—Though unremarkable in appearance, this place was a rather famous historical landmark: Lexington.
Not far from him, Ming Yu spotted several familiar figures.
The red-haired Dr. Tesla, the blue-haired Dr. Einstein, a nearly transparent projection of an artificial intelligence at work, and...
Ming Yu looked at the last person, who happened to be looking his way as well.
The First Herrscher, Welt Joyce.
That result did not surprise him too much.
After all, when it came to the Star of Eden, the one most closely connected to it was not the Ninth Herrscher, who possessed similar authority, but the First Herrscher.
—All three generations of Herrschers of Reason had used this God Key as an important weapon and source of power.
The dark-blue-haired young man waved and called out to him.
"Ming Yu, what are you spacing out for? The artificial intelligence is about to finish analyzing it."
"..."
Unlike the historical footage he had played for Kiana earlier, which could only be viewed from afar and not touched, this data space was clearly quite special.
And judging by the situation, within this data scenario, he had been set up as a companion of these Anti-Entropy founders.
Joyce was already calling for him to head over to where Dr. Einstein and the others were. After thinking for a moment, Ming Yu started walking toward them.
New York Artificial Honkai
Ming Yu came to Joyce's side and watched the artificial intelligence projection as it carried out its work with complete focus.
If he remembered correctly, this scene should have been the first time the Anti-Entropy founders obtained the Ninth God Key, the Star of Eden.
Sure enough, as the artificial intelligence steadily unlocked it, something gradually appeared in the sky and descended from above.
"42.45 degrees north latitude, 71.23 degrees west longitude—target confirmed to have entered the designated area. Search mode activating.
"Account login successful. Password matches the previous one.
"Target source landing requested. Higher-dimensional camouflage is being removed through decoherence.
"Higher-dimensional camouflage removed. Soft landing successful.
"The target should be directly ahead of you. Please inspect it."
As the artificial intelligence finished speaking, an impossible-to-ignore yellow-white sphere appeared out of thin air and slowly descended before them.
Dr. Tesla looked at the strange thing and asked the artificial intelligence.
"What is that?"
"Type 1625 floating storage chamber. Equipped with higher-dimensional camouflage capabilities, it can stably hover above the target location for extended periods without being discovered."
Compared to the surprised Dr. Tesla, Dr. Einstein appeared much calmer. She ordered the artificial intelligence.
"Open it."
"Understood, Dr. Einstein."
Under the artificial intelligence's control, the yellow-white sphere slowly unfolded its shell at a pace like falling leaves.
The massive object, roughly as tall as a person, spread open in all directions like a blooming lotus, revealing the transparent display case hidden within.
Inside the transparent display case, a blue sphere roughly ten centimeters in diameter floated silently.
Its main color was deep blue, with symmetrical indentations on either side. Pale-blue lines continuously emitted a mysterious, gentle glow.
"Target object identification code: God Key No. 9, Star of Eden."
The artificial intelligence calmly reported its discovery.
A God Key?
Although they had worked under Schicksal for quite some time, they had never truly encountered the mysterious weapons known as God Keys. They had only occasionally seen related information in the records. It could be said that this was a term that existed only in legends.
It was said that only S-rank Valkyries were equipped with these powerful weapons from the Previous Era—
Everyone was about to step forward and examine the weapon known as the Star of Eden more closely.
However, at that moment, a powerful pulse arrived from afar. The intense shockwave instantly knocked everyone except Ming Yu to the ground.
That impact contained a high-powered electromagnetic pulse and a Honkai pulse.
Only Ming Yu, whose physical abilities had already surpassed those of ordinary humans, could withstand an impact of that magnitude. When he turned around, Joyce and the two doctors had already collapsed to the ground, temporarily unconscious.
And from all the information that had just flooded into his mind, Ming Yu knew exactly what had caused the distant explosion.
Originally, while Joyce and his group were searching for the Star of Eden, Edison and Schrödinger of the North American Branch were also conducting a great related experiment.
—Based on knowledge left behind by the Previous Era and their own brilliance, an epoch-making piece of equipment was about to be developed: an energy conversion device capable of converting Honkai energy into ordinary energy—the Moonlight Throne.
If that invention could have been fully completed during this period, Honkai disasters might no longer have been so frightening from then on, and so many tragedies might never have occurred.
But Otto had secretly tampered with the experiment's data. Not only did that cause the Moonlight Throne project itself to fail, it also triggered a massive explosion in the North American Branch's laboratory, resulting in an enormous leak of Honkai energy.
—The result was the outbreak of an artificial Honkai disaster.
When it came to creating artificial Honkai disasters, both Cocolia and Jackal came far later than Otto.
And the reason that man had done this was quite simple—he had been keeping an eye on the actions of the North American Branch group, and he had no intention of letting them gradually embark upon a path of opposing Schicksal.
So, he intended to eliminate everyone connected to this incident and strangle them in the cradle.
He had no intention of sparing either those scientists or Joyce, whose existence was suspected to be that of a Herrscher.
To that end, he did not hesitate to trigger a massive Honkai disaster in densely populated New York, one with an extensive range of devastation.
As Ming Yu pondered this, he carried the unconscious people into the car and waited for them to wake up.
A short while later, inside the car.
Joyce awoke from a nightmare and shakily sat up.
At that moment, he still did not know what had happened, but the grave expressions on Dr. Tesla's and Dr. Einstein's faces made it clear that something quite terrible had occurred.
He cautiously asked.
