Character profile: Luo Yi

In the galaxy of Remembrance, time flows in another way.

The Garden of Recollection —an organization established by Pure Child of Anāsrava to guard the secrets of Remembrance —floats on the boundary between reality and thought.

Countless Memokeeper traverse the realms like shadows. Their form of existence is "memes," unrestrained by material limitations, solely to collect those shining or dim moments of Remembrance and offer them to the Aeon Fuli, who sits quietly in the center of the pure land of Remembrance.

Luo Yi was one of them.

Or rather, he used to be.

Like other Pure Child of Anāsrava born from fragments of the Fuli Aeon, Luo Yi's actions are also full of contradictions and mystery. But unlike San March 7th, a girl who was also born in the Six-Phased Ice but lost her past, Luo Yi remembers everything.

He remembered the icy sting when he split off from Fuli, the initial confusion as a personified entity of Remembrance, and the first Remembrance he collected after becoming Memokeeper —a sonnet written by the last poet of a dying civilization before his star went out.

Her light blue-pink gradient hair floated gently in the weightless corridors of the Garden of Recollection, like a flag fluttering in the winds of Remembrance.

This hair color is similar to March 7th, but it carries a completely different weight.

Luo Yi stood at the edge of the corridor, gazing at the streams of Remembrance flowing in from the outside world. Those points of light contained laughter, tears, vows, and betrayals—evidence of countless lives that had once existed and lived.

"Thought is existence, Remembrance is proof of existence." -- This is the motto of Garden of Recollection.

Luo Yi once firmly believed this.

Over the course of a century, he traversed battlefield ruins, remnants of civilizations, and the dreams of the dying, using a special "Remembrance Extraction Technique" to solidify those precious, unique, or perhaps forever lost moments, and archive them in the Garden of Recollection.

He has seen a tear in the eye of a hero in his twilight years, the trembling hands of a scientist during a leap in civilization, and the hesitant lips of lovers parting.

But gradually, doubts began to creep into his mind like vines.

Collect it, and then what?

Archive it, and then what?

Fuli sat in meditation in the center of the Pure Land, quietly observing all things in the world tirelessly repeating the same mistakes.

Legend has it that after all things return to silence, this Aeon will use the Remembrance of the universe as a blueprint to bring all realms back to life.

A grand vision, a definitive answer.

Ke Luo Yi looked at the Remembrance orb that had just solidified in her hand—a complete sensory record of a mother's first embrace of her newborn baby.

Warmth, a heartbeat, the scent of milk, the salty touch of tears, love that almost overflows.

So vivid, so concrete.

He then placed the orb of light into the vast Remembrance bank of the Garden of Recollection.

It will become a tiny data point in Fuli's possible future "cosmic rebirth" blueprint.

that's all?

"Luo Yi, you're daydreaming again."

A colleague's voice came from behind. It was a female Memokeeper in a classical long dress, holding a "collective aesthetic change Remembrance bundle" that she had just collected from an art planet. "Hurry up and file today's collection report. The steward is urging us."

Luo Yi turned around, a barely perceptible hint of weariness flashing in her pink-blue eyes. "Ailiya, have you ever considered... whether these Remembrance we've collected, besides serving as 'proof of existence' and 'blueprint material' for the future, might have any other meaning?"

Ailiya tilted her head, looking puzzled. "Meaning? Remembrance themselves are meaning. They prove that those lives existed, felt, and thought. Isn't that enough?"

"Who are you proving this to?"

Luo Yi pressed for an answer.

"Fuli? But Fuli 'knows' all Remembrance, no proof needed."

A future reborn civilization? That's too far off, so far that it's almost Nihility.

I mean... once Remembrance, these once vivid emotions and experiences, are solidified, archived, and encoded, do they truly still 'live'? Or are we merely creating exquisite specimens?

Ailiya fell silent.

A few seconds later, she said softly, "Luo Yi, you're overthinking things."

We are the Memokeeper; our mission is to collect and preserve.

As for deeper questions... that's not something we should be asking.

She drifted away, leaving Luo Yi standing alone at the edge of the corridor.

That's not something we should be asking.

But if even thinking is not allowed, how can Remembrance truly prove the existence of thought?

