: The Reason for the Chief's World Destruction

Nearly three hours later, Wu An's eyelids twitched a few times before he lifted them. What he saw was not an unfamiliar ceiling, not a movie theater, nor a train station surrounded by white curtains.

Instead, it's... the darkness of a starlight stroll.

"He's not dead...?"

Wu An trembled a few times and found that her body was almost not tired. Even her broken body had been restored. She propped herself up and muttered something, not knowing whether she was relieved or regretful.

I should be thankful, because the corners of my mouth involuntarily turned up.

【elder sister.】

Yunmu's figure appeared, half-curling up, with her hands clasped in front of her abdomen. Her posture was no longer as obsequious or ingratiating as before, but rather carried a dignified gentleness, which Wu'an found difficult to adapt to for a moment.

But this is fine too.

Do you recognize this place?

Yunmu nodded and informed Wu'an of the situation.

Yangzhou, one of the thirteen worlds, is inhabited by a very limited race: only one type of creature called Fire Spirits. All Fire Spirits originate from the Primordial Flame—the location of the Primordial Flame is the heart of the furnace now surrounded by fragments of the continent.

Ordinary fire spirits lack consciousness; only those born with awakened innate abilities possess self-awareness. However, while both are innate abilities, their awakening is not in the same form as that of magical girls. The way fire spirits grow is also unique—fusion. A conscious fire spirit fuses with an unconscious fire spirit, and the fused entity remains the original conscious fire spirit. If a conscious fire spirit fuses with another conscious fire spirit, it can choose to aggregate its own consciousness or absorb the consciousness of the other...

In short, they are a rather unique and xenophobic race. Normal people cannot integrate into the environment of Yangzhou, and fire spirits do not like areas without the illumination of the Primordial Flame... If there is anything particularly powerful about them, it is that their Yang Gods—what we would call "fully awakened"—are almost never absent, because their method of fusion allows them to grow rapidly.

While they may sound similar to witches, fire spirits are essentially beings that emerge from the First Flame, derivatives of it. Their growth is more akin to dividing a cake; the share of the cake is fixed, and the more share a fire spirit occupies, the stronger it becomes.

Although they follow the law of the jungle, they are not as aggressive as witches and cannot survive without killing.

Moreover, fire spirits are inherently connected by the primordial flame, and the fusion of their internal consciousnesses is not necessarily painful.

After listening to Yunmu's introduction, Wu'an had a general understanding of the situation in this world. She was actually quite excited to come here, after all, this place fit the concept of a "dead other world".

Unlike the planet Bishui, which still retains a sliver of life, it has not completely collapsed like the nameless worlds encountered along the way, with no possibility of resurrection.

Rather, it is in a state where it is dead, but its remains still exist.

"Ah...right—"

Wu An remembered something, took out the [White Rabbit's Watch], switched modes, and opened the cover to reveal the digital watch face on the back.

At this moment, the original two thousand days were not passing normally, but instead were increasing, quickly rising to three thousand days, and continuing to move towards an even higher level.

[The White Rabbit's Clock] requires a trip to another world to replenish [past time]. These thirteen worlds perished, each destroyed by the Chief. After their destruction, their time stopped at the moment of death, so time within them has remained stagnant, roughly the same as when Alice first underwent [time travel].

Therefore, it can supplement the time of the clock.

Wu An hung the pocket watch around his neck, keeping it open. Although coming to another world was a special case, since he had the opportunity, he naturally wanted to give Alice more time.

After doing all this, Wu An amplified his senses again, feeling the degree of response from the protection.

Very faint...almost unusable, but not completely eliminated.

Although Wu'an and Yunmu tried their best to run as far as possible, they only passed through Biyue Star, a transit station. They might have to run even further to completely isolate the influence of the blessing. To reduce the effectiveness of [Awakening], they might have to run even further, at least three or four more stations away.

Sister, perhaps we don't need to go that far.

"Do you have an explanation?" Wu An asked.

Yunmu nodded and pointed to the furnace core in the distance, saying, "That's the furnace core of Yangzhou. Although it's extinguished now, it's still a being similar to the core of a world, of immense importance. Why not try to occupy the furnace core and use it as resources for your ascension to the throne as a Yang God?"

"My future ascension to the throne has been thwarted..."

She cannot ascend to the throne as a magical girl.

[First Release Update!] But halfway through the sentence, Wu An was stunned. Yun Mu was referring to ascending to the throne as a [Yang God], not a magical girl.

