, Kevin and Walter Yang looked at each other expressionlessly.

"Aren't you going to leave here?" Walter Yang asked, "You have been confronting me for such a long time just to be able to return to the real world. Why are you staying here motionless now?"

"…World Serpent's time is indeed very tight." Kevin said coldly, "But it's not so tight that we can't wait for a few minutes."

"That man seems to be wearing the same clothes as you." Walter Young said.

"I saw that." Kevin nodded.

"Then can't you let him come down quickly?" Walter Yang frowned.

"Although the boy was wearing the same clothes as me, he was not someone I knew." Kevin said bluntly, "Compared to me, his partner seemed to be a Herrscher of Reason like you."

What I mean is, I can't control that man, but as the previous Ruler of Reason, can't you control that woman?

“…”Walter Yang stopped talking.

Suddenly, Kevin said in a flat voice: "They are coming."

Accompanied by Kevin's emotionless voice like solid ice, Li Shubai and Bronya [Hersher of Truth·Adult Form] finally remembered that there were people waiting for them in the depths of the Quantum Sea and finally carried out further infiltration into the Quantum Sea.

Soon, two figures appeared in front of Kevin and Walter Yang from the entrance of the Quantum Sea.

"Let's skip introducing ourselves for now." Li Shubai took off the coat he borrowed from Kevin and threw it to him casually. "I just washed the clothes not long ago. I'll give it to you."

"I don't seem to have lent my uniform to anyone else." Kevin took the coat thrown to him by Li Shubai with an expressionless face, and suddenly froze.

The reason was very simple. The moment he caught the coat that was exactly the same as the one Kevin was wearing, the coat that Li Shubai had just been wearing suddenly emitted a dazzling fluorescence as if it was ignited.

Then, right under Kevin's eyes, the coat quickly became transparent, and finally disappeared completely as if it was dissolved in the flames.

Walter Yang couldn't help but widen his eyes.

"It doesn't matter if you don't remember. You just need to know that this incident happened before." Li Shubai shrugged as if he had expected this extraordinary scene. "After all, I don't want to introduce myself every time I encounter a similar situation. This sentence is actually your line."

"...I understand." Kevin nodded. He raised his gaze and stared at Li Shubai's face. "I can actually see real time manipulation in this civilized era. The results you have achieved are really beyond my expectations."

"So, although I don't know you, you should have reached a cooperative relationship with [me] from another timeline." Kevin said calmly, "So, unlike the Ruler of Reason, you should not be prepared to stop me from returning to the real world."

"Of course, since you have seen the nature of the power I used, you should know why the dress disappeared." Li Shubai spread his hands, "The moment the power stops, the things affected by the time operation will return to their original state - even if the two clothes appear in front of you at the same time, it cannot change the fact that they are the same thing. I can't stay in this timeline forever. Even if Teacher Yang and I trap you here temporarily, after my power stops and I am forced to leave this time, you will still return to the real world."

"Do you know what this man wants to do?" Walter Yang frowned deeply. "Since this lady who claims to be Bronya has a stronger control over the power of reason than I do, I have no objection to handing over the core of the Ruler of Reason to her. But since you have inherited the Ruler of Reason, you should understand that his philosophy is too radical for humans of this era."

"Then you should find a way to overturn it. Isn't it the Stigma Project?" Li Shubai said, "And Kevin, I have stopped the human experiments that your World Snake is conducting. You should have no objection, right?"

“Whatever you want.” Kevin crossed his arms over his chest. “Do your best to reduce the side effects of the Stigmata Project on humans. This is one of the responsibilities of the World Serpent. Since you have already reached a cooperative relationship with [Kevin] from another time and space, I also trust the people he trusts.”

"Great." Li Shubai snapped his fingers lightly. "Bronya, take Teacher Yang out of the Quantum Sea first. According to the original plan, I hope to have a one-on-one communication with Kevin. Kevin, you should not mind if I take up a little of your time."

Kevin frowned slightly, but after thinking for a moment, he quickly nodded: "Okay, I also want to know what the person who controls time in this civilized era thinks about the current situation."

"..." However, facing Li Shubai's proposal, although Kevin nodded, the other person fell into silence.

"Bronya?" Li Shubai shifted his gaze to Bronya [Hersher of Truth·Adult Form] and asked with some confusion.

"…I'm sorry, Captain." Bronya [Herder of Truth·Adult Form] raised her arm and spread her five fingers. "Due to the captain's poor performance that worried Yulandel during the last time travel, Bronya is not going to let you stay here alone with Kevin."

