Mutual Matchmaking Pressure

Su Qing'an has a high degree of control over the Divine Key.

This is not only due to the superiority of his Soul Essence, but also related to the fact that half of his power is within himself. This can be seen from the fact that he can use the Divine Key without having to step into the level of Fusion Warrior.

The rapid creation of assisted clones has thus become much smoother.

Simply use [Creation] to replace the original ripening process; this operation is not difficult.

Even with multiple lines or hundreds of lines, the micro-management skills of the Soul Control ability can ensure that no mistakes are made.

The most crucial question remains: how to cultivate a brain that more closely resembles Mei's own using the data and materials provided by Mei.

This places very high demands on [Creation], which is why Mei feels increasingly sorry that Su Qing'an failed to become Fusion Warrior.

If one becomes Fusion Warrior, using the Divine Key will be even easier and more natural than it is now, making it simpler to achieve one's goals.

Cloning humans who are effective and capable of providing assistance requires continuous screening and the accumulation of failures, ultimately refining a handful of individuals from the countless offspring that meet the requirements.

Humans cloned using normal cloning techniques rarely possess the intelligence of ordinary people, let alone be able to participate in such advanced experiments and provide such significant assistance.

Aside from the process of cloning and creating a large number of humans with brains similar to their own, Mei must also have the ability to endow these clones with a great deal of knowledge.

Su Qing'an's initial guess was that it was through the combination of intelligence and human brain, but later he discovered that all the clones were directly sent into that sea area.

Mei gave a direct answer to this:

"Cloning the real me is impossible in a short time, or rather, my very existence may be a case that is difficult to replicate."

"And if we want to build upon this condition and grant those clones all the knowledge they need, they are destined to be no match for normal researchers."

"The reason I am who I am today is because I have gradually reached this level through hard work and refinement. If clones could simply be given the ability to achieve this overnight, perhaps the world would be a completely different place."

Su Qing'an gazed at the rows of large incubation devices containing floating embryos and asked softly:

"So what role do these clones really play for you?"

Mei's voice drifted from afar. Since the sixth day he had been there, the boy had never had the chance to touch her. He guessed that even the voice he was hearing now was just Prometheus converting the other's thought processes and relaying them in the same tone as the other.

What is the purpose of this extreme lack of freedom?

These were the doubts that Su Qing'an had kept buried in her heart during this period.

"The clones you created cannot be considered biological beings in essence. You should have realized that the qualified individuals you created do not possess any intelligent actions or movements. Apart from instinctive breathing, those 'me's' never even open their eyes from beginning to end."

Su Qing'an admitted:

"Hmm, perhaps it would be more appropriate to call it living flesh and blood."

If those clones exhibited vivid humanity and feelings of fear, he would find it difficult to stand here without any obstacles.

Mei affirmed:

"These clones do not possess accurate consciousness, or rather, the sole purpose of those embryos from the outset was to cultivate an external brain of mine."

"Apart from that, the only considerations are preserving brain activity and providing it with energy, so everything else is handled directly during the genetic programming process."

After digesting the amount of information for a while, Su Qing'an asked:

"Does this have anything to do with the fact that you've been staying in that area all this time?"

Mei replied:

"To achieve convenient, efficient, and highly utilized connections between these brains, quantum mechanics is the best option."

"At the same time, a large-scale calculation needs to be carried out, and only that sea area is the most suitable location."

"This mainframe requires a lot of energy to operate. Mr. Su, what do you think it is?"

Su Qing'an said softly:

"Judging from the three Divine Key — Black Abyss White Flower, Judgment of Shamash, Udu-dust— it's clear that your technique for creating Divine Key using Herrscher Core has reached a high level of maturity. Even though the number of additional Divine Key is limited due to the limited number of Fusion Warrior..."

"But that doesn't mean there's no need to create the other Divine Key."

"Aside from the Blank Core left behind by the Thousand Herrscher recently, which you accurately used to mass-produce Divine Key, the Herrscher Core remain unknown."

