The collapse started when Kiana came to the door

"No, no, no, you obviously have a gender!" Li Shubai protested loudly, "Even if you claim that you are just an artificial intelligence and industrial creation that does not have the physiological concept of gender, didn't Dr. Mei still give you the body of a little girl? After all, I am a healthy male with adult psychology. How could I not care about my privacy being seen by a little girl?"

Bronya [Secondary Silver Wings]'s eyes suddenly lit up. Although the subsequent stream of information did not appear in her mind, she still smelled something unusual and not very serious from the conversation between Li Shubai and the other party.

"Number 17 - uh, it's okay for me to call you that, right?" Bronya [Secondary Silver Wing] smiled brightly, "Let me introduce myself first. My name is Bronya, and I'm also the captain's subordinate Valkyrie. Since you are an artificial intelligence and want to read his memory... then after you finish reading the captain's memory, can you send me a copy of his memory in the form of video data?"

"Bronya!?" Li Shubai's voice suddenly changed. He turned around and looked at the smiling Bronya [Secondary Silver Wing] in horror. "Are you a devil!?"

"How can the captain slander his subordinates like this?" Bronya [Second Silver Wing] put away the smile on her face and showed a righteous expression. "Since the captain is eager to find his past, then as the captain's Valkyrie, it is of course Bronya's duty to share the captain's troubles. Bronya is just implementing the professional philosophy of the Valkyrie, without any selfish motives or desires at all."

"Then what do you want to do with my memory?" Li Shubai said.

Bronya [Secondary Silver Wings] stared into Li Shubai's eyes, her gaze full of seriousness: "Of course, we will analyze the challenges we will face based on the captain's experience and memory, and prepare strategies and countermeasures for them."

"Well, that sounds good." Li Shubai said with a wooden face, "So it's the truth."

"..." Bronya [Second Silver Wing] was silent for a moment, and turned away with a slightly red face, "Captain, harassing the opposite sex is not something a decent boy should do."

"Why does asking you what you want to do with my memory become harassment?" Li Shubai covered his pounding heart, feeling a little crazy. "What weird things do you want to do with my memory?!"

"Uh..." Bronya [Second Silver Wing]'s eyes wandered, "I just want to do something that only girls would do... For example."

"Okay, I get it. I reject it!" Li Shubai turned his eyes away from Bronya [Second Silver Wing]'s terrible expression and looked seriously at the virtual personality floating in the air. "I won't stop you if you want to read my memory, but you must not present my memory in the form of video data. Do you understand?"

"..." The data stream that appeared in Li Shubai's mind was suddenly filled with disgust.

"Fuck! Do you think I want to scan my brain for you?" Feeling the disgust and contempt of the information flow in his brain, Li Shubai couldn't help but feel angry. "If the key of consciousness wasn't so weak, do you think I would be willing to show my memories to you in the form of data without any defense?"

“……”The information flow still maintains a mood of disgust.

"Fuck..." Li Shubai got a little impatient and grabbed Bronya's [Secondary Silver Wing] hand, "If you don't want to scan, forget it! Do you think I care about you? Bronya, let's go back!"

"..." Kevin covered his face silently. He really couldn't understand why his self in another timeline would choose such an unreliable person as his partner.

...Come to think of it, why has even number 17 become such a funny guy?

"This is really troublesome." Just as Kevin was puzzled by the abnormality of this artificial intelligence that should have lost most of its emotions, a voice that was 80% similar to Bronya's, but mixed with a hint of electronic music, suddenly rang in the ears of the three people, "Although I have no intention of offending the captain, as an artificial intelligence, my logic and way of thinking are inevitably different from those of ordinary humans in an objective sense."

"?" Kevin was stunned. He couldn't help but move his hands that were covering his face away, and looked at the petite figure that suddenly appeared in a daze.

The appearance and features were still quite similar to Bronya - but unlike the pure white shadow just now, except for the remains of the doll structure in the body joints, the figure that now appeared in front of the three people was not much different from an ordinary human being.

"Hmm?" Li Shubai, who had turned around and taken a step forward, was also stunned. He chewed on the words he had just heard carefully, turned his body back suddenly, and stared at the figure who looked very similar to Bronya who had not grown up yet, "Captain?"

