Chapter 235: The Naïve Corruption
World Serpent · Golden Courtyard · Elysian Realm
Within the Elysian Realm, Vill-V was tinkering away at some device, while off to one side Mobius was directing Puppet Klein to adjust something as well.
"Snap out of it." Mobius reached out and snapped his fingers twice in front of Irene. "Ever since you came back from the Hyperion, your mind hasn't been all there. What's up?"
"Nothing — something happy happened." Irene smiled, then looked at Mobius and asked, "So, how are the preparations coming along?"
"Basically all set." Mobius patted some instrument in front of him. "The Realm is a Black Box. It's the most suitable place for conducting experiments."
Of course, they couldn't just casually pick a spot outside and start experimenting. If a leak of the Corruption virus were to occur, that would be disastrous.
But within the Realm there was no such worry. The Realm itself was a black-box world — once data entered here, getting back out would be impossible unless there was a physical entity for it to latch onto.
So they had simply hauled their equipment straight into the Realm. Although the Realm hadn't originally been designed for this sort of purpose, fortunately everything could be made to run smoothly. Even though the work was separated by a data-space, theoretically there shouldn't be any issue.
"That's good." Irene nodded, then stretched lazily, her eyes shifting from their previous languor into something sharp. "I'm ready. When do we start?"
"Anytime. Though I should also remind you — don't rely too much on that so-called identity of yours." Mobius looked at Irene, cautioning her.
"If something happens to you, it would be something we cannot bear. Do you understand?"
He knew that Irene was currently what they called the reserve Herrscher of Finality — but "reserve" meant she wasn't there yet, and so she couldn't lean too heavily on the benefits this identity might give her.
And if anything happened to Irene, then the plan they had laid out, along with the Project Stigma they were about to carry out, would have no room whatsoever to be enacted.
As for how exactly one could find another directly chosen candidate like Irene — just finding a single person who could potentially become Finality would already be far too difficult.
Then they would have no choice but to fall back on the original Project Stigma, or else look for some other turning point. That would be a great deal of trouble. So Irene absolutely had to take her own life seriously.
"Is Dr. Mobius worrying about me?" Irene watched as Mobius straightened the clothes on his frame. "Relax. Whether or not I'm some candidate, I am at the very least a Herrscher."
"But this Herrscher of yours is truly a heretical one, you know." Mobius was not the sort to be made to blush by such low-tier verbal jabs from Irene — after all, a certain pink-haired someone usually went much further than this.
So at Irene's level — hah, she'd best go and practice some more.
"Theoretically, once you go in, you should be able to reach that space. Unfortunately, not even Pardo can offer you any help there. But if Unit 17 is still functional, you should be able to lay your hands on the Corruption fairly easily."
"The odds of that aren't high. From a lot of the indicators, Unit 17 isn't running anywhere near as well as we'd imagined." From the other side of the device, Vill-V also looked up at Irene.
"So move quickly. Remember — prioritize taking the Authority. If that Authority really has begun to develop consciousness, we'll figure it out from there."
From a control standpoint, simply taking the Authority away was naturally the best option. Adding another Authority to Irene's arsenal would also be a boost to her combat strength, and the Corruption Authority was a power with great room for development.
Take, for instance, what Rin had developed — hers leaned more toward area contamination and control, even reaching the point of self-programming, enabling those machines to operate on their own.
Those little foxes were Rin's handiwork.
Little Corruption, on the other hand, had specifically developed consciousness intrusion and embedded effects, even using the Corruption virus to simulate the combat styles of every single one of them.
From this, one could see that the Corruption Authority had very high developmental potential. It was just that these two had already locked in the form of their development; they had walked very deep down their own respective paths, to the point that even the nature of their Corruption virus itself had been fixed in place.
Trying to walk a different path now would likely be very difficult — but if Irene could obtain the Authority, perhaps she could try something else. Corrupting the Honkai itself, for instance?
But if, as Irene had said, that wisp of consciousness had already independently developed awareness, then they could only bring its consciousness back down with them and place it under strict surveillance.
As for how exactly it would turn out — they would have to wait and see.
"I brought Kevin along~" Elysia's voice rang out at the entrance, with a silent Kevin following behind her — and behind Kevin in turn followed yet another person.
"Cecilia? No, wait —?" Seeing the figure who had entered, Mobius was initially a little puzzled. They were quite familiar with that face — back when they had been inside Irene's mind, they had already exchanged greetings with every soul living within her.