"I don't know how many cores were involved in the rest of the project, but I imagine this would be a convenient solution to the energy problem."

Mei said calmly:

"All six Herrscher Core are here."

"All plans related to this project are temporarily suspended. Until a way to turn the tide is found, any plan other than Kindling Project Spark will be meaningless."

"Prometheus's [blood] was introduced for this purpose, using a speck of dust from the Sea of Quantum as a medium to neutralize the power that draws out the Imaginary Space, and then using external instruments to further refine the extracted energy to meet the initial conditions for large-scale calculations."

Su Qing'an gently manipulated the girl's body on the experimental table. The fluctuations of his [Creation] power rippled slightly. His eyes lowered, and he whispered:

"Mei, you should be well aware of the consequences of doing this."

"Even with the brains of three thousand clones as an external tool, the pressure you yourself would still have to bear is immense."

"Prometheus, the power of the Sea of Quantum, the Herrscher Core —these are merely tools you used to ensure the computation started, but your very existence will, in this process, once again become the convergence point of everything."

"Your consciousness will unify three thousand and one brains, and contain endless data and possibilities."

"Your body is caught in the powerful fluctuations of the Sea of Quantum and the Imaginary Space; any mishap will reduce it to dust."

"Even if the calculation process is within your control, your brain damage will be more severe than before."

"Even if such a future were to come, you wouldn't be able to see it."

Mei frankly stated:

"Mr. Su, this is a necessary sacrifice."

"At a normal pace of research and exploration, finding a way to deal with Fuxi would be an extremely long process."

"Furthermore, the one-year period we calculated is fluctuating almost constantly. Just as we don't know exactly when the next Herrscher will appear, we also cannot be certain whether the time of Fuxi's awakening is truly as the test data suggests."

"And to ensure that a solution is found before the other party wakes up, this method is necessary."

"Otherwise, once the opponent truly Awakened, even if a countermeasure is found, it will be difficult to find an opportunity to implement it."

Su Qing'an couldn't deny Mei's words, but the other party's attitude of treating him like a tool made him feel a little unhappy, but he didn't have the right to question her about it.

But he still said:

Does Kevin know about this?

"... have no idea."

In a daze, Su Qing'an seemed to see herself before the restart, or even just before that ball, so stubborn and autocratic, so selfish and self-isolated.

Mei and Kevin never expressed their relationship or feelings to each other; they went their separate ways, like two straight lines that intersected and then drifted apart.

This approach depends on the personalities of the two individuals.

In Su Qing'an's view, Mei now is not much different from herself back then.

He said softly:

"If something goes wrong in this experiment, then our last meeting will be the last time you see each other."

"You can disregard your own safety; that is your freedom and right, as well as your decision and sacrifice. I have no right or position to persuade you otherwise."

"But even so, it's not fair to Kevin."

Su Qing'an looked up in the direction of that soul and asked:

What do you think is the nature of your relationship?

"Do you feel that if the world doesn't achieve peace and the Honkai isn't dispelled, the distance between you must be limited, and your relationship must stop here?"

"That shouldn't be the case, Mei."

"More than world peace and the future of humanity, the man named Kevin Kaslana cares about the world peace and the future of humanity that you care about."

"He has fought until now because of you joining the Moth to Fire, because you chose to be the first to have the Parvati gene transplanted without hesitation, because you participated in the Chimera experiment with a very high mortality rate, and because of you."

"Of course, his personal will played a part, but you should be somewhat aware of why his personal will led him to make that choice."

"If you die, I believe Kevin will perfectly inherit your will, follow your vision, carry out your dream, and choose to fight to the very last moment."

Su Qing'an was silent for a while, then he whispered:

"I will not question his decision, nor will I interfere with your final choice."

"But do you really think this is a good thing? Having more choices and fewer regrets isn't necessarily a bad thing."

"You have already worked very hard and sacrificed a lot for this era. If you can't even find satisfaction in this level of self-indulgence, you are being too demanding of yourselves."

A long time.

