Chapter 193

Thus, this disaster, which had the most severe impact on human civilization, has finally come to an official end.

A few days after the root server was successfully started, the headquarters of the Moth to Fire finally returned to normal operation. Mobius returned to her First Research Institute with her assistant, Aponia returned to the Morning Sun Academy to handle her work, and Pardofelis was finally able to rest and resume her lazy life.

As one of the first Fused Warrior to be treated, the shortage of manpower during this period exhausted her. According to the girl herself, she needed to sleep for at least three days and three nights to recover.

Meanwhile, Su, far away on the moon, finally re-established contact with Earth.

"Is it finally over? That's great."

After listening to Dr. Mei's account, Su on the screen breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm sorry, such a big incident, and I couldn't help at all."

"The best news is that you're alright,"

Ai Yue said with a smile, "Fortunately, the Herrscher of Aberration hasn't had time to spread and infect through the internet, otherwise you might have been the one who suffered the most."

If Su really did mutate on the moon, then even Aponia would be powerless to help, and it would probably be difficult for him to survive until Ai Yue returned.

However, considering that he himself is also a top-tier Mental Perception Fused Warrior, there might still be a glimmer of hope.

"That's really an exaggeration,"

Upon hearing Ai Yue's description, Su Du couldn't help but open his eyes. "However, can the power of the Herrscher of Aberration really spread through the network?"

"Although it is somewhat difficult, it is theoretically possible."

Ai Yue nodded. "However, the idea of it spreading to the moon is just a joke. The power of distortion is greatly weakened in the cosmic environment and does not have the ability to spread outside the atmosphere."

"Let's talk about something lighter instead of these things."

Dr. Mei interrupted the two's discussion about the aberrant powers, "Su, do you want to come down? Headquarters is hosting a party tonight as usual, Kevin misses you too."

"I won't go. The lab is entering a critical period and can't do without me."

Su hesitated for a moment, then shook her head in the end. "But now that the network latency has been greatly reduced, perhaps you could do a live stream for me?"

With the new version of the Internet and the support of AI, even the latency of Earth-Moon communication has been reduced to a level that is difficult to perceive. In addition, the cost has been optimized, so Earth-Moon communication can be made a regular occurrence, instead of having to communicate only once every certain period of time as before.

"Okay, then I'll leave the specifics to Kevin."

Dr. Mei nodded. "Is there anything else?"

"There's nothing else for now, just the supplies we mentioned before. They need to be sent over quickly."

Su emphasized, "Food and such are secondary; the main thing is that the experimental equipment needs repair and replenishment."

"Don't worry, it's all arranged."

Ai Yue pushed up his glasses. "Just go to the Teleportation Gate to sign for it in twenty minutes."

No wonder you were in such a hurry.

After ending communication with the lunar base, Ai Yue looked at Dr. Mei again, "Looks like you're in a hurry to get to the party tonight?"

"After all, there's still a lot of work to do."

Dr. Mei looked at the pile of documents on the table and couldn't help but frown. "Sigh, I should have postponed the party even further."

Although the disaster caused by the Herrscher of Aberration has ended, with the internet restarting, the truly busy time has just begun—reports from all over the world related to Honkai are being gathered at the Moth to Fire headquarters via the network system. While the United Earth Government can handle the vast majority of them, the rest will keep Dr. Mei busy.

"That's what Ai suggested back then, but unfortunately, no one was really keen on it."

Ai Yue shook his head. "Everyone has been busy for so long. If you don't give them a chance to relax, they'll go stir-crazy."

"So now I have to get to work,"

Looking at Ai Yue's relaxed demeanor, Dr. Mei couldn't help but push up his glasses. "Why don't you help me share some of the burden?"

"Forget it, I probably have just as much work to do as you do."

Ai Yue quickly walked towards the door, "Since there's still some time before the party, I'll go back and get busy."

As the main battlefield for defeating the Herrscher of Aberration, the Star of Light Experiment Base in Ai Yue was the most severely damaged place. Not only were more than 80% of the electronic equipment inside destroyed, but even the experimental equipment and warehouses were affected, so much so that it took more than a month to complete the repairs.

Holding the report Su sent back from the moon, Ai Yue fell into deep thought.

