Chapter 259 Under the Crater

"Is it okay, Mei? You don't look good."

Kevin, or Kevin's stereoscopic projection to be precise, asked with concern.

With the help of Prometheus, Kevin and May talked on the phone across a distance of 388,000 kilometers.

"ah--"

Mei pressed the corners of her eyes with cold fingertips and replied absently:

"Me? I'm fine. I'm just a little tired from traveling for a long time, okay."

"well……"

Kevin crossed his arms and shook his head with a wry smile.

Just as Mikael understands Alicia, why doesn't he understand Mei?

With just a few simple actions, a few words of dialogue, and a few eye contact, he could probably "empathize" with Mei.

He could feel the emotion that was more than just sadness. It was more like anger than sadness. Thinking about it carefully, he had never seen Mei show an angry look.

But he had no idea what exactly happened, and he didn't even know the target of her anger - it couldn't be Mikael and Allie, could it? It's definitely impossible.

At this moment, he wanted to sneak into Velvet's workshop, secretly activate the Second God Key, and teleport himself directly to the lunar ruins. Anyway, Mikael had already synchronized the spatial coordinates with the Second God Key.

But he can't get away... Both Mikael and Alicia are on the moon, and the Fire Moth's highest combat power has been reduced to two out of three. There must be someone who can take charge of the increasingly unstable Earth, right?

"...If I had known it earlier, I would have said nothing to agree to Mikael and Alicia's stalking."

Kevin sighed secretly, and then heard Mei ask:

"How is the situation on Earth now? Is there anyone in the Parliament who is disobedient?"

Upon hearing the word "parliament", Kevin instinctively scratched his head.

"Huh? Someone is disobedient?"

Mei's glasses narrowed to a slit, and a cold light flashed - the reason why she chose to annex the coalition government through the more peaceful method of parliament, instead of a simpler and more direct killing, was just to avoid internal friction as much as possible.

But if someone really did not open his eyes and did some small tricks when she and Mikael were not around, then don't blame Mebius for having one or two more corpses on the operating table.

"Uh! No, no! It's not that serious. They are all very, very well-behaved..."

Kevin quickly added a few words. After all, those old guys just mocked him and Mei. He neither wanted these things to disturb the already haggard Mei, nor did he want them to finally get along with each other on the surface. The human beings on the rope were once again cracked by a few words.

So he quickly changed the topic elsewhere:

"Then again, less than an hour ago, an emperor-level Honkaimon-level Honkai energy reaction appeared in the far east. I have already sent Sakura and Qianjie to attack. Counting the time, we should be almost at the battlefield now—— Well, considering that the Far East is basically a no-man’s land, I didn’t activate the Second God Key.”

Kevin blinked with an expression that said, "Please praise me, Mei!"

How could Mei not understand the look in his eyes? She forced a smile and praised sincerely:

"Very well, very thoughtful."

Using the Second God's Key to directly deliver troops to the battlefield is undoubtedly the fastest option and can also quell unrest immediately. However, as a "dead object", the God's Key cannot obtain a source of energy from the Tree of Imaginary Numbers like the Herrscher. Honkai energy is continuously supplied, and each time the rated power is used, it takes about two hours to recharge.

And sometimes, the two-hour gap is often fatal, even enough to destroy mankind once - if the Herrscher happens to appear at this time.

"But you still have to be careful. The initial energy response level doesn't mean everything. At the beginning, both Mahatma and Vishnu appeared with the energy response level of the emperor-level Honkaimon."

"Ah, of course I know this, so I divided the main combat power of Anti-Entropy into four groups. Sakura and Qianjie are the combat group, Kosmo and I are the quick response group, Hua, Su, Mebius and Velvet It’s a reserve group, and the rest keep working and training as normal.”

"Ugh!"

Mei's eyes widened slightly, and then she smiled:

"Not bad, I didn't expect that my boyfriend also has the ability to become a leader."

"Cough cough cough!"

Kevin coughed twice, "Actually, this was a plan that Mikael had made a long time ago." He wanted to tell the truth, but he was finally praised by Mei once. After thinking about it, he could only suffer. Got——

"Ah, this is all routine! But I remember Mikael said that the most important thing about being a leader is not ability. How many capable people are there in the world? But there is only one who can become a leader, because for leaders The most important thing for a person is not his superb ability, but his unwavering belief and the charm that brings everyone together.”

"Well...as usual, self-deprecating, this is really what Mikael would say."

Mei chuckled and looked at Mikael, who was chatting and laughing with Alicia, classifying various equipment and soul steel in the warehouse.

