The next morning, after Chen Ran made a gesture to Bronya to leave, he took the Gem of Serenity and went to meet Cocolia alone.
However, unfortunately, Sin was also there.
Upon seeing Chen Ran approach, Sin let out a heavy hum.
Cocolia frowned, "Sin, didn't I tell you to watch over Bronya?"
"Don't worry, she's sleeping well."
For reasons unknown, Sin still helped Bronya, concealing her night spent with Chen Ran from Cocolia.
After all, Bronya was only 14 years old.
Thinking of this, she glared at Chen Ran.
Chen Ran didn't dare to meet her gaze, secretly astonished: "Bronya has calculated everything."
After Sin left last night, Bronya had discussed various possible situations with him.
And the biggest possibility was that Sin would act tough, saying she was watching Bronya, but in reality, she would likely be alone.
This way, Bronya could escape Sin's surveillance.
Without surveillance, it would be very easy for her to infiltrate the Eye of the Abyss.
Hearing Sin's indifferent words, Cocolia nodded.
She still trusted Sin quite a bit. Although Sin had a quirky temperament, she was indeed the person Cocolia trusted the most at this stage.
After all, there weren't many people under her command right now.
She said to Chen Ran lightly, "Gray Serpent contacted me this morning and asked me to give this to you."
Chen Ran took it and found it was still the same as yesterday, a device capable of capturing quantum traces.
The Sea of Quanta is situated between the 3D and 4D realms; to be precise, it is a 'cosmic depression' that has lost the dimensions of time and temperature.
Finding a person in the Sea of Quanta is like locating one pixel among many on a piece of paper, requiring a higher-dimensional 'brush' to connect the dots.
And that brush is Honkai and consciousness.
Su can observe countless parallel worlds in the Sea of Quanta simultaneously, relying purely on consciousness.
This device is essentially a consciousness activation device.
In the previous civilization era, Kevin used MEI's device to capture the quantum collapse trajectory and locate the Sixth Herrscher.
"I understand. So when will the Eye of the Abyss open?"
"In two hours, you give me the Gem of Serenity, and I'll make some preparations."
"Let's go together."
Chen Ran handed the Gem of Serenity to Cocolia.
Cocolia didn't say much, directly taking the gem and leaving. Chen Ran followed closely behind.
At this moment, he dared not be alone with Sin; otherwise, he truly feared that Sin would lose control and go berserk.
Being next to Cocolia felt much safer.
"Hmph."
Sin looked at Chen Ran's back and huffed heavily once more.
Suddenly, her pupils slightly constricted.
The communication device in Chen Ran's hand was in an activated silent state.
…
…
"Two hours."
Through Chen Ran's communicator, Bronya captured the critical time.
The girl was sitting on the bed where she had rested last night, her hair slightly disheveled.
At that moment, she heard footsteps.
Bronya hesitated for a moment, then lay down, pretending to be asleep.
The door was locked, but the visitor had the authority to unlock it, and it was opened.
Sin walked over and saw Bronya on the bed.
"Alright, stop pretending, Bronya, I already guessed it."
She said lightly, "I never expected you would sacrifice so much for Seele."
Bronya's eyelashes trembled, but she did not respond.
Sin continued to speak to herself, "You still want to go to the Eye of the Abyss, right? So you want to drive me away this way. I told you, I've been living in Saint Freya for so long, how could I not notice anything?"
As soon as she finished speaking, Bronya suddenly sprang up from the bed, her hands exerting force as she lunged at Sin.
Sin frowned slightly and began to defend herself.
However, at that moment, Bronya had summoned a Project Bunny, its dense cannon ports aimed at Sin.
Sin, exasperated, shouted, "Have you lost your mind, Bronya!"
She instinctively wanted to activate the power of Stigmata, but Bronya calmly said, "Sin, don't obstruct me."
"So this is your reason for sacrificing yourself?"
Bronya did not answer.
In her life philosophy, there was no concept of 'sacrifice'; she simply aimed to achieve her goals in the fastest way possible.