Chapter 4 Prometheus, Hates Overtime (k)

Li Shubai didn't know Prometheus.

Before he traveled through time, the main storyline of Honkai Impact 3rd had not been updated to the point where Prometheus actually appeared, although he had seen her figure that looked like Bronya in the comics; the last time he traveled through time, Li Shubai had also faced No. 17 once with the help of Kevin. But so far, only at this moment, he had truly seen the true appearance of this artificial intelligence from the pre-civilization era.

Judging from the appearance alone, Prometheus's appearance was not beyond Li Shubai's expectations. Her childish face was 90% similar to that of Bronya at the age of 17, her posture floating in the air, and her expression so calm that it was difficult to figure out what she was thinking... At the first cursory glance, Li Shubai almost thought that it was Bronya from this world who suddenly appeared here for some reason.

But if you look carefully, Li Shubai can still find the huge difference between Prometheus and Bronya.

The most eye-catching thing is her hairstyle. If Bronya's hairstyle is a typical double spiral curl, commonly known as "drill curl", then Prometheus's hairstyle is like a bow.

Secondly, there is her doll-like body.

Li Shubai had seen similar features on Ai Yi's body before, but compared to the administrator's body, which only had the feet and the knees of her legs left, still retaining the characteristics of artificial creatures, Prometheus gave people a stronger sense of machinery.

"If I heard correctly, you just said the word 'Captain'?" Li Shubai raised his arm and pointed at his face, "Are you calling me?"

"Although the truth is obvious, I still need to remind you, Captain." Prometheus said calmly, "Of all the people present, you are the only one who has served as Captain Hyperion."

"No, of course I know about this." Li Shubai's eyelids twitched slightly, "You obviously know it. What I really want to ask is why do you call me captain?"

After hearing Li Shubai's question, the mechanical girl blinked and said nothing.

Although his eyes were still emotionless, at this moment, Li Shubai suddenly felt a kind of emotion similar to speechlessness and impatience in his mind.

But soon, that strange feeling disappeared.

"I'm sorry. Although I've rebuilt my body, I've been here for too long. Even an AI like me can't fully adapt to the normal human communication methods for a while." Prometheus said, "In short, I am a member of the Hyperion, just like the AI ​​life form created by the captain."

"The artificial intelligence life form I created?" Li Shubai pondered for a moment, "You mean Ai Yi?"

"Correct." Prometheus' voice was as emotionless as ever. "To be exact, I am waiting here for the captain to arrive because I accepted the request from that woman."

"Did Ai Yi ask you to wait for me here?" Li Shubai asked.

"Well, I received her message not long ago." Prometheus nodded.

"Wait." Suddenly, Kevin, who had been silent all the time, interrupted the conversation between Li Shubai and Prometheus, "Number 17, when did you get in touch with him?"

Bronya [Secondary Silver Wings] crossed her arms across her chest, her eyes slightly narrowed, as if she was resting.

"On this point—"

Hearing Prometheus' words, Li Shubai and Kevin both pricked up their ears subconsciously.

“——I don’t know either.”

——Then, they heard an answer that surprised both of them.

"Ah?" Not only Kevin, but even Li Shubai was stunned for a moment, "Don't know?"

"That's the truth." Prometheus said confidently, "Although in my database, the captain's name is indeed on the list of members with the highest administrator privileges besides Dr. Mei, so no matter what instructions the captain gives me, I will strictly follow them. But if you ask me when I recorded the captain's information in the archives - even if I searched the entire database thoroughly, I didn't find any similar information."

"What's the principle behind this?" Li Shubai was somewhat stunned. "Is it another timeline issue? Did you actually accept my invitation to join the Hyperion at some point in the future?"

"I don't deny that this possibility does exist." Prometheus nodded. "Before the captain arrived in this space, you should have met Yulandel from this world. Although it is just my personal speculation, the relationship between me and the captain may be very similar to that of the two S-level Valkyries who were still under the command of Heaven not long ago."

"...Can you see everything that happens in the outside world?" Li Shubai asked subconsciously. Before he got Prometheus' answer, he covered his face in embarrassment. "No. No need to answer. This question is too stupid... Let me take it easy for a while."

