Chapter 113

"It's alright, thank you anyway, Aponia."

Elysia shook her head, clearly having anticipated this. "However, if even Aponia can't sense anything unusual, then it seems we really can't detect anything."

Have you asked Dr. Su?

Aponia asked, "In the realm of the mind, Dr. Su's current strength is also extraordinary."

"I'd like to, but..."

Elysia glanced at Ai Yue and said with a helpless expression, "We can't get in touch with Su at all now."

"Ah, I've banished him to the moon."

Ai Yue scratched his head. "In short, let's give it a try first."

The examination process will not be described in detail, and the results were as expected: completely normal, with no problems found whatsoever.

While Elysia was drawing her dream, the other three people huddled together to discuss it.

"How about we install a real-time monitoring device to record the changes in her mental wave frequency when she falls asleep?"

Mobius suggested, then dismissed the idea, "No, data alone can't reflect the real situation. It would be great if someone could directly enter her dream."

"I can give it a try."

Aponia said, "However, I cannot be sure what the consequences of such behavior will be."

"No, we can't take risks when the risks are unclear."

Ai Yue shook his head. "No matter which one of you gets into trouble, I can't afford the consequences."

"I'm done drawing!"

Just then, Elysia suddenly held out a piece of paper to the three of them, "Take a look, how's my skill?"

Ai Yue looked at the picture on the paper, and was about to give a perfunctory reply, but suddenly fell silent.

Because the content of this picture seems... somewhat familiar.

72

Chapter 72 The Idol You Chose.

The image drawn by Elysia is somewhat complex, but the brushstrokes are simple and smooth, and it is clear that there are basically no traces of modification or smudging. This is enough to prove that the image has indeed been imprinted in her mind, which is why she was able to reproduce it so quickly.

At the same time, it also proves from another angle that her claim that her painting skills are not low is not entirely boastful.

The content shown above also made several people fall into deep thought.

It was a simple landscape painting, without any human figures, but the scenery in it didn't seem like a scene that could appear in reality.

The main subject of the image is a floating island that occupies almost half of the space. It doesn't look very big and is covered with various unidentifiable fragments and debris. Although it's impossible to tell what they were originally, it's clear that there were traces of intelligent life that once lived there.

Of course, this information alone is not enough to conclude that "the island is floating in the air." What truly confirms this is the view outside the island.

Beyond the islands, there are even more islands.

Elysia cleverly used shadows and island outlines to depict the differences in their heights. As a result, Ai Yue and the others could see that some islands were high in the sky, with only the cone-shaped outlines of their lower ends visible, while other islands were much lower than the floating islands in the main part of the picture. Therefore, from this perspective, only a flat plane could be seen.

If these islands were all islands, then there would naturally be no difference in elevation between them, and as we all know, floating islands do not exist in reality.

"This looks a lot like the Domination Domain of the Herrscher of Domination,"

Mobius frowned, glanced at Aponia, and asked, "What do you think?"

Aponia didn't speak, she just nodded.

As participants in the campaign against the Herrscher of Domination, the three women present were clearly deeply impressed by the scene that seemed straight out of a fantasy story, and it was only in that place that they had ever seen a floating island.

"So, could it be related to the Herrscher of Domination?"

After obtaining Aponia's consent, Mobius looked at Elysia again, "Could it be that there are survivors among them? But even so, why did you dream about it?"

"I just don't understand, that's why I'm seeking help,"

Elysia shrugged, indicating that she knew nothing. "However, May believes that this has nothing to do with the Herrscher of Domination."

Now, Elysia isn't stupid either; her first suspect is the Herrscher of Domination.

What did she say?

Mobius pressed on with the question.

"First and foremost, it's my own opinion,"

Elysia said, "This dream didn't appear immediately after that battle, but several days later. If it were truly related to the Herrscher of Domination, there shouldn't be such a gap."

"Moreover, it is impossible for any remaining Herrscher of Domination to exist in this world."