It doesn't really matter what identity one assumes when ascending to the throne, as long as one isn't a monster like a witch.

"The problem is, our systems are completely different, so will it even work?" Wu An asked.

[Give it a try. It won't cost anything, and I'll even help you. Right now, the initial flame of the Yangzhou has gone out, there's no Holy Spirit, and the world has no consciousness. I might be able to help you fuse with the furnace core. Your star embryo contains the world matter of the "Yangzhou," so you can completely integrate into it!]

Upon hearing this, Wu An nodded. It was indeed worth a try. If he could ascend to the position here, he wouldn't have to risk traveling far away.

The experience of almost dying in the Boundary Sea was really unpleasant. Fortunately, I was lucky enough to fall to the outer edge of the Yang Boat, which saved my life.

Avoid long journeys if possible; who knows what other unexpected disasters might be waiting for you like a blind box?

Wu An took to the air, her figure weaving back and forth among the fragments of the continent. Although the wreckage of the Yang Boat was large, it was still small compared to the ordinary world. She flew at full speed and could cross the entire Jiangbei or Jiangnan region in a short time. Now that she was fully recovered, she easily arrived near the heart of the furnace.

Clang!

Wu An landed on the furnace core, feeling the solidified texture inside. He squatted down and touched the outside of the furnace core, but could only feel the deathly coldness, which did not match its name at all.

She tried to take out the Star Embryo and bring it close. The Star Embryo didn't reject it, but it didn't react in any other way either.

"Is it because this world is already dead that it doesn't react?" The Star Embryo in Wu An's hand contains the matter of the thirteen worlds, including Yang Zhou, which should theoretically be able to absorb and fuse with it.

Wu An ignited magic at his fingertips and pointed it toward the furnace core below, but he could not leave a single scratch on it. He tried to inject magic into it, but found that the magic flowed in and then flowed out again.

It's as if the furnace core is filled with magic tanks, making it impossible to store magic.

After several attempts, the result remained the same. However, Wu An was certain that it was not that the furnace core could not absorb magic power, but that Wu An could not interfere with the furnace core. Although this thing had lost its vitality, it was essentially a creation of the star level and could not be invaded by external objects.

It's a pity that Wu'an doesn't know how to use mental energy, otherwise we could try to awaken it.

The cloud curtain also poked its head out, placing one hand on the heart of the furnace, attempting to awaken it with the authority of the Holy Spirit, but the result was the same; it was completely unable to interfere.

Something's not right... Even the little people can't interfere. This furnace core, rather than being immune to external influences, is more like being in a state that we can't interfere with.

"Like two people in the same place but at different times; or like spaces in a superposition state at the same time?" Wu An asked.

"Hmm." Yunmu nodded.

The two almost thought of the same thing—[Chief].

Yangzhou is a world destroyed by the Chief, and I have heard more than once that when beings are killed by the Chief, time stops at the moment of their death.

Yang Zhou had already died in the past, while Wu An and Yun Mu were in the present, so they naturally couldn't directly contact or interfere. Wu An rose from the heart of the furnace and looked around. Apart from the fragments of the continent, there was only a broken ring in the far distance, suspended in the air, facing the heart of the furnace. Behind the heart of the furnace, there was also a broken ring. The two rings, one in front of the other, remained on the same line as the heart of the furnace.

Wu An arrived at two broken rings, each covered with runes she didn't recognize and were in terrible condition.

It's not very practical. I tried to start it, but found that it was just as uninterruptible as the furnace core.

"It's strange... This place is supposed to be in the past, so why can we access it without any hindrance, but we can't change it?" Wu An frowned as he pondered.

Although she didn't fight Suiyuan much during the Jiangxi battlefield, she did witness Suiyuan's methods hidden in the past.

At that time, to attack Suiyuan, the time had to be synchronized. Moreover, the time difference between the two could not be too large. If one was today and the other was yesterday, even if the attack was launched yesterday, it would not cause any damage to today.

At least that's how Suiyuan acted. If she wanted to activate time in the past, she had to ensure that both she and the target she wanted to attack existed simultaneously in that "past."

If it were in the past where only Suiyuan existed, Wu'an and the others would not only be unable to attack Suiyuan, but they wouldn't even be able to make contact with it.

"There must be something here that connects us to the Yangzhou of the past..."

