Chapter 229: Vill-V is trying to read the "save file"

[Well, actually, for Skadi, no matter how many "partners" you have, it doesn't matter to her. She is simply curious about whether there is one more person you care about. If so, she will take care of him or her to some extent.]

[But when Skadi asked you in such a calm and curious tone, you still couldn't help but feel a very subtle sense of embarrassment.]

[It's like a brother or sister who is very close to you suddenly asks you if you have a new lover… Although you have been prepared for this and intend to accept other people's comments, you still can't help feeling awkward when someone close to you asks you this calmly and innocently.]

[But after a little thought, you nodded and admitted it.]

[No matter what, Mobius occupies a relatively important position in your heart... She is different from Eden and Sakura. She does not exist in the form of a lover, but a companion in a sense.]

[You don't deny that you are biased towards Mobius for some reasons "this time," and Mobius' possessiveness towards you has reached a certain level that is too obvious due to some circumstances, but… in essence, you two are together because of a similar "wish."]

[Mobius wants to make humans "evolve," and after seeing the existence of "Herrscher," her idea has become stronger. And you can also feel that after Mobius discovered your "specialness," her idea in this regard has once fallen into a fanatical point.]

[It's just that most of Mobius's ideas for achieving "evolution" are somewhat radical, and once she discovers a method that can achieve "evolution," even if the success rate of this method is extremely slim, she will choose it without hesitation, even... at the cost of herself to verify and achieve it.]

[And because of your own thoughts, you have embarked on a similar path as her... However, with Mobius first, you can be a lot more relaxed. After all, Mobius is indeed trustworthy in this regard.]

[Anyone can question Mobius's character, or even criticize Mobius's personality and her rather excessive behavior, but no one can deny her talent.]

[Therefore, what you need to do will be relatively simple - find a way to increase the success rate of the Mobius method, and pave the road of "evolution" with neat and easy-to-walk bricks. This can also be regarded as laying a good foundation for your future ideas.]

[So you and Mobius are indeed fellow travelers in a sense, but something unexpected happened along the way, and the relationship between you has deteriorated, or...something happened that is natural.]

[Ha... Never mind. I shouldn't explain so much. This kind of excuse always feels a bit weird. Just admit it openly. You already had your expectations, didn't you?]

[Therefore, you also told Skadi about Mobius's situation and your opinion of her... For "blood relatives," there is no need for any secrets between you.]

[After a brief recollection, Skadi managed to remember who you were talking about... Anyway, it was a female with green hair right?]

[You always feel that Skadi's cognition seems to be a little biased, but after thinking about it carefully, it seems that there is nothing wrong, so you nod and acknowledge her statement.]

[You then stayed with her for a while before separating from her, letting her return to the protection of her "mother"... Skadi was unable to control the aura of a powerful Honkai beast emanating from her body, as well as the Honkai energy that continued to overflow from the "home" environment of rainy days and the seaside.]

[This makes it impossible for her to stay here for long. Otherwise, the soldiers of the "Fire Moth" will follow the dangerous aura emanating from her body and come here. Even if they don't launch a crusade, they will at least come to investigate the situation... She'd better leave before she discovered.]

[It is not the time for her to appear yet, and you will not allow your "blood relatives" to face punishment again.]

[Of course, it's best not to be seen... Therefore, you once again use the rain to get back to the base and return to your resting room.]

[As for what happened next, it was uneventful. You assisted the combat troops waiting here to repel several waves of Honkai beasts and took away some necessary samples. When the sky cleared, you followed the team out to sea on a boat to try to investigate some underwater anomalies... Of course, in the end, you found nothing.]

[After all, the instruments have detected a large number of Honkai beasts lurking in the ocean. Out of caution, you did not stray too far from the coast... You conducted a brief investigation near the coast, and after finding that the number of Honkai beasts that were pouring in was difficult to deal with, you retreated in time.]