The person before them looked exactly like Cecilia, yet the aura she carried was entirely different.
"Hello, everyone. I'm Yutu." Yutu gave the group a slight bow. When her gaze landed on Irene, her body involuntarily took a step backward, but she quickly composed herself and continued her self-introduction: "I'm also a cadre of the World Serpent."
"Yutu? Oh, I know who you are." Mobius nodded at Yutu. Once they'd called Gray Serpent out, she had hidden absolutely nothing from him — she had simply gone straight ahead and told Mobius everything there was to know about the world.
That naturally included the matter of Yutu. Although this individual was not exactly easy to keep in check, she could nonetheless be counted as one more powerful piece of evidence for Project Stigma.
So Mobius's attitude toward her was reasonably good as well.
"The First Idea, right?" Mobius looked at Yutu. "If you're interested down the line, feel free to drop by my laboratory. I'm very interested in your situation."
"That one I think I'll have to pass on." Yutu immediately shook her head. She knew Dr. Mobius reasonably well — if she went into his lab, just how exactly she'd come out again, no one could really say.
"Some records aren't very accurate. It's better that you experience it firsthand." Mobius seemed to have seen straight through why Yutu was refusing, but he didn't press the matter any further; instead, he glanced at Yutu and asked,
"But let's set that question aside for now. Why have you come over?"
"Mm, initially, after hearing your plan, I came thinking I could lend a hand. But from the look of it now, my help isn't really needed." Yutu turned her head to look at Irene.
In her eyes, Irene's soul was simply so powerful that one could scarcely look directly at it. That terrifying sense of all-encompassing presence was, to her, every bit as horrifying as an abyss.
She had never before seen such a powerful soul — but this also meant she had almost no way of offering Irene any meaningful help.
"No, perhaps you really could play some role." Vill-V stroked her chin, looking at the Yutu who had just walked right in of her own accord. "You're a traveler of the Stigmata Space. So perhaps we can make use of you as a springboard, to make it easier for Irene to reach that place."
As it happened, for the sake of safety they had now moved all their equipment into the Realm. Originally they had only wanted to see whether the signal strength would be enough to get Irene directly to that location — but now, with a Yutu walking right in and delivering herself to their doorstep, it would be a real shame not to make use of her.
"Mm, alright. What do I need to do?" Looking at the expression on Vill-V's face right now, Yutu already knew that refusing was hardly an option. Vill-V beckoned her over with a wave.
A little while later, Yutu and Irene already found themselves inside a somewhat crudely fashioned capsule.
"Irene, good luck out there~" Elysia stood beside the glass window and gave a thumbs-up toward the Irene inside the capsule. Irene, in turn, threw a thumbs-up back at Elysia.
Then, as the instruments started up, Irene called upon the core within her body. Her consciousness gradually sank down into the core, and at that very moment, a faint pull caught hold of Irene's consciousness as well.
That was Yutu's power. Riding along with that force, Irene plunged her entire being into the core. Within the darkness, a single point of light rapidly expanded before her.
By the time her full field of vision had opened up, Irene raised her head to look forward — and there, standing silent and still, was a figure that looked like an Irene who hadn't yet been colored or fully modeled.
Looking at that figure, Irene smiled and waved at it. "Hello there."
However, the figure offered no response whatsoever. Instead, like a mirror, it merely imitated Irene's earlier gesture and waved back.
" "
Irene tilted her head, and the figure, mimicking her, tilted its head as well. Irene opened her mouth and asked, "Friend, say a word or two, won't you? Standing there like that, you're making things really awkward for me."
" "
Still, no sound came at all. That reflection truly seemed like a mirror — it could only simply mimic Irene's every movement.
To be honest, if it hadn't been a bit disrespectful, Irene would actually rather have liked to pull a face just to see whether the other side would follow along with it. But it felt like doing that would be a bit silly, so she let it go.
"I mean, come on — you are the Will of the Honkai. I've come all the way to your door, and you're just going to stand here cosplaying as a metronome with me?" Looking at the figure before her, Irene scratched her head. "You really have nothing at all you want to say?"
Every time Otto came looking for the Will of the Honkai, the other side responded fairly actively. Why was it that the moment she showed up, it suddenly slacked off? Even Sirin had been personally guided by it.