Ai Yue picked up the conversation, "I've already screened the world more than once. Unless he lives more than a thousand meters underground or simply launches himself into outer space, there's no way he wouldn't be discovered."

"That's what May said too,"

Elysia nodded. "And she even designed a room for me to stay in that could isolate me from external mental interference, but it still couldn't stop the dreams from appearing, so we can basically rule out that possibility."

"I was just about to bring up this plan, but it seems unnecessary now,"

Mobius pursed his lips. "Ai Yue, what do you think?"

"Besides having this recurring dream, is there anything else that has affected you?"

Ai Yue looked at Elysia, "For example, could this dream cause insomnia, lethargy, or even physiological abnormalities?"

"No, not at all."

Elysia thought about it carefully for a moment, then shook her head. "So, apart from that, it has absolutely no impact? Does that mean we can just ignore it?"

"Ignoring it is definitely not an option. The absence of any abnormality is the biggest abnormality. This phenomenon could not have appeared out of thin air."

Ai Yue shook his head. "But right now we really lack a starting point. Even if we want to solve the problem, we don't know where to begin."

"Anyway, this matter definitely can't be resolved in a short time."

Mobius made his judgment, "Let's stay here, at least for a while, and observe..."

She stopped talking halfway through, a somewhat troubled expression on her face—because she suddenly remembered that she still had the "Stigmata Project" to deal with.

In this situation, it is difficult to balance both, especially since Elysia, as one of humanity's top combat forces, has her own territory to manage and cannot stay here indefinitely.

"It's alright. Since there haven't been any abnormalities yet, it means the situation isn't serious."

The understanding Elysia naturally noticed Mobius's predicament and offered, "Besides, I can't stay here. There are still many things I need to take care of at the base."

At this point, she glanced at the screen again. "You know, someone proposed the 'Stage Plan' and then washed their hands of it. Now, I'm completely in charge of this!"

Ai Yue said without any remorse, "Isn't this giving you a stage to showcase yourself? Besides, hasn't Eden already gone to assist you?"

After the United Earth Government theme song project was over, Eden volunteered to take on the follow-up work on the "Stage Plan." For her, this project could not only expand the influence of the Moth to Fire, but also help more people. Moreover, it was something she did best, so there was no reason for her to pass it up.

"Speaking of which, there's something you know."

Elysia suddenly turned serious as she said this, "Eden has decided to become Fused Warrior."

"Ah?"

The first to react was Mobius, "And what is she after this?"

"It's for the Fused Warrior, isn't it?"

As a member of the women's party, Aponia knows more about Eden than Mobius. "The Fused Warrior, although they are the most powerful force protecting the world, are still difficult to be accepted by the world because of our special circumstances."

As beings fused with Honkai Beast cells, the identity of the Fused Warrior caused a huge uproar as soon as it was revealed. Although after investigation, many people were not opposed to it, there were always some stubborn people who found it hard to accept.

Moreover, accepting this situation is one thing, but making contact with the Fused Warrior is another. Although the results of the opinion polls seem very harmonious, the feedback from the Fused Warrior during their missions is not satisfactory.

While Prometheus could control public opinion, influencing people's hearts was far too difficult.

It's important to understand that this was achieved through the "Divine Tone Project," which mitigated the conflict and tensions as much as possible. Without prior preparation, ordinary people today might not be so quick to accept the existence of Fused Warrior, let alone have the Moth to Fire recruit them around the world.

"Eden said he wanted to use this method to become a bridge between Fused Warrior and ordinary people."

Elysia also seemed somewhat helpless. "She also said that as a 'singer,' she could no longer dispel the gloom in people's hearts, so she could only become a new light in other ways..."

In the end, even the usually cheerful and optimistic Elysia couldn't help but sigh, "I've been trying to persuade her for a long time, but Eden's determination is unwavering, and I can't change her mind no matter what I do, so I had no choice but to come to you."

