When Chen Ran communicated with the system through his thoughts and received no response, he realized he had been trapped by this useless system.
Perhaps there was an unknown problem with the simulation scene, or maybe the conditions for clearing it hadn't been met; in any case, he was stuck in this simulation scene.
Chen Ran felt a headache coming on.
Undoubtedly, the fastest way to exit would be to commit suicide. However, there was no guarantee that if he did, the system wouldn't trap him again, so to be safe, he decided to quickly consume his consciousness, construct authority, and force an exit.
Just as he had just used his authority, Wendy returned.
"What's the matter?"
Chen Ran's eyes showed a hint of surprise as he smiled, "Are you missing me?"
Wendy looked at Chen Ran and said, "I don't miss you, but someone else probably does."
Before Chen Ran could react, she activated the Valkyrie auxiliary system.
The time-space rupture system of Valkyrie is a new type of auxiliary function developed by Schicksal from the remains of the Second Herrscher. It can temporarily stagnate time and space in a small area, creating a state of disconnection.
Naturally, the energy consumption required to activate this auxiliary function is enormous, especially with continuous use, causing Wendy's face to pale slightly.
A flash of shock crossed Chen Ran's pupils.
Under the time-space rupture, he saw his body being embraced by someone.
"This time we can have a proper conversation."
Before he could react, he found his lips already sealed by the girl's.
The two bypassed time and shared a kiss.
Wendy, who activated the time-space rupture system, was taken aback.
You've made me work so hard for so long, and this is what you wanted to do?!
Although the time-space rupture system only lasted a few seconds, Wendy felt as if her whole being had suffered a significant blow.
She began to feel that time was dragging on.
Until the time-space rupture system retracted, everything vanished.
Chen Ran felt the lingering warmth on his lips, as if it had just been a fleeting dream.
"Sure enough, she came to find me."
At this moment, Chen Ran had too many questions. According to the system, after clearing the future simulation scenario, everyone would have their memories related to him erased at this time in the future.
The system needs to formulate future fate nodes based on the events that occur in the simulation scenario, so his existence must be erased.
Otherwise, it could easily trigger a butterfly effect.
But the current situation was that Wendy clearly still remembered him.
He looked at the equally bewildered girl and couldn't help but smile, "Hey, do you mind if I tag along to Saint Freya?"
…
…
"The large-scale Honkai outbreak in Nagazora City did not give rise to a true Herrscher. The Herrscher you fought before indeed reached the strength of a Herrscher, but based on our observations of its core, we found it to be an incomplete core, meaning it falls within the category of a Pseudo-Herrscher."
At the temporary base near Hyperion, Theresa sighed in relief when she saw Wendy return with Chen Ran.
Chen Ran was an intelligence officer planted by Schicksal in Nagazora City. She didn't care about his identity; knowing he was from Schicksal was enough.
As long as Wendy was safe.
Wendy listened to Theresa's account but felt somewhat distracted.
She secretly glanced at Chen Ran, with too many questions she wanted to ask him.
Without a doubt, the 'Wendy' she encountered was also her, after all, it had only been a year, and she could still recognize herself.
But what exactly was the relationship between that 'self' and Chen Ran?
The worry and confusion on the girl's face were evident, and seeing Wendy like this, Theresa couldn't help but sigh.
"Forget it, you two should rest well. I'll handle the follow-up matters here."
"Okay, Teacher."
Like a student who couldn't wait for the class bell, Wendy sprang up and, disregarding the surprised gazes of everyone, directly dragged Chen Ran away.
Chen Ran: "…"
He was pulled to a secluded place by Wendy and couldn't help but laugh, "Aren't you afraid of being misunderstood by your Teacher Theresa?"
"Misunderstandings can be clarified, but right now you need to tell me clearly what her relationship with me is, and what your relationship with her is!"
The girl placed her hands on her hips, looking up at him.
Chen Ran sighed.
He didn't know how to explain, as no matter how he looked at it, what he had done seemed more like a fantasy.
