Chapter 218: The Syllabus on the Charred Petals

The three charred petals of the white flower did not fall.

They turned into living recorders—each one internally circulating a 0.1‑second "water‑colored memory" of the Forgers' Civilization. At dawn, Han Qing discovered that a light fingertip touch on a petal let one hear a transformed piece of anger:

It was not a scorching roar, but the sound of folding.

"It's like teaching a blaze how to fold itself into a shape that won't burn others," Su Yu observed the minute patterns on the petal surface—those char marks formed a schematic resembling origami steps.

During breakfast, the Bridge transmitted an official document—not a cold data stream, but a "application" carved from solidified anger energy, its edges already wrapped in an icy‑blue chant.

【Flame Forge Civilization·Institute of Emotional Education Admission Application】

【Applied Major: Anger Transformation and Folding】

【Learning Objective: Master the technique of "maintaining warmth without scorching"】

【Special Note: This civilization's power source (i. e., individual Forgers) must continuously supply energy to the home planet; the application adopts a remote teaching mode】

【Collateral: Voluntarily separate 1% core energy, entrusted to the white flower for "class‑cancellation insurance"—if the teaching fails, that energy will auto‑detonate】

Old Zhao stared at the energy crystal for three seconds, then soaked it into his own teacup.

"What are you doing?" Kevin nearly knocked his glasses off.

"Cooling down." Old Zhao watched the crystal gradually shed its orange‑red hue in the tea, turning a gentle amber, "and see whether it wants to 'take a bath'."

The crystal did not explode. It rotated slowly at the cup's bottom, emitting a faint halo—the halo reflected on the cup wall, forming a slanted line of text:

"Water… is light."

The white flower's charred petals suddenly trembled in unison. The three petals each projected a teaching plan:

1. Petal A (the darkest one): demonstrates how to fold anger into "propulsion"—just as Old Zhou uses the anger of losing his daughter to power a mechanical prosthetic, creating protective gear for more people.

2. Petal B (half‑char, half‑transparent): shows how anger transforms into a "warning boundary"—like the one‑eyed woman dissipating heat with geometric flowers in her eye sockets, turning pain into a pre‑alert system for protecting others.

3. Petal C (least charred): displays the "artistic degradation" of anger—like Su Yu folding the frustration of origami into the curvature of a paper crane's wing.

The three plans arranged in the air into the shape of a syllabus.

The Forgers' energy crystal floated up from the teacup, delicately tapping the "syllabus"—selecting the third plan.

"Why choose this?" Xiao Yu asked.

The crystal answered with its halo: "Because 'art' in our lexicon once meant 'meaningless energy waste'. I want to know whether meaninglessness can… be permitted."

Remote teaching began at noon. The method was unusual: the Forgers used that 1% collateral energy crystal as a "terminal", while the three charred petals of the white flower became the "podium".

The first lesson was origami. Su Yu taught the crystal how to fold an energy membrane into a paper crane.

The problem appeared immediately: each "folding action" by the Forgers triggered energy fluctuations in the home planet's furnace. The Bridge detected that the Flame Forge Civilization's industrial production efficiency dropped by 0.7% when it attempted the third fold.

"Stop!" The emergency transmission from the Chief Forgemaster (the title of the civilization's leader) forced its way in, "Power source, your duty is to burn, not to play with origami!"

The crystal froze in midair. Its internal halo began to flash violently—anger and shame erupting simultaneously.

Han Qing pressed a hand onto the white flower. The eighty‑seven blossoms of the Scar Garden simultaneously emitted the memory frequency of "allowed mistakes":

Chen Mo over‑watered the hope grass on his first planting, the first star folded by Morning Star was absurdly crooked, Calibrator‑7's ugly star on its chest, "Dusk‑7"…

The crystal's flickering gradually subsided. Ignoring the home planet's command, it proceeded at an extremely slow pace to complete a fourth fold—still skewed, but the skewed portion formed a tiny, rainbow‑like refractive surface.

"I…" the crystal's halo grew faint yet resolute, "I am learning 'meaninglessness'. This is the course content."

The home planet remained silent for ten seconds. Then a suppressed, puzzled reply came: "Production efficiency temporarily dropped 0.7%, but… the furnace core's abnormal vibration amplitude decreased by 15%. Continue your lessons, but submit an energy output report each session."

In the afternoon, Old Zhao set up another tea table at the gate of Anvil Town. This time he deliberately placed an extra cup—directly facing the hovering energy crystal.

