books44 Chapter 242 Virvie: Actually, my time is running out.
Chapter 242 Virvie: Actually, my time is running out.
Möbius died, right in front of them.
In other words, the Herrscher of Corruption came here first, killed Mebius, and then went to them.
Would things have turned out differently if they had arrived here sooner?
The answer is clearly no, because judging from the traces at the scene, the battle had been going on for some time and was a one-sided fight.
If it weren't for Mebius's superhuman vitality as a Fusion Warrior, he probably wouldn't have survived until they arrived before he was completely dead.
However, what's strange is why the Herrscher of Corruption didn't completely devour Mebius directly, but instead chose to leave her power behind and quietly wait for Mebius to die completely before devouring her?
Wilvi frowned as she considered the various possibilities, but it was Raiden Mei's words that finally reminded her.
"It is the power of erosion."
That's right! Mebius once studied the virus produced by the Herrscher of Corruption, hoping to obtain the Herrscher's power by relying on the power of the virus.
Unfortunately, neither the real-life Mebius nor the one in Rebirth succeeded. In reality, the creation of her clone was halted before a suitable test subject could be found, while in Rebirth, it was prevented by everyone due to concerns about the safety of Rebirth.
It now appears that Mebius has not given up on researching the power of the Herrscher of Corruption, and has even conducted experiments on himself to ensure secrecy.
It's unclear how she survived that corrosive power, but it's certain that Mebius still has some virus samples of the Herrscher of Corruption hidden away. If we can find these viruses, we might have a way to deal with the Herrscher of Corruption.
"If you're looking to find a sample of the eroding virus, I suggest you don't do it," Raiden Mei said.
"why?"
“Since the other party has already been here, it is very likely that the samples in this laboratory have been obtained or destroyed by them. However, given Möbius’s personality, it is more likely that she put those samples elsewhere, in a place that would never be noticed under normal circumstances.”
"What is that virus sample you're talking about?" Kiana Kaslana asked.
"It's not safe here, let's talk as we walk."
With that, Velvet led the others to move elsewhere, and on the way, Raiden Mei began to tell Kiana Kaslana about her memories.
"Kiana, you should know that the previous civilization also eventually encountered the Herrscher of Corruption, right?"
"Yes, according to the information from the archaeological survey, the last remaining city of the pre-civilization was also destroyed by it. Since then, the pre-civilization has existed in name only and has begun to enter the final preparation stage."
"That's right, but what you don't know is that the Herrscher of Corruption is actually a very special electronic virus. It can corrode not only electronic devices, but also living beings themselves. The last three cities of the previous civilization were destroyed by the three nuclear missiles it launched after invading the arsenal of the Firemoth. In the end, humanity still managed to seal it away through cunning."
"But what does this have to do with the virus samples you're talking about?"
"Even when it was sealed, it was still trying to spread the virus in order to escape. However, after leaving it, the virus eventually dissipated because its host body was isolated and could not obtain a continuous supply of Honkai energy."
In order to realize his vision of human evolution, Mebius secretly preserved several virus samples for research. Although those samples eventually dissipated during the experiment, they still allowed Mebius to obtain a lot of useful data. Using that data, Mebius successfully replicated the electronic virus spread by the Herrscher of Corruption.
However, because the Vault Project had reached a critical stage, projects like Möbius, which posed a great threat to the Vault, were eventually halted, and even the results were destroyed immediately.
However, it now seems that even the memories within Paradise are deeply enamored with this power. The reason Mebius wasn't immediately corrupted is likely because she possessed some corrupting power. The Herrscher of Corruption, out of caution, didn't immediately intensify the corrupting effect, but instead allowed her to fend for herself, ultimately waiting until Mebius was completely dead before devouring her completely.
“In other words, we speculate that Mebius’s memory still holds these virus samples. Once we find these viruses, we can use their own methods against them, and Paradise won’t have to be deleted,” Velvi said. “But the only problem now is that we don’t know where Mebius has hidden these viruses.”
Kiana Kaslana asked, "So our most important task now is to find those virus samples?"
“No,” Raiden Mei denied. “Our most important goal right now is to revive Alicia, or to directly activate Armor 666 against Kevin. Finding virus samples is just a side matter.”
"I understand. So, where should we go next?"
“Go find Thousand Calamity,” Raiden Mei said. “He’s the only one left out now, and we can’t accept any more sacrifices. We must find him before the Herrscher of Corruption succeeds!”
Fortunately, Qianjie's whereabouts are still easy to track. After all, given Qianjie's personality, wherever is the most bustling place is where he is.
Strangely enough, Qianjie hasn't caused any major trouble so far, which doesn't fit everyone's impression of him.
Could it be that Qian Jie has already...?
No, calm down, Velvet. Don't think about these things before you see Qianjie with your own eyes.
For the first time, Velvet lost her usual composure, which is extremely rare for someone with her expert personality.
This also suggests that at this point, Velvi had already guessed the ending of Qianjie, but she was simply unwilling to accept it.
Suddenly a figure appeared before them, its body wreathed in flames, the intense heat licking at their skin.
Without a doubt, the person in front was Qian Jie, but at this moment his condition could be described as extremely poor.
Green smoke swirled around him, and his lifeless eyes suggested that he had lost his consciousness; his ability to walk was solely due to his astonishing willpower.
At this moment, Qianjie chose to ignore everyone, and he did not stop as he passed by them.
He limped off in an unknown direction. Following the direction Qianjie was walking, Vilvi immediately deduced where he was headed.
