Chapter 287

"Of course, we should follow in his footsteps."

Aponia answered without hesitation, "This body and this heart exist for him, and will naturally perish for him."

Even Mobius was shocked by the willpower revealed in the other party's words. She was stunned for a moment before shaking her head. "It seems that I have lost to you."

She would never do such a thing. If such a situation were to occur, then she would bear the responsibility for Ai Yue's actions.

There are many ways to express feelings.

Aponia smiled. "But feelings are not judged by the method they are expressed."

At this point, Aponia added meaningfully, "Moreover, actions speak louder than words when it comes to a person's attitude."

After saying this, Aponia returned to her room, leaving Mobius standing there alone, looking bewildered.

What do you mean? Are you saying she's not sincere?

Ai Yue had no idea that the people he valued most had conspired to "scheme" against him. At this moment, he had already left the Herrscher Laboratory with Elysia and returned to the space where the Cocoon of Finality was located.

"So what's the purpose of this?"

Elysia stared at the enormous object before her, which exuded a familiar aura, and blinked involuntarily. "Ah, were you just stalling for time? Are you here now to make it a done deal and eliminate Mobius's hopes in one fell swoop?"

Thinking of this, Elysia immediately showed a worried expression. "No, Ai Yue, this will make Mobius sad!"

"I think Mobius is right, you should watch less of that nonsense."

Ai Yue rolled his eyes. "When have I ever broken a promise? The anchoring issue has been resolved, now it's time to see what else you can do."

"I see."

Elysia immediately shut her mouth, but after looking around for a while, she couldn't help but ask, "But what can we do here?"

"There are many more."

Ai Yue smiled, then casually walked into the Cocoon of Finality. "Wait for me outside."

Elysia watched helplessly as Ai Yue's figure disappeared before her eyes. She subconsciously reached out and touched the Cocoon of Finality, but all she felt was a hard, wall-like object.

Obviously, if she did the same thing as Ai Yue, the result would only be that she would run headfirst into it and flatten her nose.

"Honestly, I'm the one who actually came out of here, right?"

Elysia pouted and said helplessly, "Why are you turning me away? That's not fair!"

However, what she didn't know was that the first thing Ai Yue did after obtaining the permissions of the Cocoon of Finality was to delete the connection between Elysia and the Cocoon of Finality. In this way, the last possibility of her returning to the Cocoon of Finality could be completely eliminated, and she could only live as "Elysia" from then on.

So the first thing to do on this trip is to re-establish new permissions for Elysia, otherwise she really won't be able to use the powers of the Cocoon of Finality.

Of course, even if Elysia still had her original permissions, she couldn't actually do what Ai Yue had just done—because on the surface it was Ai Yue who walked into the Cocoon of the Cocoon of Finality, but in reality, the moment the two came into contact, they merged into one through the resonance of their powers.

To accomplish this, not only the Herrscher of Origin, but even the Herrscher of Finality couldn't do it.

Under the effect of resonance, the Power of Light and the power of the Herrscher of the End merged together, which amplified the effect of the power. In this way, Ai Yue was able to temporarily master the ability that he could not use before.

No, to be precise, the power has always been there; Ai Yue simply enhanced his ability to interfere with it through this method.

Even Ai Yue himself hasn't figured out the limits of his abilities in this state yet, but at least he's certain that some things are achievable.

For example, a higher-dimensional "perspective".

In the midst of chaos, Ai Yue "opened" his eyes—the reason for emphasizing the verb is that at this moment he was not even sure what form he was in or where he was.

Perhaps at this moment he has no eyes at all, or even a real physical body, but is a "shadow" that shines into another realm through the amplification of power, able to pass through the constraints of dimensions. But none of that matters, because even as a shadow, he is enough to receive the information that Ai Yue wants.

Therefore, when Ai Yue wanted to "see," he was able to see—the future belonging to the real world.

In theory, since timelines are not actual entities but rather fundamental rules, they cannot be directly observed.

However, just as the human eye cannot see the movement of the wind, but can indirectly observe its various properties through phenomena such as the swaying of branches and the fluttering of flags, the timeline can also be observed simply through the manifestations of the real world.

Unfortunately, even this kind of indirect observation is something Ai Yue could not do in his normal state. That is why he needs to resonate with the Cocoon of Finality to enhance the effect of the powers he possesses.

Ai Yue originally thought so too—but after he actually "opened his eyes," he realized that things were not quite as he had imagined.

What appeared before him was not the fragmented and chaotic Solar System he had imagined, a result of the collapse of the timeline.

And it seems to be... the timeline itself.

Chapter 46 Now that things have come to this, you're not joking, are you?

