nycdaug Chapter 217 Ruins
Chapter 217 Ruins
“Sacred Mark”.
"Stigmata?"
The others repeated the captain's words, looking at him with confusion.
"What does this have to do with the Stigmata?" Tesla asked.
After all, according to their research, the so-called holy marks are actually information fragments that a previous civilization programmed into human genes at the last moment.
Its function is to increase the Honkai energy resistance and control of the awakened one. If you are lucky, you may also receive a gift from the previous civilization from the Stigmata.
For example, the Heavy Bunny that Bronya possesses was extracted by Seele from inside her Stigmata.
Unfortunately, due to the extremely short timeframe, it is said that only the female version of the Stigmata was completed, while the male version was destroyed by the apocalypse before it could be finished.
But how is this connected to a civilization that predates the previous one?
"Although this is just my guess, I think it's possible that the prototype of the stigmata of the previous civilization came from the prehistoric civilization we are currently investigating."
"Does the captain mean that people from the previous civilization may have also explored this ruin and found the prototype of the Holy Mark here?"
"Very likely, but it's quite troublesome to not have a formal name to refer to this civilization. How about we call it the Zero Era for now?"
“Alright.” Tesla had no objection to this. “But there’s one problem. Why didn’t the people of the previous civilization take that thing that Chicken Head and I found in this ruin… cough cough, anyway, what we found?”
"?"
Although Durandal was very curious about what Tesla was talking about, the fact that others didn't want to say it proved that it was something they didn't want others to know.
It's best to ask as little as possible; it would be troublesome if you were suspected of having ulterior motives.
She doesn't want to ruin the team's relationship right now, but just because Yulandal doesn't ask doesn't mean Changguang won't.
Despite Changguang's persistent questioning, Tesla ultimately couldn't resist his enthusiasm.
"Fine! I'll tell you! Anyway, it's not a secret. If Destiny and Anti-Entropy go to war in the future, you'll naturally find out what it is. Simply put, we found something here that's similar to your Valkyrie armor, and the name displayed on the container that sealed it is Godslayer Armor."
"Godslayer Armor, this isn't..."
"That's right, that's the code name for your fourth-generation Valkyrie armor. Isn't that amazing?"
"Honestly, I don't know either."
The captain answered truthfully, since he genuinely didn't know.
The main reason was that he didn't expect the Zero Era of this world to be so similar to the Zero Era of Honkai Impact 2. He had never seen it so similar when he was exploring his own world!
"You don't know? Didn't you investigate this Zero Era in your original world?"
"Not really, it's just that I didn't expect the difference to be so big."
The captain then began to talk about the differences between the zero-based eras of the two worlds.
Durandal interrupted the captain, asking, "Wait, does that mean the captain is actually from another world?"
"I almost forgot that there are people here who don't know the captain isn't from our world."
Tesla had no choice but to explain the captain's situation first, but Durandal remained skeptical of the claim that the captain came from another world.
After all, she truly understood the concept of parallel worlds, and had even been in contact with the one who observed parallel worlds day and night in hopes of finding a way to overcome the Honkai.
She didn't believe in the idea of traveling to parallel worlds; she was more convinced that the captain had accidentally surfaced from some other world bubble and arrived in their own world.
However, the information the captain possessed was not something that people in the World Bubble could have, and Durandal began to struggle with this question.
Compared to Yulandale, Changguang appears much more open-minded.
"Oh dear! You're just too serious, that's why you're so conflicted. Why think so much? It doesn't affect our ability to get intelligence from the captain."
“That’s true.” Durandal’s furrowed brows began to relax. “I don’t really need to think about all that. Captain, please continue.”
Seeing that Durandal was no longer troubled, the captain continued to talk about the differences between the two worlds.
After a while, the captain, who was drinking water, looked at the group of people who were deep in thought and began to silently pay attention to Mei's situation.
If the Zero Era of this world truly develops like the Zero Era of Honkai Impact 2, then perhaps there are still Stigmata Terminals somewhere in this world.
And if I remember correctly, Mei's stigmata are also a potential problem.
We need to confirm the situation quickly!
