The collapse started when Kiana came to the door

"Thank you for your understanding, Lady Rita, and I wish you a happy holiday." After saying that, Amber hung up the phone.

Rita stared at the pitch-black communication terminal, and suddenly she felt a surge of both laughter and tears in her heart.

"Really? I didn't expect that the little rat would take advantage of the opportunity to sneak in when I left the headquarters." She shook her head and calmly put down the communication terminal in her hand. Although Rita was somewhat unhappy that her identity was impersonated by someone else, she was not on the floating island now.

In this case, we can only believe that Amber and Bishop Otto can successfully catch the imposter "fake Rita".

But when Rita put away her communication terminal, she suddenly noticed several strange gazes focused on her.

She raised her face and turned her sight. She found that everyone was staring at her with strange eyes. She couldn't help but put her hand to her lips and coughed softly: "Ahem, it's nothing, just some trivial accidents. I believe that Amber and the Bishop will deal with this minor problem soon."

Yulandel seemed to want to say something but hesitated, and finally chose to shut her mouth helplessly.

In the silent atmosphere, the few of them returned to Li Shubai's dormitory without saying a word.

After having dinner together, Li Shubai thanked Rita for the dinner and cleaned up the dishes. Then he said goodbye to Kiana and Raiden Mei who returned to their dormitory, took a shower and took a short rest. The long-awaited peaceful day without any incidents came to an end.

After seeing Bronya and Li Shubai return to their rooms, Yulandel hesitated for a moment and walked to Rita's room.

Rita, who was packing her luggage, stood up when she saw Yulandel walk into the room.

"Lady Yulandel, do you... have any other instructions?" Rita bowed gently, her movements elegant and humble.

According to Yulandel, tonight is the last date she can stay here. Tomorrow, this Yulandel will end with the termination of consciousness mapping and turn back into the Yulandel in the original timeline, that is, the strongest Valkyrie of Destiny, the captain of the Immortal Blade team.

"No." Rita instinctively thought that Youlandel wanted to explain the last things before leaving, but Youlandel shook her head, hesitated for a moment, and said, "It's just that there is one thing I think you should have the right to know."

"Hmm?" Rita was a little confused. "What is it?"

"You received an emergency call from Amber this afternoon. She said that an intruder who impersonated you appeared in the headquarters of the Destiny." Yulandel said, "Regarding that matter... If I'm not mistaken, I should have some idea about the identity of the intruder."

Rita raised her eyebrows, a little surprised, but she immediately understood.

Since the Yulandel in front of us is the Yulandel from the future, it is not surprising that Yulandel knows things that have not happened yet but will happen in the future; and things that have not been confirmed now but will be confirmed in the future.

"According to Amber's description, the invader has the same appearance as you, but with longer hair." Yulandel said slowly, "He should be from the future, one of the crew members under Captain Li Shubai, and another you, Rita Rossweisse herself."

"So that's how it is..." Rita nodded thoughtfully, "If the intruder is from my future self, then it's not hard to understand why she ignores the identification system of the Destiny Headquarters."

Now it was Youlan Daier who was surprised. She asked in confusion, "Aren't you surprised?"

"I can't say I'm not surprised. However, since Lady Yulandel from the future can appear here, then it's not strange that Rita Rossweisse from the future would appear here." After saying that, Rita frowned slightly, a little puzzled. "It's just... What I'm a little concerned about is why the Rita Rossweisse from the future didn't rely on consciousness to project onto me, but appeared out of thin air?"

"That's probably because...she is not on the ship herself." Yulandel said.

"Not on the ship?" Rita was slightly stunned. "But didn't you say that she was also a crew member under the name of Li Shubai, just like Youlandel?"

"Indeed, she is one of the Valkyries registered on the ship, just like me, but..." Yulandel said hesitantly, "...I am not very clear about the specific situation. From what I know, she temporarily left us for personal reasons about a hundred days ago. To be honest, I didn't expect to see her again in this world."

Hearing Yulandel's somewhat ambiguous description, Rita couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

Although Yulandel said that the person was Rita Rossweisse from the future, Rita did not think that she was someone who would neglect her duties due to personal reasons.

