books44 Chapter 202 Illusion (End)
Chapter 202 Illusion (End)
"You don't know Alicia?"
The captain asked again uncertainly, but the result was the same: everyone shook their heads, indicating that they did not know a girl named Alicia.
"That shouldn't be the case. Could it be that Alicia doesn't exist in this world?"
"No, that cunning little pink-haired girl definitely exists." The Herrscher of Knowledge refuted the captain's guess. "I can sense traces of her existence from the old relic."
"Hey, Ahua, what are your sister and that guy talking about? I don't understand a word they're saying."
"this…"
Fu Hua was at a loss for words when faced with Pado's doubts, as it would be difficult for anyone to accept that they were merely a fictional being.
After much deliberation, Fu Hua finally decided to tell the truth to these people who might be her former comrades. Taking a deep breath, Fu Hua gathered the others aside and slowly told them the whole truth.
"I see. Although it's hard to accept, let's accept it as Hua's opinion."
Surprisingly, Sakura accepted Fu Hua's explanation, and even Pado, who was standing next to her, echoed her.
"That's right, that's right. Knowing Ahua's character, he would never lie about something so important. Ahua, I believe you!"
With Pado's words, the others gradually accepted Fu Hua's explanation, but this still couldn't explain who Alicia was, the one Xiaoshi and the others were talking about.
"So who is Alicia?" Kevin asked.
“I don’t know either,” Fu Hua answered truthfully. “Because of the Feather Dust, I have forgotten many things. Even you, I only realized that you might be my former companions when I saw Kevin.”
Yes, for various reasons, Fu Hua's physical condition in reality is no longer at its peak. Sometimes, in order to fight against powerful enemies, Fu Hua often chooses to use Feather Dust to burn her memories and forcibly return to her peak condition.
The cost is that all memories, regardless of type, will be burned. Originally, Fu Hua could have reduced this side effect by using the vast amount of memories she possessed due to her hyperthymesia.
But hyperthymesia is both its strength and its weakness.
Hyperthymesia gave Fu Hua the ability to remember everything she had ever experienced, but it also meant that everything she had ever experienced was recorded in her memory in great detail. The massive amount of memories put pressure on Fu Hua's brain, forcing her to use Feather Dust regularly to clear the excess memories from her mind.
Therefore, until now, Fu Hua's mind has been filled with memories she doesn't want to forget, which means that if she chooses to burn her memories, she will have to lose these precious memories.
Perhaps the Alicia the captain mentioned is someone he never wanted to forget, but because of the influence of Feather Dust, he was forced to forget her appearance and existence.
Even among the people in front of him, strictly speaking, he only knew Kevin, Sue, and Gretchen. After all, they were the only ones in the current civilization with whom he had spent the most time and created many wonderful memories, which was why he hadn't completely forgotten them.
Meanwhile, the captain and his team had reached a conclusion, and they then went to the place where everyone was gathered to announce it.
In short, as verified by the Herrscher of Consciousness, Fu Hua does indeed have the shadow of Alicia deep within her heart, and the Herrscher of Consciousness in this world has also reproduced it before.
However, Alicia is special. Almost every time she recreates Fu Hua, she immediately senses the anomaly in this world. Each time, she almost completely awakens Fu Hua, forcing the Law of Consciousness to reset the world several times. In the end, she chooses not to recreate Fu Hua anymore and completely erases her existence from the memories of those involved.
Although this created a huge vulnerability in the world, it was better than having half of the world destroyed immediately. Even just in case, Shilu transformed himself into Eden's form so he could monitor whether anyone had awakened memories related to Alicia, allowing him to reset them at any time.
This is one of the reasons why Kiana, who is the main body, only has the most basic defensive measures around her, while Fu Hua has her avatars around her.
However, this misfortune also turned into a blessing, greatly accelerating the captain's progress. But there was a question the captain had actually wanted to ask for a long time.
That is…
"Speaking of which, Xiao Shi, how did you notice something amiss here? According to the original plan, you should still be at the Tianming headquarters right now. How did you know about the situation in Changkong City?"