There is no need to belittle oneself. If you are looking at Fire Chaser Moth or even the entire human race, Mikael is indeed inferior to her, but if you are looking at Anti-Entropy, it is completely the opposite.

Because Mei can't do the second thing about counter-entropy: bringing so many weird people together.

"By the way, speaking of Mikael, what is he doing?"

Kevin's projection body looked around, but unfortunately the perspective that Prometheus could display was limited. No matter how much he poked his head around, he could only see Mei.

"Oh! Look at me, I almost forgot to mention this!"

Mei patted her head gently:

"Tell Weiwei that we found a lot of soul steel on the moon. Conservatively estimated, there are ten tons in this warehouse alone, and there are many scattered outside."

"Uh, wait a minute, Mei, there is soul steel on the moon...wait, there is also a warehouse, what did you find? There can't be moon people?"

"Well...these parts, just wait for me to go back and tell you in person..."

"Woo-woo-woo-woo-"

The piercing alarm interrupted the conversation between the two, and even Mikael and Mei looked over here.

Mei instinctively looked up to see the color of the light, and suddenly realized that the alarm should be coming from Kevin.

Kevin's projection also disappeared without a trace, until half a minute later, he suddenly leaned out half of his body again:

"Sorry, Mei, the reaction level of the Far East's Honkai Beast has risen to the Judgment level. I have to go to the command room and wait for you to come back!"

Kevin hung up the call in a hurry.

…………

Two minutes later, he returned to the original place with regret - the guy named Feitian, the end-law-level Honkai Beast, whose reaction had just risen again, was killed by Qianjie the moment he stepped into the command room.

"Alas... If I had known it would be so easy, I would not have hung up the call."

Kevin called again for a long time, but Mei seemed to have disconnected. The cost of "interstellar communication" is not low. It seems that he can only wait until the next agreed time to communicate again...

He stretched and walked back to the lounge dedicated to Anti-Entropy.

"Gu-Gu-Gu"

The stomach suddenly rumbled, so he quickly opened the refrigerator and prepared to eat something.

"Hmm... sushi?"

Kevin opened the disposable lunch box, sniffed it, and felt that it was not bad, so he picked up a piece and threw it into his mouth with a sly smile...

"Hmm! Uh... Ah! Cough cough cough!"

A chill rushed straight to the top of his head, and even his eyes twitched and rolled back, until he could no longer bear it, and fainted on the ground with a "bang".

…………

388,000 kilometers away, Mei didn't know that the sushi she worked so hard to make had done what only a Herrscher could do - defeat Kevin.

She was looking down at the bottomless crater at her feet, and discussing with Mikael how to enter the crater. Of course, it was mainly Mikael who was talking:

"The first method - since the previous civilization faced the collapse here, and most of the warriors were suspected to be deployed outside the crater, waiting for the end to come before entering the crater to fight with it, then of course, they must have a mechanism to quickly enter the bottom of the crater, as long as we find that mechanism."

"..."

"But I don't think this is a good idea, not only because the mechanism may not be able to start, but also - Mei, can your body still bear it?"

Mei nodded and replied very confidently:

"I don't feel any discomfort at the moment, except... a little tired."

That said, but as a half-doctor, she knows better - no discomfort is often more difficult than obvious discomfort.

How can there be no problem if normal metabolism is disrupted? If there is obvious discomfort, you can find the problem and judge whether the problem is serious based on experience and theory. And the current situation is... I only know that there will definitely be problems, but I don't know where the problems are or how serious they are.

Continuing to hold on is a gamble. The longer you stay on the moon, the greater the risk.

And the second quick solution that Mikael came up with is also a gamble-

"The other method is very simple. I will jump down directly from here. Anyway, I have the power of space and can come and go freely. After confirming the situation below, I will take you two down."

"...Okay, this method is indeed convenient enough."

Mei covered her forehead and agreed to this plan helplessly.

Oh, it can't be said that she is helpless. After all, her main purpose is to explore this crater. In the process of searching for the equipment left by the predecessors, she can explore many facilities along the way, but if time does not allow, it is better to take it easy.

"But in the final analysis, the so-called 'time does not allow' is my physical limitation. If there is any way that can make me..."

Reluctant, maybe a little. Although Dr. Mei is omnipotent in front of others, there are too many things she can't do.

She knew that Mikael envied her, envied her maturity, calmness and rationality, as if nothing could defeat her spiritually.

