"It's been a week."

The man with glasses looked at the empty table and couldn't help complaining.

"What happened? Why didn't Takarada and Shinjo come to school?"

"I heard from the teacher that they are not feeling well and are resting at home."

Hibiki Yuta also shook his head. That day, when Takarada Rikka suddenly rushed out of the classroom, they were also very worried. After all, they were all companions, so they also wanted to go see Takarada Rikka. As a result, after class, they went to the infirmary but were told that Takarada Rikka had gone home to rest. When they arrived at Rikka's house, she did not show up either. Only Rikka's mother came out and said that she was not feeling well and needed to rest well these days.

But now it’s been a week…

"How about we go to her house again?"

"But her mother said before that Rikka locked herself in her room and refused to go out... Could something have happened?"

"By the way, what's going on with Shinjo?"

"The teacher said she's taking leave because of a cold... should she be fine, right?"

The two were puzzled and couldn't figure out what was going on.

At the same time, Fang Zheng returned to Leander refreshed, gathered everyone again, and explained his findings.

"So, that girl is really the god of this world?"

Tesla was confused and couldn't imagine it.

"Some worlds are like this. The world itself will develop consciousness, and then make some plans or cause some disasters for the sake of self-protection..."

Fang Zheng briefly introduced Gaia and Alaya-vijnana of the Type-Moon world to them, which was considered as a popular science introduction, and then returned to the main topic.

"But that's not the point. Remember? We've always had a question before, which is what's the benefit of creating monsters to destroy cities. Now I think I've figured it out."

"Oh? Tell me about it?"

Einstein's eyes also lit up.

"It's very simple. We all know now that the Herrscher is created by the Honkai consciousness through the combination of the negative emotions in the host. So... how is the Honkai consciousness created?"

"……etc."

Hearing this, Danzhu reacted immediately.

"You mean... Honkai consciousness is actually world consciousness?"

"Isn't that right? Look at what Akane Shinjo did. It's actually no different from the Honkai disaster in your world, except for the scale. If I'm guessing correctly, Akane Shinjo is still in the 'internship' stage, so she is confined to this city. If she 'graduates', then the scale of Honkai may affect the entire world."

"Wait a minute. Wait for me."

At this time Tesla shouted out hurriedly.

"So what you mean is that the Honkai consciousness of this world is still just a student, so she can only practice with this city. And the Honkai consciousness of our world has already graduated, so it can destroy the entire world?"

"That's about it."

Fang Zheng nodded. This was what he suddenly thought of after he went deep into the consciousness of Shinjo Akane. The consciousness of the collapse of Kiana's world was to destroy humans by creating Herrscher, while Shinjo Akane in this world was to create monsters. Except for the different things they created, the methods and goals they used were very similar.

So he also put forward his own theory.

According to the theories proposed by Tesla, Einstein, Cang Xuan and Dan Zhu, combined with the current situation of the world, assuming that each world here is a fruit on the imaginary number tree, then the fruit will eventually fall off. And when it falls, it will become a brand new imaginary number tree in the quantum sea.

If we infer from this, each world fruit should produce its own world consciousness. In this way, when the whole fruit matures and falls, this world consciousness will become the "creator god" of the new imaginary tree. However, so far, Fang Zheng and others have not found another imaginary tree in this quantum sea.

This is actually very wrong.

Just like the Fermi paradox, logically speaking, humans should not be the only life in the universe, so why can't we find aliens?

This question also exists in the Quantum Sea. Logically speaking, after so many years, even if the Imaginary Number Tree bears peaches that ripen once every three, six, thousand years, or nine thousand years, there should be a few that fall off and grow into saplings.

But why can't we see other imaginary number trees in this quantum sea?

Combining the situation of Shinjo Akane and the current situation of the collapsed world, Fang Zheng came to a conclusion.

That is... the world consciousness within these world bubbles has been bewitched, corrupted, and degenerated by some force, and thus began to roll inward.

