In 2014, at the World Serpent headquarters.
Raven's face, hidden beneath the brim of her hat, was inscrutable.
She wanted to stop Wendy and Mei from going back to the past because the current outcome was naturally very favorable for her. The thirty million people in Siberia had not been displaced, which meant her parents and Big Brother were very likely still alive.
Even if this was a fate that had been altered, she still wanted to tell Chen Ran that he had done well.
Because of this, she gradually developed murderous intent towards Wendy.
Raven was not loyal to World Serpent.
This was evident from the fact that she had once left World Serpent. In the end, she chose to stay with World Serpent simply because she could no longer adapt to a normal life.
However, Gray Serpent appeared just in time.
This being, whose number of bodies she didn't even know how to describe, pointed a gun at Raven, and she sensed a great danger.
The most terrifying thing about Gray Serpent was not his combat ability, but his endless array of methods.
He was currently the most dangerous person in World Serpent, and even though she had cooperated with Gray Serpent many times before, it had been relatively pleasant.
"Gray Serpent, you need to think this through."
Raven said coldly, "The Lord's close friend is constantly searching for answers to combat Honkai in the flow of time; we should be standing together."
Using the thirty million people in Siberia to weigh the pros and cons was an unwise choice.
Raven knew in her heart that for the people of this era, they were merely a number to World Serpent, a cost that could be manipulated at will.
She could not agree with this ideology, but she also had no way to persuade the entire World Serpent.
All members of World Serpent were, in fact, followers of World Serpent.
Therefore, she could only suppress Gray Serpent using Chen Ran's identity.
Gray Serpent said lightly, "This is the Lord's intention."
It was clear that the Lord was more intimidating than the Lord's close friend.
"The Serpent also needs to seek the true answer in time; perhaps what humanity can achieve by traversing the flow of time is not just to defeat Honkai."
Raven's eyes narrowed slightly.
If they were to seek answers in time, it would mean that more and more people would be traversing time.
In that case, what kind of chaos would the future become?
This was not just weaving a sack.
A glimmer of determination flashed in her eyes, and she quickly lunged at Wendy.
However, at that moment, the mercenary suddenly felt a wave of muscle weakness.
Gray Serpent fired.
However, what was in his gun was not a bullet, but a tranquilizer that caused muscle weakness.
"You should rest well, Raven."
Gray Serpent looked at his colleague with his usual sinister tone.
Then, he turned to Wendy and Raiden Mei: "The gates of the Elysian Realm are open for you two; no one will obstruct you."
…
…
"Hi Wendy, I really didn't expect you to come see me again!"
"Oh my, what a cute girl! Hello, I'm Elysia; you can call me Ellie!"
As Wendy and Raiden Mei stepped into the Elysian Realm together, the pink-haired fairy Miss appeared immediately.
She winked at Raiden Mei: "Hmm, familiar aura."
"Another Herrscher?"
Raiden Mei instinctively frowned.
At this time, she had not yet experienced the Schicksal war or the changes in the sky; although she had the sharpness of a big Miss, she was still more filled with fear of the unknown.
She was still somewhat different from the later Herrscher of Thunder.
However, recalling the sudden disappearance of her friend, she mustered her courage and said, "I want to find information about Chen Ran."
Elysia tilted her head: "Could it be that Chen Ran has found more than one girlfriend in the future?"
"You think too much." Wendy corrected her: "He only has me as his girlfriend."
"The reason she is here is that there have been significant changes in the future."
Wendy recounted the Second Honkai Eruption and Kiana's situation to Elysia.
In the previous Elysian Realm, she had already known that the heroes here had fought alongside Chen Ran.
Otto might take action against Chen Ran due to timeline changes, but the heroes here would not.
And when Elysia heard all of this, even her radiant face revealed a thoughtful expression.
"Although I admit I am the beautiful and wise Elysia, Chen Ran's actions this time have greatly exceeded my expectations."
She said, "The Chen Ran I know does not treat a person's fate as a plaything; clearly, this deviation in fate is his choice of the most beneficial way for humanity after weighing the pros and cons."
Elysia understood Chen Ran very well.
In that era ravaged by Honkai, humanity's bottom line began to lower infinitely.
MEI began to mass-produce MANTIS.
Mobius was also crazily pursuing the Infinite.
Aponia attempted to fix everyone's behavior.
