The Quantum Sea's Rejection / BUG

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The word felt like cold water injected into Lin's body through a syringe, sending a chill through his mind and causing a flurry of noises to rush through his head.

"Human beings."

Just then, Theresa's... no, a voice similar to Theresa's, but cold as if it were coming from an air conditioner, reached their ears.

They looked up together.

"Tick-tock".

The blood, not yet fully congealed, gathered into a single point on the finger and then fell heavily into the pool of blood.

Her pretty face, devoid of expression, was covered with messy, bloody marks, like ugly graffiti, a condemnation of the sinner.

She held a little girl who had fainted, standing amidst the pile of corpses, quiet as a night flower blooming in a sea of blood.

Her inhuman crimson eyes, devoid of emotion since the first time Lin saw them, were now emptier than ever before.

Half an hour later, the whole world was reporting on the horrific disaster that had struck Canghai City and the surrounding areas. Rumors of the end of the world spread globally, and the resulting chaos swept through human society.

But perhaps it wasn't a rumor.

The end of the world has arrived in their world, and it will, ruthlessly and justly, judge the lives of each and every one of them.

But all of this is temporarily irrelevant to Lin.

After receiving basic treatment, his injuries no longer hindered his movements, and he also noticed that his extraordinary self-healing ability, which he had gained after forming a pact with the moon, had disappeared, meaning...

Lin glanced at the silver-haired girl sitting not far away, wiping the blood off her face and looking down.

Then, she looked at the unhurried blond man in front of her.

"Mr. Lin, we meet again. It seems we won't need to fight each other this time." Otto swirled his half-filled wine glass, inhaled its aroma, and smiled at the battered Lin. "This time, we can sit down and have a proper talk, can't we?"

"... After we finished talking, you killed me?"

"Haha, although you've never used your facial nerves, you unexpectedly have a sense of humor."

Otto narrowed his eyes, revealing a smile that was hard to describe as either dangerous or benevolent.

"Even if Mugentou Himeko came to me, I didn't do anything to her, did I?"

Lin was no longer willing to listen to this unpredictable man's nonsense. He said hoarsely, "Tell me everything you know."

"Although I would love to discuss information about the Quantum Sea with you, you should rest for now... and let Miss Yue rest as well."

Otto's signal made Lin Mo hesitate for a few seconds. He then turned to look at the stunned Yue, and after a long while, he let out a long sigh, which was considered his tacit agreement.

"Then, you two can rest here for now."

The blond man seemed to have completely forgotten that he had just been fighting Lin to the death. He smiled slightly again, then turned and walked out of the room. At the same time, another petite figure also entered the room.

Chapter 75 Repulsion of the Quantum Sea

The scene before her was undoubtedly delicate, whether it was a delicate balance, a delicate awkwardness, or simply Theresa's own illusion.

There are 72 hours left until the loop restarts.

Her jet-black hair stood out starkly against the pale white hospital room, while the silver-haired girl was much more low-key than usual.

Especially when there are two other people present.

The feeling of lying in the hospital bed evoked a strange sense of nostalgia in Lin, but he disliked the feeling of being limp and powerless in bed. Even during his rest time, he didn't want to be idle.

He was still pondering the reason for the Hunter' appearance.

Could it be just a coincidence?

By chance, the Hunter targeted this World Bubble, and by chance, they broke through the World Bubble's weakest point. Even more coincidentally, the World Bubble was in a special period.

It felt like... being manipulated.

However, the Hunter cannot be manipulated unless the manipulator is the Quantum Sea itself, which is fundamentally incapable of consciousness.

"Human." Theresa, feeling utterly oppressed by the stagnant, stagnant atmosphere of the ward, finally spoke to the man deep in thought, trying to stop her emotions from festering. "Is she alright?"

They were referring to the moon, which sat motionless not far away.

Moon's first impression of Theresa was that she was not someone to be trifled with. Her expression wasn't particularly lively, yet she harbored a strong hostility towards her, possibly because of Lin.

Now, the girl who looks exactly like her is completely still, like a stone, neither radiating any inhuman Herrscher aura nor continuing to express any inappropriate emotions towards Theresa or Lin.

"... It's nothing." Lin had already noticed Yue's condition, and he simply shook his head at Theresa.

A person grows up amidst questioning throughout their life.

Questioning others and questioning oneself; those who never doubt themselves will never grow. Only those who choose to steadfastly walk their own path after questioning themselves are truly grown up.

Lin's feelings towards Yue were complicated. He didn't like the side of the Moon Herrscher —cold-blooded, ruthless, and brutal, just like the definition of Herrscher written in the data: the natural enemy of civilization, yet she herself hadn't even realized this.

Unconscious cruelty, like that of a child.

But Yue also has another side. She is even more lonely than Theresa, who has Kallen as her support. She cherishes Lin, the only one who is with her, and is willing to never hurt humans again for his sake.

But that wasn't entirely her wish; she simply didn't want Lin to be disappointed or leave her. Rather than reflecting on it, she mostly compromised.

Just as she never placed herself on an equal footing with humans from the beginning, even her promise not to kill was entirely her personal style—self-centered and aloof.

Now, facing the same tragic scene she once created, what will she be thinking?

Those lives that were once so easily taken away vanish before our eyes in another way. What does it matter if we lose things we didn't cherish in the first place again?

Lin didn't know.

"Humans, then what about me?"

"..."

Theresa's question, whether it was anticipation or confusion, also silenced Lin.

She once asked a similar question.

Why did Lin help her?

Was it because she saw a reflection of herself in Theresa? Or was it because she was crying out that she didn't want to hurt anyone else anymore?

Later, after much wandering and battling with the moon, Lin still couldn't find the so-called answer.

Perhaps no answer is the best answer.

