In a grassy field, beneath a rather enormous ancient tree, a person sat cross-legged, eyes closed tight, seemingly resting.
The ancient tree was lush and green. Between the leaves, phantoms would occasionally flash by. Within each flickering phantom, several nearly identical people seemed to appear.
But suddenly, even as the phantoms vanished, the leaves on the large tree branches abruptly turned withered and yellow, gradually drifting down.
"Another leaf has withered, alas." Su opened his eyes, reaching out to catch the falling leaf. He sighed as he looked at the withered, yellow blade in his hand. "In such a vast tree, I cannot find even a single leaf that remains evergreen..."
Looking at the completely withered leaf in his hand, Su let go, allowing the wind to blow it away to the side. By now, the ground beneath Su was already paved with a thick layer of leaves, all incomparably withered and devoid of vitality.
Although somewhat regretful, Su had been disappointed for a long, long time. He quickly composed his emotions and stood up, walking to the front of a pool of water to look down at his reflection.
The reflection in the water showed lush green leaves above Su's head. No matter how many leaves fell, that tree remained thick with branches and foliage. Yet, Su still had not found even a single evergreen leaf.
Su stood up and walked toward the pool. The pool water moved without wind, blowing away the leaves on the surface. Su gazed at the water's surface, as if looking at his own reflection, yet also as if looking at someone else.
"My time is running out, Kevin." Su looked at the pool and sighed. "I am truly sorry. It seems I must depart one step ahead of you."
However, this was something that would happen sooner or later anyway. Su could already feel that his body could not hold out for much longer. He had utilized the Cosmic Juggernaut for high-intensity observation of the worlds within the Sea of Quanta for a long time.
His body received almost no replenishment. Being able to last this long was already quite astonishing.
Just as Su planned to return to the base of the tree and sit down to continue his observation, he suddenly discovered that another authorized user had made contact with the Cosmic Juggernaut and had activated it.
Su immediately turned his head, his eyes opening wide. He did not sense the Judgment of Shamash entering a combat state. This was irrational; there should be no other authority holders in this world.
Could it be... Su's gaze became increasingly sharp. Although Su had been lazy when creating the Judgment of Shamash back then and had directly input the database preserved inside the Cosmic Juggernaut, making the Judgment of Shamash recognize the Thirteen Flame-Chasers...
But Hua definitely wouldn't come; she had forgotten him. Kevin was currently squatting honestly inside the Sea of Quanta. In the current civilization, he shouldn't have any friends left.
As for the authority holders of the Cosmic Juggernaut—the former authority holders—there was only Vill-V, Pardofelis, and himself. But Pardo was already dead, and Vill-V was the same.
Theoretically, there should be no other authorized users who could open the Cosmic Juggernaut without being attacked by the Judgment of Shamash. But it was not completely impossible. For example, if the Herrscher of Corruption of this era had appeared in advance.
If it were the Herrscher of Corruption, it was indeed possible to forge authority through the Corruption virus and forcibly seize control—although he didn't know how the Herrscher of Corruption had found the Cosmic Juggernaut.
But even if there was only a tiny possibility, Su could not relax his vigilance. Because if that were the case, it would be terrible. The Proper World was definitely not ready to welcome the Herrscher of Corruption.
A large number of Bodhi leaves appeared around Su. Even if he had to risk this broken body, he had to drive the Herrscher of Corruption out of the Cosmic Juggernaut. If necessary, he couldn't even leave the Cosmic Juggernaut behind.
Once the authority of the Cosmic Juggernaut was completely seized, then it would be over. Given the Herrscher of Corruption's ability to survive, if it lodged its main body inside the Cosmic Juggernaut and only sent its avatars to infect the outside world... with the Cosmic Juggernaut's abilities, even if the powerhouses of this era gathered for a crusade, they would likely be kicked directly out of the Proper World by the Herrscher of Corruption.
Even if there were countermeasures, with the mobility of the Cosmic Juggernaut, it would be impossible for this era to exterminate the Herrscher of Corruption.
On the grassy shade, a door of light appeared abruptly. It seemed he had indeed been discovered. Just as Su's gaze became increasingly sharp and he stood ready for battle, a voice came from the other side of the light door.
Hearing that voice, Su stopped his movements, and the Bodhi leaves that had swirled up around him also halted in place.
