Chapter 676: Ripples

The wind on the high mountains stirred the clouds, blowing over the banners and energy barriers of the peak sanctuary, but inside the Supreme Sanctuary there was no trace of the cold at the summit of the mountains—beneath the solemn and magnificent pillars and the light-screen dome, His Holiness's voice gently echoed in everyone's ears.

"...The new Angel Catalyst will be delivered to the homeworld within three days. Once the catalyst arrives and passes testing, it will be immediately placed into the 'Most Holy Furnace.' It will become the 'key' to the Eden Gate, completing the final step on our path to the sacred.

"During the activation of the Eden Gate... the border must be sealed, and the Holy Domain must not be disturbed.

"We must guard against the complacency of pride and arrogance. Until the final moment arrives, all comrades must not relax... after centuries of arduous pursuit, only the final step remains..."

Columbander lowered his head, earnestly listening to His Holiness's teachings. Then he heard someone speak: "Your Holiness, our recent actions in the borderlands have been repeatedly thwarted. They may have discovered some things... should we make preparations in advance?"

The voice was somewhat harsh. Columbander instinctively gripped the armrests of his wheelchair, but quickly relaxed, putting on an appearance of indifference to the question.

Only the area below his knees ached faintly.

The golden-haired man standing on the steps still wore his usual warm smile. He looked at the priest who had spoken, his light blue eyes filled with approval. "We never underestimate our opponents—those heretics have already caused us considerable losses, and I can sense that this time they will still cause trouble in unexpected ways. Suspend operations in the borderlands, and withdraw the teams operating in the Unified Sector. We have obtained the Angel Catalyst; the next priority is to ensure the Eden Gate remains intact."

The priest nodded and took his leave. Then another person spoke: "How should we handle the 'Shadowless Bones'? Can the new catalyst completely replace it?"

His Holiness thought for a few seconds this time.

"The catalyst still needs testing. The Eden Gate must temporarily maintain its current state—the 'Energy Absorption Field' will continue to operate at low power. If the Shadowless Bones act up again, then commit the reserve psychics... The new world will remember their sacrifices."

"Yes, Your Holiness."

"What about the Ranch Planet? The last fluctuation of the Eden Gate created a large-scale psychic anomaly on the surface of that planet, causing the quality of this batch of selected 'seeds' to be very unstable. It may affect the production of artificial saints and knights..."

"Then suspend the selection until the planet's environment stabilizes—process the seeds already selected as usual. Don't worry about minor fluctuations in production."

"Understood..."

Important matters were discussed and sorted out one by one. His Holiness's voice carried a convincing and relaxing power. Columbander, however, was bowing his head, thinking about the new Angel Catalyst, the Special Operations Bureau, and a certain 'cursed puppet.' But just then, he suddenly 'heard' some noise in his own thoughts, as if some unsettling information was being directly injected into his cognition. A series of terrifying visions suddenly flashed through his mind—

He saw planets collapse, the mountains of the Holy Domain splitting apart. He saw rivers boiling, the water on the planet's surface instantly evaporating into space—the crust tearing before his eyes, dark entities erupting from within the planet, a massive, pitch-black celestial body devouring everything...

A faint rumbling sound came from the real world, breaking the visions in Columbander's mind. He hurriedly looked up, and together with everyone else, looked in the same direction.

Deep in the lofty mountains, among the sea of clouds, a brilliant aurora suddenly appeared in the atmosphere. The sky rapidly darkened, as if night had fallen early. Then the aurora slowly swept across the cloud tops, like a 'heat curtain' igniting the clouds, a sea of fire boiling on the clouds.

The golden-haired man on the steps remained calm, raising his hand to point at the spreading sea of fire. Then a massive psychic apparition suddenly appeared behind him—the apparition towered above the sanctuary, wearing a shining crown, its eyes blazing like suns.

His Holiness slowly pressed down his palm. The psychic sea of fire spreading across the clouds and the aurora 'heat curtain' in the air instantly violently churned, then were crushed and dissipated by a powerful force, eventually calming down.

The sky returned to brightness.

The Great Sages were still shaken, and only after everything returned to normal did they show expressions of relief. Columbander wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and looked at the golden-haired figure on the steps with reverence.

"The Eden Gate is urging us once again. It needs purer energy and a key closer to its 'essence,'" His Holiness said in a gentle voice. "Our time is running out, comrades—go and make preparations in advance to receive the Angel Catalyst. Before that 'Dark Star' cruiser returns, everything must be ready."

The priests gathered in the great hall acknowledged the orders one after another, then withdrew from the chamber in order. Columbander also followed behind the others, 'walking' in his wheelchair toward one of the arches.

But at that moment, a gentle voice came from the steps not far away: "Columbander, stay."

Columbander was startled and quickly stopped in front of the steps.

Some priests nearby cast curious glances, but under the silent gaze of the two Living Saints beside His Holiness, they quickly averted their eyes and continued to hurriedly leave.

After everyone had left, only His Holiness, the two Living Saints, and Columbander himself remained.

