Honkai Impact 3: Saving the former civilization by rubbing the black technology

"What about the remaining probability?" Ai Yue put the phone back and motioned Hua to take out the box.

"There's a 0.8% chance it's the Eighth Herrscher himself," Prometheus responded. "Okay, it was just a joke. Miss Hua, there's no need to be so nervous."

"You should talk less with Wei Erwei in the future." Ai Yue glanced at Hua, who was ready to fight, and shook his head. "Okay, let's prepare for the next step."

"Wait, I still don't understand." Hua said at this moment, "What does the original anchor point... mean?"

She vaguely felt that Ai Yue knew much more than what he had told her on the road.

"Before that, let's take a look at these brainwave images." Ai Yue spread his right hand, palm facing upward. Prometheus transformed into a fingerless glove on his hand, and the lens on the palm released a projection. "These are brainwave images of people from different cities and different ages who fell into a deep sleep at the same time. What did you find?"

"They're... all the same?" Hua was stunned when he saw the identical overlapping wavy lines. "Are these people all dreaming? And the same dream at that!" "Or rather, they're dreaming the same dream." Ai Yue put away the projection. "A dream constructed by the Herrscher, a dream that has trapped them and made them unable to extricate themselves."

"So Prometheus said this girl is the original anchor point," Hua then realized, "which means that she was the first person affected by the Herrscher, and her dream is part of this dream?"

"Well, at least she was one of the first to fall into a coma." Ai Yue took out a strange hat from the box and put it on his head. "And, unlike those who fell into a coma later due to the spread of the keyword, she most likely came into contact with the Eighth Herrscher in her dream."

"So what should we do next?" Hua asked, "Do you need me to sneak into her dream?"

Hua finally understood why Ai Yue chose her. Obviously, the other party needed someone to sneak into the dream and try to contact the Herrscher.

However, Ai Yue's words made her look surprised: "No, your task is to keep an eye on her."

After Ai Yue put on his hat, he took out a pale white potion from somewhere and directly inserted it into his neck: "Of course, I will do things like diving into dreams."

Hua was stunned for a moment, then she felt that there was some change in Ai Yue's temperament. For a moment, she even felt that there was another person standing in front of her.

"This doesn't seem to be the same as what Aponya said." Ai Yue first looked at Hua, then looked at Rachel lying on the bed, and then frowned, "Forget it, let's get down to business first."

Then he closed his eyes and fell backwards as if he had lost consciousness.

Hua subconsciously supported Ai Yue's body and helped him sit on the chair. He stood aside and looked around at the two unconscious people. He was a little confused for a moment.

When she heard that the mission was related to the Herrscher, she had already prepared herself for a tough battle, but why did she seem to be the most relaxed now?

And what does "keep an eye on her" mean? Is there something else wrong with Rachel?

"Miss Hua, you seem a little confused." Prometheus' voice came from Ai Yue's hand, "Dr. Ai Yue once told me that if you have any questions about the mission, I will do my best to answer them for you."

"Just call me Hua." Hua subconsciously stood up straight, then relaxed. "About the mission... I want to know what will happen to Rachel, and why Dr. Ai Yue asked me to keep an eye on her?"

"According to Dr. Ai Yue's analysis, dreams aren't just a means for the Herrschers to restrain human consciousness; they also have other functions," Prometheus said. "If his theory is true, that all consciousness is trapped in the same dream, then this means the Eighth Herrscher can locate their real bodies at any time through their dream consciousness."

"In other words, the Eighth Herrscher's consciousness could possess Rachel?" Hua, who had been relatively relaxed, suddenly tensed up. "Doesn't that mean she could control Rachel's body and attack at any time?"

"Yes, but it's not easy to bypass the original owner of a body and control it," Prometheus said. "For the Eighth Herrscher, perhaps she can easily do this, but the Eighth Herrscher's own strength is probably not strong, so the only method she can rely on is to drag you into the dream.

Hua immediately took two steps back, as if this would allow him to get out of the range of the Herrscher's ability.

"Don't be nervous, Hua." Prometheus continued, "Aren't you wearing the forehead protector that Dr. Ai Yue gave you?"

"You mean this?" Hua subconsciously touched the cold metal on his forehead. "Can this withstand the power of the Eighth Herrscher?"

