Happy Orca (Continued)

However, let's be clear from the start: a world at peace is ultimately just a distant dream—peace takes many forms. The Garden of Eden was peace, the Three Dynasties were peace, human completion was peace, and mechanical ascension was also peace. A peace that satisfies everyone is destined to not exist. If it does exist, then it is a peace that redefines the understanding of all sentient beings.

In the cyber world, a land of delusion, Taiping's performance ultimately depends on the wishes of those who build this dream of Taiping.

Before realizing one's dream, there are always some small, miscellaneous things to take care of.

... Four hours after the journey to the Teyvat Dreamland...

"I understand the basic situation." Persephone nodded, indicating that he had a general understanding of the additional observation data provided by Miss Surtr. "I will send you a detailed report in a while—after that, you are free to do whatever you want. However..."

She hesitated for a moment, as if some overly complex data was projected onto her retina, requiring her to spend a little time on it.

"What's wrong?" Miss Surtr asked. For the previous four hours, she had been recounting to Persephone her feelings about her journey through the dream world, as well as her various speculations and self-awareness—she spoke in great detail, and the Doctor from Rhodes Island listened attentively.

"... Hmm, the Rhodes Island main ship is moving a little faster than expected. It will arrive in Chernobog tomorrow afternoon or the morning after. So, I suggest you enter the dream again before then."

"I imagine you have some special plans?" Miss Surtr tilted her head. "Are you going to take you to the Dream Realm this time? Hmm... I'm not sure if I can accurately detect your presence."

However, Persephone simply shook his head.

"No, I'm not in a hurry. This is just another control experiment. I need to measure the range of your detection when you enter the dream. Hmm, before you entered Teyvat, you said you detected four auras, right?"

"Hmm..." The Flame-haired maiden nodded. "The... Amiya's, Talulah's, the third one feels like Kal'tsit, but something feels off. And the fourth one... I'm not sure who it is, but it gives me a feeling of ocean tides."

She only uttered the word 'special,' but that one word was enough to convey the unspoken meaning in Persephone's speech—and she also believed that Persephone could do it.

As she expected, Persephone seemed not to have heard the 'mistakenly uttered' single sound at all.

"Ocean tides... Got it." The Maiden Doctor moved her fingers, and a massive amount of data flashed across her retina like a waterfall. She seemed to have located something, and this novel information made her raise an eyebrow slightly.

"Then, for this dream entry, I suggest you head west—16 degrees and 6 minutes west of north, 233 kilometers away. A small storm-like Catastrophe is predicted to erupt tonight. At that time, there will be no other intelligent life remaining in that area... Surtr, can you enter the dream at the core of the Catastrophe?"

Miss Surtr thought for a moment and figured that the Catastrophe storm probably wouldn't hurt her skin.

"It should be fine, and besides," she patted the sword hovering behind her, "With Laevateinn by my side, it doesn't matter where I sleep."

Persephone glanced at the red and black Flame Sword floating behind Surtr.

"Then let's test whether the capture range will be affected by interference— Surtr, please rest inside the Cataclysm cloud when you enter your dream tonight. To be on the safe side, I suggest you maintain an altitude or depth of more than five kilometers. I want to test whether your dream journey will still be smooth if you can't capture any additional auras."

—Controlled experiments are a very scientific research method.

—Persephone must have paid attention to every detail.

"Understood." A moment's thought passed, and Miss Surtr immediately gave an OK sign. "Climbing a little higher shouldn't be a problem, right?"

"If you can go to the moon, that's fine with me."

"Then I'll go to the moon... Okay, I'll be careful about the altitude."

"Well, and I take back what I said earlier. You still have something to do during the day... Go south. There's an abandoned ruin 175 kilometers to the south. There used to be the ruins of an ancient city there. According to the information I have, a few decades ago, there were mutated barbarians living there—go and take a look. If you find any hidden dangers, please eliminate them. Also, you might have some special encounters there."

What is it?

"You'll see when you get there—of course, you can also choose not to go and stay in Chernobog to help fill out some paperwork and handle personnel files, etc..."

"Alright, alright, I won't ask anymore." Surtr shrugged helplessly. "Then I'll set off now."