Back in the earliest stage of Honkai energy accumulation, when he was searching for the Honkai Furnace — or later, when he located those four Gems of the Herrscher — all of it had been found under its guidance.
Even with Otto, the other side had at least used its actions to convey some manner of intent.
But why was it that when it came to her, it was nothing but a plain mirror? Was that even fair? Irene looked at the still-silent Will of the Honkai, question marks practically floating up over her head.
If the Will of the Honkai had known what she was thinking, it would probably have felt rather wronged. Every time Otto came calling, he came with serious business in mind; even when Sirin had come to its door, she had at least asked questions.
But if the Will of the Honkai also knew what Irene was thinking at this very moment, it would surely feel just as exasperated, wouldn't it? After all, those two visitors had both come with clear objectives, and so it had been able to provide guidance.
But Irene? Setting aside her identity at this moment, the simple fact was that Irene still hadn't said what she had come here to do. Without saying what she wanted, how was it supposed to give her any guidance?
"Sigh... never mind. It looks like you don't have any intention of communicating with me, so I'll just help myself~" Looking at the figure that was still mimicking her movements, Irene decided to act on her own.
Irene knew very well that, although in her previous life players had often jokingly called the Will of the Honkai "Prom-Duck," in reality this wasn't quite the case.
The Will of the Honkai and Prometheus Unit 17 were two entirely separate concepts. The moment something hacked into the Will of the Honkai, Unit 17 would completely lose its sense of self — because only that way could it fully plug into the Honkai circuit.
Only through this method could Unit 17 be guaranteed not to be rejected and ejected. And the contingency the Previous Era had left behind could only force the Will of the Honkai to act in accordance with certain pre-programmed routines.
Including which kinds of Herrschers would be anchored to appear — otherwise, one need only look at Honkai Gakuen 2 for reference. That whole massive lineup of varied Herrschers was guaranteed to satisfy anyone; there was always sure to be one that could put you in your grave.
As well as the rough order in which the Herrschers would appear. Of course, that part had quite obviously failed — otherwise, there wouldn't have been the appearance of the Multi-Core Herrscher · Sirin during the Second Eruption.
From this point alone one could see that the Previous Era's contingency had only partially taken effect. If one was hoping that Unit 17, in its unawakened state, could provide any meaningful help — better to go wash up and sleep on it.
So, this Will of the Honkai before her was, in truth, not as safe as one might have imagined — best to wrap things up here as quickly as possible.
Fortunately, though, this fellow had done nothing since the moment it appeared but mimic her movements, with no apparent intent to attack. Since the other side wasn't planning to do anything, Irene was ready to get straight to her actual business and ignore it.
In any case, when it came to that whole matter of the Honkai, Irene basically knew most of what there was to know. The things she didn't know, there was no need to ask about now — and even if she did ask, the other side might not necessarily give any answer.
Better first to take care of what she'd come here to do, and afterwards come back to ask about all sorts of odds and ends.
Before Irene could even begin her search, the figure suddenly stirred into motion, beckoning in Irene's direction.
Vigilant, Irene immediately looked toward where the figure stood — but the reflection launched no attack. Instead, from out of the empty space to one side, a cluster of light shimmering with garbled data fell into the figure's hand.
Then the reflection's hand pushed forward, and that light drifted over to beside Irene. Looking at the garbled-data light, Irene understood at once — this was the Corruption Authority, or rather, a Little Corruption still in a blank-slate state.
Because she could already sense an emotion coming from within that light: it was curiosity. Neither malicious nor benevolent, simply a pure, plain curiosity about Irene, who was now drawing near.
Then the light slowly descended, and the moment it touched Irene's hand, the glow of garbled data was instantly tinged with a layer of its native color — and the very next second it had turned into a dark gray.
Where the two colors intermingled, a breath of presence drifted up from above it, bearing some resemblance to Irene. Within the blank space, with only its curious self present, the Corruption Authority instinctively began to learn from whatever was closest to it at this moment — which happened to be Irene.
Irene looked at the garbled data in her hand, then raised her head again toward the figure standing silently there. "In that case, I'll just take it as a gift to me."
The figure nodded — it had no objection, nor did it need to have one. If Irene needed it, she had only to take it; Irene's identity gave her that qualification.
Then Irene's figure gradually faded from that pure-white space, and the figure, in turn, dispersed along with her vanishing.
Until in the pure-white space there was no longer a single reflection left.
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