Chapter 315: Seeds in the Ruins

At the zero second of the exemption's end, real‑time Monitoring Beacon signals surged back like a tide.

The Committee's interrogation rang in everyone's mind like an explosion, a layered echo of three dodecahedra speaking simultaneously, shaking Han Qing's Teaching Scar into an instant contraction:

"Explain! The unauthorized 'final teaching' that occurred inside the Holy Land! Explain the collapse of the reverse ruler device! Explain the disappearance of the Gatekeeper consciousness!"

The metallic tree wreckage still smoked, the milky Light Sphere on the platform rotated silently, the Holy Land's self‑defense protocol countdown: 2 minutes 47 seconds.

Han Qing did not answer immediately.

She first crouched, picked up three shattered eye‑sensor fragments from the ground, placed them into a Committee‑standardized collection vial, and labeled it: "Sample S‑02: debris after the collapse of the reverse measurement device (recommended to study its structural brittleness)".

Then she looked up and calmly said to the nearest Monitoring Beacon:

"According to the Beauty Council's authorization, during the exemption period we conducted a 'Pollution Source Control Teaching' and successfully prevented the completion of Reverse Ruler‑01."

"The Gatekeeper consciousness dissipated during the assistance due to energy overload, and has been subjected to 'Memory Crystallization Processing' in accordance with the Aesthetic Heritage Protection Regulations."

She pointed at that Light Sphere:

"That is the crystallized product, which internally stores all the aesthetic memory of Gatekeeper‑Memory13, as well as the complete data from the reverse ruler's collapse."

"It is recommended that the Beauty Council take immediate custody, to prevent damage during the Holy Land's clearance protocol."

Each sentence is stuck in a loophole of the rules.

Every sentence is factual—only the part about 'how we forced the Gatekeeper to dissipate' is omitted.

The Committee remained silent for 17 seconds—while they urgently retrieved residual data fragments from the exemption period, they could only see records of 'golden light enveloping, information shielding'.

Countdown: 2 minutes 30 seconds.

"Approve Light Sphere relocation," Member A said with suppressed anger, "but the seven of you must evacuate immediately! The Holy Land clearance protocol will activate in 2 minutes 30 seconds, no extensions possible!"

The moment the evacuation order was given, Old Zhao suddenly said, "There's still time."

He pulled the last bag of sesame‑osmanthus mixed pollen from his backpack and forcefully blew it toward the distant drifting Memory Fragment archipelago.

The pollen spread in the Holy Land's faint airflow like a miniature golden snow.

"What are you doing?!" Kaiwen was stunned.

"Seeing them off," Old Zhao said, putting away the empty bag, "and, while we're at it… let them remember the scent of the outside."

Something marvelous occurred: the Memory Fragments that the pollen adhered to glowed with a soft halo. As the red scanning net of the self‑defense protocol began contracting inward from the Holy Land's edge, those fragments drifted automatically toward the location of the seven.

Carrier‑18 conducted an urgent analysis within the sapling sculpture:

"The pollen contains scent molecules of 'home memory,' which triggered the fragments' self‑preservation instinct—they are seeking a living being that can remember them!"

"But we can take at most… seven pieces. Backpack capacity and Committee monitoring won't allow more."

Seven pieces.

There are tens of thousands of Founder memory fragments here.

Han Qing's Teaching Scar at this moment unfurled into seventeen fine threads, each linking to a nearby fragment. The Time‑04 Ruler inside her frantically calculated each fragment's historical value, aesthetic density, and the 'probability of being remembered by posterity'.

"Choose those… that are about to be forgotten," her voice trembled from overload, "choose those debates that only one person remembers, choose those… whose echoes haven't even been fully consumed by the reverberation insects."

Xiao Yu used the Resilience Ruler to lock onto the seven dimmest, smallest fragments with surface cracks—too fragile, they might be completely pulverized by the clearance protocol's scan.

Su Yu employed the Structure Ruler to temporarily weave protective layers around each fragment, like folding fragile gifts with origami.

Countdown: 1 minute 47 seconds.

The scanning net was three hundred meters away.

As they packed the seventh fragment, Kaiwen's Light Ruler suddenly detected a faint signal source deep within the metallic tree wreckage.

"The Measurer inheritor's… backup core?" he could not believe, "It isn't completely dead!"

But that wasn't a backup core.

When Kaiwen used the Light Ruler to 'dig' it out, everyone was stunned—

It was a palm‑sized badge forged from a reverse scale ruler, the front bearing Founder‑03's original signature, the back engraved with a crooked line of small characters evidently added later:

"Sorry."

"I was wrong."

"But there's no turning back now. — Measurer‑03 (etched on the night before exile)"

The badge was still faintly warm, as if it had just been held in a hand for a long time.

"This is…" Xiao Yu sensed with the Resilience Ruler, "his final confession… was sealed by his own system as 'useless data' for three million years…"

Han Qing took the badge; the Teaching Scar's temperature grew complex—both the anger at Founder‑03's original betrayal and the sorrow for this confession delayed three million years…

She packed it into her backpack: "This one goes as well."

"Why?" Su Yu asked.

"Because," Han Qing zipped her backpack, "sometimes the enemy's confession teaches us more about why beauty is worth protecting than the enemy's victory."

The scanning net was one hundred meters away.

