()||<BIN>9</BIN><黑屏1>0,10</黑屏1><BGM>BGM_Empty</BGM>:
()<Speaker></Speaker>||<BIN>569</BIN><BGM>BGM_23S_Crossroads_Warrior</BGM><黑屏2><common_effect>%%code=AVG_qipao%%</common_effect><SE1>AVG_splash_water</SE1>:In the depths of the Lake of Cognition, Avernus. +A brilliant light shines upon the water, rippling with a beauty that is both timeless and eternal. +If it weren't for the flickering dark shadow, Ange would've thought she was dreaming. +Dreaming about being on a boat sailing in Heaven—the last place she should be going to.
()||<黑屏1>:
NPC-Ange(8)<Speaker>Ange</Speaker>||<黑屏2><关闭蒙版>:What is this... spectacle?
NPC-MrsGray(6)<Speaker>Gray</Speaker>||:Have you heard of "Nirvana"?
()<Speaker></Speaker>||<SE1>ClothingUp</SE1>:Ange shakes her head.
NPC-Ange(8)<Speaker>Ange</Speaker>||:Not my field of expertise.
NPC-MrsGray(6)<Speaker>Gray</Speaker>||:It is one of the Relics Agency's research areas. +Back then, Martha, a senior from my school stayed and worked at the applied physics lab after she graduated. Her work was so exceptional, she got recruited by the Relics Agency. +This happened to be her main project. +Creating a replica of "Nirvana" —the human connectome project then known as the "Holy Grail". +Creating the Nytos' consciousness—the Virtual Cognition Image and Lake of Cognition—to simulate logic, emotions, and instincts. +This... is the deepest part of all Nytos' consciousness—the Lake of Cognition.
()||<白屏1>:
()<Speaker>Ange</Speaker>||<白屏2><BIN>462</BIN><SE1>ClothingUp</SE1>:What's that iceberg up there?
()<Speaker>Gray</Speaker>||:...Martha encountered a lot of setbacks in her research. There was a time when one could move freely among the three layers... +Until Sana's brain death.
()<Speaker>Gray</Speaker>||:I wanted to save her. +If you had known Martha back in those days, you would know just how brilliant, just how dazzling she was. +When such a person begged you for help, there's no way you could refuse.
()<Speaker>Gray</Speaker>||:I designed a device—the Evangel Axis. +A device to anchor her consciousness.
()<Speaker>Gray</Speaker>||<SE1>ClothingUp</SE1>:I extracted Sana's memories. +Then using the Evangel Axis, I separated her memories from the Virtual Cognition Image. +I deposited the memories here as a simulation of a human's consciousness. +In the beginning, the conduit effect of the Evangel Axis manifested as just a thin layer of ice. +But then... as more and more consciousnesses got placed here, the ice also grew thicker. +And now... it has become an entire iceberg.
()||<白屏1>:
NPC-Ange(8)<Speaker>Ange</Speaker>||<白屏2><BIN>569</BIN>:...Why are you here?
NPC-MrsGray(6)<Speaker>Gray</Speaker>||:...Call it the experimenter's weird quirk. +Just as how some construction workers would carve their name on roof tiles... +Gray left a duplicate of her own memories here. +That's me. I possess all her memories up until 2051.
NPC-Ange(8)<Speaker>Ange</Speaker>||:If a human's consciousness is anchored here and given control over different physical bodies... isn't that a form of immortality?
NPC-MrsGray(6)<Speaker>Gray</Speaker>||:... +I once believed so. +But sadly, this is no immortality.
NPC-Ange(8)<Speaker>Ange</Speaker>||:...It certainly looks like it.
NPC-MrsGray(6)<Speaker>Gray</Speaker>||:Let's say a person has her memories duplicated at the age of 10, 20, and 30, creating Copies A, B, and C. Which copy do you think is the real her?
NPC-Ange(8)<Speaker>Ange</Speaker>||:The last copy.
NPC-MrsGray(6)<Speaker>Gray</Speaker>||:No... No one knows which is the so-called "last" copy. +If the 20-year-old and 40-year-old versions of "her" take control of two different physical bodies and start making different choices individually, which of them do you think is her?
