Chapter 224: Between Voting and Blooming

The Supreme Council's vote is set for noon Seran Standard Time. It is three hours from now.

But the first thing to arrive is not the voting result, but a kind of memory devourer.

They slipped out from the folds of the starry sky, not a single one but a small group—seven in total. Each has a different form: some resemble huge transparent jellyfish, their tentacle tips bearing pale‑blue blossoms; some look like polyhedral crystals, each face sprouting tiny ferns; the most unusual one resembles an inverted tree, its roots spreading in the void, the root tips bearing dew‑like glowing fruits.

"They…" Xiao Yu's wrist light seal reacted violently, "They are all 'flowering'!"

The seven variants did not attack. They halted at the edge of the ruins, each "observing" the Purification Tower in its own way. The transparent jellyfish slowly extended a tentacle, its pale‑blue bud gently unfurling and emitting a frequency.

The Bridge's translation streamed directly into consciousness:

"We sense the signal of 'wound breathing'. We… also wish to breathe."

A forging crystal flew forward and responded with a gentle frequency: "You previously only devoured memories. What do you wish to learn now?"

One face of the polyhedral crystal turned toward the forger, its surface displaying intricate geometric patterns:

"We have devoured too much suffering and have become vessels of pain. But here… the pain is turning into something else. We wish to learn 'transformation'."

"We are willing to use the memories we have devoured as tuition—among them the three‑thousand‑year 'emotional experiment archives' lost by Seran civilization."

Almost simultaneously, an amber‑colored mirror flew toward the inverted tree. The mirror's surface reflected the tree's roots, and within the "dew fruits" attached to the roots countless miniature memory fragments appeared: dances from ancient Seran festivals, the moment the forging civilization first ignited a furnace, and even a scene of a child on Earth blowing soap bubbles before the great disaster.

"They preserve what they devour… as 'fruits'." Su Yu said softly, "They do not digest, they collect."

The Supreme Council's voting system suddenly received a special signal—from the seven flowering devourers.

They submitted a "listener application":

"We apply to be auditors of the 'transformation course'. We promise: during the course we will suspend all devouring actions, switching to 'observation and metabolism'. As collateral, each of us will separate a memory fruit and entrust it to the white flower for safekeeping."

The inverted tree's roots quivered slightly, and the seven smallest "dew fruits" drifted toward Han Qing. The moment the fruits touched the white flower, the amber mirror beside the flower shook violently, its surface revealing a never‑seen, rainbow‑like data stream.

The mirror projected a predictive scene:

"If the application is accepted, the seven flowering devourers will complete an initial evolution from 'devourer' to 'memory gardener' within three months. They will gain the ability to repair civilization memory faults damaged by over‑devouring."

"Risk: Their evolution may attract more of their kind, possibly including primitive devourers that have not yet flowered."

Han Qing looked at the crowd. Old Zhao was breaking apart a freshly steamed bun—the first basket of buns steamed from the dough his wife kneaded in Bridge Space.

As the bun split, steam rose, carrying the simplest scent of flour.

Old Zhao stared at the half‑bun in his hand, unmoving for a long while. The bun was white, soft, and steaming.

"Dad," a son's image came from Bridge Space, "Mom said the plain ones are for you, the sweet‑filled ones for me. But the first basket… were all plain. She said, eat enough first, then eat sweets."

Old Zhao took a bite, chewing very slowly, very slowly. Then he lifted his head, his eyes reddened, but his voice was steady:

"My wife has been kneading dough for seven years, and today she steamed buns. In these seven years she never forgot that I like plain ones, and the son likes sweet ones."

He looked at the seven flowering devourers: "Pain makes people forget many things. But some things… no matter how intense the pain, they are not forgotten. Like what flavor of bun a family member loves."

He broke off a small piece of bun and walked toward the transparent jellyfish: "Want to try? It's harmless. Just flour, water, a pinch of salt."

The jellyfish's tentacle hesitantly reached out, its pale‑blue bud gently touching the bun crumbs. The crumbs disintegrated at the moment of contact into tiny specks of light, which the bud absorbed.

A few seconds later, the jellyfish's whole body emitted a faint warm‑yellow halo. A memory scene was released through the bud:

It was a memory it had devoured long ago—a Seran mother feeding a child a porridge‑like liquid, the child coughing, the mother gently patting his back while humming an off‑key song.

"So… food is not just energy," the jellyfish's frequency softened, "Food contains… the rhythm of a back‑pat, and an off‑key song."

Two hours remain until the vote. Everyone sat around Old Zhao's breakfast stall—now there were seven additional "seats": seven flat stone slabs prepared for the flowering devourers, each bearing clear water and a small piece of bun.

Kaiwen pushed his glasses twice (one fewer than usual), watching the jellyfish nibble the bun: "Bridge's analysis is that their metabolism is adapting to 'gentle intake'. If it continues, they may permanently lose the ability to devour."