Vill-V sealed her true self-awareness, trying to create more 'impossibilities.'
But Chen Ran was different.
In that era, his wisdom was not dazzling, but he, along with Su, became the balance of human morality and reason.
In fact, he even became the hope of an era.
Elysia smiled brightly: "You may not know, but everyone in the paradise is a witness of that era. Until Finality arrives, humanity still retains the vast majority of its civilization; in fact, he even constructed a global connection, just a step away from Honkai."
"The global connection entrusts humanity's fate to humanity itself, so he actually cherishes every tiny existence more than anyone else."
"I believe he will not sacrifice the 'minority' for the sake of the 'majority.'"
Elysia's words left Wendy slightly stunned.
She pursed her lips and said, "I actually believe in Chen Ran more than you do, but the current outcome is that Cecilia and Squad Snowwolf have reappeared, and the Siberia Major Honkai Eruption has vanished. Except for Kiana, everyone else is still alive."
"If this 'minority' is just a few people or even one person, and it can save thirty million lives, then would Chen Ran hesitate?"
Wendy's question made not only Elysia ponder but even Raiden Mei couldn't help but think.
Raven would develop thoughts of taking action against Wendy because of the current outcome.
To be honest, if we set aside emotional factors and simply sacrifice Kiana, that would actually be the best outcome.
When this 'minority' becomes extremely few, and the 'majority' becomes thirty million, then this is no longer a trolley problem; it is merely a weighing of pros and cons.
Elysia did not rush to answer Wendy's question but instead asked her: "Hmm, if I remember correctly, you once mentioned that the Herrscher Core on you actually comes from the Herrscher of the Void, right?"
Wendy nodded and said, "Not just me; even Raiden Mei's Herrscher Core comes from Sirin. That's why I brought Raiden Mei here."
"If the Second Honkai Eruption did not exist, where would the Herrscher Cores on her and me come from?"
Raiden Mei was hearing about the origin of the Herrscher Core for the first time.
Her eyes were filled with surprise: "Do we have so many connections with that Sirin?"
Elysia smiled brightly: "Yes, yes! Even I want to meet Sirin now!"
Wendy's expression was flat: "I came to verify this matter; Mobius told me about the grandfather paradox, but this clearly breaks the grandfather paradox."
For the current world, she and Raiden Mei were the young people in the grandfather paradox, while Sirin played the role of the 'grandfather.'
Sirin disappeared, and the Second Honkai Eruption vanished.
Logically, the Herrscher Cores on them should also disappear.
Either that timeline unexpectedly produced multiple Herrscher Cores due to unforeseen reasons, or the Herrscher of the Void still appeared in that timeline.
In the long, intertwined quantum realm on the other side of the world.
As they searched for Kiana, Kiana was staring eye to eye with Sirin.
"I was awakened from my slumber by the divine call; in short, this is the current situation."
Sirin looked at Kiana and said, "Our past has been altered; now, we must return to the past. Fortunately, the divine has granted me mercy."
Kiana showed a wary expression: "But before that, you need to tell me who you are?"
——
Although Chen Ran described Sirin's mathematical abilities as devilish, it wasn't until Cecilia personally taught her that she realized a person could truly become an insulator in mathematics.
She remembered that she had already taught the conversion formula for two-digit numbers three times.
Even Bella had mastered it, yet Sirin still looked at her with innocent eyes.
Being able to count on her fingers seemed to be Sirin's limit.
Cecilia suddenly became worried about Kiana's education.
It seemed that the Kaslana family was full of inherited fools; she hoped her future children wouldn't be like that.
"Forget it, Sirin; it's okay if you can't learn math."
Cecilia said gently, "Not every Valkyrie is good at math."
Sirin was instantly filled with hope: "Then can I also hope to become a Valkyrie?"
Cecilia really didn't want to tell Sirin the truth.
However, the two of them were unaware that their conversation was being overheard by someone else.
"Hahaha, I thought my math was bad enough, but it turns out there are even bigger fools than me!"
Outside the membrane of the world, Kiana was laughing uncontrollably, doubled over in laughter.
A '＃' symbol seemed to appear above Sirin's head, and she couldn't help but get angry: "Shut up!"
"Cecilia is actually teaching me math; how much has been altered?"
Sirin frowned.