"Oh, actually it's because of the gray snake."
The one who understood the law scratched his head and began to explain the whole story.
It turns out that after the anomaly occurred here, Kevin immediately notified Grey Serpent and asked him to find a way to inform the Herrscher of Knowledge about the situation.
As expected, Gray Serpent expended considerable effort to infiltrate the Schicksal headquarters and, before anyone noticed, found the Herrscher of Knowledge, who was still watching the show, and informed her of the situation.
He was then turned into a pile of scrap metal by the arriving automatons, leaving only some parts still functioning. After hearing the intelligence, the Herrscher of Knowledge wanted to collect Gray Serpent's body, but for the sake of the greater good, he took his own life first.
Not long after the Herrscher of Knowledge left, the corpse of the Grey Serpent activated its self-destruct mechanism, and the powerful explosion not only destroyed the surrounding buildings, but also blasted away his remains, leaving not a single speck of dust.
The reason for doing so was quite simple: to avoid giving Schicksal any leverage. To this end, he even planted a Honkai energy bomb produced by Anti-Entropy on himself before setting off, believing that even if Schicksal tried to deduce the infiltrator's identity based on the explosion traces, they would ultimately only arrive at the misleading conclusion that he was an Anti-Entropy spy.
"I see. But what should we do now? Kiana should have awakened her memories by now, so why hasn't this world collapsed yet?"
Although it's a bit impolite to say this in front of the other heroes, it's true that Kiana, as the main body of the illusion, has realized that this place is fake. Logically, the illusion here should have been dispelled, but it doesn't seem to be dispelling at all.
"There's nothing we can do; our Miss Kiana is currently caught in a dilemma of self-doubt."
The Herrscher of Knowledge spread her hands and continued to explain: "Indeed, just as you said, Captain, this world would have shattered instantly after Kiana realized it was fake. However, because I here did not die, and because Kiana has two conflicting memories in her mind, as well as because she is unwilling to accept some of the reality, this world has continued to exist."
"So what should we do?" the captain asked.
"It's very simple. Just do whatever you like, as long as you can pull her out of this state, you've succeeded."
After saying that, the Herrscher of Knowledge pulled Fu Hua and the others away from there, since they didn't want to stay and be a third wheel.
Captain Kiana, who was curled up in a ball, felt a mix of emotions. He stepped forward and patted Kiana on the shoulder, and she lifted her head.
Those lifeless eyes instantly pierced the captain's heart. The captain clenched his fists, but the pain in his palms could not erase the sting in his heart.
So he stepped forward, crouched down to be at Kiana's height, and gently said, "Kiana, it's time to set off."
"But... I don't understand! Who am I? Am I Sirin? Or Kiana who has lost her memory? I really don't understand!"
"Kiana, I don't need you to know who you are. It's enough for you to know that your name is Kiana."
"But this name isn't mine either. The only name that belongs to me is that cold, hard experimental code!"
Kiana buried her face in her hands and sobbed uncontrollably. She had thought that as long as she didn't think about her past, she could persevere.
But all of this is based on the fact that she has never experienced this beauty. The Herrscher of the Eighth Herrscher, who controls consciousness, appeared in the Feather of Dust used by Fu Hua at some point, and in just an instant, pulled her consciousness into this illusion specially created for her.
Fu Hua was ambushed during the sealing process to prevent the Herrscher of the Void's consciousness from causing trouble. Although she successfully sealed it, the seal would gradually lose its effectiveness over time.
In the last moment before she regained consciousness, Fu Hua instructed Kiana to wake up before the Herrscher of the Void broke the seal, but now it seems that she has not fulfilled the class monitor's request either.
If it weren't for the Herrscher of Consciousness from the Captain's world pulling the Herrscher of the Void into this illusion, the Herrscher of the Void would probably have already been controlling her body to wreak havoc on the real world.
"Neither my body, my name, nor my identity belongs to me! Does someone like me have any reason to exist?"
