At the Curio Storage Center of the "Shenxiao Space City."
More precisely—this was the place where useless things were stored.
The Herta Space Station's Curio Collection Room only accepted valuable curios.
Anything useless was sent here instead.
"Mr. Lin Yi, regarding the Chibaku Tensei proposal, we still need further deliberation. Once a decision is reached, we will notify you immediately."
"As for providing energy to power the Simulated Universe, the Xianzhou can give an immediate answer. The Abundance disaster has not yet ended, and the Xianzhou will not cease its patrols. However, if the Herta Space Station is willing to synchronize its course with the Xianzhou Zhuming, Zhuming is willing to assist. We can temporarily suspend the construction work of the Seven-Day Flamewheel Forge Palace."
Inside the Divination Commission of the Xianzhou Luofu—
General Jing Yuan, the other Xianzhou generals, and even projections of the Alliance Marshal had gathered.
The person who had just spoken was none other than the legendary spear of the Hunt that terrified countless followers of Abundance—
Marshal Hua of the Xianzhou Alliance.
The reason all these high-ranking leaders had gathered was a rising star that had attracted the attention of the entire universe.
The proposer of the Tree-Sea Cosmological Model.
The lead developer of the Panacea Project.
One of the creators of the Life Conversion Equation.
A member of the Genius Society.
Seat #85.
The Lone-Star Traveler — Lin Yi.
If measured in system time, Lin Yi had already been in this world for 124,680 system hours.
That equaled 14 years and 9 months.
When he had first arrived in this world, he was fortunate enough to meet Nous, the Erudition.
Or rather—
Nous merely glanced at him once and pulled him into the Interstice of the Path.
Two cryptic sentences echoed in his mind.
"Truth. Contemplation. Determination. Illusion."
"Nothing is something. Those within the painting may exist outside it. Those outside the painting—can they exist within it?"
"What is truth? What is existence?"
After those words, Nous granted him enlightenment of spirit and intellect, inviting him to join the Genius Society.
Which meant that Lin Yi was actually a counterfeit genius.
After receiving that spark of enlightenment, his intelligence had undoubtedly reached the level of a worldly genius.
But compared to the monsters of the Genius Society…
The gap was still enormous.
Within the society, he was basically a husky that had somehow wandered into a pack of wolves.
Of course, outsiders had no reason to doubt his abilities.
After all, Nous himself had endorsed him.
Who would dare question that?
Especially not the Interastral Peace Corporation.
Those people were practically walking wallets.
Money? Resources? Equipment?
They gave him whatever he wanted.
Sometimes he didn't even need to ask.
When the corporation believed your talents were valuable—or coveted them—they would do everything possible to demonstrate their goodwill.
Because of that, Lin Yi had spent years traveling across the universe.
Living the life of a true cosmic drifter.
Carefree and relaxed.
He had:
explored the beautiful ocean depths of Lusaka, an ocean planet
admired the industrial wonders of Ernino, the Crown of Industry
felt adrenaline surge on the competitive world Tekonium
watched operas on Sigma, even leaving graffiti saying "Lin Yi was here" at Herta's old residence
visited the lonely yet historically significant pioneer world Peigana
Day after day.
Year after year.
He laughed, traveled, and experienced a life he had never known in his previous world.
A life of pure pleasure.
Until five years later.
On the jewel-remnant world Adrifin, he watched the ashes of ascension drifting through space.
And suddenly…
He felt numb.
Lost.
Or perhaps—
homesick.
No matter how wonderful this universe was…
It wasn't home.
Home was where his parents and friends were.
After that day, Lin Yi stopped wasting time.
He returned to his personal base—
Shenxiao Space City.
Originally, this had been the massive Xianzhou super-warship Shenxiao, which had been heavily damaged during a great victory.
Repairing it would cost more than building a new ship.
Dismantling it would also take too much effort.
So it had simply been left abandoned.
After all, for the Xianzhou—
ships practically grow out of the ground anyway.
Their shipbuilding costs were ridiculously low.
When Lin Yi mentioned that he wanted a spaceship, the Xianzhou simply gave him the abandoned giant vessel.
They were quite friendly toward him.
Partly because they mistakenly believed he was like Ruan Mei—a descendant of Xianzhou natives who had settled across the universe after leaving the fleet long ago.
After all, his appearance, name, and daily habits matched Xianzhou culture almost perfectly.
For example—
Before eating, he scalded the bowl with hot water.
Across the entire universe…
Only the Xianzhou did that.
The ship eventually bored him.
So he asked the Interastral Peace Corporation to renovate it.
Unfortunately, the company misunderstood his request.
Instead of a ship…
They rebuilt it into something resembling the Herta Space Station—
A massive research complex.
After returning to Shenxiao Space City, Lin Yi began seriously searching for a way home.
He believed one thing firmly:
If he could arrive here, then a path back must exist.
He simply needed to find the trail he once followed.
Using his identity as a Genius Society member, he recruited countless elites from across the universe to assist him.
Among his many achievements:
The Tree-Sea Cosmological Model
This was essentially the theory of the Imaginary Tree and the Sea of Quanta.
When Lin Yi first arrived, he reverse-engineered the theory—starting from the conclusion and working backward.
But honestly…
Anyone familiar with MiHoYo lore already knew this theory.
So the achievement was somewhat inflated.
And after years of research, Lin Yi had begun to suspect that the model might not perfectly apply to the Star Rail universe.
The Panacea
This was his first true accomplishment.
The concept was proposed and coordinated by Lin Yi.
Feasibility analysis and theoretical foundation were provided by Yu Qingtu and Ruan Mei.
The research team consisted of:
Herta
Screwllum
Ruan Mei
Yu Qingtu
Lin Yi
Five geniuses working together.
The IPC supplied endless funding and materials.
The Xianzhou Alliance shared medical technology and Abundance research.
Other factions—such as Galaxy Rangers and Knights of Beauty—also provided rare biological samples they discovered during their travels.
Even an Emanator of Abundance participated in the project.
Her task was the most important of all.
She needed to…
be studied.
The Panacea aimed to completely cure all diseases and abnormalities.
Every faction involved had different motives.
But the geniuses themselves had a deeper goal.
They wanted to use the panacea to discover something paradoxical—
A disease that could not be cured.
Because if something truly could not be cured…
It might indicate direct intervention by an Aeon.
Herta wanted to improve the Simulated Universe and deepen research into the Aeons.
Lin Yi wanted to use the Simulated Universe to help find his path home.
Ruan Mei would never refuse research involving life and Aeons.
Screwllum wanted to explore the fundamental relationship between organic and inorganic life, and ultimately find a way for them to coexist peacefully after the scars of the Emperor Rupert War.
As for Yu Qingtu, Genius Society member #55—the woman famous for mixing wine with toothpaste—
She probably joined because Ruan Mei convinced her.
During the Panacea research, countless ideas collided.
One byproduct was the Life Equation.
Strictly speaking, it consisted of two parts:
Mechanical Ascension
and
Flesh Genesis
The names were chosen by Lin Yi.
Screwllum strongly opposed them.
But a vote settled the matter.
Mechanical Ascension:
Replacing the biological body, converting consciousness into data, transforming organic life into mechanical life.
Flesh Genesis:
The opposite process.
Rewriting digital consciousness into a soul, then creating a perfectly compatible biological body.
Transforming mechanical life into organic life.