Chapter 125: V2/chapter 52: It's not just me who has problems, it's also this world.
V2/chapter 52: It's not just me who has problems, it's also this world.
When Seele woke up, her first action was to subconsciously wipe the slightly moist corners of her eyes.
Just now, she witnessed the destruction of another world, and she was powerless to do anything about it.
'What should I do next? Will I wander alone in the darkness again until I foresee the next world and witness its destruction, continuing this desperate cycle?'
'But, no matter what, staying where you are is not an option.'
The girl had already accepted this situation, so it didn't take her too much time to adjust her mindset. However, just as she was about to stand up, she noticed a figure in her field of vision.
The other party didn't make any move, so she didn't notice it at first.
No, not only that, perhaps it was because she didn't think there would be other people in the quantum sea, so she subconsciously ignored the other party?
But then again, is the other party really... a human? Or is it some kind of illusion?
The girl looked at the man standing not far from her, looking around, and was a little hesitant for a moment, not knowing how to face him.
"You woke up pretty quickly."
While the girl was still thinking, the other party finally spoke, "How long have you been drifting in the Quantum Sea?"
The girl was stunned when she heard this.
She was actually very smart, so she almost instantly heard two key points from the other person's words.
First of all, the other party knew that this was the Quantum Sea, which meant he was definitely someone with experience and relevant knowledge. And the fact that he asked her "how long have you been drifting" showed that he also had a certain understanding of her own condition.
Such a person is definitely not an ordinary person from the world bubble, so, who is he?
Could it be that there has been any progress in Cocolia's mother's research?
"Forget it, this question may be a little difficult to answer, let's start with the basics."
Perhaps the girl hesitated for too long, so the man on the other side continued, "My name is Ai Yue, what's your name?"
"Seele, my name is...Seele Vollerei."
The girl hesitated for a moment, and finally said, "Mr. Ai Yue, are you from that real world?"
She did not sense any malice from the other party, and if the other party wanted to do something, he probably wouldn't have to wait until she woke up.
"Yes, I know what you want to ask,"
Ai Yue nodded, then shook his head, "Unfortunately, because our situations are different, I can't take you away from here."
The light that had just lit up in Seele's eyes then dimmed again, and it was obvious that Ai Yue had hit the nail on the head.
Ai Yue said, and threw something to Seele: "But this thing is for you."
"What's this?"
Seele took it subconsciously, but was stunned for a moment, "Hairpin?"
What appeared in her palm was a blue butterfly-shaped hairpin.
"You can think of it as a locator so I can use it to find you."
Ai Yue said, "I really don't have a way to bring you back to reality safely now, but maybe there will be one in the future. If you are still trapped in the quantum sea at that time, then I will come back and find a way to bring you back."
Seele's eyes widened immediately, but just when she wanted to say something, she suddenly lowered her head, and then raised it again: "Why should I believe you?"
This time, her tone was completely different from before. If Seele just now gave people a weak feeling when speaking, then the Seele in front of him suddenly became tough.
"Changed personality?"
Ai Yue looked at her with interest, then looked at the hairpin that she was still holding tightly in her hand, "You can also choose not to believe me and throw it away, and then continue to wander in the quantum sea, waiting for a miracle to happen."
Then he pointed at himself and said: "To be honest, this is a miracle, but you don't seem willing to accept it."
It's not that he couldn't understand the other party's thoughts. After wandering in the quantum sea for so long, he suddenly met a stranger who expressed his kindness so directly and took out something, saying that he wanted to locate him. Such a thing was indeed very suspicious.
But Ai Yue's attitude at the moment was so casual, on the one hand because he didn't have that much time to gain the other party's trust, and on the other hand because - Seele actually had no choice at all.
She didn't know that one day her sister Bronya would appear in the Quantum Sea and take her home, so she could only place her hopes on herself.
"Hmph, don't let me find out that you are up to no good!"
Faced with Ai Yue's casual attitude, Seele hesitated for a moment, but finally accepted the hairpin. "Of course, if you can really take Seele away from here, I will repay you."