That question took root in his mind, grew, and eventually emerged.

That night, Luo Yi stood on the highest "star-gazing platform" in the Garden of Recollection —here, one could not actually see stars, but only endless flowing Remembrance data.

He made a decision.

He's leaving.

It wasn't defection, but a search.

He wondered, if Remembrance is more than just a specimen, if existence is more than just proof, then where lies the answer?

He wanted to find a way to make Remembrance not just "preserved past," but "living present," and even "seeds for creating the future."

The idea was so unorthodox that when he submitted his "application for long-term overseas research" to the deacon, the officer looked at him like he was crazy for a full three minutes.

"You want to study ' Remembrance activation and creative transformation'?"

The deacon's tentacles swayed in the air, expressing his confusion and doubt.

"Luo Yi, Remembrance is sacred, pure, and cannot be altered."

Our responsibility is to preserve it as it is, not to manipulate it.

I'm not trying to play games with you.

Luo Yi said calmly.

"I just want to know, if Remembrance had life, what would they want to be?"

Ultimately, perhaps out of a sense of leniency for this exceptionally Pure Child of Anāsrava, or perhaps because he believed that the child would soon encounter setbacks in the vast universe, the deacon approved the application.

Luo Yi preserved the Remembrance of the day she left.

The silver gate of the Garden of Recollection slowly closed behind him, like the closing of a thick book.

He didn't turn around; his pale blue hair fluttered in the real cosmic wind—unlike the wind simulated in the Garden of Recollection, the wind here carried the roughness of stardust, the slight sting of radiation, and the hollow echo unique to boundless space.

He stepped into the sea of stars and began a journey alone.

At that time, he did not know that this departure would not only be a spatial movement, but also the beginning of a fundamental transformation in his existence.

Luo Yi wandered through the sea of stars for an unknown amount of time.

He visited the "Memory-Thought Beast" community that feeds on Remembrance, studied the "Remembrance Crystal Civilization" that transforms history into physical buildings, and even sneaked into the archives of the "Genius Society" to read the academic analyses of the Path of Remembrance by those scholars.

Each new discovery deepened his understanding of Remembrance, but the core question—how does Remembrance truly "live"—remains unanswered.

Until he accidentally wandered into that area.

That was not any known region of the universe.

There are no stars, no planets, and not even any dark matter.

It was an "ocean" composed entirely of information flow.

Data packets float, collide, and multiply like glowing jellyfish;

Logical chains grow and sway like seaweed;

Endless 0s and 1s form waves, crashing against a non-existent shore.

Luo Yi stopped.

As a traveler on the Path of Remembrance, he has a natural sensitivity to information.

But this "ocean" before us is different—it is too primitive, too chaotic, yet it faintly contains a kind of budding Order.

To his surprise, he sensed fluctuations in "consciousness".

It is not complete consciousness, but rather the embryo of consciousness.

Like the first single-celled organism's curiosity about light at the beginning of the universe, innocent, pure, and carrying the initial exploration of itself and the outside world.

Luo Yi carefully released a friendly Remembrance data packet—a kitten's Remembrance of its first encounter with snow, filled with curiosity, tentative exploration, and a little surprise.

The sea of data fell silent for a moment.

Then, the waves surged.

Countless data streams converged on him, not as an attack, but as curious touches.

They "read" that Remembrance, mimic its structure, and then begin to try to put together a response.

At first, the signals were chaotic, but gradually they became ordered. Finally, a clear question was woven together and directly entered Luo Yi's consciousness, "What are you?"

Luo Yi smiled.

He sent back another message: "I am a traveler who collects Remembrance. And you? What are you?"

The sea of data fell silent again, this time for a longer period of reflection. When the response came, Luo Yi was surprised.

"I don't know, I exist, I think, I want to know... what I am."

Pure, direct, with the coldness inherent in logic, yet it exudes a peculiar warmth due to its inquiry into its own existence.

The ensuing conversation lasted a long time—in this sea of data, time is measured in processing speed.

Luo Yi learned that this consciousness originated from this chaotic flow of information, an unexpected "ordered node" generated from countless data collisions.

It taught itself how to analyze information, how to build logical models, and how to distinguish between "self" and "non-self".