This was given to her by Ai Yue when she got off the plane. He said it was a kind of protective gear. Hua didn't pay much attention to it at the time, but now she thinks that the other party should have arranged everything at that time.

"It's called the Soul Guardian. While it hasn't been used in actual combat, it's proven effective in simulations," Prometheus said. "At least it's enough to handle a consciousness from the Eighth Herrscher that reaches across vast distances."

"So, the Herrscher controlling Rachel's body isn't actually a threat. Dr. Ai Yue asked you to watch her because he was worried the Eighth Herrscher might kill Rachel and sever his connection to the dream world, thus preventing unnecessary sacrifice." Prometheus continued, "Given the Eighth Herrscher's current abilities, she's the most dangerous in the dream world."

"Then there won't be any problem with Dr. Ai Yue, right?" After listening to the other party's analysis, Hua couldn't help but focus his attention on Ai Yue again.

"According to my deduction, Dr. Ai Yue only had a 40% chance of survival against the Eighth Herrscher," Prometheus said. "But Dr. Ai Yue said, 'Don't think your model can simulate my strength,' and rejected all my suggestions, insisting on carrying out his own plan. What a troublesome man!"

I don’t know if it was an illusion, but Hua heard an emotion called "helplessness" in this sentence.

Ai Yue naturally didn't know that Prometheus was teasing him again behind his back. At this moment, he was feeling the weightlessness of falling from a high altitude.

There is usually only one way to enter a dream, and that is to read the keywords set by the Eighth Ruler. When reading the content designed by the other party, the reader will be dragged into that huge dream and immersed in the perfect life established by the Eighth Ruler through "keyword hypnosis", which can reflect the reader's inner desire, and thus cannot escape.

In the original plot, it was several months later that Fire Moth invented a device called the "Observation Hub", which could read the dreams of unconscious people and establish an active intervention channel so that people could enter it soberly.

Ai Yue also used a similar method, but he did not choose to make a device specifically for dreams. Instead, he chose to strengthen himself, which was the potion he just injected himself with - "Aponia's Embrace".

The principle of this potion is actually similar to the "Fire of Redemption" used by Kevin. Both are potions that give the user a temporary super-mutation factor, allowing them to temporarily master special abilities. The only difference is that its raw materials are not taken from Honkai beasts, but from fusion warriors, which further lowers the threshold and danger of using the potion, so that ordinary people like Ai Yue can also use it.

By the way, the name of this potion was not given by Ai Yue, but was proposed by Aponiya when she knew that Ai Yue wanted to use her own genes to make the potion.

After using this potion, Ai Yue became a degraded version of Aponia in a short period of time. With Aponia's ability as a foundation, he was able to actively open an entrance in Rachel's dream and enter it.

The hat he had put on himself before not only had the ability of a "soul guardian" to protect his spirit, but it could also amplify the user's mental power, helping the user to better operate their mental power, and even detect the user's physical condition, forcing him to escape from the dream when the effect of "Aponia's Embrace" began to fade.

With the help of these two items, plus a system hidden in Ai Yue's brain, he dared to take the risk and directly break into the territory of the Eighth Ruler.

After experiencing the feeling of weightlessness for who knows how long, Ai Yue finally regained his sense of reality and finally officially entered the dreamland.

The first moment he regained his sense of reality, Ai Yue tried to call the system. When the familiar light blue interface appeared in front of him, he finally let go of his last worry.

Even the Eighth Herrscher's dream couldn't isolate the system from his consciousness, so what was there for him to fear?

It's time to let this country bumpkin from the moon see the power of wall hanging.

Chapter 56 It’s almost time

After confirming that his support could function normally even in dreams, Ai Yue couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

Then he started another attempt - according to the setting, the speed of time in dreams is twenty times that of reality, so can this speed be used to speed up the progress of scientific research projects?

However, the result was disappointing. The scientific research project in the dream advanced at an extremely slow pace. It seemed that it would not be affected by the speed of time in Ai Yue's subjective will.

However, Ai Yue was only slightly disappointed, and immediately thought of another thing - the system's own advancement speed would not be affected, but he could accelerate it artificially.

The flow of time in dreams is accelerated twenty times, which means that Ai Yue's own thinking speed is accelerated twenty times. Since the system can also be started in dreams, it means that as long as he does scientific research in dreams, his efficiency will be much higher than in reality!