Therefore, there must be a deeper reason for [temporarily leaving them due to personal reasons].

Rita touched her smooth chin, put herself in the shoes of the person described by Yulandel, and carefully thought about various possibilities.

...Based on Yulandel's extremely loyal attitude towards Li Shubai, Rita believed that her future self would not leave because she hated the ship itself.

Regardless of what was said, since Yulandel, with her upright and selfless character, chose to entrust her power completely to her captain, it meant that at least the captain's purpose, his behavioral philosophy, and his actions were absolutely recognized and accepted by herself and most of his crew members.

And since most of the crew members agree with his ideas, the atmosphere of the ship itself should also be extremely excellent.

There is nothing wrong with the leader, team members and atmosphere. If it were me in this situation, why would I choose to temporarily leave the ship under the pretext of personal reasons?

"Oh, Lord Yulandel." After pondering for a long time, Rita suddenly had an idea in her mind. "Although this question may be a little late... But since you are from the future, why do you think that this Li Shubai is your captain?"

"?" Youlan Daier tilted her head, a little confused: "What do you mean?"

"You are Lady Youlandel from the future. One day in the future, you joined Li Shubai's team and became one of his crew members. This is the premise of everything." Rita stood up and paced around the room. "Then, based on this premise, your captain should also be Li Shubai from the future, not the current him."

Those words were like thunder.

"It seems... that's the truth?" After thinking carefully about Rita's words, Yulandel frowned and covered her forehead, feeling that her mind seemed a little confused. "But, according to Abonya's perception, the current Li Shubai should be our captain. Why...?"

"Although Rita doesn't know who Aponya is, she has always had doubts about this question. But now... after knowing that my future self has come here, the answer to this question should be obvious." Rita said, "Although relative to this time point, you are a person from the future, but if we look at the entire world axis, the parallel space composed of one world after another-"

"——You in the future, Lord Yulandel, and the world we live in now do not have any temporal relationship."

"..." Yulandel did not speak, but chewed over Rita's words carefully.

Although she had left the Immortal Blade, at this moment, Yulandel seemed to have returned to the past, the time when Rita had always been by her side.

"This is a hypothesis that overturns all the premises we know now..." Rita did not stop talking just because Yulandel fell into deep thought, because she knew that even if she was thinking, Yulandel could still listen to every word she said.

"Assuming that everyone's time, from a macro perspective, is on the same intersecting line," Rita said calmly, "then, since you have determined that Lord Li Shubai is your captain, it means that in the world you exist in, Lord Li Shubai may have lost contact for unknown reasons."

"..."Yulandel nodded silently, agreeing with Rita's speculation.

"After losing contact with Lord Li Shubai, you Valkyries under his name kept wandering and searching for him in the gaps between worlds. You eventually succeeded in discovering his whereabouts, but for reasons Rita didn't know, you could only protect him from afar through consciousness mapping." Rita said.

Yulandel raised her head and said as if she was arguing, "Actually, that's not entirely true... If a spatial anchor point is left in this world, then everyone should be able to come here through the coordinates provided by that anchor point, and we can also bring the captain back to the ship."

"Is that so?" Rita was stunned. "Then why didn't you do this?"

"Creating a space anchor is something that only a Herrscher who has mastered the power of space can do," said Yulandel. "But due to some accidents, the three Herrschers on our ship who can use the power of space are temporarily unable to come to this world through consciousness mapping."

"Really... was it just an accident?" Rita seemed a little horrified by her own guess. She took a deep breath and said faintly, "What if someone deliberately prevented you from coming to this world and took your captain away?"

"Intentionally preventing us from coming to this world?" Yulandel's pupils shrank slightly because of astonishment, but she shook her head quickly, "No, I think... it shouldn't be. Kiana's inability to accept consciousness mapping again is just a simple accident, and... according to Aponya's inference, in just half a month, she should be able to accept the second consciousness mapping again. What can we do in these fifteen days?"

"I hope so..." Rita sighed softly.

I hope that the reason why another me came into this world is different from what I imagined.

Chapter 4: Original World Yulan Daier, Original World Rita, Join the Team (k)

2014 December 1

Far Eastern Time, 4:50 AM

Yulandel lay on the bed, looking at the ceiling with mixed feelings in her eyes.

