"Finally explained everything clearly."
A hint of relaxation appeared in his eyes.
For him, what he did was to give up the next fifty thousand years to find a glimmer of hope for this era. But this was obviously unfair to Wendy, Raiden Mei, and others.
So, after he revealed the truth, whether it was Kiana, Raiden Mei, or Bronya, they all stood there in a daze.
What they thought afterward, Chen Ran did not know.
Because he was dragged away by Wendy.
Girl Wendy also candidly shared a lot with Chen Ran, about the Elysian Realm and about Otto.
She firmly stood on Chen Ran's side and even wanted to participate in the battle against Finality.
However, the methods to bypass time were extremely few, almost theoretically zero, unless Wendy also obtained a [Honkai weapon 666].
But awkwardly, after Wendy traveled back to the past, she didn't know how to travel to the future.
If a person presents two different states in the same time dimension and is observed simultaneously, this situation is called quantum superposition.
Clearly, at that time, she had already presented an unstable quantum superposition state.
"So much has happened."
The two arrived in New Zealand at this time.
The distance from the Far East branch to New Zealand was naturally far enough, but this was the place where they first met.
Once, this girl had eyes filled with uncontainable frustration, but now she was smiling brightly, attracting the attention of many.
"I told you, Wendy is a great beauty."
Chen Ran no longer mentioned the past but ran to a roadside shop to buy two servings of ice cream.
"Try it; I didn't know you liked ice cream before."
"You didn't ask me back then." The girl's eyes flashed with a hint of longing, then she eagerly took a serving.
She wrinkled her delicate nose and huffed, saying, "I didn't expect you to have such a good relationship with the past me; she must have been so silly that you liked her."
"What's wrong, are you jealous?"
Chen Ran pinched her face with one hand, laughing: "I didn't expect the past you to be so... um, straightforward. You've changed so much."
"Let's go, we're going to watch a movie."
He said with a smile: "Dinner, movie, amusement park, the standardized process of a couple's date. By the way, does this count as us being a couple?"
"I don't want to be your girlfriend." She mumbled: "Clearly, you had so many before."
She already knew about Mobius and Vill-V's existence.
Chen Ran was slightly taken aback, then sighed.
He could refute his relationship with Mobius to Wendy, but he really couldn't refute anything regarding Vill-V.
If he had any romantic thoughts about Vill-V, currently, he had none at all.
But from the moral perspective of this era, he and Vill-V certainly couldn't be considered innocent.
"Not being a couple is fine; after all, I probably can't bear the responsibilities of a couple. So let's just be friends."
He didn't feel much disappointment and said: "Let's find a nearby cinema and I'll tell you some stories about that era along the way; just think of it as listening to a story."
"Oh."
Wendy watched Chen Ran walk ahead, hesitated for a moment, then jogged to catch up.
Then, she placed her hand in the palm of Chen Ran's hand.
"Don't get the wrong idea; it's just that my hands are a bit cold from holding the ice cream."
In the cinema, the young girl held a bucket of popcorn in her hands.
The latest "HOMU Adventure Movie" was playing on the screen, but both Wendy and Chen Ran seemed somewhat distracted at the moment.
She placed her free hand on Chen Ran's palm, nervously rubbing it, and for some reason, she felt an overwhelming fatigue.
If Chen Ran understood Wendy's current state, he would surely find it very familiar.
This was a sign that her consciousness was reaching a critical point.
Essentially, both Wendy's and Chen Ran's travels relied on the consumption of consciousness.
Once again, the voice from her crossing over echoed in her mind.
[When your spirit can no longer bear it, I will take you back to the cold reality.]
This voice felt somewhat familiar yet strange.
She thought it was a conversation between the Herrscher consciousness and herself, but she dared not verify it, fearing it was just a dream.
The girl's crossing over was not a necessary event that followed various theories, but merely a series of coincidental occurrences. She was well aware of this.
And the fatigue in her spirit reminded her that it was time for her and Chen Ran to part ways.
The intense unease in her heart intensified; she had no idea when she would see Chen Ran again.
