The Meaning of Signets

"According to negotiations with the higher-ups, Gianna will be cremated within the Fire Moth before being sent back to her hometown. Do you need some time alone with her before the cremation?" Zhu Yufeng asked, looking at Davien and Mostima.

Davien's expression was somewhat complicated. He glanced at Mostima, who stood silently to the side with her hands at her sides. Logically speaking, Mostima should even be considered a victim of this turmoil, having been ambushed and seriously injured by Gianna, to the point that she had to undergo the Fusion Warrior surgery to save her life... Yet, she was also the one who killed Gianna...

Although she knew Mostima had no choice but to do it, and that the moment she became Herrscher, her sister would never come back, it was still somewhat painful to feel emotionally.

Honkai...

"I don't need to," Mostima said. "Let's leave the rest of the time for the brother and sister."

Zhu Yufeng glanced at Davien and then said, "Okay, if that's what you think."

After saying that, Zhu Yufeng walked out of the room, followed closely by Mostima, leaving only Davien in the room.

"Lilith isn't even willing to come and see us?" After leaving the room, Mostima looked at Zhu Yufeng and asked. Lilith hadn't shown her face since morning.

"You know, she hates her family, even the dead ones," Zhu Yufeng said, leaning against the wall. "She's too lazy to hide anything from Davien now. But Davien seems to have figured something out and doesn't care as much as Gianna does."

"Boss Yu Feng ... do you think it's possible that Davien is the only remaining Thousandth Herrscher?" Mostima asked again. "After all, I've seen scientists propose similar theories before, saying that the more numb a person is to life and the more hopeless they are about the future, the more likely they are to become Herrscher ... Gianna also made similar remarks before becoming Herrscher ..."

Mostima lowered her eyes, paused for a moment, and then continued, "This child is already somewhat aware that her sister doesn't like her anymore, but she has never accepted this reality... never... She longs to go back to that time, full of pretense but irreplaceable to her. Boss Yu Feng, have you... ever had such thoughts?"

"Have you ever thought about going back to your childhood?" Zhu Yufeng lowered his eyes and thought for a moment. "For many adults, this is indeed a thought that most people would have, and I am no exception. Even today, I still think about some things from my childhood... but it's just a thought. After all, time cannot be reversed, and people's vision must always be forward."

"Is that so...then perhaps I am one of those few people. I don't want to go back to my childhood at all. Not at all." Mostima said, leaning against the wall with her hands behind her head. "My life...actually, it's been quite meaningless. I've been playing all sorts of tricks, enjoying watching all kinds of people turn on each other, and taking pleasure in it...but I've always felt very empty, like a shadow, but I don't know why. It was only after I became Fallen Angel and met you that I gradually began to feel like I was living like a human being."

If I hadn't regained my memories during this incident, what would I be like? I would probably have been lost for quite some time... Although I already had a good impression of Boss Yu Feng before I regained my memories, I never intended to join the battlefield because of Lilith.

These past few days, when I went back to my own apartment and moved my things to the villa where Boss Yu Feng and the others lived, I actually felt a little lonely.

No matter what, he had once considered that place his home, but now, when he opened the door, all that greeted him was silence; there would be no child waiting for him to return...

It would be a lie to say she wasn't sad, but she wasn't Gianna's biological sister after all. In this final stretch of her journey, she should leave this time for Gianna's real brother... If it weren't for Lilith, perhaps Gianna wouldn't be in this situation, but if it really weren't for Lilith, she probably... wouldn't have had much interaction with Boss Yu Feng, and Gianna's childhood might not have been so good—given her dead father, it's hard to imagine how good Gianna's childhood could have been without Lilith.

"So...it was Lilith's existence that gave Gianna a false hope, making her so yearn to return to that time," Mostima thought to herself. "Perhaps sometimes, false hope...is more cruel than reality..."

Zhu Yufeng remained silent. What he wanted to know was why Mostima possessed the so-called memory of the previous world. According to Mostima's description, that so-called "previous world" should be the original world before he transmigrated. However, this was strange because if what Mostima said was true, it meant that when he transmigrated, this world had already reset its timeline once.

In other words, there is a possibility that a spacetime reset may be unrelated to one's own powers.

After Mostima confessed this to her, Vill-V, who was eavesdropping, also heard it, which undoubtedly increased her workload with Mobius.

The reason he was accused of eavesdropping was probably because he had gotten used to the fact that Vill-V had planted listening devices on him. Vill-V had always been very good at keeping quiet, and most of the time she acted as if nothing was happening. As a result, Vill-V had overheard his conversation with Aponia, and he only remembered about it afterward, so he had to go find Vill-V again.

Only on that one occasion did he fail to discern which of the Vill-V appeared before him at that moment.

Alone in the Spiral Workshop, Vill-V was adjusting the Star Sea Harmony. Apart from not being able to identify which Vill-V it was, Zhu Yufeng could tell that Vill-V had indeed heard his conversation with Aponia.

After a period of silence between the two, Vill-V handed herself a pocket watch.

Zhu Yufeng immediately recognized that the pocket watch was the first thing that Vill-V had repaired on her own, which was why she always kept it with her.

"Do you know the meaning of the inscription '[Spiral]', Yu Feng?" Vill-V asked.

"Using reality to create illusion, and using contradiction to reverse meaning," Zhu Yufeng said, "That is the inscription of the Spiral."

"Yes, but not entirely." Vill-V lowered her eyes, a slight smile playing on her lips. "From opposition to unity, I dismantled myself, only to return to my original self. I am the most insecure genius, and also the most arrogant fool. I can be insecure, feeling utterly worthless, or arrogant... believing I can conquer fate. I can repair this pocket watch from scratch, and I can and must do the same to save someone from the mire of fate."

