Chapter 551: The Forest Sea Returns to Tranquility (9)

"That's good… it couldn't be better," Zhadeweike looked up at Luosi Gumu, "Do you know? Luosi? I've always been regretting. The first time I met you, I blocked my own heart's voice. A simple sentence I kept inside for most of my life and never managed to say. I think… now is the time for me to hear myself."

"Speak it out, Zhadeweike. Human life flashes by; few can reach the end without regret. Your life hasn't been happy—but to have this moment at least means it is whole."

Zhadeweike remained silent for a long while. The study's lamp fell into his murky eyes, yet reflected no glimmer, only a bottomless, solidified sorrow.

His cracked lips whispered a few times, and finally a withered‑leaf‑like desolate voice spilled from his throat:

"I joined this experiment not for any ideal, only for myself. I want my talent and field to be seen by the world, that's all."

After saying that, Zhadeweike inhaled deeply, the pain on his face finally eased a bit: "Thank you, Luosi Gumu. And thank you, child. I feel… much better, perhaps I've never felt this good before…"

——

Offer blessings to the beautiful world.

"He Zhen… I don't even know how to regard him anymore."

The goddess who is usually boisterous and carefree now unusually shows a lonely expression, a hard‑to‑describe contradictory feeling filling the air around the weathered elder before her.

"Me too… sigh." Da Keni Si also let out a deep sigh.

That guy named Du Deli, though detestable, was indeed not wrong: Zhadeweike is a selfish person, a pitiful person, and ultimately an awakened one… a bit late, but at least he finally awakened.

Compared with Zhadeweike, they lack that universe‑shaking insight and have no right to be noticed or acknowledged by the erudite masters, yet their current days are fairly good, though a bit poor… but adventuring with He Zhen is at least somewhat fun.

"All things considered, being an adventurer is far more comfortable."

He Zhen reclined in his chair, contentedly sipping the ice‑cold beer in his cup. He knew well that having too much knowledge isn't necessarily good; the more knowledge one holds, the farther one's gaze reaches, to the point of seeing many things within reach yet beyond control. Perhaps that's the trouble of the clever.

He might never in his lifetime see the world through Lady Hei Ta's or Mr. Luosi Gumu's eyes, but so what? Watching the noisy, foolish goddess, the chuunibyou loli, the masochistic female knight before him… he thought the scenery in front of him was also pretty good.

——

"Luosi Gumu helped Zhadeweike up, accompanying him to walk the final stretch."

"But at this moment, he really wanted to know how the members of the Genius Club regarded him."

"I haven't gathered the majority's opinions on this. However, I can convey a lady's assessment," Luosi Gumu said, "Zhadeweike, in just a few short years, solved many problems that immortal old monsters couldn't overcome for generations. He truly is the genuine genius."

Xing heard Zhadeweike let out a satisfied laugh… then fell silent.

Zhadeweike passed through the room's doorway, and then… Xing returned to the dream, and Zhadeweike vanished.

Soon, she received a message from Luosi Gumu: he had managed to persuade the family to bring the remnants of his memory essence back to the Hei Ta Space Station, and as the complete witness of his life, he wishes to invite Xing to see him off together.

Xing soon arrived at the confinement module of the space station, where Hei Ta, together with Luosi Gumu, was observing a sealed memory bubble in the laboratory—the current physical body of Dr. Zhadeweike.

Luosi Gumu explained that Zhadeweike's nightmare became reality after his death; the company used memory‑court methods to extract his brain's memory essence, sealing it in a memory bubble. Because of thorough prior preparation, even Zhadeweike's consciousness at the brink of death was preserved.

"…That alone isn't enough. Memory essence preserved that way is essentially stagnant water; left unmixed for long periods, everything in it will eventually die. So the company devised a solution—sending Zhadeweike to Pinokangni, maintaining the essence's activity via shared‑perception dreams. Presumably, the R&D department secured some agreement with the family."

"Under the family's surveillance, Dr. Zhadeweike wandered in the dream for two Amber Eras. If not for you, Ms. Xing— their monitoring would have continued indefinitely."

However, Dr. Zhadeweike can now rest.

Under the attentive ceremony of the two geniuses, Xing gradually shut down the three life‑support devices; she had hoped the world would respond to the genius's passing… but at this moment only silence floated in the air.

——

The buried Fu Li Lian.

"Is this the fate of a genius?"

Within the Continental Magic Association, Jian Ze gazed at the sky, murmuring to himself. Every member of the Genius Club possesses the most outstanding brain in the universe, transcendent intelligence, yet Dr. Zhadeweike's ending is filled with regret.

She imagined that a genius of Lady Hei Ta's caliber, even in death, should perish amidst a roaring crowd of countless people.

"There are two geniuses; a star core sees him off, that's already spectacular. How many people go a lifetime without such treatment?" Sai Li Ai seemed to notice the sorrow in her disciple's eyes and smiled faintly: "But with his death, that Imaginary Pulse Weapon disappears, which is rather regrettable."

"Regrettable? Lady Sai Li Ai, that kind of weapon… perhaps it's better not to keep it."

A single shot can vaporize the entire world in an instant; even the once‑most invincible demon king would owe the weapon dozens of lives. Keeping such a weapon is absolutely a disaster.

"What, are you afraid of being killed by the Imaginary Pulse?" Sai Li Ai on the throne tilted her head slightly.

The first‑rank magi inside the association fell silent; none dared utter a word in response to the teacher's questioning.

Fear, of course, is fear… this weapon makes people not even know how to die; its very existence has already transcended the magi's understanding of "killing." When magic operated on an individual scale, that weapon already killed on a planetary scale.

"You're overthinking… the universe has countless ways to destroy us—Star Gods, Envoys, scientific weapons, legions… the Imaginary Pulse is just one of them. When the time comes for annihilation, you can't escape. Haven't you forgotten the cosmic locust plague?"