Chapter 322

The garden entrance is not a door, but three entwined light trees—one with branches supple as silk (corresponding to resilience), one with structure precise as geometry (corresponding to structure), one that glows throughout like a star cluster (corresponding to light). Their roots are set in milky-white soil, and the soil's surface bears the final confession of Founder-03: "May the breath of this place heal the harm I can never make up for."

The 3D anchor point verification has begun: each tree extends a light tendril, touching the chests of Xiao Yu, Su Yu, and Kaiwen respectively.

A gentle but weary voice sounded simultaneously in the three of their minds:

"I am the Garden Consciousness, the remnant of Founder-03's atoning will. To obtain the healing soil, you must pass three verifications:"

"First: show evidence of 'still believing in light in absolute darkness.'"

"Second: show evidence of 'still finding a way out after complete shattering.'"

"Third: show evidence of 'still choosing forgiveness after betrayal.'"

"The evidence must come from your true lives."

In the rear kitchen, Han Qing's 'unconsciousness' continues, but the overload signal of the Teaching Scar begins to fluctuate regularly—she is using the Scar's residual consciousness to remotely sense the garden's trial.

Inspector-02's private communication reconnects, this time with a more weary voice:

"The satellite monitoring threshold has reached 89%. I can only maintain cover for another 47 minutes."

"Also…… tell the cook, my sister loved osmanthus victory cake most while she was alive. When she left, she said, 'Brother, next time add more osmanthus so the scent makes the path easier to find.'"

"So I tasted your victory cake."

"So… please be sure to succeed."

The communication cut off.

Old Zhao gripped the spatula, his knuckles whitening. He turned and took out a small bag of stored golden osmanthus from the cabinet—this was the finest batch the GuiHuaYuan misty haze had sent last time.

He began remaking the victory cake. This time, he doubled the amount of osmanthus.

In the garden, Xiao Yu was the first to respond to the verification.

She said nothing, merely cupping the sesame-blooming badge on her chest with both hands, letting her milky-gold light flow fully into it. The badge projected an image: six-year-old her standing in an empty living room, clutching the last piece of sesame candy left by her father. The candy had melted, sticking to her palm. She didn't cry; instead, she smeared the liquid bit by bit on the window glass, drawing a glowing door.

"I've waited seven years for him, drawing that door every night," Xiao Yu whispered softly, "although I know he may never return from there, the light… must first be lit."

The supple light tree's branches gently brushed her forehead. First verification passed.

Su Yu stepped forward. She took apart one of her own hairs (after long-term exposure to the Structure Ruler, her hair fibers had gained basic structural memory), and used the Structure Ruler to reassemble it into a miniature maze with no exit, yet every wall was transparent.

"Not finding an exit after shattering is fine," she said, "as long as the walls become transparent, letting those inside see each other, the maze itself becomes…… a place where we are together."

The precise light tree's geometric leaves rotated slightly. Second verification passed.

When it was Kaiwen's turn, he fell silent for a full seventeen seconds.

His Light Ruler can analyze the luminescence principle of all things, but 'forgiving betrayal'…… he recalled that, as a junior researcher in the Committee, he had secretly backed up a segment of 'useless but beautiful' data, only to be reported by his most trusted mentor and have his three years of research personally formatted.

"I never forgave him," Kaiwen said, pushing his glasses up for the third time, his voice soft, "but I later realized—he reported me not because he hated beauty, but because he was afraid. Afraid that my 'violation' would implicate the whole department, afraid of system punishment, afraid of losing the job that fed his family."

He took off his glasses—this was the first time he had done so in front of others. Around the eyes behind the lenses, there were faint marks from long-term glasses wear, and fine lines from late-night data analysis.

"So what I forgive is not him, but the system that forces one to betray what they love in order to survive."

"The evidence is this—I may have left the Committee, but I didn't destroy that formatted data. I compressed it into a mote of light, hiding it in my lenses, and wear it every day."

He took from the frame's interlayer a speck of nearly invisible glowing dust and gently placed it at the root of the glowing light tree.

The light tree burst forth with warm light throughout. Third verification passed.

The three light trees slowly separated, revealing a palm-sized patch of soil in the center, emitting a milky-white warm glow.

That is the healing soil.

The Garden Consciousness's voice grew warm:

"Verification passed. The soil is yours. But note: once the soil leaves the garden, its healing power will fade over time. It must touch a wound needing healing within thirty minutes, or it will become ordinary dust."

"Also…… the soil can only heal wounds incurred while protecting beauty. If the wound is mixed with personal desire or hatred, the soil will be ineffective."

Xiao Yu carefully cradled the soil. It pulsed faintly in her palm, like a tiny heart.

Su Yu immediately erected a temporary shield with the Structure Ruler, while Kaiwen used the Light Ruler to stabilize the soil's light frequency.

The three turned to leave.

But just then——

The Garden Consciousness suddenly said: "Wait. There is another option."

"If you are willing to use the soil's 'first healing' on the garden itself…… I can grant you the garden's 'core seed.' Planted anywhere, it can grow into a new place of healing."

"The cost is that the soil will be completely expended, unable to heal the person you wish to save."

"Choose. Thirteen minutes remain."