Wu An looked back at the place where she had fallen. Some of the continental fragments had clearly been shattered when she crashed into the Yang Boat from the outside, which meant that Wu An could still influence this place.

"Or is it that these continental fragments are actually irrelevant, and only the furnace core and related components are important?"

Wu An took out the [White Rabbit's Clock] again. This thing was connected to the past, and she wondered if it could help her... Jumping to the past was definitely not an option, after all, Wu An was born too late and was not at full bloom. Jumping to a time that was completely unrelated to her with this body would only cause her to get lost instantly.

What exactly connects this place's past and present?

Is it related to the world matter of the [Yang Zhou] within me?

"Sister... perhaps time travel isn't entirely impossible." The cloud curtain interrupted Wu An's thoughts.

"Hmm? How so?"

In a normal jump, you would be lost in the past because you weren't born at that time.

But... Miss Changhua is different. She must have been born when Yangzhou was destroyed, and she was an executor.

You and she have a symbiotic relationship; perhaps you could try to travel your own time to that point.

"But... although we can now basically confirm the relationship between Changhua and the [Chief], our Changhua here is about the same age as me. Is it really going to work out?" Wu'an had concerns.

Chang Hua's origins are impossible to verify. Her only relative, Chang Nian, has been dead for a long time. The only information that can be obtained from relevant people is that she was an orphan and was adopted by the young Chang Nian.

Finding Chang Hua's mother and father seems unlikely...

But one thing is undeniable: Changhua truly lives in the present, and her physical age is similar to Wu'an's. She is not an old thing that has lived from the old generation to the new. [What matters is the energy of her thoughts.]

Faced with Wu An's hesitation, Yun Mu showed a rare certainty.

There's no need to worry about the duration of the physical body's existence; mental energy is the foundation. Changhua's mental energy is closely related to the mental energy that seals off the entire Boundary Sea. The mental energy that seals off the Boundary Sea definitely originated in the previous generation. Therefore, with Changhua's mental energy, there's no problem with leaping.

Even if we cannot reach the exact moment of the Yangzhou's destruction, we can still get as close as possible to that moment.

Moreover, if it were an ordinary, weak person, it wouldn't be so bad. But your mental energy is so powerful that even if your consciousness descends to a time before your birth, being lost wouldn't happen overnight; it would be a gradual process of dissipation.

"Okay, let's give it a try."

Seeing that Yunmu was so confident, Wu'an was relieved.

She took out her pocket watch, covered the original recording point again, and engraved the recording point in the present moment. Then, she closed the pocket watch cover, flicked her finger, and the cover opened, revealing an electronic watch face.

The numbers on the dial continued to rise, meaning it was adding up the past time. Wu An took out the mainspring from under the watch, inserted the watch, and spun it sharply counterclockwise.

Rumble!!

An explosive sound rang in his ears, and in an instant, Wu An felt his vision go blurry, and everything became hazy. The fragments of the continent floating in the void within his vision spun rapidly, colliding and recombining from time to time... His head was also spinning with this information.

From the present moment when Wu'an was there, to the past moment when Yangzhou was destroyed, everything that happened inside the wreckage of Yangzhou rushed into her mind. Information that was difficult to quantify flooded her mind in a short time, and she instantly saw what had happened inside the wreckage of Yangzhou during that period.

Her head throbbed, and blood kept flowing from her mouth and nose, but the symptoms quickly subsided, not because she had gotten used to it.

Rather, the information is too limited. Over the years, the only information found within the wreckage of the Yangzhou is about the drifting, collision, and merging of continental fragments; nothing else.

The scale of information is in the trillions, but if the information content consists of only two or three simple pieces of information, such as [1+1] or [1+2], even though the scale is huge, the impact cannot be sustained.

Although Wu An was unprepared, his brain quickly accepted and adapted to the situation.

But she found it hard to keep a straight face; she was really drunk and had actually trusted the judgment of a young Holy Spirit.

Yunmu's method was indeed effective, because Wu'an's consciousness did indeed jump from the past to the future. However, if the scene were different, such as in the ordinary world, no... or even in a desolate small planet like Bishui Star, Wu'an's brain might crash due to the high information density in such a short period of time.

It's unclear whether Yunmu has some special affinity for mental energy, believing that as long as mental energy is strong, everything is fine—no matter how strong the power, the vessel is only a fifth-tier body...

"Sister, why are you bleeding from your nose?" Upon seeing Wu'an injured, Yunmu turned pale and approached her with concern to ask.