Mei responded:

"... I never expected to hear such words from you, Mr. Su."

Su Qing'an calmed the fluctuations of his power, stroked the Crimson Pearl inlaid at the end of the sword hilt, and whispered:

"Mei, for me, being able to come to this era is not an unfortunate thing."

She asked:

"Even if it's so bad that it could fall into the clutches of the Honkai at any moment? I thought that, given your personality, the best ending would be for it to simply die in the future."

The boy responded:

"Yes, I don't deny that."

"Whether I can survive in this era or not, whether I can overcome the Honkai in this era or not, I can never return to the environment I once knew, I can never see the friends I knew and trusted again, and I can never see the family who truly cared about me again."

"At the same time... they will still be swallowed up by the Honkai and plunged into an endless vortex of war."

"Assuming I've never met anyone, I don't think dying directly is anything to be sad about."

"As you said, dying in that era might not have been a bad ending."

"But even so, everything I'm going through now is an experience, a way of living."

"I witnessed Honkai far more terrifying than any subsequent generation. I saw many heroes who risked their lives for humanity and civilization. I saw the will and sharpness forged through sacrifice and bloodshed. I saw perseverance amidst twilight and loneliness. Therefore, I have no regrets."

These were Su Qing'an's most genuine feelings since arriving in this civilization. Knowing that Mei was from the future, he no longer felt the need to conceal his inner thoughts, and the desire to confide arose within him:

"The Artificial Stigmata you once replicated were substandard products researched by the anti- Honkai organization of that era, based on Stigmata excavated from ruins."

"Perhaps it was you, Dr. Mei, or perhaps other scientists, who edited the genes of later generations so that some were born with Stigmata, and various technologies and Divine Key were still preserved in that world."

"The people of that era inherited your legacy, continuing the shared will of humanity, and fighting to the death against the Honkai in order to survive."

"This civilization in that timeline was defeated, but the legacy and sparks it left behind have never been extinguished."

Su Qing'an's expression was complex. He witnessed the alternation and change of two civilizations that he was familiar with. The strangeness of this emotion and thought was hard for others to understand.

He asked:

"This is... part of your Kindling Project, isn't it?"

Mei responded softly:

"Yes, the Sea of Quantum Project was one of the Kindling Project incorporated to prevent the worst-case scenario. Considering the possibility of humanity's complete defeat in the face of the Honkai, I left many contingency plans in place to ensure their smooth implementation. But hearing these from you... still feels a bit unsettling."

The answer that the young female PhD student came up with in speculating about Su Qing'an's origins was different from that of ordinary people. She did not care about the information the other party brought, but instead became more and more concerned about his identity from these words.

She sighed:

"Mr. Su, you are indeed a special case."

"So, in your time, Miss Fu was still alive, right?"

"If things really come to that, if the final enemy of the Honkai is truly an invincible foe, then I will indeed choose to put the Fusion Warrior into a long period of hibernation, until the budding and birth of another civilization."

"Fusion Warrior have virtually unlimited lifespans, and only they have the potential to truly fulfill the mission of passing on civilization."

Mei's projection landed beside the boy. She glanced at his expression and asked:

"Given your personality, it's unreasonable for you to fall in love with someone so soon after arriving in this civilization."

"In fact, continuing with most of your behavioral logic and using your ability to shield yourself from reality to choose to isolate yourself is the normal choice."

"But instead of staying away from her, you moved into her house and even deliberately applied for a teaching position at her school after Miss Fu went to study in Canghai City."

"To be honest, Mr. Su, if I didn't know you as a person, I might have shown a different expression right now."

"In short, all of this proves that Fu Hua is a special person to you."

"Following this line of thought, I can only conclude that Miss Fu is still alive in your generation, and that you have a close relationship with her."

Su Qing'an retorted calmly:

"My relationship with Hua was a little worse back then than your relationship with Kevin is now."

Mei's virtual image flickered, and a fleeting, unnatural expression could be seen on her face. She then changed the subject, asking:

"Could you describe the situation at the time? For example, how the relationship progressed and what your identities were?"