For "Seele" as long as the two of them can be together, it doesn't matter how long they stay in the quantum sea, but she also knows very well that "Seele" must be extremely eager to return to the real world.
Therefore, she cannot reject this hard-earned hope, even if there may be some conspiracy and trap behind it, even if its success rate is almost zero, she cannot give up.
"It looks like we have reached an agreement,"
Seeing the other party put away the hairpin, Ai Yue nodded, "In that case, let's go quickly, they are coming."
"One last question,"
Seele still said, "Why do you want to help me?"
She could feel that the man in front of her had many secrets, and from the conversation just now, she could also feel that many things were wrong, such as his familiarity with Seele was a little too high, as if he knew Seele personally.
But the situation before her did not allow her to think too much, because Seele could also sense the "they" mentioned by Ai Yue, so in the end she only asked this question.
"Because someone needs help, it's that simple."
Ai Yue smiled and said, "Of course, if you are not satisfied with this answer, I can also say that because you are very valuable for research, I hope to take you back and study you carefully. Are you satisfied now?"
Seele glanced at Ai Yue and suddenly laughed: "Humph, liar."
After saying this, she no longer hesitated, turned around, took a step, and disappeared from Ai Yue's sight in an instant.
He did lie, but the strange thing was—the lie was in the second half of the sentence.
Seeing Seele leave, Ai Yue also breathed a sigh of relief. He looked at the system panel and couldn't help but smile.
The second half of his sentence was indeed a lie - because Seele's research value was already in his hands.
[Life Information Sample Seele (Rare): Usable Value 100%.]
[Using this material, we can directly start scientific research projects related to quantum life.]
"Question, why not bring it back to the real world?"
When Seele disappeared, Prometheus' voice reached Ai Yue's ears, "'Ball of Yarn No. 1' has a data redundancy design, and its load is enough to bear the ascent guidance of two people."
"It has nothing to do with the ball of yarn,"
Ai Yue shook his head. "The reasons are complicated. It's not just one aspect."
He looked at the information on the system panel and showed an expression of "as expected".
Quantum life, this is Seele's current state. To put it simply, it is life that belongs to the quantum sea.
When that experiment transformed Seele into a quantum state, she had already established a very close connection with the Quantum Sea, and this connection would probably not allow Seele to leave the Quantum Sea easily. If she cannot fully grasp the hidden power in her body, even if Ai Yue takes her away, she will return here again.
Moreover, this is not the most critical issue.
It is true that, theoretically speaking, the concept of time does not exist in the Quantum Sea, but this is not enough to explain why Ai Yue can foresee that Seele should have been born more than 50,000 years later. After all, the Quantum Sea has no concept of time, but they do. And theoretically, Seele, who does not exist in the real world, would have happened if she had followed Ai Yue's portal to the world more than 50,000 years ago. Even Ai Yue himself could not guarantee what would have happened.
In the best case, Seele will return to the quantum sea under some contradictory rules, and in the worst case, Seele is likely to disappear on the spot.
After all, playing with the timeline at will is a taboo. No one can tell what the time laws of the world of Honkai are like. As a clear-headed person, Ai Yue will naturally not try related things casually.
Moreover, he suspected that this situation was related to his own uniqueness. Perhaps if someone else entered the Quantum Sea, it would be impossible for him to meet Seele.
Yes, the biggest problem lies in his encounter with Seele itself.
Ai Yue couldn't even guarantee whether the Seele he had just met was the one in his memory.
In a situation full of countless mysteries, the best option is to remain inactive. Only after all the problems are clarified can you formulate countermeasures based on the situation.
Besides, there are more difficult things to deal with right now.
"Dangerous energy fluctuations detected."
Prometheus sent a reminder, "Dr. Ai Yue, they are catching up."
"These guys are really quick, is this the home field advantage?"
Ai Yue smiled and said, "Rose, is there any prey we want?"
"It has not been detected yet,"
Prometheus said, warning again, "The one behind is coming!"
As soon as she finished her words, a quantum monster suddenly emerged from the air and pounced heavily on Ai Yue.
It was the quantum monster that we had just seen, and this one seemed to be much stronger than the first ones we saw, both in size and strength.
