Chapter 117: Rim Billiton Great Adventure (V)

The best thing about this two-dimensional world was that the carrots did not taste like actual carrots at all. Instead, they were sweet and tender, carrying a faint hint of honey, and incredibly crisp—

“Crunch!”

Alright, that was not a crisp carrot. That was Tabo biting down hard on a piece of industrial slag.

“Uh, sorry! I am so sorry!” Atrocity was suddenly entirely at a loss, her hands fluttering in panic. “Maybe it is because I forgot to close the window during the fermentation process? The wind outside was far too strong, it must have blown the slag straight into the dough!”

The white-haired youth blinked, looking a bit surprised by the sudden texture, before he immediately laughed it off with a gentle wave of his hand. “It is perfectly fine. It is just an inevitable little accident during a long journey. Miss Charlotte’s cooking is still absolutely wonderful!”

Atrocity’s face flushed a brilliant shade of red. “It is nothing special, really… as long as you like it!”

You realized something was fundamentally off about this scenario. You turned your attention inward to ask 0325. ‘Is this really just a simple accident?’

The probability of a piece of mining slag falling directly from the window and landing perfectly into the center of the dough had to be astronomically low.

0325 simply shrugged within your mind space. ‘Leave that kind of question for your own exploration. To ensure my rationality is not affected by the passage of time or the emotional bleed from the other fragment, my personality and memories were permanently frozen during the very first year of the crossing.”Even that Burning Heaven Divine Weapon was merely a pre-programmed command left behind for me by the real 0325, who is already long dead.’Fine. You smacked your lips in mild disappointment. You had genuinely thought you could use this system fragment to skip the tedious grinding phase and jump straight to the grand finale.’Then why did you say this save file failed?’ This was the core issue you cared about most right now. What was the actual difference between you and him, and how far did the past version of you actually manage to progress?

0325 did not answer immediately. Instead, he threw out a seemingly unrelated question. ‘Do you know the underlying principle behind how the Aether-Phase Engine can completely crush a Lumberjack?”Isn’t it just extracting energy from the Subspace to forcefully drive a civilization’s ascension?’ You had a sudden premonition that you were about to brush against a terrifying corner of this world’s ultimate truth, and your internal expression grew entirely serious.

0325 shook his head slowly. ‘In the violent collision of these conceptual weapons, the basic principles of physics are already irrelevant. It is no longer a matter of whose structural scale is larger or whose scientific theory is more complete. Weapons are not mere text descriptions in a patch note. No one becomes invincible simply because their conceptual definitions are high-end or their internal logic is flawless.”The one truly at work inside that engine… is you.’Your expression shifted slightly.’Me?”The lower-dimensional a world is, the more inherently unstable its foundation becomes. If Quantum Mechanics only existed in the microscopic realm back in our hometown, then for this particular world, Schrödinger’s Cat is everywhere. It locks down every single path of technological development. From the very moment such a fundamentally flawed world was born, its upper limit was already permanently sealed.’0325 explained in a calm, chillingly detached tone.’Do you honestly think you are the only genius who could have researched the Aether-Phase Engine? No. The sole reason you succeeded where countless others failed is that only you possess the metaphysical possibility of ascension.’

In other words, only when you personally operate the Aether-Phase Engine will its activation target actually lead to a higher dimension. If any other native inhabitant of this world pressed that exact same button, the result would only be a catastrophic spatial collapse, dragging the entire planet into the endless void.

0325 looked up, his gaze piercing directly into your soul. ‘You could succeed because, long before the ascension operation even began, the ultimate result of a High-dimensional Being returning home was already predestined by your very existence. Its conceptual solidity far surpasses the initial game settings of Arknights. The Aether-Phase Engine is merely a retroactive process, a physical excuse generated by the universe to provide a logical explanation for this inevitable result.’

To translate this into gamer terms: if the Stellaris setting were to clash with the Lumberjack entity, it would normally just be a high-end lore battle, like Aegir fighting the Seaborn. But under the overwhelming influence of your transmigrator status, it instantly escalated into Aegir fighting Hypergryph itself.

Then how exactly did you fail?

You desperately wanted to press further, but 0325 simply spread his hands and forcefully ended the topic. ‘Do not ask anymore. The parts of the timeline I can be absolutely certain of stop right here. If I say anything more, the possibility of my fragmented data misleading your current run will rise sharply.’

Coincidentally, Amiya also began to stir from her deep slumber at that exact moment, forcing you to fall silent and turn your attention back to the physical world, cutting the internal connection.

The little Cautus girl’s azure eyes fluttered open, instantly filling with overwhelming unease. She looked frantically around the unfamiliar room. Finding absolutely no one she recognized from her home, she instinctively tried to shrink herself into Tabo’s warm embrace.

