Chapter 1296: Weng Falos 3.3 (337)

"We can't delay any longer… we're descending the mountain. I hope KefaLe's fire seed is still safe—Miss Sai Fei'er, I believe she will fulfill her duty."

The group retraced the Dawn Cloud Cliff and found countless Heichi constructs blocking the road's center.

"Heichi constructs… on Dawn Cloud Cliff?!" Bai E muttered ominously, "Bad, the city's citizens!"

"Teacher Ti Bao—please hold on until we return!"

The three kept slashing monsters along the way and soon reached the Demigod Council; in the distance, a blue cube floated at the council's center, its interior flashing a brilliant golden light.

"Look there! KefaLe's fire seed is stored at the council's core."

"You mean…?"

"Right. In the worst case… we must always be ready to return KefaLe's fire seed." Bai E said gravely, "If the apocalypse is truly at hand, we won't have time to investigate the 'miracle'—believing Teacher Ke Xia's hypothesis is our only option."

"I'm sorry, Aglaea… I promised you to leave the Recreation of the World choice to the people of Weng Falos… but now there's no room for hesitation."

——

Sword Art Online.

"Those buildings… Tong Ren, do you feel… a bit familiar?"

Asuna lifted her head, her gaze passing through layers of emerald foliage, looking toward the collapsed, dilapidated structures in the sky dome.

"Hmm."

Tong Ren followed her line of sight, his throat tightening slightly.

During the internal war in Eienglant, he had more than once left similar "marks" on monsters with his twin swords. After injuring a monster, its HP didn't recover promptly, and beneath the damaged skin was a floating material resembling that.

The material seemed system‑generated, with only the model created and no textures applied. The problem is, Tong Ren, living inside a game world, knows these are fake, so why does Weng Falos contain such things?

"Tong Ren, why are those buildings turning like this? It's as if they're being gradually disassembled." Asuna withdrew her gaze from the sky dome, a flash of astonishment in her eyes, "Can Heichi affect structures? Shouldn't it only affect living things?"

"If Heichi can affect structures, then its swallowing of so many parts of Weng Falos should cause similar situations across the continent." Tong Ren shook his head, "…It probably isn't Heichi's fault; the world Bai E is in is heading toward apocalypse, everything is collapsing."

"But collapse shouldn't produce this kind of situation, right?"

The so‑called "apocalypse" Asuna and Tong Ren have already witnessed many times under the sky dome. Yet this kind of material‑changing architecture she has only seen in one place.

—Simulated Universe.

When Xing took part in the Simulated Universe tests, locust plagues, Imperial Wars, border‑star trade wars… each scene shift, each era change, the Simulated Universe would convert the buildings and people around Xing into strings of data, then reassemble them.

These floating‑material structures are somewhat similar. Rather than being solid entities, it's as if the buildings' "textures" have been violently ripped away.

Asuna has never seen such a "bizarre" apocalypse.

——

"Wind‑Jin… did she succeed?"

"Her belief in healing the world is so strong… if she succeeds, we will certainly sense it."

Bai E rushed toward the council's center without looking back, but suddenly saw a familiar silhouette kneeling in the plaza's middle.

—Kaines.

She pressed her palms together, reverently lifting her head: "Father KefaLe, forgive those ignorant and humble children… how naive they were, mistaking the golden‑blooded heretics for saviors… that crimson sky, the endless flames and demons, will cleanse their folly…"

Bai E's teeth chattered, "Kaines…"

Kaines also spotted Bai E's group; she raised her head, a mix of panic and collapse on her face: "Ah… 'Savior'… won't you join me, pray together to the merciful KefaLe…?"

"Look upon this ravaged land… all of this is the sin committed by you heretics who disrespect the gods!"

Seeing Kaines's hysterical state, Xing Yao shook his head, "She… is mentally unstable now."

Dan Heng nodded, "Hmm… we shouldn't waste time on this pitiful madwoman."

"Dan Heng is right. I'd love to end your despised life with a single sword… but for you, at the end of the road, the best punishment is to watch the Golden Offspring fulfill their mission. Only then will you realize how futile and foolish your past deeds were."

Kaines staggered to her feet, a grim smile curling her mouth: "Heh… fulfill the mission? KefaLe's fire seed has vanished without a trace. How will you carry out the divine decree?"

"Vanished without a trace…?"

Bai E coldly said, "She's already mad… babbling incoherently. For a long time, KefaLe's fire seed has been enshrined here… only the Senate's core members know how to open the fire seed box."

"That Laigushi, should we find him?"

Bai E shook his head, "No… no need to waste effort on that. Teacher Ke Xia taught me more than just textbook knowledge."

——

Valkyrie of the End.

"A woman like that, letting her live another day just isn't satisfying—"

Lv Bu Fengxian rested a hand on his cheek, a vein pulsing on his forehead, glaring unhappily at the kneeling Kaines, wishing he could swing his heavenly halberd and punch several transparent holes through her body.

"If only Wandi could come, that kid is the kindest, can't stand seeing others suffer; I bet he'd send Kaines off immediately upon seeing her."

"Heh, indeed. But since we mentioned Wandi, now that Aohema is under attack, should he have returned from Xuanfengcheng?" Chongtian Zongsi crossed his arms, "That guy, being the strongest Demigod right now, if he's absent, whether Bai E can win the final battle against the Fire Thief is another story."

"The Fire Thief… I think to defeat it we must fully leverage everyone's strengths, drag it into the marble palace's bath hall and fight it there; Dan Heng should use the Dragon Lord's power to crush it." Zuosong Xiaoxiaolang extended a finger, earnestly explaining his thought, "Actually I've realized the Fire Thief likely knows the powers each Golden Offspring possesses. So to beat it, we must… 'First Sight Kill'!"