Unfortunately, now is not the time to do research.

Ai Yue sighed regretfully, temporarily shifted his attention away from the system, and began to observe the surrounding environment.

At this moment, he was standing in a bedroom, but it was different from Rachel's bedroom in reality. Not only was it spacious and bright, but the furniture also looked much more upscale.

However, after observing for a while, Ai Yue discovered that the owner of this bedroom seemed to be Rachel.

This is not difficult to understand. After all, the dreams that the Eighth Herrscher weaves for people are the beautiful life that they desire in their hearts. Some people desire a happy family, and some people desire to be with their loved ones forever. So it seems reasonable for Rachel, who lives in a small room, to desire a large bedroom.

At this moment, the bedroom door was opened from the outside and a girl rushed in. She looked healthy and energetic, with a happy smile on her face. If she didn't look basically the same as Rachel in real life, Ai Yue wouldn't even be able to recognize her at first glance.

So what does her dream life look like?

Ai Yue stood aside curiously, watching the girl lying on the bed playing with her cell phone.

As a person with powerful mental power, Ai Yue's level in dreams is naturally higher than those ordinary people hypnotized by the Eighth Herrscher. By using his mental power, he can easily hide himself from the eyes of others and do things like being invisible. Therefore, when Rachel walked into the bedroom, she didn't realize that there was another person in the room.

Of course, this operation is only effective against creatures that also possess mental power. There is no way to avoid the surveillance of the machine, and naturally it cannot affect people who are not in front of Ai Yue but are observing him through monitoring equipment.

But this is already powerful enough. It is precisely because of the use of "Aponia's Embrace" that Ai Yue finally understood how terrifying Aponia is to ordinary people.

Even the degraded version of the ability he possessed now could easily distort a person's mind and turn him into something else. So how powerful would the complete version that Aponya possessed be?

After mastering this kind of power, most people would have already expanded beyond imagination, right? Aponya was still able to remain calm and at ease in the depths, soothing the spirits of those people. Could she truly be called a compassionate nun?

Ai Yue thought so, completely putting his own factors aside, and then walked out of the room, intending to see what kind of dream Rachel was immersed in.

Generally speaking, if children from a reconstituted family don't have a good life, they will want to return to their original family...

Ai Yue was thinking about this, and when he looked up, he saw the man he had met in real life sitting on the sofa watching TV.

Ai Yue: ...

Why are you still here?

However, the most urgent task was not to help the little girl resolve her emotional problems and face reality, so Ai Yue did not stay here for long, but quickly left the house.

My ability may be able to deceive these ordinary people, but it definitely cannot be hidden from the owner of the dream. I am afraid that it will not be long before the Eighth Herrscher will appear in front of me.

It’s a pity that Ai Yue didn’t detect any abnormal mental fluctuations from Rachel. It seems that she has never really come into contact with the Eighth Herrscher.

Outside Rachel's house is still the original city, but Ai Yue can clearly feel that the environment here is very "rough". Obviously, the world restored based on Rachel's memory is still not as clear as the reality, so that this city actually only has a small part centered on Rachel's house, and there is only blank space outside.

However, Ai Yue soon discovered that more buildings were gradually being built in the empty space outside the city. Although they were not large in scale, they were slowly expanding, and some had even been connected into one piece.

Obviously, the number of victims in this city is still increasing, and as the victims' memories of the city continue to increase, the city will eventually reappear in their dreams. Even Ai Yue can't say what will happen at that time.

But he came here to avoid this kind of thing from happening.

Ai Yue was repeatedly deducing his plan in his mind, but suddenly he looked behind him.

A guy surrounded by a black aura was floating behind him, seemingly observing him.

It was a girl who looked thin and shriveled. The black aura obscured the details of her body, so that Ai Yue could not see her appearance clearly. However, this appearance was more than enough to confirm her identity.

"The Eighth Herrscher?" Ai Yue nodded as a greeting. "What's your name?"

This was my first time meeting the Herrscher face to face, but I didn't feel anything special... Oh, I almost forgot, this isn't the first time.

"Interesting! You're the first human who can actively enter a dream." The Herrscher ignored his words and continued, "It seems you're the human who's hostile to Honkai?"

Obviously, she didn't intend to communicate properly.