"Did the energy released by the God Key knock us unconscious?"
Einstein answered flatly.
"No... Ming Yu, explain it to Joyce."
Her eyes remained fixed on the Star of Eden before her. She was currently researching the God Key with all her strength in order to harness its power.
Ming Yu thought for a moment, then explained concisely.
"Hmm... to make a long story short, based on the coordinates, a massive explosion occurred at Schrödinger and Edison's experimental workshop, accompanied by a leak of Honkai energy. In the worst-case scenario, New York may suffer a disaster like Berlin did three years ago."
If they had been ordinary people, they probably would have driven away from New York at this point, fleeing the disaster that had already erupted, just like in so many apocalyptic films and television dramas.
But the direction they were driving toward was the exact opposite. They were speeding full force toward downtown New York.
Everyone's opinion was surprisingly unanimous—they had to find a way to stop this disaster.
That was not arrogant overconfidence. After all, they had just acquired the Ninth God Key, and with its power... perhaps they could accomplish something.
Ming Yu followed them as well, riding in the car as it sped forward.
His gaze fell upon the view outside the window. Snowflakes drifted ceaselessly as the scenery shifted rapidly past.
For people within the story like Joyce and the others, they would not concern themselves with matters outside the story. They only needed to think about how to resolve the crisis.
But as an outsider, Ming Yu had to consider one thing: why Otto had chosen to recreate this story from before Anti-Entropy's founding for him.
Why deliberately replay this part of Welt Joyce's history before him, rather than replaying Kallen's execution as it had occurred in the original timeline...?
Was he trying to test me...?
He already had his suspicions.
If he wanted to avoid attracting Otto's attention, the best choice was probably to sit back and watch events unfold, allowing everything in this scenario to proceed as it had in history, like an observer:
Edison used the device to contain the Honkai energy and force it into the sea to prevent it from reaching the city, blaming herself until her dying breath for her research causing New York's disaster;
Schrödinger lost her body, became quantumized, and drifted into the Sea of Quanta to begin her wandering;
Reanna, the strongest Valkyrie of the era, rushed into the sky at the cost of being shattered to pieces, destroying the Honkai Fission Bomb launched by Otto. The Abyss Flower sank into the Atlantic Ocean as a result;
Welt Joyce erected a barrier to keep the city safe, died from overexerting his power, and ended a life that had lasted only one month;
The young Joachim Yang lost his father and all his friends, abandoned his own identity, and inherited the name Welt with his youthful body;
Otto failed to eliminate the people he had intended to kill, and even achieved the opposite result—
All remaining members of the North American Branch betrayed Schicksal and founded an organization known as Anti-Entropy.
That was the original story, everything that had happened in history.
Ming Yu knew very well that this was merely a piece of historical footage, an unchangeable past.
He was not an idiot like Kiana. He would not try to do anything to change it...
"..."
As they traveled down the road and watched the city gradually begin to suffer from Honkai corruption, Ming Yu sighed. Lightning flickered over his body.
As Honkai Beasts gradually increased in number, the road was no longer passable, and Dr. Tesla, who was driving, was forced to stop.
Ming Yu opened the car door and said to the people beside him.
"Stay here. I'll clear out those Honkai Beasts."
Schicksal's Strongest Valkyrie, Reanna
Near Blackstone Park.
Two soldiers drove an armored vehicle, cautiously approaching a monster circling the area.
"M-Monster..."
Once they got close enough, even with the courage and resolve of soldiers, they could not help feeling afraid in the face of such an inhuman creature.
Its biological structure was difficult for ordinary people to describe. No... it should have been completely impossible to comprehend.
Some of its tentacles were lined with rows of eyes, some with rows of pincers, and some with rows of indescribable mouthparts.
Those tentacles were fixed to a rectangular block of granite like barnacles—perhaps it had been a tombstone. In any case, they formed a single whole, writhing like a worm and inspiring disgust and fear.
The only thing the two soldiers could be certain of was that it was the undisputed master of this park.
Even if they fired the armored vehicle's cannon... could it truly inflict any damage on it?
No matter what, they had to try to resist.
It was not that they did not want to call for reinforcements and deal with it together. The creature had already spotted their armored vehicle and was slowly moving in their direction.
One soldier tremblingly pressed the red button inside the armored vehicle. A shell shot out, striking the monster with precision and causing a violent explosion.
The blast possessed enough destructive force to easily blow apart an entire basketball court. The two soldiers stared nervously at the smoke-filled area ahead, praying that the armored vehicle's attack had achieved the desired result.
However, unfortunately, after the smoke dispersed, aside from the granite block it had originally been perched upon being shattered, the monster was completely unharmed, without so much as a scratch.
At the same time, as though enraged, its tentacles shot toward the armored vehicle. The ones in front had already effortlessly sliced through the vehicle's sturdy outer armor.
In just a few seconds, the entire armored vehicle would likely be easily torn into fragments by this monster, and the people inside naturally would not escape disaster.
Just as the two soldiers prayed in their hearts, a bolt of lightning shot out from behind the armored vehicle and struck the monster with precision, halting its movements.
Immediately afterward, they saw only a figure flash past like lightning before standing in front of the armored vehicle in an instant.
That was... a human? Could a human possess such speed?
While the two soldiers were still confused, they realized that the distance between them and that human was growing wider and wider.
But he had clearly not moved...
Only then did they realize that the armored vehicle they were riding in was rapidly being pushed backward by some kind of force.
Before you continue