"Jilin, what are you doing?"
"It's little Cang Xuan—long time no see."
Inside Saint Freya Academy, Cang Xuan's Book was utterly astonished upon seeing Jilin in her spiritual state. It floated atop a scroll and circled Jilin several times. Equally surprised, Jilin immediately rushed forward and embraced Cang Xuan's Book; the two had been very close in days past.
"Although the soul isn't complete, for now this is the best we can do," Daniel Davis remarked to Fu Hua as he watched Jilin and Cang Xuan's Book reminisce about old times. Even with all the knowledge and energy about souls he'd amassed from the world of Death Gods, Daniel Davis knew that since Jilin had been dead for far too long, he couldn't fully restore her soul completely.
"It's fine—this is already wonderful. Thank you," Fu Hua replied warmly. For her, being able to see Jilin again filled her with joy; and although Jilin's soul was fragmented at present, there was still hope for its complete restoration someday.
Jilin now existed in the form of a Shikigami—essentially, the spirit of a "charm-casting immortal." Naturally, her host was not Daniel Davis but Fu Hua. With the aid of items and equipment from the realm of departed souls—such as ceremonial armor and spirit relics—Jilin could temporarily manifest in a human body.
"Don't be so formal. How is Kiana doing?" Daniel Davis asked.
"Principal, Siegfei, Himeko, and Mei have been taking turns keeping her company."
When Fu Hua mentioned Kiana, she couldn't help but sigh. Ever since returning from the Nine Nether Regions, after Theresa and Siegfei had hesitated for days, they finally found an opportunity to reveal the truth to her. The sudden upheaval nearly broke Kiana; fortunately, with Himeko and Mei by her side, she managed to hold herself together—though her usual bright smile was gone.
"Once she recovers, please take it upon yourself to teach her Vacuous Sword Qi."
Kiana's natural aptitude for cultivation was remarkable. From her first encounter with Vacuous Sword Qi to the moment she used Divine Essence in battle against a Regulator, it hadn't taken long—despite Fu Hua's assistance back then—to prove her talent.
"Absolutely."
"My arm… it can really be restored?" Siegfei asked in awe as he stared at his left arm, which had been removed from his Soul Steel.
"It's simple—this will do the trick."
Daniel Davis swept his left hand, and a white spear materialized in his palm. Siegfei stared dumbfounded at the white spear.
"Black Abyss White Flower."
"Exactly. Use this and your lost arm will be restored."
Daniel Davis had his own methods to restore Siegfei's lost arm; however, to ensure the mastery of the Void Regulator's techniques, he opted to manifest the Divine Key known as Black Abyss White Flower. Bathed in its white radiance, Siegfei's missing left arm slowly began to grow back until it formed a perfectly intact limb.
"This arm has just been restored—so for now, try not to use it in battle. And here, take this back; I no longer need it."
After stowing away Black Abyss White Flower, Daniel Davis returned the Sacred Judgment of Heavenly Fire to Siegfei. Now that he could reproduce the Sacred Judgment using the core of the Void Regulator, there was no need to keep it. Since the Sacred Judgment was Siegfei's primary weapon, losing it would halve his offensive power.
"How's Kiana doing over there?"
At the Anti-Entropy Salt Lake Base, shortly after Daniel Davis arrived via teleportation portal, Tesla was the first to ask, while Einstein paused his work.
"Although her spirits remain low for now, I believe she'll recover soon."
With Himeko, Mei, and the others supporting her, Daniel Davis was confident that Kiana would pull through—the current situation was far better than before.
"And what about Walter?"
Walter Young is no longer the history teacher at Saint Freya Academy; he's returned to serve as Anti-Entropy's allied leader. Strictly speaking, much of the work has been handled by Lei Dian Longma. After Kokolia was detained, Lei Dian Longma was soon released and resumed his duties.
"There's been some Honkai activity—he went to handle it. By the way, when will Siegfei be back?"
"Using Siegfei merely as a tool, huh? No wonder Walter used to teach history—the work was actually being done by Siegfei."
Pondering this, Daniel Davis remarked, "He should be back soon. He won't be staying at Saint Freya Academy for too long."
"By the way, you've arrived at just the right time. What exactly is the situation with that Space Ring?"
Upon hearing that Siegfei would return quickly, Tesla nodded and promptly steered the conversation to the matter of the Space Ring.
