"Yesterday afternoon, Schicksal's detection devices deployed in the Far East observed a level-three Honkai disaster energy level in the Shenzhou mainland."
"Confirmed by Shenzhou officials, the disaster's epicenter is ARK City, and the disaster energy level is confirmed as level three."
"No Herrscher-class lifeform fluctuations have been detected, and there are no traces of upper-level Honkai Beast activity."
"Confirmed that there are no traces of natural Honkai energy accumulation. The epicenter is confirmed to be the large-scale Honkai energy reactor in the Shicksal Pharmaceuticals energy zone."
"It is speculated that this disaster was man-made, and the initial target is confirmed to be Shicksal Pharmaceuticals and the organization behind it."
Luo Li listened quietly as the bespectacled, scholarly-looking girl spoke, staring blankly at the cityscape shrouded in colorful clouds high in the sky.
"Sorry, I was a step too late."
Even after her narration ended, Luo Li continued to stare at the scene in the sky.
As if understanding Luo Li's current mood, the girl beside him didn't interrupt, just quietly looked at ARK City in the distance, which seemed to be a reflection of the city in the sky, her expression calm, lost in thought.
What was Luo Li feeling right now?
Bewilderment, perhaps a little.
After all, experiencing two such drastic changes in scenery in a short period of time, it was hard not to feel confused about the world.
But as for grief and sadness, there was none, because he could feel that the life signs of those who had fallen had not disappeared.
—It was as if they had simply fallen asleep.
His dominant emotion at this moment should be anxiety. As long as life had not vanished, it was not over.
But he didn't know if it was too late.
So, Luo Li asked the question.
"Who are you?"
"And, is there still hope for this city?"
Hearing Luo Li's words, the gray-haired girl with glasses turned around, pushed up the glasses on her nose, and said slowly, "Fu Hua, you could say I'm an A-rank Valkyrie of Schicksal."
Luo Li noticed the words 'you could say' in her sentence, but didn't pay them any mind. The more important thing now was to understand the current situation.
So he just quietly waited for Fu Hua to continue.
Seeing her fall silent, Luo Li's heart sank with her.
He really didn't want to hear her issue a death sentence for this city.
Kiana, Ghost, the children whose lives had just begun, the various people of this city... their lives shouldn't end here.
But fortunately, what Fu Hua said next was not the worst-case scenario.
"Perhaps there is still hope."
"Perhaps..." Luo Li savored these two words, then looked at the girl who called herself Fu Hua. "It's not too late?"
"Indeed."
Fu Hua walked past Luo Li and looked at ARK City, which was shrouded in the night.
Wisps of colorful mist flowed from everyone in ARK City, gathering towards the city in the sky.
"Not long ago, a major Honkai eruption occurred in ARK City, but it didn't cause many casualties. Most people just fell into a deep sleep, their dreams gathering in the sky, showing a tendency to become reality."
"Only a small number were turned into ashes and Deadwalkers by the erosion of Honkai energy."
"And the common point of these people who fell into a dream is..."
"They were all injected with the vaccine from Shicksal Pharmaceuticals, right?"
Fu Hua nodded.
"Yes."
"According to the signals sent by several Valkyries who died in battle, our people found an unconsumed stock in the vaccine warehouse of Shicksal Pharmaceuticals."
"And in those vaccines, they found a certain psychic-type Honkai Beast gene."
"These Honkai Beast genes are the reason they fell into a collective dream, but they also ensured that they could survive the major Honkai eruption."
After listening to Fu Hua's narration, Luo Li had roughly guessed that, unlike what he had experienced, in the real world, World Serpent's experiment to verify the Stigmata Project using the vaccine had not failed.
The Valkyries who had planned to blow up World Serpent's vaccine warehouse had failed.
"World Serpent's experiment to verify the Stigmata Project succeeded..." Luo Li looked up at the illusory city in the sky. He had already guessed what he had experienced.
And when Luo Li said the words "World Serpent" and "Stigmata Project," Fu Hua felt a ripple in the depths of her memory, but it was still insignificant in the vast graveyard of her memories.
She knew that it was her past giving a response again.
But unfortunately, she currently had no ability to trace her past memories, and it was difficult to find relevant information from them.
Fu Hua nodded.
"HQ has confirmed that, besides you and another A-rank Valkyrie from the Central Intelligence Division, all other Valkyries have died in battle."
Fu Hua's statement further confirmed Luo Li's guess. He extended his hand towards the city wrapped in layers of colorful mist in the sky.
"Was I there before?"
Fu Hua nodded and explained:
"According to the information obtained from Shicksal Pharmaceuticals, we have named it Eden."
"Eden?" Luo Li savored the term. He thought of World Serpent's game.
"The consciousness of everyone who has fallen asleep in ARK City is there."
"A gate to a certain Imaginary domain has been torn open above ARK City, and the consciousness of tens of millions of people is falling into that unknown domain."
"When these consciousnesses completely fall, the consciousness from the Stigmata Space will replace these people."