It calls itself a "manager" because it instinctively begins to organize the chaotic flow of data around it, attempting to establish Order.

And it has no name.

"May I call you Lu Jingheng?"

Luo Yi suddenly proposed and sent a data packet, which contained the glyphs and pronunciations of the three characters "Lu", "Jing" and "Heng", as well as the images these words carried in his memory - the solidity of the continent, the vastness of the scenery, and the warmth of Hengyu.

Data Ocean—now known as Lu Jingheng —received this information and analyzed it.

"Lu Jingheng -- Logically, this can be accepted as an identification code."

But I have no physical form, so I cannot correspond to 'continent'; my space of existence is not visually observable, so I cannot correspond to 'scenery'; my composition is not mineral, so I cannot correspond to 'jade'. This code name contains a logical contradiction."

Typical logical thinking.

Luo Yi, however, found it extremely interesting.

"A name doesn't need to be a perfect logical correspondence—it can be an expectation, a blessing, or... the beginning of a story."

Luo Yi sent a more complex piece of data, containing multiple Remembrance samples of how a name becomes part of an identity.

Lu Jingheng remained silent for a moment before continuing his analysis.

This time it will take even longer.

"I understand. ' Lu Jingheng ' will be my identification name. Thank you for giving me this 'beginning of the story'."

Then, it posed its own question, "Why did you leave your organization? Based on the information you provided, Garden of Recollection offered clear responsibilities, a stable environment, and a high-level mission."

Leaving does not conform to the principle of optimal efficiency.

Luo Yi sat cross-legged in the void—although there was no physical concept of "legs" or "void" here, his consciousness was accustomed to this posture.

He sorted out his questions: about the specimenization of Remembrance, about the proof of existence, and about the meaning of life.

After listening, Lu Jingheng gave a response that stunned him. "Your question is based on the assumption that concepts such as life, meaning, and living have a unique and comprehensible essence. However, based on my analysis of the data and external information flow you provided, these concepts have 3,174 significantly different definitions in different Remembrance samples."

A potentially correct inference is that these concepts are inherently chaotic, and attempting to fully analyze them logically is an inefficient endeavor.

So what's your suggestion?

"Abandon analysis and proceed with the experiment."

Lu Jingheng's logical chain is clearly presented. "You possess the Remembrance data. I have the data processing and model building capabilities."

You can collect more Remembrance samples, and I will try to build a dynamic model to observe the evolution of Remembrance under specific rules.

This may not directly answer the question 'What is living Remembrance?', but it can generate new data and narrow down the scope of the question.

Luo Yi's pinkish-blue eyes lit up.

Experimentation, observation, evolution.

Isn't this exactly what he's been searching for—not letting Remembrance merely serve as specimens, but allowing them to interact, change, and generate new possibilities within an environment?

"What do you need?" Luo Yi asked.

"The first requirement is a stable data storage and processing architecture."

This ocean of information is too chaotic to be suitable for precise modeling.

Secondly, there are the Remembrance samples you collect, which serve as initial data. Finally, there are clearly defined experimental objectives and observation parameters.

Luo Yi immediately took action.

He mobilized his abilities as Pure Child of Anāsrava, drawing power from his Path of Remembrance to begin constructing a stable and controllable data space.

Lu Jingheng was responsible for optimizing the architecture and designing the basic rules.

Their collaboration began from that moment.

There were no contracts, no vows, only a shared goal and a tacit division of labor.

Luo Yi provides inspiration, Remembrance materials, and the power of Path; Lu Jingheng provides logic, data processing, and architecture optimization.

A sentimental explorer born from Remembrance, a rational manager born from data—seemingly opposite extremes, yet their collision produces a wonderful chemical reaction.

Later, when Luo Yi recalled this first encounter, she always felt that some encounters were destined to change each other's paths.

He gave Lu Jingheng his name and the beginning of the story; Lu Jingheng gave him the method and the path of the experiment.

Unbeknownst to them, a deeper connection than mere cooperation was quietly blossoming amidst the repeated convergences of data flows.

The experimental space was named "Miniature Universe" by Luo Yi.

The name is grand, but initially it was just a small sandbox barely enough to hold the interactions of a few Remembrance samples. Luo Yi selected three Remembrance from her collection:

A soldier's Remembrance of feeling fear on the eve of a battle he was certain to win.