But Sin suddenly smiled eerily, "But you still seem so full of energy, which means you actually did nothing last night, right?"
"Let me guess, did you hold a dagger to that man's neck and pretend to sleep all night?"
Bronya replied flatly, "This has nothing to do with you."
"How does it not relate to me?" Sin suddenly exploded in anger, "Bronya, none of us know about the Sea of Quanta. Your life isn't just about Seele; what on earth are you going crazy about!"
Bronya did not respond but instead activated Project Bunny's cannon, aiming it at Sin.
At that moment, the girl's heart was as cold as ice, and she would not heed any advice.
Indeed, in Sin's eyes, Bronya was going mad.
Yet Bronya remained unmoved.
"Let go, Sin."
Sin looked deeply at her.
"Bronya, you are disappointing everyone too much."
"This is the last time I help you; after this, let's not meet again."
The girl's pupils slightly constricted as she saw Bronya still resembling her former self.
That pure and innocent soul was as holy as the first meeting, yet this soul had no warmth that belonged to her.
Turning around, she kicked the door in frustration and strode away.
Bronya stood there in a daze for a moment.
"I'm sorry, Sin."
A tear rolled down her cheek and fell to the ground.
…
…
The City of the Abyss was built around the Eye of the Abyss, which originated from the civilization of the previous era.
This is the best place for humanity to observe the cosmic depression, and theoretically, entering the Sea of Quanta through the Eye of the Abyss allows one to traverse to other parallel universes.
While waiting for the Eye of the Abyss to open, Chen Ran was relying on his brain to recall the storyline related to the Eye of the Abyss.
However, the time was too long ago, and he could only remember the general outline.
The formation of the Eye of the Abyss was related to Mu Continent; to be precise, Mu Continent proposed the plan to create an artificial world bubble and inject Honkai into it.
Although Chen Ran did not know how this plan was implemented, he had a rough idea of the principle.
The Herrscher refers to the body that carries the Herrscher as a container, while the Herrscher Core is the cup that holds the container, so the relationship between the Herrscher's body and core is like that of a cup and water.
The world is similar.
If civilization is compared to a container, then Honkai is the water inside the container. When Honkai reaches a certain threshold, the water will overflow.
At that time, Mu Continent should not have discovered the existence of Finality, but they could sense that when Honkai reached a certain threshold, the apocalypse would descend.
Thus, the artificial world bubble plan was born.
The principle was to inject Honkai into the artificial world bubble in the Sea of Quanta in some way, so that the Honkai in the original world would always remain below the threshold, theoretically making that world safe.
Chen Ran did not know the principle but knew that Mu Continent's plan was nearing success.
With the Ether Anchor Point technology, the artificial world bubble was established.
However, the Herrscher of Rock also appeared.
The entire Mu Continent was destroyed by a black hole, and at a critical moment, Einstein used quantum technology to teleport it directly into the manufactured artificial world bubble, becoming a refuge for the people of Mu Continent.
But the outcome was not good; the world bubble was not suitable for human survival, and Mu Continent was left with only the ELFs created by Dr. Einstein.
The passage that allowed Mu Continent to enter the Sea of Quanta was the Eye of the Abyss.
The previous civilization era was destroyed by Destruction, but the Eye of the Abyss has always existed.
While Chen Ran was lost in thought, Cocolia instructed her mechanical assistant to place the Gem of Serenity in the Eye of the Abyss.
Of course, from Chen Ran's perspective, it looked more like she was 'throwing it inside.'
But it didn't matter.
"You can go in now."
Cocolia said lightly, "I hope you won't disappoint."
Chen Ran gave an 'okay' gesture.
At that moment, Cocolia suddenly heard the alarm sound from the base of the City of the Abyss.
"Why is there an alarm? Did you bring Schicksal's people here!"
Cocolia suddenly raised her gun at Chen Ran.
Then, her gun was snatched away.
"Bronya?"
The warlord was slightly taken aback, also thinking of the source of the alarm.
It was clear that Bronya was behind it.
She had found the Eye of the Abyss and had been waiting there for a long time.
And making the alarm sound was to distract Cocolia.