Of course, this was also within Ai Yue's expectations. After all, he was very lucky to be chased by quantum monsters of this level when using the power of the Herrscher in the Quantum Sea.
Seeing that they were all repetitive materials, Ai Yue couldn't help but sigh: "Forget it, Rose, let's prepare to float up."
"Wait, Dr. Ai Yue,"
Prometheus disagreed, "It seems that what you want has been delivered to your door."
"oh?"
Ai Yue was immediately excited when he heard this. He slipped and dodged the attack of the two quantum monsters. "What direction?"
"Six o'clock,"
Prometheus said, "This energy reading and various radiations are very unfamiliar. It is impossible to determine the opponent's status and strength. Please proceed with caution."
At this time, Ai Yue also noticed a mysterious individual with a mixture of black and gold colors emerging from behind.
Its appearance is completely different from the Honkai Beast and the Quantum Monster. It can be said to be a completely new species. From the outside, it seems to be a golden sphere with limbs growing on it, giving people a very strange feeling.
And this is what Ai Yue has been looking for - the Messenger of the imaginary tree.
(TL: I don't know what they called)
Unlike quantum monsters, the power of the Imaginary Tree Messenger comes from another existence that is opposite to the Quantum Sea, namely the Imaginary Tree that anchors the real world. There is an antagonistic relationship between the tree and the sea. Just as quantum monsters will be sensitive to the Herrscher, the Messenger of the Imaginary Tree will also be sensitive to the Quantum Sea.
However, Ai Yue didn't know why the imaginary tree messenger appeared in the quantum sea, but he remembered that such a situation did appear in the original plot, so he had been looking forward to encountering a monster of the imaginary tree.
Just like the quantum monster, as long as Ai Yue can capture it, he will have the opportunity to come into contact with the state before the Honkai energy decays - that is, the real imaginary energy.
Therefore, after confirming that the other party was what he was looking for, Ai Yue did not hesitate and opened fire at full power, drowning the imaginary tree Messenger and the quantum monster in a huge torrent of energy, causing Prometheus to remind him: "Dr. Ai Yue, are you sure you can keep what you need in this way?"
She knew that Dr. Ai Yue needed the remains of the Messenger corpse as research samples, so would this really leave any remains?
However, she closed her mouth on her own initiative the next second, because in such a terrifying torrent of energy, a weak but strange energy reading could still be observed - it was the corpse of the imaginary tree Messenger.
When the light of the energy torrent dissipated, the only thing left at the scene was the golden sphere at the center of Messenger's body. Its surface emitted a flickering light at a fixed frequency, just like the beating of a human heart.
"Its energy index is rising,"
Prometheus reminded, "Dr. Ai Yue, if you continue like this, the other party will be 'resurrected' in thirty seconds."
"It's alive now. The limbs just now were just its outer shell."
Ai Yue walked over and held the core in his arms. Without him making any movement, he saw the light on the surface of the golden sphere dim rapidly. "Rose, remember to write this matter in the atla. Now we should go back."
The process of emerging from the Quantum Sea was somewhat unremarkable, and was far less exciting than the experience in the Quantum Sea just now. Ai Yue only knew that he had taken a crooked and strange route under the navigation of "Ball of Yarn No. 1", and then the light curtain that he came from appeared in front of him.
When he returned to his laboratory, he couldn't help but breathe deeply: "Ah, reality is more comfortable."
"Welcome back, Dr. Ai Yue, and sister."
Queen Bee Quinn's voice rang out in the laboratory, "It has been 47 hours, 51 minutes, 08 seconds, and 11 since you went down. There are 15 unprocessed messages. Do you want to check them now?"
"Two days? It seems that the Quantum Sea really has no concept of time."
Ai Yue was stunned at first, then shook his head, "Play it in reverse chronological order."
"clear."
Quinn nodded. "Begin playing the message from Dr. Mei—"
As soon as Ai Yue closed the portal to the Quantum Sea, he heard news that made his eyes widen.
"Ai Yue? Where are you now? The Ninth Great Eruption has occurred, but we haven't found any trace of the Herrscher yet!"
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