“As expected of Milady.
As soon as you make a move, there’s progress!
Then now we…”
Naturally, Fourth Mirror had no idea that Xian Ling had already read the script long ago.
Thinking that Xian Ling had achieved a breakthrough through her exquisite Memokeeper techniques, she immediately adopted a flattering tone.
“Don’t rush.
Exchange data with me first.”
After thinking for a moment, Xian Ling compressed part of Amphoreus’s settings into a memory package, then reached out and touched Fourth Mirror’s surface.
Although Xian Ling’s situation was that of a Memokeeper while Fourth Mirror controlled data, the two could already communicate and exchange information.
Especially now, when both of them were inside a world made of data.
After organizing her abilities, Xian Ling discovered that she could even completely convert herself into a state similar to a data lifeform.
However, because she didn’t know much about Memokeepers, she wasn’t sure whether other Memokeepers could do the same, or whether this was simply a personal Meme effect unique to her.
“Do you see that black figure in the memory?” Xian Ling finally asked after Fourth Mirror had absorbed most of the memory.
“Milady means…
that fellow labeled ‘Flame Reaver’?”
“That’s right, him.”
Xian Ling nodded.
“Can’t you perform rough searches through this data world?
Search for where Flame Reaver is right now and take me there.”
Xian Ling had given serious thought to her next steps.
Without knowing what impact the Memory Stealers had caused in Amphoreus, she first needed to find a “local” to understand the situation.
Since Xian Ling herself only knew Amphoreus through the main story, that local also had to be sufficiently “authentic.” Otherwise, she might not notice differences in certain details.
After considering all possibilities, only a handful of people met her requirements, and among them, the most suitable was naturally Flame Reaver.
After all, thirty million cycles of reincarnation allowed him to move through Amphoreus almost with his eyes closed.
Furthermore, since Xian Ling was an outsider, Flame Reaver—who was especially sensitive to “variables”—wouldn’t immediately start fighting her upon meeting.
As long as she could persuade Flame Reaver, understanding the changes in Amphoreus over the recent cycles would be effortless.
But…
was that really the case?
“Milady…”
A moment later, Fourth Mirror’s voice became somewhat hesitant.
“What is it?”
“That Flame Reaver you mentioned…
I think, um, I can’t really find him.”
“…?”
Xian Ling looked at Fourth Mirror in confusion.
“Either you can find him or you can’t.
What do you mean by ‘can’t really find him’?”
“Because he seems to be…
in pieces all over the place?”
“Huh?
Did he get split into five splices and sent to fight the Black Tide because he told a dad’s joke?”
“Is that some new meme too…
Forget it.
You understand this stuff yourself, Milady.
Take a look.
According to the coordinate information you provided, Flame Reaver seems to be distributed throughout various regions of this world.”
“Let me see…”
After receiving the data transmitted by Fourth Mirror, Xian Ling immediately understood why the latter had hesitated.
Flame Reaver’s signature coordinates really were evenly distributed across most of Amphoreus.
This wasn’t merely being split into five groups.
Someone unaware of the situation might think Flame Reaver had inherited the Passage’s authority and shattered himself into thousands of fragments.
Of course, not even in Cyrene’s stories had there ever been a record of Flame Reaver breaking into thousands of pieces.
Eliminating the possibility of the Passage’s abilities left Xian Ling with only one remaining explanation.
“Then, Fourth Mirror, search for the distribution of the Black Tide in this era.”
“One moment, Milady…
Hm?”
Fourth Mirror’s voice rose slightly.
“These coordinates…”
“They’re identical to Flame Reaver’s coordinates, right?”
Xian Ling rubbed her forehead with a headache.
“Alright, stop searching for now.
Let me think…”
The situation had suddenly become much clearer.
Putting everything else aside, the greatest anomaly in this world had already revealed itself.
For some unknown reason, before any savior arrived, Flame Reaver had already merged into the Black Tide.
In other words, he had already launched a full assault on the Scepter Core Zone and been absorbed by the Iron Tomb.
“So this is where the Memokeepers’ influence took effect…
But that doesn’t make sense.
For Herta’s side, this kind of influence would only make things worse, so how could it possibly lead to Herta defeating Lygus instead…”
“Milady?”
Fourth Mirror sounded puzzled.
“What are you muttering about over there…”
“…Nothing.”
Xian Ling pinched a strand of her hair and gave it a light tug.
Accompanied by a sharp sting, a white strand of long hair appeared in her palm, pulling her out of the dead-end thought process she had fallen into.
“My previous reasoning wasn’t wrong.
Since Flame Reaver isn’t here, I’ll have to find someone else…
Wait.”
Xian Ling froze.
She had thought of something she had previously overlooked.
“That’s right.
If Flame Reaver never existed in this cycle from the very beginning…”
“Then what about Cyrene?
No one stabbed Cyrene in this cycle!”
“Fourth Mirror, search for Cy—…
No, search for a place name first.”
She almost forgot that if the current era was before Cyrene had even been born, searching for Cyrene might yield no results.
In comparison, searching for the much older Aedes Elysiae was the correct choice.
“This place can be found.
Within this data world, Aedes Elysiae seems to be a very important location.
It has a special placeholder, and it’s not too far from us…”
After searching for a while, Fourth Mirror’s energetic voice returned.
“So, Milady, do you need me to take you there?”
“Mm.
Set the arrival point outside the village.”
“Got it.
Right away, we’ll…
arrive?”
Magic Mirror’s tone instantly dropped several octaves.
“Uh, wait a moment, Milady.
Let me check if I locked onto the wrong arrival point…”
“No need.
It’s probably correct.”
Looking at the ruins that Aedes Elysiae had become, Xian Ling sighed.
“It’s just that…
we arrived at the wrong time.”
“It seems the point in time we’ve descended into is after Aedes Elysiae was already destroyed by the Black Tide…”
“Ah?
R-Really…”
Fourth Mirror looked completely lost.
“Milady, I feel like you’ve become a little strange since coming to Amphoreus…
Someone who didn’t know better might think you’d embarked upon the Path of Finality.”
“I haven’t embarked upon the Path of Finality, but I did receive a gift from Remembrance…
What I’m doing now is merely verifying the authenticity of that gift.”
Xian Ling casually made up a half-true explanation.
After all, from a certain perspective, the reason she was so familiar with Amphoreus really was because there existed a gift of Remembrance in her mind—the game called Honkai: Star Rail from her previous life.
“Where are we going now, Milady?
There doesn’t seem to be anyone alive left in this village.”
“I’m looking for a concealed tree hollow.”
Xian Ling brushed aside the vines along the road and looked around.
“Before coming here, I’d already prepared three contingency plans: Aedes Elysiae never appeared, everything was normal, or it had been destroyed.
If Aedes Elysiae has been destroyed, there’s no need for us to hurry away, because there’s a secret realm in Aedes Elysiae that absolutely cannot be destroyed.”