The collapse started when Kiana came to the door

"If what Otto did was to use the power of the Herrscher of the Void to create a fork for Kallen Kaslana with the Kaslana clan during the time recorded by the Tree of Imaginary Numbers, then what we have to do next is to graft."

"Grafting?" Kiana asked subconsciously.

"That's right, grafting." Li Shubai raised his hand, closed one eye, and then pointed his fingertips at a fork of the Imaginary Number Tree and slid it gently. "The countless forks on the Imaginary Number Tree represent the time that passes by one after another. You already know the principle of the Herrscher of the End resetting the world, so you should understand another thing - after this planet was reset to the origin by the power of the End, the time point of your era recorded on the Imaginary Number Tree is actually the same as the era where Kevin and the others are."

As Li Shubai asserted, a Bodhi leaf suddenly appeared at the top of a fork. The moment it appeared, it withered immediately. But at the same time, at the origin of the fork, a completely different fork at the other end suddenly and slowly stretched out.

"..." Kiana opened her mouth slightly, and after a long while, she came back to her senses in disbelief, "So... in essence, the era 50,000 years ago and the era we are in are actually two different timelines parallel to each other?"

"You understood it very quickly." Li Shubai smiled. "In fact, in a broad sense, the so-called parallel world itself refers to two worlds that cannot intersect at all. Simply speaking from the concept of 'mutually parallel', if the era 50,000 years ago did not leave any traces in this world, your 50,000 years and their 50,000 years are indeed two parallel lines that will never intersect."

"What a pity! What a pity! Although the Herrscher of the End has a very large energy scale, her half-baked power of [time] cannot actually erase everything that happened on this planet."

"Rather than saying it's a reversal of time, what the Herrscher of the End has done on this planet is more like what Otto has done before, just a change of events, rather than an absolute reversal of time." Li Shubai said softly, "Although it's unclear whether this loophole was intentional by the being who dropped the [Cocoon] on this planet, if there weren't this power loophole that was almost left behind, causing the two timelines that shouldn't have intersected to intersect, perhaps, no matter how hard humans on Earth try, they will never be able to truly break free of this eternal yet false cycle."

"..." After hearing what Li Shubai said, Kiana couldn't help but feel a chill on her back.

Kevin, who was standing behind Li Shubai, raised his head and looked at the virtual projection, as if he saw something that did not exist through the translucent projection.

Someone once said to him:

Imagine a possibility.

In the space and time that is vaster than the universe, your consciousness and your life itself may have appeared countless times - you just may never be able to realize it.

If you want to test whether this possibility is true or not, there must be a key "witness" in another dimension.

So, you are the "witness" mentioned by MEI?

A time traveler, the "captain" of the Hyperion...

Chapter 348 Consciousness Mapping

As he was talking, Li Shubai suddenly felt a strange gaze. He turned his head subconsciously and found Kevin standing behind him staring at him with a strange gaze. He couldn't help but feel a little creepy.

"Why are you looking at me like this?"

"Nothing." Kevin shook his head. "Fifty thousand years ago, MEI once imagined that in a higher dimension than the universe, there might be people who do not belong to our universe, observing our world from a third-party perspective. In this way, even if this universe itself does have a cycle phenomenon similar to the end, then as long as we find that observer, we can connect the 'same self' in different cycles with each other."

"..." Li Shubai raised his eyebrows, and a strange feeling flashed through his heart.

MEI's speculation is more of a philosophical thinking than an inference based on science and theory.

"The reincarnation brought by the End is not a perfect reincarnation in the true sense. She will leave countless flaws in this planet." Li Shubai said, "Even if I don't exist, you alone can perceive the essence of the so-called [planet reset]."

"But this is not the point we are discussing now—"

Li Shubai took a deep breath and refocused his gaze on the projection on the conference table. He put his ten fingers together and placed them on his chin. His voice sounded serious and full of rationality:

"Although both the collapse and the end have brought considerable negative impacts to the world, and even... brought several catastrophes to human civilization, the reason why we are human is because we have such power. We use our own hands to make use of everything we can touch and control the course of events, so that they develop in the direction we want."