Su Qing'an felt that the topic had veered off course quite quickly; the sudden shift from a serious tone to a romantic, exploratory atmosphere was rather strange.

But apart from talking to Mei, there doesn't seem to be anyone else he can confide in, so he doesn't object to answering the question:

"During the Third Honkai Outbreak of that generation, I encountered the Emperor-class Honkai Beast Ganesha. At that time, I had only been practicing the Void Sword Qi for a short time and was at the Still Water stage. My body's Honkai Energy was very poor, and I had not yet transplanted Artificial Stigmata."

The young female professor adjusted her glasses and said succinctly:

"So you couldn't beat it, and you were rescued by Miss Fu halfway through your escape?"

Su Qing'an corrected:

"I was saved when I was about to die."

What happens next?

"Later, she naturally joined an academy under a large anti- Honkai organization to study, and for some reason, Hua also attended that school."

Mei asked:

"How old was Miss Fu at that time?"

Su Qing'an analyzed carefully:

"I'm not entirely sure either. If we don't count the hibernation period, she probably awoke at the very beginning of Shenzhou history, which would be about five thousand years ago."

The boy glanced at the Little Feather that was quietly pretending not to be in the Mind Lake, and chose to add:

"But considering that Hua has very little memory left, I think it's okay to treat her as 17 years old."

Mei didn't think it was a detail worth paying attention to. She asked this question simply out of curiosity about how long the other person had persevered in that era. She never imagined that the girl, who was still a minor at the time, would choose to walk that path in a future where that civilization was heading towards defeat, and even persist for so long without forgetting her original intention.

Udu-dust.

The young female professor felt conflicted. It wasn't that she had no curiosity about the future; she simply thought some of the conversations were meaningless.

In that sea area, the special amplifier and external brain allow the mind to split itself, making even meaningless chatter not seem like a waste.

Moreover...

In the past, no one around her had ever confronted her about her relationship with Kevin, so she was able to ignore it and focus all her attention on the immediate goal and the survival of humanity. In a sense, this young female doctor was constantly upholding her own identity, yet at the same time, she was constantly losing herself.

This is a very delicate situation.

However, after Su Qing'an broke through, it would be difficult for her to continue to turn a blind eye to it, even if she had the luxury of doing so.

Mei possesses theoretical knowledge and a self-concept derived from her own learning when it comes to emotions, but she is also well aware that this behavioral logic is difficult to apply to ordinary people.

So even though she decided to listen to Su Qing'an's opinion a little, she found it difficult to find a conventional way to deal with it in a short period of time.

Rather than letting Prometheus analyze it, Mei thought it would be better to listen to Mr. Su's past stories and experiences and then draw his own conclusions.

"Anyway, I don't know if it's because Hua lost a lot of her memories, but she really likes to sit alone on the edge of the school island and watch the coastline at dusk."

"At that time, I was quite lost because of some things, and I preferred to find a quiet place to sit by myself. That's when I met her, and after that, we would habitually watch the sea together."

Then, Su Qing'an recounted many, many things.

Those are memories that cannot be traced back, precious past events, chaotic daily life, and lemon-flavored gummies.

For me personally, this is not something I cannot share or explain.

Mei was a very good listener; aside from that first time, she never interrupted his explanation again.

"The Void Sword Qi is a martial art that Hua created over those long years. The Divine Sound should be a product of your era, and it's possible that it's something you researched."

The young female scientist paused for a moment upon hearing this, but still replied nonchalantly:

"Beyond the Divine Sound, the [Sword God] within the Void Sword Qi, as well as the realms of Ascended State and Manas Consciousness, are all products created by Miss Fu. In a sense, it is quite terrifying to have evolved the Divine Sound to that extent."

Su Qing'an said softly:

"That's how time flows; silently, new things are born, and old things fade away."

"Even Hua herself was the same; at that time, she had lost most of her memories and powers, yet she still stood on the front lines against the Honkai."

