Kiana and the Captain's Bizarre Adventure

Chapter 241 Paradise of Shattered Ice (No Knife Version)

"Kevin is dead?"

Vivi read the contents of the paper in disbelief. Although she had suspected it before seeing the paper, the confirmation of Kevin's death still felt somewhat unreal to her.

He had spent tens of thousands of years creating countless weapons against Kevin, but apart from the one that directly flipped the table, none of them could cause any real damage to Kevin's memory. Yet now, the Herrscher of Corruption had done it so easily.

It's conceivable that the current Herrscher of Corruption is no longer something they can handle, since the battle in the data world is a battle between quantity and authority.

Because of the special nature of the Paradise of the Past, the heroes actually have a certain degree of management authority, only not as high as that of administrators like Wilhelm.

Unfortunately, both Kevin's and Alicia's memories are the actual administrators of the Paradise of the Past, and they have considerable authority.

Now, it's highly likely that both of them have already fallen victim to the Herrscher of Corruption. The Herrscher of Corruption now holds authority that surpasses that of everyone else, and because she absorbed all of their data, her own power has also surpassed that of everyone else.

It can be said that it surpasses everyone in terms of both quantity and authority. Faced with such an existence, perhaps only the "666 Armor" strategy can solve the problem.

But no matter what, Virvi didn't want to really destroy the paradise of the past; at the very least, she should have given her permission.

"Everyone, may I postpone launching the attack on Kevin Armed 666? There's something I need to confirm."

"Do you want a response from Alicia's will?" Raiden Mei asked.

“I didn’t expect you to guess that too.” Velvi smiled wryly. “But you also have memories of Mei, so you should understand what Alicia means to us. Without her consent, I simply cannot bring myself to destroy this only place that still proves her existence in the world.”

My reason tells me I shouldn't grant your request, but…

Raiden Mei shook her head. "But whether it's the memories of Mei in my mind, or other people's or even my own feelings, I don't want to refuse your request."

"so?"

"Do you still need me to tell you?"

Raiden Mei smiled, and Kiana Kaslana and the others also showed approving smiles.

"thank you all!"

Vilvi's eyes reddened, and she forced back her tears as she thanked everyone, but was interrupted by a voice the next second.

"There's really no need to thank them so much. My suggestion is that it would be better to give up the resistance, okay?"

That was a voice Kiana Kaslana knew all too well. Every night she would play games with the owner of that voice. Although she always lost more than she won, it was indeed a very happy time.

"Bronya, even you..."

Kiana Kaslana turned to look at the source of the sound, only to see that Bronya's blue and white outfit had changed to a purple and black style, and she was wearing round sunglasses. (Roughly based on the "Night of the Night" skin for the character Big Duck.)

Why are you so surprised to see me?

“No.” Kiana Kaslana’s expression turned sorrowful. “I can’t stand the fact that you are being ruthlessly used even in death.”

"Used?" Bronya tilted her head and looked at everyone, letting out a disdainful sneer. "Are you mistaken? I'm perfectly clear-headed right now! I know exactly who I am."

“Bronya is right.” Mei stepped out from the side. “We know exactly who we are and what our purpose is. Since becoming part of the Herrscher of Corruption, I have never felt so clear-headed. It’s as if all my previous experiences were just a dream. Join us.”

Mei extended her hand to the group, inviting them, "Join us and all your dreams will come true."

As the Herrscher of Knowledge watched Mei's expressive yet slightly stiff performance, her lips twitched. How could she not have imagined that Mei's acting skills were so explosive?

Let's go back to before everyone escaped from the space of consciousness.

If Bronya's long-standing relationship and tacit understanding with Mei enabled her to discover the clues immediately, then the Herrscher of Knowledge was the first to sense something was wrong and secretly used her powers to obtain the true story directly from Mei.

However, for the Herrscher of Consciousness, the drama within the consciousness space was not her forte. It would be better to leave it to Bronya to handle freely, while she would leave a mark in their consciousness to facilitate the synchronization of information, or rather, testimonies.

Thus, the Herrscher of Consciousness and the others left the consciousness space first. At the moment of their escape, while the others' consciousness was in a weakened state, they implanted fragments of Bronya's data body's memories of dissipation, causing the others to subconsciously ignore Bronya.

