What Year Is It Tonight?

Su Qing'an calmed down.

The last time it devoured Chi You, it increased the power by about five percent; the World Bubble and the Demon Corpse it recently consumed were twice the former.

It was less than expected, or rather, it didn't conform to the conclusions drawn from my previous energy conversion formula.

It seems that the nutrients absorbed have no connection with the substances and the Heaven and Earth Qi that exist within the demon's corpse. It is more thorough than initially thought; it is merely the consumption of the concepts within.

If that's the case, it's not hard to understand why such a massive corpse could be condensed into the size of a pill.

Since only the ethereal part is needed, the excess matter can simply be evaporated and erased, and what remains will naturally have little volume.

In short, ignoring any undetected physical abnormalities and potential future changes, the 10% increase in accumulated knowledge is enough to make the trip worthwhile.

But... what happened next was clearly more important.

Su Qing'an calmed himself down and realized that because his consciousness had been focused on how to fight his instinctive appetite, his body was unconsciously too tense. The force with which he held the other person's soft waist was so strong that it felt like he wanted to knead it into his ribs. He only lingered for a moment on the delicate softness and the clear bone texture before relaxing his stiff grip.

Su Qing'an wasn't worried about whether her finger marks would leave bruises on the other person's skin. With her weak body, her strength was probably not much different from that of the Immortal Chi Yuan in her prime. However, she seemed to subconsciously feel terrible and worried about the current state of her rubbing the other person's skin.

Perhaps it is only in these details that one can see some of his core beliefs and traits, which remain no different from when he was just like any other ordinary person.

The girl noticed this detail and simply found the other person adorable.

She blinked, observing the subtle expression that flashed across that profile for a fleeting moment. The Udu-dust on her wrist, manifested as a red string, moved without wind, quietly performing the same small actions that the other person had done before.

Because of the presence of the Manas consciousness, this subtle movement was not as discreet as when Su Qing'an took the [Thousand Stars] photo. He noticed it almost the instant the Divine Key began to move.

However, after regaining his memories, out of a subtle principle of fairness, the boy pretended not to notice and let the other do as he pleased, while he himself began to handle the most important task: retrieving the [records].

[Stigmata] are themselves a medium used to store these [records] after all the Karma of the self have been gathered into one.

The process of using it as an anchor to embed into the World Bubble is itself a recycling method akin to boiling a frog in lukewarm water.

With the entire surface of the planet swept away, they were only one step away from completely absorbing and recording the projection.

That is, move the [anchor point] fixed in the center of the World Bubble toward the direction indicated by the Manas consciousness, and bring it back.

This was a completely new and unfamiliar thing for Su Qing'an. Whether it was using the ability of a fully materialized soul for the first time or trying to retrieve ethereal records, there were no references in the nearly complete records.

It can be said that one can only perform operations by relying on the Manas consciousness, a high-dimensional state of the soul that allows one to be infinitely self-aware, to know what but not why.

But the result was still very smooth.

Su Qing'an could only sense that the [Stigmata] seemed to have absorbed something as faint as smoke.

This is akin to removing all the load-bearing components from the interior of a building; the slightest tremor would trigger a domino-like chain reaction of collapse.

Even though he had long since stopped manipulating the Qi of weather to sweep across the earth's crust and the deep sea, when the two of them still stood between the heavens, they could still clearly see the various natural disasters that had been indirectly caused, which were becoming increasingly violent and intense, like a final revelry before their demise.

Tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, floods, storms...

Immediately, even natural disasters unrelated to Su Qing'an's previous actions inexplicably began to reveal their ferocity and fangs, leaving scars on the world.

The boy closed his eyes and stepped into the Soul Hall, searching for the projection that belonged to the [Stigmata] in a clearer form.

The Manas consciousness, being unbound within itself, roams freely according to its own will, and once it is positioned, it is firmly grasped.

Simply recycling is not enough. To avoid serious accidents caused by excessive differences in the flow of time, Su Qing'an also needs to use this recycled projection as the origin and bring all the resulting Karma back to their original positions, just as during the dimensional ascension.

The method is actually very simple; he doesn't need to exert any effort himself.

In reality, given its current damaged state, it is no longer capable of performing operations at this level.

The spacetime axes independent of the Proper World are all confined within the Soul Hall, and the Manas consciousness is further bound and sealed by another path of dimensional ascension. How could it possibly interfere with the outside world?

However, when the recorded projection is recovered and dissipated, the corrective force of the Proper World will automatically reverse everything back to its original trajectory.

However, this efficiency is far too slow.

Moreover, due to Su Qing'an's unique nature, his existence cannot be reversed by the corrective force. Therefore, the consequence of not taking autonomous action is that the passage of time in the outside world will not be treated as an anomaly and corrected. It's as if he's been bugged, becoming a permanent and unfixable system error due to the existence of an upgraded life form.

Therefore, he needs to actively restrain himself and take tentative actions to influence Karma, so that the corrective force will instinctively follow and imitate him. This action is like the first flap of wings in the butterfly effect, with a small but irreplaceable effect.