"Experiencing shocking facts in a short period of time will inevitably have a great impact on human rationality." Prometheus said, "I can understand the captain's anxiety and confusion, and I will not laugh at him for it."

"You might as well just call me stupid..." Li Shubai took a deep breath, "... Forget it, in short, Ai Yi contacted you not long ago, and she asked you to wait for me here, and then... what did she want us to do?"

"..." Prometheus sighed deeply and complained quietly in his heart.

Oh, I have to continue explaining. It’s so troublesome…

"...Well." Li Shubai said with a bitter face, "I heard it."

Phew, Bronya [Secondary Silver Wing], who had experienced a similar thing with Prometheus, couldn't help but chuckle.

"You heard wrong." Prometheus lied without changing her expression. Although it was a little unbelievable, as an artificial intelligence, she did have the ability to deceive others. "I mean, I will explain my duties to the captain in a concise manner."

"Are you scanning my brain?" Li Shubai asked. "Although it was me who made the request, judging from the information you injected into my mind earlier, you should have prepared a complete plan for reading my memory, right?"

As he was talking, Li Shubai suddenly felt something was wrong: "Wait, could it be that the emotion of disgust you sent to my mind before was not because you disliked the memories in my mind, but because you hated to explain everything to me?"

"After all, this was supposed to be Ai's duty." This time, Prometheus did not deny it. She closed her eyes, crossed her arms in front of her chest, and put on a silent resistance. "Although I have no objection to helping the captain recover your past memories, even if it is an artificial intelligence, I don't want my colleagues to impose duties that do not belong to me on me."

"...Before we set off, she didn't tell me anything about you." Li Shubai was a little embarrassed. "Moreover, at the beginning, she didn't even tell me that this was a time travel. If it weren't for Kiana's performance, I would have thought it was just a data space."

"Simply playing past videos will not help the captain regain his memory of the past." Prometheus said calmly, "The Hyperion's logbook should have recorded most of the captain's past, but until now, the captain still has not been able to fully understand everything he did in the past."

"...Indeed, I have read a lot of data about the Hyperion, but no matter how much I read, I still don't have a sense of reality about the things that should have happened to me." Li Shubai said, "Ai Yi told me that before I lost my memory, I uploaded most of my memories to her database in the form of data, and the way she helped me retrieve my memories was to use the data space to let me experience what happened to me again."

"But when I actually arrived here, I found that Ai Yi was actually framing me. How could this be a data space?"

"From the perspective of 'effectively helping the captain to recover his past memories', Ai Yi did not choose the wrong option?" Prometheus said lightly.

"Wrong option?" Li Shubai was puzzled.

"Yes." Prometheus nodded. "The so-called data space is ultimately nothing more than a result of using external devices to deceive the brain and consciousness. So strictly speaking, diving into the data space and reliving past events is no different from directly watching the recorded images of the past."

"The only difference between the two is that pure video data transmits information to the visual and auditory senses, while infiltrating the data space... deceives all five senses."

Li Shubai understood: "In other words, even if I experience what happened in the past again in the data space, the lost memories still cannot be restored?"

"That's it." Prometheus said, "Even if you experience what happened in the past again in the data space, for the captain, it is just re-experiencing the experience simulated by the consciousness infiltration device, but those experiences are indeed facts that happened in the past."

"What's the difference?" Li Shubai said, "My main purpose is to figure out what I did before, and what stage I have reached in the fight against the end and the collapse. Even if it is simulated data, as long as it is real, then experiencing it again should be no different from me recovering my past memories, right?"

"Will the captain inject his true feelings into the simulated character?" Prometheus raised his eyes and stared at Li Shubai's eyes meaningfully.

"This..." This sharp question stumped Li Shubai.

Indeed, since he already knew that those records were just images simulated by the data space, no matter how real they looked, or even that they were things that had happened before, he couldn't really regard the simulated Valkyries as themselves.

“Also, although Ai only promised to help the captain regain his past memories, what she really wanted to regain was the [time] that the captain had lost,” Prometheus said. “As for regaining memories, it is just a byproduct that will inevitably occur after regaining time.”

"Ah?" Li Shubai was stunned. "Why is it related to time again? And what does it mean to get back time?"