"Now, the [Cocoon of the End] in this world has established a close connection with Kiana. Although you cannot truly control this power perfectly for the time being, and there is no way to guarantee whether this uncontrolled power will lose control one day in the future--" Li Shubai turned his sight towards Kiana and the other two, "But it doesn't matter. Since we are going to borrow the power of the [Cocoon], we will of course help you solve the hidden dangers in the [Cocoon]."

"..." Kiana nodded silently, indicating that she understood.

She was not the kind of person who coveted power. If the world was not threatened with collapse and she had no need to become a hero, she would rather live a peaceful and stable life in this world.

——A person’s destiny is his character.

Although someone once used such words to describe the similar fates of Kevin and Kiana, no matter what the words were, they would only be true under certain conditions.

If the world was not facing a crisis of life and death and there was no need for a hero to save the world, then even people like Kiana and Kevin would naturally be happy to enjoy the comfortable life that only belongs to ordinary people.

But then again, if Li Shubai is going to use the power of [Cocoon]——

"How do you plan to use this power?" Kiana asked, "Although we do control [Cocoon], you should also know that the time power possessed by [End] cannot actually erase what has happened."

"That's right. Even for Otto, all he can do is create a new world line for the Saint Kallen. He can't erase the fact that Kallen in this world is dead." Li Shubai smiled. "So, this is the fundamental reason why I just said, 'Although what we are going to do is similar to Otto's, the scale and nature are completely different.'"

"To put it bluntly, what we are going to do cannot be accomplished by relying solely on the [Cocoon]... but relying on the energy that this [Cocoon] pours onto this planet, even if all the Honkai energy is exhausted." Li Shubai turned his gaze towards Bronya, "If I'm not mistaken, during the time when you and Kevin were fighting against each other over the Stigmata Plan, Dr. Einstein and Dr. Tesla should have come to a similar conclusion."

"Yes." Bronya, who had already temporarily withdrawn her Herrscher mecha, nodded calmly. "Dr. Einstein told us that even if we exhaust all the Houkai energy on Earth, all we can do is hover around the lowest [Transfinite Cardinality], and we are far from being able to interfere... or even see through the [Infinite Scale Even in Transfinite Cardinality] Imaginary Number Tree itself."

"That's right." Li Shubai said, "The so-called transfinite cardinality, in mathematical terms, refers to the concept of transcending finite numbers... but it still hasn't reached the true infinity. You originally thought that the so-called collapse was the product of imaginary numbers, and imaginary numbers were the source of collapse, but in fact, although the former is indeed correct, the latter... is undoubtedly wrong."

"Because at that time, we mistook the limit of what we could observe as the so-called [Imaginary Tree]. We all thought that the Herrscher was the apostle of the Imaginary Tree, and the space that supplied energy to the Herrscher's core was the Imaginary Tree." Bronya said, "But later, Dr. Einstein's discovery denied our speculation. Although the space connected to the Herrscher is indeed a type of imaginary space, it has little to do with the [Imaginary Tree] itself."

"Yes." Li Shubai nodded. "In a world dominated by [Cocoon], civilization will go through false reincarnations again and again. It has certainly brought unspeakable threats and disasters to the humans in this world, as well as countless tragedies. However, if this world had not been dominated by [Cocoon], the plan I made would naturally be out of the question."

He raised his arm and snapped his fingers lightly in the air.

The virtual image in the air changed dramatically again. The scene where Kallen's fate was rewritten quickly shrank. The people in the conference room saw the town, the country, and the rapidly shrinking planet. Finally, the picture turned back into majestic and dense trees.

The moment the image of the Imaginary Number Tree reappeared, the three-dimensional projection rose rapidly, showing the image of the trunk of the Imaginary Number Tree and a layer of smooth water surface intertwined with each other in front of everyone.

