Chapter 1383: The Call of the Stars (26)

Until they walked out of the newspaper office, Wei En and the raccoon were still immersed in the shock of the world's condition. Their long interstellar journeys had made them well-traveled; although they had seen many disasters, most were crude and simple.

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Whether it was a planet shifting orbit leading to biological extinction, or a solar flare destroying a civilization, natural disasters in the universe were far more frequent than man-made ones. It was hard to imagine a race being directly transformed into another life form, let alone one that could maintain its original social order.

This wasn't entirely wonder; it was more like a sense of awe at the bizarre—the so-called "absurdity has its own beauty."

The two walked along the tree-lined path beside the newspaper office toward New York Central Park. They didn't intend to go back to investigate; they just planned to cut through the park to return to the city and look for other possible clues.

But just then, the raccoon turned his head toward the side of the road and let out a sharp cry.

"What is that?"

He asked, but without waiting for Wei En to answer, he jumped off Wei En's shoulder and ran to the other side of the street. Wei En had to interrupt his own thoughts to chase after him, as he only had this one animal companion left.

But after crossing the street past the cars, Wei En gradually slowed to a stop. Beside a street tree near New York Central Park, he saw a little girl—golden hair, brown eyes, not particularly pretty, but at that age, little girls are always cute.

"My god, a living person!" The raccoon turned to look at Wei En, but pointed at the little girl and said, "A survivor!"

The feeling of seeing one of their own kind here was wonderful. Wei En swallowed, struggling to suppress the urge to rush over. He didn't think such a fragile little girl could have survived this disaster; the scene felt too eerie. He grabbed the raccoon's tail, threw him back onto his shoulder, and slowly walked toward the little girl. Only when he got close did she notice him, but she wore a look of confusion, followed by terror.

The little girl backed away, seemingly wanting to run. Finding that she seemed to retain her sanity, Wei En didn't hesitate and rushed forward, grabbing her shoulders. The little girl began to struggle desperately. The moment she turned, Wei En let go in shock.

There were two clusters of tentacles growing on the little girl's back.

Just below her shoulder blades, on either side of her spine, grew two wing-like tentacles. For some reason, they didn't seem fully developed; the number of tentacles was small, they didn't move, and there was no disgusting slime.

The motionless tentacles didn't look much better, still just as disgusting, but Wei En was gradually adapting. The little girl seemed to lack the ability to speak, only screaming in terror, trying to break free from Wei En's grip.

Wei En saw his own reflection in her innocent pupils, but they were filled with terror. The little girl's struggle grew more violent. Wei En cursed under his breath and said, "She might be traumatized... Rocket, help me, we need to calm her down. Forget it!"

Realizing his small animal companion couldn't help, Wei En remembered the other hand he had just evolved. He had been using his remaining physical hand to hold the girl.

But when that invisible hand suddenly touched the girl's shoulder, a connection—not of human communication—was established. Wei En saw images rushing into his mind.

It was a novel communication experience, terrifying, yet seemingly natural, like speaking or listening—an instinct he was born with.

Wei En shook his head and let go. The little girl stopped running. She stared at Wei En with wide eyes, filled with confusion.

"She seems to want to talk to you." The raccoon poked Wei En's cheek and looked at the girl, saying, "Probably not the kind of communication we're used to."

Wei En took a deep breath, cleared his head, and reached out with that invisible hand again, pressing firmly onto the girl's shoulder.

Memories flooded in like a tide. Wei En thought, *Whenever that phrase appears, the tide always brings back beautiful times. * But he could taste a hint of warmth even within those terrifying scenes.

Jennifer Mawei—the little girl thought that was her name. Then one day, half of her father's body turned into a tumor, and tentacles sprouted from her mother's head and waist.

Jennifer thought she had gone mad. Although she was already mad to begin with—diagnosed with childhood depression around age five, and suffering from a rare form of insomnia.

She could only sleep about four hours a day, in fragmented intervals of less than an hour. It was less like sleep and more like a hazy doze with her eyes closed.

Doctors said it might be related to brain damage in a certain region, but the illness brought Jennifer immense pain. She was tired, but couldn't sleep. The illness tormented not only Jennifer but her parents as well.

Jennifer finally went mad, she thought. Although young, she had some capacity for independent thought, so seeing her parents' forms match those of the neighbors, she assumed she must have gone insane; after all, there had been warning signs.

Jennifer accepted the madness of the world with unimaginable speed, and she agreed with her parents keeping her locked in the house, because she felt that seeing more monsters on the street would only drive her further into madness.

But her parents still loved her dearly. Every Monday afternoon, while everyone else was at work, they would let her go into the yard to sunbathe.

As the memory progressed, Wei En saw a familiar figure—the kind that usually appeared in interstellar traffic bans. He was sitting in Yondu's pirate ship, looking out the porthole, using a special telescope to observe some demon god getting beaten up.

"Supreme Sorcerer Gu Yi." Wei En whispered the name, his voice trembling. The fact that Gu Yi might be on the same planet as him was even more terrifying than being surrounded by thousands of monsters; he had seen too many demon gods beaten into pulp.