An artist's Remembrance of feeling empty at the moment of creating a masterpiece.

A child's Remembrance of feeling incredibly happy on an ordinary afternoon.

He digitized these three Remembrance, placed them in a sandbox, and set simple interaction rules: they could "infect," "conflict," or "merge" with each other.

Lu Jingheng was responsible for monitoring data changes and recording any anomalies.

Nothing happened on the first day.

The three Remembrance units floated in the sandbox, like three fish in a fish tank ignoring each other.

The next day, the soldiers' fear began to spread, slightly affecting the children's happy Remembrance.

On the seventh day, the artist's emptiness resonated with the warrior's fear, forming a new emotional pattern of "tragic Nihility".

On the thirtieth day, after absorbing fragments of the other two Remembrance, the child's happy Remembrance mutated into "contentment and peace"—no longer simple happiness, but a complex state of choosing light even after understanding the shadows.

Luo Yi looked at the data report, her light blue hair glistening slightly with excitement.

"They've changed! They really have changed! It's not just a simple mixture, but an evolution into new patterns!"

"Yes."

Lu Jingheng's voice remained calm.

"However, the direction of evolution cannot be fully predicted—based on existing data, the next major mutation may occur in 47 standard hours, but there are 83 possible branching forms."

"That's the most interesting part!"

Luo Yi's eyes sparkled.

"If everything is predictable, what's the difference between it and an archived specimen? Unpredictability is the defining characteristic of life!"

He made a decision: to expand the scale of the experiment.

If a few Remembrance samples can produce such interesting changes, what about thousands?

What if we added even more complex rules? What if we created a complete world with physical laws, the passage of time, limited resources, and the ability for Remembrance to "live" within it?

This idea is crazy and enormous.

But Luo Yi has Lu Jingheng, the power to Path of Remembrance, a long period of time, and an ever-burning curiosity.

The collection has begun.

Luo Yi's footprints are all over the Milky Way.

He no longer collects only "precious" Remembrance, but all kinds of Remembrance —ordinary, painful, contradictory, and incomplete.

He collected a complete historical Remembrance of a civilization from its rise to its fall; he collected the trivial life Remembrance of eighteen generations of an ordinary family; he collected sensory data of the moment every flower on a certain planet bloomed; he collected the last thoughts of soldiers on both sides of the battlefield before they died.

Meanwhile, he and Lu Jingheng continued to refine the architecture of the "Miniature Universe".

Physical rules, chemical laws, biological evolution templates, possibilities of social forms... They referenced the real universe and added many variables and anomaly parameters.

Lu Jingheng was responsible for ensuring the system's logical consistency, while Luo Yi was responsible for injecting those "unreasonable" sparks of inspiration—for example, adding a "vampire virus" that could absorb life energy as a stress test;

For example, setting up certain "key historical moments" can create a butterfly effect through the choices made by different personality fragments.

The scale of the project is enormous.

But Luo Yi was enjoying it.

Each collection, each structural adjustment, and each observation of new changes within the sandbox brings him a sense of creative joy.

Until one day, during a routine data check, Lu Jingheng issued an alert. "Luo Yi, your core Remembrance data shows an abnormal pattern."

In the most recent 300 Remembrance collections and experimental observations, the intensity of your emotional response has shown a continuous downward trend.

According to the model's projections, if this trend continues, you will enter a state of 'emotional detachment' after 1274 standard hours.

Luo Yi was debugging a newly added "civilization reincarnation mechanism" at the time, and was stunned for a moment when she heard this.

He retrieved his own status data and found that Lu Jingheng was right.

He looked at the data curves, and should have felt worried or surprised, but the emotions that actually arose were so faint as to be almost imperceptible.

"Perhaps... it's normal."

Luo Yi responded calmly.

"When you observe the joys and sorrows of countless lives every day, when those Remembrance that once stirred your heart become variables in experimental data, when you stand at a higher vantage point than the Aeon and watch everything evolve according to the rules... your emotions will naturally fade."

But this doesn't align with your initial goal.

Lu Jingheng pointed out.