NPC-Ange(8)<Speaker>Ange</Speaker>||<SE1>ClothingUp</SE1>:...
NPC-MrsGray(6)<Speaker>Gray</Speaker>||:...Humans are unique and capable of genuine creativity. +The puppets powered by the Evangel Axis aren't.
NPC-MrsGray(6)<Speaker>Gray</Speaker>||:To put it in simple terms... The so-called personalities formed here are only a hodgepodge of selected and shuffled traits. +They are not genuine creations. +The Evangel Axis can generate an infinite number of English words using the existing alphabet, but it cannot create a 27th letter. +Humans... cannot create an imitation of the true Creator.
NPC-Ange(8)<Speaker>Ange</Speaker>||:What happened then?
NPC-MrsGray(6)<Speaker>Gray</Speaker>||:The surgical procedure failed. +I did anchor Sana's consciousness here so that she could attempt to control a physical body via the Evangel Axis. +But it didn't work. +The generated personality was incomplete. I kept synthesizing and recombining, shuffling and rearranging... +But in the end, I realized that I had failed hopelessly. +The thing that I created... was not Sana at all. +I explained this to Martha as I despaired. +And that... was the last thing I remember.
NPC-Ange(8)<Speaker>Ange</Speaker>||:That's why you said you're a "moment". +That moment.
NPC-MrsGray(6)<Speaker>Gray</Speaker>||:Yes... +It only takes a moment to be transported here, while a human is defined by infinite moments. +So how could such a thing be human at all?
NPC-Ange(8)<Speaker>Ange</Speaker>||<SE1>Rope</SE1>:... +Paradeus has been harvesting humans for experimentation... in order to achieve immortality?
NPC-MrsGray(6)<Speaker>Gray</Speaker>||:...It could also be a side effect.
NPC-Ange(8)<Speaker>Ange</Speaker>||:What do you mean?
NPC-MrsGray(6)<Speaker>Gray</Speaker>||:... +This is purely conjecture, but I think it's a side effect of this design.
NPC-MrsGray(6)<Speaker>Gray</Speaker>||:Human science and experiments are essentially about imitating nature and searching for some kind of logical "truth" behind it.
NPC-MrsGray(6)<Speaker>Gray</Speaker>||<SE1>ClothingUp</SE1>:For example, plants need sunlight to grow. +Nature is the sun that provides sunlight. +Scientists create grow lights through imitation and innovation. +We make plants grow with these grow lights. +However... grow lights consume electricity. +This energy consumption is a side effect of creating an imitation. +In other words, the side effect of simulating "Nirvana" via the "Holy Grail" is that it must consume bioenergy.
NPC-Ange(8)<Speaker>Ange</Speaker><Shake>0.1</Shake>||<SE1>Rope</SE1>:...How could you design something so abominable?!
NPC-MrsGray(6)<Speaker>Gray</Speaker>||:...As I said, Sertürner's first experimented on isolating morphine to create an analgesic. No one could foresee the opening of Pandora's box. +I tried to decipher the code of immortality, but ended up creating this... abomination. +Back then, I sourced the required bioenergy from animals. Sana could nod and shake her head, nothing else... +But now...
NPC-MrsGray(6)<Speaker>Gray</Speaker>||:Judging by the thickness of the ice, I gather the experiment was eventually a success. But it consumed a tremendous amount of energy. +Tremendous enough to create this spectacle.
NPC-Ange(8)<Speaker>Ange</Speaker>||:It worked indeed. It created the so-called Nytos.
NPC-MrsGray(6)<Speaker>Gray</Speaker>||:...
NPC-Ange(8)<Speaker>Ange</Speaker>||:Why are you telling me this?
NPC-MrsGray(6)<Speaker>Gray</Speaker>||:... +To explain why this isn't immortality.
NPC-MrsGray(6)<Speaker>Gray</Speaker>||:I don't know the thought process of the "me" who remains human. +I think the miracle named "Nyto" is a deadly temptation for all scientists. +In fact, I must admit that hearing about its success still fills me with a vague sense of triumph. +However... +My reason and morals tell me that this technology should never have been taken this far. +It is unethical and utterly against my initial design.
