"What...... Blocking the circuit, that is, destroying a part of one's own soul? Lin Yiyan asked back without thinking, and Cardinal nodded with a disgusted expression.

"But what is such a big deal...... Isn't it even more dangerous to copy Fluct Light than the one mentioned earlier? ”

"There is no doubt that she will not go to the knife on her soul all at once. Extreme prudence at times like this is the Administrator's woman's style. Have you noticed that the human beings in this world have many parameters that are not represented in the window of Stysia, that is, the window of state? ”

"Ah, although it's more vague, but like physical strength and agility, people who can't see these qualities from the outside have seen a lot......" At this point, Lin Yiyan's mind came to mind, Lin Yiyan was the senior of Soldilina who served in a year when he was still a close servant. Her body is very slender and looks very weak, but she is such a senior, but she has repeatedly knocked herself away when fighting with her own sword.

The girl, who looked even weaker than her predecessors on the outside, but made people feel endless majesty, gently flicked her hat after hearing Lin Yiyan's words.

"Hmm. Among these invisible parameters, there is a parameter called Violation Index. This parameter is the result of an analysis of a person's statements and actions, quantifying the degree to which they comply with laws and regulations. Dministrator has long known to use the violation index as a parameter to filter out people who are skeptical of the taboo list they have developed. To her, such people are like bacteria that have mixed into a sterile room and must be eradicated as soon as possible. However, there is no way for her to violate the prohibition of killing that was written into her soul as a child. As a result, the Administrator dealt with them in horror in order to turn them into harmless beings without killing them. ”

"That's what you just said...... A more cruel punishment than death, isn't it? ”

"Exactly. She put the humans who had a high level of violation on the bench she used to learn the techniques she had just learned to operate the Fluct Light. Where is the Light-Cube stored, what kind of information is stored, what is done to make it lose its memory, lose its feelings, lose its ability to think—these are the cold human experiments that even observers of the outside world would hesitate to do. ”

In the end, Cardinal's voice lowered, and after listening to her words, Lin Yiyan fell silent for a while.

Cardinal also continued in a deep voice with a melancholy expression, "...... The initial test subjects of the human beings all lost their personalities, and the dministrator froze their bodies and destiny and sealed them in the depths of the cathedral. After repeating this inhumane behavior several times, her level of operation of Fluct Light finally reached a new level. - She decided to seal her feelings in order to seal her old body, and after repeated enough experiments on the humans who were brought to the tower, she finally performed the same operation on herself. This was when she was over 100 years old. ”

“…… Did she succeed? ”

"It worked, so to speak. Although it did not reach the point of abandoning all feelings, the feelings of horror and surprise and anger that would shake its own were successfully sealed. After that, no matter what happened to the Administrator, he would not waver in his heart. Like God...... No, it should be said to be like a machine. Her consciousness only exists to maintain the world, to make it stable, to let it stagnation. The old body had been sealed in the depths of her consciousness, and there was no way to return to the surface until the moment when she was one hundred and fifty years old, when the capacity of the Fluct Light reached its end, intending to take the poor girl's soul. ”

"But...... Judging from what I heard before, shouldn't the daughter who replaced the furniture craftsman be a strict replica of the soul of the Administrator? In other words, the same should be true for the absence of feelings...... In that case, why do you now emerge like this? Hearing Lin Yiyan's question, Cardinal fell silent, and his gaze seemed to drift to the other side in the distance. Presumably, she is traveling through two hundred years of time, tracing the memories of the past.

After a moment, Cardinal's small lips finally opened again and made a sound.

The strange tremor that the old body felt at that moment could not be expressed in any words that the old body knew...... After bringing the Furniture Maker's daughter to the top of the tower, the Administrator immediately used the secret technique of synthesis perfected through countless experiments to copy and overlay his soul on the opponent's Fluct Light. This step succeeded without any problems.,Boarding in that girl.,It's true that the useless memories have been eliminated.,Or the compressed Administrator.,No,It should be said that it's the personality of Quenella.。 According to the previous plan, after confirming the success of the technique, it is necessary to immediately erase the soul of the original Quinella, who is about to die...... However......"

Cardinal's face, which had been flushed like a young girl, had turned as white as paper at some point. Although she insisted that she had no feelings, Lin Yiyan, who noticed her expression, felt that she was feeling deep fear anyway.