She had been awake for a while. At this time in the past, Yulandel should have already broken free from the warmth of the quilt and gone to the empty streets to do her daily morning exercise.

But today, after waking up, Yulandel lay in bed in a daze, which was extremely rare.

The whole room was quiet, the dark night sky gradually turned white, and the newly awakened sunlight shone in from the window at some point, reflecting on Yulandel's dignified face that was full of confusion and distress.

In the quiet atmosphere, a slight noise was heard outside the door.

After recognizing that it was the sound of Rita preparing breakfast in the kitchen, Yulandel took a deep breath to clear her confused thoughts. Then, she got out of bed very quickly, turned on the ceiling light in the room, took off her pajamas, and changed into the blue dress and slim leather jacket she bought when she went shopping the day before.

She opened the door and walked downstairs towards the kitchen.

Breakfast was fully prepared, just as she remembered Rita's perfect maid style, and the appetizing aroma of breakfast wafted from the direction of the kitchen.

Hearing the footsteps behind her, Rita, who was about to bring breakfast to the table, turned around with a flawless smile on her face: "Good morning, Lady Yulandel, breakfast is ready. Excuse me, do you want to do morning exercises first? Or do you want to eat first?"

Looking at Rita's face which remained the same as always, for some reason, Yulandel felt that the confusion in her chest suddenly dissipated a little, as if she was relieved.

She smiled, stretched out her hand and scratched her blonde hair with a little embarrassment: "Today... let's be lazy for the first time in a long time. Let's have breakfast first. If I overslept and let Rita's kindness go to waste, even I would feel guilty."

"No." Rita smiled. "To comfort the already strong Lord Yulandel, this opportunity is a precious experience for Rita now. No matter when, if Lord Yulandel wants to act like a spoiled child, please don't suppress your feelings."

"You...are saying such weird things again." Youlandel looked embarrassed and turned her head away stubbornly, "Who would want to act like a spoiled child to you?"

"This unique lack of frankness is also the lovable quality of Lady Yulandel." Rita looked at Yulandel with a smile. Looking at her wine-red pupils that were a mixture of kindness and teasing, Yulandel felt uncomfortable all over.

She couldn't help but pout slightly, walked to the dining table angrily, pulled out a chair and sat down, turning her head to express her dissatisfaction with Rita's teasing behavior.

"Hehe." Rita covered her mouth and chuckled, and leisurely placed the breakfast in front of Yulandel, then pulled out another chair. She did not stand behind Yulandel like a diligent maid as usual, but came to her side and sat down after a long absence.

"..." Yulandel stopped talking. Since she was the first to express her dissatisfaction, she couldn't be the first to speak in such an occasion. She endured Rita's gaze and ate the breakfast that Rita prepared for her in silence. Her face became redder and redder, and mist could be vaguely seen rising above her head.

In an extremely awkward atmosphere, Yulandel finished her breakfast with some bumps and took out a napkin to wipe her mouth.

After finishing her breakfast, she glanced at the clock on the wall.

The time pointed to five twenty, and both Li Shubai's room and Bronya's room were still quiet.

"What are your plans next?"

At this moment, she heard Rita's voice coming from beside her. Yulandel turned her head and looked at Rita's face, but quickly looked away.

Then, silence.

After an unknown amount of time, Youlandel bit her lower lip and sighed with some difficulty: "For the time being... continue to stay in St. Freya College..."

"Aren't you going back to the Destiny headquarters to investigate the truth about your life?" Rita asked softly.

"As for that matter..." Yulandel shook her head and looked at Rita with a complicated expression, "...there is no need to investigate it anymore."

"No need for investigation?" Rita wondered.

"...I can not believe in the so-called 'future self' of unknown origin." Yulandel looked at Rita seriously and said softly: "But, in this matter, you have no reason to deceive me. I believe you, Rita."

"...During the period of consciousness mapping, can you also perceive what is happening in the outside world?" Rita said.

"Well, rather than saying that I can sense it..." Yulandel nodded: "It's better to say... maybe it's because we are the same person. In my perception, these three days are like a dream, with an extra memory from the distant future."