"At that time, the illusory and the real will be reversed. The creatures from the Stigmata Space will live in their place, and the consciousnesses that have fallen into the Imaginary domain will become the dreams of the Stigmata Space creatures."
Although Luo Li had already learned some information in the dream, he still frowned after hearing it.
"This is really... insane." Then, he looked at Fu Hua. "You said it's not too late?"
Fu Hua was silent for a moment, then said to Luo Li seriously, "It's very dangerous, and almost impossible to do."
Luo Li looked at her, quietly waiting for an explanation.
Fu Hua put one hand behind her back and gently rested her other hand on her chin, saying slowly:
"Their consciousness has already detached from their bodies. It's not enough to just work on their bodies. Even if we clear all the Honkai Beast genes in their bodies that are used to generate dreams, we can't destroy Eden."
"That major Honkai eruption provided enough impetus to gather everyone's consciousness together. To break it apart, we must also have another force acting in the opposite direction."
Luo Li seemed to understand what Fu Hua was saying.
"Miss Fu Hua, you mean, as long as there is enough energy... equivalent to the energy of a major Honkai eruption, it is possible to defeat the dream... Eden?"
"To be precise, it must also be required that the energy level in the consciousness domain reaches the energy level of a major Honkai eruption."
"If it's in the physical domain, Schicksal does have someone who can meet the requirement, but to meet the requirement in the consciousness domain..."
Fu Hua fell silent.
If it were her former self, she could have done it. There were almost no one in this world who could surpass her in the consciousness domain.
But now, her body was on the verge of collapse, her sword heart was broken, and her memory was almost burned out during the Second Honkai Eruption.
With her current strength, even if she turned everything into fuel for her ultimate attack, it would be impossible for her to strike with the power of her peak.
And besides her, if there was anyone else in this world who could do this in the consciousness domain, it would be Su.
The legendary enlightened one, a pioneer who also survived from the Previous Era, a MANTIS who specialized in the mental domain.
But with those Eyes of Heaven that could see through everything in the present world, it was impossible for Su not to know what was happening in reality. And since he had not chosen to show himself, it meant that in his eyes, this was something that did not need to be interfered with.
Seeing the difficulty on Fu Hua's face, Luo Li understood the dilemma she was talking about.
The dream in front of them was equivalent to hijacking the consciousness of tens of millions of people in ARK City as hostages. To solve it, they had to strike hard in the consciousness domain, first killing the hijacker, and then dispersing those who were coerced.
And the difficulty in reality was still the problem of power.
"In other words, Schicksal can't find anyone strong enough in the consciousness domain?"
At Luo Li's question, Fu Hua fell silent again. She didn't want to discourage him.
To solve the current problem, it might not be impossible for Schicksal.
But reality was not just about right and wrong. Most of the time, it was also about standpoints. Since the disaster in ARK City, that Great Overseer of Schicksal had not made any statement about it.
Moreover, the commotion from Shicksal Pharmaceuticals this time was so big, with Schicksal's intelligence network in ARK City, it was basically impossible for them not to react until everything had erupted.
It was hard to say if he had some other plans.
But for Fu Hua, Shenzhou was her standpoint, so she would not ignore it.
No matter how slim the hope was, it was not a reason for her to give up. After coming to ARK City, there were only two outcomes for her.
Either ARK City would be saved, or... she would become the last moth, making a final gamble, even if it was likely just a moth flying into a flame.
Fu Hua didn't directly answer Luo Li's question, but continued, "Besides using powerful force to directly dismantle the dream, there is another way."
She turned her gaze to the city in the sky and said slowly, "Work from the inside."
Luo Li understood her plan, but he still had a question.
"Am I special?"
Fu Hua withdrew her gaze from the sky and then looked deeply at Luo Li.
"Yes, you are very special."
"I don't know if you've realized it, but you're the only one who's awake in the entire Eden."
At this point, she opened her palm.
The crimson feathers turned, and a ball of colorful mist emerged from her hand.
And in the mist was still the bar before Luo Li woke up.
Kiana, Ghost, Raven, and the children were all there.
"This is what's happening in Eden at this moment," Fu Hua placed the thing in her hand in front of Luo Li.
"Although I can't interfere too much with that huge dream above, at most I can only transmit some information as much as possible at the right time."
"But if it's just observing what's happening inside, I can still do it."
"Although those people are like they are in normal times, they are essentially still asleep. They are part of the dream and can only move along the pre-set trajectory of the dream."
"But you're different. You're the only one who hasn't fallen asleep, or rather... you're not defined by the rules of Eden."
"You're like an anomaly in Eden, a virus in a program. You're not defined by Eden, and you can even interfere with the operation of Eden in turn."
Listening to her explanation, he realized that his abnormality was most likely related to his transmigration, but Luo Li cared about another thing.
"In other words, I can use this to enter that place and dismantle it from the inside?"
"Yes," Fu Hua nodded, but her face became serious.