NPC-Ange(8)<Speaker>Ange</Speaker>||:So you're confessing out of guilt?
NPC-MrsGray(6)<Speaker>Gray</Speaker>||:...I have witnessed too many real deaths here. +The Evangel Axis is not a closed-loop system. It requires external energy input. +So after a while, you will be deconstructed and consumed by the Evangel Axis as it continues to run... +You may be chosen as material for synthesizing a new "consciousness". +Or you may be transformed into energy to be fed to the Evangel Axis...
NPC-MrsGray(6)<Speaker>Gray</Speaker>||<SE1>ClothingUp</SE1>:I don't know who you are. +But you're the first person to recognize me.
NPC-Ange(8)<Speaker>Ange</Speaker>||:What is your full name?
NPC-MrsGray(6)<Speaker>Gray</Speaker>||<BGM>BGM_Empty</BGM>:Gray Blackwell.
NPC-Ange(8)<Speaker>Ange</Speaker>||<BGM>BGM_23S_Winter_Night</BGM>:I knew it... +You're Martha Meitner's junior alumnus, the author of the letters in my head.
NPC-MrsGray(6)<Speaker>Gray</Speaker>||:Letters?
NPC-Ange(8)<Speaker>Ange</Speaker>||<SE1>ClothingUp</SE1>:...
()||<黑屏1>:
()<Speaker></Speaker>||<narrator><黑屏2><BIN>655</BIN>:Dear Blackwell, It has been a long time since our last correspondence. +For whatever reason, even in this technologically advanced age, I still prefer maintaining our relationship using more traditional means. +You probably don't want to hear any more about this, but I've got to share with you how I feel right now. Perhaps I was too weak and cowardly. It was already technologically feasible back then, but I was simply too scared. I considered waiting until all the preparations were complete, but... the situation doesn't allow it. +It is time I gave up some things. Giving up does not lead to losses. On the contrary, we gain more by giving up. This is my latest epiphany. +When all human morality, our very sense of good and evil, is utterly lost, I do not see any hope in saving humanity. +Dear Martha... +This is a betrayal of our ideals. We are no longer fellow travelers sharing the same adventure. I'm sorry.
()||<黑屏1>:
()<Speaker></Speaker>||<BGM>BGM_Empty</BGM><黑屏2><BIN>9</BIN>:...
()||<黑屏1>:
()<Speaker></Speaker>||<黑屏2><BIN>510</BIN><BGM>GF_22W_BGM_3</BGM>:Eastern Tower Operating Level, Avernus.
()<Speaker></Speaker>||<SE1>AVG_keyboardtype_sci</SE1>:With RO635's help, Koleda successfully hacks the database and obtains the security clearance to open the lock.
()<Speaker></Speaker>||<SE1>AVG_21Winter_Error</SE1>:Error. +Unfortunately, the door to the white glass room remains firmly shut.
NPC-Koleda(0)<Speaker>Koleda</Speaker>||:I knew it... The lock can only be fully disengaged by also inputting the passcode from the inside... This is the worst-case scenario.
RO635Mod(3)<Speaker>RO635</Speaker>||:Then we...
NPC-Koleda(0)<Speaker>Koleda</Speaker>||:We have no choice but to wait for her to regain consciousness. There's nothing to be done.
RO635Mod(3)<Speaker>RO635</Speaker>||:Was the figure who fought alongside us in Level II really Ange?
NPC-Koleda(0)<Speaker>Koleda</Speaker>||:It was her. +But I'm not entirely sure how a human could manage it.
RO635Mod(0)<Speaker>RO635</Speaker>||:It's because of "Hela"...
()<Speaker></Speaker>||:RO635 dares not... and has no desire to imagine what Ange has gone through.
()<Speaker></Speaker>||<SE1>AVG_tele_connect</SE1><BGM>BGM_Empty</BGM>:Click. +The communicator suddenly makes a sound, breaking the dull silence.
