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Like a musical abruptly ending at its climax, the world fell silent with the descent of Finality.
The intense Honkai energy rapidly dissipated, transforming each Honkai Beast into individual Honkai Energy Cores. These cores then disintegrated, causing their stored Honkai Energy to vanish instantly.
Theresa, still in her Honkai Beast form, collapsed, seemingly unconscious.
Among those remaining standing in the world, only Xia Chen and Raiden Mei were left.
Xia Chen remarked, "This must be some big shot. If Honkai has hierarchies, is this like a top boss inspecting work?"
At this point, his humor served merely to mask the overwhelming sorrow and helplessness he felt.
Raiden Mei let out a soft sigh. "No matter how powerful, we must resist, right?"
"Yes."
Xia Chen's gaze shifted towards Ana.
She had been injected with Honkai Energy inhibitors, but as a result, she also lost her combat capabilities. From the looks of it, she was on the brink of losing her life.
Despite possessing Schariac bloodline, once the concentration of Honkai exceeded a certain threshold, its protective effects became diminished.
Facing this tragedy, his heart unexpectedly found calmness.
"Fearfully, there might not be another chance to start over."
Xia Chen took a deep breath and retrieved a rarely used weapon, Kukulkan's Breath.
This weapon, obtained from a parallel world extraction, had remained unused by Xia Chen until now.
He activated his Core, controlling the fluid dynamics for swift flight towards Finality.
Xia Chen aimed to get close to the Herrscher and launch an attack, even if it were just futile struggles akin to a bug.
However, this time, Finality didn't grant him the opportunity to resist.
He witnessed a mysterious force visibly wiping away human civilization.
Buildings, roads, power poles... before this power, everything reverted to their most basic elements.
It felt as though a game was being reloaded, with all progress reset.
Xia Chen sensed his entire body being controlled; the Finality pheromones present in his brain now took effect, restricting all his movements.
"Why?"
He found himself immobilized, thousands of kilometers away from Finality.
Yet he still questioned, "What is the purpose behind this Honkai's trial? Why does human civilization need to be tested by Honkai?"
"After doing so much, what exactly do you seek to achieve?"
In truth, Xia Chen could no longer endure.
Every step forward for humanity had relied on continuous trial and error. The brilliant civilization they built was the culmination of countless individuals' efforts through experimentation and mistakes.
However, it was now discarded like trash.
Just when Xia Chen thought there would be no response, a voice suddenly echoed in his mind:
"Have you... ever seen an ant hill?"
"Humans destroy ant hills without considering the ants' labor."
The voice in his head sounded cold and indifferent.
Xia Chen instinctively looked around, but before him, there remained not a single person in sight.
Yet, it felt as if he saw Finality speaking.
"Then... what is the purpose behind Honkai?"
"Why would you assume Honkai has a purpose?" the voice responded. "Just like Earth orbits the sun due to its natural laws, Honkai too operates under its own set of rules. It inherently lacks any specific aim."
"Gravity causes objects to fall, fire can forge steel... Honkai simply exists for destruction."
The rotation of Earth around the sun follows Earth's laws; similarly, Honkai accompanying civilization adheres to its own laws.
All human endeavors are designed and function within these established rules.
Xia Chen unconsciously closed his eyes.
"So, this is just a game, right?"
"A deliberately crafted game that can never be completed."
However, there was no one left to answer him.
[Herrscher of Finality has used their Authority, completely erasing all traces of your existence.]
[Your experience in the Honkai World has concluded. You may permanently retain the following items by extracting them into the real world. Congratulations! You have obtained 'Courage to Face All', do you wish to extract?]
[Herrscher of Finality has marked you with even stronger pheromones.]
When Xia Chen woke up again, his body felt limp and unresponsive.
Seeing the familiar room, he unconsciously sighed with relief.
Perfect, it's now 2016, and nothing has happened yet.
His emotions were mixed; without Rin's presence, these near-realistic simulated memories would linger in his mind for a prolonged time.
"Facing everything with courage, huh..." Xia Chen observed the familiar 'reward', feeling somewhat conflicted.
During his first simulation, he had obtained this very reward. However, amidst subsequent battles, his courage... likely ran out by now.
But then, is bravery easily acquired in such a manner truly genuine courage?
He...
Isn't just fabricated data designed for a purpose?
This wasn't Xia Chen's first instance of questioning his existence, but it was the most intense one yet.
After obtaining the Herrscher Core and gaining "access privileges," he began suspecting that this world might be a vast, information-driven illusion.
Much like in a game.
This theory could explain the existence of Herrschers and why their abilities always seem perfectly aligned with the civilization's needs.
Whether it be Herrschers, Honkai Beasts, or humans... they are all just data.
Honkai emerging from Virtual Being represents the process of inputting these sequences from nothingness.
It appears that each simulation also involves another entity adding commands to his body.
He began resisting the idea of claiming rewards anymore.
However...
If the world is entirely composed of data, can even personal growth be accurately simulated? The journey from non-existence to becoming an individual, along with the transformation of one's character...
Xia Chen felt somewhat bewildered.
Just then, his phone received an incoming call.
It was Ana.
"Hehe, I took some time off. Let's go on a date tomorrow; we haven't spent much time together lately."
Meanwhile, at Anti-Entropy's headquarters.
Theresa slowly awakened back at the Salt Lake Base, her expression somewhat conflicted. "Was that a dream or a prophecy?"
The nightmare reminiscent of the apocalypse weighed heavily on her mood.
She instinctively rose and headed to the laboratory, noticing Tesla, Einstein, and several other Anti-Entropy leaders with grave expressions.
"I had a dream..." she began unconsciously but was interrupted by Einstein, "About the world after Entropy Reduction, right?"
"How did you know?"
Einstein and Tesla exchanged glances. "Everyone here suddenly fell asleep simultaneously and then woke up."
"It's clear this wasn't just a dream."
One person dreaming upon waking could be dismissed as a mere dream, but ten people experiencing it points towards a paranormal event.
Einstein's gaze grew serious. "There are two possibilities. One, the Herrscher of Sentience induced us into a specific state of consciousness, creating such illusions."
"What if it wasn't the Herrscher?" Theresa blurted out.
Einstein looked at her. "Then, it suggests the impending arrival of an extraordinary force beyond our understanding."
"Could this be a warning before Finality strikes, perhaps a form of mercy from Honkai itself?"
Everyone felt a sense of helplessness wash over them.
This was not good news; at least, the Entropy Reduction Theory had been completely discredited.
No one wished to merely survive for just sixteen more years.