Chapter 11

Seeing Xi Lian still silent, like a delicate puppet that had lost its soul, Heimu also wasn't in a hurry, and continued speaking to herself, her voice lightly echoing in the spacious Underground Space.

Since you don't want to speak, then I'll keep talking, okay?

Her tone was flat, as if just chatting, 'Do you know the Black Tower?'

When the name 'Black Tower' left her lips, Heimu keenly noticed that the girl's body, bound in chains, tensed imperceptibly for a moment, even her lowered eyelashes twitching slightly.

'Do you know her?' Heimu gave a slight nod, then shook her head, arms crossed, began pacing back and forth on the small platform, the sound of her boots striking the floor regular and clear, as if keeping time for her narration.

This is from my database…… a record from the past.

She used the word 'once,' hinting at a certain distance.

About that genius, about her choice, about…… what is Divine Nature.

She stopped walking, tilted her head to look at the dim dome, a hint of complex recollection flickering in her violet-black eyes (though she herself had no such memory, relying solely on system data and past-life game knowledge to hold it up).

'People often debate, what is Divine Nature?' Her voice was ethereal, carrying a calm like narrating an epic.

'When a person chooses to sacrifice a small part of the people to preserve the majority, that is cold rationality.'

'When a person, unable to accept such sacrifice, chooses to protect the immediate or shrinks back to self-preserve, that is fervent sensibility.'

But,

She shifted her tone, her gaze returning to Xi Lian, as if piercing those chains to see something deeper: 'When a person chooses to place themselves on the scale's pan, using a minority that includes themselves, to exchange for the majority, for the future, for the possibility of a world not overturned——'

She paused slightly, letting the weight of her words settle in the silence.

'This is, Divine Nature.'

Heimu began to slowly pace around the hanging Xi Lian, her voice not loud but each word clear, like a chisel striking the soul.

'By personal downfall, exchanging for a world that does not meet its end. Compared to the whole universe burning in war's fire, the tragedy of the Third Imperial War might already be the most cruel yet tender choice that lone genius could make.'

'She could have fled. With her wisdom, there would always be a way to save herself. But what would be the consequence? The seeds of Destruction remain buried, destined to sprout and devour everything.'

Heimu's tone carried a hint of indescribable feeling, half true half false; the true part stemmed from her understanding and admiration of the Black Tower character, the false part from the role she must now play as the Observer.

'So, that kind-hearted genius grasped the hilt of fate herself. With her life, she personally strangled any possibility of the Magic Species growing into a World-destroying Villain.'

'The Witch of Salvation'——she undoubtedly deserves that title.

Heimu spoke softly, as if chanting an ancient epic, 'Even if she ultimately falls, this is already the best outcome she fought for with her own power in the vast Star Sea. Tragic, great, and…… heartbreaking.'

She stopped pacing, stood directly before Xi Lian, and looked up at those eyes—now quietly opened, brimming with tears, a clear blue.

'She is quite 'Selfish,' isn't she?'

Heimu's tone suddenly took on a strange inflection: 'But her 'Selfishness' encompassed the whole universe—from initially caring only about her immediate surroundings and favorite research topics; to later saving her homeland planets multiple times; to scattering her 'Clones' across the stars via space stations spread throughout the cosmos…… she selfishly drew the entire world into the sphere she wished to protect. Selfishly feeling that everything is connected to her.'

'Thus, at the very end, when the moment came that there was no time to hesitate and someone had to hurl themselves at the Iron Net, using flesh and blood to pave the way for those after……'

Heimu's voice sank, carrying a near-sigh resonance: 'That genius, who always liked to make plans and avoid risks, yet without hesitation charged forward first. With her existence, she exchanged for the continuation of the future.'

'Because she is exactly that kind of person——'

Heimu concluded, a faint softness flickering in her violet-black eyes, even she herself unaware of it: 'Or rather, precisely because such a person exists, this world has repeatedly avoided the end of Destruction.'

'What is Divine Nature?' she asked one last time, then answered herself, voice clear and certain:

'This is, Divine Nature.'

The moment her words fell, Xi Lian could no longer hold back.

Large tears like broken pearls rolled from her clear-blue eyes, tracing over her blood‑stained cheeks, dripping onto the cold, unseen ground below, spreading into small, dark wet spots.