Just like in Kiana and the others' world, if human civilization continues to be harvested back and forth like this, then their world bubble will never mature. It is even possible that the entire world bubble will decay and disappear due to consuming too much Honkai energy.

As for the true identity of the mysterious mastermind, based on the principle that whoever benefits is the most suspicious, the most likely possibility at present is...

"The tree of imaginary numbers itself."

Fang Zheng gave the final word and the answer.

“…”

After hearing Fang Zheng's inference, everyone was stunned. Tesla wiped the sweat from his forehead and asked.

"Wait, wait a minute, isn't your inference too bizarre?"

"Will it? Assuming that the mass of the quantum sea is constant, if another imaginary number tree is born in the quantum sea, it will inevitably compete with this imaginary number tree for nutrients. You have been eating alone for your whole life, and suddenly someone comes to compete with you for food. Would you be willing? Therefore, the best way is to kill it in the bud, so that it will never grow into an imaginary number tree."

"indeed……"

Einstein stroked his chin and frowned.

"Although it's a little unbelievable, since both world consciousness and collapse consciousness exist, it's not surprising that the Imaginary Number Tree has self-awareness... If it chooses to curb the growth of the world bubble in this way in order to protect itself, it does make sense."

In fact, Fang Zheng had this suspicion before. After all, when he first followed the Honkai consciousness, he found that the other party's "server" was in the core of the Imaginary Number Tree. In other words, without the approval of the Imaginary Number Tree, could the Honkai consciousness build a "server" in the middle of the Imaginary Number Tree?

Now it seems that this should be similar to a pyramid scheme organization. The Imaginary Number Tree is the pyramid scheme leader, and the Honkai Consciousness is its subordinate. Then the Imaginary Number Tree allows the Honkai Consciousness to develop subordinates - people like Shinjo Akane are new students who have just entered the pyramid scheme organization training and are in the brainwashing stage.

As for the Alexis she met, he should be a training class instructor in the Tree of Imaginary Numbers pyramid scheme.

"So what are you going to do?"

"For now? The same way as the Herrscher, taking Shinjo Akane away will solve most of the problems."

"etc."

Tesla hurriedly stopped Fang Zheng from speaking.

"Take her away? That girl named Shinjo is the world consciousness of this world, right? If we take her away, what will happen to this world?"

“That’s the key.”

Fang Zheng snapped his fingers.

"Xinjo Akane is the world consciousness of this world. Simply put, if she doesn't die, then the world consciousness of this world will always be her. Once Xinjo Akane leaves this world, then this world will not be able to form a world consciousness again, and the Honkai consciousness will not be able to use this to act."

"The actions of Honkai consciousness must be approved by God. If God does not allow it, it cannot act...?"

Cang Xuan frowned and muttered to himself, while Fang Zheng nodded.

"It's the same with the Herrscher. It's because the Herrscher is full of hatred for the world that he wants to destroy humanity. On the other hand, if the Herrscher doesn't have this idea, then the Honkai consciousness can't do anything directly to the world except infiltrate its spirit. The situation is the same in this world."

"The reason you want to take her away is because you are worried that Honkai consciousness will be harmful to Shinjo Akane?"

"Almost. After all, the world consciousness is the core of the world bubble, and the world bubble is the fruit of the Imaginary Number Tree. Therefore, it can be considered that the Imaginary Number Tree has the ability to influence the world consciousness to some extent. Otherwise, the Imaginary Number Tree would not only target the world consciousness. Currently, Akane Shinjo is in the stage of being brainwashed. If the brainwashing fails, who knows whether the other party will use a more powerful method - such as Herrscherization or something."

Fang Zheng nodded and explained the next course of action.

"We have two courses of action next. One is to protect Xin Tiao Qian and take her away. The other is to deal with Alexis. If I'm right, this collaborator of Xin Tiao Qian should have a deep connection with the Imaginary Number Tree. It would be even better if we can capture it and find the next coordinates connecting to the Imaginary Number Tree from it."

