205. Conceptual Creature - Xiling
The afternoon sun dappled through the leaves, casting dappled light on the park bench.
Mei leaned back comfortably in her chair and turned to look at Kevin beside her.
"You seem to be very busy lately, Kevin?"
Kevin subconsciously raised his hand to touch the back of his head, a barely perceptible hint of guilt flashing in his icy blue eyes.
"Um... I indeed have been quite busy lately."
Mei chuckled softly, a hint of teasing in her voice:
"So, what has our once dazzling prince on campus been up to lately?"
This long-forgotten nickname instantly brought a faint blush to Kevin's cheeks.
"This...this title can really be forgotten!" he protested somewhat awkwardly.
"Hehe, I think it's quite suitable," Mei then naturally adjusted her posture, gently resting her head on Kevin's broad shoulder. She closed her eyes, her voice calming down:
"It's just… lately I've felt that things have been a bit too peaceful, which is making me a little uneasy."
As a core researcher of the Fire Moth, she had access to the most cutting-edge monitoring data—the frequency and intensity of Honkai events were decreasing at an alarming rate.
"Isn't this a good thing?" Kevin relaxed, closed his eyes, and the two quietly nestled together, enjoying a rare moment of peace.
"It is indeed a good thing, but…" Mei said softly.
"The organization has suspected that there is a group of people they don't know that is cleaning up the Honkai, and they always suspect that these people seem to have the ability of foresight, able to know in advance where problems will occur."
Knowing these things, Kevin guiltily shifted his gaze to the side.
You could call it prophecy or foresight, but in reality, it's just a group of people from the future starting to make up for the past.
After unlocking the contract summon.
Thirteen heroes frequently appear in their world, dealing with all sorts of disasters, and some have even met with their own past self to begin a research project.
Of course, some people know about Honkai events in places and actively go to clear them as soon as they notice them.
For example, right now.
Aside from Pardofelis, Mobius, Griseo, and Vill-V, the other nine figures stood in different positions, subtly surrounding a certain center, their eyes closed, waiting for something.
The city was quiet, except for a trace of human presence in the center surrounded by them.
Su's calm voice rang out in the encrypted communication channel:
"According to historical calibration, the fourth Honkai Impact is expected to occur in two minutes."
Aponia's gentle but worried voice followed:
"The outer crowds have been evacuated under strict guidance. However... the tens of thousands of residents in the core area..."
"Can't we move them ahead of time?"
"The risk is too high," Kevin interrupted calmly.
"If we don't do it this way, and the Herrscher is born in another individual, our operation will be in vain, and the casualties may be far greater than they are now."
"Don't worry, Aponia," Elysia's lively voice chimed in, carrying a soothing magic.
"Little Kyuushou gave me a wonderful treasure! A magical technology called Singularity Technology! As long as we temporarily save their current moment in time, even if some unpleasant little accident happens later, we can restore them perfectly to this moment, just like loading a save file in a game! It's like waking up from a little nightmare!"
"It is indeed feasible," Fu Hua affirmed.
The moment the words left his mouth, a terrifying storm erupted without warning in the heart of the city!
A destructive energy, powerful enough to tear steel apart and crush skyscrapers into dust, roared and spread outwards; however, this catastrophic energy, capable of affecting several cities, seemed to have struck an invisible wall of sighs and was firmly imprisoned within the boundaries of this isolated city.
At the heart of the storm, the Fourth Herrscher slowly raised her head, her icy eyes filled with nothing but pure destructive will. However, what greeted her was not a struggling ant, but a blazing meteor descending from the sky, carrying the intent to incinerate all things!
"Roar—! Come! Fight! Me!!" Kalpas roared wildly like the war drums of hell. His fists tore through the air, burning with flames strong enough to melt space, and slammed into the invisible barrier that automatically unfolded around the Herrscher!
"Crack—Boom!!!"
The Honkai energy barrier, strong enough to withstand missile bombardment, shattered like fragile glass! Kalpas's burning fist, undiminished in force, landed squarely on the Fourth Herrscher's head! A tooth-grinding sound of bones cracking rang out, the Herrscher's head instantly deformed, and her entire body, like a baseball being hit, slammed into the ground at terrifying speed!
However, the trajectory of the fall was not complete. Almost at the same instant that Kalpas struck, space seemed to be sliced apart by an invisible blade.
In an instant! In two instants! In three instants!...
Countless cold, fast-moving blades flashed and intertwined around the path of the Herrscher's fall! When Sakura's figure became clear again like a ghost, she was slowly sheathing her long sword.
"Hiss—!!!"
Countless deep, bone-revealing, fatal cuts suddenly erupted from the Fourth Herrscher's battered body!