If we could actually observe the timeline itself, what would it look like?

To be honest, even though he was certain that what he was seeing was the true picture of the timeline, Ai Yue still found it difficult to describe the scene he had observed.

Because it does not have a fixed state, but is in a state of flux, but no matter what it becomes, Ai Yue can receive the information revealed by the timeline from the observation and transform it into something he can understand.

Therefore, he was certain that this was the timeline itself—and moreover, the future timeline of this world.

What appeared before him were two overlapping and changing scenes. No matter how the scene changed, it always conveyed a sense of prosperity and flourishing, and it was very complete, without any sense of disharmony.

This is also a clearly visible scene. If described using physical rules, then this scene is "on top," covering another scene.

This means that this complete picture should be the timeline of the Pre-Civilization that Ai Yue interfered with and created, which will continue. It is on the right track and will grow healthily, and some things may even happen that Ai Yue did not expect.

As Ai Yue's vision expanded, he could vaguely sense a faint light coming from the other end of the timeline toward him.

Is that... another person who can observe the timeline, looking back?

Such a thought flashed through Ai Yue's mind, but it quickly disappeared.

He didn't focus on the light, because that wasn't the point of the day.

This state is extremely taxing, so he only has one chance. If he cannot determine the feasibility of the plan, he will have to postpone the action if he conducts another observation. Therefore, he must cherish every second.

Therefore, Ai Yue focused more on the scene that was obscured by the timeline of the Pre-Civilization.

Unlike the thriving Pre-Civilization timeline, this scene appears obscure, gloomy, and desolate, even giving the impression that it may disappear at any moment.

More importantly, as it extends into the future, the originally complete picture suddenly begins to break, tear, shatter, or even be missing, and eventually disappears altogether, leaving only the timeline of the Pre-Civilization.

The only noteworthy feature is that at its end, instead of a blurry crack, it converges into a single point, as if a force at that moment has temporarily fixed everything in place, preventing the collapse from continuing.

This is naturally the result of Kiana and her team's efforts, and judging from the situation, the results are quite good.

Unfortunately, when Ai Yue observed carefully, he could still see that the gathered "point" was faintly showing signs of disintegration, and obviously could not be maintained for long.

When Ai Yue focused his attention on the past of this scene, he discovered that its past had also disappeared—at the current point in time, the scene that belonged to it had been completely covered by the timeline of the Pre-Civilization.

Clearly, without external intervention, this timeline would ultimately be completely overwritten by the timeline of the Pre-Civilization and then disappear without a trace.

Although the Post-Civilization timeline is fragmented, it still vaguely reveals a sense of completeness. Does this mean that repairing the timeline is not as complicated as I previously imagined, but can be done by correcting key nodes, that is, those broken parts?

After this thought came to mind, Ai Yue noticed that the scene before him had changed again.

The order of the two layers of images suddenly changed, and the Post-Civilization timeline that should have been covered suddenly appeared clearly in Ai Yue's field of vision.

Whether it was a misperception or not, Ai Yue even had a vague feeling that those cracks and gaps were showing signs of healing.

Should I say "I can't believe it," or "I knew it would happen this way"...?

As Ai Yue observed and pondered, he suddenly felt the scene become blurry again.

Has the situation changed? No, that's not right... The one who has changed is myself?

At first, Ai Yue thought that the timeline had been interfered with again, but he soon realized that his "eyes" had become blurry, as if the performance of the information receiving port had deteriorated, so the received images had been reduced from 4K ultra-high definition to 2K high definition, and even started to change towards 1080P.

In the blink of an eye, the image in front of me had become so blurry that it was down to 480P resolution—and you know what? With that level of clarity, it seemed like there were no flaws to be seen.

But that's just self-deception.

Ai Yue smiled, then "closed" his eyes and withdrew from the resonance with the Cocoon of Finality.

He knew that this situation meant he could no longer bear the burden of the resonance mode—fortunately, he had already collected all the information he needed.

In an instant, that strange feeling vanished from Ai Yue's body, replaced by heaviness and emptiness—the resonance had consumed almost all of Ai Yue's energy, to the point that he was practically "spinned" out of the Cocoon of Finality of the end.

In reality, this manifests as Elysia suddenly seeing Ai Yue fly out of the Cocoon of Finality.

She instinctively caught him, but was somewhat alarmed to find that Ai Yue's body was so light that it seemed to be non-existent. As a result, Elysia misjudged the strength she needed and almost fell on top of him instead.

Fortunately, Elysia was a battle-hardened warrior, which prevented her from suffering the most embarrassing outcome.

"Ai Yue, Ai Yue?"

