"After crossing over into someone else's body, instead of hiding deep in their consciousness to recuperate or attempting possession, you chose to exhaust most of your power to freeze the time around that person? What was the purpose?"
Although Cipher felt this answer was a bit far-fetched, she could sense the information transmitted through the gold threads; Celeste was not lying.
"The purpose was to save her, and at the same time, to save myself," Celeste explained calmly.
"I was the person closest to the Spiritual Tide at that time. Consequently, when I flew out of the Spiritual Tide, the first person I encountered could only be the person closest to it—which was her, Luo Lin."
As she spoke, she pointed once more at "Luo Lin's" body.
"If I hadn't handled it in time, the only thing waiting for her would have been being swept into the Spiritual Tide and torn to shreds by spatial storms. As for me—"
At this point, Celeste suddenly paused. She looked down at the fingers pointing at Luo Lin and "herself," momentarily unsure what gesture to use to distinguish between them.
But she soon lowered her hand, as if acting as though the previous moment hadn't happened, and continued calmly:
"I would have been swept into the Spiritual Tide along with her, until my soul became lost within the spatial rifts."
"So, I first froze the time around her and then placed her body into a deep layer of subspace, making it so people in the physical world could not see or touch her, and the spatial rifts could not affect her."
As Celeste spoke, she picked up a book from the bookshelf. Immediately, several complex magic circles rose from beneath her feet.
Spells like Area Time Freeze and Spatial Banishment converged toward the book. After finishing this, Celeste let go and stepped back a few paces.
Cipher then saw the book that had been in Celeste's hand floating in mid-air.
"The time around this book is now frozen by me, and it has been banished into subspace."
"However, because it isn't a deep layer of subspace, it's currently in a state of 'virtual amber'—visible but untouchable, and it won't undergo any changes over a long period."
As she spoke, Celeste took the initiative to reach out and touch the book. Her hand passed right through it, looking just like the clipping phenomenon seen in video games.
Seeing this, Cipher went over and tried it herself. She touched nothing but air.
"The state I set for Luo Lin back then was roughly like this, except she was in the 'invisible and untouchable' category."
Seeing that Cipher had finished her test, Celeste added her explanation.
"I see." Cipher nodded thoughtfully. "Then why did you freeze time for a hundred years?"
"Because..."
Before she could finish, Luo Lin's voice stopped abruptly. Her eyes closed, and she began to fall backward.
"Hmm?"
Fortunately, Cipher was quick-handed and caught Luo Lin's body, preventing her from hitting the floor.
"Why did she suddenly faint?"
Looking at the unconscious Luo Lin in her arms, Cipher began to quickly check her physical condition.
"No internal injuries, and the external wounds are mostly healed... Mental power?"
During the check, Cipher suddenly discovered that Luo Lin's mental power was currently on the verge of total exhaustion. Seeing this, she stroked her chin and speculated:
"Mental exhaustion... She was fine just a moment ago. Could it be because of those spells just now?"
Cipher turned her head to look at the book still suspended in mid-air. She felt the book floating there was a bit of an eyesore and wondered if she should take it down now, but feeling the warmth in her arms, she temporarily abandoned that thought.
"Forget it, I'll take Little Lin to rest first. That soul called Celeste has fallen into a deep sleep too. With the gold threads monitoring her, she shouldn't be able to cause any trouble for the time being."
With that, she picked up Luo Lin and walked out of the study.
As soon as she left the study, Lin Wei and Xiong Lei, who were still cleaning, immediately surrounded her.
"Sister Cipher, Captain Luo Lin... what happened to her?"
Seeing Luo Lin collapsed in Cipher's arms, Lin Wei asked anxiously.
"For certain reasons, her mental power is currently on the verge of exhaustion." Cipher placed Luo Lin into Lin Wei's arms. "Take her to rest first. She'll be fine after a sleep."
"Understood, I'll go right away."
Taking hold of Luo Lin, Lin Wei immediately carried her, swaying slightly as she walked toward the second-floor bedroom.
"Hey, wait for me. Let me carry her up; I'm bigger, it's easier..." Seeing this, Xiong Lei hurriedly followed.
After watching them head to the second floor, Cipher sighed and turned back toward the study.
Entering the study, she looked at the book still floating in the air and murmured to herself:
"A book banished into subspace, huh..."
She reached out for the book again. This time, Cipher's hand did not pass through the book; instead, she took it directly into her hand.
"The layer of this subspace doesn't feel as deep as the one I enter when I walk through walls."
After pulling the book out of the time-frozen area, Cipher murmured to herself. She hadn't intentionally tried to enter subspace; she had simply entered the wall-walking state she could normally activate, and she hadn't expected to grab the book so easily.
Cipher placed the book back on the shelf and let out another helpless sigh.
"Space-time magic, time ruins, dimensional travel... I shouldn't be in the Honkai: Star Rail universe, so why do all these bizarre things keep appearing? I wonder what I'll run into next..."
As she thought, she shook her head, tossing these strange ideas aside.
"Whatever. With my strength, these things can't affect me too much. However..."
At this point, she looked through the study door at the two who had settled Luo Lin and were planning to return to finish cleaning.
"I hope nothing bad happens to the people I know."
Her gaze turned cold as she looked through the floor directly at Luo Lin lying on the bed on the second floor.
"Celeste Callisto... I hope you know your place."
"Otherwise, even if you are some so-called Great Mage of Time and Space, I have plenty of ways to deal with you."
As her voice fell, the gold threads bound to Celeste's soul tightened slightly once more.