“…… However, after the replication is completed...... The moment we both opened our eyes at an extremely close distance, we both felt some indescribable impact. Other words...... We are all afraid of the impossible situation of having a person who is exactly like us...... Maybe that's close. Old body, no, the two of us felt overwhelming hostility the moment we saw each other. In other words, the soul in front of you must not be allowed to continue to exist...... This is already an instinct that transcends feelings, nay, perhaps the first principle engraved in all sapient organisms. If this state continues, maybe both souls will be wiped out. But...... Sadly, nothing like this happened. The Fluct Light in the furniture craftsman's daughter transcended the boundaries of Honkai a little earlier, and at that moment, the old body as a sub-personality established dominance. Then, at the same time, we realized that the Administrator, who was housed in the original body of Quenella, and the Cardinal subprogram that was housed in the body of the furniture craftsman's daughter, stopped the collapse of the soul and restored peace. ”

The collapse of the soul. The words that came out of Cardinal's mouth reminded Lin Yiyan irresistibly of the gloomy and incredible scene he saw in the evening two days ago.

When Lin Yiyan was fighting with the chief sword cultivator of the Sword Cultivation Academy, Reios Antinos, he used the Celluloid Secret Arcane Vortex to cut off both of his arms. While this may be considered fatal in the real world, it would not have killed Antinos if he was properly disposed of in the Under orld.

In order to preserve his destiny, which is similar to a hit point in this world, Lin Yiyan intends to stop the bleeding by wrapping around the wounds on his arms. But before Lin Yiyan could do this, Laiios let out an abnormal scream and fell to the ground, dying in Jiuquan.

His wounds were still bleeding. That is, the Mandate of Heaven value has not been reduced to zero, in other words, Leios died for reasons other than the Mandate of Heaven. Before his death, Leios was faced with such a situation - which one of his destiny and forbidden catalogues should be followed and which one should be broken. Unable to make a choice, he fell into an infinite cycle that eventually led to self-damage to his soul.

Faced with a copy of her own, the situation in her mind must be basically the same as this. Having another life with the same memories and the same mode of thinking as oneself makes people shudder as long as they imagine it.

"-How, can you still understand it so far?" Cardinal, who was sitting on the other side of the round table, looked at Lin Yiyan, who was bowing his head and shaking his head as if he was overheating, and threw such words at Lin Yiyan in the tone of an old teacher. Lin Yiyan raised his face, blinked, and muttered and nodded.

"Ah...... Anyway, pretty much......"

"Looks like we're finally getting down to business. If you can't understand it just by hearing this, the old body will be very troubled. ”

"Straight to the point...... That's right, that's right. I don't know what the hell you want me to do. ”

"Hmm. It was to tell you what was going to happen that the old body had been living in this dark and damp place for two hundred years since that day...... So, let's continue from the time when the old body and the Administrator split up. ”

Cardinal rubbed his empty teacup up and down with both hands, and then spoke.

On that day, the old body finally acquired a body that belonged only to himself, to be precise, the body of the poor probationary nun...... Her personality was completely wiped out the moment Light-Cube was overwritten. The old body, which was born out of such a ruthless technique and an unexpected accident, stared at the Administrator who was close to him for about 0.3 seconds, and immediately took action, that is, to use the highest level of divine magic to try to destroy her. At that point in time, the old body was a strict replica of the Administrator, i.e., had the exact same access to the system as her. If she attacks from the old body's side first, even if it becomes a mutual attack of the same level later, it should eventually be the old body that reduces her destiny to zero before the surrounding spatial resources are exhausted. The first shot hits beautifully, and the subsequent development fits the prediction of the old body, too. With the top floor of the central cathedral as the stage, the death battles between thunder and whirlwinds, fire and ice blades are constantly staged, and the destiny of the two of us is indeed approaching zero little by little. This is a confrontation between two people of exactly the same rank...... In other words, the old body that grabbed the first blow should be able to win the final victory. ”

Lin Yiyan imagined the battle between gods and gods, and was a little dumbfounded. The divine spells that Lin Yiyan knew about were limited to the primary spells that the opponent used to transform the elements when he was fighting with Elderiyah. The attack power is far inferior to that of a sword strike, and it takes all the effort to take away the destiny of others just as a means of containment......

"-Ah, wait a bit. You've said earlier that Administrators can't kill people, right? In that case, you, as a copy of it, should be the same as the Administrator. So why are you able to fight each other? ”

Speaking of Cardinal, who was interrupted by Lin Yiyan, he pursed his lips dissatisfiedly, but then nodded lightly.

"Hmm...... That's a good question. Indeed, as you say, the Administrator, while not bound by the taboo directory, is still unable to break the principle that Quenella was instilled in her parents as a child that prohibits killing. As for the root cause of the phenomenon that our artificial Fluct Light cannot disobey all the orders of the superiors, I have been thinking about it for so many years and have not been able to get satisfactory results...... However, this phenomenon is not absolute, as you think. ”

“…… In other words......? ”

"For example......" Cardinal moved her right hand holding the teacup over the table, but instead of on the saucer, she slowly lowered it where there was nothing on the right side of the saucer - her wrist stopped abruptly just as the bottom of the cup almost touched the table.

