Chapter 131: Healing Time

Su Yu lay in the medical tent for three days.

It wasn't because she was that badly injured—Aili said her body, under the dual effect of Starfire Resonance and her own will, was recovering at an astonishing speed. Rather, it was because Old Zhao and Han Qing jointly issued an order: she must rest, this is a command.

Thus she became the most idle person in Pure Land. Each day, besides eating, sleeping, and undergoing checkups, she just stared blankly at the hope grass replanted on the windowsill. The flowers had withered, but the plant had sprouted two new leaves, so vividly green it was as if all the vitality of spring had been condensed into their veins.

On the morning of the fourth day, Xiao Yu came to see her.

The little girl held a wooden bowl containing freshly cooked porridge—made from the first batch of millet harvested from the newly built fields, thin but truly fragrant. "Aili said you need to eat more to recover quickly."

Su Yu sat up and took the bowl. The porridge was hot; she blew on it in small sips: "Thank you, Xiao Yu. How are the sunflowers in the fields doing?"

"They've sprouted!" Xiao Yu's eyes lit up. "They just poked out yesterday, tiny and green. Uncle Li said they'll bloom in a little over a month."

"Uncle Li?"

"Uncle Li Xiaofeng. His leg's healed, and now he's in charge of teaching us how to plant things." Xiao Yu sat on the edge of the bed, "He said you once promised that once the world was healed you'd plant a huge field of sunflowers. So we've planted a small patch for now, and we'll plant a larger one once you're better."

Su Yu felt a wave of warmth in her chest. It wasn't the burning of scar tissue, but something softer.

After finishing the porridge, Xiao Yu pulled a small cloth bundle from her pocket: "This is for you." She opened the bundle to reveal several brown seeds: "I found them in the garden of my old house. I don't know what kind of flower they are, but I want you to plant them."

"Why give them to me?"

"Because you're the one who brings light." Xiao Yu said seriously, "Mom said light lets seeds sprout. So if you keep the seeds with you, they'll know when to bloom."

Su Yu took the seeds and held them in her palm. The seeds' rough shells rubbed against her skin, like tiny promises.

After Xiao Yu left, Su Yu got out of bed and walked to the window. Through a gap in the tent's canvas, she could see the camp restoring order. People were clearing away residual dust from the shattered orbital array, reinforcing defenses, and continuing to dig the underground shelter. Life went on in a stubborn, unyielding way.

Aili walked in holding a diagnostic device: "Time for a check-up. Lie down."

The examination was thorough. Heart rate, blood pressure, neural responses, residual stardust energy… Aili recorded the data while saying, "Your body is adapting to Starfire. It's not passively enduring; it's actively integrating. Scar tissue is forming new neural networks that link your consciousness to stardust energy."

"Is this a good thing?"

"I don't know." Aili said honestly, "There's no precedent in Starfire knowledge. In human history, you're the first true Starfire‑integrated seeder. You're walking a path no one has walked before."

Su Yu thought of Chen Mo. He too had walked an untrodden path, lighting the first beam of light in the darkness.

"How are the other wounded?" she asked.

"Most have recovered. Xiao Yun's wound is healing well, but…" Aili paused, "She often goes behind the medical tent, where you can see the industrial park. She'll sit there for hours."

Su Yu understood. That sixteen‑year‑old girl was still waiting for her mother to return, even though she knew hope was slim.

"Any progress on the Silan fragment analysis?"

Aili's expression grew grave: "Kaiwen and the technicians from underground have been researching around the clock. They've found some… unsettling things. Once you're stronger, they'll come report."

"I can do it now."

"No." Aili pressed her down, "Han Qing said today you must rest. This is for everyone—if you collapse, who will guide the next resonance?"

That reason is indisputable.

In the afternoon, sunlight filtered through the canvas tent, casting mottled shadows on the ground. Unable to sleep, Su Yu picked up the seeds Xiao Yu had given her and examined them. In True Knowledge Vision, the seeds held a faint life force, like a sleeping breath.

She recalled a passage from Chen Mo's lab notes: "Seeds are the most patient revolutionaries. They can wait years, even decades, just for the right moment—when light, temperature, and moisture are perfectly balanced. Then, when everyone has given up hope, they break through the soil and proclaim that life has never surrendered."

The tent flap was lifted, and Lao Zhao brought in lunch. Not nutrient paste, but real food—a small bowl of rice, a few slices of roasted potato, and even a bit of pickled vegetables.

"Where did this come from?" Su Yu exclaimed.

"Supplies from the underground shelter," Lao Zhao said, setting up a folding table. "Sealed before the disaster; theoretically still edible. We've opened a few cans to celebrate."

"What are we celebrating?"

"Celebrating that we're still alive, celebrating that the array was repelled, celebrating…" Lao Zhao sat down, "celebrating that the hope grass has bloomed."

He set out the meal and watched Su Yu eat. After she finished the last bite of rice, he spoke: "Xiaofeng is in charge of digging the underground cavern. Yesterday they ran into… something."

Su Yu set down the bowl: "What something?"

"Not a shadow, not a mutant. It's…" Lao Zhao searched for the right word, "a relic. A relic older than human civilization."

He unfolded a hand‑drawn sketch. The drawing showed a mural found deep in the cavern: simple lines depicting a starry sky, a huge spaceship, and… figures of humans kneeling. Beside the mural were symbols, not any known script.

"Xiaofeng said the structure of those symbols resembles that on the Silan fragments, but not exactly. It's like… an older version."

Su Yu examined the picture closely. The human figures in the mural were distinctive—halos hovered above their heads, as if they were emitting light themselves.

"Xiaofeng thinks," Lao Zhao continued, "this planet might not be the first to have been 'visited.' Before Silan, other seeders came here. Those halos… could be manifestations of early Starfire fusion."

"But why no records? Why is there nothing like this in human history?"

"Maybe there were, but they were forgotten. Or…" Lao Zhao pointed to a detail in the mural: the spaceship departing while humans knelt on the ground, reaching out as if to hold on, "They left. They left some things behind, but took more with them."

Silence fell in the tent for a moment. Su Yu digested the information: humanity might once have contacted the seeders, but that history was lost. Why was it lost? Active forgetting, or forced?

"Keep digging," she said, "but be careful. If there really are ancient relics down there, there might also be… ancient defense systems."

"Already doing that," Lao Zhao said, putting the drawings away. "Xiaofeng is very cautious; he says an engineer's first principle is 'Don't touch what you don't understand.' For now they're just recording, not touching."

At that moment, voices arguing came from outside the tent. It was Kaiwen and Han Qing.

"I have to tell her now!" Kaiwen's voice.

"She needs to rest." Han Qing's voice, calm but firm.

"This can't wait!"

Su Yu lifted the tent flap: "Come in. I've rested enough."

Kaiwen rushed in, his glasses askew on his nose, clutching a stack of data plates. Han Qing followed, his complexion not looking good.

"The Silan fragment analysis has turned up something new," Kaiwen said, spreading the data plates on the table. "It's not just the experiment logs. Inside the fragments there's… memory."

"Memory?"

"A biological‑mechanical memory storage unit. We managed to extract a short segment." Kaiwen pulled up an image: a blurry first‑person view looking down at the blue planet—Earth. The viewpoint was moving, as if in orbit.

Then came a cold, calm voice: 【Earth Sample‑ID 7392, entering the seventh year of observation. Experimental Group A (spore infection) progressed as expected, with 73% of samples completing the first‑stage transformation. Control Group B (natural evolution) showed an anomaly: the samples autonomously awakened Starfire Resonance.】

The scene switched: it was Pure Land, it was Stardust Cradle, it was Su Yu's figure standing beneath the purification tower. From the orbital viewpoint she was just a pixel, but the fragment's memory tagged an energy reading—abnormally high.

【Anomalous sample individual marked: Su Yu. Starfire fusion level: 0.3%, steadily rising. Risk assessment: medium. Recommendation: include as an experimental variable to observe the impact on the overall ecosystem.】

The image shifted again: the industrial park, the moment the mother body released a spore fog that obscured observation.

Experimental Group A shows signs of collective consciousness awakening. Some samples attempt to break free of control. Interference executed: inject inhibitory spores.

The view darkens, then a new scene appears: not Earth, but another planet. Barren, dead silent, yet the ruins of a civilization are visible—huge architectural wreckage, strange mechanical debris, and… countless figures kneeling on the ground, already petrified.

Reference case: Orion‑Delta civilization. Experimental cycle: three hundred twenty years. Final stage: the sample's collective consciousness reaches a critical point and attempts to rebel. Harvest protocol executed. Recovered data: civilization‑consciousness essence ×12.7 units. Experimental assessment: success.

The view ends.

Inside the tent it is cold as an ice cellar.

"They turned the entire civilization…" Aili's voice trembled.

"It became data," Kaiwen continues, "The harvest protocol means: when a civilization's collective consciousness reaches a certain 'maturity,' Serran will harvest, compressing the civilization's finest parts—knowledge, memory, culture, even the 'soul'—into data and storing it."

"For what?" Su Yu asked.

"I don't know. The fragment memories give no explanation," Kaiwen adjusted his glasses. "But one term recurs: 'sublimation material.' The harvested civilization essence is called sublimation material."

Han Qing slammed a fist on the table: "So we are crops. When we mature, we are harvested."

"Worse," Kaiwen's voice deepened, "We are crops in an experimental field. Serran not only watches how we grow, but also intervenes—infecting with spores, surveilling with orbital arrays, and possibly… directly altering our growth direction."

Su Yu recalled the Mother's words: "Above us, something is causing us pain."

It turns out pain is part of the experiment. Despair is, hope is as well. Rebellion is, compliance is too. Everything is data, everything is to observe 'human civilization's response patterns under extreme conditions.'

"Second‑stage intervention," she said softly, "What is the 'guiding spore'?"

Kaiwen pulled up another dataset: "Analysis shows that after the Serran fragments scattered, a new spore variant was detected in the atmosphere. They are smaller and more covert than the industrial‑zone spores, capable of airborne transmission. Moreover… they target Starfire Resonance."

"Targeting me?"

"Targeting anyone who generates Starfire Resonance." Kaiwen looked at Su Yu. "Your scar, Han Qing's disc, the Stardust plant, even those children who have just begun to resonate—are all targets. The new spores will try to attach, infiltrate, and alter your energy frequencies, 'guiding' you back onto Serran's preset trajectory."

Su Yu reached for the scar on her chest. It was faintly warm, as if resisting something.

"Is there a protective method?" Old Zhao asked.

"In theory, yes." Kaiwen pointed at the data board. "Starfire knowledge contains energy shielding techniques, but they require massive amounts of Stardust crystals and time to construct. Moreover…" He looked at Su Yu. "The strongest resonators must become the core of the shielding network. In other words, Su Yu will have to be a target again."

Everyone looked at Su Yu.

She looked at the hope grass on the windowsill. Three days ago it blossomed amid an energy surge, proving life can create miracles even at the most unlikely moments.

Then she looked at her palm, where the seed given by Xiao Yu lay quietly.

"Then let's build it," she said, "Before Serran's guiding spores take effect, we must finish our shield."

At dusk, Su Yu was allowed a brief leave from the medical tent. She walked to the Stardust Cradle, where the plants swayed gently in the evening breeze. As she approached, a leaf drifted down and brushed her forehead.

In an instant, a vision flooded her consciousness: not a memory, but a premonition.

She saw herself standing at the center of a massive energy shielding array, beneath a strangely oppressive sky—not clouds, but a dense spore cloud, like an inverted black ocean. Within the spore cloud, something moved: huge, graceful, indifferent.

Then the scene shifted: deep within an underground cavern, the wall paintings came to life. The ancient figures, halos above their heads, turned, looked at her, their lips barely moving. She heard no sound, but deciphered the lip movements:

"Choose your name."

The vision vanished.

Su Yu opened her eyes, finding herself kneeling before the Stardust plant, tears silently slipping down.

The plant brushed her hair with its branches, as if comforting her.

Choose your name.

The Sower's name.

The civilization's name.

Or… the rebel's name.

She stood, dried her tears, and looked toward the construction site where the energy shielding array was being assembled. People worked, sweated, argued, and laughed. Children helped pass tools, while the elders sat nearby weaving the ropes for the protective net.

This is her choice.

She will protect all of this.