First, Su Qing'an needs to break through the barrier of the World Bubble and tentatively mark the Proper World with the [Stigmata] to attract attention, so that the corrective force can clearly perceive the changes that have occurred here.

A moment later, the immortal suddenly realized that the conflicting memories that had been swirling in her mind were being restored to normal history. Her lips parted, and she looked at the person embracing her and asked:

"It worked?"

Su Qing'an opened her eyes and gave a firm answer:

"It's a success."

"The world's corrective forces will steer history back to its original course."

Upon hearing this, the girl felt a sense of déjà vu, as if something had overlapped in her memory, and her expression faltered slightly.

She seems to have experienced a much larger and more domineering intervention than this kind of positive correction.

When was it? And why?

Could this be the third cycle of reincarnation that I haven't yet remembered?

Even though the answer to what seemed to be the truth had been touched, the melancholy spreading through my chest still interfered with my progress.

Su Qing'an noticed the doubt on her face and assumed that she was worried about the possibility of success, so she explained:

"Everything here is an illusion to the Proper World, and the tributaries of the Sea of Quantum that entangle and erode the World Bubble will render time here meaningless."

"Therefore... even if the outside world truly perceives several decades as having passed, from our perspective within the World Bubble, it is merely a reflection of the future based on quantum information's extrapolation of the past."

"It can be real or it can be fake. Therefore, we are not interfering with the past, but only influencing the future."

"The corrective force can reverse it to a result that has never occurred in this World Bubble and the Sea of Quantum outside."

"Although there may be errors, they will be limited to a certain range, and there will be no large-scale loss of twenty or thirty years, or even a hundred years."

Fu Hua suppressed her doubts about this sense of déjà vu. She knew that time would give her the answer, and it probably wouldn't be long before she received it. She responded softly:

"Um."

She didn't show her true feelings on her face, but in order to prevent any unexpected incidents from arising, she preemptively offered comfort in a calm tone:

"In any case, allowing this record's interference to continue to spread is an undesirable decision, so just do your best."

Su Qing'an nodded in understanding, gazing down at the vast world that still revealed the desolate state of the apocalypse.

He knew that in a few breaths, even this scene of destruction would not have the chance to continue.

The corrective force originating from the Proper World has begun to interfere with the existence of the World Bubble, and the instinctive force that held it for a while is now constantly moving towards zero.

A void-like hole appeared near a tributary of the Sea of Quantum, continuously drawing in the quantum energy like a whale swallowing it, and transporting it to the area outside the membrane of the Proper World.

The boy, sensing no reaction from his surroundings while others vaguely blurred and then returned to normal, frowned and said:

"Let's go."

The corrective force seemed to struggle even with the transfer of the Immortal Chi Yuan had once entered the Manas Consciousness, let alone Su Qing'an himself. Even if he was willing to be interfered with, due to his own special nature, the corrective force still could not transfer him in any way.

The two of them can only leave on their own.

If you keep staying here, you'll only be abandoned in the alternate dimension after this World Bubble and the tributary of the Sea of Quantum disappear. It will be much more troublesome to leave then.

The [Stigmata] revived once more, and the sound of cracking glass echoed incessantly.

The boy, carrying the immortal, stepped into the hazy circle of light, and their figures disappeared.

At this point, only the roar of the planet slowly fading into nothingness and the endless void remained.

As time passed, even the pitch-black expanse gradually shrank into invisible points, completely merging into the Proper World without leaving a trace.

Although it wasn't what Su Qing'an had anticipated, it was clear that his decision to leave early was still the right one.

No one knows whether, in this process of tracing back Karma to correct errors, life forms will return to their Proper World intact, or will be treated as errors to be cleaned up along with them, and thus disappear without a trace.

From a purely logical standpoint, the latter seems more convenient.

Su Qing'an gazed at the seemingly unchanged vegetation nearby, and the distant, fading mountains against the backdrop of the dawn, finally settling on the immortal who had transformed into a rainbow of light descending from the horizon.

To avoid the time correction index increasing due to their premature return to their Proper World, they had to choose to embark on their return journey only in the last few seconds.

The price to pay is that even though they were holding hands, they still ended up looking different when they returned to where they started.

This problem, which should have caused trouble, was quickly resolved thanks to Su Qing'an's ability to remain completely undisturbed.

The girl gracefully leaped from mid-air to stand before him. Looking at the boy, who still seemed small, she frowned and gestured to compare their heights, noticing a noticeable difference. She sensed a change in him and softly asked:

"Qing'an, have you grown a little?"

Su Qing'an looked up at the other person, and thanks to Fu Hua's polite half-squatting down, they were able to look at each other at eye level.

He resisted the urge to stand on tiptoe and said softly:

"Maybe, but whether it's true or not, it's clearly only a tiny bit."

As a patient with hyperthymesia, Fu Hua was very confident in her judgment. She tentatively reached out her soft hand to touch the boy's bones all over his body, and immediately concluded with certainty:

"It's about six months' increase in biological age."

