Honkai Impact 3rd: I picked up a Seele at the start of the game.

……

After meeting with Mei, Yun Fuyu followed the schedule given by Möbius to meet the last person, Vervière.

When I finally met her face-to-face, I found that Velvi was a pretty amiable person, but she had too many chaotic thoughts. While other people's thought processes are like knots, hers went straight through the starry sky, laying out a star trail before finally returning!

Upon their first meeting, Vivi expressed her regret over Yun Fuyu's "amnesia." As usual, Yun Fuyu asked curiously: "Could you tell me two things to help me remember?"

Vilvi immediately perked up, put one foot on the tool table, pointed one finger to the sky and one to the ground, and said, "Above and below the heavens, I alone am supreme!"...Pshaw! Scratch that inexplicable sense of déjà vu!

She said, "This spiral workshop was built by you and me! Have you even forgotten that?"

Yun Fuyu looked around, marveling at the complex structure of the workshop, and said somewhat fearfully, "I really don't remember... By the way, was I really that capable before...?"

Intricate gears clashed and clicked in the dim light; massive levers and pulley systems formed the framework, supporting the workshop's every breath; within the workshop, countless conduits meandered like blood vessels, connecting the dozens of spiral workshop floors, shimmering with a silvery glow under an eerie light; the walls were covered with blueprints and sketches, a massive Honkai energy core reactor stood at the center of the workshop providing power, and countless other details characteristic of Velvey...

Vilvi pointed to the spiral markings that were everywhere: "You designed this for me! Don't you remember?"

Yun: "...Huh?"

Wasn't the engraving designed by Alicia? Why is she overstepping her bounds like this?

Velvet pointed to the Honkai Core Reactor again: "You bought this for me!! Don't you remember?"

Yun: "...Huh??"

The core reactor must be a contraband, right? Where can I buy it? Do I have connections in both the legitimate and criminal worlds?

Velvi pointed to the drafts on the wall: "You designed the shape and function of the Divine Key for me!!! Have you forgotten all of that?"

Yun: "...Huh???"

Is he really that promiscuous? Is he keeping Vilvie as a mistress?

Seeing Yun Fuyu's utterly bewildered expression, Velvi sighed, "The only genius I could truly acknowledge in my memory, Yun, has fallen!!"

Yun: "Makka Pakka... oh no, I mean, am I really that awesome?"

Vervi said earnestly, "Really! I still have a backup plan here, just in case either of us loses our memory. You can come and see for yourself!"

"??"

Yun Fuyu: "I think I didn't quite understand?"

There are just too many flaws here! Why would you keep a "backup plan" in case of amnesia? What is our relationship? How did you manage to keep it?

Vervi looked slightly embarrassed: "Uh, this is a bit complicated. I only just remembered I had a 'backup plan.' Let's go take a look first!"

Yun Fuyu shrugged, indicating that it wasn't entirely unacceptable. Even with each of her dolls, and even her own body, she always kept a backup plan! It was her nature; no one could easily overcome it.

After wandering around the workshop, Xia Ji finally arrived at its depths. After rummaging through everything for a while, Wilvi finally pulled out a black box the size of a human head and tossed it directly into Yun Fuyu's hands.

Yun Fuyu said hesitantly, "Um, this box won't explode, will it? And there won't be any sleeping pills or anything, right? I really can't handle your surprise..."

Velvi slapped her forehead: "I almost forgot!"

After saying that, she took the black box back into her hand and tapped it rhythmically for a while. Finally, she took out a small key from the four-dimensional pocket on her chest and inserted it into the keyhole exposed on the black box.

There really was a "surprise"!!

Deep within the workshop, in the dim light, Velvi's expression was subtle: "Are you... ready?"

Yun Fuyu shuddered and asked again timidly, "Are you sure this backup plan is okay? It won't suddenly blow me up, will it?"

Vervi's smile was enigmatic: "Don't worry, I'm very reliable when it comes to such important matters."

Looking at her strange smile, Yun Fuyu was still terrified. Finally, with the courage of a warrior cutting off his own arm, she took the black box and took several deep breaths.

open!

