Chapter 1289 The incident subsides

More than a month has passed since the "Consciousness-Thousands" fusion Herrscher incident that swept through several cities, and the more secretive "Binding Herrscher" episode in the Sahara Desert.

For ordinary people, the world seemed to have returned to a certain "normal" track. In the news, the cities that had once fallen into chaos and slumber were officially described as "terrorist incidents caused by attacks with new types of psychological interference weapons" and "rare regional outbreaks of mass hysteria." The rapid response of the Civil Code and the release of the "antidote" successfully awakened the vast majority of those who were asleep, although some still require long-term psychological counseling.

Infrastructure was rapidly rebuilt thanks to the combined efforts of the two organizations, and the shadow of panic gradually faded with the help of all sectors of society. Life had to go on, and casual conversation was quickly replaced by new celebrity gossip or sporting events.

However, beneath the calm surface, the undercurrents never cease.

Within St. Freya Academy, a small, tranquil courtyard had been specially created near Fu Hua's residence. In the center of the courtyard, a peculiar, translucent golden sapling swayed gently in the breeze, its tips adorned with a few extremely faint, seemingly extinguishable, ghostly blue flames. These were the purest "sparks of consciousness" that Fu Hua had extracted from the dissipated core of the Herrscher of Consciousness. They were no longer aggressive or polluting; they were more like the remnants of ownerless spiritual energy, carrying a nascent instinct for "existence."

After careful discussion with Su, it was ultimately decided that Fu Hua would use her Feather of Dust power to temporarily nurture and observe these sparks. On one hand, she would study their nature; on the other hand, she would attempt to guide them to dissipate harmlessly or transform into some kind of beneficial spiritual energy. This was a long and meticulous task, but Fu Hua had no complaints, viewing it as a form of cultivation and responsibility.

The uniquely structured Herrscher cores, extracted from the slain "Thousand Herrschers," were handed over to Schicksal under Welt's personal escort. Bishop Otto showed "intense" interest, promising to "carefully preserve and thoroughly study" them, while also sharing "non-sensitive" research findings with Anti-Entropy "in due course." Welt remained reserved, but given the current situation where cooperation outweighed differences, this was the best possible balance. The cores were then sent to the "Throne of Gods" laboratory, located deep within Schicksal and sealed by the Void Archives and cutting-edge technology.

More than the well-organized cleanup work, what worried Alicia, Fu Hua, and the others even more was the disappearance of Zijing.

After the desert incident, Zijing only gave a few brief instructions and then seemed to vanish into thin air. Even his most frequently used communication channel remained silent for a long time. At first, everyone thought he just needed time to sort out his thoughts, but a week or two passed, and there was still no news.

“He must have been provoked by that ‘self’.” Alicia sat on the sofa in the headmaster’s office, swinging her legs, her tone unusually low. “Seeing another ‘possibility’ choose such a dangerous and powerful path, and even ahead of him, and even declare ‘I’ll eat you’… With his personality, how could he possibly sit still? He must have found a secluded place and gone to ‘cultivate’ desperately.”

Fu Hua nodded in agreement: "The pressure he's under is immense. He already has a heavy responsibility to fight against the End, and now there's another 'outlier' who has taken a different path, and who might even be a future enemy. It's only natural for him to feel a sense of urgency and try to improve himself."

"But he can't just disappear without a word!" Theresa said, hugging her Houmu doll, somewhat annoyed. "Everyone's worried about him! What if he goes berserk?"

"Going mad... Where did that Chinese technical jargon come from?" Tesla mumbled, chewing an energy bar on the other end of the communication screen. "Given that guy's abilities, if he really reaches the point of 'going mad,' the commotion will be huge. Einstein, has our wide-area energy monitoring network detected anything unusual?"

Einstein retrieved the data: "In the past month, seventeen small-scale spatial distortions and energy bursts of unknown cause have been detected globally, all in remote deserts, the deep sea, or polar regions. The energy characteristics... are somewhat similar to the data remnants left by Amethyst in her previous battles, but are more violent and unstable, and the nature of each burst is subtly different, as if it is making... dangerous attempts in multiple different directions."

Suddenly, Velvi's head popped in from the corner of the screen, excitedly saying, "That's right! I analyzed the residual data from all the burst points and deduced the energy source in reverse! Although that guy hid very well and almost erased all directional traces, this genius still found a clue—the source of the last energy overflow points to a vast, empty sea area in the depths of the Pacific Ocean where theoretically no islands exist! There must be a temporary space he created there!"

Just as her companions had speculated, Amethyst was indeed conducting a solitary and anxious experiment in a temporary subspace she had constructed deep in the Pacific Ocean.

This space was small, like an isolated island suspended in the void. The ground was made of hard energy crystals, and the sky was filled with flowing purple light. But at this moment, this space appeared to be in a state of utter chaos.

The ground was riddled with craters of varying depths and crisscrossing cracks, some of which revealed flickering, unstable energy currents deep within. The air reeked of violent energy of all kinds, sometimes as scorching as lava, sometimes as cold as an abyss, sometimes teeming with life, sometimes shrouded in deathly silence. The spatial barriers were also marked with signs of repair, clearly indicating they had repeatedly teetered on the brink of collapse.

Zijing sat cross-legged on the only relatively flat surface in the center of the space, her brows furrowed, her face pale, and her eyes filled with undisguised fatigue and confusion.

“Imitating her path…focusing on ‘restraint’ and elevating it?” he muttered to himself, shaking his head. For the past few months, he had tried the direction suggested by Chu Xia—deeply analyzing the power and essence of “restraint,” attempting to replicate or even surpass it within his own power system. But the result was only repeated failures and loss of control.