“Who… who are you?” Her voice was terribly hoarse and weak, trembling slightly with every syllable. Her long, soft ears were pressed flat against her pale cheeks in sheer terror, and she buried her entire small head deep into Tabo’s thick black coat, refusing to move a single inch.

Tabo’s entire body went completely stiff. He sat there like a petrified statue, not daring to move a muscle lest he frighten her further, shooting desperate, anxious glances at the other two people in the room for immediate rescue.

The Shapeshifter Cluster looked left, then looked right, staring intently at the ceiling, the floor, and the walls—looking absolutely everywhere except at the trembling rabbit who was currently refusing to leave their ally’s embrace. It was as if the ancient Sarkaz entity had suddenly developed a severe bout of attention deficit disorder.

Atrocity hesitated for a brief moment, her face still carrying a faint, rosy blush. She carefully reached her hands into Tabo’s open coat and gently scooped Amiya up into her own arms.

‘He looks quite thin on the outside, but he actually has surprisingly well-defined chest muscles… and they feel rather soft…’

Wait, Charlotte, what on earth are you thinking right now! You are blatantly taking advantage of the situation!

Fortunately, this kind, white-haired traveler clearly did not realize the slightly sordid nature of her internal thoughts. He even breathed a massive sigh of relief, his eyes shining with deep gratitude as he carefully mouthed the words: Thank you so much, I would not have known what to do without you!

Atrocity’s conscience immediately hurt even more.

She felt as though she had shamelessly crawled out of bed in the middle of the night to raid the house of the beautiful widow next door, using the flimsy excuse of helping to change her young son’s diaper.

Amiya had already begun to calm down bit by bit as Atrocity gently and rhythmically patted her small back. She was the smartest child in her family, and living in Rim Billiton meant she had already heard the adults whisper about what a mine disaster truly entailed.

“Big sister…” Her small hands involuntarily reached up, gripping Atrocity’s collar with a desperate, white-knuckled tightness. “…are my papa and mama still alive?” By the end of the sentence, her fragile voice carried the unmistakable, heartbreaking hint of a sob.

Atrocity had completely failed to anticipate that a young child who had just suffered through such a world-shattering tragedy would ask such a cruel, direct question so bluntly. For a long moment, her throat tightened, and she simply did not know how to answer.

While the Rim Billiton operator was still hesitating, Tabo spoke up first, his voice incredibly soft but entirely firm. “When we pulled you from the rubble and took you away, there was no longer a second living breath to be found anywhere in the vicinity. I am so sorry.”

This time, Amiya did not cry. She bit down hard on her lower lip, slowly looked up from Atrocity’s shoulder, and for the very first time, proactively met the white-haired youth’s gaze. “Big brother does not need to apologize. It is not your fault…”

She raised her uninjured hand and vigorously rubbed at her red, tear-filled eyes. “I… I will not cry. Mama taught me that if I only know how to cry, then no one will be left to remember those who have gone away.”

Atrocity stared in quiet awe. She had never expected this seemingly fragile little girl to forcefully regain her composure and accept the heavy reality of death in such an impossibly short amount of time.

“You are such a good girl.” Atrocity could only gently stroke the brave child’s head, offering whatever weak comfort she could muster in the face of such grief. “We will all be here with you.”

The Shapeshifter Cluster immediately nodded in highly supportive agreement. “That is right, that is right!”

Tabo, however, was feeling a bit hesitant. With his grand betrayal of Babel imminent, wasn’t bringing a helpless little girl back to the base at this critical juncture just painting a massive target on her back?

But seeing the little girl immediately try to hide behind his legs again the second she broke free from Atrocity’s warm embrace, he found that he simply could not force any harsh words past his lips.

‘Such a terrifyingly familiar compromise! This is exactly how you retreated step by step back in your past life, ultimately becoming nothing more than a glorified ATM for your younger sister to withdraw money from!’

In the end, after briefly and coldly weighing the tactical options of controlling the entirety of Babel’s personnel within half a minute to ensure they completely lose the ability to resist against the option of refusing a cute little rabbit who tearfully calls you big brother, the mastermind decisively chose the easier path.

“Alright,” he smiled helplessly, raising both of his hands in a dramatic, entirely genuine gesture of surrender. “Then if I tell you to hide when things get dangerous, you must be a good girl and do exactly as I say, okay?”

Amiya finally showed a small, fragile smile, the tension bleeding out of her tiny frame. “Mm… I will definitely listen to big brother from now on.”

[Rhodes’s Note:

Enjoying the operation so far, Doctor?

(This daily grind literally pays the landship’s rent! 🙇‍♂️):

Massive thanks for reading and supporting the operation!]