Because Hua Yi and Kiana had not spoken about what they experienced within the virtual reality, Theresa wasn't entirely clear on the specific details, leaving her with only guesses.
They might have encountered some malicious, terrifying scenarioperhaps a bloody massacre, a state of hopeless isolation, or something else entirely. Whatever it was, it had caused them to act strangely after leaving the simulation.
Theresa worried that Hua Yi and Kiana might develop psychological issues, especially Hua Yi.
Kiana seemed fine; she appeared to have learned something in the virtual reality. Even when facing ordinary coursework, she showed a level of diligence and effort quite unlike her former self. As for Hua Yi, aside from rushing back to his residence instead of chatting with everyone after dinner as he usually did, he looked completely normal. Yet, that was precisely the greatest anomaly of all.
Theresa had already learned from Raiden Mei and Kiana about the events leading up to the Third Honkai Impact. Back then, Hua Yi had also behaved quite normally, but subsequent evidence showed that he had been training his body in a manner sufficient to make an ordinary person break down. Therefore, one could not rely on appearances to judge him.
In Theresa's view, Hua Yi must have encountered something extraordinary, which was why she was attempting to pry some information out of Grandpa Otto.
Hearing Otto's question, Theresa remained silent for a short while before nodding.
"Yes. I went into Schicksal's historical database to check some records."
She had already consulted Bronya. Although Bronya's hacking skills could quickly breach the section of the Schicksal database regarding history, she couldn't do so without leaving a trace. Eventually, Schicksal's technicians would discover what had happened. Since exposure was inevitable, Theresa decided it was better to speak up proactively and take the responsibility upon herself.
Theresa's response made Otto raise an eyebrow.
Hidden within that database was a unique space that, aside from himself who held the highest authority, only those of the Kaslana bloodline could enter. Perhaps it was just as he suspected: that story buried deep in his memoriesa failed, long-neglected spacehad been discovered by someone else.
However, Otto was more willing to believe Kiana had broken in rather than Theresa.
After all, the timing was too perfect. According to the information he had, Kiana and the other survivors of Nagazora had only recently entered St. Freya Academy.
This was something Otto had not anticipated; it fell outside his original plans.
It was an unexpected delight.
If Kiana could witness that past history, her will would surely become firmer. In the future, there would be a greater probability of his plan succeedingmastering the power of a Herrscher within a human body.
At that thought, a faint smile appeared on Otto's face.
"I didn't put anything dangerous in the historical database. You needn't worry. Even if you accidentally broke something while witnessing history, it wouldn't matter. Everything resets eventually; it's all just pre-set data that won't change."
Seeing that Otto didn't seem to be lying, Theresa breathed a quiet sigh of relief. It seemed she had been overthinking things.
In any case, at least she had taken the fall for Hua Yi, Kiana, and Bronya. Her efforts weren't in vain. If Grandpa Otto found out Bronya had hacked the Schicksal database, he might have hurt her.
Seeing Theresa end the communication, Otto leaned back in his chair and thought for a moment. Then, with a few swift motions on his terminal, he entered Schicksal's historical database.
The virtual reality simulation concerning the death of Kallen Kaslana had been created decades ago by a Schicksal technician commissioned by Otto.
It was a piece of history Otto did not wish to make public, and he never had. He simply had it reconstructed to reclaim his past memories.
Otto did not believe his plan back thenreleasing a Honkai Beast to create chaos and use the opportunity to rescue Kallenhad been wrong. The reason for its failure was simply that he had forgotten to consider Kallen's personality.
Kallen's death had caused him immense grief, driving him to the brink of madness. After the virtual reality was completed, witnessing that history time and again from a bystander's perspective led Otto to an important conclusion.
The culprits behind Kallen's death were, of course, the Schicksal high officials of that era. He had already liquidated them one by one, scattering their ashes. However, a portion of the blame lay with his own mistakehe had failed to account for Kallen's character.
Afterward, Otto considered everything much more carefully when formulating his plans. This was why, for centuries, he had successfully hidden the fact that his true goal was never to combat the Honkai or protect humanity.
Anyone who noticed even a hint of the truth was dealt with before they could investigate further.
However, there were still a few minor slips.
For instance, back then, Otto had intended to secretly execute the technician who had learned the true history while creating the simulation. Unexpectedly, she had escaped. A series of events followed, and that technician, along with a few other "ants," went on to establish Anti-Entropy.
Otto had originally wanted the virtual reality to be interactive, a false way to make up for past regrets. However, through some bizarre quirk, he could only enter at a fixed point in time, briefly replacing his younger self.
In total, Otto had been slapped twelve times by Kallen within the simulation. It was painful. He wanted to explain further, or even modify his plan to avoid such treatment, but that damn technician seemed to have made arrangements in advance.
The only time Otto could truly enter the simulation was during those five seconds when he received the slap, after which he would be forcibly kicked out to remain a mere spectator.
If it weren't for the fact that the simulation perfectly recreated history and allowed him to see a Kallen identical to the one in his memories, Otto would have deleted the failure long ago.
Otto reminisced briefly before operating his high-authority terminal. A moment later, seeing the prompt on the screen was not what he expected, the Bishop's brow furrowed deeply.
"Failed to find specified target? Was that virtual reality destroyed... Kiana, what exactly did you do? Or has Sirin awakened early? It seems I need to send someone to investigate further. Fu Hua has only been transmitting reports on Kiana's status; she seems to have learned a bit of unneeded cunning."
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