But... although there is no necessary causal relationship, isn't spiritual maturity to some extent to make up for the lack of external strength?

When Mikael envied Mei's mature spiritual will, she actually envied his strong external strength.

She was just stunned for a moment, and Mikael had already jumped down silently, only the sound of his clothes being blown up by the wind echoed in her ears.

Mei had no choice but to imitate Ellie, slowly bend down and sit on the edge of the cliff.

"Ellie, what are you looking at?"

Mei looked forward along Ellie's gaze, and could only see a scattered ground of special stones. The reason why they were special was that the cross-sections of those stones were very strange: upon closer inspection, the center of the cross-section showed a blue dotted like the starry sky, and the color of the surrounding parts close to the surface gradually deepened, showing purple and black.

If the starry blue in the center is changed to scarlet, and the lime on the surface is changed to bone white, it really looks like the remains of the Honkai beast.

Perhaps, that is the corpse of the Honkai beast, but it has slowly settled and deteriorated over countless times, and finally turned into this appearance.

Is she looking at these stones?

Mei is both certain and uncertain. After all, there is nothing else there except these stones, and if she is interested in those stones, she would not stare at it for so long...

Or is she just in a daze?

Mei has a headache. Alicia's thoughts are unpredictable. Although it is not completely unpredictable for Mei, she is tired and can't muster the energy to think about Alicia's abnormality-

Since she arrived at this crater, no, since she came to the moon, she has been too silent.

To be honest, facing the unchanging surface of the moon, silence is a normal thing.

There are even many soldiers of the exploration team who have completed their missions after a narrow escape and returned to Earth, and then went directly to the sanatorium.

Most people have the same symptoms, that is, they stare blankly in front of them when there are people around them, but they can't stop mumbling to themselves when they are alone. Once night falls, they may even develop into hysterical screams.

Some people without family... signed the consent form in despair and finally lay on the operating table of Mebius. Even if they survived by chance, they were now transferred to the "deepest place".

"Alas..."

Because of this, Ellie's abnormality did not attract her attention. It was not until she came to this ruins that this situation became more and more obvious and more eye-catching...

This is at least the third time she has sat on the edge of the cliff without saying a word.

"Alicea? Alicea?"

"..."

Moreover, her hearing seemed to be deprived. No matter how she shouted, she would not give any feedback. This was the case with Mei and Mikael before.

This silence seemed to be similar to those warriors of the exploration team, but Mei always felt that it was more than that.

On the one hand, those warriors often have to stay on the moon for several months, and they have only been there for less than a week. She believes that Alicia's spirit is not so fragile. After all, Mei herself and Mikael are fine.

On the other hand, it is a suspicion... Of course, this is not a malicious suspicion, nor is it directed at Alicia's position.

To be precise, it is a question, an answer that Mikael has not gotten - "Without power, without the core in the normal state, Alicia, is she really just a Herrscher?"

She didn't want to think too much, but this is... According to the inscription left by "Mei" herself 250,000 years ago, this is the birthplace of the last Herrscher, the Herrscher of the End.

In such a special place, with a special Herrscher like Alicia by her side, and she just happened to have a special reaction...

It's really hard not to think too much, and with her brain speed, she almost gave more than a hundred hypotheses in an instant, such as:

Since it is impossible to determine when Alicia became a Herrscher, it is better to assume that she is the first Herrscher, and then, contrary to Mikael's collection of power, every new Herrscher will take power from her, so that she has no power.

As for why she doesn't have a gem-shaped core? It can also be understood that she is the only core, and the other Herrscher cores are just a kind of inferior existence...

"Well, this can be explained, but... forget it..."

Mei cut off these thoughts abruptly. She felt that she still had plenty of time, and she hoped to get Alicia's answer in person.

As for telling Mikael about Ellie's abnormality? That's even more unnecessary-he should have noticed it at the beginning, so he kept doing various seemingly childish behaviors.

The pervasive silence stretched the time very long. Mei raised her hand and glanced at the Prometheus terminal. She thought that two hours had passed... at least one hour had passed, but the flashing numbers told her that less than two minutes had passed since Mikael jumped into the crater.

To be precise, it was 107 seconds, and now it was 108, 109...

Mei sighed again, picked up a stone at hand out of boredom, raised her head habitually, and raised the stone in front of her eyes, as if to compare it with the moon in the sky.

But all she saw was salt grains sprinkled on the dark curtain, naturally none of them could compare with the stone in her hand.

She laughed dumbly, and then she realized that she was on the moon.

She threw the stone into the bottomless crater, counting silently for ten times, but heard no sound.