"Theresa, do you ever look up at the sky?" Lin looked up at the flawless, almost pale ceiling, like a faded scene from a memory.

Lin saw many things during his battle with Otto.

Perhaps it's a memory from the past, or perhaps it's a revelation from the future.

One of them was a room filled with white paint.

There was nothing there, only him, sitting in a chair, flipping through books.

Like a fledgling bird in a cage, bowing its head and licking its saliva.

Is that me?

Lin Cong thought he had any tragic past, but when he saw that scene, he only had one feeling.

Cold.

He looked up at the blue sky outside the window, and only after the birdsong broke through the air did he lower his head and continue reading.

They are devoid of humanity and emotion, like meticulously crafted marionettes.

"Don't seek your answers from others." Lin lowered his head, his facial features relaxed, his face was softer than that of an average man, but his eyes were sharper. "Theresa, neither Kallen nor I will be the sole support in a life."

"..."

The silver-haired girl stared blankly at Lin, who pointed at the moon, then at Theresa, and finally at himself.

"To live as a real life, not in a cage, even one of your own making."

"Don't you need to rest a little longer, Mr. Lin?"

When Lin entered, Otto and Kallen seemed to have just had a conversation. Kallen looked unusually excited, while Otto seemed unchanged, greeting Lin with a smile.

"... Tell me everything you know."

Lin wouldn't stand on ceremony with Otto. This man in front of him was no less dangerous than the Hunter, and right now, he was also a little unsure of what this man's purpose was.

The blond man smiled slightly, but the smile gave off a twisted and unsettling feeling.

"Hmm...so, where should we begin?" Otto pretended to think, pacing back and forth in front of Kallen and Lin. Lin's increasingly cold gaze did not make him feel uncomfortable at all. He "suddenly" clapped his hands. "Ah, I've got it. Let's start with what I have observed about Mr. Lin's 'special abilities'."

"..."

Although he didn't know why the man brought this up, Lin remained silent. He calmly watched as the blond man, who seemed to have an insatiable desire to perform, walked to the table and poured three glasses of red wine.

"Last time, I told you that I investigated your identity. It wasn't that I didn't find your identity, but that there really is a man named 'Lin'. Even if he doesn't have any trace of activity in this world, he still exists."

"Initially, I thought it was the automatic correction ability of the World Bubble and the Quantum Sea, but two things that happened later shattered my conjecture."

"First, you completely lost vision in your right eye during the cycle."

"Secondly... your legitimate identity, too, has disappeared without a trace during the thousands of cycles."

Otto picked up a glass of wine, swirling the crimson liquid, and framed the black-haired man within it.

He looked at the Visitor from Beyond the Stars and gave a mysterious smile.

"The first thing that made me realize was that you are not the physical body in the World Bubble, but a consciousness."

"The second thing... is that I know you are gradually being rejected by the World Bubble and the Quantum Sea."

Chapter Seventy-Six: BUG

"Maid, aren't you going to help him?"

The cherry-haired girl leaned against the greatsword, watching the projection. When she saw the black-haired man being tortured and killed more than three thousand times, she asked the long-haired maid beside her, who seemed to be deep in thought.

That's strange.

This mysterious maid, though of unknown origin and harboring a hidden agenda, likes to add something to Lin's food, but her concern for Lin is genuine.

Lin has encountered many tricky and twisted events in the past, and there have been times when Lin's consciousness was lost in fragments of memory. At those times, the maid beside her would help Lin, and occasionally she would enter the World Bubble with Delta to fight against enemies with Lin.

Although it may sound a bit childish, Rita and Delta are two members of the hero's team who step in when the hero needs help or is forced to do so.

But now, Rita remains unmoved even as Lin suffers such a terrifying attack.

... Or perhaps Delta misunderstood the meaning of Rita's silence.

"We can't intervene. The World Bubble where the Captain is located is locked down. It's a malfunction caused by the Aether Anchor." Rita shook her head. Her tone was calm, but her eyes were filled with ripples as if a boulder had been thrown into them. "It cycles every three days. We don't have the Captain's ability to project his consciousness, so we have no way to enter the World Bubble."

"So we're just going to watch like this?"

Delta's tone was equally cold as she watched Lin's every move in World Bubble, her grip on the greatsword tightening.

"Drop----"

The alarm sounded shrill and sudden. The instant Delta heard it, she rushed to the observer. The observer was always on while the Hyperion, so they were able to immediately detect the anomaly in their surroundings.

"Hunter? This many?"

Delta frowned repeatedly, but without hesitation, she turned to Rita and calmly said, "You take control of the Ship Cannon, I'll go to the deck."

"Wait a minute, Miss Delta." Rita stopped Delta's radical actions, her own eyes also furrowed as she looked at the observer, her fingers tapping nervously on the table. "These Hunter aren't targeting us."

Upon hearing Rita's words, Delta turned back to look at the observer's screen, where the red dots symbolizing the Hunter were swarming toward the World Bubble!

"This..."

Even Rita, who had been traveling in the Quantum Sea for many years, was horrified when she saw this scene.

In the blink of an eye, the World Bubble was torn open by the Hunter, like tiny insects tearing open a bird's egg, rushing madly into the opening.

"How is this possible?" Delta was unusually emotional, looking at Rita in disbelief. "Why can the Hunter enter the World Bubble so easily? The barrier of the World Bubble, which hasn't even entered its decay phase yet, is so fragile?"

"... No, this is... the World Bubble opened a gap on its own."

Rita stared at the horrifying wound with an uncertain expression. This was unheard of. The World Bubble had opened a breach on its own to welcome the Hunter? Moreover, the Hunter seemed to have set their sights on the World Bubble as their target, completely ignoring the Hyperion nearby.

Captain, what exactly happened in the World Bubble?

"Drop--"