As soon as the voice fell, in the shrunken pupils of Walter Yang, a stream of azure data rapidly surged in the hands of Bronya [Hersher of Truth·Adult Form]. In less than a moment, a spotless and transparent crystal quietly appeared between her five fingers.

As the Herrscher Core was taken out, the armor that Bronya was wearing also changed back to its original [Secondary Silver Wings].

"Although we can't keep the ring structure in the core, after Bronya's metamorphosis, the power that this Herrscher Core can exert should also increase." Bronya [Secondary Silver Wings] chuckled and handed the Herrscher Core that she had condensed outside her body to the stunned Walter Yang, "Just think of it as an apology for forcibly snatching the core without telling you."

Although the Herrscher Core was about to be returned to his hands, Walter Yang was not happy at all.

"Why?" He did not take the core handed over by Bronya [Secondary Silver Wing], but stared into her eyes seriously, "I can feel that compared to returning it to me, this Herrscher Core can exert its greatest power in your hands. Since you have obtained it with your own strength, you are its owner, and I have no intention of taking it back, why do you still want it..."

"The captain has just said it." Bronya [Secondary Silver Wing] shook her head, "The captain and I are both people who traveled through time and returned to the past. After the time travel stops, the things affected by the time operation will return to their original state. Therefore, even if you have been holding this Herrscher core, when Bronya returns to the Hyperion, it will naturally return to Mr. Walter's body."

"And... I am not without a Herrscher Core." Bronya [Secondary Silver Wing]'s eyes flashed with a trace of sadness, but she quickly hid it. "It's just that the Herrscher Core that belongs to me is currently being kept by someone else."

"...Is that so?" Hearing that Bronya [Secondary Silver Wings] did not reject the core due to subjective factors, Walter Yang's expression eased a little. "Since it is because of her ability, then let me use this core for a while. You said that you and the boy are from other times, so when the time is right, I will hand this core over to Bronya from our timeline."

After saying that, Walter Yang took the Herrscher Core returned to him by Bronya [Secondary Silver Wing], nodded to Li Shubai, and left here very tactfully.

Seeing Bronya [Secondary Silver Wing] forcing herself and Kevin to her side with an attitude that could not be refused, Li Shubai couldn't help but shake his head with amusement.

Chapter 4: Prometheus's sudden attack (k)

[Every ray of erratic starlight in the dark night is a sign of civilization breaking through fate.]

Li Shubai and Kevin appeared in a frozen world, with Bronya [Secondary Silver Wings] following closely behind them.

An invisible force paused the time of this world. Thick clouds froze in the pitch-black night sky. The three people faced the prosperous modern city. The tide-like lights shone on their faces. Pedestrians with blurred faces raised their feet and stood motionless on both sides of the road.

This is a corner of Mu Continent, the technological and economic center of the pre-civilization era. Its name is Atla. Fifty thousand years ago, scientists of the previous era built a time-space transmission device, the Eye of the Abyss, in this extremely prosperous city, which can still maintain normal operation even after fifty thousand years.

"Since you have reached an agreement with the other [me], you should know... In this era, it is probably not the time for us to see it yet." Kevin looked around this bustling city that was both familiar and unfamiliar. His calm voice sounded quite stiff and indifferent. "Even if you step into my dream, you will not be able to find the pure white [Space of Nowhere], unless-"

"Unless I have a Herrscher core that is still connected to the imaginary number, right?" Li Shubai smiled, then took out a stone that was shining with pink light. "That's really unfortunate. Alicia is not interested in the power of erosion at all... or rather, because of all the things she has experienced, her attitude towards this core is quite disgusting."

“So, although Alicia did use the Herrscher’s ability to devour other powers to temporarily take the Corrosion Core into her body, after everything in that world was done, Alicia threw the core back to me without a care in the world.”

Kevin casually glanced at the pink gem in Li Shubai's hand, then quickly looked away: "I'm fine, just follow your plan."

"I'm going to do this even without you telling me." Li Shubai gently closed his eyes and injected his power into the Herrscher's core, which was quite special both in terms of power itself and life form before death. "Let me take a look..."

Usually, after the death of the Herrscher, the inactive Herrscher Core will also lose its connection with the imaginary space. Because of the loss of the energy reservoir of the imaginary space, the [Key of God] created in the pre-civilization era and its holders cannot use these special abilities derived from the Herrscher Core as frequently as the Herrscher himself.

