Chapter 164

"I support your decision, but it would feel strange to do nothing."

Eden's expression was somewhat strange. "Is it really a good idea to leave everything to Ai Yue?"

"During the time I spent with Ai Yue, I figured out something."

Aponia said, "When you're unsure of the consequences of what you're doing, it might be best to leave it to someone more capable and do nothing yourself, because you can't be sure you won't cause more trouble for others."

"That's also because of Doctor Ai Yue's presence,"

Eden couldn't help but laugh, but she quickly realized a problem, "But then again, if Doctor Ai Yue isn't the hope left by the previous civilization for future generations, then who is he?"

The main reason Eden regards Ai Yue as the so-called shooting star in the mural is that this can explain many inexplicable mysteries surrounding Ai Yue. For example, why he can possess intelligence far beyond the limits of ordinary people's imagination, leading the entire civilization by more than one era, and why he can regain his will under the control of the so-called Finality, turning from Herrscher returning to humanity.

These things have clearly surpassed human limits and reached an inconceivable level. Although no one has said it openly, the consensus has long been reached that "Doctor Ai Yue is a superman."

If Ai Yue himself did not inherit any knowledge or anything else from the previous civilization, then Eden always felt that Ai Yue's existence might be even more terrifying than that so-called "Finality".

"I don't know who Ai Yue really is, but I can confirm that he has always stood on the side of humanity."

Aponia said, "Perhaps he will reach heights far exceeding the Finality, but in any case, it's a good thing for humanity, isn't it?"

"Of course, I have never doubted that."

Eden said with a smile, "Do you know that the Moth to Fire once conducted a theoretical simulation, which is to see what kind of situation humanity will face after the Eleventh Herrscher, excluding the influence of Doctor Ai Yue."

"There's such a thing? I didn't even know."

Aponia stopped in her tracks. "What was the result?"

The result can only be described as 'disastrous'.

Recalling the conclusion he had seen, Eden couldn't help but sigh, "Without Doctor Ai Yue, even in the most optimistic scenario, we would lose the entire Mu Continent and two-thirds of the world's population. In the most pessimistic scenario, human civilization might not even survive Finality, and would be destroyed by the internal strife instigated by the Tenth Herrscher."

The two exchanged a glance, then breathed a sigh of relief.

"Luckily, Ai Yue is here."

"Yes."

Chapter Thirty-Seven: The Happy Times are Coming to an End.

When Eden and Aponia found Ai Yue, he was in the laboratory researching how to optimize the formula and production process of the third-generation Soul Steel. Upon hearing the news brought by the two men, as well as the contents of the last mural that had been deliberately hidden, Ai Yue couldn't help but show interest.

"No wonder I always felt that the content of the mural was incomplete; it turns out you hid it."

After receiving the information about the murals, Ai Yue nodded. "However, you did the right thing. Whether the information is true or false, once it spreads, it will inevitably cause panic."

The fact that Herrscher is hidden among the crowd, even if it only circulates within the Moth to Fire, will cause a huge reaction. As an organization that has been fighting on the front lines against Herrscher for a long time, the attitude of the Moth to Fire towards Herrscher is imaginable, not to mention what the consequences would be if the United Earth Government or ordinary people knew about it.

"Therefore, we intend to hand over the responsibility of handling this matter to you, Doctor Ai Yue."

Eden smiled and said, "Also, I'd like to hear your opinion—do you think this Herrscher really exists? If it does, what state would it be in now?"

"Of course she exists,"

Without hesitation, Ai Yue said directly, "As for the current situation... I suppose they are using their own methods to fight against the Honkai and contribute to human civilization."

Eden and Aponia exchanged a glance, Aponia nodded at her, and then the two of them made an excuse to leave the laboratory.

"How about it?"

After they had walked some distance from the lab, Eden finally spoke, asking, "Did you figure something out?"

"Ai Yue probably knows more information than we imagine."

Aponia frowned slightly, as if savoring something. "His words just now were clearly completely different from what we described in our discussion. If we were discussing a theoretically possible figure, then Ai Yue's attitude seemed to be... as if he knew this person."

"Are you saying he already knew the identity of this unknown Herrscher, and even had contact with Him?"

Even Eden, who usually appears quite composed, couldn't help but widen his eyes upon hearing this analysis. "But Doctor Ai Yue's social circle is... cough, I mean his circle of friends isn't very large, so if it's someone he knows, doesn't that mean we might also know them?"

"In fact, I already have someone I suspect in this matter."

Aponia then said something that made Eden even more unsettled, "That's Elysia."

"Elysia? That's impossible!"

Eden stopped in his tracks, then couldn't help but raise his voice eight octaves, "Why are you only telling me now, and on what grounds did you suspect her?"