So the captain hurriedly suggested that it would be best to solve the mystery here as soon as possible. At the same time, Mei was having her memories examined by Fu Hua, who had rushed over.
However, no matter how Fu Hua and the Herrscher of Consciousness examined it, they only found that Mei had those extra memories in her mind, and there was no other consciousness present.
Hearing this, the captain's heart finally settled down a little. However, given Mei's abilities, she might actually have a way to escape the scan of consciousness authority.
This is why the captain is not entirely at ease, but Mei should ideally participate in the upcoming exploration of the ruins as well.
After all, the captain had a feeling that this ruin might really need Mei's help to unravel all the clues.
For this reason, the captain insisted on having Mei continue to join the exploration team despite everyone's opposition, but fortunately Mei herself also expressed her insistence on this.
After failing to dissuade her, the group had no choice but to let Mei continue participating in the subsequent exploration activities.
However, Fu Hua and Herrscher of Knowledge have been added to the team this time, in case Mei experiences a repeat of the previous situation.
Fortunately, this time the situation did not repeat itself. Although some images still flashed through Mei's mind from time to time, Mei did not lose consciousness as she did last time.
Guided by the images in Mei's mind, the group arrived at a room that even Tesla and the others had never been to before.
Looking at the facilities in the room, everyone guessed that this might be a laboratory.
So the group split into pairs and began exploring the room separately, except for Mei, who walked toward the electronic device in the center of the room with a dazed expression.
"Da da da."
After Mei tapped the object that resembled a keyboard a few times, the screen in the middle lit up, and lines of code that the captain couldn't understand began to appear and run in the center of the screen.
While the captain was surprised that the equipment was still functional after such a long period of corrosion, he was even more surprised that Mei had successfully activated it.
Just a few seconds later, the program was fully activated, and the entire ruins roared like a sleeping giant awakening.
All the equipment inside the ruins started operating, and the dust that had accumulated over the years fell away, revealing the original appearance of the walls.
Compared to the obvious panic shown by others, Mei was frighteningly calm at this moment.
She calmly typed a few more keys on the keyboard, and all the noise subsided.
Then several pages popped up on the central screen, and Mei looked at the data on these pages with a thoughtful expression on her face.
Mei then closed these pages one by one, and finally a page displaying coordinates popped up.
Mei stared intently at the coordinates for a while before closing it.
"Huh? What's this...?"
With just a blink of an eye, Mei reverted to the Mei the captain knew.
As if the calm and collected Mei from just moments ago was an illusion, at the same time, other people rushed to the captain and his group from all directions of the room.
"Captain, Mei, what just happened? Why did the entire ruins suddenly shake and then suddenly calm down..."
Before he could finish speaking, Tesla's attention was drawn to the central screen, completely ignoring the captain's serious expression.
"Huh? Captain, did you turn this screen on? I can't believe these devices are still working properly after all this time. I really don't understand how they did it."
"I was just trying it out, so I just typed a couple of keys randomly. I didn't expect it to start up like that."
The captain scratched his head and said that he was then lectured by Tesla.
However, Tesla was more interested in the contents of what could be called a computer than in educating the captain.
So, halfway through the lesson, Tesla couldn't resist his curiosity and started looking at the information on the computer.
In the end, the captain said nothing, but the captain's silence did not mean that no one noticed the anomaly.
Fu Hua approached the captain and, taking advantage of the others' inattention, pulled him to an inconspicuous corner. Durandal followed closely behind.
"What exactly happened with the captain?"
Durandal went straight to the point from the start, giving the captain no chance to stall.
“Yes, Captain, I’d also like to know what happened before we arrived,” Fu Hua said. “Your performance just now suggests that things didn’t go as you said, so what exactly happened?”
"I can't go into details either." Seeing this, the captain stopped talking and said with a serious expression, "Xiao Shi, please read my memories directly and pass them on to them. That will be much faster."
"Xiaozhi?"
Before Yulandel could figure out who Xiaoshi was, she suddenly felt a familiar yet strange consciousness invade her brain.
Durandal frowned. Just as she was about to banish this consciousness, it spoke.