However, the core of the Herrscher of Corrosion is an exception.

Whether it is the Herrschers of Corrosion from the pre-civilization era or the current civilization era, their life forms are very different from those of ordinary Herrschers. The Herrschers of Corrosion from the pre-civilization era have not even really lost their lives: the Herrschers of Corrosion from the current civilization, who were forcibly devoured by Alicia and used the dual-core Herrschers' stronger control over power to reversely corrode, were then assimilated by Alicia and became a part of her.

So, in a sense, this pink Herrscher core...even if it was thrown back to Li Shubai by Alicia, it is still a part of "Alcia".

This is also one of the reasons why this erosion core broke the laws of time travel and was still kept in Li Shubai's hands even after the time travel ended.

The city where time stopped and the three of them briefly stopped was certainly not the city that had been destroyed 50,000 years ago. To put it bluntly, this space was just an extra-dimensional plane similar to the Stigmata space that Li Shubai had imitated by using Yu Duchen to read Kevin's memory.

Because it is a fictional space created based on Kevin's memory, this place can also be seen as Kevin's dream.

Just as Li Shubai sank his consciousness and strength into the core, trying to retrieve the channel between the Herrscher core and the imaginary number.

An invisible force dragged the three people standing in the same dream into a pure white space without any explanation.

The development of the situation was not at all unexpected to the three people. Be it Kevin, who was already familiar with this space, or Li Shubai, who had already visited this space with Kevin during the last time travel, or even Bronya [Secondary Silver Wings] from the future, they were all familiar with this invisible force and pure white space.

The moment they stepped into the pure white space, a white shadow of an adult woman appeared out of thin air in front of the three of them.

"Are you saying that I'm the only one who is most vulnerable to invasion?" Bronya [Secondary Silver Wings] glanced at the white shadow whose body shape was no different from her own, then glanced left and right at the two men with normal expressions, and suddenly she felt a sense of unwillingness.

Li Shubai and Kevin looked at each other, exchanged glances briefly, and nodded to each other at the same time.

Kevin took a step forward, slightly ahead of Li Shubai. "Although the time is not yet ripe to launch the Stigma Project, since we have already encountered the Transcendent of Time in the Quantum Ocean, and he is willing to assist this civilization, I will take the initiative to bring him to you."

The figure of a mature woman that had evolved from the form of Bronya [Secondary Silver Wings] suddenly disintegrated and turned into a bright blue data stream that floated in front of the three people.

"..."Then, a complex stream of information appeared out of nowhere in the minds of the three people.

After feeling the meaning of that stream of information, Bronya [Secondary Silver Wings] instantly frowned.

"Don't promise her that, Captain."

"It's just a comprehensive search of my memory. Although I don't want to tell this artificial intelligence everything about myself, but... retrieving the lost memories of the past is also the reason why I agreed to Ai-chan's proposal and came to this world with the help of the Hyperion she owns." Li Shubai touched his chin. "During the last time I time traveled, because I needed to prepare for the Stigmata Project that was about to be completed, the computing resources that [you] in that timeline could mobilize were on the verge of limit in order to retain the only remaining self among countless derivative consciousnesses. Now there is still nearly a year before Kevin launches the Stigmata Project. Taking advantage of this rare opportunity, I also want to use the power of Seventeen to search my own memory carefully."

"Besides, if I continue to be in this state of losing my past memories, it would be a burden to you, right?" Li Shubai said, "Although the me in the past and the me now are still the same person regardless of whether I retain my past memories, even if we are the same person, we will show completely different appearances due to different experiences."

"Since those experiences and memories of being with everyone originally belonged to me, my choice is, of course, to do everything I can to get them all back."

"..." Bronya [Secondary Silver Wing] stopped talking.

Although she was quite resistant to Li Shubai's decision to show everything about herself to strangers without any precautions, the reasons he gave made Bronya [Secondary Silver Wings] completely unable to refute.

Li Shubai is like this. Even if he makes a decision that seems quite outrageous, most of the time, those decisions are made after carefully weighing the pros and cons. Even if people want to raise objections, it is difficult to find a suitable reason.

"Hiss, but wait." Suddenly, Li Shubai seemed to have thought of something very troublesome, and scratched his head awkwardly, "If you need to conduct a comprehensive search of my memory, wouldn't some of my more private matters be clearly seen by you?"

"..." This time, Li Shubai read an emotion similar to "speechless" from the flow of information that appeared in his mind.