()<Speaker></Speaker>||:<color=#FFFF00>Operation Aeneas Conference Room reactivated.</color> +<color=#FFFF00>Task Force Aeneas registration completed – Unicorn.</color> +<color=#FFFF00>Task Force Aeneas registration completed – Umbrella.</color> +<color=#FFFF00>Aeneas Conference Room current progress...</color> +<color=#FFFF00>Phase 1 – 100% completed.</color> +<color=#FFFF00>Phase 2 – 50% completed.</color> +<color=#FFFF00>Phase 3 – 0% completed.</color> +<color=#FFFF00>Phase 4 – 100% completed.</color> +<color=#FFFF00>Phase 5 – 0% completed.</color> +<color=#FFFF00>...</color> +<color=#FFFF00>Phase 0 – 99%... 100% completed.</color>
RO635Mod(3)<Speaker>RO635</Speaker>||:...
()<Speaker></Speaker>||:RO635 is so shocked, she only manages to answer in acknowledgment after a good few seconds.
RO635Mod(3)<Speaker>RO635</Speaker>||:...45?
UMP45Mod(0)<Speaker>UMP45</Speaker><通讯框>||<SE1>AVG_tele_connect</SE1><BGM>GF_22W_BGM_2</BGM>:<color=#00CCFF>RO, it's me.</color>
RO635Mod(2)<Speaker>RO635</Speaker>||:...
UMP45Mod(0)<Speaker>UMP45</Speaker><通讯框>||:<color=#00CCFF>...</color>
()<Speaker></Speaker>||:RO635 feels like crying. She has a ton of questions to ask UMP45, but once she opens her mouth, everything she wants to say is lodged in her throat.
RO635Mod(0)<Speaker>RO635</Speaker>||:...What's the situation on your end?
RO635Mod(0);UMP45Mod(0)<Speaker>UMP45</Speaker><通讯框>||:<color=#00CCFF>I'm okay for the moment. I can keep the Aeneas Conference Room up and running.</color>
RO635Mod(3)<Speaker>RO635</Speaker>;UMP45Mod(0)||:Can you get in touch with the others?
RO635Mod(3);UMP45Mod(0)<Speaker>UMP45</Speaker><通讯框>||:<color=#00CCFF>No one else is online.</color>
RO635Mod(0)<Speaker>RO635</Speaker>||:...I see.
UMP45Mod(0)<Speaker>UMP45</Speaker><通讯框>||:<color=#00CCFF>I'll keep trying to get through to them.</color> +<color=#00CCFF>What about you? Have you found Ange?</color>
RO635Mod(2)<Speaker>RO635</Speaker>;UMP45Mod(0)||:I have, but we can't get her out yet. +I... We're working on it.
RO635Mod(2);UMP45Mod(0)<Speaker>UMP45</Speaker><通讯框>||:<color=#00CCFF>Figures... When have our missions ever been easy?</color> +<color=#00CCFF>But we're counting on you.</color>
RO635Mod(0)<Speaker>RO635</Speaker>;UMP45Mod(0)||:...I won't let you down.
RO635Mod(0);UMP45Mod(0)<Speaker>UMP45</Speaker><通讯框>||:<color=#00CCFF>I'll support you remotely.</color>
RO635Mod(0)<Speaker>RO635</Speaker>;UMP45Mod(0)||:Right, I'll send you info about the lab in a bit.
RO635Mod(0);UMP45Mod(0)<Speaker>UMP45</Speaker><通讯框>||:<color=#00CCFF>No problem.</color> +<color=#00CCFF>...</color>
RO635Mod(3)<Speaker>RO635</Speaker>;UMP45Mod(0)||:What?
RO635Mod(3);UMP45Mod(0)<Speaker>UMP45</Speaker><通讯框>||:<color=#00CCFF>RO, I have a request.</color>
RO635Mod(3)<Speaker>RO635</Speaker>;UMP45Mod(0)||:What request?
RO635Mod(3);UMP45Mod(0)<Speaker>UMP45</Speaker><通讯框>||:<color=#00CCFF>...</color> +<color=#00CCFF>Nevermind. Even if I don't say anything, you'll do your best to sort this out.</color>
RO635Mod(5)<Speaker>RO635</Speaker>;UMP45Mod(0)||:I will.