Although his physical age had brought him to a stage of abstinence, the boy still felt quite uncomfortable being caressed all over by soft hands. He even felt a strange tingling sensation, but given that the other person's concern and care were reasonable, he could only continue the conversation calmly instead of doing anything strange.

"The essence of this body's composition cannot be bound by normal logic, but in terms of the definition of its outer shell, it is indeed a normal human being."

The immortal thought for a moment and said:

"Did you just get here?"

Su Qing'an nodded in response:

"Um."

The girl ruffled his hair, as if the extra centimeter he had grown taller had given her an unspeakable sense of crisis.

For example, we won't be able to pet such an adorable Susu anymore for a long time.

As she let her fingers run through the other person's scalp, feeling the coolness and texture of the soft, dark hair, and incidentally enjoying the height difference that would eventually reverse, she said:

I arrived at this other place about fifteen minutes ago.

"Perhaps contact with the Sea of Quantum itself easily leads to such changes. Maybe I've experienced the same thing, but for Fusion Warrior's body, which will never change, it's probably the same as nothing at all."

Su Qing'an nodded in response:

"Probably, but it's not a big problem, it doesn't matter."

But after thinking about it, he realized that wasn't the reason.

As can be seen from the first step into the passage, it seems that by possessing the spacetime axis, one can avoid tributaries that have not yet reached a certain size, thus making it impossible to interfere.

This can actually be seen from the fact that he was able to perfectly return to the place he came from.

However, if we ignore the element of coming into contact with the Sea of Quantum, it can only be related to the food we ate before.

He glanced at the panel immediately after reading this.

[Unknown Gene Awakening Degree: 16.12497%]

Although it was only a change in decimal places, it was still very noticeable to him.

This is not surprising, since the existence and logic of those demons were initially both real and illusory, so it's normal to simply wipe them clean.

Furthermore, given that he had consumed a large number of demons with quantum properties while extremely hungry, it's even more reasonable that he would experience indigestion.

To be honest, the fact that it wasn't reset is enough to show how obsessed a Planetary-class cub is with food.

If Su Qing'an chooses to let himself go, he will probably go berserk to the point of devouring the Proper World and then embarking on a journey between the Imaginary Tree and the Sea of Quantum.

After all, judging from [the Divine Kingdom]'s past performance, it does indeed possess such terrifying potential.

[Unknown Gene Awakening Degree: 16.0015%]

Su Qing'an felt an unpleasant emptiness in her abdomen, and forcibly suppressed the instinctive urge to rebel, remaining silent.

Will I end up throwing it all up?

The boy had a serious doubt that he would fall back into the same predicament he had in the past, where he couldn't help but fantasize about Fu Hua as a dish whenever he Tiāntiān.

But the next second...

[Unknown Gene Awakening Degree: 16.912331%]

Su Qing'an stared at the data on the panel, savoring the inexplicable warmth that had welled up within her, and remained silent for a moment.

What happened? Is it possible to get it back?

Am I being a little strange?

The Immortal Chi Yuan was seriously considering the problem in his mind, realizing it was a big one, when he noticed the other person's deep thought.

She lowered her thick eyelashes, gazing at the man's face, full of collagen, suppressing the urge to pinch it, and asked:

"What's wrong?"

Su Qing'an didn't know how to explain, because he himself didn't know what had happened, so he simply said:

"Although the changes in the vegetation and trees don't seem to indicate anything unexpected, let's still go to the nearby town first to confirm exactly how many years have passed."

Fu Hua certainly had no reason to object. The reason she wasn't in a hurry was actually due to a sense of trepidation about returning home.

So, putting that issue aside for the moment, Su Qing'an and he sped off towards the town.

During this process, the data on the panel remained unchanged for a long time, seemingly frozen at that number and would not change at all.

The boy briefly reviewed the situation and found the reason why the number not only did not decrease, but actually became higher than the previous highest level.

First of all, the existence of those demons is not entirely fictional.

It's like an unexpected result that gradually evolved from interference with and distortion of the past, through reasonable logical deduction.

Although it's fictional, it's not nonsensical. The Honkai Energy, the tributaries of the Sea of Quantum, and even the demons themselves are real things in some sense.

For someone like me who only eats conceptual things, this kind of food is actually no different from the difference between Chinese and Western food.

They taste different, but they're all edible.

Therefore, the drop in accumulated values was due to the impact of the corrective force's large-scale Karma return through the retrospective World Bubble.

However, this was not aimed at the already elevated Manas consciousness, but only at Su Qing'an, who was a Planetary-class cub, hence the effect.

However, after being robbed of his appetite for a while, his own appetite instinct seemed to turn around and treat a portion of the extended corrective force as food.

So now not only have the previous losses been made up, but the corrective force has also chosen not to provoke bad luck.

At that time, Su Qing'an did not delve into the matter further. Before the sun had fully risen, the two entered the city closest to the Taihang Mountains.

The boy gazed at the bustling city life and the increasingly vibrant morning market that unfolded before him. With a heart full of trepidation, he let his manas consciousness sweep across the surroundings, finally arriving at his answer and revealing a complex expression.

It was less than a day, yet five years have passed in the blink of an eye.