I was transported to a broken world, yet my dreams are connected to Star Iron?

　Hmm, I guess this counts as friendship? I heard from the other older sisters in the branch that it's quite normal for girls to kiss and hug each other, or even sleep together. Lingmo has such fair skin and a lovely fragrance. Maybe I should try kissing her sometime?

　A slight blush appeared on Wendy's face, and her mind began to wander.

　Lingmo seemed oblivious to the approaching crisis, continuing to fiddle with her terminal in the living room.

　Because the game is really fun.

　Ahem, okay, actually she wasn't playing a game, but rather taking advantage of the free time while taking care of Wendy to deal with a loose end from before—the invasion of Paradise.

　Previously, thanks to the power of the hosting system, Lingmo successfully found the location of the Paradise of the Past server.

　However, because Suzuma's erosion power was not perfect, and because she did not want to attract the attention of the World Serpent and Paradise, she became extremely cautious about invading Paradise.

　After all, others might not know, but Suzuma, who was familiar with the plot, knew that there were still a large number of corrosive viruses developed by Mebius in Paradise.

　With his current power level, which is struggling even against the Void Treasury Mimicry of the Earthly Treasury Soul, if he were to face Mebius's Corrosion Virus, it would truly be a case of Gilgamesh seeing Red A – his elbow would itch with desire.

　Therefore, Suzumo's hacking into Paradise was like a mouse sneaking into a rice granary, slowly digging a very inconspicuous back door passage around the edge.

　And today...

　The backdoor has finally been dug through.

　Chapter 120 Good News: Paradise has uncovered bad news: Ellie has her eye on you.

　"Um……"

　Looking at the visualized information data on her terminal, Lingmo's expression was somewhat conflicted.

　"Oh no, was I... a little too cautious before?"

　"This hole seems a bit narrow...?"

　In fact, due to the reasons mentioned earlier, Lingmo did not dare to use any overly aggressive methods when hacking into the Paradise server.

　There was nothing she could do; she was just a weak and helpless erosion. And in this period before the main storyline even began and before everyone's strength had generally increased, the heroes' strength was still a hundred million points above average.

　This isn't even a problem that can be solved by restraint. After all, putting aside the fact that Lingmo herself isn't at her full potential, even in the original storyline, after enduring so much corruption, the heroes still had the power to fight back, each with their own trump cards. As for Lingmo's current level... it's better to be cautious.

　The price of this caution is the current situation.

　Because of the extremely cautious approach to construction, although Lingmo did manage to build a back door into Paradise, the amount of data that this back door could accommodate was somewhat limited.

　Not to mention that Lingmo could fit her whole body inside, even a weakened clone created using the power of erosion couldn't fit in. It was a situation where it was extremely narrow at first, impassable to anyone, and after walking several dozen steps, it was still impassable to anyone.

　"Hmm... should I open an even bigger backdoor? But putting aside the possibility of this loophole being discovered in the meantime, this backdoor alone has taken me several weeks. By the time I've opened a backdoor that I can get in, the main storyline will almost begin..."

　"never mind."

　After hesitating for a while, Lingmo made a decisive decision.

　"Smaller is fine. I don't necessarily have to go in in human form. If I want to grow bigger after I go in, I can just eat some data and transform it... Besides, a smaller amount of data will actually make it more concealed."

　"However, we still need to make preparations, otherwise it wouldn't be good if Aponia or the snake Velvet found out..."

　……

　At the same time, the recently deceased paradise is indeed not peaceful.

　One of them was that not long ago, most of the heroes with relatively strong mental strength felt a familiar power fluctuation sweep across Paradise.

　To be precise, it was a power fluctuation they would never forget.

　However, when Snake and Velvet, who were the first to detect this phenomenon, went to find Alicia, they found that the pink-haired girl was also looking at them with a blank expression, seemingly unaware of what had happened.

　Although they were tempted to suspect that it was indeed Alicia's doing, it was common knowledge that Alicia had only ever lied once in her life, aside from joking. So, since Alicia insisted that it wasn't her, the two of them had no choice but to drop the matter.

　As the two people who, besides Ellie, are relatively more knowledgeable about the power of the Origin, both Mebius and Velvet are well aware that if someone touches the Origin Land or awakens the power of the Origin through some other force, then this situation is not impossible.