Of these reports, the most important is naturally the data on the unknown energy sample. After all, Ai Yue has not had time to study this thing during this period, so the one that is progressing the fastest is the lunar research base that has not been affected.

According to Su's summary report, the unknown energy sample did indeed exhibit characteristics of Honkai Energy after decaying, which means that it was indeed some kind of energy higher than Honkai Energy.

But this is not the most crucial part of the report. The most crucial part is that, under Su's operation, this unknown energy sample actually exhibited a strange and special phenomenon: it absorbed Honkai Energy and transformed back into this special energy.

However, compared to decay, this phenomenon, which Su called "reverse current," is much more significant.

During that operation, almost half of the Honkai Energy in the research base was completely absorbed by this unknown energy sample, resulting in the destruction of many experimental devices. However, such a huge amount of energy only increased the special energy contained within the unknown energy sample by less than half a unit.

According to Su's statistics, the Honkai Energy consumed in this operation could supply a Fortress City with energy for half a month. However, such a huge amount of energy only yielded such a small result. If the losses in between were not too exaggerated, then it can only mean that this special energy Honkai Energy.

This is also why Su is so eager to replenish supplies. Without the relevant experimental equipment and Honkai Energy Crystal, he cannot repeat that special operation—although, according to Su, he hasn't found the real reason that caused this phenomenon yet.

Ai Yue returned to the Star of Light and performed the same operation as Su described, but the unknown energy sample he had preserved did not experience a "reverse flow" phenomenon, which was obviously not so easy to trigger.

To avoid waste, Ai Yue temporarily stopped trying to repeat the operation and instead started virtual modeling and input, trying to find out the truth through simulation experiments.

However, another problem arose during the data entry process—although Ai Yue had entered various detailed data of the unknown energy sample, he was unable to generate the corresponding virtual model.

This indicates that Ai Yue has not yet fully grasped all the information about the unknown energy sample, and the fact that the material names in the system have not yet changed also silently confirms this.

So how can we find out what this thing really is?

Looking at the energy crystals packed in the box, Ai Yue suddenly had a bold idea.

How about I lick it?

Just as Ai Yue was getting restless with his thoughts, a communication interrupted his mind. Seeing the word "Hua" displayed on the screen, Ai Yue could only temporarily put aside the matter of the unknown energy sample.

As soon as the call connected, Hua's impatient voice came through. "Doctor Ai Yue, where are you now?"

"I'm on the Star of Light, what's wrong?"

Sensing the slight anxiety in the other person's tone, Ai Yue couldn't help but become serious. "What's wrong now?"

"Not for now... but I can't get in touch with Elysia."

Hua calmed himself down and then said, "I've asked many people, but I can't get in touch with her, so I was wondering if she might be with you..."

As Hua was speaking, Ai Yue gave Ai Yi the instruction to find Elysia. However, after a short wait, Ai Yi shook her head. "At least within Australia, we haven't found any trace of Elysia."

Ai Yue frowned immediately.

What's going on? Elysia has disappeared?

Chapter 71 Little girl, where are you in such a hurry to go?

Ai Yue had to admit that his heart skipped a beat when he heard the news.

His first thought was the original timeline's plot.

In the original storyline, after the twelfth generation of Herrscher wreaked havoc, humanity was left with only over 30,000 survivors. Almost everyone was completely overwhelmed by this situation, and people began to blame and hate each other. This conflict was about to escalate into mutual attacks.

In this situation, let alone continuing civilization or fighting the impending threat, even if the Honkai does nothing, humanity is very likely to be destroyed by its own hand.

Elysia revealed her identity to change this situation, forcing people to unite at the last moment by becoming an enemy.

Whether this behavior is effective or not, let's put that aside for now—the key point is that we don't need to do it now, right?

Perhaps I'm overthinking it?

Ai Yue calmed down a bit and then began to comfort himself, wondering if he was overthinking things.

However, after calming down, he realized that he hadn't thought too much about it at all.

The fact that Elysia cannot be contacted is suspicious in itself, because Elysia rarely causes trouble for others. If she really has something urgent to do, she will definitely inform people she knows in advance, or at least not leave everyone unable to find her.

Not to mention there's a party tonight—as the most sociable person in the entire Moth to Fire, Elysia would never miss something like this.

Under these circumstances, how could Elysia possibly not be able to find her?