[Although you haven't been able to investigate much about the changes in the ocean, considering that these Honkai beasts in the sea all appeared after the "Fourth Great Eruption," it is reasonable to suspect that these are Honkai beasts that appeared with the birth of the "Fourth Herrscher."]

[Taking into account some of the previous information and the place where the "Fourth Herrscher" appeared... this inference was quickly recognized and confirmed by "Fire Moth."]

[But... aren't there too many Honkai beasts in the sea?]

[But considering the ecology of the ocean, and the many creatures in the ocean that mutated after the Honkai outbreak... it seems that the birth of so many Honkai beasts is understandable?]

[Okay, put all of this aside, you still have a lot of things to deal with.]

[Not to mention that the sample you brought back gave Mobius another urge to study it. After all, the Honkai beasts in the sea seem to be slightly different from those on land. Although this difference is still very slight now if this difference continues to develop... it may become some extremely obvious feature, and eventually lead to a clear distinction and division between the Honkai beasts on land and those in the sea.]

[The only pity is that Mobius has to suppress her research desire now. After all, she had agreed to go with you to see Eden, and she doesn't want to be unable to go because of her own situation... She can't really "lock you up" in the end, right?]

[Besides that, you have a lot to do. Not only are there unfinished tasks piled up in the lab, but you also have to prepare some "gifts"...]

[Also, after handing over the "Originium" you hold to Vill-V, you must also pay attention to Vill-V's situation...]

「Ahhh… Damn it, you still have so many things to do. It's so troublesome.」

[But... this is also pretty good]

[After all, such a fulfilling and peaceful life is worth remembering]

[So, what follows next…]

.....

"Hmm... um... next, how can I access the content?"

In the engineering department's exclusive studio, Vill-V was worrying about the "Originium" that she had finally "repaired."

After the outbreak of the "Fourth Great Eruption," she discovered that the "Originium" in her hand had abnormal movements as if it had received some special power. The "Originium" seemed to come alive and began to move in a unique rhythm.

After Vill-V conducted some research, she soon discovered that this rhythm seemed to be indicating some kind of message... and some kind of power inside the "Originium" seemed to be stimulated, and began to reveal some hidden encrypted messages.

Vill-V naturally stepped up her research on this. After all, she had attached great importance to this "Originium" for no reason since she picked it up. As the research became more and more in-depth, Vill-V was also convinced that this "Originium" could never have been produced naturally.

After all, after the "Originium" was activated, Vill-V could even observe the nanorobot part inside... It looked quite similar to the existing "Soulium," but there were some differences as if it contained something even more bizarre.

When she discovered this, Vill-V even complained to herself that she was right to name it "Origin Stone." After all, the "Soulium" that is most widely used by them now is really very similar to it, but it lacks some more crucial power... which prevents the "Soulium" from "coming alive" like it.

But something even stranger is yet to come... When Vill-V tried to parse the encrypted message in the "Originium," she found that she could not read it at all, as if this was not a message that could be read by any equipment, but... required something more special to receive it.

Originally, Vill-V didn't care about it. It was normal to encounter a research bottleneck. She could just try slowly.

But due to some accidents... no, it should be Vill-V's mysterious induction that allowed her to slightly touch the half of the "Originium" she held.

Then, she saw some "fragments" stored in it.

This feeling is very strange, as if taking back the "memories" that should belong to you from the outside world, or as if picking up a certain "past" that has been covered up in your mind. The whole process is very strange but natural.

she clearly doesn't remember those things. To her, these "fragments" should belong to outsiders, foreign objects, and abnormal things. However, she can feel that these "fragments" should belong to her.

To be honest, when she first came into contact with the "fragments" contained in the "Originium," Vill-V was very terrified. It felt like she had lived another life, and more importantly... even with only the existing "fragments," Vill-V could piece together a life that might belong to her.

And that life... wasn't very good.

In particular, in one of the "fragments," Vill-V saw the "memory" of her parents' death.