Previously, Daniel Davis had given them a Space Ring to study.
"Dr. Tesla, you're still researching it? I've already said—it isn't our field. You're just wasting time… or do you want to switch careers and become a mage?"
Though Einstein was naturally curious about the Space Ring as well, she remained more pragmatic than Tesla. After some study, she realized it was completely at odds with the existing scientific framework and abandoned further research. For her, science was an endless pursuit, and she simply didn't have the time to divert her attention.
"I know—I'm only curious. Aren't you curious too?"
Tesla replied with a sulky expression.
"Dr. Tesla, I am curious. But you must understand, we simply don't have much time to investigate this now. With all the Honkai and the celestial beings, they won't give us the leisure to study it."
"Understood. I'll be more careful in the future. By the way, having traversed so many worlds, have you come across any noteworthy technology?"
"Dr. Tesla, a guest should be treated politely."
"Dr. Einstein, no need to be so formal. I'm well aware of Dr. Tesla's temper. The reason I came today was precisely to exchange ideas on technological matters."
The three soon gathered in a conference room and engaged in a thorough discussion about technology. The scientific prowess of the Honkai world was extremely advanced—Daniel Davis possessed only a handful of techniques that were unavailable here.
"Damn that accursed Honkai."
After much debate, Tesla couldn't help but let out another curse aimed at the Honkai. Many of the technologies on Daniel Davis's side could help Anti-Entropy amass great wealth, but unfortunately, due to the nature of the Honkai, these techniques were unusable.
Among the best was the deep-diving virtual game technology reminiscent of Sword Art Online. Similar technologies did exist in the Honkai world, but they were prohibitively expensive to popularize—usable only by insiders.
Nanotechnology was another widely applied field; however, besides cost, the advent of mature quantum teleportation—capable of instantly transporting armor and mecha—meant there was little need to expend further resources on nanotech.
The price difference between a standard mecha and one using nanotechnology was over tenfold. While such technology might be acceptable for personal use, its widespread adoption was beyond even Daniel Davis's reach. In his eyes, quantum teleportation was one of his greatest gains in the Honkai world.
"I'm sorry. Perhaps someday I'll encounter a world where some of these technologies are applicable."
After their discussion, the trio was somewhat disheartened to find that most of the tech wouldn't be useful.
"Not everything is useless. There are some ideas we can definitely learn from."
Whether it was the Mark series of mecha or those built by the pacifists from another world, Tesla was extremely interested.
"Imagine if Tesla put her in Stark's situation—maybe she could hammer out a Mark I just like he did."
For the next week, Daniel Davis remained at the Anti-Entropy Salt Lake Base, exchanging scientific insights with the two doctors. This proved immensely beneficial, and he also became further acquainted with the core of the Void Regulator.
The core of the Void Regulator plays a significant role in science, such as enabling the replication of certain devices and materials, thereby drastically reducing the number of experiments required.
The swift construction of Anti-Entropy's Moonlight Throne was largely thanks to the tireless efforts of Walter Young in the past.
"Fourth-Generation God-Slaying Armor, Crimson Knight Moon Eclipse—Otto is so generous, even offering the Plague Gem. It's a pity Himeko can't use it; it looks like it can only be given to Kiana, as the Flame Regulator."
After leaving Anti-Entropy, Daniel Davis immediately went to Tianming to study their Fourth-Generation Armor—known as the Blank Key of the former civilization.
If the Fourth-Generation God-Slaying Armor is embedded with a Void Regulator core as its power source, it can fully replicate the Regulator's power. The scene of the Queen's arrival, strictly speaking, was the Void Regulator confronting the Flame Regulator.
However, despite its might, this armor came with severe side effects. After all, when someone who isn't a Regulator uses a Regulator core, the corrosive effects of Honkai energy are no joke. Back in the former civilization, Dr. Mei fell gravely ill later on after using the Blank Key.
Tianming's current Fourth-Generation God-Slaying Armor was actually developed based on Crimson Knight Moon Eclipse—the prototype—named so because it incorporates the Plague Gem.
"Next, I might just build one of these Fourth-Generation God-Slaying Armors for myself—and also craft a true Moon Soul for Rita in the World Bubble."