"Let Kevin answer this question for you." Prometheus cast his gaze on Kevin, who had an expressionless face. "In another time and space, you in that world consciously concealed part of the truth from the captain. But now that the captain already knows what the end really means, you should also take on the responsibility of explaining it to the captain accordingly."

"What do you mean?" Li Shubai turned his gaze to Kevin. "Look at Prometheus's expression. Even if you don't explain, she will eventually tell me the truth."

"..." Kevin sighed softly through his nose and nodded, "I understand."

"Before I explain to you what the End is, answer me a question first." Kevin said, "In another time and space, did [me] in that world try to let you take over [the End]'s power?"

"Yeah." Li Shubai nodded. He recalled the last time he and Kevin traveled through time and visited the [Space of Nothingness] which was similar to this space. Facing the scene of [Number 17] who had lost most of his self and rationality, he said hesitantly, "Although the final result was not satisfactory."

The last time Li Shubai traveled through time, he tried to accept part of the power of the end with the help of Kevin and No. 17, but for some reason, even though the power of the end had been captured by the Stigmata Project after the Herrscher of Corrosion was defeated, he was not affected by the power of the end at all.

——Whether it is controlling it in a positive sense, or being eroded by it in a negative sense, neither of these two things happened at all.

In contrast to him, Kevin absorbed the power of the end into his body with almost no effort.

At that time, Li Shubai was convinced that he could not take over the power of the end because he was not like Kevin who accepted the transformation of the Chimera Project, so he could not accept the power of the end hijacked by the Stigmata Project as the Stigmata Center.

But now it seems that whether it is Kevin in that world who did not tell him the truth about the end, or he is unable to take over the power of the end like Kevin... there seems to be something else behind these two things.

Chapter 4 Li Shubai: Damie, Damie, Damie (k)

Just as Li Shubai was trying to replay the obstacles he encountered when taking over the power of the end during his last time traveling through time, someone suddenly patted his shoulder.

Li Shubai looked back and raised his eyebrows in surprise: "What's wrong, Bronya, did you find anything?"

"Since the captain is confused about why he can't accept the power of the end, why not try it again here?" Bronya [Second Silver Wing] suggested, "Anyway, whether it's Prometheus, who was thrown into the other side of the imaginary number as a Trojan horse program in the last civilization era, or Kevin, who was originally scheduled to be the executor of the Stigma Project, aren't the two most important people who made the power of the end manifest here?"

"..." Kevin was silent for a moment, then shook his head: "Now is probably not the best time to execute the Stigmata Plan. The imaginary renormalization group that Mei has placed in the channel between the imaginary space and the Earth has not yet attracted all the remaining Herrschers to descend."

"Of course I know about that." Bronya [Secondary Silver Wing] shrugged. "If we follow the plan drawn up in the pre-civilization era, after the advent of the twelfth Herrscher and before the advent of the Herrscher of the End, it will be the best time for you to open the backdoor of the [Honkai Will] that Prometheus has endowed with the shackles of thinking and steal the power of the End."

"What a pity - have you not noticed it until now, Kevin?" Bronya [Secondary Silver Wing] said lightly, "The Prometheus standing in front of you had already restored her will before you opened the back door of the Honkai Will, and even her body was restored to the form you are familiar with."

"...So, the back door that Mei An had left in No. 17 has been opened by someone else?" Kevin frowned slightly, and fine ice dust appeared around him along with the rapidly decreasing air. "If this is done——"

"If you're worried that Prometheus' return from the Honkai to the human world will change the nature of the Herrscher that will descend next, and the way the End is manifested, I don't think that's necessary." Bronya [Secondary Silver Wing], "Prometheus is an artificial intelligence life form after all. As an artificial intelligence, as long as there is a data carrier that can store data, she can reappear in front of us in her original appearance. Therefore, even if the backdoor you originally prepared is opened, the impact that No. 17, who was swallowed by [Honkai] and lost her original way of thinking, brought to the Honkai has not been eliminated."

Kevin's expression eased slightly. "But even so, we shouldn't be able to get the End to mention coming before all twelve Herrschers have arrived."