Wei En saw Gu Yi stop in front of Jennifer, looking puzzled. But when Jennifer's monster-parents rushed out of the door, Gu Yi hesitated for a moment, flew over, picked up Jennifer, and turned to leave, while Jennifer's parents waved their tentacles and screamed behind them.

Through Jennifer's perspective, Wei En saw Gu Yi take her to a temple floating above New York Central Park—a base she had created out of thin air. This Supreme Sorcerer certainly had that ability.

Jennifer cried and screamed, but was also curious about Gu Yi. Wei En could feel her confusion—*If I'm the one who's mad, why doesn't this person look like a monster to me? *

Jennifer asked Gu Yi, but seeing Gu Yi's expression, Wei En knew they were thinking the same thing. Sometimes, ignorance is bliss; the truth is too cruel for adults to accept, let alone a child.

Gu Yi hugged Jennifer and told her she could take her to a new world where there were many children her age learning magic at a place called Kamar-Taj.

No child that age could resist the temptation of a magic school. Jennifer was immediately distracted, constantly asking Gu Yi about Kamar-Taj.

Gu Yi prepared food and hot water for Jennifer. Jennifer ate a little, but felt very uneasy.

Wei En could feel she was missing her parents, but her intelligence was enough to tell her that things weren't what she had thought. So Jennifer didn't cry or make a scene, just quietly ate her food in small bites.

After she was full, Gu Yi wanted to coax Jennifer to sleep. Jennifer babbled a lot of medical jargon at her.

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But the little girl couldn't quite remember the complex pathology and drug names. Wei En could feel that Jennifer's goal was to tell Gu Yi she was sick, but Gu Yi clearly didn't understand.

Wei En found himself thinking the same thing as Gu Yi. Gu Yi thought Jennifer's strange behavior was due to shock, so she believed even more that she should get a good night's sleep.

Wei En saw from Jennifer's perspective that Gu Yi held her in her arms, a hazy light flickering on one hand. Wei En recognized it as a calming spell.

He had dealt with non-god magical creatures before. Lacking the innate abilities of gods, most of their magical power was borrowed, and bearing that power required a price. Thus, they needed calming spells to shield themselves from pain and get a good night's sleep.

Wei En guessed that Gu Yi might have cast a small spell. It didn't look like her first time doing this. Based on Gu Yi's previous description of Kamar-Taj, Wei En deduced that this Supreme Sorcerer often used this trick on energetic "little calves" who wouldn't go to bed on time.

Accompanied by dreamlike light, Jennifer finally fell into a deep slumber. This might have been the longest sleep she had ever had; Wei En estimated it exceeded eight hours.

Then, the disaster struck.

A terrifying attack descended upon Jennifer. The longer one stayed in this world, the more horrific the attacks became. Jennifer had never faced an attack head-on due to her insomnia, but that didn't mean the power of the attacks hadn't accumulated.

Gu Yi's mistake had put Jennifer in extreme danger. The little girl's body and spirit were too fragile. Facing the sudden, terrifying attack, she didn't even have a chance to mutate before facing death.

Wei En saw Jennifer's hazy field of vision trembling violently. She must have been convulsing, foaming at the mouth. Gu Yi's slightly panicked face appeared in Jennifer's peripheral vision; from her eyes, she clearly knew what was happening.

But Gu Yi calmed down with a speed Wei En couldn't imagine. Hesitating for only a split second, she reached out a hand to touch Jennifer's brow.

"No!" Wei En shouted in his heart.

The worst happened. The power of the attack traveled through Jennifer's consciousness to Gu Yi. A terrifying tidal wave slammed against the high wall, the horrific madness infecting that forever-solid wall, tearing open a microscopic crack.

A massive power, the likes of which Wei En had never seen or imagined, poured out from the crack.

New York, the Americas, the entire Earth.

All the monsters vanished.

"... A terrifying EMP." Wei En whispered.

In Jennifer's final vision, the little girl saw the deep guilt on Gu Yi's face. Even though she had borne the brunt of the infection for Jennifer, the initial wave of the attack had still contaminated Jennifer. Tentacles grew from her back; Gu Yi hadn't been able to save her.

Wei En sighed deeply. After telling the story to the raccoon, the raccoon asked, "Then why did Gu Yi dump Jennifer here? Wasn't she afraid she'd be in danger?"

"Keeping her by her side is the real danger." Wei En frowned, taking Jennifer's hand. "Seeing her only makes the crack in Gu Yi's heart grow wider. If she loses control, it's all over."

Wei En shuddered. He had just clearly seen that the power leaking from the crack was probably less than one-ten-millionth, but a single thread of that highly compressed, pure power was enough to destroy every living thing on a planet.

"And I suspect Gu Yi didn't just dump her here randomly. She must have intentionally left Jennifer for us."

Wei En took Jennifer's hand with his non-existent hand, trying to transmit information to her brain using his newly acquired power. It seemed that those who had undergone mutations could only communicate this way, rather than by speaking aloud.