Wanjie Game Hall, I sent Kiana to Silent Hill

"That is, Bronya needs to defeat them to prove herself."

Bronya stopped procrastinating and went all out, quickly getting rid of all the quantum phantoms.

Joachim: Slowly.

"In that case, let's get started." After completing all the formalities, Joachim didn't hesitate any longer. He appeared in front of Bronya, pushed her gently, and sent her to the location of the first test.

After seeing Bronya off, Joachim turned around and stood face to face with Wang Xuanqiao.

"Next, can you tell me your purpose?"

——The author has something to say——

Thanks to my good friend 【Rabbit Shaodong】 for supporting the salted fish stab~

Volume 049: : Kevin on the End

Joachim secretly made preparations.

As long as the man said any taboo words, he would risk everything to lock the man in the depths of the maze and let the man live with snakes.

"Well," Wang Xuanqiao said, unabashedly glancing at the surging forces around him, "I came here to do three things—"

"First, return the child's original opportunity to her. Second, see how high the status of the Quantum Sea is. Third, talk to Kevin, who you have imprisoned, and get him out of here."

It seems that they are still enemies after all.

Joachim was about to take action, but the next moment he suddenly realized something -

What if we send this man who can travel through the quantum sea to the deep end to keep the snake company? What if the two of them work together to escape?

Just trapping the snake had already exhausted all of Walter's energy, and if he added another one...

Oops! Deadlock?!

Joachim had to give up his original plan and sighed deeply.

"Why would you side with him?"

"You're mistaken. I'm not from the World Serpent," Wang Xuanqiao quickly corrected. "It's just that he's the only survivor in the entire world who fought against the End. I have to rescue him if I want to obtain intelligence on the End."

"Besides, I advise you not to waste your time. I saw your move clearly. If I'm not mistaken, you wanted to lock me in the depths of this space as well, right? You stopped in the end, most likely because you realized that sending me in might backfire."

Joachim was speechless.

This man saw through his thoughts completely. No matter whether he used soft or hard tactics, he could not see any possibility of victory.

Even delaying time was difficult for Joachim to do on his own.

"In that case, I won't stop you anymore." He sighed again, "But please wait until the girl's assessment is finished."

"Sure. If I remember correctly, Bronya will also rush into the depths of the maze at the end of the assessment. I'll wait for her there. Do you have any objection?" Wang Xuanqiao looked at Joachim and asked.

Do you think I can have any objection to this? Joachim thought to himself.

"Go ahead. Do you need me to take you there?" At this point, he was a little relaxed.

"Then let's take a ride." Wang Xuanqiao readily agreed.

In an instant, the surrounding events changed like the shifting of stars, light and darkness alternated, the ocean rose and fell, and the chaos that appeared in the shallow layer of cognitive space disappeared, and the scenes from the depths of memory rose from the ground.

Although Wang Xuanqiao saw the changes in just a few seconds as clear as a beginner turning a Rubik's Cube, he still felt fresh about this trick that maximized the visual effect.

After playing with simple things for a long time, you will indeed want to try something fancy.

When the dust settled, Wang Xuanqiao found himself in ruins.

Perhaps there had been a grand event here before he arrived, and the colors of those feasting guests now framed the cracks and holes in the wreckage, and bright balloons rose slowly into the dark sky like drowning swimmers.

The air still lingered with the aroma of wine, the rich flavor coming from a treasured vintage. It was meant to be used to entertain the most important guests, but now it had dissipated into the air.

It's like... a memorial service.

In this silent ruin, Wang Xuanqiao found a man.

His body stood proudly upright, like a warrior; his head drooped limply, like a loser.

Suddenly, a gentle breeze blew in from the aftermath of the grand event. Carrying cherry-pink petals, it gently brushed past Wang Xuanqiao, past the man, and then blew off into the distant sky.

The breeze gently blew away the dark clouds, and a ray of soft light shone through the gap and sprinkled here.

Wang Xuanqiao stretched out his hand towards the light, and suddenly, a petal fell into his palm.

Are you lost? Wang Xuanqiao smiled slightly, raised his palm high, and sent the petals flying again.

"Who are you?" The silent man finally turned around. There was no emotion in his sky-blue eyes, only a depth like the abyss of the ocean.