Countdown: 47 seconds.

The seven fragments were packed, the Light Sphere was carefully wrapped by Xiao Yu with the Resilience Ruler, and the badge was slipped into the inner pouch.

Old Zhao suddenly pulled seven small pieces of Determined Victory Cake from a side pocket of his backpack—not fresh, the leftovers from the morning, already a bit dry.

"One piece each," he handed out, "and have another bite before leaving the Holy Land."

Absolute Luminance‑4, for the first time, did not ask 'the meaning of this action'; it simply took it, recording the molecular structure of this Determined Victory Cake at the Holy Land's final moment with the Mirror Ruler.

The seven stood at the center of the Holy Land about to be cleared, quietly finishing the Determined Victory Cake amid the countdown sounds as the red scanning net stood fifty meters away.

The sweetness mingled with osmanthus fragrance, melting in the mouth.

In the distance, the Memory Fragment archipelago began to be touched by the scanning net, turning piece by piece into pure light dust, like constellations fading before dawn.

The final line left by the Gatekeeper consciousness still floated in the air, beginning to become transparent:

"Course concluded. Thank you for being my… final cohort of students."

Xiao Yu suddenly began to cry.

There was no sound, only tears flowing uncontrollably.

Han Qing wrapped an arm around her shoulder, the petals of the Teaching Scar gently brushing Xiao Yu's cheek: "He taught very well, didn't he?"

Xiao Yu nodded, unable to speak.

The scanning net was ten meters away.

Countdown: 7 seconds.

The evacuation passage opened behind them; it was a portal forced open by the Committee.

But just as they were about to step into the portal, the real‑time Monitoring Beacon signal was suddenly overridden by a higher‑priority transmission—a collective broadcast from the Beauty Council (Seventeen Heritage):

"Detection indicates that the Holy Land still contains an 'unfinished aesthetic process.'"

"According to Article 7 of the First Generation Agreement: if the Founder's Heritage faces destruction, the Ruler‑holder has the right to conduct an 'Emergency Aesthetic Archiving.'"

"Now authorized: you have the final 7 seconds to perform a 'Aesthetic Snapshot' of the entire Holy Land, sealing it into any item you are carrying."

"The snapshot will forever record the 'total sum of beauty that once existed here.'"

"Begin."

Seven seconds.

They must record the three‑million‑year aesthetic history of the entire Holy Land.

Han Qing's Teaching Scar fully blossomed.

Eighty‑seven petals detached from her body, drifting into the air; each began voraciously absorbing surrounding light dust, sound, temperature, and the ashes of memories.

Xiao Yu's Resilience Ruler unfolded into a net, capturing the final vibrations of the fragments before they dispersed.

Su Yu's Structure Ruler reorganized the captured information into a storable sequence.

Kaiwen's Light Ruler converted them into light codes.

The Absolute Luminance-4 Mirror Ruler created multiple layers of backup.

Lao Zhao's Sound Ruler… he began to hum.

It wasn't a lullaby, but a wordless hum with a warm tone, like a mother soothing a child to sleep.

Load-18, within the sapling sculpture, exerted its full force to compress, fold, and then inject the data streams captured from everyone—

injecting them into that milky‑white Light Sphere.

Because only it, as the crystallized product of the Gatekeeper's consciousness, has sufficient capacity and "legitimacy of memory" to bear all of this.

Countdown: 3, 2, 1—

The scanning net touched their ankles.

The portal began to contract.

In the final second, the interior of the Light Sphere burst with a brief, brilliant starlight, then returned to calm.

But its surface now bore something extra: a tiny, slowly rotating model of the Holy Land, within which tens of thousands of light points floated.

"Snapshot complete," the Beauty Council announced.

"Evacuate."

The seven of them were drawn into the portal.

In the final glance, the Holy Land turned into pure white light, and then—

Returned to eternal silence.

The transfer ended.

They returned to the kitchen.

The time was… exactly six hours after departure.

Everyone collapsed on the floor, their backpacks filled with fragments, Light Spheres, badges, and bodies laden with exhaustion and sorrow.

The real‑time Monitoring Beacon emitted the Committee's final notice:

"Holy Land Clearance Protocol execution complete."

"Based on analysis of the collected samples, your actions are judged as 'Compliance Aesthetic Rescue under extreme conditions.'"

"However, the Light Sphere must be handed over to the Beauty Council immediately for contamination testing. Time limit: one hour."

One hour later, the Light Sphere they earned with their lives, containing the entire Holy Land's memory, was to be handed over.

Whether they could retrieve it remained unknown.

Han Qing's Teaching Scar slowly closed, but left a permanent Star Map imprint and a new fissure—a price for overusing the Time Ruler.

Lao Zhao slowly stood up and walked toward the stove.

He fetched a pot of water and lit the fire.

Then he took a pack of new "homecoming" tea from the cabinet—not left by Chen Mo, but blended by himself, the label reading: "For those returning from the Holy Land."

The sound of water boiling rang especially clear in the quiet kitchen.

"Drink tea first," Lao Zhao said, his voice a little hoarse, "finish it… then decide what to do."

As the tea aroma rose, Xiao Yu clutched the Light Sphere tightly, as if holding a newborn infant.

The Light Sphere in her arms emitted a gentle warm glow.