"Is that not good?" Aili's hand, holding a medical kit, was steady, but her gaze was gentle.

"It's fine, but it means they need a new way of living," Kaiwen displayed the data, "They applied to become 'memory gardeners', repairing civilization memory faults—this requires them to learn 'seeding' rather than 'harvesting'."

The inverted tree's roots swayed gently, and a slightly larger memory fruit drifted before Kaiwen. The fruit split, revealing a memory of an ancient Seran mathematician discovering "emotional geometry". The mathematician had said at the time, "So the most beautiful formulas all hide a little imperfect remainder."

Kaiwen stared at that memory, pushing his glasses a third time: "I… I need to recalibrate my data model. These 'remainders' may be more important than I imagined."

The amber mirror suddenly emitted a blinding flash!

It was simultaneously processing three massive data streams:

1. Evolution predictions of the seven flowering devourers;

2. Real‑time voting trends of the Supreme Council (the conservatives are making final appeals);

3. The white flower's second fruit—the one "connecting a stable anchor point"—is accelerating toward maturity, with abnormal fluctuations inside.

Cracks began to appear on the mirror's surface. Xiao Yu rushed over to steady it, but the mirror released a shockwave—not an attack, but an emergency warning:

【Detected source of abnormal fluctuation inside the white flower fruit】

【Fluctuation resonated with the conservatives' privately hidden "emotional suppressor"】

【Conclusion: Someone is remotely interfering with the fruit's maturation, attempting to fabricate a "emotional network out‑of‑control" scenario before the vote】

【Interference source coordinates: pointing to an underground facility on Seran's homeworld】

Linglan's transmission forced its way in, her voice laced with rare anger: "That's Pure-42's private laboratory! He is still conducting Violation emotional experiments!"

Almost simultaneously, dozens of teleportation vortices appeared in the sky—the conservatives activated their final measure: they intend to forcibly harvest the white flower's fruit as evidence of "dangerous emotional products" to submit to the council!

At the moment the teleport vortex locked onto Han Qing, the seven flowering devourers suddenly acted in unison.

They did not attack; instead each used its body to block the vortex's path.

The transparent jellyfish unfolded its body, like a huge net blooming with flowers; the polyhedral crystal split itself into hundreds of fragments, each hovering on an energy conduit; the inverted tree's roots grew wildly, weaving a dense barrier in the air.

Their frequencies resonated into a sentence:

"We have just learned… food can contain the rhythm of a back‑pat."

"We do not want to lose… the teacher who taught us this."

Pure-42's starship emerged from the largest vortex, and he held up a black suppressor, shouting, "Step aside!"

A root of the inverted tree gently touched the suppressor. The dew fruit at the root's tip split, releasing Pure-42's own memory fragments—

Three thousand years ago, when he was a young researcher at a furnace‑fragment accident site, he cradled an injured companion. He cried like a child, repeatedly saying, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought you here…"

The suppressor slipped from Pure-42's hand. He froze in place, the light patterns on his visor utterly scrambled.

"You……" his voice trembled, "Where…… did you get this memory?"

The Inverted Tree's frequency was calm and sorrowful:

"We devour everything. Including the self you wish to forget."

The Supreme Council's vote countdown reached zero.

The Chief Councillor's hologram appeared in the starry sky, his voice solemn.

"Now announcing the vote results on the reform draft of the Pure Pact——"

He paused for a second. In that second, the white flower on Han Qing's chest finally matured its second fruit. It was not transparent, but amber-colored, inside which a tiny anchor-point model made of light threads could be seen.

The fruit detached on its own, hovered in the air, and released a steady frequency ripple. All the listening-speech flowers stopped trembling at this frequency, and all emotional connections became unusually clear at this moment.

The Chief Councillor looked at that fruit, then at the seven flowering devourers blocking the vortex, and finally at Pure-42——the latter knelt on the ground, staring fixedly at the suppressor, motionless.

"The draft…… passed."

"From this moment on, the Emotional Education Network gains legal status. Earth's civilization officially becomes a founding member of the 'Inter-civilizational Emotional Education Alliance'."

He paused, then added:

"At the same time, according to the emergency provisions, we have decided: to invite the seven 'Flowering Devourers' as special trainees to join the alliance. Their first subject is: to learn how to transmute devoured memories into shareable 'Memory Gardens'."

The Inverted Tree's roots swayed gently, and all the dew fruits glowed simultaneously.

Under the starry sky, Old Zhao finished half a steamed bun. He carefully wrapped the remaining half, and softly said in the direction of the Bridge Space:

"Tomorrow, I want to eat the sweet-filled one."

In the distance, the second basket of buns in the steamer was rising. This time, several buns had tiny cracks on their tops, through which the syrup was about to overflow.