The latter adjusted his posture in the wheelchair somewhat uneasily. He felt that the two 'Living Saints,' whose bodies were filled with psychic radiance and whose faces were indistinct, seemed to be staring at him all along. Their light-forged faces held a disquieting coldness.

But His Holiness smiled warmly and even actively stepped down from the dais, coming before Columbander.

Columbander lowered his head with reverence and trepidation. "Your Holiness, you called for me to stay..."

"Can you see something that others cannot?" His Holiness's voice came from above, carrying the same reassuring power as always.

Columbander was stunned for a moment, then looked up sharply, meeting those light blue eyes filled with laughter.

"When the Eden Gate fluctuated just now, did you see some omen? Can you tell me about it?" His Holiness asked again, in a tone as friendly as if chatting with a friend.

Columbander snapped out of it, surprise spreading across his face. "I-I did see some visions. Do you mean others..."

"Yes, it seems only you can see them," His Holiness nodded lightly, but his gaze fell on the other's crippled legs. "You see, the suffering in fate is not meaningless. This curse phenomenon from the heretics has etched a mark on your soul, enlightening your connection to the Eden Gate... Columbander, can you tell me now what you saw just now?"

Under the gaze of those eyes, Columbander was dazed for a moment, but then joy filled his heart.

"Y-yes, Your Holiness! I did see something..."

...

"Ah! I died!! Just a sliver of health left!"

Eileen (Lotus Root) and Eileen (Lightweight Clay) suddenly shrieked on the coffee table. Then the two puppets began slapping the tabletop and yelling loudly—about the terrible boss mechanics, the keyboard input lag being too high, not being in the zone today, Yu Sheng's computer not being good enough, the screen lagging, the hit indicator being too dark, the mouse dying from eating rat poison, Luna standing at the top of the stairs blocking the WiFi signal, fox fur getting into the joints causing the elbow to slip...

In short, even if Little Red Riding Hood went to Rapunzel to ask why she hadn't done her homework last week, she wouldn't have come up with that many excuses at once.

At that moment, Yu Sheng was sitting on the sofa holding his phone and sending messages. He only looked up when he heard the little puppets' commotion, and then immediately saw the huge blood-red 'Noob' character on the screen.

"...How long have you been fighting this boss? If it's really not working, why not just skip it? It's not a mandatory main story boss."

"No way!" the little puppet (clay) immediately said angrily, then sat cross-legged and picked up the mouse again with both hands. "I've almost beaten this one. I've memorized all its moves. I just got distracted a moment ago..."

The other little puppet (lotus root) also returned to the keyboard. "Yu Sheng, just watch! This time I will definitely slay that thing!"

Yu Sheng watched the two Eileens again huddle in front of the computer, making a ruckus. He said nothing, just shook his head with a smile.

Beside him came a faint snoring sound.

Hu Li was lying on the floor nearby, curled up with her tail hugged, sleeping soundly. It was afternoon, the sunlight was just right, and the floor heating was cozy. After eating her fill, the fox girl had found a warm spot on the floor as usual and started sleeping. She didn't wake up even from the commotion of Eileen playing games, which sounded like the house was being torn apart. Her snores were even and soft.

Yu Sheng looked at the fox girl who had already drooled onto her own tail. He suddenly reached out and gently touched the side of her ear with his finger.

Hu Li was in deep sleep and didn't wake at all, but her ear reflexively twitched a few times.

Yu Sheng's face showed a happy smile similar to Eileen's expression, and he touched again.

The fuzzy, pointed ear twitched more violently.

Yu Sheng adjusted the position of his finger, and then that ear started flapping like it had an electric motor: flap, flap, flap...

Yu Sheng: "Hehe..."

But as soon as he got to the 'hehe,' he heard footsteps coming from the direction of the basement. He looked up and saw a pair of wide, vertical pupils staring at him from behind the railing near the stairway. Those eyes were full of surprise and nervousness—Mo Mo stared, one cat ear on her head instinctively folded back.

She looked like an intern who had gone to report to the big boss, only to accidentally find the boss lying on the floor playing with plastic action figures and going 'pew pew pew.'

Yu Sheng, however, didn't feel embarrassed at all. Probably because he dealt with a bunch of monsters and weirdos all the time, his 'daily baseline' now was always in a very fluid state, and his entire mindset was quite free. When he saw the cat head emerge from the basement, he greeted her cheerfully: "Mo Mo? What are you doing here? Have you eaten?"

Hu Li, who was snoring on the floor, instantly opened her eyes: "Is it meal time again?!"

Mo Mo was startled, then even her mechanical ear drooped. "I... Luo... boss... ah! Sister Luo sent me to find you. She said she has roughly calculated the coordinates of the Hidden Society's illegal star gate!"

Hu Li looked around drowsily, then lay back down and muttered, "Not meal time yet..."

Yu Sheng, however, had already stood up abruptly. "That fast?"

"Mm-hmm," Mo Mo nodded repeatedly. "Sister Luo said that the 'Dark Star' cruiser was in a hurry when it returned, and the light-speed ripples leaked from the superluminal core weren't cleaned up properly, exposing key data..."