"There's no way for the old man to put the cup down any further."

"Huh?" Looking at Lin Yiyan with a surprised face, Cardinal continued with a calm face.

Why, if asked, the meaningless rule that Mom – Quiniera's mother, of course, taught me as a child is still in effect today. Although the most important taboo is only killing, there are seventeen other such trivial prohibitions. The old body could no longer put his hand down, and if he forced himself to do so, he would have a sharp pain in his right eye. ”

“…… Right eye ...... Painful ......"

"Even so, it's much better than the average person. If it were them, the idea of putting a cup on the table would not have come to mind. That is, they do not even perceive that they are forcibly bound by various taboos. In that sense, maybe they're happier......"

Probably fully aware of the fact that he was made, Cardinal smiled wryly with a self-deprecating expression that did not resemble a girl of his age, and his hands were held flat in front of him.

"So...... Yi Yan, in your opinion, is this a teacup? ”

"Huh?" Hearing the abrupt question, Lin Yiyan turned his head and carefully looked at the empty cup held by Cardinal in his right hand. The cup is made of white ceramic, with simple curves on the sides and an unadorned handle. Except for a dark green line on the rim of the cup, there is no other pattern.

"Well...... Isn't this a teacup? It's all filled with tea......"

"Hmm. So, what about such words? Cardinal reached out the index finger of his left hand and tapped the rim of the cup lightly. As before, the liquid poured out of the bottom of the cup in one go, and the white heat steamed up. However, this time the scent is different from the previous ones. Subconsciously sniffed, the mellow and thick aroma that permeated the air, no matter how you look at it, it is not black tea, but only corn cream soup.

Seeing Lin Yiyan poke his head out, Cardinal tilted the cup slightly as if he wanted Lin Yiyan to see the contents of the cup. Filling the cup was a yellowish viscous liquid, and there was even a somewhat burnt cream skin floating on it.

“…… It's corn soup! Thanks, I'm just a little hungry......"

"Stupid, the old body didn't ask you what's inside. Now, what is this container? ”

"Huh......? No, this is ......" The cup itself has not changed in any way compared to just now. However, if I have to say, is this cup a little too simple, too big, and too heavy compared to ordinary teacups?

"That...... Soup cups? A little apprehensive, Cardinal smiled kindly and nodded, "Yes." This cup is now a soup cup. Because the soup is in it. Then, when Lin Yiyan felt a little speechless, the cup was put on the table with a "bang" as if there was no hindrance.

"What......!?"

"See. The taboo imposed on our artificial Fluct Light is, in a sense, such an ambiguous thing. It can be easily subverted just by changing one's own subjective perceptions. ”

"......" Lin Yiyan, who was speechless because of excessive surprise, resurfaced the scene two days ago in his mind. At that time, the moment Lin Yiyan broke into the bedroom, Laios was mercilessly swinging his sword at Yugeo, who was kneeling on the ground. If Lin Yiyan didn't use his sword to take that blow, Yugio's head would probably be cut off by Leios.

Killing is arguably the biggest taboo. However, at that moment, for Ryos, Yugeo was no longer a human like him, but a great sinner who had violated the taboo catalog. Realizing this, he easily crossed the taboo engraved on his soul.

Lin Yiyan fell into deep thought, and Cardinal leaned back into the chair with a slight sound, raised the teacup in his hand, oh no, it was a soup cup, and took a sip elegantly. The meat buns and sandwiches that I ate dozens of minutes ago had already been converted into my own destiny value, and the empty stomach pouch had shrunk into a ball.

“…… Can I drink some of that too? ”

"You're a foodie. Hand over the cup. Cardinal shook his head helplessly, reached out his left hand, and tapped lightly on the rim of the cup I handed over. Empty cups are instantly filled with a delicious creamy liquid.

Lin Yiyan hurriedly wrapped the cup with both hands, blew off the hot air and took a sip, letting the nostalgic rich flavor spread in his mouth, and then closed his eyes and enjoyed it slowly. I didn't expect Under orld to have such a delicious soup, I haven't drunk such a perfect cream soup for two and a half years.

Lin Yiyan, who drank the thick soup in three or two bites, let out a satisfied sigh. As if he had been waiting for Lin Yiyan, Cardinal didn't continue to speak until this moment.

"Listen, as the old man demonstrated before, the taboo that binds us can be subverted by just changing the way we perceive. We were ...... at the time Neither the old body nor the Administrator saw each other as human after the war. To the old body, she is the corrupted system that has brought the world to a standstill, and in her eyes the old body is a virus that must be erased...... Both sides did not hesitate at all about zeroing out the other party's destiny. At the end of the highest-level spell encounter, it was finally time to wipe her out with just two or three more attacks—even in the worst case, the old body should be able to die with her. ”8)