For Yulandel, the experience of being temporarily replaced by another self from the future during these three days was novel and strange, but even she herself did not expect it, and she herself did not reject such an experience.

Maybe it was because the other Yulandel helped her make up for many of the shortcomings that she no longer cared about.

Father, mother, sister, family... Three days ago, these words only existed in concepts for Yulandel, things that were out of reach.

But now, it has become within reach.

"However, no matter how things will develop next... I can't help Bishop Otto to carry out the Xilin Plan." When she thought of what might happen in the future, a startling chill ran through Yulandel's pupils.

At this moment, she seemed to have abandoned her confusion and turned back into the strongest Valkyrie who was invincible. Her beautiful and sharp figure exuded indescribable majesty and oppression.

In fact, a long time ago, after understanding and learning to suppress her outward emotions, Yulandel was not easily angry anymore, but now, she still couldn't help but feel an unquenchable anger in her heart.

No matter what Otto's purpose was, no matter how much sincerity Otto had put into teaching and cultivating her before, he was the culprit who had caused their family to fall into the current situation.

He killed his own mother, persecuted his own father and sister, and now he even planned to turn his own amnesiac self against his own family... Now that she knew the truth about Kiana Kaslana and Siegfried Kaslana, it was impossible for Yulandel to continue to help Bishop Otto do anything that would harm her family.

But...even if I am not afraid of Bishop Otto.

...What should I do about this matter? Youlan Daier pursed her lips and touched her chest silently.

Two years ago, the trip to the Quantum Sea seemed like yesterday to Yulandel.

She can even remember now everything that happened at that time; every detail; every beautiful or eerie scenery; every person who is still alive or no longer alive.

Without the help of Bishop Otto's vast knowledge, inexhaustible scientific research resources, and precise and complete experimental plans, it would be a fantasy for Yulandel to save the artificial world bubble fundamentally on her own.

On one side are his family members whom he once could not get but are now within his reach; on the other side is Bishop Otto, the person he once vowed to save and who has truly cultivated him.

...Yulandel, who was caught between the two, felt as if the air on her shoulders had become inexplicably heavy. The indescribable huge pressure attached to her heart like sticky blood.

Just when Yulandel was feeling very embarrassed, suddenly, she felt her palm being covered by a warm and soft touch.

She raised her eyes and met Rita's wine-red pupils that were filled with a gentle smile, and her face turned slightly red.

"If you are troubled because the problem in that world bubble cannot be solved." Rita held Yulandel's hand and said slowly: "Rita, I have a solution. I don't know if you will accept it."

Upon hearing Rita's words, Youlan Daier's originally somewhat ashamed expression immediately became solemn. She no longer cared about Rita's actions and quickly asked back, "What method?"

"..." Rita didn't say anything, but raised her head slightly and looked in a certain direction.

Yulandel followed Rita's gaze and was suddenly speechless.

There is Li Shubai's door.

After understanding what Rita meant, Yulandel was silent for a while, then lowered her head again, looked at Rita, and frowned: "Are you saying that, like my future self, I will join him... Li Shubai's men and become a member of that ship?"

"If there is anyone who can better assist you in this matter besides Bishop Otto... perhaps it can only be Lord Li Shubai, the captain of the ship you will join in the future." Rita said softly.

"Since the future you has completely understood your own identity and has broken away from destiny and left Bishop Otto, it means that it is very likely that either the future Lord Yulandel has fundamentally solved the problem of the artificial world bubble, or Lord Li Shubai has provided another practical solution." Rita turned her head and looked into Yulandel's eyes. "No matter which possibility it is, it means that Lord Yulandel can completely solve his own problems, right?"

Rita's persuasive words made Yulandel lower her head and fall into deep thought, time passing by every second.

After a long time, as if she had made up her mind, Yulandel let out a long sigh.

Although... the relationship between master and disciple for many years still makes it difficult for Yulandel to feel too much hatred towards Otto all at once. At most, she is just a little angry. However, after knowing the truth of all things, Yulandel is not willing to be just a flag and let Otto control everything about her.

Now, if there is a choice that allows her to fulfill her responsibilities without hurting her family...

So, for Yulandel, she only has one answer.