"We originally mistakenly identified the object behind the Herrscher as the [Tree of Imaginary Numbers], and therefore miscalculated the energy required to directly observe the [Tree of Imaginary Numbers]. Therefore, we wanted to modify the [fork on the tree], but relying on the [cocoon] would not work." Li Shubai turned his gaze towards the direction of Kiana 丱 [Herscher of the End] and said lightly, "After realizing this, I commissioned the Hyperion's Valkyrie to recover the [Ether Singularity]."

"Ether singularity?" Su frowned slightly, and suddenly opened his eyes gently, "Could it be... you are preparing?"

"At least at this stage, the so-called Honkai energy is indeed something that can do everything." Li Shubai turned his gaze towards Su and nodded. "If there is something that we cannot do for the time being - for example, directly observing the tree of imaginary numbers, or forcibly reversing something that has happened, then there is only one possibility, that is, the energy specifications are not enough."

"As for this, you who have been using the Thousand Worlds One Vehicle to observe the parallel space, you should be very clear about it."

"..." Su closed his eyes again and sighed softly, "Indeed, although the Second God's Key can observe the parallel world of [this planet], but... its energy is far from enough to extend its sense of touch into the depths of the universe."

——As Su said, although the Second God's Key has the power to manipulate space, however, due to the limitations of the [power scale] itself, the Second God's Key cannot even extend its vision into the depths of the universe.

Because of this, during the time when the Second God's Key observed the parallel world, all he could see were worlds that were just like the world they were in, dominated by the [Cocoon] that manipulated the fate and reincarnation of mankind.

"To the tree of imaginary numbers, the worlds are nothing more than the [ends] that keep growing one after another. If we define these [ends] as the world we live in, then the planets themselves are like pins that stabilize space, pinning the so-called [worlds] one after another into the scroll called [universe]." Li Shubai smiled, "Although we haven't observed the universe in depth yet, and we don't know whether other worlds are dominated by [cocoons], for the world we live in, the existence of [cocoons] is both a sad misfortune and a blessing."

"Lucky?" Kiana frowned slightly.

"Yes, at least, as long as [Cocoon] still exists at the end of imaginary numbers and regularly cleans up part of [the end], we can also hack into and change the history we know through the operating mechanism of [Cocoon]." Li Shubai said, "Of course, most of the tragedies in this world are more or less directly or indirectly related to that damn collapse, but even if there is no collapse, there will definitely be things in this world that make people feel sad, and the so-called [Cocoon] gives us a chance to [regret]. For us, isn't this a kind of [luck]?"

In the final analysis, even if this world does not collapse, all life will inevitably head towards death.

Survival is a step-by-step journey towards the inevitable death. No matter how excellent a creature is, it cannot escape this truth.

——In this sense, the [Houkai] that broke this truth might be considered a kind of nectar that contains a fatal temptation.

"Of course, I'm not saying that Honkai is a good thing." Li Shubai said calmly, "No matter what kind of changes [Honkai] can bring to us, it is still the culprit that caused the extinction of human civilization several times. Therefore, even if we want to use the power of Honkai to achieve our goals, we must be fully alert and vigilant."

“——This is also the direct reason why I chose the [Ether Singularity] that is free from imaginary numbers as the energy source.”

"As an existence that is opposite to imaginary numbers, the ether singularity originating from the quantum sea, although most of them are evolved from different [Ends], they all have the characteristics of being much more stable than Honkai energy, and can suppress the activity of Honkai energy to a certain extent."

"Please remember that our initial goal is to restore the destroyed civilization to the time before the First Ruler's advent, while ensuring that the current world is not damaged in any way."

Li Shubai turned his gaze to Kevin, who suddenly became serious, and then moved his gaze to the direction in the air, raised his arm and made a gesture.

"Now, to achieve this initial goal, I have formulated two plans in total."

Everyone shifted their gaze towards the air.

The virtual projection image was frozen in a small border town in the pre-civilization era.

"First, we will use the records left by the Cocoon on the Fork of the Tree of Imaginary Numbers, inject all our power into its time power, forcibly modify everything in the past, and remove the Cocoon at the end. While minimizing the harm to the Herrscher, we will allow the time of that world to continue to grow along the normal path."

