They are well aware that their true identities are just memories from the past, and they also understand that most of "themselves" in the real world have long been dead. But to be honest, since they have inherited all the personalities and memories of the "original body", these memories are not as free and easy as they seem on the surface.
When the successors of this civilization visited the paradise, they told themselves that they were just "mentors" who helped these successors to inherit stronger power; when no one visited the paradise, except for scientific researchers like Mebius and Velvi who continued to pursue the unknown and the truth even after becoming memories, most of them were even in a state similar to dormancy.
After all, no matter how mysterious it looks on the surface, the essence of the Paradise of the Past is still just a super-large electronic device that can construct a virtual space.
When these "programs" are running, they will naturally put a burden on the hardware facilities of the paradise, and even cause lag in certain situations, such as when Alicia, who has added a lot of fancy special effects to herself, is testing the visitors.
However, these heroes themselves all knew that it was impossible for them, with their memories, to truly let go of everything from that era.
There are things they failed to do 50,000 years ago, there are many things they had to succumb to reality, and there are also many people and things they cannot let go of even if they have become memories. If they had the chance to go back to the past, then most of them probably would not hesitate at all.
"..." Kevin was silent for a moment, and suddenly looked around, "Where's Mebius?"
"After being thrown out of the café by the store manager, she plunged into her own laboratory." Abonya said in her usual saintly tone, "I guess the appearance of this café also made her, who already had a hard time relaxing, come up with some new ideas, right?"
"In that cafe, we, the memories, also briefly gained physical bodies that could move freely outside of Paradise. Under normal circumstances, we shouldn't even be able to walk into the door of that cafe." Su nodded. "For Mobius, both this cafe and the manager who controls it probably have unparalleled appeal."
"Anyway, it would be nice if I could see little Ai Li in that cafe again in the future~" Eden's face flushed, and a hint of melancholy flashed across that graceful and peerless face, "I really hope that child can be happy like this forever..."
Eden's sigh made these memories fall silent again.
Although Eden can almost be regarded as the archbishop of Aimen to some extent, in fact, these heroes are more or less like disciples of Aimen, otherwise they would not allow Alicia to "do whatever she wants" so freely in the paradise.
If Su's question to Kevin only made these heroes' memories more or less itchy, then Eden's "unintentional words" were probably the "final word" that allowed them to make up their minds.
Now that he had made up his mind deep in his heart, Kevin no longer hesitated. Although what they, the memory bodies who had difficulty leaving the paradise, could do could be said to be very limited, even the memory bodies could definitely find a way to help little Ellie.
"I'll go to Mobius' laboratory to take a look. Aponya, you temporarily hand over the control of Paradise to Velvet." Kevin said.
"I see." Aponya chuckled. "It seems that you are ready to take up your responsibilities as a leader again."
"..." Kevin glanced at Aponya calmly, and did not answer her words. Instead, he looked in the direction of Velvet and said lightly: "When Alicia, who still lived 50,000 years ago, visits this cafe again, I hope everyone can find a way to follow her. Can you do it?"
"I can't guarantee it, but I'll try my best." Weiwei shrugged and stated her decision calmly.
"The rest of you will take turns staying here and monitoring the door of this cafe. If anything unexpected happens, notify others as soon as possible. I will go negotiate with the store manager tomorrow, and it would be best if he would allow one of us to stay in his store forever." Kevin continued.
"Just order a cup of coffee." Hua suggested hesitantly, "I updated the information about the cafe from my original body. Although it is a very special shop, its main business is indeed special catering from different worlds. It also provides customers with a place to rest. Under the condition that it does not affect the normal business of the cafe, you can order a cup of coffee and find a seat. They will not drive customers away until closing time."
"Then let me stay in that cafe." Eden chuckled. "I can feel that the manager of that cafe and I have a good connection. Anyway, there is nothing to do in this paradise. I wonder if that cafe needs a resident musician."
"Which cafe are you going to apply for a job at?" The Herrscher of Lightning, Raiden Mei, was a little surprised.
"Why not? That cafe doesn't seem to refuse to hire people from different worlds as staff, right? You and the other silver-haired girl from the past have already worked as temporary staff in that cafe, haven't you?" Eden shook the goblet in his hand and drank the wine in it. "I am still very confident in my playing skills. Although the decoration and drinks of that cafe are quite attractive, if there is pleasant background music, it will surely give the customers of that cafe a better audio-visual experience."
