Chapter 626: The Omen of Misfortune Clings Like a Poison to the Bone

A strange, complex, and acrid odor filled the air—the scent of air ionized by particle beams, mixed with gunpowder smoke and toxic exhaust. The special spatial phenomenon caused by the "alienation" had isolated most of the battle's impact, but it had also transmitted a small amount of the "aftershocks" to the real dimension on this side. Several cars' anti-theft alarms had been triggered, and the underground parking lot echoed with the hollow, monotonous wailing of vehicle alarms.

The spatial rift had collapsed. Every Inquisition member who had invaded this place was dead and gone, and the Archsage at the epicenter had been utterly obliterated—his final self-detonation did not seem aimed at taking Yu Sheng and the others with him, but simply at erasing all traces of his existence, and… closing that spatial rift ahead of time.

Huli was the first to realize this. She had already returned to human form and was frowning deeply. "We should have captured one alive earlier… now there's no loot."

"I didn't expect that old man to be so decisive either. There were teammates all around him!" Erinn grabbed at her somewhat messy golden hair—it had gotten tangled from rolling and scrambling around on the ground earlier. "He blew up without a word. I didn't do anything to him, why was he so angry…"

Then Luna and Huli stared at her together.

"…Fine, maybe it had a little to do with me," Erinn raised her hands in surrender (one hand still holding her precious frying pan), "but I think the main reason is that his psychological endurance was poor…"

As she muttered to herself, Yu Sheng's somewhat dying voice suddenly came from beside her: "I'm still lying here, doesn't anyone come to check on me…"

Huli rushed over the moment she heard it. She sat down on the ground, lifted Yu Sheng's upper body, placed his head on her lap, covered his body with her big tail, and hugged one of his cold arms to her chest to keep it warm.

Yu Sheng sighed contentedly: "…This is much warmer."

Erinn and Luna also walked over. The former stood with her hands on her hips, looking down: "You look like you can't be saved anymore. Too much blood loss."

"Want to guess where all my blood went?" Yu Sheng's face was deathly pale, grinning through clenched teeth as he looked up at the tall doll girl—actually not that tall; at 1.67 meters, she was still the shortest among the travel group members, but compared to 66.6 centimeters, she was obviously incredibly tall. After a long moment, a faint smile appeared on his face. "You grew taller."

"Yeah, I said I grew taller earlier," Erinn also smiled, slowly crouching down beside Yu Sheng's head. "See, now I have to squat to talk to you."

"Now I finally have a rough idea of what kind of 'energy' this body of yours needs to consume. No wonder it couldn't charge before," Yu Sheng blinked with some difficulty. An irresistible "fatigue" seemed to be forcing his eyes closed. "When we get back… let's do a proper study of what's going on with you."

"Alright, we'll study it properly when we get back," Erinn nodded, then looked at Yu Sheng's barely breathing state. "How much time do you have?"

"I'm already running on fumes. I should have 'left' ten minutes ago," Yu Sheng slowly exhaled. "I just saw you giving that giant a pedicure and couldn't bear to die…"

Erinn blinked, then suddenly broke into a cheerful grin, reached out, and gently brushed her hand over Yu Sheng's eyes: "Alright, now just focus on your respawn. We won."

The doll girl's palm swept over. Yu Sheng's eyes were still open.

Erinn was taken aback: "Hey… that's not how it goes in the TV dramas. After I brush my hand like that, you're supposed to close your eyes and have that peaceful look of departure on your face, like there's nothing left to hold onto. Then your hand is supposed to drop from Huli's arms. Why are you still staring at me?"

Yu Sheng: "I just wanted to remind you to send a message to the Special Affairs Bureau before you head back, tell them about the situation here. Also, don't forget to take that 'artificial saintess's body with you… bring it back to the spaceship. And go back to the valley to check on my nephew, let him know we're safe. Also, Erinn, keep an eye on the changes in your body. If you shrink again, record the time, and also the sensations during the shrinking process…"

"Ahh, got it, got it. Why are you nagging like Little Red Riding Hood?" Erinn was annoyed. Impatiently, she reached out and pressed her hand over Yu Sheng's eyes. "Just go on and respawn. We can talk about anything else later."

Yu Sheng didn't respond.

Erinn took her hand away and looked down.

"Oh, they're closed this time."

Huli also felt the arm she was holding suddenly go limp. She tilted her head, thought for a moment, then bent down and gently licked Yu Sheng's face.

Erinn watched this from the side, reached out and poked Huli's head: "Hey, that's not right. You should lick him while his eyes are open, otherwise he won't know."

Huli looked up at the doll girl in confusion, thought about it seriously: "My benefactor is fragrant now—"

Erinn: "…Then eating him now wouldn't do any good. He'll be alive again in thirty minutes. You'd be eating for nothing."

Huli was still following that train of thought: "So can my benefactor be considered a kind of enoki mushroom?"

Even Luna, who was standing nearby, couldn't take it anymore: "You two, enough, already."

Huli finally sighed, slowly laid Yu Sheng's body on the ground, gently patted him with her tail, then stood up and looked around.