This feeling is not good, especially since these "fragments" exist in the form of "memories," which means that Vill-V really "witnessed" the death of her parents.

In other words, she witnessed the passing of her parents once again.

To be honest, after receiving this "fragment," Vill-V was somewhat dazed. In the end, she even dropped the things at hand and ran directly to the logistics department.

After seeing their figures with her own eyes, hearing their voices with her own ears, and finally... touching their bodies with her own hands and feeling their warmth, Vill-V seemed to come back to her senses. She sobbed softly in her mother's arms, somewhat disregarding her image.

That day, her parents were really scared. They thought their daughter had suffered some kind of injustice. Vill-V, who was originally full of confidence and pride, could actually be so weak...

But soon, Vill-V adjusted her state, wiped away her tears, and with slightly red eyes, told her parents that she was fine.

Then she hurried back to her studio, leaving her parents confused for a moment... Even though they later asked Vill-V about this matter, she just smiled and said it was okay. The gentle smile on her face made the couple wonder if they had recognized the wrong person...

Is this still their daughter? Why is she smiling so gently? It's as if she has suddenly grown up, from a genius full of fantastic ideas and all kinds of weird designs in her mind to a gentle and lovely beautiful girl... But later when they saw Vill-V starting to swing upside down on the wire in the transformed engineering department, they could only smile helplessly.

Their Vill-V... is still the same Vill-V.

After comforting her parents who were worried about her loss of composure, Vill-V began to think again about the meaning of the existence of "Originium" itself... or rather, she began to try to analyze the meaning of these "fragments."

First of all, considering her instinctive concern for the "Originium," and the fact that the "fragments" contained in it are all related to her personally, or simply belong to her own "memories," then... is this thing left behind by her?

And based on the information brought by the "fragments," can we infer that the whole world... has "started over" once? Or even many times? Why? And... what happened in the past "once"?

In order to explore her own "past," Vill-V set her sights on the half of the "Originium" held by Nozomi... Since her piece has the "fragment," the other half will naturally have it too, right?

For this reason, Vill-V broke her original promise and asked Nozomi to take the other half back.

...No, she just borrowed it for research. As for whether she will return it later, that's another matter.

And from what she saw now, this "Originium" originally belonged to "herself."

After successfully obtaining the other half of the "Originium" and reading some "fragments" using the same method, Vill-V fell into deep thought again... In this part of the "fragments," Vill-V saw how she and Nozomi got along, and even felt her overly strong attachment to Nozomi...

Even she herself could sense that this emotion had become pathological, the kind of pathological attachment that saw him as her only remaining haven, her only lifeline...

However, Vill-V surprisingly did not resist this feeling. Although she felt that this kind of morbid emotion was somewhat problematic... but if it was Nozomi, it seemed that she could accept it...

And judging from the "fragments" in it, Vill-V also approved of her final choice, or in other words, she also realized how her feelings for Nozomi changed into that.

Therefore, she felt... that it was not unacceptable.

However, there is a more pressing issue.

"Still incomplete..."

Vill-V murmured softly as she looked at the Originium that had been put back together.

"The memory is still incomplete..."

"But I can't get more [fragments] just by contact... Is there any other way?"

"Hmm... there should be some."

Vill-V looked at the palm of her hand, clenched her fist slightly, and then unclenched it. Looking at the blue veins on her wrist that were slightly exposed due to the force, she hesitated.

"But... that would already be a dangerous attempt..."

"Should I give it a try? Since all the 'memories' contained in the 'Originium' belong to me, then I should be the one who left this behind... Since they are all mine, then there should be no problem... right?"

"Then... give it a try?"

Just as Vill-V was planning this, a communication from the outside world came in.

"Vill-V? Nozomi came to see you. It seems like he has something to ask you."

It was a message from colleagues in the Engineering Department.

"Ah..."