However, Chen Ran also knew that Wendy from a year later was right beside him.
Clearly, the two Wendys had reached some sort of tacit understanding, and if he lied, he would definitely be exposed by the other.
Moreover, he didn't want to lie.
He couldn't let Wendy down.
"Alright, since you want to know the truth, then you must first promise me that you won't tell Theresa."
"Don't worry." Wendy promised earnestly.
Although the girl was straightforward, she knew what should and shouldn't be said.
"Then I'll tell you, actually, I'm not from Schicksal. To be precise, I come from fifty thousand years ago…"
The boy concealed part of the system and briefly recounted how he came from fifty thousand years ago to 2014, and then to 2013.
As he spoke, Wendy felt as if she had experienced something extraordinary.
His gaze was fixed on Wendy's reaction, while he spoke nonchalantly, "Do you remember what I told you about the number 1 before?"
"I remember…"
Wendy nodded instinctively, still marveling at the wonders of the world.
Chen Ran smiled wryly, "From the perspective of this time, everyone, including me, is just a cold number 1."
Wendy felt a chill run down her spine.
The boy didn't want to deceive the girl, whether it was the one in front of him or the one possibly separated by worlds.
"My goal is simple: to find answers to combat Honkai and Finality in the future era."
"But I think you can understand the butterfly effect. If that era defeats Finality, then everything and everyone in this era will most likely not exist."
"Alright, that's the answer you wanted. Whether you're satisfied or not, at least it's absolutely true."
Chen Ran didn't know how serious the consequences of revealing this answer would be, nor did he need to care.
From the perspective of time, his appearance in the past would inevitably affect the future. For example, the early appearance of Stigmata, or the weakened version of MANTIS, or the God of War project proposed by MEI…
These things could directly influence the future.
In fact, if he were to miraculously defeat Finality, then everything and everyone in the future would not exist.
So, even though he cherished the beautiful moments with Wendy, he also knew he couldn't get too deeply involved in such feelings.
The system had once said that memories of the simulation and reality must not be confused, perhaps that was the reason.
And since Wendy was eager to know the answer, he decided not to hide it any longer.
"I live in the past, and perhaps the final outcome will be like many of the Nagazora City refugees you encountered, dying in despair and wailing."
"So, you… or rather, the you from the future, shouldn't be looking for me."
Wendy didn't quite understand this.
But separated by the membrane of the world, the Wendy on the level of consciousness understood.
Her eyes slightly lowered: "This jerk thinks this is protecting me?"
The girl had already made up her mind to get involved.
In the Elysian Realm, although she couldn't see the full picture of that era, she knew of a brilliant civilization called Destruction Honkai.
And Chen Ran was one of many people from that era, though special, he still accompanied the end of the era.
She thought about what to say to Chen Ran but found that her voice couldn't reach him.
Unless they activated the time-space rupture system again, they would have the opportunity to converse across time.
She could only quietly and attentively listen to Chen Ran's words with her past self.
Even though Chen Ran still spoke as if nothing was amiss, the girl Wendy could still sense a hint of pain in his words.
Just a disaster in Nagazora City was enough to shock her.
So, what about the disappearance of an era, a civilization?
Is that why Chen Ran could casually mention the 'number 1 theory'?
Her gaze fell on Chen Ran's eyes, and she mustered the courage to ask, "What about me… I mean the future me, the one you met a year later."
The girl had already heard about her experiences a year later from Chen Ran.
But at this moment, she didn't care about the so-called experiment; instead, she asked, "What do you think of me?"
"Of course, I want to hold you in my arms."
He couldn't help but pinch the girl's cheek: "But you know, I can't be responsible for your future, and you can't participate in my past."
"This time we can embrace in the cracks of time, but next time we might never meet again."
Even without the system's intervention, everything in the future would change under the influence of the butterfly effect.
Unless a specific life individual needed an anchor point to lock onto…
Wait a minute…
Chen Ran's eyes narrowed slightly, and he unconsciously released his hand from Wendy's cheek.