"Be careful. And your onboarding process is almost complete. Come back tomorrow morning, and I'll give you the Rhodes Island operator badge and the PRTS terminal modified according to your wishes—remember to go to the Medical Department for a physical examination after our ship arrives. Or I can help you compile a medical report."

"I think it's better if I don't go to the Medical Department and provoke Kal'tsit." The red-haired guy waved his hand, turned around, and walked towards the outside of the research building. "We had a rather unpleasant argument yesterday, so it's better to give both of us a few days to cool down—it's not like before, and I have no interest in enduring that young lady's foul mouth every day."

"You just said yesterday that your opinion of her has improved."

"Oh, one thing at a time," Miss Surtr waved her hand. "Um... please give my regards to Kal'tsit, Persephone, if you happen to cross paths with her today."

After saying that, she took to the air, transforming into a flowing, invisible whirlwind, and flew due south to the ruins of the ancient city that Persephone had pointed out.

Persephone watched her leave.

I watched them go for several seconds.

She raised her hand and gestured, and a freshly made cold medicine was attached to a drone and flown to her side—she had slightly edited the audio, separating the phrase 'Give my regards to Kal'tsit' and attaching it separately to the drone. Then she assigned the little thing a novel command.

"Give the medicine to Kal'tsit," she said, watching the drone fly out of the building.

Kal'tsit definitely wouldn't eat it—she thought. Because she knew Kal'tsit's personality and thoughts well.

So, now it's just a matter of waiting for the results—this big cat has been experiencing severe mood swings lately, coupled with the excess of various medications in her body, and the mute-inducing drug that Surtr gave to Warfarin, which Warfarin is currently preparing. All these factors combine and react, ultimately pointing to an inevitable outcome.

A severe cold, an allergic reaction. Bedridden and voiceless—though this was actually a good thing, resolving all her ailments at once, albeit a little too hastily. But at least, during those few days she was down, her pain and suffering would become tangible realities.

And this fallen cat probably needs Surtr to hold it before it can get up.

The Maiden Doctor gently gathered the ends of her hair.

"I'm so merciful," she said, pretending not to see Theresia's embarrassed face on the wall.

"I'm too kind," she declared confidently, without a hint of guilt.

Spanning the vast sky, the boundless and desolate land stretches out before you.

Surtr never paid attention to how high she could fly, because she flew using the principle of "the greater the force, the greater the speed." Perhaps she really could fly to the moon; at least in the dream world, she once crossed space and landed on the other side of the sky from the Earth's surface.

She can fly very high.

But on the Terra, she never liked to fly too high.

Flying too high would give her an excessively wide field of vision. And within this vast field of vision, many things that she could pretend not to see in normal times would become clearly visible.

She saw the earth.

Flat, barren, without a single weed, it looked from a distance not much different from the surface of the moon.

Ah... Persephone's theory is ultimately flawed. Teyvat is still much better than Terra. At least in Teyvat, farmers can easily find arable land. But in Terra, after the Originium Storm, not a single trace of life remains on the land.

—I remember trying it before.

Surtr descended from the sky, and a group of ruins, still bearing many remnants, appeared before her—due south, 175 kilometers away, a distance she had covered in fifteen minutes. Such ruins were almost ubiquitous across Terra.

—I have cleaved through Catastrophe, I have reshaped the terrain, I have created a basin with my own power. In order to use the terrain to construct a windless zone and create a man-made land of abundance... I have done it before.

She reached out and touched the magnificent stone pillar, its outline blurred by wind erosion—perhaps a towering and majestic guardian statue from centuries ago. Now, both the guardian and the protected are nothing but a mound of yellow earth and a handful of gravel.

She closed her eyes and heard the hustle and bustle of traffic, the clamor of voices, the hawkers' cries in the market, and the soldiers' lazy patrols outside. Wheels rolled by, and the magnificent robes of noblemen dragged on the ground. Bells tolled, and beggars and flower girls scurried aside on both sides of the road.

She could even smell the fragrance of the flowers—jasmine, which sold for two copper coins a single bloom. A particularly beautiful pure white jasmine with thirteen petals fell from the edge of the flower basket as the girl dodged it. The girl gasped in surprise, and the fragrance of the flower filled the air. She reached out her hand, wanting to catch the small white flower before it hit the ground.