"There is one advantage to this plan, and one disadvantage as well."

"The good thing is that as long as the energy scale can keep up, this plan will inevitably be realized."

"The downside is that the essence of this plan is to reduce our original needs. The final result is [increasing the possibility of defeating the Houkai 50,000 years ago], rather than [changing the tragedy that once happened in this world]."

Li Shubai turned his gaze towards Kevin and said calmly, "What do you think, Kevin?"

Kevin pursed his dry lips and asked in a calm voice, "What about the second option?"

"The second option also requires the use of the record left by the Cocoon on the Fork of the Tree of Imaginary Numbers, but we will not inject all of our power into its time power." Li Shubai said calmly, "Because it is a completed record, neither you nor I can go to the world before the civilization era in person. The result of doing so is nothing more than the same as the first option, completing the task of [adding another possibility of defeating the collapse 50,000 years ago] in a more cumbersome way."

"Have you ever heard me tell you that the Hyperion has a function—"

"——It's called consciousness mapping?"

Chapter 4: Facing the Past (k)

Consciousness Mapping

A technology that uses the Hyperion's submersible capsule to replace one's own consciousness with the consciousness of "oneself" in a parallel world.

Of course, if you want to carry out consciousness mapping, you must lock the target object of the mapping in advance. And due to the characteristics of consciousness mapping, the duration of the mapping must be maintained within 72 hours. If you want to exert a strength that exceeds the original strength of the target object, the duration of the mapping must be further shortened.

Kevin and Su looked at each other and nodded silently. In fact, the technology of consciousness mapping was not something that Li Shubai had invented alone. Both the Destiny and the pre-civilization era had technologies that worked on the same principle as this consciousness mapping.

Even if they don't use this special technology, most fusion warriors of the psycho-perception system have the special ability to temporarily replace their own consciousness with that of others.

Compared to similar technologies mastered by Destiny and previous civilization eras, Hyperion's consciousness mapping is safer, but it also has more stringent usage requirements.

After all, neither Destiny nor the previous civilization era had the ability to travel through parallel spaces. The consciousness mapping technology they mastered was a means of remotely controlling unconscious soldiers from the beginning, rather than the Hyperion's technology of "replacing oneself with another self".

Based on the basic laws of this world, when "two identical individuals" appear in the "same world" at the same time and "come into contact with each other", these two different individuals will naturally merge into one. Although consciousness mapping circumvents this world law to a certain extent, two essentially identical consciousnesses are extremely easy to influence each other. If the mapping time exceeds the maximum time limit, even if the basic laws of the world are successfully circumvented, the individual who performs consciousness mapping and the target object selected by consciousness mapping will also be at risk of losing their original self.

"Although I think you probably don't care whether you will lose yourself in the end, but... I have never had the habit of collecting the living dead." Li Shubai looked at Kevin calmly, crossing his arms, "So, even if I let you go back to the past, you must strictly abide by the rules I set."

“…” Kevin nodded helplessly.

Just as Li Shubai thought, after he explained in detail the precautions for consciousness mapping to Kevin, Kevin's first reaction was that it didn't matter.

He didn't care at all whether his consciousness would merge with his past "self". Rather, if he could really use this method to restore that lost era, it would be a win-win for him.

"I will send you back to the time after Alicia was born and before the First Ruler came." Li Shubai said, "Before you return to the time when [Cocoon] is about to release the apostles 50,000 years ago, each of you will have 72 hours to release [Seeds of Ideas] to various locations on the earth."

"Just like the Honkai Beast is the sense of the [Cocoon], the [Seed of Principle] manifested by Mistlin is also the sense of touch of the Stigmata of Shaniat."

"I need you to spread the seeds of reason all over the earth before the collapse causes massive casualties to humans. After that, Mistrine will use those extended senses to transcribe the entire earth at the time point before the civilization era into Shaniyat's stigma."

"With the design of the Earth obtained from Mistrynne—" Li Shubai turned his gaze towards Bronya, whose face was completely frozen, and chuckled, "Bronya—with the design, it should not be difficult for you to use the power of the Herrscher of Reason to build a 'clone Earth'."