"...It really worked." A slightly lively voice rang out from outside. "Can this be counted as part of luck too? That's too ridiculous, right?"
"Hmm???" Several question marks seemed to pop up above Su's head. He was very familiar with this voice; it was Pardofelis's voice.
But shouldn't Pardo be dead already? Why could he still hear her voice?
Just as Su was confused, a small cat head poked in from the light door. After scanning around vigilantly, she waved her hand toward the bewildered Su.
Su looked at the cat who had poked her head in. His originally narrowed eyes instantly widened, because that appearance was undoubtedly Pardofelis. But why?
"Hello, Mr. Su, my name is Irene." Irene looked at Su, scanning the eyes he had opened. "Mm, if possible, could you give me a few minutes to explain my current situation?"
After Su remained silent for a while, he nodded. Irene then walked into the light door, and the light door closed behind her. Mm, not getting beaten up by Su right at the start; the situation was acceptable.
"Sit wherever you like." Su returned to his previous state of narrowing his eyes, although he hadn't figured out what exactly was going on before him.
However, he could clearly sense that the other party bore no malice toward him. Though, having said that, a large pile of Bodhi leaves still emerged around Su.
"I think there should be a lot we need to say to each other."
"Mm." Irene nodded, then reached out and pressed her hand to her chest, canceling the Pardo transformation. Since she was already inside, there was no need to maintain the transformation state continuously.
Su watched calmly as Irene returned to her original form. "So, Miss Irene possesses some kind of... special disguise or transformation ability."
"Mm, more or less, but not completely correct." Irene shook her head. "First, I need to be honest with you about one thing: I am not an ordinary person, but the Herrscher of Death of this era."
"Herrscher of Death..." Su looked at Irene, frowning slightly. But given the goodwill Irene had shown earlier, Su did not attack directly.
Moreover, he was even more curious—how did a Herrscher of Death manage to transform into Pardo? Did she obtain Pardo's genes or something similar? But that wouldn't explain the card that appeared in her hand just after she transformed.
"That is a long story." Irene scratched her head, looking at Su. "And my time is very tight right now. How about you do it yourself?"
"I do it myself?" Su was stunned for a moment, but he reacted quickly. "Are you saying you want me to look at your memories? You... trust me that much?"
"I want to tell the story slowly, but time doesn't allow it." Irene shook her head. "Besides, after you come in, you should understand more things."
"I am also willing to believe in Mr. Su. Please."
"Just call me Su." Su looked at Irene, sensing no fear or worry from her. Of course, there was nervousness, but he sensed more that she seemed to have nothing to fear.
But this fearlessness only made Su more confused. Why could the other party be so frank and trust him to save time? That was just the reason she chose this method.
"Thank you for trusting me so much." Su had read the memories of many people, but there had never been anyone who took the initiative—or even trusted him so much on their first meeting. Only Irene had done this.
"Excuse me, please recall the things you wish to tell me." Green light gathered in Su's hand, and he gently pressed it onto Irene's head. Just as the light touched Irene...
Su felt a pulling force dragging him in. Subsequently, Su arrived in Irene's Palace of Consciousness.
Just as Su was still somewhat confused, Pardo's lively voice rang in his ears: "Brother Su! It's been a long time, Brother Su!"
Following the sound, he turned his head and stared with wide eyes at Pardo, who had appeared behind him.
As a psychic-type MANTIS, Su was incomparably certain that the Pardo before him was the person herself. The aura on her body couldn't be faked. But how was this possible?
"It's not just Pardo, Mr. Su." Another slightly cool voice rang out from the other side. Su turned his head, his eyes widening even further.
Because he saw Danzhu and Cangxuan waving hello to him. If one could say no one saw Pardo's death, Danzhu and Cangxuan's deaths were practically confirmed by themselves. What on earth was going on?
Unable to figure it out, Su could only cast his gaze toward Irene, who was standing behind the group. Suddenly, he felt that the aura on Irene's body felt somewhat wrong.
But Su didn't have time to distinguish what was going on right now; he urgently wanted to know the answer.
"Oh, I'm afraid you've recognized the wrong person. [I] am behind you~" [Irene] looked at Su, who was looking at her, smiled, and pointed behind Su.
