Xia Li now understood.

  These illusions were phantoms of the past—things that had actually happened.

  But to record these, a person present at the time must have existed, one who could somehow influence him.

  Only two people knew these events: his sister and Professor Yan Qing.

  But why would they so coincidentally appear before him?

  Xia Li was quite puzzled.

  But he quickly thought of something—the photon quantum the Heavenly Dao Computer had given him.

  The trajectory of fate had been accelerated.

  His choice to take initiative, traveling thousands of miles to Neo-Tokyo, was correct.

  Meeting Lin Ge and learning of Mech-Corpses, encountering traces left by his sister while investigating Mech-Corpses—fate was often about choices.

  All coincidences within fate were destined results of choices made.

  "Interesting illusions. Who exactly is showing me these?"

  Xia Li simply decided to watch patiently.

  What followed...

  Was Yan Qing and Xia Shu's collaborative efforts. With their combined knowledge complementing each other, both continuously broke through cognitive barriers, proposing more theories.

  Academic friendships were quite pure.

  After both aged to a certain degree, they actually began reverse-aging, because biological science had new breakthroughs—the lifespan limit was pushed to three hundred years.

  Until one late night...

  Covered in blood, holding a pistol, wearing a suit—Xia Shu found Yan Qing.

  In Xia Shu's hand was a blood-stained translucent chip.

  "Sister Yan... This thing... Hide it..."

  "So you really did it after all?"

  "I... can't let our life's work... become a tool for controlling others. Science's original purpose is benefiting the masses..."

  "Doing this means you won't see your brother wake up. Weren't you two very close?"

  "Take me to my brother first..."

  Yan Qing silently helped Xia Shu up without taking the box, supporting her all the way to the cryopreservation chamber.

  After entering the chamber.

  Yan Qing supported Xia Shu, limping toward a cryogenic pod. Through the glass, they could see a frost-covered young man slumbering within.

  "Come to think of it, we've known each other for so long, but you've never told me why you and your brother are so close."

  "Quite a few cryopreserved individuals are here, but visitors have grown fewer since twenty years ago."

  "Even those believing their frozen relatives are dead—no one comes to claim the remains."

  Yan Qing wasn't belittling family bonds. Even the closest family ties, once distant long enough, became familiar strangers.

  Yet Xia Shu had remained consistent for decades, visiting Xia Li's pod whenever tired or weary.

  It had become habit.

  "Actually... I didn't like my brother..."

  "Our parents were busy with work, rarely home."

  "We had a terrible relationship as kids, fighting over toys, fighting over the TV, fighting over everything. When parents weren't around, we outright brawled."

  "After middle school, my brother finally matured somewhat, but was still annoying as ever."

  Xia Shu spoke of this with a reminiscent expression.

  "I was somewhat withdrawn as a child. Perhaps because I really was a genius—I matured faster than my peers, always finding those around me childish. We couldn't play together."

  "Including my brother. I thought he was basically an idiot back then."

  "Until one time, after fighting with him, I found my wrist had gotten a thorn from accidentally touching a cactus. I couldn't tweeze it out no matter what. In a fit of anger, I decided to cut the skin with a knife—right when my brother walked in."

  "Guess what he did?"

  "Rushed over, hugged me tight, apologized frantically, said a bunch of mushy things. I found it amusing so I didn't explain, letting the misunderstanding continue."

  "From then on, he never upset me again. Whatever I did, he watched over me. Took me everywhere—drinking with friends, eating barbecue, internet cafes, even foot massage parlors."

  "When I went to the bathroom or shower, he'd stand guard outside, knocking on the door every three minutes."

  "He was terrified of me leaving his sight for even a second. If it was amusing at first, it became habit later. I started enjoying that feeling of being wholeheartedly cared for."

  "Until... he left me."

  Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

  Nothing particularly special about the past. No soul-stirring deep affection. Her relationship with Xia Li was just that simple.

  It was habit.

  Accustomed to being watched, accustomed to always having someone care—that feeling of being loved was addictive.

  "You're quite something yourself..."

  Yan Qing smiled bitterly. Wasn't this just bullying?

  "But all the way until he was frozen, I never had the courage to tell him the truth about that night. I really wasn't trying to kill myself. My withdrawn personality and not being liked by peers was my own arrogance—nothing to do with him."

  "I was the one being mean to him!"

  "I always treated him like an idiot... The problem was me. I deserved to be beaten by my brother, yet I always fought back..."

  "Brother... I miss you..."

  "Beat me up again..."

  Xia Shu gazed at Xia Li slumbering in the cryogenic pod, tears streaming down.

  And Xia Li, who didn't exist in this time, who could only see illusions, also sighed.

  He too stood before the cryogenic pod, watching his sister from the past through the illusion.

  "My dear sister, your brother is really hard now!"

  "My fist is hard, I mean!"

  "You really aren't human, are you!"

  "You know how scared I was that you'd do something stupid? I always thought I'd hit you too hard!"

  "Never imagined it wasn't hard enough!"

  Xia Li was completely dumbfounded.

  So his sister's docility growing up wasn't from gratitude for his devoted care—it was from guilt!

  Seeing this past, Xia Li found it both laughable and sad. His sister simply had a terrible temper and couldn't admit fault.

  But after so many years, the past no longer mattered.

  Xia Shu collapsed before his cryogenic pod, gradually losing breath, speaking her final words in her last moments.

  "Xia Shu, if our theory is correct, you won't die this time... You'll ascend, evolve."

  "Only I don't know when we'll meet again..."

  Yan Qing pulled a syringe from her pocket and injected it directly into Xia Shu's temple.

  Then...

  A group of fully armed people arrived at the research facility, entering the cryopreservation chamber to carry Xia Shu away.

  Yan Qing didn't stop them, merely calmly explaining why Xia Shu had come—to see her relative one last time.

  After this.

  Memories began blurring. Time in Xia Li's illusion began racing forward.

  After losing her only friend, Yan Qing silently continued her research. She seemed forgotten by time.

  But the world wouldn't slow its rotation for her.

  As harbingers of Spirit Qi Resurgence appeared, mutated animals and plants began harming people in various locations.

  Yan Qing inherited Xia Shu's knowledge and began researching life sciences, studying mutated organisms, seeking methods to help humanity resist those monsters.

  Then...

  "What's happening?"

  Xia Li noticed the illusion suddenly becoming unstable, even flashing to reality—the true appearance of the dark tunnel briefly visible.

  The illusion interrupted and continued, interrupted and continued!

  As if something was desperately trying to convey information to Xia Li, yet being disrupted by unknown factors.

  Until...

  In the final moment before the illusion dispersed.

  Xia Li saw Yan Qing being forced to jump into the sea. He couldn't see who forced her—in the fragmented illusion, he only glimpsed Yan Qing apparently joining some research organization.

  Then...

  From below the cliff.

  A massive, iridescent jellyfish slowly floated up. The jellyfish had a face—Yan Qing's features—but those characteristics quickly blurred away.

  The dazzling iridescence was mesmerizing.

  Xia Li recognized it.

  One of the demon overlords dominating the world—

  Antares.

  Incorporeal, possessing extremely powerful psychic abilities, with extremely mysterious whereabouts and rarely sighted.

  It could even drift through space—the only demon to have left Earth. Its last sighting was beneath the ice seas of Europa.

  Other reports indicated Antares observed humanity's colony stations on other planets.

  Currently, it hadn't actively attacked humans, but was still considered a major threat—after all, it was clearly a highly intelligent great demon.