Chapter 318: The Loom of the Rift

The moment the second fragment was removed, Xiao Yu stepped back three steps.

It wasn't fear; her Resilience Ruler sensed it early—this fragment's "pain frequency" resonated with her six‑year‑old trauma at 73%. The fragment hovered over the table, shaped like a torn wing, its edges constantly exuding almost black, dark‑gold dust.

"It records… betrayed trust," Han Qing's Teaching Scar emitted a warning, its temperature icy, "Founder-07's private memory, about her best friend publicly opposing her during an argument, saying she 'defines beauty too weakly.'"

Xiao Yu's fingers trembled, but her eyes fixed on the fragment: "I'll fix it."

Su Yu scanned with the Structure Ruler: "The crack pattern is unusual—not random shattering, but a deliberately torn shape. It's as if someone were crying while tearing a letter."

"Should we establish an Isolation layer?" Kaiwen asked Xiao Yu anxiously, "Your trauma resonance is too high."

Xiao Yu shook her head, moving even closer. She extended both hands, palms upward, the Resilience Ruler's faint light flowing beneath her skin: "My ruler grew within the crack. If even I dare not touch it, who can repair a wound of 'betrayal'?"

Old Zhao said nothing, turned, and took a packet of dried lilies and a small jar of rock sugar from the storage cabinet, then began simmering over low heat.

"Lilies calm the spirit, rock sugar soothes the throat," he explained to the air, "When repairing others' cracks, one's own throat tightens and the heart races. You must suppress it in advance."

Just as Xiao Yu was about to touch the fragment, Carrier-18 suddenly emitted a fluctuation within the sapling sculpture:

"Detected Founder-03's repentance badge… emitting abnormal frequency."

"The line 'I'm sorry'… is changing."

Everyone looked at the backpack—the badge was sealed alone in a bag, now emitting a faint milky light, exactly the same color as the Holy Land Light Sphere.

Han Qing carefully retrieved the badge. At the moment of flipping, the text on the back had indeed changed, not "I'm sorry," but a string of complex Founder geometric code.

Absolute Luminance-4 used the Mirror Ruler to decode rapidly: "Translation: 'If you are reading this, my descendant (the measurer's successor) has been halted. As atonement, I leave this gift—coordinates to twelve hidden Founder private gardens. The garden soil can heal wounds incurred from repairing beauty.'"

It paused briefly, the halo continuing to glow:

"Below is a line of small text: 'The first garden lies at the edge of the Holy Land ruins, its coordinates embedded in this badge. It requires someone who 'still chooses trust within the crack' to touch it personally to activate.'"

Everyone's gaze turned to Xiao Yu.

She stood before the second fragment, her hand hovering in midair.

Resilience Ruler internal log (Permission: readable only by the holder):

Xiao Yu sensed two options:

1. Touch the badge first, obtain the Healing Garden coordinates, possibly find a way to heal Han Qing's Teaching Scar depletion. But the badge comes from Founder-03, the betrayer, and may be a trap.

2. Repair the fragment first; it's her responsibility, but the high resonance rate could tear her own six‑year‑old trauma anew.

She recalled a line Han Qing had taught her: "Sometimes, the correct answer to a multiple‑choice question is to first see both options clearly, then ask yourself—why can't you have both?"

Xiao Yu made a move that surprised everyone.

She reached her left hand toward the badge, her right hand toward the fragment, touching both simultaneously.

"Since both require 'still choosing trust within the crack'," she said softly but firmly, "then let's prove it together."

At the moment of contact, the two forces erupted simultaneously—

The badge emitted a gentle milky light stream, like warm spring water enveloping Xiao Yu's left hand, and transmitted a Star Map coordinate into her mind: the east side of the Holy Land ruins, a spatial fold only three hundred kilometers from their current location.

The fragment, meanwhile, unleashed a violent dark‑gold shock, flooding Xiao Yu's right brain with countless image fragments: Founder-07's fierce argument with a friend, the friend slamming the door and leaving, her alone in the conference room tearing the parchment recording the debate piece by piece, tears dripping onto the torn fissure…

The dark‑gold shock tried to tear Xiao Yu's mental defenses, but the milky light stream promptly built a buffer layer.

More strangely, Xiao Yu's own six‑year‑old trauma memory—the scene of her father's departure—automatically surfaced, not as a wound but as "material."

Her Resilience Ruler began working like a loom: using the painful fibers of her father's departure as the warp, and the betrayed sorrow fibers of Founder-07 as the weft, weaving a brand‑new "Fabric of Understanding."

Two lines of luminous text appeared on the fabric:

"So you, too, have endured this pain."

"After feeling pain, it truly can become a thread that connects others."

The fragment ceased exuding dark‑gold dust.

All cracks began to weave themselves, forming exquisite, gold‑thread‑like embroidered patterns.

It was no longer "torn trust," but a testament to "transforming cracks into art."

Xiao Yu withdrew her hands, her eyes moist, but the corners of her mouth lifted.