Everything happened in those fractions of a second when everyone's consciousness went blank; it could be said that that moment was the most thrilling time the Herrscher of Consciousness had ever experienced.

Even the time she single-handedly held off Kevin back then wasn't as thrilling as this fraction of a second, but she had to pretend to be heartbroken so that no one would find out.

Heaven knows how much effort it took for Kiana to suppress the violent reaction caused by overusing her powers; even now, the Herrscher of Knowledge still cannot understand the meaning of Kiana's plan.

If it were simply a matter of letting things unfold according to the trajectory of their world, there would be no need to go to such lengths. Why bother putting in so much effort and energy to stage such a performance?

If Kiana knew the Herrscher of Knowledge's inner thoughts, she might be able to explain it, but unfortunately, at that time she was still in Mei's consciousness space, telling Mei and Bronya about the next arrangements.

"That's how it is. In order to ensure the successful completion of our mission, Alicia and I devised this scheme. Although I feel very sorry for the heroes of this paradise, it was the best method I could think of."

"Are all other methods unacceptable? Or do all other methods ultimately lead to a bad future?" Bronya asked.

“You could say that,” Kiana replied. “Although I can’t see a changed future yet, if we let the world develop on its own, there’s no doubt that they will face one of the worst possible futures.”

"One of the futures?"

"Hmm." Kiana nodded. "I don't know if it's because of the world itself, or because the captain changed the timeline too many times before, but this world is heading headlong toward a bad ending without looking back."

Allowing Mei in this world to choose to delete those remaining emotions was a turning point in changing the future, and thankfully, she chose the right option. However, the future of this world hasn't improved; it's still hurtling down the path to a bad ending.

Bronya asked in bewilderment, "But our mission is to simply complete the so-called story of 'Because of You,' and that's it. He didn't even give us a chance to stay for a while. Can this one time really change that bad ending?"

"That might be true for Him, since He is capable of observing multiple worldlines in the same world simultaneously, while I can only observe the outcome of the current worldline. This is the power gap between Him and me. Of course, this is just my speculation and may not be true."

"What does 'multiple worldlines in the same world' mean? Since the worldline has already been changed, shouldn't it become a new parallel world?"

"Parallel worlds are parallel worlds, and multiple world lines are multiple world lines; the two are not equal."

Kiana explained, "You can think of multiple world lines as the different paths to different endings in a game with branching endings. Does that give you a simpler idea of ​​multiple world lines?"

After listening to Kiana's explanation, Bronya nodded in understanding. However, compared to Bronya, who already understood, Mei was still completely confused.

Bronya then explained it in a way that Mei could understand.

“Mei, you can think of it this way. A worldline is like a tree-like mind map when you make a PowerPoint presentation. At each specific node, a new branch will be generated. Those branches are new worldlines. These branches will move forward independently from then on. New branches may be born, but ultimately a worldline will only point to one ending.”

This ending could be exactly the same as in other timelines, or it could be completely different. Does that make it a little clearer to you?

“If that’s the case, then I do understand a little,” Mei said knowingly.

"I don't understand!" the Herald of Knowledge relayed.

"It's alright, these are not things Xiaoshi needs to think about," Kiana comforted her. "Xiaoshi's task now is to figure out how to leave without arousing suspicion."

"Although I always feel like Kiana is saying something bad, I have indeed thought about how I will leave the stage."

"Oh? Tell me."

"Sigh! What else can I do but exit in a similar way to Bronya? But I'd like to try something a little different."

So the Herrscher of Knowledge told the other three her thoughts, but Kiana and the others all showed embarrassed expressions after hearing her explanation.

They did consider that the Herrscher of Knowledge might get playful and want to pull off something big, but they didn't expect the event to be so small and rather cliché.

It can only be said that Fu Hua's constant travels with the Herrscher of Knowledge, preventing them from being exposed to various abstract online cultures, have been a huge help. At least they don't have to deal with those abstract things.

So the three of them apologized to the Herrscher of Knowledge in their hearts, leaving the Herrscher of Knowledge unsure whether to laugh or cry.

Returning to the present, the arrangement of the Lawgiver is actually quite simple.