UMP45Mod(0)<Speaker>UMP45</Speaker><通讯框>||:<color=#00CCFF>Good luck, RO.</color>
()<Speaker></Speaker>||<SE1>AVG_tele_disconnect</SE1>:The Aeneas Conference Room falls silent again, but RO635 now finds calm in this silence.
()||<黑屏1>:
()<Speaker></Speaker>||<黑屏2><BIN>569</BIN><BGM>BGM_Empty</BGM>:Lake of Cognition, Avernus.
()<Speaker></Speaker>||:After listening to the letters, Gray Blackwell lapses into a long silence. +If it weren't for the constantly flowing water all around her, Ange would've thought that the world had frozen.
NPC-MrsGray(6)<Speaker>Gray</Speaker>||<BGM>GF_2022_Summer_AVG_2</BGM>:It appears that... +Martha did not terminate the project. +She simply renamed it from "Holy Grail" to "Hela".
NPC-Ange(8)<Speaker>Ange</Speaker>||:Yeah.
NPC-MrsGray(6)<Speaker>Gray</Speaker>||:I have a question.
NPC-Ange(8)<Speaker>Ange</Speaker>||:Yes?
NPC-MrsGray(6)<Speaker>Gray</Speaker>||:...Am I still leading the project?
NPC-Ange(8)<Speaker>Ange</Speaker>||:... +<color=#A9A9A9>Not exactly. You're a Nyto out in the physical world...</color>
()<Speaker></Speaker>||<SE1>ClothingUp</SE1>:Ange thinks for a second with her eyes closed.
NPC-Ange(8)<Speaker>Ange</Speaker>||:No...
NPC-Ange(8)<Speaker>Ange</Speaker>||:You died long ago. Your students organized a grand funeral for you.
NPC-MrsGray(6)<Speaker>Gray</Speaker>||:... +...That's nice. +I'm glad I resisted the temptation. +I stayed true to myself. +I did not break the Hippocratic Oath.
()<Speaker></Speaker>||:She mutters softly to herself. Ange cannot see her face... but she can sense her emotions faintly.
NPC-MrsGray(6)<Speaker>Gray</Speaker>||:...What's my epitaph?
NPC-Ange(8)<Speaker>Ange</Speaker>||:... +We're not exactly friends, so I didn't pay much attention. +But I know it's something pretty long.
NPC-MrsGray(6)<Speaker>Gray</Speaker>||:...I suppose my students decided on it. +It's probably my favorite motto.
NPC-Ange(8)<Speaker>Ange</Speaker>||:The Hippocratic Oath?
NPC-MrsGray(6)<Speaker>Gray</Speaker>||:No, I'm guessing it's this... +"Death is the one thing we cannot escape; life is the one thing we cannot defile."
NPC-Ange(8)<Speaker>Ange</Speaker>||:...
NPC-MrsGray(6)<Speaker>Gray</Speaker>||:Thank you for telling me everything. +In return, I have a gift for you.
NPC-Ange(8)<Speaker>Ange</Speaker>||:Hm?
NPC-MrsGray(6)<Speaker>Gray</Speaker>||:Didn't you say you must go back?
NPC-Ange(8)<Speaker>Ange</Speaker>||:...
NPC-MrsGray(6)<Speaker>Gray</Speaker>||:I can briefly negate the effect of the Evangel Axis for you.
NPC-Ange(8)<Speaker>Ange</Speaker>||:... +Then why didn't you do that earlier?
NPC-MrsGray(6)<Speaker>Gray</Speaker>||:It can only be done once... +Imagine how ice floes floating on the surface of the ocean blown apart by the wind would soon drift back together.
NPC-MrsGray(6)<Speaker>Gray</Speaker>||:I can only give you a moment as brief as the wind. +Also, if you can't find your way back into your body, you may get sucked back here again... +If that happens, you'll be stuck here for good.
NPC-MrsGray(6)<Speaker>Gray</Speaker>||:Are you ready?
NPC-Ange(8)<Speaker>Ange</Speaker>||:...Ready.
NPC-MrsGray(6)<Speaker>Gray</Speaker>||<SE1>ClothingUp</SE1>:Take my hand... Don't let go.
()||<黑点1>: