Jiong Hecang returned to Jade City after disappearing for 54 days.

Now, it is exceedingly weak, its dim blue flames resembling ghostly fires.

Zhou Yi was not surprised by this.

Being projected from the Dark Domain to the Otherworld required using Light Seeds to stimulate Space Bubbles, and Breakers exhausted 90% of their own energy, suffering a one-time immense energy loss.

Hence, after returning, a long period of rest was necessary for recovery.

The Condenser spoke wearily and breathlessly, "Chairman, I made quite a few mistakes this time which resulted in many delays."

"It's good that you're safely back."

Zhou Yi communicated using a shared frequency of consciousness: "How did you spend these nearly two months there?"

"Chairman, I only stayed in the Dead Cult World for two days."

Zhou Yi was taken aback: "The time difference is that great?"

"Yes, it's something I confirmed after coming back. I couldn't communicate complexly with Haruk, and since they seem indifferent to precise timekeeping, using only the tides as a rudimentary measure, this issue arose unintentionally on my part."

Jiong Hecang's voice carried a tone of self-reproach: "According to my measurements, one day there is equivalent to 27.3 days here."

"Does the Dead Cult World rotate much faster than ours?"

Zhou Yi was intrigued.

"Not exactly."

The Condenser explained: "It's due to different time standards in different worlds. The transition from day to night there is incredibly prolonged, so one cycle of day and night turns into nearly a month here."

"After crossing worlds, my perception of time was distorted by the powers of that world, syncing with the local time. Thus, while I was there, I was completely unaware of the difference..."

Zhou Yi turned his gaze to the Black Water Ghost in his hand.

This was a moment where the Time Meter could prove useful.

It was as if the biological clock had been forcibly synchronized, making it impossible to notice individually.

"However, I also made many discoveries there."

The Condenser continued: "Upon arriving there, the world was only in black and white. I was white, and the local lives were black, constantly changing shapes like shadows that transform under the light."

"I measured and confirmed that the local Dead Light Energy density is 81 times that of ours, even higher than what Haruk had speculated."

81 times?

The two worlds indeed exhibit vast differences.

Zhou Yi thought: "In that case, are natural disasters frequent there?"

"Yes, Chairman. The Light Bursts occur continuously almost like layers of waves, omnipresent, only varying in size."

The Condenser added: "The Dead Cult World itself is like a natural low-pressure area. Standing is unstable, one's body floats up easily, and it's simple to get tossed about by energy blasts. When I arrived there, I was mostly pushed around by Light Bursts, making it extremely difficult to move."

"Fortunately, Haruk was there."

"It taught me hand signals for efficiently absorbing energy, the easiest of which is found in the ground."

"I mimicked its actions, digging through the surface to reach underground where I found some block-shaped objects emitting white gas. By extracting these blocks, I could absorb the gas. Using this method, I rapidly grew stronger, even surpassing my original strength."

"During this process, I gradually realized that in that world, slowness and balance are the most challenging and precise tasks."

After pausing for a moment,

It said, "I performed repeated measurements, those white substances are not found in our world. Just in terms of energy levels, they are stronger than Light Seeds, a unique product of that world. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to gather more information."

Gaseous energy?

Zhou Yi took the Condenser and went into the sea floor, meeting with Haruk below the Dark Domain.

They needed this local to fill in the missing information.

Haruk, restored to its large black hand form, mentioned, "That is our local Life Chart; it's everywhere here, and we can absorb it directly. However, it seems your world doesn't have it, only converging inside living beings. I think it's probably due to the difference in Dead Light concentration."

It was also unsure itself.

Zhou Yi had the Condenser continue.

"I started following Haruk. Fortunately, with its presence, the local lives didn't attack me. They are all very powerful, not one weaker than me. If confronted alone, my chances of survival would be extremely slim..."

"There was a mysterious power there, which filled me with aggressiveness and made me hard to control, a strong desire to hunt the local lives. Suppressing that urge was not easy; I was continually resisting it."

"Haruk found a relatively close deep pit and instructed me to enter, and I did as told."

Jiong Hecang said, "That pit had some kind of peculiar consciousness connection, similar to how Chairman, you and I converse."

"The pit contained other life forms' markings and information. It was a Firewood Mound."

Zhou Yi was reminded of the game Dark Souls, where different players left messages for others to see, warnings from past players.

However, these messages contained both benevolent tips and misleading traps.

The Condenser recalled: "There were abundant mixed messages and fragments of consciousness inside, consuming a lot of energy to read. Guided by Haruk, while reading and absorbing, I relied on drawing in that gaseous energy."

"Most of my time was spent in this process."

"Unfortunately, much of the information was fragmented and ineffective. However, even so, I gained a lot of information related to myself, expanding the capacity of the Conscious Key by about 50%, and my strength also slightly improved."

It now had three small satellites orbiting around it, an increase from before.

Zhou Yi thought that was good.

Having gained improvement from the Firewood Mound, the long journey had not been in vain.

The Condenser stated: "In the Firewood Mound, I also discovered traces possibly from humans. Or rather, they had once roamed the Dead Cult World."

"I also cannot give an accurate description because the acquired consciousness fragments were intermittent, just vague descriptions. It's unclear who those humans were or what they looked like."

The first thing Zhou Yi thought of were the glass men.

They moved with the Heavenly People and could descend onto the Wasteland Era Earth, which meant they also had the capability to enter the Dead Cult World.

Compared to the much more intense Dead Cult World, Wasteland Earth was certainly easier to control.

"Although I don't know what's going on with those humans, there's clear information left in Firewood Mound. Those messages were left by a special type of life native to the Dead Cult World."

"The information is very clear, just the format is quite strange, I found three complete records."

——#Yutu 2 Mission Log# I am still executing the mission, happy Children's Day.

——#Yutu 2 Mission Log# Continuing forward, happy Mid-Autumn Festival.

——#Yutu 2 Mission Log# Drew the national flag on the ground, happy National Day.

"Like this, it seems to be a task log, but those festivals are obscure and their significance is unclear, some are like special numbers, some are seasons, and its affiliated country seems very mysterious... Only preserving information in this way through Firewood Mound records, and presenting them to the people of the same camp."

At this time, Zhou Yi stood there stunned, his brain somewhat foggy.

The Yutu 2 rover, still working. It had also turned into an electromechanical life.

Its existence...is on the Moon.

Does that mean, the Dead Cult World was originally the Moon?

Zhou Yi quickly snapped back to reality after a moment of daze.

"Haruk, the Dead Cult in your world can't be seen and is targeting you, trying to reduce your numbers, right?"

"Yes, Zhou Yi, that's right. It is very evil, a kind of spirit that worships death and destruction. The Dead Cult always watches us."

The Breaker said: "We have to break out of the life cycle, otherwise entering the destruction cycle, we will be seduced and controlled by it, falling into fratricide."

Zhou Yi understood everything now.

The Dead Cult is the Concept Life, Night God.

The Night God detests the Moon Beasts, which are Haruk and its kind.

Haruk and its kind, because they continuously absorb high-energy gases from the Moon, cause damage to the Night God itself.

This was understandable. Because once Haruk evolves into a Light Core Body, they would directly leave this dangerous world, causing the Moon's overall energy to continuously flow out.

The positions of the two sides are naturally opposed.

Still, Zhou Yi decided to stand by for now.

Because this was an internal contradiction of the Moon, there was no need for an outsider to interfere.

However.

Since there were Haruk as well as the potentially active lunar rovers on the Moon, perhaps it was time to consider properly developing it when the opportunity matured.

...

A few days later, Haruk bid farewell and left.

Because the tide had arrived, signaling that this winter was about to end.

Before leaving, Zhou Yi still arranged for a mushroom Life Core for it, which made it very grateful; it said it would definitely continue to craft a Life Chart next time.

At the tail end of winter, the Jade City area was bustling with joy.

The employees had made money, were fed and clothed, living lives they previously didn't dare to dream of. Many carried rhombic lamps, strolling and snack-shopping along the streets, leisurely walking on Jade Avenue and enjoying the snow.

Zhou Yi went to the cave depot at Dragon Bay with Li Mo and Kobold to eat hotpot.

He picked up a chicken meatball and asked, "Da Vinci said that your surgery is over, why don't you move out?"

Li Mo put dried sweet potatoes into the hotpot and ate them—his taste was quite unique.

"Chairman, the Heavenly Dog is not yet dismantled, I'll wait for it to be dismantled and we'll move out together."

The Kobold, suffering from the spices, kept drinking water and sticking out its tongue.

Li Mo continued, "It's also nice for us to live here, we can work and it's peaceful. Chairman, can we not move out?"

"As you wish."

"Alright then."

...

The night deepened.

Li Mo, wearing a black mask and lowering the brim of his hat, walked on the road back to Jade City.

The lights in the residential area were all on, every household was reuniting, there was also a new year celebration in this era.

Zhou Yi requested a song "Unforgettable Tonight" at the mic master.

It finally felt like New Year.

In the end, as he listened, he himself felt even lonelier.

Gong Zheng by his side handed over a can of Coke.

"Chairman, have a drink, you've worked hard this year."

"Together."

Zhou Yi took the Coke and they clinked cans.

With the 'happy water' down, he quickly perked up again.

Though it's the Wasteland era, he was not alone. The company was with him, with many employees following him.

Next year, he'd need to develop further, setting a small goal to help the entire Sand Port Region reach a moderate level of prosperity!

"Put on a cheerful song."

Then the mic master played "Congratulations on Your Fortune."

Amid Andy Lau's congratulations, Zhou Yi hummed along, heading into the new year's spring.

[End of this volume]

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.