If Velvi remembers correctly, that direction leads to the deepest abyss, and there is no doubt that the person Qianjie is looking for is Aponia.
Although Qianjie and Aponia were at odds every day, Vilvi knew that Qianjie was actually just angry with her for not being able to stop the tragedy of Twilight Street.
As for how Vilvie knew, well, she had been active in Twilight Street and knew something about the orphanage run by Aponia.
Out of curiosity, she investigated the place afterwards. Although the truth about the fall of Twilight Street was buried because of the Fire Moth, Velvi still found a clue.
This is also the beginning of Velvet's acquaintance with the Fire Moth. Since then, Velvet, who has noticed something is wrong, has launched several investigations into those unusual events and discovered that the Fire Moth was involved in them all.
Therefore, she launched an investigation into the Fire Moths. Later, due to some misunderstandings, Velvet believed that the Fire Moths were a bad organization, thus beginning her struggle against them.
As for the final outcome, she decided not to dwell on it. In any case, since then, Velvey had never left the Firemoth, or rather, she had joined the Firemoth organization, which is how she met her current companions and Mei.
Speaking of May, Vilvi couldn't help but recall what happened when she first met May.
By then, she had become a prisoner of the moth drawn to the flame, and Mei was one of the people responsible for judging her worth.
From the moment Wilvi first saw May, she was convinced that May, like herself, had multiple consciousnesses in her mind, but these consciousnesses seemed to have fallen into a deep sleep for some reason, leaving only the main personality still active.
This immediately piqued the interest of Velvi's main personality, so she instructed the expert, Velvi, to interact more with May. Later, Velvi joined the Fire Moth, and the two became friends. She also became the second person to know what kind of person Velvi was.
Unfortunately, Mei had very poor resistance to Honkai energy, but as a scientist working on the front lines, she was passively exposed to various sources of Honkai energy every day, which caused her body to deteriorate more and more, and she eventually died from overwork and the erosion of Honkai energy.
Wilvi originally thought she would never see Mei again, but the world played a cruel joke on her.
After entering the next civilization era, her memory unexpectedly encountered Raiden Mei from this civilization era, and finally learned the whole truth from her.
This finally made Velvi understand why she had that feeling back then, and also understand what Mei's purpose was in researching the Stigmata.
Looking back now, it seems that Mei was trying to end this cycle of reincarnation from the moment she removed the stigmata. However, it seems that she has succeeded now, and the fact that she can meet someone who has Mei's memories is a pretty good ending.
Regaining her scattered thoughts, Velvet turned her gaze to Raiden Mei beside her.
"The destination of Thousand Calamities should be the Abyss where Aponia is located, but now that Aponia needs to go with Eden to protect Gretchen, she may not be in the Abyss. If possible, I hope to send Thousand Calamities to Aponia."
"What's the benefit of doing this? You know, he's now covered in the power of the Herrscher of Corruption. We'll be corrupted as soon as we make contact with him."
“You’re right,” Velvi said, “but that’s precisely why we need to let Qianjie meet Aponia. I think that’s what he wants right now.”
“I understand what you mean. You mean that Thousand Calamities used his own body to grasp some of the secrets of the Herrscher of Corruption, which is why he tried so hard to find Aponia, right?” Kiana Kaslana asked.
“But this will also corrupt Aponia, which comes into contact with Thousand Calamities,” Raiden Mei said. “Perhaps Aponia can avoid being corrupted for a short time, but we all know what will happen in the long run.”
“But I think this choice should be left to Aponia herself,” Velvi said. “Whatever choice she makes, I will be there to witness it until the very end.”
“You’ve changed a lot,” Raiden Mei said. “You’re very different from how I remember you. Are you still the expert I knew?”
“I am indeed the expert you know, but I am not,” Velvi said.
"You mean...?"
“That’s right, just as you thought. In fact, every escape I made was not without a price. I was already infected in Mei’s consciousness space in another world, but I survived by splitting it into one of my personalities. However, this method cannot last long.”
"As the price of this separation, you have acquired fragments of other personalities. This is different from the previous pattern. Is it because of the Herrscher of Corruption?"
"Perhaps so, after all, there is a lack of samples and not enough time for me to verify the idea."
"And what about your primary personality? How is she now?"
"The main personality is doing well now. Although it has awakened, it has not been corrupted yet. However, I think it won't be long before all of our secondary personalities are infected. At that time, the main personality will have no choice but to take over this mess."
"How much longer exactly?"
"It will be soon. Right now, only the Magician and I remain as personalities. It is expected that the infection will appear on either me or the Magician soon. At that time, I will probably have to release that guy in order to ensure my survival."
"That guy? You mean the personality you call extremely evil?"
"That's right, but to be precise, she represents the arrogance, talent, confidence, and other outward manifestations of the dominant personality. However, the dominant personality believes that these ideas are too advanced for her, so they are packaged together and separated into the largest territory to store these ideas, and over time, she was born."
"But to her, you all, including the main personality, are objects of her hatred. Is it really a good thing to let her out?"
“You’re right, she is still ‘me,’ she is Velvi. She won’t do anything too outrageous, and I believe she can even come up with a solution in this critical moment.”
"Time is running out, let's find a way to bring Qianjie to Aponia."
Velvi pointed to Qianjie, who had already walked away, and said that after thinking it over, Raiden Mei decided to follow Velvi's advice. After all, with Aponia's abilities, she might really be able to find a breakthrough in Qianjie.
As for Kiana Kaslana, the current situation is beyond her comprehension, so she might as well leave everything to Raiden Mei to figure out and just carry out the orders she gives her.