"Are you Kevin himself?" Wang Xuanqiao retracted his hand.

"Yes." This time the man turned around. "I can feel that this barrier can't trap you, but you still came here. Is your target me?"

"That's right, I'm here to find a warrior who has truly fought against the End." Wang Xuanqiao originally wanted to find a place to sit down in the ruins, but the quantum sea changed rapidly, and the surrounding scene collapsed again like scattered building blocks. In the blink of an eye, what was left was a chaotic yet orderly spatial structure.

"The End... I haven't heard this name from anyone in a long time."

Kevin's eyes wandered, as if lost in memories.

"You are indeed strong enough, but I don't think it is enough to defeat the End on your own." He said slowly.

Perhaps because time had left too many traces on him, Kevin spoke slowly. Fortunately, Wang Xuanqiao was patient and listened to his thoughts word for word.

So when faced with Kevin's questioning, Wang Xuanqiao couldn't help but laugh.

"Self-restraint is a skill every strong person must learn. Otherwise, a single move from us could cause this fragile house of cards to crumble." He spread his hands and said, "If I didn't have an appointment, I'd give you a demonstration right now."

Kevin didn't respond and just looked at Wang Xuanqiao silently.

After a long time, he suddenly let out a sigh.

"So, you're here for the End? Do you want to gather intelligence on it before dealing with it?"

Wang Xuanqiao nodded slightly.

"The End's greatest strength lies in its omnipotence. It begins with the Collapse, then unleashes a natural disaster called the Herrscher, tailored to the unique characteristics of an entire civilization. Every time a civilization resists, the End creates a more targeted and dangerous Herrscher, until civilization is completely lost."

"However, even if a civilization managed to preserve all the Herrschers, it would be unable to defeat the End. This is because it possesses a power completely different from all the Herrschers—time. No one can fight against time, for adults ultimately grow up from children."

This time it was Wang Xuanqiao's turn to remain silent.

But it's not because of Kevin's claim that 'time is invincible', but...

"Kevin, how are you doing in physics?"

Kevin: ?

"Time is just a concept created by humans," Wang Xuanqiao had to explain himself. "Most physics definitions of time refer to the movement of all things and the transfer of energy. Even in a world filled with infinite possibilities, time itself rarely becomes an independent concept."

“But that’s my personal experience,” Kevin said.

"That's most likely a phenomenon-based fraud." Wang Xuanqiao shook his head. "When it faces an object it can't control, the deception will be exposed. To be honest, I've seen many abilities that can be disguised as time reversal, and the most common one is called freezing."

"Freeze? You mean this ability?"

Kevin raised his hand, and the ice instantly condensed into an ice flower in his palm.

"Yes." Wang Xuanqiao studied the ice flower. "The essence of freezing is to stop all movement. As long as the caster possesses sufficiently precise control, they can freeze all movement while preserving everything. At that moment, the world will transform into a 'world of ice and snow' composed of countless shards of time. The caster's task is to find the moment they wish to return to within it."

Kevin couldn't help but look puzzled.

He couldn't tell whether the man in front of him was lying to him or whether it was true.

Using the freezing ability to reverse time sounds... too unbelievable, like the fantasy of a mental patient.

"If you take into account opportunistic methods, manipulating space and extreme speed is actually much simpler." Wang Xuanqiao continued to explain the deception of 'time'. "Space abilities developed to the level of transcending worlds can instantly anchor the time the practitioner needs to return to, and then leap forward. Speedsters who can outrun the movement of all things can directly break through the constraints of the world and reach a place that is often referred to as the time gap."

"But in essence, these two abilities are about traveling across worlds, not reversing time."

Having said that, Wang Xuanqiao suddenly touched his chin.

"Actually, if you think about it carefully, the Ruler's ability can also reverse time. As long as he can annihilate everything in an instant and then reconstruct it, he can also achieve the phenomenon of time reversal. Perhaps the end's time ability is also like this?"

And Kevin, Kevin no longer wanted to talk.

He suddenly missed Mei very much. If all else failed, Velvet or Mebius would do. In short, he needed someone who could discuss the definition of time with this man.