"..." Bronya opened her mouth. Her voice, which had always been relatively indifferent, suddenly gave rise to a feeling of "fear" when she heard Li Shubai's devilish whisper. "I can't do it! Building the earth is something that Bronya can never do no matter how hard she tries!"

"...You, you should calm down a little." Raiden Mei wiped her sweaty forehead and smiled awkwardly.

Use the power of the Herrscher of Reason to construct a clone of the Earth? ?

Captain Li Shubai really dares to think!

"Of course I know that it is highly unlikely that the Ruler of Reason alone can do this." Li Shubai smiled, "Use it. I have also made corresponding preparations."

"Ai Yi, retrieve the ether singularity that you brought from Sky City for me."

Ai Yi's gentle and elegant voice came from the Hyperion's broadcast: "Copy that, Captain."

The virtual projection in the air instantly dissipated, and in its place was a gem contained in a transparent container.

Li Shubai waved his hand, and the transparent container floated towards Bronya. Bronya took it and analyzed it with the power of [Reason]. Then she tilted her head and asked in confusion: "What is this? The power of the Ruler of Reason doesn't seem to have any effect on it."

"Yulandel once told you about a special structure called 'ether anchor point'. This and that have similar characteristics, but the origins are completely opposite." Li Shubai said, "If the ether anchor point is the epitome of human civilization, then the ether singularity is the epitome of collapse."

"The epitome of collapse?"

"To put it simply—" Li Shubai smiled and shrugged, "This thing is the Herrscher Core owned by a Herrscher of the End who holds the power of [Reason]."

Bronya's arm trembled and she almost threw the thing away.

Kiana shook her shoulders and widened her eyes: "The Herrscher Core of the Herrscher of the End?"

"Yes." Li Shubai said, "This thing once existed in a certain world bubble, and for hundreds of years, it continuously constructed a [light curtain] that isolated a city. Although most of the objects in the world bubble are just projections of the real world, so the scale and power are much weaker, even if it is weakened by the [projection], the ether singularity constructed by the core of the Herrscher of the End is still much stronger than the ordinary Herrscher of the original world... Even if you have undergone metamorphosis."

Mei Raiden widened her eyes and asked in disbelief, "How did you manage to collect this kind of stuff?"

"Of course it's because the Valkyrie off the ship did a good job." Li Shubai shrugged. "Apart from the ether singularity of [Reason], I also have about 30 ether singularities of [Space], [Star], [Consciousness], etc. After being severely calculated by that devil thing [End Cocoon], I have been looking for an opportunity to resist..."

pity……

Thinking of the vampire bride whose whereabouts have yet to be found, Li Shubai's eyes couldn't help but dim slightly.

Although he can now do almost everything he wants, and even people like Kevin and Su are willing to contribute their strength to perfectly execute his plan, the only thing is that one dream that happened in midsummer. Even Li Shubai now still has no clue.

Even though Li Shubai has mastered the method of reversing time, such a method is only limited to the world dominated by the cocoon, like the world bubble, which is a dream bubble that cannot even be sure whether it exists. Even though he has completely recovered his memory and strength, he does not have the confidence to find it in the boundless quantum sea.

——After helping Kevin and the others complete the recovery plan for the previous civilization era, let the Hyperion set sail in the Quantum Sea and once again embark on the journey to find that [First Embrace Under the Moon].

No one on my ship can be left behind!

Seeing that Li Shubai's vision suddenly became dim, Kiana, who didn't know what he was really thinking, subconsciously asked: "Being plotted by the Cocoon of the End...?"

"It's all in the past." Li Shubai pulled himself together, took two deep breaths, and turned his gaze in the direction of Bronya. "I know that if you rely on yourself, it is a fantasy to use the power of [Reason] to build a cloned Earth. I will give you all the ether singularities with [Reason] characteristics that I have. At the same time, the two Kianas and the several Bronyas who were originally on the Hyperion will also provide you with the necessary help."