Her desires could not be hidden from her heart.
She liked Chen Ran.
Even knowing that there were more than one opposite sex around Chen Ran, even though the distance between them on the timeline spanned over fifty thousand years.
Just then, her anxious hand was grasped.
"What's wrong?"
Chen Ran looked at her and instinctively asked, "Is the movie not interesting?"
"Um, I'm not in the mood to watch."
She said candidly.
Wendy was not like Theresa, who loved HOMU; her understanding of HOMU was limited to just knowing it existed.
She looked at Chen Ran, wanting to say something but hesitating.
Chen Ran smiled and said, "Then let's go."
"Are we not going to finish it?" Wendy instinctively asked, "It feels a bit wasteful."
"The purpose of watching a movie is to entertain and relax. Since it doesn't satisfy you, then of course, there's no need to waste time here."
He paused and said softly, "We have a rare opportunity to meet; every moment is priceless, how can we waste it?"
"Yeah."
Wendy also realized that she and Chen Ran could not be compared to others.
Even if a couple were separated at the South Pole and the North Pole, as long as time was in the same place, there would be countless opportunities to meet.
But their chances of meeting were too few.
The girl made up her mind, looking at him: "You can be bolder with me, Chen Ran."
Chen Ran was slightly taken aback, then smiled: "Alright."
He cupped her face, disregarding the fact that they were in a cinema where others were watching a movie, and kissed her cherry lips.
The warmth of her breath brushed against his nose, and the suffocating and tense emotions surged into her mind, leaving her dizzy.
She felt a bit regretful.
Her bold statement was meant to create a deeper memory, but today she felt as if she might be devoured.
Like a little rabbit tempting the big bad wolf with her body.
So dangerous!
When the kiss paused, she hurriedly said, "Let's... change places."
"Okay."
…
…
The Auckland Ocean Panorama Hotel is located above the bay of New Zealand's Rapid Island.
Pulling open the curtains in the room revealed a mesmerizing sea view.
Beaches, islands, waves, and sunsets attracted tourists from all over the world to check in here.
Chen Ran held the girl in his arms, while she buried her face in the blanket, as if doing so could make everything that had happened disappear.
She didn't know why she had suddenly become so bold.
It felt like an unconscious urging from the desires within her, or perhaps the hormones from the confusion were at play.
She did not refuse Chen Ran's more excessive requests; instead, she cooperated with him.
Chen Ran looked at the girl trembling under the covers and said apologetically, "I'm sorry, have I gone a bit too far?"
"Hmph, if you know it's too much, why say it? I'll bite you."
The girl pounced on him and bit his arm.
They were lovers who met by chance on a long journey, leaving marks on each other in their own way.
The girl soon became exhausted from her antics and lay on Chen Ran's body.
"Chen Ran," she whispered his name.
"Mm?"
"I might have to leave."
The girl's voice was somewhat troubled as she said, "It seems this time, the journey through time can only go this far."
She was also aware of the limits of her consciousness; although there were no clear prompts or commands from the system, some things could be felt.
Chen Ran said softly, "I probably will leave too."
Although the system had not alerted him to reach the critical point of consciousness, it was likely just a matter of time.
He had no reason to linger in this scene any longer.
The time travelers were about to face separation this time.
She pressed close to his chest: "Will you miss me?"
"Yes, I must miss you."
"How much will you miss me?"
"Ah, probably as much as you want to eat ice cream, I want you."
He lifted Wendy up and hugged her tightly again.
The girl's brows furrowed slightly: "It still hurts a bit."
"But I can endure it."
She boldly continued to kiss Chen Ran.
And then, the two of them disappeared into the moment of time.
——
When Wendy returned to the moment of her disappearance in 2014, Otto's eyes held a hint of surprise.
The girl's clothes were intact, still in the same state as when she disappeared, but he could sense that her mental state was quite fatigued.
He silently calculated the time and realized that Wendy had traveled for a day.
With the ability of a Herrscher, could she really only spend a day in the long journey through time?
He instinctively began to ponder but quickly suppressed that thought.