The Fourth-Generation God-Slaying Armor was immensely powerful. Just by watching Fu Hua's performance with the Shadow Knight Moon Wheel, one could tell that even though she had recovered from her injuries and could fight strongly without the Moon Wheel, having it only made her even better.
Then there was Rita in the World Bubble—though her armor bore the same name as that of the "Refrigerator's Master," its power was worlds apart.
"This is the technology for manufacturing armed automatons—I didn't expect you'd have this too."
Daniel Davis was somewhat surprised as he looked over the data Otto had transmitted. Out of curiosity about armed automatons, Daniel Davis had once borrowed Kevin's armed automaton from Youlandel for examination. However, lacking the necessary technical know-how, he had eventually returned it to Youlandel.
It was rather amusing—Youlandel kept Kevin's armed automaton at home as a decorative piece. Given her status, it was almost as if she was enshrining an ancestor.
"You've shown me your sincerity," Otto said with a smile as he raised a wine glass filled with expensive red wine.
"Jilin," Daniel Davis murmured softly as he watched the scene of Jilin displayed at Saint Freya Academy under Otto's operations.
"Not bad. All along, I wasn't sure whether to believe in the existence of souls—but now you've proven it."
Otto, a great scientist, couldn't have been more correct. As a scientist, he naturally harbored skepticism about souls.
"Thank you—I trust that you will have your wish fulfilled."
"Kiana, I have something I'd like to discuss with Xilin. Is that alright?"
After Theresa and Siegfei had revealed the truth to Kiana, it had led to an unexpected consequence: Xilin, who had previously been quiet, suddenly reacted. Faced with her darker side, Kiana wasn't sure how to cope—but one thing was certain: she wouldn't allow Xilin to take vengeful action against humanity.
"What is it you want to do?" Kiana asked hesitantly.
"I want to see if I can persuade her. If possible, I'd rather not have you all kill each other to the death."
In the end, after Kiana's battle with Xilin, Xilin's disappearance left Daniel Davis with a sense of regret.
"Persuade her? Is that even possible? Isn't she just my dark side?" Kiana asked, puzzled.
"But a dark side isn't necessarily purely evil. In this world, nothing is entirely pure good or pure evil. Even a person whose misdeeds seem endless may have done something good."
Human nature is chaotic—even the legendary entity who cleaves apart the Three Corpses, with separate aspects of good and evil, is not purely one or the other. If they were, they'd be locked in a do-or-die struggle and could never coexist.
"What should I do?"
"I'll use 'Yudu Chen' to enter your mental space. Just don't resist."
"Alright."
"So, you wanted to see me?"
Upon entering Kiana's mental space, Daniel Davis immediately encountered a girl with long purple hair, floating in midair with an expression of seething hatred directed at him—not against him personally, but against humanity as a whole.
"Xilin, let me be frank: I'm here to persuade you to give up your quest for revenge against all mankind. Of course, if you want to kill Otto, I won't object."
"You came here to say that? How laughable. Humanity's very existence is a mistake—war, deceit, jealousy, greed—you all made me lose everything, and now you expect me to forgo my revenge?" Xilin's laughter dripped with sarcasm.
"So that means you also want to kill Cecilia?"
"What do you mean? Who else would you kill but you humans?"
At the mention of Cecilia, Xilin's expression immediately turned agitated.
"I'm working on a way to resurrect her. I already have a lead, but it'll take a few years. Would you be willing to wait?"
"Humans—do you really think I'd trust you now?"
After a pause, Xilin sneered coldly.
"Whether you believe it or not, I imagine you aren't at peace with Cecilia's death either. Don't you long to see her revived? If you annihilate humanity, there will be no way to bring her back. I won't rush you—think it over carefully."
With that, Daniel Davis severed the "Yudu Chen" connection. This meeting was merely a preliminary greeting; he did not expect Xilin to be immediately convinced.
"How is it?"
After regaining her composure, Kiana eagerly asked.
"It was just a preliminary greeting. These matters cannot be rushed."
Considering Kiana's current state, Daniel Davis decided not to hand her the Plague Gem immediately. He resolved to wait—at least until her mastery of Vacuous Sword Qi advanced further.
"What did you say? Walter went into quantum space? Didn't I already explain the situation there?"
That day, Daniel Davis unexpectedly received a message from Tesla and Einstein.
"It's because they discovered Schrödinger."
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