She looked at Han Qing: "We've got the garden coordinates. The badge says the soil there… can heal wounds caused by repairing beauty."

Then she gazed at the repaired second fragment—now a black wing artwork inlaid with gold‑thread patterns, silently hovering, emitting a calm light.

"It taught me one thing," Xiao Yu said softly, "My six‑year‑old crack wasn't meant for me to suffer forever, but to let me recognize others' pain, then tell them: look, my crack is here, but now it's the most beautiful pattern on me."

Han Qing's Teaching Scar warmed slightly, this time with a satisfied temperature. He stepped before Xiao Yu, gave her a gentle hug, and said, "You've grown."

Old Zhao's lily rock‑sugar water was just finished. He poured nine bowls—an extra bowl placed beside the badge.

"Give the atonement one a sip," he said, "Even though it can't be drunk, smelling the sweetness, when you become human next life… remember to add more sugar."

The milky light on the badge's surface flickered gently.

Just as everyone prepared to celebrate, the kitchen's communication device activated automatically, transmitting an encrypted urgent message from Auditor-7:

"The Committee has locked onto the source of the Private Emotional Aesthetics fluctuation as the repair of the second fragment. They have dispatched an on‑site verification team, expected to arrive in 17 minutes."

"The verification team carries an 'Aesthetic Pollution Site Detector'; if it detects the fragment contains 'unreported high‑concentration private emotional residue,' they have authority to confiscate and destroy it on the spot."

"Recommendation: hide or disguise the fragment immediately."

Seventeen minutes.

They must conceal two already repaired fragments emitting obvious aesthetic fluctuations.

More troublesome, Carrier-18 warned: "The first fragment (the daughter story) has the mildest fluctuation, possibly bypassing the detector. But the second (betrayal repair) has a too‑distinct fluctuation; the detector will definitely alarm."

Su Yu immediately analyzed with the Structure Ruler: "We can try 'fluctuation camouflage'—covering it with another compliant aesthetic fluctuation. But it requires an aesthetic item of equal strength that is legally registered as a cover."

Everyone's gaze simultaneously fell on the pot of lily rock‑sugar water that Old Zhao was simmering.

Old Zhao froze for a second, then smiled.

He turned off the heat, lifted the lid. Half an hour of simmered lily rock‑sugar water released a gentle sweet aroma, with semi‑transparent lily petals floating on the surface.

"This is the 'Post‑Trauma Calming Dietary Formula,' belonging to Earth traditional medical aesthetics," he said quickly, "It has already been registered in the 'Cross‑Civilization Medical Aesthetics Exchange Project,' record number M-77."

He looked at Su Yu: "How to cover it?"

Su Yu's eyes lit up: "Put the second fragment……temporarily 'dissolved' into the sugar water. Not truly dissolved, but using the Structure Ruler to let it enter a 'molecular-level suspended state', disguising it as 'auxiliary material for the food aesthetics healing experiment'."

"How will the detector judge?" Kaiwen asked.

"It will be judged as an 'ongoing aesthetics food therapy experiment'; the fragment's fluctuations will be interpreted as 'emotional resonance catalyst for the experiment'—this is legal in medical aesthetics projects." Absolute Luminance-4 has already retrieved the filing documents.

Only 13 minutes remain.

Xiao Yu carefully held the second fragment to the edge of the pot. Su Yu used the Structure Ruler to adjust the fragment's state, letting it slowly sink into the sugar water—no splash, but like a drop of ink diffusing, instantly turning the whole pot of sugar water a pale gold.

In the aroma of the sugar water, there was an extra trace of extremely faint, like rain-soaked earth, bitter aftertaste.

"All right," Su Yu wiped her sweat, "now it's a pot of 'lily rock sugar water carrying resonance factors that heal betrayal trauma'."

Old Zhao ladled a spoonful, took a sip, smacked his lips: "The taste is okay. Just… a bit sorrowful."

He placed the pot in the most conspicuous spot in the kitchen, next to it putting the experiment logbook and measuring instruments.

The first fragment (daughter's story) was taken by Han Qing into the Teaching Scar—the scar temporarily opened a 'teaching case storage space', completely shielding the fluctuations.

With three minutes left on the countdown, all disguises were completed.

Everyone sat around the table, each with a bowl of dark gold sugar water in front of them.

"Everyone drink," Old Zhao himself took a big gulp first, "when the inspection team arrives, we need to look… truly like we're conducting an experiment."

Han Qing lifted the bowl; the temperature of the Teaching Scar resonated with the temperature of the sugar water. She took a sip; the sweetness indeed carried a hint of indescribable bitterness, but as it went down, a strange warmth spread out.

"Like the taste of tears," Xiao Yu whispered, "but after tears flow… the throat feels a bit better."

The countdown reached zero.

From outside the kitchen door came a polite but cold knocking: "Committee Aesthetics Inspection Team, please open the door for inspection."

Old Zhao set down his bowl, wiped his mouth, and walked toward the door.

He glanced at everyone with a look, then pulled the door open.