"Tell me, Wendy, what did you encounter?"
The bishop's eyes remained calm, but his heart began to stir.
Even if it was just a day...
That was enough.
Of course, Otto knew that before doing that thing, he had to have a 'negotiation' with Chen Ran; otherwise, what he did would truly be meaningless.
He had thought that Wendy's time travel was permanent, but now it seemed it was only temporary.
Moreover, while Wendy was traveling through time, the time in reality was also unaffected.
It was like a grain of sand being blown to another grain of sand, but it would not affect the thickness and breadth of the entire desert.
So, whether it was Chen Ran or Wendy, they were like individuals overlooked in time.
Wendy listened to Otto's question, her face instinctively flushed: "I... I met my past self."
"And then? Tell me everything you encountered."
He tried to keep Wendy from feeling nervous.
No matter what identity the girl in front of him held, she was essentially just 14 years old. Otto would not impose unnecessary pressure on her.
There was no need for that.
Wendy hesitated, briefly glossing over the part about her secret meeting with Chen Ran, focusing instead on what Chen Ran had said to her past self and the words Raiden Mei had spoken.
Sacrificing the future of a civilization to exchange for the possibility of saving the past.
She looked at Otto anxiously, worried that he might take extreme actions because of this.
After all, Wendy did not know Otto's true intentions; in her impression, Otto was the archbishop who could lead humanity in the fight against Honkai.
And everything Chen Ran did had a very broad impact on this era.
If Chen Ran could find the answer to defeating Finality in this era, would there still be this era?
Just like the grandfather paradox, if a young person killed their grandfather, the grandfather would die, and theoretically, that young person would no longer exist.
She lowered her head, preparing to face Otto's wrath.
Chen Ran's close relationship with her was something Otto was aware of.
However, after waiting for a long time, Wendy did not receive the expected anger.
"Hehe, I see."
Otto's eyes narrowed slightly: "Essentially, Chen Ran doesn't know why he can adjust time, does he?"
Chen Ran had concealed the existence of the system from Wendy, simply replacing it with Stigmata.
Wendy hesitated for a moment and nodded: "Mm, time travel is random; he can't control which future time he travels to."
"He is also a traveler adrift in time, only able to decide to move forward or stay."
"Hehe, as expected."
Otto's tone carried a hint of arrogance: "If Chen Ran could truly manipulate the strings of time at will, he would have already defeated Honkai. Then, you and I wouldn't exist."
Wendy suddenly looked at Otto: "Lord Bishop, are you saying..."
"That's right, the previous civilization's era is destined to be buried, and both you and I are destined to appear in this era."
"The path set by fate will not be so easily changed... This is truly a disappointing answer, both for him and for me."
"Perhaps at a higher dimension, so-called changes to the future are merely jumping from one grain of sand to another, and all the sand is in the eyes of God."
Wendy did not contemplate Otto's words any longer.
Because if what Otto said was true, it meant that Chen Ran's death, the fall of the previous civilization, and the arrival of Finality...
None of these would change.
For Otto and Wendy, this was not good news.
But for this world, it was the best news possible.
Wendy looked eagerly at Otto: "Is there any way?"
"No rush, Wendy. Before that, I want to ask you, in your eyes, which is more important, this world or him?"
This is a single-choice question.
Wendy hesitated for a moment and replied, "If it weren't for him, I wouldn't be able to choose this world."
The boy had saved the girl at her most desperate moment, pulling her out of despair.
She had given him everything, so naturally, she couldn't say something hypocritical like 'the world is more important than him.'
Wendy knew that if she could say that, she probably wouldn't be a qualified Valkyrie anymore.
But she could still be a qualified person.
She waited for Otto's reprimand, but what she received was Otto's laughter.
"Good, very good, Wendy."
"You haven't disappointed me, or rather, you and I are of the same kind."
"On this point, we have reached a consensus."
"Now, since the past has happened and cannot be changed, we can still bypass the longer time scale to change the future."
Otto's eyes sparkled with intensity.
"This is a challenge from humanity to the gods, and we will definitely be the victors."
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