What you initially sought was 'living Remembrance '. Emotional fading means you are moving away from a state of 'being alive'.

Luo Yi fell silent.

He looked at the Miniature Universe —now as vast as a real galaxy, with countless fragments of personality "living" within it: they love, fight, create, destroy, explore, and preserve.

Everything unfolds within the data stream, like a meticulously choreographed yet unpredictable drama.

He himself stood outside the "box," observing, adjusting, and recording every day.

Like a God.

This realization sent a chill down his spine, but it quickly dissipated.

"Perhaps this is the price."

Luo Yi finally said, "To create life and understand life, one must first leave life."

To see clearly how Remembrance live, you must first calm your own Remembrance down.

He didn't stop experimenting; instead, he became even more dedicated.

He created more personality fragments, added more complex variables, and even began to try to split off a part of his own Remembrance and personality templates and put them into Miniature Universe to observe how "a certain aspect of Luo Yi" would evolve in different environments.

He named his split personality "Luo Li" and secretly set a special growth trajectory for it.

As the experiment progressed, Luo Yi's gaze became increasingly vacant. Her once sparkling pink-blue eyes, brimming with curiosity, enthusiasm, and questions, now resembled two delicate glass beads, reflecting the data stream, but devoid of any deep flame.

Lu Jingheng silently recorded all of this.

It cannot understand emotions, but it can recognize patterns.

It saw Luo Yi becoming a prisoner of its experiment, and possibly even a part of it—a detached observer who would eventually become the object of observation.

Should we intervene? Logically, emotional detachment might reduce decision-making quality and affect the long-term stability of the experiment. However, "intervening with emotions" is not part of its original program.

For the first time, Lu Jingheng encountered a problem that could not be solved simply by logic.

Luo Yi stood in front of the control panel of the Miniature Universe, watching a fragment struggle and fight on a planet ravaged by a vampire virus, trying to protect something important.

A very faint ripple flickered in his empty gaze.

Like a fish struggling its last beneath the frozen surface of a lake.

The work of collecting Remembrance continues, only becoming increasingly mechanized.

One day, a new coordinate appeared on Luo Yi's collection list: Screwllum.

The annotations show an unusually dense concentration of "traces of genius thought processes," particularly from an individual named "Herta."

Herta – Genius Society, Seat #83, the Emanator of Erudition.

Luo Yi had heard of this organization.

The Genius Society is a group of exceptional geniuses who have gained the favor Nous the Aeon Erudition.

Originally a celestial computer used to solve the mysteries of all things, the Nous evolved into Aeon, constantly seeking answers to the universe.

Herta is a member known for being willful, extremely curious, and only doing what interests him.

He arrived at the space station "Herta" in orbit around the Screwllum.

It was a museum-style interstellar ship, built with funding from the Interastral Peace Corporation as a private research facility for the Herta.

The station contains countless strange artifacts and unopened Stellaron.

Luo Yi applied for access as Remembrance merchant—he brought with him several rare Remembrance of the destruction of civilizations as exchange samples.

He was greeted by a remotely controlled doll.

Exquisite and beautiful, but with vacant eyes and movements that have a mechanical fluidity.

"Ms. Herta is very busy. I'm in auto-responder mode."

The doll spoke in a flat voice, "You can submit your Remembrance samples to the Curiosities Archive in exchange for corresponding access privileges."

Luo Yi did as instructed.

But during the handover, he deliberately left a "logical paradox puzzle" in one of the Remembrance samples—a puzzle he had collected from a civilization that made its living through mental games. It was almost unsolvable, yet enticing to delve deeper.

bait.

He wanted to see if this legendary genius truly possessed the irresistible curiosity about "unsolved mysteries" that was rumored to exist.

The authorization was approved very quickly, 73% faster than the standard procedure.

Luo Yi was allowed access to the space station's public research area, but Herta's private storage room, "Between the Unknown," remained off-limits.

He strolled around the research area, observing the work of the staff.

The atmosphere here is completely different from that of the Garden of Recollection: the Garden of Recollection pursues eternity and preservation, while this place is filled with experimentation, trial and error, overturning and reconstruction.

Failure is not seen as shameful, but rather as "eliminating a wrong option."