　After all, the previous civilization's Ellie is dead, and the Ellie in Paradise cannot leave Paradise. If there was no problem with the Origin Land, then it can't be that another Ellie suddenly appeared outside, right?

　As for what's going on outside... that's none of their business in this paradise. Kevin is in charge of the World Serpent now, and he'll handle everything.

　And another thing...

　"Huh? Has Gray Snake already investigated what happened back then?"

　The pretty pink-haired girl paused for a moment, then immediately showed a delighted expression: "Great, great, he really worked hard!"

　"So, my dear Natasha, you certainly didn't come here just to whet the appetite of this poor fairy lady, did you?"

　"Ahem, of course not..."

　Facing Alicia, who was leaning forward slightly and looking sincerely into his eyes, Raven blushed slightly and took a small step back.

　Although she had known Alicia for a while, she still couldn't get used to the other person's almost zero social distance.

　As for why she met Alicia… After a previous mission, based on the suggestion of the gray snake who loved writing poetry and taking care of children, Raven began to try taking off her hood when going on missions—after all, the reason given by the other party was quite sharp, and even though she was stubborn at the time, she had to admit afterward that what the other party said made sense.

　As a result, before she had even gone on a few missions, during one of her trips back to Paradise to mooch a drink from Eden, she unexpectedly met this mysterious hero she had never seen before, Alicia.

　Since the information gathered from Paradise mentioned the name Alicia almost everywhere, and Raven had never been able to meet this mysterious being before, the two quickly became very friendly and chatted out of curiosity.

　After several visits to Paradise, Raven and Alicia gradually became acquainted. Their conversations evolved from Raven's initial one-sided curiosity to an open and honest exchange, which naturally included Raven's childhood memories, such as her reasons for joining World Serpent.

　As is well known, Raven's childhood turning point... was during the Second Honkai Impact.

　Although it's unclear why Alicia was so excited after hearing Sirin's story that she almost lost control of her emotions and looked like she was about to cry tears of joy, Raven could easily tell that this heroic Alicia was very interested in the Second Herrscher Sirin and Suzuma, who helped Sirin maintain her humanity.

　And wouldn't you know it, for some reason, the same goes for ravens.

　Therefore, Raven told Alicia the details of the Second Honkai Impact from her perspective, as well as the results of Gray Serpent's subsequent investigation into Suzuma.

　“In the last investigation, we verified Suzuma’s abilities. If the data collected by Grey Serpent is correct, then she is probably indeed the Herrscher of Corruption of this era…”

　"Furthermore, although I don't know how Grey Serpent evaluates Suzuma's ability to conjure all sorts of strange powers and items, in my opinion, that ability is practically like having your wish granted. She can even completely simulate the power of the First Herrscher, Welt..."

　"so……"

　Alicia's eyes grew brighter and brighter as she listened.

　"Suzuma is also a Herrscher?"

　"She even possesses an ability similar to having her wishes granted?"

　"Um……"

　Raven scrutinized Ellie for a few moments, then stammered.

　"And there's one more thing... that I haven't told you before."

　"Actually, that Miss Lingmo... looks at least 80% like you. Apart from being a little weak in temperament and a few points shorter than you, she is almost exactly the same."

　"If you hadn't said yourself that you had no descendants, I would have subconsciously assumed that they were your offspring..."

　Chapter 121 Suzumo: I'll secretly dig a hole. Aponia: (Looking at me with loving eyes)

　At this moment, Suzuma, unaware that Kojima Bakubaku had completely ruined her situation, was still enthusiastically preparing for her infiltration plan.

　First, as a "clone" heading to paradise, this body must be small enough to freely enter and exit the back door it left behind.

　Secondly, one should try to simplify one's data structure to leave more space to store some erosion power for unpredictable situations.

　And finally... once you are discovered, even if it's just a temporary delay, you should prepare an "emergency plan" to prevent being instantly eliminated as a virus.

　Therefore, in conclusion, a new body that can meet all one's needs should be...

　"Mi Mi!"

　The "pink puppy" that had just been sculpted in front of her immediately began to snort a few times under Lingmo's control.

　"Okay, the vocal system is working properly. If you need to transmit complex information, just use your mental abilities to transmit it directly."

　"Hum..."

　Feeling that everything was ready and she was about to enter the paradise to "feast to her heart's content," Lingmo couldn't help but reveal a slightly silly and mischievous smile.