A spring-loaded fist slammed into Yun Fuyu's face! His nose seemed to be knocked crooked!?

The sensation of being struck hard on the nasal bone made his brain spin, and his tear ducts began to uncontrollably secrete tears!

He desperately wanted to berate Vervie, and also berate himself for not learning his lesson. But just then, a jolt of electricity shot through the back of his ear, and Vervie's cold voice, slightly altered by bone conduction, rang in his ears:

"Don't make a sound. I'm Velvi. I suspect Alicia is problematic, so I've left a backup plan in case she doesn't. If you understand what I'm saying, just pretend nothing happened and let the current Velvi take you for treatment. We'll talk in the treatment pod."

Ah? ?

Yun Fuyu felt this world was surreal. Rather than believing Alicia was the problem, he was more inclined to believe that Velvet was deliberately messing with him!

However, he managed to suppress his urge to curse and, under Wilvi's panicked instructions, was taken to a makeshift medical room by the mechanical doll and placed in a treatment pod.

The warm liquid submerged his body, and the minty coolness slightly suppressed the pain, but the next moment, a needle suddenly pierced his carotid artery!

As some liquid was injected, the voice of expert Velvi gradually became clear: "Don't panic, what we're injecting you with now is nanorobots. The mortality rate is less than 10%, so it's very safe."

Ten percent? Safe?

Yun Fuyu is on the verge of a breakdown. What on earth is she playing at?

Velvi: "These little guys will help modify your neural network to the same level as mine, so that you won't be easily deceived by Alicia, but you also won't show any abnormalities. From now on, just treat yourself as someone from this world, don't express any doubts, and you won't trigger her alarm."

"As for your and Seele's memories, I regret to say that I did not hide them well. I can only sacrifice a pawn to save the king and let Alicia destroy them."

"Next, I will tell you in detail what happened. I hope you can accept the current situation as soon as possible and then find a way to break free."

Vilvi's voice ended there. Afterward, the nanobots began to weave a network throughout Yun Fuyu's body, creating a "cognitive barrier" for his central nervous system.

After it was completed, some information flooded into his mind as memories—

------

The day before the upheaval in El Innis, in the Spiral Workshop of Velvi.

Alicia said with some regret, "I thought you had discovered something..."

After all, they are not from this world.

Besides Alicia, May must have noticed something unusual, and Gretchen also noticed the strangeness in their souls, while the others felt nothing at all.

With her head still inside the machine, Velvi yelled "Huh?" to indicate that she hadn't heard what Alicia was saying.

Alicia replied, "I said, dear Velvi, I just came to visit you. If there's nothing else, I'll be leaving now!"

Velvi: "Hmm...Speaking of which, Alicia, you've been acting really strange lately."

She suddenly said this, while diligently tightening the screws.

"You rarely stay at the base and don't care about the girls in your squad, but you're exceptionally enthusiastic towards a few individuals. Even though you know Seele might be a Herrscher, you still go to great lengths to get on her good side, without any fear whatsoever."

That's quite a clever trick.

Alicia smiled slightly: "Perhaps I'm just a fickle and unpredictable woman?"

Velvi: "Tch, do you think I believe you or not?"

Alicia asked curiously, "This can't be considered abnormal, can it?"

"Yes, it doesn't really count, but it only counts when it's applied to me."

Vilvi suddenly said, "I suspect you're more likely to be schizophrenic like me."

Alicia remained noncommittal: "Perhaps."

Elysian and El'yanis are indeed composed of the same essential elements, but they are not necessarily the same people or things.

Alicia left.

Velvi stopped pretending and kept tightening the screw, then left the room and went deeper into the Spiral Workshop.

"Although I don't know what happened... well, it seems there really is a 'backup plan' I left in this world."

—Vilvie keeps a backup plan for every one of her dolls, and even her own body! It's her nature, and no one can stop her.

Just like a cute anime character checking their figurines, Velvet would periodically check her backups with a sense of satisfaction and joy. This time, however, Velvet discovered a backup from her own past, but with no memory of it.