She closed her eyes, shoulders trembling slightly; her silent weeping was more heart‑rending than loud sobs.

【Ding! Target Unit Emotion Fluctuation reached 'Strong Sadness' and 'Deep Resonance', Villain Appearance Task completion 50%. Reward 2% Core Repair Degree issued, current Total Repair Level: 26%. Please keep it up, lady!】

Heimu: '……'

Hearing the system prompt in her mind, watching Xi Lian cry uncontrollably before her, Heimu felt her head buzzing, almost unable to maintain that inscrutable expression (in truth her heart was panicking).

'Only half?!'

She raged in her mind, 'I poured my heart out (though it was an act), said all that, made them cry, and that's only half done?! Aha, your fun standards are too high! They're crying like this, and I still have to keep harassing them?! Am I even a person?!'

(Although she really isn't completely that now)

Heimu felt numb, playing the villain like this, her conscience heavily condemned.

She watched Xi Lian, immersed in the sorrowful atmosphere, crying pitiably, and glanced at the system panel's tempting yet scalding extra 2% reward, her mind racing.

'The atmosphere now…… is clearly dominated by sorrow. If……'

A bold (and mischievous) idea popped up: 'If I suddenly shift the tone to be a bit cheerful, creating a strong contrast…… would that count as another form of 'fun'?'

Thought of it, try it!

For the Repair Degree, I'll give it my all!

… uh, wait a moment.

Heimu had just raised her hand, preparing to make a big turn, but her gaze fell again on Xi Lian's rain‑streaked pear‑blossom face, filled with confusion.

The girl's silent weeping carried a sense of brokenness, making any attempt to break this sorrow seem especially cruel and…… inappropriate.

'…… Forget it.' Heimu sighed in her heart and silently lowered her hand.

'Trying to force humor now would likely backfire, losing even that remaining 2%, possibly earning an OOC judgment. Aha's fun is hard to come by……'

Thus, she swiftly switched back to that inscrutable cool demeanor, using a tone that seemed to have seen through everything yet couldn't be bothered to say more, and directed at the still‑tearful Xi Lian she uttered:

'You, think it over well.'

Having said that, she turned gracefully, her black‑purple skirt tracing an arc, walking with composure along the spiral staircase she had come down, step by step upward.

The sound of her heels striking the stone steps faded away, until it vanished at the entrance of the Underground Space.

(Inner monologue OS: Actually I don't even know what I want her to think…… but don't villains in TV dramas always say that? Feeling like saying it and walking away is especially cool!)

She hadn't truly left; instead she hid quietly in the shadow above the stairs, clinging to the wall, poking out half her head and the tip of the Mo Nu Mao, peeking down furtively.

All that could be seen on the lower platform was Xi Lian still suspended by chains, only now she wasn't tightly shutting her eyes but gazing blankly into the void, tears still sliding down silently, as if still immersed in Heimu's earlier heavy words about the Black Tower's sacrifice.

Heimu looked at that lonely, miserable figure and let out a soft sigh in her heart.

"Sorry, little Xi Lian.. I'll have to wrong you for a moment. Once I've gathered enough Repair Degree, I'll definitely let you go right away."

After confirming that no more "Joy Value" could be obtained from Xi Lian for the time being, Heimu decided to return to the System Space first.

Another "trouble" was still waiting for her there—Bai Hang.

That girl had just personally witnessed the miserable sight of Xi Lian bound in chains, and with her rich imagination and her current subtle cognition of herself as "master," who knows what kind of horror movie she might be conjuring up in her mind.

Heimu's silhouette vanished at the stairwell entrance, and the next moment she appeared in that pure white System Space.

Sure enough, Bai Hang was spotted crouched in the corner at a glance.

Her conspicuous snow-white hair looked a bit limp right now; she curled up into a ball, arms wrapped around her knees, chin resting on her arms, gaze vacant, not knowing what she was thinking.

(Actually, Bai Hang's inner mind was staging a little drama: "That pink‑haired girl.. how pitiful.. being chained like that.. Miss.. does she.. have some special.. preference?" She recalled the scene where she was forced to shout "master," and then thought of Xi Lian wrapped in chains, and couldn't help shivering: "Will I.. will I also be treated like that someday? Sob.. Jing Liu, Dan Feng, Ying Xing, Jing Yuan.. save me..")