"I know about this,"

Ai Yue nodded. "I'll be the one to perform the surgery on her."

"Ah?"

Now it was Elysia's turn to be stunned. "You, didn't you try to persuade her?"

"What's the point of trying to persuade them? Are you suggesting that the Fused Warrior is the one who caused this situation?"

Ai Yue asked in surprise, "The real ones who are wrong are those guys who can't accept Fused Warrior. They should be the ones trying to persuade them."

"Well... what you said makes sense,"

Elysia hesitated, unable to find a rebuttal. "But Eden had absolutely no reason to do that, did he?"

"She really didn't need to, just as you didn't need to fight for humanity, and Mobius didn't need to experiment on himself in pursuit of the possibility of evolution."

Ai Yue smiled and said, "But you still made this choice, didn't you? As her friend, as long as she doesn't push herself to the brink, I will support her decision."

"I see, that's what you're thinking."

Elysia blinked and smiled. "I understand. Then I'll entrust my good Eden to you, okay?"

"You can rest assured that I'll handle things."

Ai Yue answered without hesitation, "There will be absolutely no risk whatsoever."

"That would be the best, of course."

Elysia nodded, then a subtle expression appeared on her face. "But I hope you can be like that in everything you do."

Her tone was somewhat strange, as if she meant something, which made Ai Yue's heart tighten.

Could it be that Elysia figured it out?

After Elysia left, Ai Yue went alone to the independent laboratory that had not been used for a long time.

Here, there is only one huge piece of equipment.

Elysia and the others were actually half right. The scene she dreamed of did indeed come from the Domination Domain, but it was not the original Domination Domain created by the Herrscher, but simulated Domination Domain created by Ai Yue using the device in front of him.

Ai Yue was so certain because he saw traces of himself in Elysia's drawing—a five-pointed star he had pieced together from the debris on the floating island when he tried to interfere with the simulated Domination Domain. However, perhaps because Elysia's dream was not clear enough, she drew it as a whole.

But in any case, there was no reason for Elysia to know about this.

Ai Yue did not tell anyone about this project because it was not mature and had no practical value. More importantly, after Ai Yue used it for the last time, a mysterious event occurred in which "the simulated Domination Domain lasted for five more seconds for unknown reasons".

Prometheus never fully investigated this matter, and out of caution, Ai Yue completely sealed it off, never activating it again and cutting off all of the machine's power sources.

As it turns out, such caution was necessary, but since he had already gone to such lengths, why could Elysia still dream of those scenes?

Surely this thing couldn't have actually connected to the Cocoon of Finality during its last startup, could it?

Even so, why does it continue to affect Elysia's dreams?

"Rose, connect to this device and retrieve its usage history."

After thinking for a moment, Ai Yue temporarily turned on the power to the device so that Prometheus could check the data inside, "And also retrieve the results of your last 12-hour self-test."

To prevent Prometheus from being interfered with, Ai Yue even used a separate extension. This Prometheus clone was relatively outdated and did not connect with the main body; it operated as an independent Artificial Intelligence.

"Connecting, please wait."

The dull voice characteristic of Prometheus in his early days reached Ai Yue's ears. "All operations are complete."

Ai Yue opened the device's control panel and began browsing the data within.

However, judging from the data alone, there is absolutely nothing unusual. Even Prometheus's 12-hour self-inspection report did not contain the slightest problem.

Does this mean that to figure out what's going on, we have to restart it and then infiltrate it?

Ai Yue placed his hand on the machine and unconsciously began to tap it.

Recalling Elysia's words, he finally gave up on this somewhat risky idea—at least, not now.

If there is any problem with this, or if it can be used as a kind of "trap," then he must arrange everything in advance.

Ai Yue disconnected the power, quickly dealt with the equipment, and then turned to walk out the door. Before leaving, he took one last look at the huge, now silent hibernation pod.

The equipment was unchanged from before, but in Ai Yue's eyes, it seemed to exude a strange aura.