Vill-V gave up her original plan, straightened her clothes a little, and then moved her fingers slightly, fiddling with the device on her hand, driving this wonderful workshop that had been transformed beyond recognition by her and other people in the engineering department, and then quickly moved to the reception room... Nozomi was waiting for her here.

"Hello~ Nozomi, what's up? Are you free today? Don't you want to continue hanging out in that old woman's laboratory?"

"Be polite when addressing the Doctor, Vill-V."

Nozomi first reached out and knocked on Vill-V's head to warn her slightly, and Vill-V did not dodge. She just stuck out her tongue mischievously, made a face at Nozomi and then sat down on a chair beside her with confidence.

"Tell me, busy man~ Is there anything you need my help with? Or... do you have any new ideas? It's okay to give me some new inspiration, too."

"No, Vill-V, I just have a little [gift] for you."

Nozomi looked at the other members of the engineering department in the reception room and smiled slightly... This was not something that needed to be avoided, and it would be okay if someone saw it.

"Here, this... is for you, Vill-V."

Nozomi took out a gear-shaped buckle, which was glowing faintly, and in a trance, you could see that the light was changing, as if something was flowing inside.

"This..."

Vill-V was stunned for a moment. She always felt that this buckle was somewhat familiar, but she couldn't find any related "memories" in her mind... Was it because she hadn't read the "fragments" related to this buckle yet?

Or... is this just an ordinary [gift]?

Vill-V took the buckle, looked at it in her hand, and found that it was made of only "Soulium"... It seemed that it was really just a special "gift"?

"...Ah~ Thank you for your trouble, Nozomi, but you only gave me a buckle as a gift. How stingy."

Vill-V felt that this gear-shaped buckle was nothing to worry about, so she quickly adjusted her expression and mentality and spoke in a light tone.

"However, since I really like the style, I will accept it with reluctance~"

Having said that, Vill-V put the buckle around her waist.

"Ha... As long as you like it."

Nozomi chuckled and then turned to speak.

"Speaking of which, Vill-V, have you developed any new magic recently?"

"Oh? What's wrong? Do you want to see it? Actually, I have a great idea recently! Do you want to see it?"

"No, I just want to say... I actually learned a simple magic trick and I want you to see it."

Nozomi looked at her with a slightly raised lip corner.

"..."

Hearing Nozomi's words, Vill-V was stunned for a moment... This scene seemed somewhat familiar and appeared to overlap with a certain "memory" she saw in the "fragments."

"...Okay, let me take a look."

Vill-V spoke slowly with a little nervousness, finding it difficult to maintain her usual brisk and confident tone. She spoke with a slight expectation.

"So..."

Nozomi smiled, stretched out his hand, and spread his palm in front of her.

Then, the bracelet on Nozomi's wrist began to change quietly. With the sound of metal collision, the bracelet gradually decomposed and reorganized, turning into a root-like existence. It slowly gathered in the palm of his hand, beginning to grow branches, leaves, and even flower buds little by little.

Finally... a flower made entirely of metal bloomed in Nozomi's palm.

'In fact, this is not really magic. After all, now that I have "Soulium," I only need to know how to operate it a little bit to make this small, toy-like object.'

But Vill-V just stood there in a daze, staring blankly at the metal flower in Nozomi's hand. She didn't move and could only let Nozomi hold her hand and then... put the flower in her palm.

"This flower that never fades is also for you, Vill-V."

"Ah… um… um."

Vill-V carefully protected the everlasting flower in her hand... Although she knew that she could use some operations to directly turn the flower back into the appearance of a bracelet, she didn't want to do that.

She just held it carefully in her arms, as if she was afraid that it would be damaged for some reason.

"I love it so much."

Vill-V spoke softly, and after a brief moment of stunned expression, only a faint smile and a little... happiness remained on her face.

"Thank you... [Brother]."

"Um?"

Nozomi raised his eyebrows.

"Ah..."

Vill-V suddenly realized something and quickly covered her mouth.

"Huh?"

The engineering staff who were still eating melons on the side were stunned.