Su looked silently at [Irene] for a moment, then turned his head to look at the Irene who had been standing behind him the whole time, looking at him with a smile. "Alright, Miss Irene. I suppose this is what you wanted me to see, right?"
"Not entirely." Irene shook her head, then reached out and handed a book to Su. This was the same kind of book of memory Irene had given to Lixue last time, only the content was somewhat different.
Su did not mind taking the book. He opened it directly to read the contents inside.
The content in the book wasn't much, but Su understood Irene's identity, as well as the status of the others. Upon seeing that Pardo was actually a Pardo from a parallel world, Su was actually somewhat disappointed.
But subsequently, upon seeing that Danzhu and Cangxuan were indeed from this world, he couldn't calm his heart. And when he saw Irene's purpose in coming to find him...
Su put the book down directly and turned to look in the direction indicated within the book of memory. "Rin..."
Just as it had been emphasized countless times before, the matter of Rin was a pain for all of them. If only they had held a little bit of trust... No matter how they reviewed it, they couldn't deny that everyone had made the worst choice at the time, leading to the final tragedy. The Rin incident became the final straw that broke the backbone of civilization.
No matter how they argued, they had failed the trust Sakura and Rin had placed in them.
"I think Mr. Su should already understand the reason I came to find you." Irene walked forward, standing beside Su, and turned to look at him. "Although Rin looks like she is in a very good state right now, she has been in a state of slow recovery."
"But regarding the soul, I am afraid I still don't understand as much as you do. If you have a way to speed it up, that would naturally be best."
"I don't know if I can help Rin." Su shook his head. "Can you let me see her first?"
"Of course." Irene nodded and led Su to Rin's sickbed.
Su stood before Rin's sickbed. He extended his hand, and a Bodhi leaf drifted onto Rin's body, sensing the current state of her body. After sensing for a while, Su lowered his hand.
"Regrettably, I'm afraid I have no way to help much."
"No way... Brother Su, even you can't help Rin?" Pardo, who had a face full of expectation on the side, instantly became somewhat anxious upon hearing Su's words. If even Brother Su couldn't help Rin, then what should they do?
"Rin's soul is very complete, just weak. But this weakness is caused by the nature of the Herrscher of Corruption." Su shook his head. If it were a problem of the soul or spirit, he might have been able to help.
But according to his senses, Rin's soul was complete, merely weak. However, this weakness was caused by the scarcity of the Corruption virus that constituted Rin.
If that was the case, Su had no method. Theoretically, the best way to replenish the Corruption virus would be to place Rin next to the Core of Corruption.
After all, the Corruption virus was the manifestation of the Authority of Corruption. But that book had already mentioned Rin's current situation, which was very awkward.
In order to kill Higokumaru, the Herrscher personality born of malicious intent, Rin had almost used a completely counter-active method to format it entirely. That gem was currently in a state of reorganization and formatting.
If Rin's state were a bit better, retrieving the Core would naturally be no problem. But the problem lay in the fact that Rin's current state was likely still too weak.
Rashly contacting the Core might very well lead to an accident. So, this most convenient path obviously could not be used. Even if there was only a 1% probability, Su did not want to take the risk.
It was hard enough to get a chance to redeem the mistakes they had once made. Su didn't want to risk it; no one dared to risk it.
"Sigh." Hearing Su's words, Irene sighed. Everything had been going so smoothly before, yet they stumbled at this final step. "It seems we can only wait for Rin to recover slowly."
"I am very sorry." Su sighed. He had read in that book that part of the reason Irene came to find him was for Rin.
But he could do nothing. Rin's symptoms were not within his specialty.
"So Brother Su doesn't have a way either." Pardo sighed. Could it be that she had used up too much luck earlier? "I had already thought it through—after we go to the Realm, we would let Sister Sakura have a good time..."
Pardo's murmuring on the side was heard by Su. The term 'Realm' was no problem; there was absolutely no problem with Irene going to the Realm. Even if Irene was a Herrscher, it didn't matter.
Su remembered a certain person inside the Realm. If it were her, perhaps there would be a way to help Rin.
"Perhaps there is one last direction to try. You are going to the Realm, right?"
"Mm, yes. After your matter is finished, we will head to the Realm." Irene nodded. "What about it?"
"Since that is the case, you can try to find Dr. Mobius. She might have a way to help Rin."
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