The tree of imaginary numbers is located in a high-dimensional space, and Fang Zheng can only take everyone with him through astral teleportation, so coordinate crossing is essential. This coordinate was obtained from the person in the sky before, and now Fang Zheng only hopes to get another coordinate from Alexis and continue to move forward.

Once they reach the core of the Imaginary Number Tree, they will be able to return to their own world - after all, the world where Lala and others are is the surface world, which is the inside and outside of this world. By opening the channel in the opposite direction from the core of the Imaginary Number Tree, they should be able to return to their original world.

"Where's Shinjo Akane?"

"She said she wanted to prepare... Well, I should go back and check the situation."

Fang Zheng looked at his watch and then made a decision.

Meanwhile, in that world, it was time to go home from school.

After walking out of the school gate, Takarada Rikka finally breathed a sigh of relief. After a week of torment, she finally came to class today.

Although Takarada Rikka's friends were also curiously asking what happened to her, she was too embarrassed to say and just said that she had a cold and was feeling unwell so she was resting in bed - which was of course a lie.

In fact, Takarada Rikka herself didn't know how she had managed to get through this period of time.

Almost every day, she endured unimaginable stimulation, and the feeling of ecstasy almost broke Rika's mind. She didn't even know what to do, and could only hide in her bedroom all day without going out. Fortunately, today seemed to be over. So Rika also came to school... Finally, she spent a peaceful day.

"Rikka!"

Just when Rika Takarada was waiting for the bus, someone suddenly rushed up from behind and hugged her. Rika Takarada was startled and turned around to see Akane Shinjo looking at her with a smile.

"Akira...?"

"Yes, it's me. I heard that you haven't been to school for a week?"

"Yeah, you too... I heard you were sick?"

"Hehehe, it's not a big deal..."

In response to Rikka Takanae's question, Akane Shinjo giggled, and at this moment, Rikka Takanae suddenly saw a heart-shaped pink mark appear in Akane Shinjo's eyes.

What is that?

Just when Takarada Rikka was about to ask, the bus had already arrived at the station.

"The car is here, let's go."

"Um……"

Hearing what Akane Shinjo said, Rika Takanae nodded subconsciously, and got on the bus one after another with Akane Shinjo.

There was no one on the bus except the driver. After the two people got on, the driver started the vehicle and moved forward.

“…”

The car was completely silent. Takarada Rikka sat in a chair, looking out the window, while Akane Shinjo sat behind her, not saying a word. It was unknown how long it had been before Akane Shinjo's voice rang out again.

"I have someone I like."

"Eh? Really?"

Hearing this, Takanari Rikka immediately withdrew her thoughts and turned to look at Akane Shinjo in surprise. She saw that the latter's cheeks were slightly blushing, and she looked like a young girl in love.

"From our school?"

"No, he's from outside, but I like him very much."

"Are you guys... dating? Is that why you're taking a leave?"

"Dating... Well, it can't be called dating. In fact, I am the master's loyal servant."

"……Why?"

Hearing this, Takanae Rika was stunned for a moment. She thought she had heard it wrong and was about to ask again, but she saw Akane Shinjo behind her suddenly reached out and hugged Takanae Rika.

"I really like my master very much..."

She whispered in Takarada Rikka's ear.

"So, I've been thinking about what kind of gift to give him. Then I realized that I like Rikka too. Rikka, you won't hate me, right? Because that's how I designed it..."

"...Setting? What do you mean?"

“Huff, huff, huff…”

Hearing Rikka's question, Akane Shinjo smiled slightly, then she leaned close to Rikka's ear.

"So, I decided to give him my favorite Rikka..."

At this moment, Akane Shinjo's sweet voice reached Rikka Takanari's ears, making her lose all strength.

"Xia...you are talking about..."

"Very comfortable, huh?"

"……Why?"

"You enjoyed the past week, didn't you? Because I created you, so I feel the same way as you do, what do you think? Rikka?"

As she spoke, Akane Shinjo gently bit Rikka's earlobe.

"Do you want to... experience it yourself?"