"Don't resist. I'm just sending Captain Duan's memories and leaving. You want to know what just happened? If you want to know, then don't move."
Is that Fu Hua's voice?
Durandal glanced at Fu Hua uncertainly, then dismissed the idea.
After all, that voice sounded too unsteady compared to Fu Hua's, and it didn't sound like Fu Hua's style at all.
"Hey, can you stop thinking such rude things? I can hear everything you're thinking!"
So who exactly are you?
"You don't recognize me?" the Herrscher of Knowledge said. "That's right, this is the first time we've met in this world. Listen carefully, my name is the Herrscher of Knowledge. Remember to call me the great Herrscher of Knowledge!"
"The Herrscher?"
Clearly, Durandal is more concerned with her identity than with the name Herrscher of Knowledge.
"Alright, I knew you'd be immediately interested in my identity. But don't worry, although I'm a Herrscher, I'm not interested in destroying humanity. On the contrary, I'd be happy to help you fight against the Honkai."
Durandal was skeptical, but considering that this Herrscher was likely related to Fu Hua, and that if she truly harbored hostility towards humanity, she could have directly targeted him at the level of consciousness just now.
There was absolutely no need to chat with myself here. After realizing this, Durandal temporarily lowered his guard and began to carefully examine the transmitted memories.
After reviewing the memories, the two also showed solemn expressions, but after quickly composing themselves, the three returned to the main group.
"What were you three doing just now?"
It was clear that they had been gone for so long that they had been discovered by others.
"It's nothing. We were just worried that something unpredictable might have happened inside the ruins because of what just happened, so the three of us went out on patrol."
Fortunately, Tesla didn't pay much attention to this and, after receiving a response from Durandal, went back to its research.
Seeing that the other two also believed this explanation, the three of them secretly breathed a sigh of relief. At this moment, they had already connected their consciousness through the power of the Herrscher of Consciousness.
We can communicate normally without speaking.
“I just secretly checked Mei’s consciousness again and didn’t find anything abnormal,” said the Herrscher of Knowledge.
“But Mei’s behavior just now doesn’t match my impression of her,” Fu Hua said. “Could it be due to the influence of those extra memories?”
“Very likely,” Durandal agreed.
"So, if those memories are erased, Mei can recover?"
"It's hard to say. What I'm worried about is that these memories might have surfaced in Mei's mind for some reason."
"Captain, are you suggesting that perhaps there really is a consciousness that Xiaoshi hasn't been able to find, lurking within Mei's body and secretly releasing these memories into Mei's brain?"
"Pah! Captain, are you underestimating me or what? I am the Herrscher of Consciousness, the Herrscher who controls the power of consciousness. How could I not see how many consciousnesses are in a person?"
"I'm not underestimating you, but I'm wondering if there's any other way to make you unaware of the existence of another consciousness."
"Impossible! No matter what method I use, if there are two consciousnesses, I can easily find them. Unless that so-called consciousness is the original consciousness, but if it's already the same consciousness, how can it have two different faces?"
Upon hearing the Herald of Knowledge's explanation, the captain broke out in a cold sweat. He swallowed hard and slowly voiced his speculation.
"Xiao Shi, what if—and I mean what if—a person's consciousness remains the same, but their memories are completely replaced by another person's memories without anyone noticing?"
"Captain, why are you bringing up something you don't want to talk about!"
The Herrscher of Knowledge's tone turned unfriendly, and the captain knew without a doubt that the Herrscher of Knowledge's face must be dark right now.
"That's not what I meant. I was seriously asking you a question."
"What else can happen?" the Herrscher of Knowledge said irritably. "They'll just think they are that person, just like I did back then! After all, a person's cognition needs to be anchored by memories. Once the memories are completely changed, it's hard to guarantee that the consciousness will remain the same."
"Wait! Captain, you mean to say..."
At this moment, the one who understood the law also understood the captain's meaning.
"If that's the case, then we're in trouble!"
"So the captain means that Mei's memories are gradually being replaced by someone else's?"
Yulan Dell made a summary.
The captain nodded slowly, giving an affirmative reply.