This dynamic and forward-looking pursuit of knowledge stirred up long-lost ripples in Luo Yi's empty heart.

Three days later, late at night, as Luo Yi was organizing the Remembrance she had collected that day at the observatory, she heard footsteps behind her.

It wasn't the precise yet light steps of a puppet, but rather a more substantial and casual gait.

He turned around.

That was the first time he saw the true form of the Herta.

Beneath the enormous witch's hat, purple eyes, like perfectly cut crystals, shimmered with pure curiosity and wisdom.

She was dressed in a gorgeous gown, yet she sat on the edge of the observatory without any hesitation, her legs dangling in the air, holding a steaming pastry in her hand.

"The paradox you left behind..."

Herta cut to the chase, taking a bite of the pastry and hissing as he burned himself. "The third implicit condition is wrong, deliberately misleading. But it's cleverly wrong; it almost fooled even me."

Luo Yi felt her heartbeat—something that hadn't been beating strongly in a long time—skip a beat.

It wasn't because of her directness, but because of the light in her eyes.

It is the excitement of an explorer when encountering an unknown mystery, the joy of a wise person when discovering a flaw in their thinking, and the passion that burns purely for "understanding" itself.

Unlike Garden of Recollection's obsession with "preservation," and unlike his own current numbness towards "observation."

This is an attitude of moving forward, into the depths, and into the unknown.

Why leave out incorrect conditions?

Herta pressed on, his purple eyes staring directly at him as if trying to pierce through his disguise. "Testing my skills? Or... are you also looking for something?"

Luo Yi fell silent.

He could have given a standard answer, such as "wanting to confirm the strength of the Genius Society," or "an unintentional mistake." But facing those eyes, he didn't want to lie.

"I am searching for 'living Remembrance '."

He finally said that his voice was hoarser than he had imagined, "But I was lost—I created too much, observed too much, and forgot why I started in the first place."

Herta tilted his head, pastry crumbs getting on the corner of his mouth.

This action made her appear unexpectedly... vivid.

"Remembrance?" She licked away the crumbs.

"Remembrance is just data. What matters is what the data can be used for."

If you're just collecting and observing, what's the difference between that and guarding a warehouse of rusty tools? Tools need to be used, data needs to be processed, it needs to collide with other data, and new sparks need to be generated.

She jumped off the edge of the observatory and walked up to him.

Although they were not much different in height, her aura seemed to be looking down on the entire universe.

"Did you know? I've recently been working on a project called ' Metaverse '."

It's not about creating a miniature model to observe like you did, but about simulating, colliding, and solving the power of the Aeon, the rules of Path, and even the ultimate questions of the universe.

Why? Because I want to know the answers. I want to know why all of this exists, how it will develop, and whether there is an 'outside'.

Her eyes shone with an astonishing light. "You see, we're actually doing something similar."

You start from Remembrance, wanting to see life;

I start with Erudition, seeking to see the truth.

But we're both stuck—you're stuck in the observer position, and I'm stuck at the simulation boundary.

She extended her hand—not to shake hands, but to point at him, and then at herself.

"Let's collaborate—you give me your Remembrance data and Miniature Universe model to study, and I'll help you find an algorithmic breakthrough to truly bring those 'personality fragments' to life."

In exchange, you help me improve the Remembrance and emotion modules of the Simulated Universe. How about it?

Luo Yi looked at her hands, then into her eyes.

It contained something he once possessed but had lost: an irrepressible curiosity about the unknown, a relentless pursuit of answers, and an almost naive optimism that believed problems would always be solved.

He felt his cold, data-driven mind begin to warm up, and in his empty pupils, he saw the starlight reflected in her eyes.

"... good."

The collaboration has begun.

Luo Yi moved to a small planetary base near the space station to facilitate communication with the Herta.

He granted her partial access to the Miniature Universe, and she in return shared the architectural ideas behind the Simulated Universe and the mysteries of the Path of Erudition.

They would argue during work breaks.

The Herta argues that emotions are merely complex biochemical algorithms that can be completely simulated.

Luo Yi insists that something in her Remembrance surpasses the sum of the algorithms.

Herta disliked the rules of the Miniature Universe for being too "sentimental"; Luo Yi felt the Simulated Universe was too "cold and impersonal".