"Assuming Kevin also inherited your will, he would likely have made his own efforts to fight against the Honkai in that generation."

"In short, due to my extremely poor resistance to Honkai Energy, I was forced to undergo an Artificial Stigmata transplant due to an accident, but under the corrosive influence of the Artificial Stigmata, my days are numbered."

"But after hesitating for a long time, I finally decided to tell her my true feelings."

Sensing the sudden silence from the other person, Mei decided to be a good listener and asked:

"Then what?"

Su Qing'an said softly:

"Then, because Honkai occurred in a nearby city, she went to provide relief, and I didn't have time to tell her."

She asked:

"So you missed an opportunity and now you find it harder to speak up?"

The boy responded in a nonchalant tone:

"No, I went to a ruin deep in the sea that day and died inside the body of the Judgment-class Honkai Beast Chi You."

"You know what happened next. I came to a civilization from 55,000 years ago, which is now."

Mei understood the reasons and motivations behind the other person's attitude and feelings towards Fu Hua.

Su Qing'an didn't know why he had come to this era that didn't belong to him. He should have felt utterly hopeless, but instead he met the person he had never confessed his feelings to before.

This connection is wondrous in every sense of the word.

The girl did not delve into the information in the other person's words that he died inside Chi You's body.

In her mind, death was simply the other person's consciousness entering a period of dormancy, and upon awakening, they were directly transported to this era.

Chi You, recalling the way he killed the opponent after Herrscher of Ice.

Aside from suggesting that the Karma and effect of this hatred is subtle and coincidental, there seems to be nothing else to say.

Seemingly to help Mei better understand the wonders of the soul, Su Qing'an frankly stated:

"[The Stigmata] awakened at the end of that battle. The emotions between life and death in that instant seemed to activate some kind of medium, and after entering the Clear Mirror Realm, it was as if something was engraved on the back of the soul. Since then, it has had the ability to absorb Honkai Energy."

Mei nodded upon hearing this and jotted down the information. Then, she suddenly put together all the information from the conversation and thought of someone— Su Muxi.

Their daughter in name only?

The young female scientist thought for a moment and then decided to ask:

"So, the reason Xiao Xi was born... is because of the Udu-dust that Miss Fu gave you when you were at the St. Freya Academy?"

Su Qing'an remained silent for a moment. He glanced at the little creature that had suddenly jumped out of the Mind Lake and transformed into White Sparrow, perched on his head, seemingly happy because it had been mentioned, and gave his approval.

Mei thought for a moment and sighed:

"Mr. Su, what do you think about you and Miss Fu getting married sooner rather than later?"

Su Qing'an: "?"

Isn't this topic jumping around too fast? Theoretically speaking, even from the perspective of urging Mei to get married, it should be me who started urging her to get married first.

Why could it reverse like this?

How strange.

"... I am not yet of legal marriage age in the country as I used to be, and Hua is currently a minor, so this is illegal."

The young female professor said quietly:

"This era is on the verge of Honkai in terms of ritual and music. While I personally believe that these things should be preserved and maintained, some systems and rules can still be compromised."

Su Qing'an said:

"I always thought you, Mei, weren't interested in things like that."

Mei nodded in agreement:

"I think so too, but something's not quite right in your situation."

Compared to typical couples, these two have had a very different experience...

So cute! (Image)

The young female PhD student calmly analyzes:

"Although this is very unlucky, you didn't even have a chance to confess your feelings last time before an accident happened."

"Why don't we get married earlier? According to you, this way we won't have any regrets if something unexpected happens."

Su Qing'an glanced at the other person and said quietly:

"Don't change the subject, Dr. Mei."

"In short, I believe that in my generation, Kevin Kaslana, just like Fu Hua, still upholds your will and fights on the front lines of the Honkai."

"Leaving aside the loneliness and desolation, and how heavy the years have been, I think he most likely didn't marry you in the end, which is probably quite a regret."

"So, whenever you and Kevin get married, Hua and I will get married too."

Mei: "..."

It made such a valid point that she was speechless for a moment.