Elysia hugged him, but found that Ai Yue didn't react for a long time. "Really, did he just fall asleep?"

When Ai Yue opened his eyes, he saw Elysia looking down at him, with something soft behind his head.

Judging from the current situation, it's probably Elysia's thigh.

"You're awake? That was pretty quick."

When Elysia saw Ai Yue open his eyes, she didn't relax at all; instead, she was somewhat dissatisfied. "It's rare for someone to be prepared to take good care of you."

"This is fine as it is."

Ai Yue climbed off the other person's lap and sat down beside him. "Thank you for the treat."

"What? It sounds like..."

Elysia turned her head away somewhat awkwardly, but then looked at Ai Yue again, "So, what happened?"

"It's nothing, just a trial observation."

Ai Yue spoke vaguely, then frowned, "However..."

This was not the first time Ai Yue had resonated with the Cocoon of Finality, but it was the first time he had used this method to observe the timeline. It could be said that what he had just experienced was completely different from what he had imagined, and the information he obtained far exceeded his own expectations.

You look troubled.

Elysia observed Ai Yue's expression. "Could it be that you've encountered some difficulties?"

"It's not exactly difficult."

Ai Yue shook his head. "If I had to say, it would probably be a happy kind of trouble."

The amount of information obtained was so vast that after exiting the resonance state, Ai Yue was unable to cope for a while, and even some of the information in his consciousness was difficult to analyze.

After all, Ai Yue had previously used power beyond the current dimension to make observations. It was as if he had obtained results using knowledge that did not belong to him, but after that knowledge disappeared, he could not even understand what he had just written. Ai Yue would need some time to process the results he had just obtained.

However, that's not all that's important.

Recalling the last scene he had just witnessed, Ai Yue couldn't help but smile.

His guess was correct—the reason why the Post-Civilization timeline was not directly overwritten was not only because Kiana's existence anchored the Post-Civilization, but also because of him.

As a transcendent being, Ai Yue knew that such a civilization would emerge in the future, which is why its other side was able to break free from the fate of being covered up and become the ambiguous and uncertain thing it is now.

In the underlying rules of the Honkai world, "observation" is a very important concept, not to mention that Ai Yue is a special being who is already special and has later been upgraded. Things that are certain in his cognition will stabilize as a result.

If Kiana's existence anchors the future of the Post-Civilization, then Ai Yue's existence is equivalent to anchoring the past of the Post-Civilization —it can be said that the most important factor in Saving Post-Civilization has always been hidden within him.

Having grasped the "past" and the "future," the remaining task is naturally to re-establish the "present" between the two.

If all of Ai Yue's previous ideas about this project were built on a false castle in the air, then from now on, it truly has the potential to become a reality.

"It seems there's nothing seriously wrong."

Seeing the familiar confident smile return to Ai Yue's face, Elysia breathed a sigh of relief. "So, what exactly do we do next?"

"Next..."

Ai Yue, but a hint of embarrassment suddenly appeared on his face. "I'm sorry, Elysia, it might be a bit late to ask now, but your next mission might be a bit risky. I don't know if you..."

In fact, in Ai Yue's original plan, Elysia was very safe. After all, anchoring Pre-Civilization was a job that required no technical skills. Elysia only needed to stay in the Cocoon of Finality. She could do whatever she wanted as long as she didn't leave the Cocoon of Finality.

That way, although it might be a bit boring, it would be absolutely safe.

However, with Mobius's intervention, both sides have to take certain risks. After all, Mobius himself does not have the qualifications to anchor and needs to strengthen his related abilities. Elysia, on the other hand, has to leave her original comfortable environment because she needs to take on more difficult tasks.

However, Ai Yue also had to admit that with Elysia's involvement, the success rate of the plan would not only increase further, but his own risks would also be reduced significantly. But in doing so, it would be equivalent to transferring the risks to someone else, not to mention that he had not even asked Elysia's personal wishes.

"Fool,"

Before Ai Yue could finish speaking, Elysia covered his mouth and said, "Do we really need to talk about this kind of thing between us?"

Elysia blinked, a gentle yet firm smile on her face, "I thought we didn't need those kinds of empty words anymore."

Just as Ai Yue would do everything in his power for Elysia's safety, Elysia would also do her best for Ai Yue's plan. The two of them would naturally become each other's confidants without even needing to say much.

As Mobius said, Elysia and Ai Yue are, in a sense, the same kind of people.

If it had been Elysia who first encountered Ai Yue, there would have been no room for anyone else to intervene between them.

Moreover, what Ai Yue is about to do is save the lives of an entire civilization. How could Elysia possibly refuse such a thing because of the risks involved?