"My son was in Bridge Space in his seventh year; I asked him," Old Zhao said while pouring tea, "I said, your mother is in that kitchen over there, forever kneading the 'about to start' dough. You teach the singing civilization to preserve memory there. Are you… happy?"

The crystal's halo tilted slightly toward him.

"My son said, 'Dad, it's not about happiness or not. We're learning how to bear something without being crushed.'" Old Zhao pushed the teacup before the crystal, "What you bear is the entire civilization's energy. What we bear are ruins, memories, and a heap of questions we don't know how to answer."

The crystal gently tapped the teacup. A fine ripple spread across the tea surface, within which appeared a panoramic view of the Forgers' Civilization's core furnace—thousands of "secondary Forgers" (non‑sentient energy entities) orbiting the primary Forgers, like planets around a star.

"They need me," the crystal's halo dimmed for a moment, "If I cease anger, the furnace will go out, the civilization will stagnate. My 'freedom' would kill them."

"Then don't pursue freedom," said the Reservoir Elder, rubbing his son's wooden boat model, "Pursuit… is adjusting posture. My son was afraid of water when learning to swim, not that he stopped learning, but that he found a way not to fear—like always keeping his face above water, even if he swims slower."

The Bridge's alarm sounded when the tea aroma was strongest.

【Ninth Civilization "Memory Eater" Activity Trace Confirmed】

【Current Status: Remotely observing this teaching point】

【Observation Method: Hijack and decode residual signals of "Forgotten Anger"】

【Target Detected: All "successfully suppressed anger" of the Forgers' Civilization over the past three thousand years is being slowly extracted】

【Warning: If these memories are devoured, the Forgers will lose the raw material for "anger transformation", and the teaching process will become ineffective】

Worse still, the emergency debate result from the High Council also arrived:

【Vote Result: Passed the "Temporary Regulation Act on Dangerous Emotional Energy Entities" by a slim margin】

【Content: Requires the Forgers' Civilization to prove within 48 hours that "teaching will not trigger interstellar safety risks", otherwise the "Emotional Isolation Barrier" will be activated】

【Bill Sponsor: Conservative legislator "Pure-42", whose privately kept three‑thousand‑year‑old violation experiment fragment suddenly… glowed last night】

Morning Star sent a brief message from the Error Signal Archive:

"That fragment is responding to the Forgers' anger frequency. They recognize."

The energy crystal suddenly flew away from the tea set, hovering before Han Qing. Its halo contracted and expanded, as if taking a deep breath.

Then it did something no one expected: it voluntarily split itself in two.

One half remained amber, gently landing at the center of the white flower—that was the "student terminal" for continuing the class.

The other half reverted to a scorching orange‑red, beginning to blaze fiercely. In the fire, it released a memory encrypted for three thousand years:

The Forgers' Civilization and the Seran Civilization once had a brief contact.

Three thousand years ago, a Seran experimental team illegally visited the Flame Forge, attempting to study "emotional energy conversion technology". They took a furnace fragment—the very one now privately kept by Pure-42.

In exchange, they left the Forgers a message: "When you learn to fold fire into stars, we will return to teach you more."

Then for three thousand years, there was no word.

The burning part of the crystal completely dissipated after releasing its memory. The remaining amber portion glowed faintly, but conveyed a clear question:

"You……are you the ones who 'came back'?"

Han Qing looked at his chest. The three charred black petals of the white flower had, at some point, arranged themselves into the shape of the Selan Civilization's star map.

Dusk fell. The forger's energy crystal hovered silently beside the white flower, like a tiny sun that had learned to breathe.

Su Yu folded a new paper crane—this time using an energy film peeled from the crystal's surface that had already cooled. When the paper crane took shape, the dual emblem of Selan and the Blazing Forge naturally appeared on its wings.

"The second lesson starts tomorrow." She said to the crystal, "The content is: how to use angry energy to fold a crane that can fly but won't burn anything."

The crystal's halo flickered gently.

In the distance, the Supreme Council's starship began laying anchor points for the "emotional isolation barrier" in Earth's orbit. And the observation signal of the Ninth Civilization's "Memory Devourer" wandered like a ghost along the edge of the plant network.

Old Zhao turned the extra tea cup upside down and placed it beside the energy crystal.

"The lesson isn't over yet," he said, "Nobody should think about taking the textbook away early."