Chapter 102: Wisp of Black Smoke

System Space

At the same time, Heimu Lady was standing before a massive device constantly streaming countless lines of code.

"System, initiate linking." Heimu Lady's voice was calm and unruffled.

"Command confirmed." The system automaton replied respectfully.

With her words, several violet data streams, like living tendrils, reached out from the void and precisely connected to Past World Paradise.

In an instant, the entire Pure White Space quivered slightly, and the core's light flared dramatically, as if a long‑dormant heart were being re‑energized.

Countless memory fragments from a previous civilization era, Ying Jie's imprint, and a massive amount of Imaginary Energy began flowing smoothly and efficiently along the newly established link into Heimu Lady's own system.

【Core Repair Rate increased: 1%.】

【Current total Repair Degree: 38.5%.】

The system's prompt tone announced the result coldly and objectively.

Inside Past World Paradise, in a repair node room composed of countless platforms and pipelines circulating green data codes, a petite figure was busy.

She had slightly messy green short hair, her right eye neatly wrapped in a small piece of clean white gauze, and wore researcher‑style attire; she was the maintenance automaton responsible for Letu's operation — Ke Lai Yin.

Not long ago, she keenly sensed a brief fluctuation in Letu's overall data flow, as if an external "wash" had caused slight data corruption in several non‑core memory corridors.

She immediately threw herself into urgent repairs, trying to locate the source of the fluctuation and a fix; the continuous high‑intensity work left fatigue obvious on her face, but her exposed left eye still stared at the interface earnestly and attentively.

Yet just as she pinpointed several data clog points and was about to begin clearing them—

"Huh?"

Ke Lai Yin let out a soft syllable.

On the interface, the red warning signs indicating data blockage vanished as if brushed away by an invisible hand, swiftly turning into a smooth pale‑blue indicating free flow.

On Letu's data transmission rate monitor, the curve rose steadily to an… unprecedented ideal height?

Letu's operation not only returned to normal but became… smoother and more efficient than before?

Ke Lai Yin paused, tilted her head slightly, and a thoughtful expression appeared on the part of her face covered by gauze.

She checked the logs and found no record of internal upgrades or maintenance.

This was certainly not an effect achievable by ordinary system self‑repair or periodic optimization.

(It was Hui She… finally listened to the previous report and upgraded Letu's infrastructure?)

Ke Lai Yin could not understand.

She simply recorded the anomalous recovery data, classifying it as "Unsolved Mystery - To Observe."

For a diligent maintenance automaton, a better system is indeed good.

She shook her head and decided to set aside the puzzling matters for now, returning to daily maintenance work.

After all, as long as Letu can run stably and allow visitors to safely trace past imprints, that is her most important duty.

Perspective shift.

Du Ya, or Natasha, was walking through the familiar Short Passage leading to Past World Paradise.

Gray short hair under her hood cast a slight shadow over her forehead, and her magenta eyes carried an obvious resignation.

She had just received an order from Hui She, requiring her to re‑enter Letu for a trial to "consolidate her understanding and adaptability to Ying Jie's power."

(Another trial…)

Du Ya sighed inwardly, (Looks like I'll have to clash with that irritable brother (Qianjie) again.)

A figure wearing a jet‑black mask, his whole body ablaze with raging fire, flashed through her mind; each "sparring" with him felt like walking on a knife's edge.

By contrast, if she could meet a Ying Jie like Ge Lei Xiu, listen to her draw, or simply stay quietly, today's luck might be decent.

Holding this hopeful mindset, Du Ya arrived before the door engraved with intricate patterns.

Habitually, she reached out and pushed the heavy, cold metal door—

The door slid open silently.

However, what appeared behind the door was not the massive entrance to Past World Paradise she had imagined.

But… it was so clean.

As if something had gnawed it.

Du Ya froze at the doorway, her magenta eyes widening, filled with bewilderment and helplessness.

She instinctively stepped back a few paces, blinked hard, then turned to glance at the unmistakable signs and energy conduits lining both sides of the passage.

(Yeah… that's right, this is the entrance to Past World Paradise!)

She hesitantly walked into the vast space that should have been occupied by massive facilities, but now lay empty.

Beneath her feet was a cold, smooth floor reflecting the base's pale‑blue lighting; the surroundings were so open she could hear her own heartbeat quickening.

Then her gaze was drawn to an odd point hovering at the center of the space.

It was a line of violet‑red glowing characters, like a ghostly message, abruptly fixed there.

The script's style bore a malicious humor she had never seen:

【Accepted with a smile! — a friendly alien ^_^】

"..."

Du Ya looked at the line, feeling her strength instantly drained, her body going limp, nearly collapsing onto the ground.

She wasn't shocked by the term "alien," but clearly realized—big trouble!

A huge trouble!

Enough to drag the entire World Snake into the storm's core, a total disaster!

World Snake·a conference room suffused with low pressure

The air was so heavy it seemed it could drip water.

Only a handful of people sat around the long conference table.

On the throne, Hui She, that iconic mechanical body, is motionless now, and the crimson glow of its electronic eyes has dimmed considerably, as if all computational resources have been focused on some collapsing edge inside.

Abnormal wisps of black smoke are stubbornly seeping out from the seams of its shell.

It seems to be engaging in frantic communication through its internal network with countless copies of itself, trying to uncover even the slightest clue.

"So…"

Hu Lang's voice broke the silence, her tone laced with schadenfreude at Hui She's condition, "Who has such great power? To completely empty a whole Past World Paradise, not even a scrap left—no, not even a residue—just wipe it clean?"

As she spoke, she cast a careful glance at the smoke‑billowing Hui She, daring not to say anything too harsh.