"..." Kevin touched his chin and thought the proposal was feasible, so he immediately decided, "Okay, let Eden try to apply for a job at that cafe. If Alicia from 50,000 years ago comes to this cafe again, and Mobius and Velvet have developed the technology to allow us to leave with her, then we will--"
"Well……"
Suddenly, a somewhat confused murmur sounded from the direction of the lounge in Paradise.
"What's wrong with me……"
Everyone subconsciously looked towards the place where the sound came from. The Herrscher of Thunder, Raiden Mei, was stunned at first, then her face was full of surprise: "Raven? Why are you here?"
In the open lounge, a woman with short gray hair supported her still dizzy forehead and dazedly sat up from the sofa in the booth, subconsciously responding to the words of the Herrscher of Lightning, Raiden Mei: "What do you mean, why am I here? Miss... before you left, wasn't I..."
As he spoke, the raven slowly opened his eyes, and then suddenly choked back the words that were yet to be said.
She glanced at the strange gate floating above the anchor point, then glanced at the Herrscher of Thunder, Raiden Mei, standing outside the gate, and then her pupils trembled as she looked around at the heroes standing in a circle around the Herrscher of Thunder, Raiden Mei...
After a moment of silence, the raven laughed:
"…Uh, did I wake up at the wrong time?"
"..."
No one answered her words, and all the heroes present stared at Raven's face.
"No, I think you woke up at the right time." The Herrscher of Thunder, Raiden Mei, suddenly smiled, her smile bright and brilliant, "If I remember correctly... Raven, it seems that you have run a bar in the real world."
The eyes of the heroes suddenly lit up.
Those sharp eyes, like a hunter suddenly seeing its prey, sent a chill down Raven's spine. Although she had no idea what was going on, she instantly realized that she had been sold out by the Herrscher of Thunder, Raiden Mei. She couldn't help but curse all of the Herrscher of Thunder, Raiden Mei's ancestors in her heart, racking her brains to figure out if there was any way to turn around and run away from the paradise, trying not to come back again for the rest of her life.
But she also understood that in front of these heroes who were no different from monsters, she would most likely have no way out.
So she could only roll her eyes and nodded dejectedly: "Yes, yes, I opened a bar outside, so what? World Serpent should have never banned cadres from having part-time jobs, right?"
"So you should be good at mixing drinks?"
"Hmph, are you okay, Miss?" Raven snorted coldly, his nose raised high, "Have you never tried my bartending skills?"
"I don't drink, but the milk you mixed does taste good."
"That's right, sterile skim, which is the best way to get rid of minors who come to the bar to show off their so-called maturity." Raven said, with a guarded expression, "So, you suddenly mentioned this matter in front of them... It shouldn't be just to let these heroes who I probably haven't met have a taste of my bartending skills, right?"
"Are you interested in being a barista?" The Herrscher of Thunder, Raiden Mei, said concisely.
"...Huh?" The raven blinked, looking confused.
Hyperion Café, lobby.
Brownie, who was putting the ingredients for making drinks back into the coffee cabinet in an orderly manner, suddenly felt an itchy nose and sneezed violently.
"Have you... caught a cold?" Miss Midori, who had just lifted the curtain of the kitchen door, happened to see this scene and asked in a caring tone.
"How is that possible? Maybe someone suddenly talked about me." Brownie rubbed his nose and waved his hand casually, "Rather than worrying about my affairs, you should care about the other two of you."
"It seems that I don't need to worry about their affairs~"
"Huh? Even if one of them ended up like this entirely because of your manipulation?"
"You misunderstood me." Rita gently played with the gray-gold hair that fell on her shoulders, and a calm smile flashed across her charming face. "Although I can use my consciousness, even I can't have the ability to change other people's subjective preferences~"
"That 'Miss Rita' threw herself into the arms of the store manager's wife's arms. It was entirely her own choice. Although it's not completely unrelated to me, but to say that I was the one who controlled the outcome... Miss Brownie thinks too highly of me~"
"I really don't understand your idea." Brownie shook his head and sighed, "Everyone in this cafe obviously regards the 'self' from different worlds as other people. The two 'Thereses', Stargazing and Moonlight, have been arguing in the bedroom all year round about the manager... Among all the employees in the cafe, you are the only weird guy who would actively push the 'self' from another world under the manager."