Maybe Qianjie would be okay too? By this time, Qianjie should have gone up to A to check the ingredients.

"Now let's get back to the point." Wang Xuanqiao saw Kevin's confusion and said with a smile, "If Zhongyan has no other abilities, then this is the end of it."

"I will make the End stay where it is, and make the Honkai disappear from the earth forever."

——The author has something to say——

The long dialogue at the end of this chapter is to fill in the world view. If you are not interested in reading it, you can skip it directly. It will not affect the actual viewing experience of the plot.

In addition, among the time reversal methods mentioned in this chapter, the prototype of freezing time is taken from "Slam Dunk". I mentioned it at the end of the previous chapters, but unfortunately no one guessed it.

The prototype of the subsequent cross-world time reversal method is taken from Wang Xiaoming, the most caring knight; and the prototype of the speedster's time crossing method is taken from classic IPs such as Superman and the Flash.

Finally, interested readers can guess which scene of the previous civilization the place where Aqiao and Kevin meet is. I'll reveal my cards first, there's a foreshadowing hidden in it, hey~

Volume 050: : Kevin said he never said that

"Wait." Kevin suddenly spoke.

Wang Xuanqiao listened attentively and heard an unexpected question.

"By freezing time and traveling back, can we really go back to the past?" Kevin looked very serious.

"It depends on how you define the past," Wang Xuanqiao replied. "Whether it's the time before a leaf withered and turned yellow, or another identical leaf, it's entirely up to the caster to discern. Ultimately, these actions aren't essentially about going back."

"This is the law that the universe follows. Life can move forward, left, or right, but it cannot move backward."

"I see." Kevin sighed softly. "From what you're saying, you have the ability to resolve the end?"

"More than that." Wang Xuanqiao smiled. "If I wasn't afraid of not being able to return, I could even take you to those worlds that ultimately defeated the End. But doing so is very risky. After all, I'm not a god, and I can't accurately anchor every world."

"It sounds like a mirror world in the quantum ocean."

"You can think of it as a larger quantum ocean outside of your world, and your world, including this quantum ocean, is also a 'mirror world'."

"...Box Theory?"

"Does this world also have the box theory? But no, the box theory divides people into classes, but the structure of the universe has no hierarchy."

As he was speaking, a girl suddenly fell from the quantum sea.

She has ocean-blue hair and dresses like an ordinary girl from the neighborhood. But everyone knows that anyone who can thrive in the quantum ocean is no ordinary girl next door.

Wang Xuanqiao naturally recognized her—Xi'er Fuleai, the girl who had been stranded on the Quantum Sea due to an experiment. She was also the first S-rank card he had pulled from the novice card pool.

Of course, that's her future self.

"It looks like the Herrist's Assessment is almost over." Kevin glanced at Xi'er. "Is that your man?"

"I guess so, but this test was originally her chance." Wang Xuanqiao walked towards Xier, looked her up and down, and confirmed that she was fine.

"Bronya was destined to become a new Herrscher of Reason. It's strange to say, even though the Herrschers were a natural disaster sent upon civilization at the end of time, most of this civilization's Herrschers are our own people."

"Just like Kiana. Although she once lost control of the Herrscher's power, she eventually overcame herself and mastered it. And then there's Raiden Mei, she's also a Herrscher, but her power is still dormant. If things continue like this, the corners of the End will be undermined."

Kevin's expression suddenly softened for some reason.

"Do you want to know why?" he asked.

"Oh? You know?" Wang Xuanqiao turned around and looked at Kevin.

"Help me return to the world, and I will tell you the answer," he said.

"Deal." Wang Xuanqiao nodded and took the answer for free without any hesitation.

At this moment, Xi'er also woke up from her chaotic consciousness. She felt as if her heart was still lingering on the last scene of that world bubble, where her sister named Ying lost her loved ones, and humanity lost its last three cities.

There is nothing but tragedy and misfortune there. People who have experienced it can't even feel grief, only deep depression.

I couldn't speak, I couldn't breathe, I couldn't even tell if tears were flowing because my body was already crushed and I couldn't move.

Xier had to force herself to take a deep breath to regulate her breathing.

Then, she finally saw the two men present.

"Awake?" Wang Xuanqiao waved at her as a greeting.