Hmm? So, at this moment, Vill-V's personality has become unified?

"We've always believed we could create a miracle, and everyone else thought so too." Vill-V looked into Zhu Yufeng's eyes and said, "Since you could rewrite your destiny once for us, why can't we rewrite yours again? Miracles are always in the hands of humankind, aren't they?"

"But miracles don't always happen, and we always have to be prepared for the worst," Zhu Yufeng said. "As Conductor say, every plan must have a backup plan, and the backup plan must have a backup plan of the backup plan."

"Yes... that's true." Vill-V shifted her gaze to the Ninth Divine Key. "So... that's why I'm both arrogant and insecure... You knew this about me, which is why you've always allowed us to put the listening device on you, right? Because of my arrogance, I'll challenge fate and create miracles; because of my insecurity, I'll keep everything buried in my heart."

Zhu Yufeng remained silent.

"By the way, have you ever thought about the meaning behind the [Divine Shadow] inscription that Elysia gave you when she established the Fourteen Schicksal?" Vill-V asked again.

"What does the inscription '[Divine Shadow]' mean...?" Zhu Yufeng paused for a moment, then said, "In my personal understanding, it means to devour the shadows of the gods and ascend to the throne of the gods."

"Do you still think that way the Present?" Vill-V asked.

Zhu Yufeng lowered his eyes and remained silent. At the time, he hadn't really thought much about his own imprint. He had only briefly understood it and hadn't paid much attention to it. Although he had asked Elysia after the re-imprint, she told him to think for himself and that even if he had an answer, he didn't need to rush to tell her. She would choose a suitable time to discuss the "answer" with him.

When Vill-V asked him that question, he was at a loss for words, and he didn't know if what he was thinking was the same as what Elysia was thinking.

Before he could speak, Vill-V spoke first, "Regarding the answer to this question... let's talk about it later. At least from my perspective, you've never really known yourself."

Zhu Yufeng: "..."

Well... you don't have to say that about me, do you?

"Just like you told Aponia, you wanted Aponia to keep it a secret and not let anyone else know. But for me, this was something I expected to happen, so... I'm probably the one who was most prepared," Vill-V said with a wry smile. "So, I won't tell anyone else about this, to avoid putting too much psychological pressure on others, especially Elysia ... She's probably the one who's least able to accept that outcome the Present."

"Feel sorry..."

"There's no need to apologize. I'm well aware of what's going on." Vill-V sighed softly and walked up to Zhu Yufeng, saying, "After all... I also truly faced the Finality, and after the War of Finality, it was me who took Finality Mei's responsibility and analyzed the data from that battle..."

At that time, Mobius was completely inactive, locking herself in the laboratory and doing nothing. Although she eventually tried to do something, before entering the hibernation pod, only Vill-V was dedicated to analyzing and researching the data from the Finality Flame-Chasers to try and leave behind more information.

Having faced the Finality directly, and even once hovering on the brink of death under Finality attack, Vill-V was well aware of just how terrifying the Finality.

I'm afraid... if we end up going to war with the Finality anyway, it's pretty unrealistic to expect to defeat the Finality head-on. And a miracle might not be about defeating the Finality, but about the place where the Finality born— the Cocoon of Finality.

In other words, the key to saving humanity and transcending the Finality is not the Herrscher of Finality, but the Cocoon of Finality.

That might be their only chance to seize a miracle.

Vill-V reached out and hugged Zhu Yufeng, whispering, "You need Zhiyu, or you should always have known Zhiyu. To us, you are an indispensable person... So, we will do our best to save you in this future."

Then, in an even softer voice, he muttered, "Don't always think that only Fallen Angel are your family..."

Zhu Yufeng smiled helplessly and could only say, "That's just a metaphor. Whether it's Fallen Angel or Flame-Chasers, they are both indispensable to me."

In the end Vill-V still forced herself to keep the pocket watch, saying that since Elysia had made a promise to save each other, she could use it as a token to prove to Alicia that she would also save her.

"Suddenly, I felt that I absolutely couldn't die..." Zhu Yufeng thought bitterly to himself, "For everyone's sake..."

But just as Vill-V said, as someone who directly confronts the Finality, she can more intuitively perceive the power of the Finality than Kevin and the others. If her initial feeling was correct... the Finality might truly possess some kind of immortality-like buff.

Therefore, the key to breaking the deadlock may truly lie in that Cocoon of Finality.

That said, if the Finality, it's similar to an immortality buff. How would the current version of the game fight the Finality the World? Is Kiana herself the Finality, and if she chooses to create an immortal world, then the world and the world...?

So, the Present considered a half-baked Finality? If I am the one who ends up Finality, then wouldn't I be able to choose not to destroy the world and then let the world and the world be destroyed?

Tsk... Suddenly I really want to put myself on Mobius's operating table for a proper dissection... Anyway, I've been on Mobius's operating table quite a few times in my past life, so in terms of understanding myself, physically speaking, Mobius probably understands me much better than Lilith...

Well, after we've dealt with Gianna's situation, let's go to the Mobius Lab.

"And saying I don't know myself... I know myself too well, that's why I have these thoughts..." Zhu Yufeng thought to himself, "What's the meaning of the [Divine Shadow] Inscription..."

Before becoming [God Shadow] Flame-Chasers, he was first [Li Ai] Fallen Angel. Elysia must have been very clear about the meaning of Lilith taking Li Ai's name. And after that, God Shadow is also quite obvious.