The effect was excellent.
Before Cocolia could speak, Bronya directly grabbed Chen Ran's wrist and entered the Eye of the Abyss.
"Wait."
Cocolia instinctively spoke, but it was already too late.
"Mom, Bronya will come back."
The girl left behind a sentence before falling into the tide of quantum.
…
…
[System friendly reminder: Detected that the host has entered the quantum sea, which may lead to unknown world bubbles and parallel worlds. The system will be unable to make temporal corrections to world bubbles and parallel worlds.]
[In the quantum world, the host will not die, nor can they forcibly exit the simulated scene.]
[Additionally, the system has determined that all key nodes of the unnamed scene have appeared and will name the scene: Quantum Tide.]
Accompanied by a voice in his consciousness, Chen Ran found himself in another world.
To be precise, it was a world bubble.
He shook his head and then saw Bronya lying beside him.
Unlike the storyline where entering the Sea of Quanta required undergoing three world bubble trials, at this moment, Chen Ran and Bronya had directly jumped into the 'sea.'
This required an enormous capacity for consciousness; Chen Ran had the protection of Stigmata, so he was somewhat okay, but Bronya was different.
The girl had come in a hurry, only draped in a coat, underneath which was an orange Homu pajama, looking quite cute.
However, in front of Bronya, there was a gigantic robot.
"Project Bunny, I'll call you that from now on. You can understand what I'm saying, right?"
Chen Ran paused and said to it, "Take good care of your master; otherwise, I'll have to take care of you instead."
Project Bunny immediately became alert.
Chen Ran shrugged, then saw Bronya slowly waking up.
"Where is this…"
"An unknown world bubble, but it has already lost all vitality."
Chen Ran said.
Combining his previous conjectures, the world bubble should be the universe's destruction mechanism when the Honkai in the world reaches a certain concentration.
Either a powerful civilization eliminated Finality, breaking the balance between civilization and Honkai; or a weak civilization was annihilated by Honkai, rendering the universe's existence on the Imaginary Tree meaningless.
In short, the world bubbles in the Sea of Quanta do not provide a suitable environment for human survival.
He pointed to his wrist and said, "I've activated the device Gray Serpent gave me. There's a fifty percent chance of finding Seele, and a fifty percent chance of finding Kevin. Which do you think is more likely?"
"Bronya doesn't know Gray Serpent, but Bronya thinks that since you've come here, you'll most likely find Seele through the device."
"I suppose so."
Undeniably, the Sea of Quanta is vast.
However, existing between the 3rd and 4th dimensions, it's more like a 'Klein bottle' to Chen Ran.
The dimension where consciousness resides is the same as Honkai's, and Honkai originates from the imaginary numbers outside the real number plane. In other words, through the device Gray Serpent provided, he can observe every part of the 'Klein bottle' in a higher dimension.
In the Sea of Quanta, Seele has been evading the World Serpent's pursuit, but she's always found, precisely because of this.
"I sense a location."
Chen Ran told Bronya, "Let's go. First, we need to leave this world bubble."
Bronya nodded, "Mm."
A world bubble is a world detached from the Imaginary Tree.
From a civilization's standpoint, after detaching from the Imaginary Tree, a world bubble will decay, but without detaching, Honkai will inevitably follow.
However, from the universe's perspective, detaching from the Imaginary Tree and falling into the Sea of Quanta is merely a process of matter reorganization.
Therefore, every world bubble will inevitably decay, even the mighty Mu Continent.
From a higher-dimensional perspective: the world within a world bubble is one that the will-unifier has given up on communicating with.
However, even now, Chen Ran doesn't know the relationship between the will-unifier and the Imaginary Tree.
Of course, these aren't things he needs to consider right now.
"World bubbles are among the few places in the Sea of Quanta where one can rest. You should also realize that quanta exist between the 3rd and 4th dimensions, where space and time are incomplete."
"Within a world bubble, we're still in 4-dimensional spacetime, but outside, it's a 3-dimensional spacetime that has lost some of its spatial dimensions."