Elysia is more than just a friend to Eden. She was attacked by the Seventh Herrscher during a performance in Australia and almost lost her life. Even though Hua saved her life, she lived in psychological trauma for a long time due to her inner fear and other reasons.

During that time, it was Elysia who accompanied her, comforting her with her warm soul, which gradually helped her to recover. Therefore, for Eden, Elysia's position in her heart had long surpassed that of a so-called friend. Now, hearing Aponia's words, she couldn't help but feel a little excited.

"Calm down, Eden."

Seeing the usually elegant songstress now displaying a somewhat flustered demeanor, Aponia couldn't help but soothe her emotions. "I actually wanted to tell you a long time ago, but because you were suspicious of Ai Yue at the time, I was worried that if I said such thoughts, you would think that I was trying to shift the blame, so I didn't tell you."

"But please recall the consensus we reached earlier—since we have already confirmed that this unknown Herrscher has no malicious intent, so what if she is Elysia? Does being Herrscher mean she is no longer our friend?"

"Sorry, I did get a little excited."

As Aponia spoke, Eden finally calmed down, "Perhaps I received too much information today, and I seem to have become... too impetuous."

You'll get used to it.

Aponia expressed her understanding, saying, "I've had similar experiences before."

When she first met Ai Yue, she had also experienced having her values repeatedly shattered and being trampled on in a single day, so she could naturally understand Eden's current emotions.

"So, what are your reasons for suspecting Elysia?"

After calming down, Eden brought up his earlier doubts again, "Is there anything suspicious about Elysia?"

"The simplest and most basic point was reminded to me by you, Eden."

Aponia said, "In this world, there are only two people in my field of vision who are not 'connected by fate.' One is Ai Yue, and guess who the other is?"

"Then it seems there's no need to guess anymore."

Eden gave a wry smile. "This is indeed a powerful and irrefutable piece of evidence."

"Furthermore, Elysia and Ai Yue's situations are not the same,"

Aponia continued, "Not only does Ai Yue not have the threads of fate himself, but the threads of fate of those who come into contact with him will also gradually fade or even disappear. However, this is not the case with Elysia. It seems that she can only ensure that she is not bound by the threads of fate."

"If that's the case, then Elysia does seem more like that unknown Herrscher."

Once Eden calmed down, he began to analyze the situation rationally. "If the Herrscher's powers all come from the Finality, then their power obviously cannot be greater than the Finality. The fact that Elysia can remain unaffected means that she is not bound by fate, but the fact that she cannot affect the fate of others means that she is still under the influence of the Finality's power."

"Besides that, there is other evidence, but it's all trivial."

When talking about this, Aponia's expression became somewhat subtle, as if she didn't want to recall the past. "I once... investigated Elysia's identity for certain purposes, but her information was basically altered."

"She hid her past?"

Eden frowned. "That's true. If Elysia really is Herrscher and she really did fall from the sky, then her identity probably can't withstand close scrutiny. Moreover, her physical data and other information would likely reveal some clues."

At this point, Eden couldn't help but show a subtle expression. "But if you say that Elysia is Herrscher, I still find it a little hard to believe."

"This is just my personal speculation; perhaps the truth is not like that?"

Aponia shook her head slightly, then gave a faint smile. "However, in this way, I'm sure you won't tell anyone about this, right?"

"I wouldn't have done that anyway,"

Eden gave a somewhat complicated smile. "However, I can understand how you felt before, Nia."

It's really painful to feel the urge to silence everyone who knows about something that someone you care about seems to be hiding something terrible.

"So, what do you plan to do?"

Aponia continued, "Although this matter has been handed over to Ai Yue to handle, I doubt you'll choose to let it go so easily, will you?"

"Of course not. Doctor Ai Yue has things he can do, and we naturally have things we can do as well."

Since Elysia was involved, Eden's attitude hardened. "If your guess is true, then we must be prepared to prevent Elysia from being hurt by the truth."

Although these were just guesses between the two of them, when Aponia said, "Elysia also has no threads of fate," Eden realized that the truth was probably true—and if that was the case, then they should certainly be prepared.

Eden knew very well that this matter might be concealed for a while, but it couldn't be concealed forever, because the Herrscher was always a problem that humanity had to face. Even if this Herrscher was really on humanity's side, things wouldn't be resolved peacefully.

For humans, only dead Herrscher are good Herrscher, so Eden's main task is to ensure that Elysia is not harmed in this turmoil.

"I will help you, Eden."

Aponia spoke softly, trying to soothe Eden's turbulent emotions, "Elysia is also a friend of mine and Ai Yue's, so don't worry too much."

"What are you worried about?"