"...Seriously, do you have some kind of hidden fetish?"
"I don't have any weird habits. If I have to say... while I like the store manager, I also like Lady Theresa and Miss Brownie... does that count?" Rita said with a smile.
"You won't get anything good from confessing to me."
"What a pity! I still want to build a deeper and more intimate connection with Miss Brownie." Rita sighed.
"You're just a pervert..." Brownie rolled his eyes, unable to complain.
At this moment, there was a sound of something heavy falling suddenly coming from the stairs on the second floor.
What followed was a soft and trembling voice.
"How...how could it be, Lady Yulandel...are you unwilling to go back with Rita?"
After that heart-breaking voice sounded, another upright voice said in an awkward tone: "We are definitely going to go back, but...can't we go separately? It's so late and we're still walking together at night. I'm afraid others will see us and misunderstand our relationship. Rita, you definitely don't want to be looked at with strange eyes, right?"
"..."
"Ah...Ah, ah, ah? Rita, why are you crying all of a sudden???!"
Amidst the intermittent crying, the upright voice immediately became panic-stricken.
Then, another soft and charming voice that was exactly the same as the heart-breaking cry sounded faintly, with a lazy tone, as well as some satisfaction and joy:
"Don't worry, Master Yulandel. The other 'Rita' just has a hard time accepting that her desire for you has been caught."
"You...!! How dare you say that to me?!" The voice with a hint of tears roared, "You and I are both Rita, but you actually...actually watched Lady Yulandel..."
Chapter 4: The Price of Staying Overnight (k)
"What's wrong with that?"
Just as that soft and graceful voice was reaching an unprecedented level of fever, another voice with the same timbre as that one lazily interrupted the former's words.
"Lady Yulandel has found her ideal partner. As servants who have sworn to wait on her for her whole life, isn't the most important thing for us to do to watch over her from behind?"
"But……!!"
The broken voice was choked speechless by the words spoken by a voice that was exactly the same as its own.
No, under normal circumstances, it is obviously impossible to convince the former with such perverse logic.
However, in front of the owner of that righteous voice, that gentle voice that was in a state of breakdown, there was no way she could openly say "I've been eyeing Lady Yulandel since the moment I saw her photo!" These words, which could only be described as perverted,
In the lobby on the first floor, Brownie wiped the glass in her hand expressionlessly and placed it on the cup holder. She sighed softly, put her hands on her hips, and looked at Rita's face with an inexplicable look. Rita's face was smiling sweetly because of the noise on the second floor. "(???) Seriously, are you really going to leave those two 'selves' alone? One of them really sounds like she's about to cry."
"If that 'Rita Rossweisse' really lost her will because of such a simple thing, then it can only mean that even if we are the same person, she is the one who is the least similar to me." Rita raised her arm and gently stroked her smooth cheek with the palm of her hand covered with black silk gloves. "No matter which world it is, it is always difficult to feel sympathy for losers, isn't it? As a hacker who is rampant in Sky City, you should understand this principle best."
"...I don't know why, but whenever I hear you say something like that, I always feel like there's a star of doom flickering over your head."
"Oh, I didn't expect Miss Brownie to be such a superstitious child? It really surprised Rita." Rita smiled calmly, her gentle and moving laughter was full of absolute confidence. "But if you are looking forward to seeing the scene when I fail, then Rita can't help but tell you with some regret that such expectations are doomed to be in vain. After all, I am not like the other two 'Rita Rossweisse', who can't even protect the things they like~"
The corners of Brownie's eyes twitched slightly. She looked at Rita deeply with a look of pity. In the latter's somewhat confused eyes, she clasped her hands together, made a gesture as if she was praying, and then left without looking back.
The lessons of history tell Brownie that it is better not to say some big words if possible. Don't wait until the boomerang hits you in the face and you feel the pain before you regret your arrogant and conceited face.
At this moment, the door of the cafe was suddenly pushed in from the outside.
It was now nine o'clock in the evening and the cafe had officially entered closing time, so the people who walked in from the door were not customers, but the slightly impatient manager and Mistrylin with a happy smile on her face.
"Sometimes, I really wonder if I've lost my mind to believe someone like you who talks nonsense."
As soon as I walked into the coffee shop, the manager's voice of full resentment overflowed from his mouth.
