Reclaim Earth, Explore the Origin, Transcend the End / Chapter 20: Xia Ling, Our Path Doesn't Have to Be Forged Through Sacrifice

As if she had finally received some definite news, Xia Ling suddenly let out a cold laugh.

"The confident one... isn't it you, Gray Serpent?"

"Why don't you try it? Can you... still control your body freely now?"

"?"

A hint of doubt appeared in the Gray Serpent's eyes.

But soon, that doubt was replaced by shock and anger.

"What's going on...?"

"No, it wasn't you, it wasn't any of you..."

"It was you...?"

The Gray Serpent's limbs suddenly began to twist and twitch.

If this happened to a human, it could be dismissed as a mental illness, but the metallic sheen of the Gray Serpent's shell made it all seem incredibly eerie.

"What's wrong with him?"

Theresa tugged at Xia Ling's sleeve and whispered.

"He was deceived, or rather, he misunderstood my plan from the beginning."

Noticing the puzzled looks from everyone, Xia Ling explained with a smile.

"From the very beginning, the method I prepared to use to defeat the Gray Serpent was not the Little E."

"The Stigmata Project's control over the world is far greater than you imagine. You could say that everything I did after entering the Planet Catalog was a disguise for the Gray Serpent."

"Because... these behaviors can all be observed by the Gray Serpent."

"So, in other words, we weren't infiltrators from the very beginning?"

Ai's voice was somewhat shocked. After all, she had initially been confident that she would infiltrate the Planet Catalog and give the Gray Serpent a big surprise. It turned out that she had been under the other party's surveillance from the very beginning.

"Pretty much. In short, based on my and Little E's actions, Gray Serpent will most likely conclude that our true purpose is to use the power of erosion to erode the main network of the Stigmata Project... But that's actually wrong, and the purpose and the personnel are both wrong."

"My real plan... is to make a deal with Gray Serpent 1904, using the Corrosion Virus that attached to him when he left World Serpent to help him seize control of the Gray Serpent Network."

"Perhaps the Gray Serpent has a way to detect and induce Little E, because she has human consciousness, but... the Corrosion Virus is merely a tool."

"Moreover, whether it's the Corrosion Virus or the Gray Serpent, the creator was Doctor Mobius."

"So, Little E and we... were both feinting attacks?"

"That's right." Xia Ling nodded, looking at the eerie green mist emanating from the Gray Serpent's body.

"As for the Corrosion Virus I just left on the wall... they were only there to detect the status of other viruses."

As she spoke, Xia Ling closed her eyes slightly.

The information from Gray Serpent 1904 has been synchronized to her through the Corrosion Virus. As agreed, before defeating the Finality, they will do their best to help them while ensuring that the main framework of the Stigmata Space is not damaged.

Of course, they still need to reclaim the areas that have been corrupted by the Stigmata Space. In the end, even if they temporarily liberate all of humanity from the dream, if they cannot overcome Kevin, who has already seized some of the Finality Authority, it will still not affect the essence of the Stigmata Project.

However, with less interference in this area, Earth has gained a much-needed respite.

But...

Xia Ling's senses continued to spread outwards.

In the original work, after the death of the Gray Serpent, Mei was taken to the Origin Land, or rather, the Origin Land itself sought out Mei under guidance.

This means that, theoretically, the coordinates of the Origin Land can be observed from here.

But... she still found nothing, and even when she touched the primordial authority already in her body, she couldn't get any resonance.

"So it still didn't work... [Unintelligible characters]"

Xia Ling was somewhat disappointed at not receiving a response from Shi Yuan, but this wasn't the first time she had encountered such a situation.

To be precise, ever since the Elysian Realm trial ended, she has been trying to sense the Origin Land, but has not succeeded.

Elysia was helpless in this regard, since the Origin Land was not a precise coordinate.

And... Xia Ling wondered if it was just her imagination, but whenever she asked about this, Elysia's attitude would become a little guilty, and after a short while, she would use some unspeakable means to change the subject.

"Never mind... now is not the time to study this."

Xia Ling sighed, opened her eyes, and looked at Theresa.

"Let's go. Now that things have come to an end here, let's head back to St. Freya. We also need to discuss the plan for the final battle."

Chapter Nineteen: Reclaiming Earth, Exploring the Origin, and Crossing the Finality

A moment later, Xia Ling, Theresa, and Little E, whom Xia Ling had found, appeared together in the square of St. Freya.

Raven said she was going to say goodbye to Kevin, so she took Flame Willow and Anna to the moon, while Ai stayed in the Planet Catalog, intending to continue helping those who were still immersed in dreams.

"Damn it, that Gray Serpent actually forged a fake mainnet just to fool me..."

Little E, who had been tricked by the Gray Serpent into wandering around the Planet Catalog, pouted unhappily, clearly dissatisfied with her performance.

"Alright, alright, in the Planet Catalog, the cheat he uses is much bigger than yours, it's normal that you were fooled by him."

Xia Ling smiled and patted Little E's head to comfort him.

"Ah?"

Just as the two were talking, Theresa, who was looking down at her terminal, suddenly exclaimed.

"What's wrong Theresa?"

"Just now, Kiana just sent me a message..." Theresa was clearly shocked by what she saw, and she could barely speak.

"She, she said, Durandal, is, is..."

"Is it the real Kiana?"

"Yes!" Theresa nodded sharply, then suddenly realized something was wrong.

"Wait, Xia Ling, how did you know what I was going to say?"

Xia Ling silently looked away.

"Um... Otto told me a lot of information when he left..."

"Among them are..."

"Huh?" Theresa seemed to have lost her mind, tilting her head blankly. "Did Grandfather really pass the archbishopric to me?"

"Hehe~"

"Hey, what does that mean?!"

Theresa gave Xia Ling's cheek a hard squeeze and said angrily, "You rascal, I'll settle the score with you later for hiding this. I need to go check on those two kids right now."

With that, Theresa hurriedly headed toward St. Freya's back garden.

"Let's go, let's report the situation to the Doctor first, and then go find Kiana."

Little E nodded obediently and instantly transformed into data, attaching itself to Xia Ling's body.

Shortly after, Xia Ling, who had just finished communicating, stepped out of the door and encountered Durandal and Kiana, who were walking in together.

"Sister Xia Ling!"

Kiana waved excitedly.

"It seems that Durandal has finally made up her mind to tell you everything?"

Xia Ling's face broke into a mischievous smile.

"Eh? So Sister Xia Ling already knew?"

"Of course, otherwise why do you think I would have specifically included Durandal in the list of those undergoing the Elysian Realm trial?"

Seeing that Durandal was a little embarrassed, Xia Ling smiled and said, "Actually, I've wanted to say this for a long time. Kiana isn't the kind of child who has a poor mental capacity. Even if you had been honest with her earlier, it wouldn't have mattered."

"Ahem, I really don't know enough about Kiana, no, I don't know enough about my sister... I'll try my best to be a good older sister in the future."

"Haha, Sigfried and Theresa will probably be overjoyed to see this..."

"Of course, Auntie and Daddy are still lamenting the unpredictability of life."

As she spoke, Kiana looked at Xia Ling and asked, "But... where is Sister Xia Ling planning to go?"

"I'm going to meet with you."

Seeing the two who seemed a little confused, Xia Ling said seriously, "The obstacles to the Stigmata Project have been removed, and while we are carrying out the project, Changguang has also completed the final experiment to verify the project."

"Now... we can give an answer that transcends the Finality."

"In summary, our final operational operation can be simplified into three nested plans."

In the conference room, the three groups of people from Salt Lake Base, Schicksal Headquarters, and St. Freya had gathered together via projection to conduct the final confirmation before the decisive battle.

"Thanks to Xia Ling and Highmore's previous actions, the first part of the plan, taking back Earth, is no longer difficult."

Welt used his ability to conjure a map showing the areas that had been reclaimed so far, and Changguang began to explain the map.

"Due to the loss of the Planet Catalog, we can now freely expand the number of 'islands' based on the Island Project, even without the help of the Thousand Worlds Layered, so that more of Earth's space can temporarily remain normal."

"Without affecting the main body of the Stigmata Project, we can use the Kaslana Stigmata Space we seized from Kevin to compile an Anti- Stigmata Project by using Durandal and Theresa's Kaslana Stigmata."

"This reverse compilation space can solve the massive consumption we need when expanding the scale of island operations. At the same time, since this system adopts the same principle as Stigmata Project, as long as Stigmata Project's main network itself is not destroyed, this reverse compilation will not stop."

"However, this reverse Stigmata Project is merely a stopgap measure." Changguang sighed and said, "After all, you could tell from the description just now."

"Reclaiming Earth is itself a tug-of-war with the Stigmata Project, aimed at providing support for the latter two projects while preventing the power of Finality from continuing to transfer from the moon to Kevin through the Stigmata Project."

"The final outcome actually depends on the latter two plans, or rather, the last plan."

"That's right." Welt. "The latter two plans are to explore the origin and to transcend the Finality."

"Among them, the Group·Chat Qi Er San⊙Private Leek Exploration Origin Project will be fully managed by Xia Ling, but Xia Ling, you don't need to feel pressured about this."

"After all... the existence of the Origin is an unexpected surprise for us. It would be best if you could make a breakthrough based on your current foundation, but if you fail, don't blame yourself."

Having known each other for many years, both Welt and the two Doctor had long since figured out Xia Ling's personality, or rather, the girl's habit of taking responsibility upon herself at the drop of a hat was already well-known.

Although Xia Ling has already mastered the Origin Power, whether she can go further and what powers the true Origin actually possesses are all unknowns.

Therefore, when formulating the plan, Anti-Entropy only took into account the ability of Origin to guide Kiana to complete the leap, which can be said to be a plan without any pressure.

Unfortunately, they still didn't fully understand Xia Ling's capabilities and were unaware that the girl had already prepared another plan.

"Don't worry, Mr. Welt, I'm not under any pressure."

Xia Ling wore her usual relaxed smile.

"However... I do have one more request."

Chapter Twenty Xia Ling, Our Path Does Not Have to Be Forged Through Sacrifice

"Additional requirements?"

"Yes, that's right." Xia Ling nodded. "I need... all the Divine Key that we can currently access."

"As you know, I have completed the ascension of the core of the Thousand-Man Herrscher and have fully mastered the power of control."

"If I were to use my authority to control the Herrscher Core within the Divine Key, I could unleash almost its full power."

"Although my output level is not high enough to use multiple Herrscher Core at the same time, expanding the types of abilities greatly helps to improve my combat power."

"Um..."

Ain and Tesla exchanged a glance, seemingly wanting to say something, but Ain ultimately sighed softly and remained silent.

"Xia Ling's suggestion is fine."

In just a few seconds, the two Doctor seemed to have reached a consensus. Seeing that Ain did not intend to speak, Tesla nodded and said, "After all, no one knows whether we will encounter any dangers in the process of exploring the origin."

"Moreover, the Divine Key that we can currently access are basically not very useful for the Finality battle, or rather, we can find substitutes for them. So, using these cores to enhance Xia Ling's combat abilities seems to be making the best use of them."

"However, disassembling some of the Divine Key would be a big problem..."