"Although you're not defined by the dream, it doesn't mean you can do whatever you want in the dream."
Fu Hua waved her hand in front of the two of them, and then the mist rolled, and a scene appeared before Luo Li's eyes.
It was a bright hall, with countless crystalline data lines converging in the center, holding up a crystal ball with churning colorful mist.
And in the crystal ball, there was a man, a woman, and half a person.
As for why it was only one and a half, it was because the girl was holding the boy's body and gnawing on it.
The boy's upper body had completely disappeared, leaving only white bones and scattered organs.
And as she continued to gnaw on the remaining body, the girl's body was also growing at a visible rate.
As if sensing their gaze, the girl looked at them.
Instantly, Luo Li felt a light pierce his heart.
The azure eyes were like the deep sea. Even with blood-stained lips, the holiness on her face could not be concealed.
Beauty, holiness, purity... countless beautiful thoughts flooded his brain, about to turn his consciousness upside down.
At this moment, a series of crimson feathers burned in Luo Li's mind, burning away the thoughts that had pierced his mind.
Luo Li's body trembled, and he regained his clarity. Then he looked at the scene that Fu Hua had already dissipated with lingering fear.
If she hadn't stopped him just now, he would have probably been brainwashed into being that girl's dog in the picture.
"What was that just now?"
Fu Hua thought for a moment and said, "Eve."
"Eve? Eden?" Luo Li thought.
"It's quite fitting."
Fu Hua nodded and explained:
"She should be the result that World Serpent wants to achieve."
"A life form formed from the consciousness of tens of millions of people, the consciousness of Eve, equivalent to Eden itself today."
"If what you said about World Serpent's ultimate goal is really to verify the feasibility of the so-called Stigmata Project, then she should be the final result of this experiment."
"The 'person' who walks in the real world in place of everyone in ARK City, and the consciousness of those ARK City residents will exist as her dream in another dimension."
"However, the consciousness of tens of millions of people doesn't seem to be able to support the existence of two 'people'. The final result is that one becomes the nourishment for the birth of the other."
But Luo Li still had a question.
Why did that Eve look so much like Kiana?
It was almost a nine-out-of-ten resemblance.
Luo Li asked Fu Hua this question.
And after understanding the situation, Fu Hua said slowly:
"Perhaps, it's because her surname is Kaslana!"
Luo Li suddenly remembered that Ghost had said that World Serpent's experiment this time used the Stigmata Space of the Kaslana family.
"So, she is the final enemy we will face?"
"Yes."
Fu Hua said apologetically, "I'm sorry, you have to face it alone. If I enter Eden, I'm afraid I will also be defined by her and become a part of her."
But Luo Li had no feelings about this. To save the lives of tens of millions of people in a city was such a meaningful thing, he would never back down.
However, he was not prepared to rush in directly. Fu Hua seemed to know a lot and might be able to give some useful advice.
At Luo Li's question, Fu Hua thought for a moment and said:
"First, you need to know an important thing. In the domain of dreams, there is no death."
"Eve, who is equivalent to the dream itself at this moment, is naturally immortal, at least in the dream domain."
"So, it's almost impossible to kill Eve in Eden."
"But since she was born from this, she can also be destroyed by this. You can also try to use the power of the dream to deal with Eve."
Luo Li understood what Fu Hua was saying. "You mean, let me try to seize control of Eden?"
Fu Hua nodded.
"Eden is a collection of everyone. The stronger a person is, the more they account for in it. They are equivalent to the fulcrum of the dream."
"And Eve is the biggest fulcrum, so she has the greatest authority in the entire Eden and can be seen as the incarnation of the entire Eden."
"You can try to start from this point. Just like what you did inside before, let the people in the dream believe in you more than the dream, and you can naturally gradually seize the authority of the dream."
Wait, Luo Li noticed a clue in Fu Hua's words.
"Miss Fu Hua, what are you referring to?"
Fu Hua thought for a moment, then said, "You gained the trust of that Herrscher of the Void in the dream and thus obtained her authority. This is essentially a kind of plunder of the dream's authority. After all, in the dream, even the Herrscher of the Void is just a part of the dream."
And after seeing the strange look on Luo Li's face, she guessed what Luo Li was thinking.
After all, most people would find it difficult to let go of the power they had obtained. The mental journey of falling from great power, no one understood it better than her.
But a dream is a dream, and what is fake cannot become real.
However, she still chose to persuade him a little.
"To be able to become a B-rank at such a young age, your talent and temperament are naturally top-notch. As long as you don't slack off, you will become stronger sooner or later. It's not even impossible to become an S-rank."
But looking at the girl who was earnestly persuading him, Luo Li's expression became even stranger.
Feeling the establishment of some strange connection with the girl in front of him, and the abstruse and mysterious syllables emerging in his mind, and the virtual figures practicing martial arts in his mind...
Fake?
Then what is this thing called "Taixu Sword Qi" that appeared in my mind?