Xu Qiong scanned from top to bottom.
The girl next door has just grown up; it's quite soul-stirring.
But as long as she's okay, Xu Qiong finally has time to recall what happened before.
Alright.
It sounds a bit abstract, but Xu Qiong is a transmigrator.
That day, as a honkai: star rail player, after angrily whaling on multiple 648s, he ended up with only a 0+0 Cyrene after 310 pulls. At the same time, after grinding relics for three hours to no avail, he finally got a piece with double crit stats, only for all the rolls to go into HP. He burned out and collapsed on the spot.
What a miserable life.
But when he opened his eyes again, he was in the world of honkai: star rail, and he even inherited the same grey hair as Stelle.
Fortunately, his starting point was the Herta Space Station. Relying on his New Game Plus experience, he successfully joined the Astral Express along with Stelle.
Hard to say if it was a blessing in disguise.
With his player knowledge, the journey was relatively smooth, and Xu Qiong formed deep friendships with many people.
Previously, the next stop was Amphoreus. Because he had prior knowledge, Xu Qiong knew what was happening there, so he chose to get off early and rush over.
After all, if the original timeline were followed, by the time the Astral Express arrived at Amphoreus, the Iron Tomb's birth progress would be nearly complete.
By then, it would be too late.
Fortunately, hard work pays off.
Relying on his New Game Plus abilities, Xu Qiong successfully cleared a round of Amphoreus, even causing all the oracles in this round to fail and all the Chrysos Heirs to survive.
Before the Iron Tomb was born, he directly elbowed it to death.
Of course, Herta and Screwllum helped; they were all old acquaintances.
The current situation is probably after the Iron Tomb was elbowed to death. Upon waking up, Xu Qiong was relieved that everyone seemed to be alive.
"But here comes the problem." Xu Qiong felt a headache coming on.
The Iron Tomb was killed early, but he couldn't resolve the chain reactions and the established storyline on his own.
For instance, Xu Qiong realized he didn't have a system after transmigrating, so he couldn't help the Chrysos Heirs achieve Ascension.
Because the Iron Tomb was eliminated early, the Galactic Coalition was never formed, meaning the Iron Tomb's lingering influence and remnants had likely spread.
And most importantly.
If Cyrene isn't sacrificed to complete the loop, could this thing even be resurrected?
Thinking this, Xu Qiong suddenly got out of bed to see what it looked like outside. Just then, two sets of footsteps sounded, and Aglaea and Keluida walked in, talking.
"Oh, you're awake?"
"I was discussing the Black Tide Creation with the Lord Jin Zhi. Hearing news of you, I was just about to come find you. This Empress is relieved to see you're alright."
Keluida crossed her arms, tilting her head; the small crown on her head looked like it might fall off at any moment.
"Are you all still alive too?"
Xu Qiong's eyes swept over the two of them in surprise.
Keluida showed a look of displeasure: "What do you mean'still alive'?"
"Since you're alive, we can discuss things. There are still many remnants in Amphoreus, and they've even spread to Okhema."
Seeing Xu Qiong's confused expression, Aglaea smiled and spread a hand, revealing shimmering golden threads:
"Don't be surprised. Thanks to you, the creation of Destruction, the Iron Tomb, has indeed perished, but its remnants are still spreading."
"Look, my golden threads can still clearly feel their movements."
I see.
Hearing Aglaea say this, Xu Qiong understood.
The remnants and the virus after the Iron Tomb's death had indeed spread.
But Aglaea's eyes seemed to have recovered; that was one of the few good things.
Xu Qiong felt that what he did was somewhat meaningful.
"But then again..."
"Gray Treasure, slow down."
Hyacine supported Xu Qiong from the side as they walked past the two and out of the room.
A dazzling light spilled through the crack in the door. As far as the eye could see, the Aohma Holy City outside still stood tall, with the giant statue of the bearer of the world Titan shining there.
However, looking into the distance, the spread of the black tide was still visible, as if it were beyond the starry sky!
Xu Qiong didn't know if the current situation was good or bad, but it was within expectations. He prepared to see if he could contact Herta again.
But before that.
"Yo, partner."
"Oh? You're awake."
Two people from both ends of the corridor met in sync, both putting their hands on their hips and looking at Xu Qiong.
This scene made Xu Qiong freeze for a moment.
But before he could respond after realizing who they were, the two noticed each other first.
"Yo."
"Heh."
"Isn't this the'Sun That Will Eventually Rise'?"
"Isn't this the 'Necessary Pain of This World'?"
"You came to see our partner too?"
Mydei crossed his arms, looking Phainon up and down with a strange expression:
"I'm starting to wonder if you're following me on purpose. How do I run into you everywhere?"
"I just got word that our partner woke up and came specifically to see him. Who knew you'd be here? I thought you were in Xuanfeng City."
After the Iron Tomb was elbowed to death, the remaining virus and remnants needed to be cleared. Mydei had naturally volunteered for this task.
Watching the two of them still acting the same as always, Xu Qiong felt a sigh of relief.
As the scepter Amphoreus, everything was essentially data; as long as it could be recorded, everything could return.
But looking down at all of Okhema from above, the situation still made Xu Qiong slightly startled.
After all, the place they were in now wasn't within as i written.
So here's the logical loophole: the Iron Tomb was elbowed to death, so how did Amphoreus, as the scepter, survive?
The answer is.
It didn't survive at all!
It sounds shocking, but as a New Game Plus player, because Xu Qiong knew what would happen, he had thought of many ways.
But he found that many things involved the level of Aeons, and there was no way to solve them completely.
Fortunately, there was one thing.
The Mystery Path.
Fictional Historian—
This crazy plan had clearly succeeded by the time Xu Qiong woke up.
That's right, everything currently seen, whether it's the people or Amphoreus, was fictionalized by Xu Qiong.
Or more accurately, he fictionalized the reality that Amphoreus still existed.
He deceived the gods!
To this end, Xu Qiong had even specifically consulted the 13-year-old Gallagher.
As for why he had to fictionalize an Amphoreus?
It's because in the end, Cyrene was gone, and according to the original development, the Galactic Coalition and many other planets would suffer immense sacrifices.
Xu Qiong thought that since he was here anyway, he could use the time difference to kill the Iron Tomb early and perhaps save more people.
But the truth was he had somewhat overestimated his own abilities.
The Iron Tomb was gone, but Amphoreus still couldn't be saved. For this, he could only use a backup plan: first, temporarily fictionalize a reality where Amphoreus exists, and even fictionalize the fact that Cyrene had returned to the past.
This way, the timeline of Amphoreus would be a closed loop.
He thought if this method worked, it could at least buy some more time.
"It seems it succeeded, but the next step... what should I do?" Xu Qiong muttered, feeling overwhelmed.
Undoubtedly, what's fake is eventually fake.
Conceptually, Amphoreus still exists, so Cyrene and the others naturally exist along with it.
But once someone discovers it's gone, it's truly gone, and the same applies to the fictionalized Cyrene.
With Amphoreus being watched by various factions, Xu Qiong didn't think his abilities could deceive the gods for long.
So even if the current situation was held off, he felt the urgency.
"Where's Mei?"
"Can't you help out? Even cutting off causality would be fine!"