　"Paradise, here I come!"

　……

　"Um……"

　In the server of Paradise of the Past, in an area named the Deepest Place, a nun with a broad mind and long flaxen hair slowly opened her eyes.

　As one of the highest-level controllers of Paradise, she can detect any unusual activity in Paradise if she wants to.

　However, due to the excessive amount of junk data generated by Paradise every day, Aponia generally does not carefully search every piece of data to avoid infringing on other people's privacy.

　but……

　As Aponia looked into the depths of her being, she saw a small "gap" that had appeared, and she fell into deep thought.

　If a vulnerability of this magnitude appeared in other areas, its small size and exceptionally strong concealment would have made it easy to hide. Unfortunately, this vulnerability chose a very unfortunate area, so much so that when Aponia first discovered it, her first reaction was not to be nervous, but rather to find it somewhat amusing.

　After all, the other party's state can be roughly described as "digging and digging in the deepest part of a small place," and under normal circumstances, she rarely encounters such a comical invasion.

　Aponia had even planned that after the other party dug in, she would first search their memories. If the other party didn't have much malice, then erasing their memories of Paradise and letting them go wouldn't be a bad idea.

　However, as the vulnerability was explored further, Aponia discovered the problem.

　To be precise, she made a discovery that made her feel somewhat conflicted.

　Although she hadn't yet dug to its deepest point, Aponia could easily detect the little guy's abilities without alerting him. If she wasn't mistaken, this power should come from the power of erosion.

　That would be a huge problem. For the current form of existence of the Heroes, the Herrscher of Corruption is an extremely dangerous existence. Logically, Aponia should immediately notify Velvet and Mebius and have them bring the Corruption Virus to eliminate this threat that could destroy Paradise.

　but……

　Why does this power have such a strong Airi vibe?

　Aponia could swear that within this power, Ellie's unique primordial aura was not imitated, but was genuinely mixed into the other party's corrosive power, and was even amplifying the power at all times.

　If you can merge powers to this extent, you might believe that Ellie has had close contact with the other party. But the problem is, Ellie has never left Paradise.

　Naturally, Aponia thought of the fluctuations in primordial power she had heard earlier.

　Could it be...

　Aponia began to have some guesses.

　However, just to be on the safe side, Aponia decided to use her abilities to "see" what kind of future the other party would bring to Paradise.

　Although Alyssa's prophetic abilities are no longer 100% accurate after Ellie erased the "threads of fate," the ability itself is not lost. Aponia can still see everyone's vague future—as long as one doesn't pursue excessive precision, the probability of her prophecies coming true remains ridiculously high.

　After a while...

　A smile appeared on Aponia's face.

　"So, that's how it is..."

　She already... knows what to do.

　the other side.

　"Arrived at the highest city of the Honkai - Paradise. It's so beautiful, Paradise of the past. But why is the ground so dark?"

　Completely unaware that she was born in the deepest part of the earth, Ling Mo peeked out.

　"Hmm... never mind, it's probably because I crawled into a trash can that was on the edge of the trash can..."

　Lingmo released a wisp of corrosive power, making the surroundings a little brighter.

　"However, it's pitch black all around here. Which way should we go next?"

　Lingmo pondered for a moment, and then, a sudden inspiration struck her, and a strange sense of confidence seemed to arise in her mind.

　"I don't know why, but if we go in this direction, it feels like there shouldn't be any problem... It's quite reasonable for a cute girl to have an accurate sixth sense, right?"

　Unaware that Aponia had secretly implanted a "thought" in Suzuma, she resolutely chose to follow her "intuition".

　After moving forward quickly for a while, sure enough, Suzumo felt a strange sense of being penetrated.

　"Has this...moved to a new area?"

　"That's probably it. I remember that the areas in Paradise are, to some extent, the emergence of fragments of memories. I should be traveling to some unknown area of ​​heroes now."

　"Hmm... I hope it's a harmless hero like Hua or a cat. Otherwise, if it's someone like the snake Vilvi, it's easy to be discovered. If it's someone like Ellie... I'm afraid she'll just be devoured."

　Although she usually likes to be stubborn, Suzuma, who is fully aware of her own submissive nature, decisively chose to shrink back.

　"Indeed, it's better to be careful."

　……