"Doctor Ai Yue?"

Hua's voice brought Ai Yue back to his senses. He gathered his thoughts and asked, "Hua, who knows about this?"

"Uh, I asked a few colleagues at the Shenzhou branch, as well as Miss Eden and the others, and there shouldn't be more than ten people in total."

Hua thought for a moment, then gave his answer, "Doctor Ai Yue, what came to mind?"

"It's nothing, leave this to me, I'll find her."

Ai Yue looked thoughtful. "Until then, let's not spread this matter around."

"I understand. I'll let everyone I asked know."

Hua seemed to realize something and responded cooperatively, only adding at the end, "Doctor Ai Yue, what about Elysia...?"

"Don't worry,"

Ai Yue didn't directly address the other person's question, but simply smiled and said, "I'm here."

After ending the communication, Ai Yue closed his eyes and silently recited Aponia's name in his heart.

The other person's voice quickly appeared in her mind. "I've already heard about it from Eden, but unfortunately, I can't pinpoint her location either."

"Can Elysia evade your telepathic senses?"

Ai Yue frowned subconsciously. "This is really... a bit strange."

Ai Yue wasn't surprised that Elysia could do such a thing. After all, even he couldn't guarantee that he really understood all of Elysia's abilities, so there was nothing strange about it.

The problem is that if Elysia wasn't hiding something from everyone, she wouldn't have needed to be wary of Aponia's telepathy.

"It seems you've realized it too,"

Aponia clearly understood this as well. "I usually contact Elysia this way. The fact that she's doing this now means she doesn't want to be found—is there any news from Ai?"

"It's a bit troublesome,"

Ai Yue glanced at the screen and then shook his head. "Nowadays, because of the Fortress City, not only is the infrastructure not perfect, but the range of observation has also become much smaller. If Elysia runs to some remote wilderness, Ai Yi really has no way to deal with her."

Although that's what they said, since the Shenzhou branch was located in Xuanjing City, the most prosperous city in Shenzhou, Ai Yi still managed to find some clues.

Looking at the vague movement trajectory of Elysia that Ai Yi had compiled, Ai Yue couldn't help but narrow his eyes, thinking of a possibility.

Vladivostok Fortress City located in northeastern Asia, is one of only two Fortress City in the entire Siberia region.

In a corner of this Fortress City, there is a small orphanage. Although there is still a sign for the orphanage hanging at the entrance, there are no children inside. There is only an old woman and a pink-haired girl.

"The weather is lovely today, Mother Celine."

Elysia gazed at the clear sky outside the window. "What would you like to eat tonight? I'll make it for you."

"No need to trouble yourself, you're so busy right now, how could you spend so much time here?"

The old woman smiled and said, "Besides, since I no longer have to take care of those little ones, I've been living a very leisurely life every day. It's just cooking a meal; I don't have to bother anyone else."

As Fortress City expanded globally, they also brought a series of infrastructure projects, including a comprehensive education system that directly connected with the Morning Sun Academy. Thanks to this system, children are living better lives, which is why Celine's orphanage is now childless.

However, this place was preserved so that the children who were raised by Celine could come back to see their mother—including Elysia.

Why do I detect a hint of loneliness in your voice?

Elysia, with a smile, teased the old woman, "You're not used to having so much free time all of a sudden, are you, Mother Celine?"

"It's impossible not to feel lonely,"

Celine smiled and shook her head. "But the children are living such good lives now, I can't just leave them here to keep this old lady company and make her suffer, can I?"

Elysia paused for a moment before saying, "Actually, you could have worked at the school and continued educating the children."

"I know that some people asked me about it back then, but I refused."

Celine looked at Elysia and smiled kindly. "I'm just an old lady from a small town. All I can do is barely feed a few more children and give them a place to live. I really don't have the ability to educate them."

"At school, there will be more outstanding people to guide their growth."

"I can't pretend I didn't hear that, Mother Celine is clearly amazing,"

Elysia leaned on the old woman's shoulder, "Thanks to your care, I have become who I am today."

"With your words, I'm quite content."

Celine narrowed her eyes and placed her hand over the girl's. "So, what brings you to visit me today?"

"Huh?"

Elysia blinked, looking puzzled. "Do I need a reason to come see you?"

"Normally this might not happen, but this time it's definitely different,"