"Why do you want to stay here with me at all costs? Logically, you should go back to your own world and tell Kiana from your world. Then she and I can work together to build a normal space channel, and everyone will be happy, right? If you want to come to this cafe, you can come in through the main door normally, and I won't stop you."
"What are you talking about? Bunny doesn't know~" Misterine said with a smile.
"What's wrong?" Brownie asked casually.
"It's just that my ability is a little lacking, so after repairing this damaged space, I was unable to return to the Quantum Sea immediately." Misterine clasped her hands together with a very happy smile on her face, "So, this lovely Miss Hare Rabbit, please let me get along happily with everyone from now on~"
"Forget it. I'm not interested in dangerous people like you." Brownie took out a piece of bubble gum, tore open the wrapper, and gently put it into his mouth to chew.
"Don't be so cold. After all, I am still your aunt~"
"Uh-huh..."
…I accidentally swallowed the bubble gum I had just chewed into my throat.
"Cough-cough-cough-"
Brownie's face turned red, and he slapped his chest hard. Then, after forcefully swallowing the ball of bubble gum that was almost jelly-like, he looked at Mistletoe's happy face with a horrified expression.
"Are you kidding me?! Don't try to make friends with others for no reason, okay? Aren't you the daughter of Cecilia? What does that have to do with me?!"
"Hey, aren't you the counterpart of Bronya's child?"
"So what?" Brownie's face turned pale, but he didn't deny the words immediately.
The World Bubble, in a sense, is an existence similar to a projection. Although these beings born in the World Bubble do not regard themselves as fakes, they cannot deny that there is indeed an intricate relationship between themselves and the "prototype".
For Brownie, the name "Bronya" is certainly not unfamiliar, because this is her original name. However, since people around her like to call her by her nickname, and she did have the objective need to remain anonymous during the time she worked as a hacker in Sky City, in the eyes of outsiders, she just took on the name "Bronie".
But honestly, it was hard for Bronya to think of herself as the same person as the "Bronyas" she knew.
During the time when the Hyperion was still traveling around the Quantum Sea, Brownie followed the captain's footsteps and saw quite a few cases of "isotopes". In most cases, those isotopes were not only similar in personality and appearance, but even their life experiences and appearances had only very small differences.
Apart from "Delta" and her counterpart "Rosalia", only she, "Brownie", and "Bronya" from another world seemed out of place. Sometimes, Brownie actually doubted whether she was Bronya's counterpart or someone else's counterpart.
Of course, such doubts were destined to never be answered by anyone, so Brownie just quietly kept this doubt deep in his heart.
Although she was somewhat interested in her "prototype", she was not to the point of wanting to know everything about it. Of course, it would be great if she could get the answer, but it was not a big deal if she still couldn't figure it out.
Misterine stretched out a finger, gently spun it in the air, and smiled: "Well... Although this may not make you feel much reality, after all, it was your biological mother who gave me the name 'Misterine'~ I have such a close relationship with your biological mother Alexandra, so it shouldn't be a big problem for me to call myself your aunt?"
"Aunt??!" Brownie's voice changed completely.
Although Brownie was stunned for a moment after hearing her biological mother's name from Misterine's mouth, for Brownie, who was raised by Taixu Sect and Natasha since childhood, she did not have much deep feelings for her biological mother, and of course she would not acknowledge this "aunt" who suddenly appeared.
Brownie quickly noticed the blind spot and rolled his eyes. "If you want to play a trick on others, at least make up a convincing excuse, right? Since you claim to be Bronya's aunt, why did you go to recognize your relatives with the two Bronyas when they were still there? Why did you have to wait until they left before coming to see me alone?"
Mistrylin held her face in her hands, a look of melancholy written all over her face. "I can't help it. I really want to get close to those two cute kids, but, when people live in this world, they will always encounter situations that they cannot control."
"……speak English."
"Have you forgotten? 'Yutu' is a cadre of the World Serpent~" Mistellin spread her hands, looking helpless, "Telling them that the World Serpent has their aunt at this time will not change the hostile stance between the two sides. It is even more impossible to allow them to be beaten up, right?"
Brownie finally understood what Misterine meant. The other party's extremely illogical logic made her feel unprecedentedly powerless.
She put her hands on her hips and squinted at Mistellin: "...Who gave you the illusion that I would allow you to rub me?"
"No way?" Mistyline put on a pitiful expression and clasped her hands together as if begging.
"No!" Brownie refused without hesitation.