She raised her hand to look at the time again, 142 seconds, just half a minute had passed.

Mei suddenly turned around and waved her hand in front of Ai Li's eyes. She had no hope, but she just remembered that such plots often appeared in novels, movies and TV shows, so she did it casually.

Unexpectedly, it actually worked - Ai Li uttered a sigh and raised her head in disappointment.

"You... uh..."

"What's wrong with you?" - Mei wanted to ask this, but she didn't know if it was psychological factors, a strange force came out halfway, not only making her remain silent, but also making her raise her chin and look at the starry sky farther away.

"This is!"

Her sight was like a flying bird that did not exist in this space, easily passing over the scattered stones, over the edge of the city ruins, and flying into the more vast night sky.

That was the night sky she had just looked at half a minute ago. The deep darkness only changed in the moment she lowered her head and raised her head. Now it showed dreamlike colors - that one was deep dark purple, that one was scarlet, and that one was light. is blue.

These colors that should not exist in the black-and-white universe have quietly appeared, just like the gorgeous galaxies that Mei saw on her father's computer when she was a child, photographed by an astronomical telescope and then artificially colored.

And that's not all.

The "salt grains" in the night sky were originally rough or delicate. No matter what, they hung there quietly, lifeless and unchanged.

But now, some of them began to rotate slowly along a certain point as the center of the circle, and they were getting faster and faster. In just a blink of an eye, they left circles of fine arc-shaped tracks in the night sky, like annual rings. .

This is also a scene that Mei is very familiar with - on a clear night, set up a camera where you can see the bright stars, shoot in the direction of the pole, and combine it with post-processing, you can get a beautiful star track map .

But...but how did all this happen? Not to mention the inexplicably colored universe, let’s talk about the star track map, which is also the product of a long-term camera shooting. How is it possible...

"clatter……"

A sound that should have been light and crisp, but was actually dull, sounded in Mei's ears. It was the sound of pebbles falling to the ground.

She couldn't help but blink, and then, both the gorgeous galaxy and the neat star trails disappeared without a trace.

So much so that she couldn't help but wonder in her heart - was everything just her imagination? If not, how can these be explained?

She took it for granted and looked at Alicia beside her, only to see her lowering her head and staring at the abyss at her feet, as if she had never noticed the strangeness in the starry sky.

"like……"

"Ah! You're back!"

The girl's sudden voice of joy choked back Mei's question. She put a little more force on her hands on the edge of the cliff and was about to jump down, but her toes landed just right on a piece of clear pink crystal.

With this force, she jumped up slightly and rotated her body, like scattered petals picked up by the wind, falling lightly back to the edge of the cliff.

And Mikael was standing in front of her.

Mei swallowed back all her previous reveries and questions. She noticed that Mikael's face was a little solemn, so she asked first:

"What's the situation down there? Are there a lot of Honkai Beasts?"

Mikael shook his head with an ugly expression:

"There's no Honkaimon down there, but there are some things that shouldn't be there."

…………

Mei had to admit that despite Mikael's warning, she still sincerely believed that all the words she had learned from childhood to college could not describe the desolation at the bottom of the crater, because what appeared before her eyes was the desolation of nothing - —

There are some strange-shaped buildings behind them, but the neatly arranged stones that are swaying in all directions, the strange circular patterns carved on the surface of the stones, and the purple color exposed in the cross-sections do not look like the products of human civilization.

What's more, there is an invisible weight in the air pressing on the shoulders and squeezing the chest, making it difficult to breathe.

If it weren't for the dust and sand at her feet that were different from ordinary moon soil, bringing a tiny bit of light, making the surroundings less dark and depressing, Mei would have found it difficult to stay here for even ten minutes.

Looking up at the sky, all I can see is a small hole like an elm coin, which makes the heaviness even more inescapable.

But……

"What are you talking about that shouldn't exist?"

Mikael pinched his fingers and moved his lips a little, as if counting the time.

After a while, he came to the conclusion:

"Ten seconds left, step back."

He forced Mei and Aili to take two steps back and muttered:

Ten, nine, eight, seven, six...

Five, four...

Three, two, one——

The sand and dust are flowing in front of me, but the scenery does not seem to have changed much.

But several black spots appeared inexplicably in the dust and sand: a dozen broken long swords, two crosses leaning on the sand, black and white lances, a dull sword that could no longer burn...

Some know it and some don’t.

But as half of their designers, this does not prevent Mei from shouting those three words in her mind——

"God's Key!"