That's interesting. Where did this backup plan come from?

Do you remember the book "The Theory of Biological Evolution: Origin and Purpose (Part 1)" that Yun Fuyu once read? Although Alicia is very smart, she still lacks a tiny bit of hard knowledge. She hadn't read the book, so she could only fool Yun Fuyu by shrinking the font size to an absurd degree.

So, where did Alicia get all the knowledge she lacked when she created the world of Erinis?

The answer is simple: she directly copied "Paradise on Earth".

Inevitably, there were hidden tricks in the Paradise of the Past. And Alicia didn't notice them, copying them verbatim.

So why has Vilvie never triggered this backdoor in countless reincarnations?

The answer is that this is the most special one among countless cycles: Erinis wanted to expel the people outside the dream and obliterate the consciousness of the gods, which inevitably touched the rules at the bottom of the world, causing this back door to be opened, and subsequently discovered by Velvi.

------

Velvi learned the whole story of the previous civilization and realized the strangeness of this recurring world, especially Alicia.

Therefore, she arranged four layers of memory backups from deep to shallow: the self who knows everything, the self who has deleted her backup plan, Yun Fuyu + Seele + herself, and other important characters such as Kevin + May + herself.

That's how they managed to fool the God of Erinis, thanks to that backdoor. But three of those four layers were still deleted, and the deepest layer of Vilvie's memories remained in the black box, completely untouched, until Yun Fuyu came before her.

------

Now, Velvet has created a "cognitive barrier" for Yun Fuyu, blocking out the flaws in the world he sees. For example, he will no longer be unable to see Alicia, nor will he see complex knowledge as mere gibberish.

In this way, he won't trigger the world's bugs, and Erinis will—not that he won't, but rather that he'll be less likely to be provoked.

------

That's roughly how it is. Do you have any further questions?

Yun Fuyu immediately asked, "Can my memories be restored? What did I do before? Also, according to you, now everyone except you and me has false memories?"

Velvi: "The first problem is difficult. Your memory backup has been erased, and there's nothing I can do about it."

"The second question is excellent! You didn't do anything before, you were just dating Seele the whole time, it was so cloying! You should thank me, I helped you guys out a lot!"

"One last question—well, yes and no. I'll ask you, if everyone has a certain event in their memory except you, then did that event actually happen?"

"If you ask me, just don't care so much. Just pretend it never happened, and let them pretend it did. That way, you can create new stories. Aren't new stories much more important than old ones?"

Yun Fuyu was speechless for a moment: "What you said makes a lot of sense."

He then asked, "What's the situation with Seele? Could the Sixth Herrscher really be Seele? How is she now?"

At this moment, I feel more regret than hatred.

Velvi: "As far as I know, yes. Seele is the Sixth Herrscher, she survived in the previous story, and she and you were each other's only support, pretending not to know each other, acting all coy and awkward. Oh, it's over, now she's really dead—killed by your own hands."

Yun Fuyu felt breathless and frowned as she asked, "Does Alicia want her dead? This doesn't seem like Alicia's style."

Velvi: "Who knows? Everything is complicated right now. I don't trust anyone except you—because you are Alicia's enemy, so you are my ally."

"As for what Alicia is doing... Hmph, deceiving everyone all the time, she's quite adept at it. Let's just wait and see."

Yun Fuyu: "Okay, I've got it. What do we do next?"

Velvi: "What to do? Go and date Möbius! In the current story, you two are mutually attracted but neither of you has the courage to confess your feelings. You became mentally ill because of the fusion surgery, and she's felt guilty for a long time. Now is the perfect opportunity to win her over!"

Yun Fuyu choked: "I'm not that casual!! Besides, since you said that Seele and I depend on each other for survival, and then you turn around and advise me to go and date Mebius, doesn't your conscience hurt?"

Vervi's tone was lively: "It doesn't hurt at all~ On the contrary, it feels great~ That old maid Mebius... uh, I mean that charming and pure woman in her prime, you might not see such a good show of her falling in love even once in your whole life!"