Chapter 362

Inside Mentor Lei Ke's laboratory, Jie Ming was buried in processing a set of complex energy rheology data.

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of Sister Wei Ao sighing at a pile of rune structure diagrams; that pretty face, which usually carried a hint of playfulness or laziness, was now wrinkled like a bitter melon.

"Senior Sister, what's wrong with you again? Isn't the war over?" Jie Ming couldn't help but stop his work and ask curiously.

Sister Wei Ao suddenly raised her head and glared at him fiercely, as if she had found an outlet for her emotions: "Over? Yes, it's over! But what did I get out of this trip?! Absolutely nothing!"

The more she spoke, the angrier she became, poking the data on the virtual light screen with her finger as if it were her enemy: "Besides wasting a few years in that hellhole, living in fear, and finally being forced into a rest period! I even paid out a lot of high-tier military merits to shorten that damn rest period! And the result? Resources? Knowledge? The little bit I brought back isn't even enough to fill the gaps between my teeth! The most infuriating thing is that I was already in debt up to my ears!"

"Now it's even worse; it's adding insult to injury, I'm completely bankrupt!"

She became more agitated as she spoke, finally almost roaring, completely losing her usual elegant and composed demeanor.

Mentor Lei Ke, standing to the side, was carefully adding a type of starlight-shimmering powder into a miniature reaction core.

He didn't even look up when he heard this, and calmly interjected: "Your foundation is unstable, and you are eager for quick success. I told you long ago to accumulate more knowledge before taking action; if you had accumulated enough, you wouldn't be in this state."

These words were like a precise needle prick, instantly puncturing Sister Wei Ao's arrogance.

Her momentum stalled, and she muttered in defense: "But—but even a bunch of Level 7 Wizards fell this time—can this all be blamed on my lack of preparation—"

Mentor Lei Ke finally stopped his precise operation and slowly turned his head, his calm eyes looking at Sister Wei Ao.

Although he didn't speak, nor did he release any aura.

But Sister Wei Ao instantly stiffened like a cat held by the scruff of its neck, immediately falling silent, forcing a smile that was uglier than crying, and quickly changed the subject, turning to look at Jie Ming: "By the way! Jie Ming! You brat! The rewards from the expeditionary army should have been issued by now, right? You were the top contributor! Let me take a look and open my eyes to balance my wounded heart!"

Jie Ming was stunned.

He had been so busy these days helping his mentor process the backlog of experimental projects that he had truly forgotten about the rewards.

Under Sister Wei Ao's repeated urging and curious gaze, Jie Ming opened the magic network terminal, connected to his personal account, and found the post-war summary and merit reward notification issued directly by the Expeditionary Army High Command regarding the "Justice" plane incident.

The first thing that caught his eye was his reward, listed separately and marked as "Primary Intelligence Contribution and Key to Breaking the Stalemate":

High-tier military merit: 1,000,000 units. "One million?! High-tier military merit?!" Sister Wei Ao's eyes widened instantly, and her voice rose an octave.

She first looked at the string of numbers in disbelief, then looked at Jie Ming, and then seemed to have all her strength drained, as if all her grievances had been ignited.

With a "thump," she collapsed to the floor without any grace, even starting to kick the smooth floor with her heels, letting out a wail with a sobbing tone: "Ahhh—there is no justice! Why! I worked so hard, almost lost my life, and lost everything! You brat went in for a stroll, died once, and came back with a million high-tier military merits?! A million!! And they're high-tier!! I don't want to live anymore—!"

Jie Ming looked at Sister Wei Ao, who was throwing a tantrum on the floor without any dignity, and helplessly rubbed his brow: "Senior Sister, calm down. The substitute doll I consumed is worth far more than this amount. This reward doesn't even cover the fraction; I'm the one who truly lost everything, okay?"

He ignored Sister Wei Ao, who continued her fake crying and real fussing, and turned his attention back to the post-war summary report.

The intelligence analysis part at the beginning was much the same as what he knew, but when his gaze swept over the "Personnel Losses and Return Statistics" column, he couldn't help but pause.

"Return rate of personnel fallen in this incident: approximately 87%"

"Returned eighty-seven percent?" Jie Ming looked with some confusion at Sister Wei Ao, who had finally been stopped by a look from Mentor Lei Ke and was climbing up from the floor in chagrin, "This ratio—is the casualty rate very high? Wasn't it said that there was no fighting? Why didn't everyone return?"

Sister Wei Ao brushed off the non-existent dust, leaned over to glance at the light screen, and a sneer mixed with mockery and understanding appeared on her face: "Casualties? There were only three unlucky ones confirmed dead this time. As for the rest—humph, they chose not to return themselves."

"Voluntarily stayed?" Jie Ming was startled, "Does the Star Fall Alliance—allow this?"

"Why wouldn't they allow it?" Sister Wei Ao asked back, her tone carrying a detachment that saw through the world, "The Star Fall Alliance, or rather the high-ranking wizard civilization, never cares about the specific choices of individual wizards."

"All the hardships and adventures we experience are essentially cruel screenings, the purpose of which is to refine elites who can truly carry the future of the civilization. Those guys who cannot withstand the pressure and risks of the wizard's path and would rather immerse themselves in a fake but 'happy' life, it just shows that their will ends there."

She paused, the corners of her mouth curling into a cold arc: "What if we let them stay there? Existences with excellent wizard aptitude, in that transformed plane, can 'breed' in large numbers as high-quality studs, increasing the probability of future wizard apprentices being born in that plane; for the civilization as a whole, it might not be a bad thing."

"Waste utilization, you know."

Jie Ming was silent for a moment, digesting this cold logic.

He continued to read the summary report and suddenly saw a brief record in the "Background Information Supplement" in the appendix:

【Regarding the creator civilization of "Justice": The "Enlightenment Era" civilization has been confirmed to have completely perished 730,000 standard years ago for unknown reasons; no direct successors have been found.】

Seeing this information, Jie Ming's heart stirred; he raised his head and looked at Sister Wei Ao: "What about that sage? The Level 9 sage who created "Justice," his whereabouts—is there any news?"

Upon hearing this, the mocking expression on Sister Wei Ao's face faded.

She was silent for a moment before saying in a somewhat complex tone: "Before I came back, I heard some unverified gossip circulating from the command headquarters—it is said that the sage has died of old age."

"Died of old age?" Jie Ming was stunned.

This way of dying seemed too ordinary, even somewhat absurd, for a Level 9 living being.

Even Mentor Lei Ke, who had been focused on his experiment, paused slightly, clearly also attracted by this news.

Sister Wei Ao nodded, confirming: "Yes, died of old age. I heard that from beginning to end, he firmly implemented his philosophy; in the world created by "Justice" that suppresses all supernatural power, he never liberated his own power, just like an ordinary mortal, experiencing birth, aging, sickness, and death, and finally—calmly walked to the end of his life."

The laboratory fell into a brief silence.

Jie Ming opened his mouth, but found his throat a bit dry, not knowing what to say for a moment.

The sage who held utopian ideals and spared no effort to exhaust the power of an entire civilization to create "Justice," attempting to establish an absolutely fair world, ultimately met such an—ordinary end in the "ideal country" he created.

This ending was full of a certain unspeakable irony and sorrow, yet it seemed to carry a strange, consistent harmony.

Mentor Lei Ke, standing to the side, slowly shook his head upon hearing this, as if wanting to deny something, but then he nodded lightly.

In the end, he did not offer any commentary, but simply lowered his head again, focusing all his attention on the shimmering reaction core in his hand, continuing his unfinished alchemy experiment.