Otto Apocalypse had already become suspicious of Lihua's past slip of the tongue and had successfully partnered with Makima.
He must have also noticed the traces Shoko left behind when fighting the Gun Devil. A quick exchange of information between him and Makima would easily reveal the anomaly surrounding Shoko's summoning to Blue Earth.
Kallen and Eleanor had likely communicated with him as well.
As for the Chainsaw Man... with their world already connected to Blue Earth, it was probably only a matter of time before Denji and Power arrived. When those three saw the manga and remembered their past, they would most likely seek out Makima and join her search party.
In the current situation, apart from the people from the Previous Era, only the Astral Express crew hadn't crashed onto the scene yet.
The people around his avatars were becoming suspicious of their true nature, even starting to wonder if someone was manipulating everything behind the scenes and taking action... This should have been the situation Li Bei most wanted to avoid, yet now he appeared remarkably calm about it.
Not only that, he was even preparing to add fuel to the fire, making Blue Earth burn even brighter.
This course of action, drastically different from his previous behavior, wasn't because Li Bei had lost his mind. He had simply decided to resolve all current issues thoroughly.
"Host, you were trying so hard to avoid those lunatics before, and now you want to actively attract more lunatics?"
The system still found Li Bei's choice somewhat incomprehensible. "The situation is already chaotic enough, yet you're preparing to send coordinates to the Astral Express, guiding them to Blue Earth ahead of schedule... Are you really not worried this planet will turn into fireworks?"
"...You know, there are two types of people in this world: those who lead others, and those who are led by others. The former create the environment, while the latter adapt to it."
Li Bei walked to the window, pulled open the curtains, and gazed at the gradually dispersing birds in the sky. "Why did I always encounter various problems before, constantly running around, creating different avatars, yet always struggling to get what I truly wanted... Now I understand. The reason is that I was previously someone whose environment dictated their actions."
"The environment is always changing, and I had to act constantly to adapt to those changes, which in turn caused the situation to worsen again, repeating the process endlessly. If this continued, a truly peaceful life would be like Zeno's tortoise [Philosophical paradox illustrating an unreachable goal], forever beyond my grasp."
"To achieve true peace, to truly feel secure, I must personally create that secure place. To do that, I must become the leader, the one who changes the environment, guiding the development of everything that follows... even if that means taking risks."
The suspicious points surrounding the avatars might only be subtle clues, but no one could guarantee that someday, the people around them wouldn't suddenly realize the problem and investigate deeply.
Therefore, merely maintaining the status quo wasn't enough. Even summoning all the avatars at once and handing them over to those searching wouldn't guarantee that these buried problems wouldn't explode someday.
Thus, Li Bei decided that rather than anxiously watching the situation deteriorate, it was better to trigger a concentrated detonation, prematurely lighting all the fuses that could lead to an explosion, and eliminating all future worries in one go.
For this reason, Li Bei didn't hesitate to have Lihua deliberately bring up her slip of the tongue from long ago. After all, for something absolutely certain to arouse suspicion, it was better to let Otto become suspicious now, under his surveillance, than to wait for Otto to quietly discover it himself someday.
The family actors for avatars one, two, and three were already in place. Next, it was time to bring the people related to number four onto the stage as well, preparing for the final curtain call.
"Caelus, what are you looking at?"
"...Nothing, just spacing out."
Caelus pulled his gaze back from the void of space and silently turned to look at Himeko behind him. "Himeko, is the device for traversing worlds ready?"
Himeko wasn't surprised by Caelus's question. After that incident, Caelus had been listless day after day, like a frost-bitten eggplant [Chinese idiom for being downcast], only showing some vitality when discussing matters related to traversing worlds to find Twilight in other universes.
Honestly, Caelus's current mental state wasn't very reassuring, but at least it was better than his manic laughter directed at the Ambrosial Arbor back on the Xianzhou.
Himeko could understand Caelus's feelings. After receiving memories from the other party, she too recalled some phantoms of her past... Although the memories weren't clear, she could feel that her past self must have deeply cherished the child named Twilight.
If she felt this way, Caelus's feelings must be even more intense, so it was normal for him to look forward to reuniting with Twilight.
Unfortunately, some things don't change based on human emotions. No matter how anxious they were, the Astral Express still needed modifications before it could undertake interstellar navigation between worlds. They simply had to wait.
"Right now, the device itself is complete... Thanks to your Uncle Welt and Herta." Himeko nodded with a smile, though a hint of helplessness lingered in her eyes. "But unfortunately, we can't act just yet. We haven't found the coordinates for that world."
More difficult than moving forward is finding the right direction. Without knowing the target's location, even though they now had the means to search across worlds, they were still unable to begin.
Otto Apocalypse had faced a similar situation back then. Despite having the cosmic juggernaut, he didn't know where to find Lihua, having to wait until he accidentally detected fluctuations of Honkai energy in Blue Earth's world before confirming the location and taking action.
Hearing Himeko's words, the flicker of hope that had ignited in Caelus's eyes extinguished once more. He frustratedly ruffled his hair and sat back down in silence.
Having hope was better than having none, but the feeling of hope being right there yet impossible to grasp was truly agonizing...
He just wanted to find the person who had always been by his side...
Caelus silently took out a notebook from his pocket. Back on the Xianzhou, after everything ended, this notebook had fallen from the center of the Ambrosial Arbor. Caelus remembered it; this was the notebook Twilight always kept with her, the one she used to record her dreams.
Even though Twilight had vanished, the notebook had been absorbed by the Ambrosial Arbor and survived. But now, there was nothing on it; everything Twilight had recorded had become blank, just like her.
Caelus stroked the bottom edge of the notebook's pages. The next moment, his pupils abruptly constricted, and he suddenly shot to his feet.
Wait, just now on the notebook... did a drawing appear?!