Vill-V's Doubts

Spiral Workshop.

"Hi~ Vill-V, long time no see~" Elysia waved to Vill-V and greeted her.

"You've arrived, Elysia." Vill-V looked up from a machine. "During this mission with Yu Feng, you encountered Lilith again. How did it go?"

Elysia squinted at Vill-V and said, "Didn't you hear everything? If Lilith had toned it down a bit, I think this would have been a pretty good mission."

That expression, and that cold tone, it's definitely Expert Vill-V. Why would Expert say something like that? Deliberately picking on things she doesn't want to remember, right?

"Isn't it more vivid to know the facts from the person involved than to imagine them yourself?" The Expert walked up to Elysia. "Lilith is indeed a very individualistic person. Other interested Vill-V will ask you about this later. What I'm going to talk about next is the purpose of calling you here, which is to have you assist us in re-investigating the place where Yu Feng appeared."

"It's all in the documents," Elysia nodded and said, "As the person being investigated, Feng needs to avoid suspicion and therefore cannot participate in this investigation. As the person who rescued him from the ruins, and as the person I spent the most time with afterward, I am very suitable to be his assistant."

"Hmm." The Expert nodded. "However, this is just an excuse to appease the higher-ups. Our real purpose is to investigate why Yu Feng the Present in this world. And... we also have reason to doubt the veracity of his words."

"Feng would never lie to me." Elysia frowned slightly. "He has no reason to lie like this, does he?"

"I'm glad you're so confident, and we also believe that Yu Feng wouldn't and wouldn't need to lie," the Expert said calmly. "What I want to say is that what we doubt is whether Yu Feng's statements about his identity are consistent with the facts."

Elysia thought for a moment, then said, "You mean, Feng himself might not be fully aware of his own identity?"

"Let's take a real-world example. Didn't Qianjie say he came to Earth on a meteorite? Would Qianjie lie? Would he have any reason to lie? But the fact is, we have no evidence to prove that Qianjie came from a world outside of Earth." The Expert stated the conclusion of [Vill-V]'s thinking during this period. "The only material that can corroborate Qianjie's words is Mobius's research on Qianjie. However, this only proves that Qianjie is not human, not that he came from an extraterrestrial civilization."

Elysia seemed to be deep in thought.

"We've spoken with Mobius, and she proved that Yu Feng's physique before becoming Herrscher was no different from that of an ordinary person. The only difference was his Honkai Energy resistance, which he increased by constantly fusing with Honkai Beast. Although... he also paid a price that ordinary people could hardly bear..." the Expert continued, "Besides that, the only thing that can prove Yu Feng's words is the story he told."

"So, you actually want to investigate what exactly is the hometown in Feng's memory? Or rather, whether it really exists?" Elysia asked.

"If what Yu Feng said is true, then since he can come, he must also have a way to leave," the Expert said. "We also know that in his previous life, Yu Feng definitely had Admiralty and Rovoc investigate. Some things are better tried personally. We believe that the connection between this world, and everyone in it, including you and me, and Yu Feng, while perhaps not very strong, is not that fragile. If a passage between the two worlds can be established, even if it's only a one-way trip, Yu Feng will eventually come. He's already too deeply involved with this world; he's been away from home for too long and too far. Besides..."

The Expert lowered his eyes, seemingly hesitant about what to say next.

"I remember Su said that he used the Thousand Worlds to observe many worlds, and some of these worlds still exist that haven't Honkai." Elysia thought for a moment and then said, "So, you're planning to create the Thousand Worlds to help Feng?"

"Before that, we need to know the coordinates of that world. Moreover, the Thousand Worlds is currently only theoretically capable of traversing worlds. The current limit is merely creating and entering World Bubble. World Bubble and a world are ultimately two different concepts." The Expert sighed. "Ultimately, the most important question is whether Yu Feng's hometown still exists or not..."

"You seemed to want to say something else?" Elysia asked, looking at the Expert. "What else?"

The Expert paused for a moment, then said, "When we first heard this news, it certainly shocked us for a long time. But after we came to our senses, we raised an Evil question: Is the flow of time the same in both worlds?"

"You mean..."

"The Herrscher's powers are currently known to only affect our own Intrinsic World and the World Bubble derived from Intrinsic World, but they cannot affect worlds that we can observe but cannot touch," the Expert said, looking into Elysia's eyes. "In other words, if Yu Feng's world truly exists, time in his world will not flow backward. If the time flow rates of the two worlds are the same, then..."

"It's been more than a decade since Maple left his hometown..." Elysia sighed softly.

More than a decade has passed, and things have probably changed beyond recognition. For Zhu Yufeng, it must be no different from another world.

"Therefore, we believe that if it were possible to travel back and forth, Yu Feng would ultimately choose us," the Expert said. "This also leads to another reason why we seek to travel between the worlds. Yu Feng himself doesn't know how he got here. Although the probability is low, we cannot rule out the possibility that he might involuntarily return one day. Therefore, we need to investigate this matter even more."

"I understand." Elysia nodded. "So, when do you plan to set off?"

"Hmm... we'll set off first thing tomorrow morning," the Expert said. "I still have some instruments that might need calibration, and I can't get everything ready until tomorrow."

"Speaking of which, are you the only one here?" Elysia looked around. "Where's Rovoc? Although she's the Present Mobius's assistant, she probably helps out at Spiral Workshop too, right?"

"As you know, Mobius always chooses to have Klein attend meetings she's not interested in. Although Klein has excellent professional knowledge, her personality makes her prone to being taken advantage of." The Expert walked to the instrument he had previously calibrated. "The Present she's recruited Rovoc. She sends Rovoc to some difficult meetings. A few days ago, Rovoc flew to the Mu Continent to attend an academic conference. But calling it a conference is more like another critique of Mobius. I heard that many of the Scholar who went there opposed Mobius's ideas."

"Then they're in for a rough time." Elysia smiled helplessly.

Rovoc's personality is more assertive Klein's, and he is also very stubborn. Most importantly, Rovoc's professional knowledge is quite solid. Those who are prepared to nitpick should really be prepared to be roasted by Rovoc until they question their existence.

Mobius was always indifferent to others' doubts about him, but Rovoc was not. She would want to know where she was being doubted, whether others' doubts were reasonable. In short, if you couldn't provide concrete evidence to refute Rovoc's theory, she would argue with the person who raised the question until they doubted their own abilities. However, if she could refute Rovoc, Rovoc would quickly accept the new concept.

For those who want to nitpick and find fault, making Rovoc is truly torture.

As for whether those people will become enraged and resort to desperate measures, although the Fire Moth the Present is not as great as it was in the previous life when it fought against the Honkai, it is not someone that anyone can provoke. Not to mention that Rovoc, as Mobius's assistant, has plenty of ways to protect himself.

"Alright, I won't bother you anymore then~" Elysia said goodbye to the Expert. "See you tomorrow morning~ Sigh, I won't be able to see Kaede for a while, so I'll have to spend some time with him today~"

"Oh, about Yu Feng ... there's one more thing." The Expert looked up at Elysia. "He'll be busy too. The Fire Moth has started an investigation into Admiralty, and Mobius told me she'll have Yu Feng with her."

Elysia's eye twitched, then she squinted at the Expert and said, "You chose this time to have me and you conduct this investigation... You didn't plan this with Mobius, did you?"

The Expert shrugged and said, "Perhaps. I don't know much about it. It was the Evil and the Conductor who were responsible for talking to Mobius. By the way, even if we hadn't chosen this time, Mobius would definitely not have let you accompany him, right?"

Elysia: "..."

That's true...

Before leaving the Spiral Workshop, Elysia noticed the earpiece on Vill-V's ear. Even when Alicia was talking to her, Vill-V hadn't stopped eavesdropping?

She had no recollection of Vill-V being involved in such matters, but once Evil was involved, everything suddenly seemed to make sense...

Should we say... that it was the Evil that single-handedly led all of Vill-V astray...?

Temporary interrogation room at the Third Research Institute of the Fire Moth.

Su placed her hands on his chin, her arms supporting her on the table. He opened his eyes, a rare occurrence for him, his crimson eyes fixed on the white-haired, red-eyed, blue-green man before him.

On his way there, he imagined many scenarios of meeting Admiralty, and envisioned his questions and answers to Admiralty in different situations, but in the end he gave up.

Sue knew Admiralty well enough. Among the Thirteen Fallen Angels, apart from Belphgor and Zhu Yufeng, Admiralty was basically the person he knew best.

After the Eighth Herrscher Incident, he took over as the head of the research lab, and naturally, he had a lot of dealings with that Blasphemous Fallen Angel among the Thirteen Fallen Angels.

Speaking of which, among the Thirteen Fallen Angels, the one who had a good relationship with Admiralty was Belphgor, right? Su thought to herself.

"Admiralty, it's not too late for you to stop the Present." Sitting next to Sue, Erwin still hadn't given up on his idea of pulling his misguided student back to the right path. "Don't wait until it's too late to realize your mistake."

"I don't think I did anything wrong, and I have never denied that," Admiralty said calmly. "All the experiments I conducted were with the consent of the subjects."

"But we have reason to believe that you deliberately induced them to agree to your experiment!" another investigator said. "You took advantage of their lack of understanding of Honkai to induce them to participate in your insane experiment! This is a desecration and contempt for life!"

"As long as they agree, it doesn't count as contempt. Whether I induce them or not, the final decision is their own." Admiralty looked at Su expressionlessly and said, "More than that, I 'The Present like to exchange some insights with this researcher Su about treating Honkai Corrosion."

"Admiralty, you..."

Before Erwin could say anything more, Admiralty interrupted him for the first time, saying, "Respect or not, they are all destined to die as humans. And even if I don't experiment on them, will they recover? Aren't they still being observed by us like lab rats?"

"That's sophistry, Admiralty," Sue finally spoke. "The existence of any life is justified, and death is their consequence, but the process of life has its own irreplaceable and indisputable significance."

Admiralty shook his head and slowly said, "I... of course I understand all this, and I respect every life as well, but in the face of Honkai, can respecting life allow us to win the final victory in this struggle? Rather, do we really have that much time to slowly study this?"

"That's no excuse for conducting such insane experiments!" Erwin rebuked. "Besides, the Honkai has coexisted with civilization for thousands of years."

"But it's only in the last few decades that the occurrence of Honkai has become more frequent, hasn't it?" Admiralty spread his hands. "It even gave birth to Herrscher, which have never been recorded before. As civilization progresses, the form of the Present Honkai keeps changing. Although the two have temporarily maintained a balance, this balance is always fragile. We don't understand what Honkai is at all, yet Honkai has been intertwined with civilization since its inception."

Su lowered her eyes. From the perspective of someone who had been through it all, Admiralty's words were indeed correct. The appearance of the Herrscher basically heralded the beginning of the sinking of civilization. It was only after learning about her experiences that Su hesitated so much.

He knew that the investigation would ultimately come to nothing, but he couldn't just stand by and watch Admiralty continue his experiments with Artificial Herrscher.

As for Su Yezhi, the Artificial Herrscher, in fact, there is only one successful case, Zhu Yufeng, and whether it can be replicated is still in doubt.

I heard that Mobius has taken over the review process, and Feng will be coming along too. I wonder what they'll do...