In the rear, Han Qing's Teaching Scar suddenly flared with sharp pain—not an overload, but a memory fragment deep within the Scar, never before touched, awakening:

That was the night before her mother's surgery. Her mother gripped her hand and said, 'Qingqing, if Mom forgets you…… don't use all your strength to remember me. Spare a bit of strength to help others who might forget who they are…… remember themselves.'

Han Qing wept in her 'unconsciousness'.

She sent through the Scar a final consciousness pulse toward the garden: "Choose the seed."

"Healing me alone…… is less than letting the possibility of healing take root wherever it is needed."

Ahead, Xiao Yu and the three simultaneously sensed this pulse.

They did not hesitate.

Xiao Yu gently pressed the soil onto the repentance text at the garden's center. The soil instantly melted, and milky-white light spread like a tide over the whole garden. The three light trees began to bloom—not ordinary flowers, but glowing blossoms shaped like the scars of various healed wounds.

The Garden Consciousness exhaled a final satisfied sigh: "Thank…… you…… I can finally…… rest."

The light retracted, and an amber-colored seed rose in the garden's center, its interior storing a miniature projection of the three light trees.

The seed drifted into Xiao Yu's hand.

At the same time, the entire garden began to sink slowly, returning to the spatial fold.

"Hurry up! Su Yu grabbed Xiao Yu and pulled her up.

The three sprinted back along the original route.

Just as they rushed out of the garden and stepped onto the return path of light and shadow—

In the rear kitchen, Inspector-02's cover time ran out.

The Committee's highest alarm echoed throughout the system: 'Detected an S-rank escapee returning with an unknown high-concentration aesthetic item! Activate global interception protocol!'

Worse still, Han Qing's Teaching Scar, from overuse, dropped its stability below the 70% critical threshold, and the scar began to expand irreversibly. All seven of Aili's injections were used, but they could only barely slow it.

Old Zhao's victory cake had just come out of the oven, osmanthus fragrance filling the air, but his hand holding the plate froze midair—the monitor showed three shadows being surrounded by seventeen pursuit beams.

Meanwhile, the seed in Xiao Yu's hand began to dim—it needed to be planted immediately, or it would lose viability within 13 minutes.

Where to plant? How to plant? The pursuers were already in sight.

While running, Xiao Yu looked at the seed in her hand, then at the sesame-flower emblem on her chest, and suddenly understood.

She stopped.

"You go first," she said to Su Yu and Kaiwen, "bring back news of Teacher Han Qing. The seed… I'll plant it."

"Where to plant?!" Kaiwen asked urgently.

Xiao Yu looked down—they were standing at the border between the Holy Land ruins and the Earth Shelter, a barren stretch littered with war debris.

"Right here," she knelt, digging into the scorched earth with both hands, "if healing can only grow in a perfect place, then it doesn't deserve to be called healing."

Su Yu and Kaiwen exchanged a glance, didn't leave, but both knelt down to help her dig a hole.

Three pairs of hands, in the final minute before the seventeen pursuit beams arrived, dug out a shallow pit.

Xiao Yu placed the seed in and covered it with soil.

Without water, she used the concentrated sugar water Old Zhao had given her to irrigate it.

Without light, Kaiwen used the Light Ruler to ignite a strand of his own hair as a makeshift light source.

Without structural support, Su Yu unraveled the fibers of her own wrist cord to weave a protective net for the seed.

In the scorched earth, the seed sent out its first tender sprout.

As the sprout broke through the soil, a soft milky-white light wave spread outward from it as its center, covering a radius of three hundred meters.

The seventeen pursuit beams struck the light wave and were all deflected and dissipated.

Within the light wave's range, the surfaces of all war debris began to grow tiny, glowing moss; the scorched earth became moist; the air filled with the scent of rain-soaked earth mixed with osmanthus.

A new, miniature healing sanctuary was born amidst the ruins.

Xiao Yu sat slumped on the ground, looking at her palm—there, digging had raised a blister, but the blister was healing at a visible speed, leaving a faint, glowing scar.

The scar's shape resembled a sesame flower.

The pursuit beams lingered on the periphery, but could not enter the light wave's range.

The Committee's highest alarm shifted to a confused tone: 'Detected the formation of an unknown aesthetic protection zone… per Article 13 of the Founders' Heritage Protection Statute… temporary non‑infringement…'

In the rear kitchen, Han Qing's Teaching Scar stopped expanding.

Although its stability remained at 68%, a new layer of milky‑white, soft moss‑like tissue had grown on the scar's surface, like a natural cushion. The pain eased.

She slowly opened her eyes; her first words were: 'Xiao Yu… they…'

Aili pointed at the monitor.

In the screen, Xiao Yu, Su Yu, and Kaiwen supported each other, standing beside the newly sprouted light-tree sapling, waving toward the camera.

On Xiao Yu's wrist, the wrist cord Han Qing gave her remained. And her newly formed palm scar gently resonated with the sesame‑flower pattern on the cord.

Old Zhao lifted the plate of victory cake with double osmanthus, walked to the kitchen door, and said softly into the distance:

"The meal is ready."

"Let's go home."

At the edge of the light wave, Xiao Yu seemed to hear it. She nodded firmly, tears mixing with her smile.

The new healing sanctuary breathed amidst the ruins.

The light-tree sapling grew in the scorched earth.

And their story—

had never ended; it had merely learned how to plant a new spring within scars.