"Similarly, I can only sense Seele's approximate location. If she's inside a world bubble, we'll have to search carefully."
He briefly explained the world bubbles to Bronya; this was all new knowledge for her.
But even knowing this wouldn't help.
Bronya said to Chen Ran, "Bronya wants to know how far your era's exploration of the Sea of Quanta reached?"
"Why are we talking about this?"
"We're idle anyway, aren't we?"
Bronya's words made Chen Ran twitch the corner of his mouth.
Clearly, this girl was trying to use this opportunity to learn more about fifty thousand years ago.
He understood; he would have done the same.
"I can only say I don't know."
Chen Ran paused, then said, "Don't think that the technology of my era was highly developed. In reality, many technologies had reached the limit of human intellectual development, and further progress was difficult."
"Limitations in materials and resources meant that humanity's exploration of the universe was only a small fraction. To understand the mysteries of the universe, one needs to reach a higher dimension. Although I often argue with Gray Serpent, the World Serpent's execution of Project Stigma does have its logic."
Project Stigma was a failed plan.
It aimed to have humans transcend their human identity to achieve coexistence between civilization and Honkai.
Essentially, it was about hanging humans on the Imaginary Tree.
Chen Ran walked and chatted, "Being able to walk in the Sea of Quanta is already the limit of human reach… Damn, what's that aura?"
"Bronya, hide quickly!"
Chen Ran and Bronya hid, only to see a giant tentacle appear.
Like a giant octopus, it wrapped around this world bubble, using its mouthparts to feed.
It was in this world bubble, devouring the entire world.
"What is that?"
Bronya frowned.
Chen Ran's face was grim, "If I'm not mistaken, it should be the culprit that destroys world bubbles. Perhaps it can be understood as the digestive organ of the Sea of Quanta."
The behemoth before them, rather than being a quantum creature, was more accurately a manifestation of quantum rules.
Honkai has its rules, and quanta have theirs.
If Honkai's purpose is to act as an 'antibody' that 'clears cancerous civilization cells,' a 'language' for dialogue between the universe and civilization, then quanta are what break down all matter into Planck constants.
The smallest unit of matter in the universe.
The matter decomposed by the Sea of Quanta will eventually replenish the Imaginary Tree, which in turn can create a new universe.
"Fighting this behemoth is pointless. Let's go."
Chen Ran and Bronya left in another direction.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the Sea of Quanta.
"Seele, it's coming after us. Let's leave quickly."
A voice urged Seele in her mind. Seele paused slightly, her eyes falling on this world.
Not long ago, this world had been completely destroyed by Honkai.
This is the ultimate fate of all worlds that fall into the quanta. Even with the power to fight Finality, the decomposed matter will devour all space.
The giant quantum tide will eventually disintegrate all worlds. Victorious against Honkai is more like a poor lie.
The universe will regenerate through the Imaginary Tree, but civilization will cease to exist.
She took one last look, then leaped into another world bubble.
——
Mu Continent, Physics Research Institute.
Einstein's eyes were indifferent as she observed the trajectory of a massive computation simulation.
Beside her was MEI's father.
"Traces of quantum collapse have appeared on the Sixth Herrscher, meaning the Herrscher's authority has permeated every corner of the macro and microcosm."
MEI's father said, "The Herrschers humanity will face next might involve consciousness, energy fields, information carriers, and other fields, not limited to the framework of classical mechanics."
"Dr. Einstein, we need to prepare."
"I know."
Einstein paused, then said, "How is your daughter doing?"
"Very bad. Fire Moth prioritizes politics above all else." MEI's father shook his head, "That organization isn't a good place."
Einstein was thoughtful.
"Fire Moth's existence is a manifestation of internal human conflict. Honkai has its rules, and humanity has its rules, but it's a pity that MEI is there."
She sighed softly.
At that moment, Einstein spoke, "Observed."
"The origin of Honkai's reflection at the center of the Imaginary Tree."
She slowly said, "On Earth, tiny humanity finally looks up at the stars."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Advanced chapters in patreon (46 blocked, 5 free)
https://www.pat reon.com/ThatGreatStuff