Wu An raised his hand, wiped away the blood, and said calmly, "It's nothing."

The time jump has stopped, and the Sun Ark remains in ruins. It is likely that the Sun Ark was destroyed before the Fantasy Alliance sent Alice away.

However, there were differences as well. The temperature was significantly higher than before, and on a fragment of a giant continent, there was an extremely dazzling symbol, standing out starkly in the desolate world. Wu An and Yun Mu looked at the symbol and discovered that some parts of it had become damaged and were dissolving at a visible rate. At the center of the symbol was a flame symbol resembling an eye. The moment their eyes met, Wu An and Yun Mu simultaneously sensed something, and the scene before them changed.

[Supreme...]

A gentle voice, like that of a middle-aged woman, rang out. Wu An was stunned for a moment. She felt that this title was meant for her, but when did she suddenly have the title of "Supreme"?

She looked in the direction of the sound and saw a creature with sparks swirling around its body, its shape indistinct, kneeling on the ground, its body trembling, its forehead pressed against the ground, as if it were praying for something.

However, the swirling starlight above it reveals the woman's identity—Full bloom.

The sight of a fully blooming flower appearing in such a manner caused Wu An to momentarily freeze in his breath.

Even further away, there were three fully-developed beings, one Holy Spirit, and countless fifth- and fourth-order beings kneeling silently, as if they were dead, yet the raging flames on their bodies revealed their intense emotions.

[Is it truly impossible to preserve even a spark of fire for Yang Zhou? Fire spirits are unlike creatures from other realms... If the Primordial Flame is extinguished, only death awaits them. We...we...we will only retain one thousand fire spirits, and offer all the rest to you, begging you not to extinguish the Primordial Flame...]

"But in my experiment, the initial flame is quite large, larger than all the fire spirits combined. If I don't extinguish it, I might not be able to feel it."

Compared to the woman's trembling voice, the response was flat and emotionless, and Wu An immediately recognized the source of the voice—[Chief].

At this moment, she is watching all of this from the Chief's perspective, witnessing everything that has happened in the past. This is probably related to her coming to the "past" through the Chief's mental energy.

"What is it that you seek? If you wish, not only Yangzhou, but all of Yangzhou's allies and subordinates will do everything in their power to obtain it for you... Why must you create such a massacre? There are trillions of beings in the Boundary Sea, what is it that you seek? Why must you achieve it by slaughtering the entire Boundary Sea?" the woman asked, trembling.

"I've heard that as long as you kill someone, the Witch Factor can give back emotions like joy. I've never felt this emotion before. When I destroyed the Oasis and the Pseudo-Starfield, I didn't feel anything. So this time I increased the number of people. In addition to the Normal World, I gathered all the people I could find, and I want to see if I can feel anything."

These words, though devoid of any emotion or power, dimmed the flame within the woman.

The indifference, the overly self-righteous indifference, the indifference that didn't even treat other living beings as living beings, left the woman at a loss for how to react.

Killing all the Holy Spirits in the entire Boundary Sea was merely to test whether killing could bring her pleasure... What right did that vile thing called the Witch Factor have? What could the creator of it possibly have to do in front of the Chief, other than kneel down?

The chief's attitude toward other living beings was no different from that of an ordinary person toward ants.

He did it simply because he wanted to. Even the most vicious madman wouldn't dare to treat human life as worthless as the chief.

But the chief was not even moved by such atrocities; perhaps to her, it was no different from breathing.

I did it when I wanted to; it just happened naturally.

"Really...can't we preserve a spark for Yang Zhou?" the woman asked one last time.

"Hmm..." The chief raised his hand, scratched his face, and looked puzzled. "I don't quite understand. I sent the message to other worlds and told them what I was going to do. They said they wanted to leave a spark for their worlds, and I didn't refuse. They are all preparing. When the time comes, I will spare the worlds that have left their 'spark'."

"I never said you weren't allowed to keep your fire seed, but you insist on keeping that primordial fire. However, the primordial fire is very large and we can't let it go. I'm sorry... how about you try to separate a wisp of the primordial fire and see if you can preserve your 'fire seed'?" The chief said earnestly, his tone not feigned, but rather considerate, as if he was truly thinking of the fire spirits of Yangzhou.

It is precisely because of her strange attitude that people cannot understand her.

