"A 'thank you' is unnecessary. This is merely a way for you to better cleanse your own sins and better manage this world. It's an equal exchange."
Xin Yu pushed the glasses up the bridge of his nose as he spoke. In his current state outside the world, he had changed his attire. He now wore a pair of slim-fit trousers and a plaid shirt, with a pair of thick glasses on his face.
"My current self is Alternate Programmer Xin Yu. As expected, wearing this skin makes the work feel more fitting."
Xin Yu placed his hands on his hips with satisfaction, a proud look on his face. He then looked at the bugs he had yet to fix, and the smile vanished.
However, as he watched network after network being born from his bug-fixing, being laid out by him into their proper nodes in time, a smile gradually returned to his face.
"Indeed. The Imaginary Tree itself does not possess a distinct self-awareness or intelligence. It's more like a phenomenon, a fundamental theorem and law of the universe. Otherwise, if there were a self-aware Heavenly Dao or some high-level existence with sentience like those described in novels, I probably would have been discovered and targeted the moment I started weaving this network."
As Xin Yu thought this, the flow of time seemed to swirl within his eyes. He saw countless threads of causality, countless streams of time. After confirming that no far-reaching schemes were waiting for him in the future, he nodded once more and resumed fixing the bugs before him and weaving his own network.
I just need to finish setting up the required network, then I can implement my plan and move upstream along the timeline.
"But before that, once the weaving is complete, I'll have to go back upstream myself. I need to drive in all the necessary rivets. Otherwise, things might get a little messy later."
While Xin Yu was busy with his work, back inside the world...
Murata Himeko stood before the blackboard, teaching her class. Today was the first day for the new students, and as the homeroom teacher of Class Senior-3, she needed to properly observe what kind of personalities these new students had.
Although the frequency and scale of Honkai Eruptions had decreased significantly in recent years, it was undeniable that the Honkai still posed a threat to humanity. Therefore, St. Freya Academy still only recruited individuals with a certain level of resistance and adaptability to the Honkai.
And for some unknown, special reason, this meant that most qualified new students were female. Or rather, from ancient times to the present, the majority of beings with high adaptability and resistance to the Honkai have been female, making males exceedingly rare.
Theresa's nieces... the daughters of Schicksal's strongest Valkyrie, Cecilia, and Schicksal's strongest warrior, Siegfried. The older of the two, Bianka Kaslana, seems to have already obtained her internal codename. She's only a few missions away from officially becoming an S-rank Valkyrie.
As for Kiana Kaslana...
Himeko's gaze fell upon Kiana, who looked a little drowsy in her class. She then thought of how hard Kiana's older sister worked, achieving the highest scores in the year for both cultural and combat courses.
It seems the older sister is more outstanding.
However, Himeko wouldn't bring these things up, nor would she treat Kiana any differently because of her identity. In her eyes, all these children were her students, and they all needed to be treated and taught with seriousness.
Raiden Mei, sitting in her seat, glanced at Kiana, who was dozing off by the window. She was still the same as before.
But my current situation is really like something out of a light novel. An apex powerhouse is reborn to make up for all past regrets... well, though all the regrets have already been made up.
Raiden Mei, with her inherently chuuni personality, couldn't help but think this. After all, as long as she had her connection and memories of Xin Yu, she was his Emissary. The power of an Emissary still flowed within her. If she so wished, she could even destroy the planet beneath her feet.
Of course, Raiden Mei wouldn't go mad and destroy the planet she lived on. Even if she really did go mad and try, she would definitely be stopped by him.
Because she had already attended school twice, Raiden Mei felt no pressure at all from the physics lesson taught by Murata Himeko.
Wait, is Teacher Himeko teaching physics now? Mei remembered that in the previous world, Teacher Himeko taught combat skills and only occasionally substituted for cultural classes when other teachers were on leave.
After a relaxing class, it was finally noon. Raiden Mei was packing her things, preparing to head to the flower shop to continue her chat with Yae Sakura and have lunch, when she suddenly heard someone shout for Teacher Himeko.
A person then pushed open the classroom door and walked in, smiling and greeting Himeko, who was still tidying up her teaching materials at the lectern.
When Himeko saw the person who had come in, a happy smile spread across her face. "Sirin, it's been a while. What brings you back for a visit today?"
"Hehe! I've been busy with all sorts of missions. I'm an S-rank Valkyrie of Schicksal now!" Sirin said proudly.
Raiden Mei watched this scene of a kind teacher and a filial student, and for some reason she couldn't explain, she found it utterly absurd. Two mortal enemies who would have undoubtedly tried to kill each other on sight were now a close teacher and student.
But... this is also a good thing. For someone who had memories of what happened, the scene before her was indeed a bit absurd.
The girl who was supposed to die in the snowfield now had a brighter future, a harmonious and happy family, and even her own friends and teacher.
And Teacher Himeko, who was supposed to bear too many responsibilities and sorrows, no longer had to carry those burdens.
This was a world where everyone could live happily.
As Raiden Mei thought this, a blissful smile appeared on her face. She then finished packing her things and left the classroom.
Meanwhile, Kiana, who had been dozing off, was now fully awake after class. She noticed Raiden Mei leaving the classroom and, after a moment's thought, was inexplicably overcome by a desire to follow her.
Kiana's curiosity constantly urged her on. She wanted to know why Raiden Mei knew her name, and why she had looked at her with such a complicated expression before.
Finally, driven by a cat-like curiosity, Kiana couldn't resist. She quickly left the classroom and began to stealthily follow Raiden Mei.
Mei, walking ahead, was of course aware of the person trailing her. However, upon noticing it was Kiana, she didn't have any special plans and simply continued walking towards the flower shop.
After all, she had experienced this kind of thing before.
That was such a distant memory... I think it was back in Nagazora City.
It really had been a long, long time ago.