Kiana broke down. The huge contrast between the beautiful dream woven for her by the Law and reality caused the emotions that Kiana had been suppressing deep inside her to completely erupt.
A flood of negative emotions overwhelmed Kiana, the sheer amount of bloodshed caused by the Herrscher of the Void controlling her body was suffocating her.
Suddenly Kiana felt herself being embraced in a warm embrace, and felt a familiar yet unfamiliar touch on the top of her head.
The warm, large hand covered his head, and the warmth on his head was like the sun in early spring.
"Do you remember what Mr. Siegfried told you back then?"
The captain's gentle voice came from above, and Kiana's thoughts were taken back to the day she first received her name.
"...Kiana, you are my proudest and most important daughter!"
That day, my father's body felt as warm and reassuring as the captain's. Even though I was the one who secretly took the Heavenly Fire Judgment and was in the wrong, my father didn't blame me that day. Instead, he showed a different side of himself than usual.
It all started simply because I wanted to help him. Since then, I have had a name and a new life. Although life is still difficult, everything is so happy.
At this moment, Kiana's eyes gradually regained their light, but the next moment, Kiana recalled the scene when she was found by the Valkyrie squad of Schicksal in Siberia, and the light dimmed again.
But those days didn't last long. Perhaps because they had been in the same place with their stinky old man for too long, fate eventually found them.
Although the squad leader did not show any malice towards her, Kiana was still afraid at the time, and the Herrscher of the Void took advantage of her vulnerability to kill all the Valkyries present.
When Kiana came to her senses, the surroundings were a mess, and Siegfried, who had lost an arm, was now holding her tightly.
Kiana eventually lost consciousness again due to excessive shock and exhaustion. When Kiana woke up again, Siegfried was nowhere to be found, and she began to wander around in order to find him.
In the end, it was she who harmed Siegfried and she personally killed Himeko's former teammates.
"Can I really go back to them like this?"
“Yes, it’s possible,” the captain replied. “Kiana, do you really think there’s no way Theresa and the others will discover your true identity? Do you think they’ll accept you because of the identity that the name Kiana represents?”
"The truth is, they knew from the very beginning, and accepted your existence based on that. In Theresa's eyes, you were already worthy of inheriting the name, and she treated you as her niece. In Himeko's eyes, you were just her student. In other words, in their eyes, you were not that experimental subject K423, but a real person, a person named Kiana!"
Kiana was stunned for a moment, then tears instantly welled up in her eyes. At that moment, she sobbed uncontrollably, and the captain let her tears flow onto him, soaking his clothes.
The crying gradually subsided and slowly turned into sobs. Finally, Kiana, her eyes red from crying, looked at the captain again after calming herself down.
This time, the captain smiled. Although Kiana's eyes were still red and she was sobbing from time to time, the captain could see the shadow of the past in her eyes.
As Kiana let go of the past, the illusion began to collapse. Glass-like shards fell from the sky, revealing a deep red background behind them, and the surrounding ground also collapsed, with countless building fragments flying into the sky.
The strange sight immediately caught the attention of the Herrscher of Knowledge and Fu Hua, who then began to bid their final farewells to the others.
"Let's go, Captain, let's end this!"
Kiana, having finished tidying up, extended an invitation to the captain.
"Are you really okay right now?" the captain asked worriedly.
"No problem! Don't worry! I'm invincible now! Because..."
"Ok?"
"No, it's nothing!"
Kiana walked up to the captain, hiding her true thoughts deep inside. After looking up at the sky at a 45-degree angle, she turned back to the captain and smiled.
"Besides, I still need to say a final goodbye to my mother, don't I?"
Seeing Kiana's radiant smile, the captain understood that perhaps she had truly let go of the past.
The captain bent down to straighten his white military cap, then looked up and began issuing orders with great enthusiasm.
"Depart! Head to support S-rank Valkyrie Cecilia Shaniat!"
"Understood! Kiana, attack!"