A week ago, in sensory terms, the Sirin sleeping within Kiana was forcibly awakened by the 'divine,' and then she discovered that her body was gone, leaving only an inseparable consciousness with Kiana.
To be precise, Kiana and 'Sirin' were one body with two souls, and they were informed of a message: because of Chen Ran, they had permanently lost their bodies in this timeline.
If it weren't for the intervention of the 'divine,' their consciousness might not even have been preserved.
From this perspective, Sirin was actually favored by Honkai.
Kiana, who had a slight understanding of the situation, temporarily accepted Sirin's soul. At this moment, she was still a bit confused about the Second Honkai Eruption, and the two reached a preliminary cooperation of consciousness.
They followed the divine's guidance and arrived in the year 2000, in the flow of time, intending to find the source of the changes.
"..."
"The Babylon Laboratory has turned into the Babylon Orphanage, how could I have such a dream?"
Sirin looked at herself counting on her fingers, and at Bella who was mocking her, her eyes revealing a hint of envy.
However, Kiana, who had no past memories, did not understand this.
After laughing, she said to Sirin, "Let's keep going, we need to find that person."
Sirin hesitated for a moment.
After a long while, she glanced at herself and said to Kiana, "Let's go."
…
…
"Achoo."
Chen Ran sneezed repeatedly, instinctively rubbing his nose.
"Strange, why do I have a bad feeling?"
At that moment, he was alone in the laboratory, frowning unconsciously.
"I must be overthinking it."
"After all, if this were a PvP game, I would already have a huge economic advantage of ten thousand, how could anyone turn the tables?" he muttered to himself. "Huh, in this situation, the most pessimistic outcome would be the emergence of the Second Herrscher in other places."
"The system says it will forcibly correct the scale of fate, which means a new Herrscher of the Void will appear, still bringing multiple Herrscher Cores, and Raiden Mei and Wendy will still be Herrschers…"
"Only Kiana…"
A hint of worry surfaced in Chen Ran's eyes.
With the system's forced correction function, Herrscher Cores would definitely drop from the moon for various reasons.
So, he wasn't worried about Wendy and Mei later on.
But Kiana was different.
The genes used to create k423 included the original Kiana's genes and the genes of Sirin, who became a Herrscher.
This gene had to be Sirin's.
Genes are the most fundamental expression of a person's identity.
Even if in the end, someone else became the Herrscher of the Void, merging with the true Kiana's genes, the resulting clone would no longer be the original Kiana.
Therefore, no matter how fate is forcibly corrected, Kiana would definitely disappear in the future.
Unless this simulation scenario is invalidated just like the previous one.
But the system clearly has its own judgment rules, and Chen Ran couldn't demand anything from it in this regard.
However, forcing Sirin to become the Herrscher of the Void because of Kiana… Chen Ran couldn't do that either.
He couldn't sacrifice the present person for the sake of something that might happen fourteen years in the future.
After all, Kiana's birth was far too coincidental, requiring multiple conditions.
The first condition was that the Herrscher of the Void must be Sirin; the second condition was that Cecilia must die, which would give Otto the opportunity to take advantage.
Chen Ran had always been a normal person, even in Fire Moth, where he was close to becoming a profit-seeking animal, yet he still retained the moral perspective of a normal person.
Since he was in the Babylon Tower, he naturally wouldn't create an environment for Sirin to become a Herrscher.
Even if it meant letting Kiana down, he had to accept it.
Because if he really found a way to defeat Finality, then it was highly likely that Kiana wouldn't appear in the future.
He couldn't forcibly demand that future history wouldn't change; otherwise, what was the point of his time travel?
Being able to preserve Wendy's appearance was already an extraordinary achievement.
"Phew, I wonder how 666 is doing with the research in this area, I really want to exit and check."
"But exiting would reduce the rewards…"
He had handed over his research on the connection between material substances and consciousness to 666, and with Eden's funding, he didn't have to worry about the funds.
However, before the Herrscher of Sentience appeared, this research was bound to be exceptionally difficult.
"Forget it, I'll prepare a report for Otto next, experiments always need to keep up with progress, otherwise, I won't be able to slack off."
In this scenario, Chen Ran didn't want to give up his identity.
This identity was simply too advantageous.
"Next, I just need to survive."
He paused and began typing a document on the computer: Research Report on Honkai Energy and Human Adaptation.
Then, Chen Ran started filling in the data with his eyes closed.
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