Just then, a somewhat abrupt voice suddenly reached their ears. A smiling Mobius emerged from the laboratory at some point, clearly having caught some key words from their conversation. "What's wrong with Elysia?"

"What to do?"

Aponia quickly used telepathy to ask Eden, "Should we try to gloss over this, or..."

"Dr. Mobius went into the water."

Eden responded without hesitation, "Don't forget, Dr. Mobius performed Elysia's Fused Warrior surgery. Dr. Mobius probably knows more about Elysia than we do."

In a mere instant, the two made a decision. By the time Mobius sensed something was amiss, Eden and Aponia had already flanked her from both sides.

"Dr. Mobius,"

Aponia, a smile on her face, approached silently. "We have some questions we'd like to ask you about Elysia..."

"I didn't expect you to be exposed here, Elysia."

Inside the Soulium Laboratory, Ai Yue stared at the mural photograph before him, then turned it off. "However, this seems to explain a lot of things."

When Ai Yue saw the content of the mural and Aponia's interpretation, he knew that Elysia's identity could hardly be hidden any longer. It was speculated that the content of the mural was probably not a secret among the higher-ups of the Moth to Fire, but no one had yet connected it with Elysia.

But Aponia is different. She holds the most crucial evidence that proves Elysia is problematic. Therefore, once the other party sees this mural, many things will be connected. The only fortunate thing is that Aponia and Eden obviously don't need to leak this information, so the matter is not too difficult to resolve.

On the contrary, the appearance of this mural explained some of Ai Yue's doubts.

Why was Elysia born in this generation? If this is some kind of mechanism of the Cocoon of Finality, then didn't previous civilizations trigger it?

Now the answer to this question has been found, "Elysia" is not a loophole in the Cocoon of Finality, but a glimmer of hope left for future generations by a past civilization in its struggle.

Her existence, like the later "Kaslana family," as well as things like Stigmata and Divine Keys, represents the efforts of civilizations in the cycle of reincarnation to one day defeat the Honkai.

Elysia might even be a survivor spanning two civilizations, like Kevin and Dr. Mei's child. She was somehow sent into the Cocoon of Finality, and once this generation of humans triggers the trial of the Cocoon of Finality, she will descend upon the world as the first Herrscher.

If that's the case, then the power that Elysia possesses might be the key to breaking the deadlock, but...

As Ai Yue pondered, a subtle emotion crept into his mind—if his memory served him right, it seemed that the original storyline had never specifically described what powers Elysia possessed.

However, if we change our perspective and look at this matter from the viewpoint of previous civilizations, if they really had the ability to make one of the Herrscher's powers their own, then the power they would choose would definitely be the most crucial one.

The only clue Ai Yue can confirm at present is that the power of this authority is enough to allow humanity to break free from the "threads of fate" and become a race that can truly control the destiny of its own civilization.

However, such clues were still too vague, and even Ai Yue felt a bit at a loss.

Unfortunately, Elysia is not able to exert the power of her own abilities at present. To reach that level, she must undergo "ascension." However, for some selfish reasons, Ai Yue still does not want Elysia to do such a thing.

What he wanted was the ultimate happy ending. Although he couldn't achieve a complete game Honkai without any casualties, he at least wanted to ensure that none of the main characters were missing.

As the most important character, Ai Yue's victory would be flawed if Elysia were gone. From both a personal emotional and other perspectives, Ai Yue could not allow such a thing to happen.

Composing himself, Ai Yue couldn't help but look out the window. From this angle, he could vaguely see the outline of Earth. The stark contrast between the vibrant Earth and the barren Moon made Ai Yue feel an urge to go back.

It seems it's time to end this journey.

Chapter Thirty-Eight: It's time to live a second life.

Twelve hours later, Ai Yue returned to the Star of Light experimental base in Australia.

"Wow, I'm finally back!"

As soon as Pardofelis landed, she excitedly jumped onto an office chair not far away and slid quite a distance on it. "Wow, I didn't feel anything before, but now that I look around, even though it's cold here, it really is home."

"We weren't actually gone for very long on this trip."

Ai Yue glanced at the date and gave a helpless smile. "It's been less than ten days at most. What's with you looking like you've been gone for ages?"

"Although I haven't been away for long, this period of time has been wonderful, so it feels like it has been a long time!"

Pardofelis said confidently, "What was that phrase again? 'A day feels like a year'?"

"That's not how you use the word 'time seems to drag on,' Miss Pardofelis."

The Armed Doll beside them floated over and solemnly reminded them, "Although I haven't found a word that can accurately describe this feeling, 'a day feels like three autumns' is obviously more appropriate."

"I don't understand, but thank you anyway, Number Two."