"Focus on your existing strengths and push them to their limits?" He tried another path. He isolated several concepts he was most proficient in, attempting to forge, refine, and elevate them into higher-level concepts, like forging steel. However, this process was equally difficult. Conceptual power ascension seemed to require some special "catalyst" or "enlightenment," not simply the accumulation of energy or strengthening of will. Several attempts either yielded no progress or triggered another power surge, blasting the small space beyond recognition.

He also tried several other theoretically feasible methods, and even risked connecting with some vague senses in distant times and spaces, but all of them were of little use. Instead, due to the excessive consumption of mental energy and the unstable use of power, he suffered a lot of internal injuries.

“What exactly is missing…” Zijing felt a deep sense of powerlessness. He possessed strength, experience, and determination, yet it was as if he were standing in front of a tightly closed door, unable to find the key to open it, and could only bang on it in vain time and time again, leaving himself battered and bruised, but the door remained unmoved.

After months of seclusion, progress has been minimal, and his impatience and rashness have damaged him. If this continues, he may indeed "go astray" as his companions feared.

He let out a long sigh, finally deciding to temporarily halt this pointless drain. Perhaps he needed a different approach, or perhaps he simply needed... a rest.

With a thought, he closed the scarred entrance to the subspace, and his figure appeared in the sky above the Pacific Ocean in the real world.

The sea breeze, carrying a salty, damp scent, swept over her. The night sky was clear, dotted with countless stars. Just as Zijing had regained her composure and was preparing to return to land, she unexpectedly sensed something and looked down.

The small island below, which should have been deserted and only had jagged rocks, was now brightly lit and bustling with activity!

Several brightly colored tents were set up in a staggered arrangement, and in the central open space, a campfire crackled and popped, dispelling the slight chill of the sea night. Even more outrageous, next to the tents was a heavily modified, flamboyantly painted off-road vehicle and a small mobile kitchen unit!

“You…” Zijing landed on the ground, looking at the scene before her, and was speechless for a moment.

"Yo! You've finally come out, you secluded maniac!" Qianjie shouted without turning his head, while using a huge iron rod to turn over the sizzling, oily leg of an unknown beast sitting on the campfire. His tone was as impulsive as ever, but if you listened carefully, you could hear a hint of relief.

“Finding you was no easy feat,” Hen said, emerging from behind the tent with a case of drinks in his hands. “Dr. Wilvi pinpointed the general area, and we searched for three days.”

Sakura was at a portable kitchen counter, skillfully shaping rice balls with Yae Sakura. Their movements were elegant and synchronized, like a beautiful painting. When they saw Amethyst, Sakura nodded slightly to him, and Yae Sakura smiled gently in return.

Kallen... was being "protected" by Theresa and Cecilia, positioned away from all the cooking utensils and ingredients, staring longingly at the roasting meat and rice balls on the campfire, her face filled with the bitterness of "I want to help" and "They won't let me touch them." Kiana and Durandal were engaged in a "friendly" hand-to-hand sparring session not far away (actually, Kiana was being instructed by her sister unilaterally), Desdovia and Cynthia were setting up a small device that looked like it could play holographic movies, while Gretchen sat quietly in front of a drawing board, depicting the camp under the starry sky.

Alicia, like a joyful butterfly, fluttered through the crowd and hugged the still somewhat dazed Amethyst. Her voice was full of joy and a little bit of reproach: "Really! You hid without a word, making everyone worry for so long! Don't do that next time, okay? If you have any troubles, you should share them with everyone~?"

Vilvi leaned halfway out of the sunroof of the off-road vehicle, proudly pushing up her oversized multi-functional glasses: "How about it? Isn't my genius's 'Subspace Energy Trace Tracking and Cross-Terrain Rapid Deployment Camping Kit' amazing? To give you, a quiet person like me, a surprise, we brought out all our best stuff!"

As Zijing looked at the familiar faces before her, feeling the warmth from the campfire and the aroma of food in the air, the tension that had been building up for months seemed to be gently touched by a tender hand. The layer of ice that had solidified due to anxiety and self-doubt quietly began to crack.

He opened his mouth, as if to say something, but felt a tightness in his throat.

"Alright, stop standing there," Qianjie cut off a large piece of the roasted meat, put it on a plate, and handed it to him gruffly. "Eat something first! Look at the face of yours, like you haven't eaten for months!"

Sakura then handed over a perfectly round rice ball, adorned with dried plums.

Alicia smiled and took the rice ball. Instead of handing it to Zijing, she held it to his mouth herself, her eyes curving into crescents, her voice as soft as a whisper in the sea breeze: "Ah~ open your mouth~ You've had a hard time in seclusion. Now, put everything aside and enjoy this moment."

The warm, fragrant aroma of rice mingled with the slightly sour scent of dried plums, and before my eyes was Alicia's warm smile. In my ears were the deliberately hushed conversations of my companions and the crackling of the campfire.

Zijing stared blankly at the rice ball and Alicia in front of her, then slowly looked around at the camp that had suddenly appeared on the deserted island, a camp full of life and care.

After a long while, he finally lowered his head and took a small bite of the rice ball from Alicia's hand.

Slightly sour, slightly sweet, with a fragrant and soft rice flavor.

An indescribable warm current, accompanied by the aroma of food, spread from my mouth to every part of my body, finally gathering in my chest, quietly melting away the last trace of coldness and anxiety.

Yes... perhaps he really needs to stop, catch his breath, look at the scenery around him, and feel this weighty, unspoken support. The road ahead is long; there's no rushing it.