"So there's nothing to talk about?" Ai Yue also realized the other party's attitude problem and couldn't help but sigh, "What a shame, I want to know more about your kind of people."

"You ignorant human, who do you think you're talking to?" The Herrscher was clearly furious at Ai Yue's attitude. "A fellow like you doesn't even deserve a sweet dream!"

She raised her right hand and pointed at the sky. The originally clear sky instantly became overcast, and in the clouds, a thick and terrifying lightning bolt was striking straight towards Ai Yue.

Everything happened in a flash. It could be said that the Eighth Herrscher's actions perfectly demonstrated what it meant to "change one's mind as easily as turning the pages of a book." However, such an attack was completely ineffective.

The lightning didn't even touch Ai Yue's body, vanishing less than five meters away. Ai Yue smiled, as if he hadn't done anything. "It's a massive attack, but its power isn't as strong as it appears. Is it because you can't fully exert your strength yet? Or is it that you simply can't use your full strength against me right now?"

Ai Yue stretched out his hand and made a grasping gesture towards the Eighth Herrscher: "Whatever you're going to do, you'd better hurry up, otherwise, by the time I catch you, it will be too late."

Chapter 57 Is this okay?

Hearing Ai Yue's suggestive words, the Eighth Herrscher's expression changed slightly.

She did not continue to entangle with Ai Yue, but instead waved out a ball of black air to wrap Ai Yue, and then disappeared without a trace in an instant, obviously having left here.

After Ai Yue broke free from the black aura, he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief - if he were to fight the Eighth Herrscher alone, the outcome would be unimaginable.

If you want to defeat the master of the dream in a dream, let alone the degraded version of Aponia, even if you call upon Aponia and Desdobia, the only two psychic perception fusion warriors currently available, there is absolutely no chance of winning.

The most efficient option to deal with this kind of guy is naturally to open her box and then go directly to the offline game.

It seemed that Ai Yue had taken the lightning bolt lightly, but he could also feel that the other party did not use his full strength. As he said, the focus of the Eighth Ruler was not on him, otherwise he would have suffered a little bit when the lightning bolt came down, instead of like now, the system didn't even react at all.

However, although the two people only interacted for a short time, they did not gain nothing.

Ai Yue spread out his right palm, and in the palm of his hand, there was a vague light surging.

"Spiritual Power Sample: Eighth Herrscher (Rare): Use Value 100%."

"Using this material, we can directly initiate scientific research projects related to the Eighth Herrscher."

After seeing the information given by the system, Ai Yue couldn't help but raise his eyebrows.

He always thought that the system was unable to collect such invisible and intangible things as materials, but it turned out that he underestimated the system.

The reason why he finally got the first spiritual material only now seems to be because Ai Yue has never had the right means to capture it.

Now, with the help of the unique medium of dreams, he can finally intercept a part of other people's mental power, and this is officially included in the system.

With this thing, the original complicated plan is no longer necessary.

Ai Yue directly opened the scientific research project related to the Eighth Herrscher and found what he wanted from it.

"Pseudo-Herrscher Power: Psychic Perception and Positioning Technology."

The next thing to do is to wait.

Looking at the instructions that the project had been launched, Ai Yue nodded involuntarily, then closed his eyes and began trying to leave the dream.

He still couldn't use his knowledge to help speed up the scientific projects related to the Herrscher. In this case, he might as well return to reality and do something else.

However, Ai Yue soon opened his eyes because he found that his connection with his body was blocked by something.

Is that the black aura?

Ai Yue couldn't help but focus his attention on his surroundings. Only then did he realize that the surrounding environment had changed into a different appearance without him noticing.

A huge forest spread out in all directions with him as the center. Even if Ai Yue tried his best to use his mental power to perceive far away, he could not find where the edge of the forest was.

Obviously, the Eighth Herrscher was not a fool. She realized that she could not deal with Ai Yue in a short time, and that continuing the stalemate would easily expose herself, but she could not let him leave easily, so she chose this rather stupid method.

She created a huge mental maze, trapping Ai Yue in a dream. If he couldn't get out of the maze, he couldn't return to reality.

This was a very foolish method, because the Eighth Herrscher used the dream resources of other humans trapped to construct this huge maze, resulting in some people with slightly stronger wills being able to break free from the dream and wake up from it with their own will.