The girl puffed out her cheeks, clearly dissatisfied with his sudden action.
"Wendy, I found a way."
He said, "I thought of a method that would ensure you won't disappear no matter how the future changes."
Just as Otto could protect the main characters from disappearing due to the flow of time, he could also set an anchor point for the future Wendy.
"I can't guarantee that the future history will remain completely unchanged, but I can do my best to protect you from being affected."
Chen Ran thought of Stigmata.
Currently, Stigmata is a man-made genetic repository against Honkai memories. This memory-embedded genetic repository can directly form consciousness to combat Honkai.
But what if he could read all of Wendy's genes and create a 'Stigmata' related to her?
Just like fixing an anchor point in a sequence of coordinates, as long as the genes related to her are not dispersed, then at some point in the future, an individual named 'Wendy' would definitely be born, possessing Stigmata and becoming a Herrscher…
Chen Ran's pupils slightly constricted.
If that's the case, then wouldn't he be determining a person's fate?
Or is it because of his involvement that Wendy is destined to appear?
Chen Ran didn't know.
He said, "Let's go back, remember to keep this a secret for me."
Wendy nodded, "Mm, I won't say anything."
…
…
When Chen Ran stepped into Saint Freya again, he suddenly felt a bit complicated.
He told Rita about the current situation in Nagazora City, and Rita didn't stop him. During this time, he had also been assisting Theresa with the rescue in Nagazora City and helping with public opinion management.
For Rita, Kiana entering Saint Freya had already marked a phase of task completion, so Chen Ran's importance had greatly diminished.
If she were a bit ruthless, Chen Ran should have been silenced at this point.
Chen Ran didn't know the thoughts of Schicksal Headquarters, nor did he want to know.
Since the simulation scenario hadn't exited, he should do something more meaningful.
For example, analyze Wendy's current body and try to figure out how to 'constitute a Wendy.'
This was a very complex challenge.
To make a person appear accurately in the future, even the entire Fire Moth couldn't achieve that. He couldn't do it either.
He could only use Stigmata to ensure that a 'Wendy' would appear in the future, but when that would happen, he could not know.
If possible, he didn't really want to do this.
After all, this could be considered meddling in someone else's fate, and doing so was, in fact, quite selfish.
But he had already been selfish before.
Chen Ran was no saint, and Wendy... was someone he liked.
After seeking Theresa's permission, he didn't even bother to change his clothes and took Wendy to the scientific department of the Eastern Branch.
Although Theresa had her doubts, she didn't question too much.
However, she still went to investigate Chen Ran's background.
Of course, Chen Ran didn't care about these things.
"The devices at Saint Freya are a bit rudimentary, but they should still be usable for now."
What he needed to do was quite simple to say: collect all of Wendy's genetic data and find a way to bring it back to reality from the simulated scenario.
Only identical genes could replicate an identical person.
And to bring back Wendy's genetic information, it seemed he could only use the most primitive method: memory.
All papers, data, and even brain chips were unreliable; the system would make its own judgments.
But memories were real, and they couldn't be filtered out by the system.
This was a very difficult challenge.
A person's genetic fragments could record information from ancient times; although it was just a narrow chain, the amount of information contained was no less than that of a million-word book.
Not to mention, Wendy also had the Stigmata gene.
This artificial gene was implanted as a countermeasure against the Honkai information database.
After Wendy's permission, he extracted her blood.
"There are too many data modules."
He couldn't help but frown.
Chen Ran was not a genius; he couldn't just sweep through all the data and memorize it. Moreover, even if he memorized everything, he couldn't guarantee that there wouldn't be mistakes during replication.
At this point, there was only one way left.
To create a copy of Wendy's genes into Stigmata and then implant it into his own body to take it out.
He thought of the 'knowledge memory' experiment that No. 666 had conducted on him.
"It seems... it's not impossible."
It was as if everything was a script written by fate.
He suddenly had a thought: "Is what I am experiencing also a simulation?"
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