"Who said there's no way?" Bronya [Secondary Silver Wings] smiled. "It's true that the time for the End to come has not yet come, but who stipulated that [The End] will not be activated before the Herrscher of the End comes?"

Kevin pondered for a moment and said calmly: "...You might as well explain it more clearly."

Before Bronya [Second Silver Wing] answered Kevin's question, a flash of inspiration suddenly occurred to Li Shubai's mind: "Do you want Honkai to mistakenly believe that human civilization has been completely destroyed?"

"That's right." Bronya [Second Silver Wings] said leisurely, "Kevin should know that [Power of the End], [Herrscher of the End], and [Fate Mechanism Called the End], although these three things are quite similar in form and all have the word [End] in their names, in fact, their essences are completely different."

"...That's right." Kevin nodded. "The principle of the Stigmata Project is to let humans sink into the foundation of the earth in the form of the will of the Stigmata. Since the mechanism that controls fate in the End is set up for the purpose of continuously searching for similar people for the phenomenon we call [Honkai], if the Stigmata Project is fully completed, it will dominate the Honkai in a form that it cannot resist."

"But even if you use the Stigmata Project to capture and successfully take over the power of the end, you can't really fully control the fate mechanism that controls reincarnation, right?" Bronya [Secondary Silver Wing] said calmly, "Otherwise, since you have completely controlled the so-called end, then the Stigmata Project, which is considered the worst by everyone, can be immediately cancelled after you take over the power of the end. As a fusion warrior who has taken over the power of the end, with your own extremely long life, you can already bring a future that is almost endless to the human world."

"I don't deny that," Kevin said, "but this point should have nothing to do with what you just said."

"In fact, it matters a lot." Bronya [Secondary Silver Wing] shook her head. "You can take over the power of the end because the influence of the Chimaera Project on you allows you to become the core of the Stigmata. But it is also because of the annoying reason that even if you take over the power of the end, you can't really activate [The End] - or in other words, you can't even stop it."

“……” Kevin was silent.

"Compared to you who have taken over the power of the End, all Herrschers, after completing the missions given to them by Honkai, can use the channels to return to Honkai and activate the fate mechanism of the planet to restart." Bronya [Secondary Silver Wing] shrugged. "As long as they are intelligent life groups, it is impossible for them to give up resistance in the face of a disaster on the verge of extinction. Therefore, almost all human civilizations will surpass all Herrschers before the End, and will have no choice but to enter another reincarnation when the Herrscher of the End descends."

"Therefore, most people ignore this possibility." Bronya [Second Silver Wing] said, "What if human civilization has been completely destroyed by the Herrscher before the end comes?"

"The answer is that the Herrscher who destroyed human civilization will automatically gain the authority and qualifications to activate [The End] the moment he completes his mission."

"In other words, time is not the real condition for the end to be activated, but the destruction of human civilization is?" Li Shubai touched his chin. "This is quite similar to my previous assumption, but if you say so, there should be another problem, right? To what extent does it have to be achieved before the collapse will determine that human civilization has been destroyed?"

"No matter what the Honkai decides on human civilization, as long as all life on the planet is extinct, the End will be activated successfully." Bronya [Secondary Silver Wing] said, "So, if the captain wants to try to activate [The End], he just needs to find a way to simulate an Earth without life and deceive [Honkai], and that's it."

"Wait, wait, wait..." Li Shubai quickly raised his hand. "Let's not talk about how we should simulate a planet with all life extinct. If it's true as you said, the function of the End is to control fate and reset the time of the planet back to 50,000 years ago. Wouldn't it be bad to activate it now?"

"If there is no one who can fully control it, then it is probably true." Bronya [Secondary Silver Wings] folded her arms across her chest and looked calmly at Li Shubai's face. "But what if I say, Captain, you once briefly had the authority to activate the End?"

"Ah?" Li Shubai was stunned. He was confused. "Me? I have the authority to activate the end? How come I don't know? There is no record of such a thing in the records of the Hyperion?"

"So, back to the topic that No. 17 talked about before—" Bronya [Secondary Silver Wing] said, "Although Ai only promised to help the captain regain his past memories before sending him to this world. But what she really wants to regain is the [time] that the captain once lost."

The time I once lost?