It's nothing more than having Mei and Bronya cooperate with her to put on a show, so that she can legitimately fight two against one, only to be defeated after giving it her all.

It's fair to say there are no truly ruthless tricks, just formulaic approaches, but that makes it acceptable.

After all, with all that abstract culture online, even seasoned netizens like Kiana and Bronya couldn't stand it, let alone Mei.

After all, watching and doing it yourself are two different things. Just because Kiana likes to watch abstract things doesn't mean she'll create abstract things herself.

Therefore, the solution proposed by the Herrscher of Knowledge is already a great help as it is a normal solution. It's just acting; they've all learned it before. After all, the Valkyrie's exam included acting skills as part of the assessment of intelligence capabilities.

There was no way around it, since there were two Honkai opposing organizations, Schicksal and Anti-Entropy, openly at the time. Over the years, the two sides had engaged in various forms of infiltration and counter-infiltration, to the point that intelligence gathering ability was incorporated into the Valkyrie's assessment, and it was even a mandatory test item.

So this kind of normal script is not a problem for them. It's just that Mei and Bronya's acting skills have deteriorated a lot because they haven't been in similar situations for too long.

Fortunately, with the help of the Herrscher of Knowledge and Kiana, they were able to intimidate the others, and it was clear that the emotions of the others had been stirred up.

Kiana also released a green mist with corrosive power at the right time, and the group, realizing that the enemy had caught up, had no choice but to focus on protecting Velvet.

After all, only Velvey among them can still activate the Armor 666 against Kevin, and they must ensure Velvey's safety before reviving Alicia Memory.

After forcing back Bronya and Mei's attacks once again, the Herrscher of Knowledge spoke.

"No, this will only lead to total annihilation! Old man, you take the rest and get out of here. I'll hold them off!"

"But…!"

"No buts! Weren't you quite decisive before? Why are you so hesitant when it comes to me? Don't tell me you don't want anything to happen to me, that's disgusting!"

"Of course I don't want anything to happen to you!"

"Varied…!"

Faced with Fu Hua's direct attack, the Herrscher of Knowledge was momentarily speechless, but fortunately, Fu Hua was still able to see the current situation clearly.

"But I also understand that now is not the time to be reckless. Xiao Shi, remember not to do anything foolish. Once we're out of your sight, turn around and run immediately, understand?"

This was the conclusion Fu Hua reached after careful consideration. With the strength of the Herrscher of Knowledge, it would be no problem for them to run far away. At that time, as long as the Herrscher of Knowledge and them acted separately, they could naturally escape the risk.

After all, she still had a trump card that could threaten her, so she couldn't possibly relentlessly pursue the Herrscher of Knowledge.

"Alright, I got it! See those fogs? Hurry up and run out through those gaps before they close up. If you don't run soon, I won't be able to split up and run away, and then nobody will get out!"

"Good that you understand. Just remember, never be reckless!"

After saying that, Fu Hua took Kiana Kaslana's hand and left, and the others quickly followed and left the place.

Because they also understood that only in this way could those who understood the laws have a chance of survival.

Every second that is delayed reduces the chances of the Herald of Knowledge surviving.

To save the Herrscher of Knowledge who are being used as bait, they need to leave as soon as possible to maximize the Herrscher of Knowledge's survival rate.

Moreover, they needed to check on Möbius's safety first, but fortunately, the information on the paper was so shocking that they didn't set off immediately.

So much so that when Bronya and Mei found them, they hadn't yet split up as planned; otherwise, Velvet might already be dead.

Now that no one dared to let Velvi act alone any longer, after leaving the danger zone, everyone unanimously decided to go to Möbius's laboratory together.

But when they arrived at the place where Mebius was, they saw a mess. Mebius's human-made collapsed form was scattered all over the ground, and unknown dark green liquid remained everywhere.

The person they were looking for, Möbius, was lying in the center of the largest dark green pool, seemingly lifeless. Möbius's empty eyes were staring intently ahead, as if there was something there.

Its body began to sink gradually, eventually disappearing into the dark green pool.

Mebius, the tenth of the Thirteen Heroes of the Flame Chaser and the holder of the Infinite Seal, has been confirmed dead.