However, the storm still gathered on the Fourth Herrscher. Even though her body was covered in wounds, she seemed to feel no pain or the approach of death. She still tried to bring trials to civilization, but the next second...
Just as the Honkai energy was about to spiral out of control—
"Whoosh—!"
A streak of light pierced through the heart of the storm with unparalleled precision!
Elysia stood on a high-rise platform in the distance, the bowstring in her hand still trembling slightly.
She looked at the figure falling in the storm, a hint of pity in her eyes, and whispered, "I'm sorry... and goodbye, may you find peace in eternal tranquility..."
An arrow pierced her skull! The storm abruptly ceased!
At the same time, an invisible ripple spread out from the city center, and Singularity Technology was instantly activated! Those citizens who were infected and mutated into zombies the moment the Honkai Impact occurred... time seemed to flow backward on them, their bodies were reassembled, their wounds faded, and their confused and terrified expressions were frozen in the moment before the disaster.
Casualties - 0
"Oh dear~ Time's up again." Elysia pouted, looking at her hands, which were starting to become translucent and particle-like.
"Can't I play a little longer?!"
Kevin returned from afar with the Herrscher Core in his hand, earnestly instructing, "Return to Elysian Realm immediately; time is running out!"
The figures of the remaining heroes quickly vanished as streams of data.
Only Elysia remained in place, grumbling a few words to the air before turning into a final speck of light and disappearing.
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Inside the laboratory, two Mobius figures, one tall and one short, both wearing white lab coats, stood side by side, their eyes fixed intently on a specially made transparent container on the lab table.
Inside the container, there was a substance that defied common sense.
It is neither entirely liquid nor entirely light; rather, it is more like a mass of light that has been forcibly confined, constantly oscillating between the two pure concepts of light and darkness.
"I remember it wasn't like this last time…" Little Mobius tilted her head slightly.
"Did you do something interesting to intervene?"
Mobius the Mature one gave a cryptic chuckle: "What do you think... What can I do about it?"
"Excluding confounding variables…that means," a similarly fervent light shone in Little Mobius's eyes as she carefully extended a finger and gently traced the edge of the strange drop of blood through the container wall, "that it itself has undergone some kind of evolution? Metamorphosis, that we cannot observe or even understand?"
"Hehehe..." Mobius's deep laughter echoed in the laboratory.
"It's... truly amazing! Tell me, can this stuff still be called blood?"
Little Mobius didn't speak, but gently pinched the specially made container with her fingertips and held it up to her eyes: "It is, of course, blood, but it has long transcended the category of blood of carbon-based organisms, or even any known life form."
"It is… the life essence of some indescribable great being," Mobius's voice carried an almost pilgrimage-like fervor as she reached out and took the container back from her hand, placing it steadily back on the fixed base on the lab table.
"But at the same time… it is also something tangible… itself!"
"In other words," Little Mobius's gaze remained fixed on the drop of blood, her tone becoming meaningful, "that Xiling… he underwent some kind of drastic change that we cannot imagine, to the point that even this drop of blood he left behind has undergone such a fundamental sublimation?"
"Didn't you say he made some kind of deal with you?" said Little Mobius
Mobius's lips curled into the exact same smile: "What's the rush? Even I'm not in a rush..."
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Herta Space Station
"What... what the hell is this?!" Herta stared at the analysis report that was refreshing like a waterfall on the virtual screen in front of her, her face showing a rare look of shock and a hint of... absurdity.
The core conclusion reached through repeated calculations and cross-validation on the screen is singular: [The target sample possesses "purely conceptual characteristics of a living organism"].
"A purely conceptual being?!" Herta's voice rose an octave.
"What a joke! This is simply... this is..."
A word popped into her mind—[Aeon].
That is the ultimate existence that transcends the mortal dimension and walks on the Imaginary Path; it is the conceptual embodiment of the law itself!
Even the proud Herta has never truly understood or observed that level of life forms.
But now... an individual sample that seemed to have some similar characteristics to them stood right in front of her!
The overwhelming sense of absurdity was instantly overwhelmed by unparalleled excitement and thirst for knowledge.
"Contact him! Contact him now!" Herta suddenly stood up.
But the excitement on Herta's face quickly froze.
"I...I actually...forgot to add his contact information?!"
Frustration surged into her heart like a tide.
She paced restlessly back and forth in the lab.
"Astral Express! Yes! Contact the Astral Express! That gray-haired girl! She must have been in contact with him!"
Herta immediately brought up the communication interface, quickly edited a message, and sent it directly to the Astral Express.
A few seconds later, the reply came.
[Stelle: Wow! Thanks for reminding me, Herta! I'll definitely remember to ask for his contact information next time we meet! (o」o*)]
Herta: "..."