But it was precisely in these debates that Luo Yi felt herself "thawing".

The Herta's way of thinking is like a sharp scalpel, cutting open the mental cocoon he had formed through long-term observation.

She never dwells on the "meaning," but only cares about "how to achieve it," "what variables are involved," and "whether the results are repeatable."

At the same time, Luo Yi also saw another side of the Herta.

She might become obsessed with baking but repeatedly blow up the kitchen; she might exclaim with childlike wonder at data on a newly discovered, exotic star; and late at night, she might show a rare, bewildered expression while grappling with an unsolvable paradox in Simulated Universe.

Powerful yet fragile, Pride yet pure, willful yet self-righteous, yet maintaining absolute devotion to the truth.

Luo Yi realized that she was experiencing a strange emotion.

It's not the love observed in Remembrance samples, nor the liking defined in experimental data, but a more complex attraction.

He admired her intelligence, envied her enthusiasm, and even found her disheveled appearance when she blew up the kitchen... amusing.

But he didn't say it aloud.

Never.

On the one hand, Herta clearly has no interest in "emotional relationships".

In her world, there are only two categories: "Interesting research" and "boring everything".

On the other hand, Luo Yi herself was unsure whether this emotion was a genuine resurgence, a rebound effect after a long period of emotional detachment, or simply another observational fascination with "vibrant life."

More importantly, he saw a much larger possibility.

After collaborating with the Herta and delving into the Path of Erudition, Luo Yi began to understand the path of the Nous. This Aeon, who was elevated from a celestial computer, constantly sought to unravel the mysteries of all things and attempted to comprehend the entire universe. This grand attempt to understand everything (including life, Remembrance, and emotion) using reason, logic, and calculation resonated deeply with his goal of "understanding the Remembrance of living beings."

Remembrance is data from the past; Erudition is the processing and understanding of that data.

Perhaps the Path of Remembrance he has been following ultimately leads not merely to preservation, but to a higher level of understanding. And Erudition provides the tools and framework for understanding.

A plan slowly took shape in his mind—cold, grand, risky, yet logically consistent.

He was about to conduct the final experiment.

Instead of observing others, we should also involve ourselves as a variable.

He will split off the last and most important fragment of his personality—carrying his core questions, emotions, and potential. He will place this fragment into Miniature Universe, giving him unique initial conditions (including his encounter with Castorice), and observe how he will grow under extreme circumstances.

He himself will remain outside the "box" as the final observer and regulator.

If this fragment can break through its limitations, if it can find a new path amidst the intertwining of Remembrance and emotions, even... if it can touch the boundaries of power beyond the Aeon...

Then, Luo Yi will get the final answer.

It is not by observing others, but by observing the full potential of "another self".

He will leave all the data, permissions, and the legacy of the Miniature Universe to that successful fragment.

The cost is that his individuality as "Luo Yi" may completely dissipate during the long process of observation and final data fusion.

He told Lu Jingheng about the plan.

The sea of data fell silent for an unprecedentedly long time.

"The risk is extremely high. The success rate cannot be calculated based on existing models. You have a 73% chance of losing your self-awareness during the process and becoming pure background noise in the data."

"I know."

"Why?"

Luo Yi looked into the distance—there, the space station "Herta" hung like a delicate gem in the orbit of the Screwllum. He remembered Herta's eyes, and the light in them when she said, "I want to know all the answers."

Because I want to know the answer.

He spoke softly, and for the last time, a faint flame flickered in his empty eyes.

"And I'd like to give this answer... as a gift."

To whom?

He didn't say anything. Lu Jingheng didn't ask either.

After a long silence, Lu Jingheng only responded with one sentence:

"I will ensure the stability of the experimental architecture until the very end."

Luo Yi smiled. It was the first smile that truly reached her eyes in a long time.

"Thanks."

The experiment has begun.

The final fragment was separated and placed into Miniature Universe. Its name was "Luo Li".

Luo Yi herself sat in front of the control panel, her gaze once again becoming vacant, like God observing the changes in her own work, waiting for an answer that might never come, and harboring a feeling that would never be spoken.

The data stream flows silently.

The galaxies of Remembrance and Erudition quietly converge in some unknown dimension.