"Regarding revenge, didn't I say before that if I don't gain joy or any other emotion from clearing the Boundary Sea this time, then when your 'seeds' and descendants come into contact with me, as long as they explain the situation to me and express their wish for me to die to commemorate you, then I will die."

After all, as you said, objectively speaking, the sins I committed are very serious. A life for a life... Although my life cannot repay the lives of so many people, it should be enough to repay one life.

But before that, I still want to try to get the emotions I'm looking for; that should be my top priority.

It's utterly absurd that this heartless monster is preaching the human ethics of "a life for a life," and doing so with such seriousness, without a trace of falsehood or hypocrisy.

There is only indifference; people don't treat others as human beings, nor do they treat themselves as human beings.

I just wonder if the [Chief] will take what he says as nothing...

"So, it seems we can't save the First Flame. Please think of some other solutions. Once you've decided, please let me know. If you need any help, just let me know as long as it doesn't violate what I'm about to do. There are two and a half days left before I take action."

The camera paused, focusing on the chief's cruel yet "benevolent" declaration.

Wu An blinked, momentarily dazed. The chief's coldness in the photo and the previous number one's kindness did not create a separation, but rather strangely merged together, ultimately... converging into the appearance of a "child".

Yes, toddlers. The first thing that came to Wu'an's mind was toddlers. As the absolute weakest group, toddlers always received the highest level of protection in society.

But this doesn't prevent young children from being more ignorant and cruel...they often don't know right from wrong.

Wu An does not mean to belittle or blame young children. The reason why people are more tolerant of young children is not only because they are the future and hope, but also because they do not understand rules, cannot comprehend rules, and do not understand what will be praised and what will be criticized.

Those who cannot understand the rules may break them without necessarily being punished accordingly—killing without teaching is cruelty.

The situation is somewhat similar to the case of a mentally ill person committing murder but not receiving a severe sentence.

Wu An believed that the chief's actions were no different from those of a young child who did not know right from wrong.

The chief has no emotions, so he doesn't know what pain or joy is. Without emotions, how can he know good and evil, and how can he realize what kind of comfort, peace of mind, or... pain his actions will bring to others?

Because of "ignorance," one cannot realize what one is doing.

To do good is to praise the birds in the sky for the chief; to do bad is nothing more than tearing the wings of a butterfly.

All of these are things that are insignificant and unimportant; you can do them as long as you want to.

"Chief...is this the reason he destroyed other worlds?"

Even after drawing a portrait of the Chief, Wu'an still found it hard to accept. Wu'an witnessed the Chief's birth, and in her memory, the Chief was still that "kind person" who wouldn't get angry when children played pranks on him, and wouldn't harm a robber when he was robbed—no matter how insignificant that kindness was to her.

"Sister..." Yunmu's voice rang out.

Yunmu also saw the scene from earlier, but instead of identifying with the chief, she identified with one of the people prostrate on the ground—[Yang Zhou Holy Spirit].

The fear of their home being destroyed overwhelmed their distorted worship of the strong. Faced with the "natural disaster" that they were powerless to resist, all they could do was beg and pray. When the chief repeatedly emphasized that he would extinguish the "first flame," they would even feel nauseous, dizzy, and want to faint. Even so, they still had to bear this pressure and plan a way out for the flames.

All they wanted was to survive, and even to overcome the "flaw" that the Fire Spirit couldn't leave the First Flame.

Yunmu now understands what the Holy Spirit ultimately did. She left the fire spirit's seed within the Primordial Flame, so that the Chief would abide by the agreement and not completely extinguish the Primordial Flame. The Primordial Flame has the characteristic of being inextinguishable and will reignite when the time is right. However, the Chief's attack separated Yangzhou's past and present. Even though the Primordial Flame was not completely extinguished, it was left in the past and could never live in the present, so it was still considered dead.

In this respect, the Cloud Curtain is undoubtedly fortunate. Whether they are witches or magical girls, they are all beings of the ordinary world. Even if they fight to the death, the ordinary world will not face annihilation from other worlds.

Therefore, users of cloud-based cloud-based cloud systems do not need to experience the anxiety and unease associated with cloud-based cloud systems.

Sister...are you alright?

"I'm...I'm alright, but I don't feel quite right."

It was like seeing a good person fall into badness, making her uncomfortable. Even though she was wishfully believing that the Chief was a good person, taking it upon herself to have expectations, and taking it upon herself to break down, if she could, she would still hope that the Chief was a good person.

After all, the chief is not a witch, nor does she need to live like one.