The unnamed artificial saintess lay not far away. Throughout the battle, no matter what the situation, Huli had always kept one fox tail protecting that pillar. Luna had also tried her best to hold back the Brass Knights, preventing the battle's aftershocks from reaching that spot.

Luna walked over and silently stared at her compatriot lying on the ground.

"I don't know, where your home is," she murmured softly. "I'll take you, to the place I live."

She bent down and gently lifted the cold steel. It felt slightly lighter than expected.

Huli reached into her tail, fished out a rune card stamped with the travel group's emblem, and casually activated it. The blood-colored patterns on the rune card instantly came to life. Strands and threads of red lines spread and extended through the air like spontaneously growing blood vessels and nerves, and in the blink of an eye, they formed the shape of a phantom door.

She pushed open that door. On the other side was the scene inside the portal hub hall.

"Let's go. Back home."

…

At the same time, deep within the distant Dark Flow Star Domain, inside the "Glimmer Belt" near the Great Triangle Nebula, a lush garden planet was bathed in sunlight.

The entire planet had been highly developed, but the advanced artificial ecosystem had reshaped all the mountains, forests, and rivers. Everything on this planet was precisely designed and transformed. Every river, every tree was in the most perfect position, presenting the most perfect state. Beneath the forests were factories and circulation systems running day and night, while towering temples and city buildings stood among the lofty mountains.

No one could have imagined that deep within the Dark Flow Star Domain, filled with chaos, violence, and warlord conflicts, there could exist such a paradise-like place.

The Inquisition's capital planet, "Holy Ground."

Atop a certain high mountain, deep within the resplendent sacred hall.

Faint hymns echoed through the corridors. The long hall, adorned with portraits of saints and decorated with statues of heroes, was brilliantly lit. At the far end of the long hall stood a massive "rebirth device." Pure light spilled down from above, making the entire apparatus seem bathed in holy radiance.

The device consisted of a large mind transmission unit and several biomass cultivation pods arranged around it. Its solemn black surface was dotted with countless golden, ornate lines, and scripture drapes covered parts of its shell—these drapes and lines were not mere decorations but were meant to prevent certain spirits wandering deep in the starry sky from being attracted by the device, causing fatal contamination or interference during mind transmission and soul reconstruction.

No one walked in the silent long hall. Only a few servants wearing mental shackles stood in the shadows of the doorways near the rebirth device, waiting for orders at any time. At a certain moment, these servants seemed to receive some command and looked up in unison toward the rebirth device.

The lights in the long hall flickered a few times. A series of indicator lights and holographic projections lit up on the surface of the mind transmission unit. Then the entire machine began to operate automatically, and faint sounds came from one of the cultivation pods on its side.

The scripture drapes covering the cultivation pod suddenly caught fire and turned to ash almost in the blink of an eye.

A servant saw this and tried to cry out in alarm, but the fire consuming the drapes seemed to simultaneously burn away the memory of the previous second—as the ash of the scripture cloth dissipated in the wind, the poor man's expression returned to its previous numb and devout demeanor.

The next second, the cultivation pod opened. A figure with an imposing face, graying hair and beard, and a robust build appeared inside.

The Archsage, Golondel—his face was full of rage.

He had returned here from a bitter defeat, reborn from death.

The servants hurried forward, devoutly serving their master, wiping away the biomass solution from his body and draping him in a robe adorned with golden runes.

The reconstruction of flesh and blood signified a shameful defeat. Every activation of the rebirth device left a stain on the saints' perfect "Path of Holiness." Therefore, no lower-ranking disciples were allowed to witness this in the hall; only servants wearing mental shackles could attend to him.

"His Holiness is waiting for your report…" a servant said with his head bowed.

Golondel took a deep breath, calming his emotions, then nodded lightly: "I understand."

Chaos still entangled his mind. The superluminal transmission of consciousness across the starry sea had caused a degree of offset in this body's perception. He still saw illusions now and then—that bizarre spider-like alien, that hateful doll crawling all over the ground, and that frying pan… that frying pan!!

Unstable spiritual energy stirred in the air. The two nearest servants instantly knelt prostrate on the ground, trembling uncontrollably and letting out painful groans.

"Blasphemous aberrations… lower life forms…"

Golondel cursed under his breath, but finally forced himself to suppress his rage. He knew he had to walk out of this long hall with the best possible demeanor—failure itself was already a disgrace; losing composure would only harm his honor. He could not appear too disheveled before the Living Saints and His Holiness. That would bring him no benefit at all.

The Archsage stepped toward the stairs.

Then he heard a faint crack.

Like something had broken.

The next second, before Golondel could realize what was happening, terrifying pain and a dizzying feeling struck him violently—he had only taken one step onto the stairs when he felt as if his legs had been instantly crushed by an irresistible force. The body, newly reborn and theoretically flawless, suddenly lost support. He tumbled down the stairs embarrassingly and landed on the ground.

Golondel propped himself up in panic and looked at his legs, only to see a mess of twisted, broken flesh and bones.

From the knees down, the bones had been powdered. The scene was all too familiar.

Overwhelming shock, accompanied by an icy chill gradually creeping up from deep within his heart, finally turned Golondel's bewilderment into terror.

Why… would this happen?!