Chapter 436: Urging

This gave him, beyond respect, an inexplicable additional feeling toward the teacher… a sense of shared suffering.

He fell silent, as if weighing words of comfort.

After a long while, he finally spoke in his plain yet somehow powerful voice:

"The world is illusion, human hearts are fickle. Clinging to vanished phantoms only burns oneself."

He paused, then added, "However, to wound you so… that perfection must once have truly illuminated you, I suppose."

He thought A Xing's "perfection" referred to the former beauty of the "woman" who Deceived her.

A Xing, however, furrowed their brow slightly at his words.

Perfection? Illumination?

In her mind rose the image of that tangibly real trash can.

It did not "illuminate" her; it simply sat there quietly, meeting all her expectations, and then… turned to white smoke before her fingertips.

"No,"

She shook her head, opened her eyes, and her golden irises gazed at the mottled wall across the Back Alley as if staring at the vanished phantom, "It is perfect."

Her tone was resolute, a purely objective judgment of a "thing" rather than affection for a "person."

Yan Feng Qili, however, became even more certain of his own judgment.

Look, the teacher still clings to that "perfection," even after Deception, even in pain, unwilling to deny the former beauty of the other.

Isn't that, after all, an expression of deep affection?

Who would have thought that beneath the teacher's cold exterior lies such a… infatuated heart.

This contrast added a hint of complex sigh to his respect for the teacher.

"She…"

Yan Feng Qili was about to say more, but suddenly recalled his past, recalling his long‑gone wife.

Those emotional tides he once could not comprehend, now seemingly within reach, plunged him into a brief silence.

The two stood side by side in the dim Back Alley, facing the open trash can; one thought the other was hurt by love, the other immersed in a philosophical loss over the lost "perfect trash can," each sinking into synchronized silence.

The night wind blew, swirling a fallen leaf across the ground, spiraling between them, bringing the chill of early winter.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in Winterwood City, the Weigong Residence.

【5】 Ilya slept soundly in her small room.

Ilya is sleeping soundly in her own small room.

Her silvery‑white long hair spread over the pillow, and her youthful, cute face wore a peaceful sleeping expression.

On a small shelf beside her bed stood a wand on standby—indeed the magical ruby that A Xing had casually flung away, somehow returned on its own, and forcibly forged a contract with Ilya.

No one noticed that on the back of Ilya's delicate, pale right hand, which rested outside the blanket, three strange crimson patterns had silently appeared.

Command Spell.

Starry Vault Train, hidden carriage.

A massive screen spanning an entire wall floated in midair, switching in real time between surveillance feeds of different worlds.

Heimu was reclining diagonally on a wide sofa that looked instantly comfortable.

She propped one hand against her forehead, while the fingers of the other hand tapped lightly and unconsciously on her knee, her gaze fixed on the main screen.

On the screen was a dim Back Alley in Winterwood City.

Two figures, one on each side, were synchronously rummaging through several trash cans of varying colors.

The taller one was Yan Feng Qili, moving with steady precision, as if performing a sacred rite.

The shorter one was A Xing, whose ash‑colored hair glimmered with a detached hue in the faint light at the alley entrance; his profile showed little expression, yet his rummaging conveyed a… focused numbness.

Heimu watched and couldn't help sighing; his voice rang unusually clear in the silent carriage.

"This guy…"

She raised her hand, lightly tapping the air with her fingertip, and an encrypted communication request was silently sent to A Xing's consciousness link.

No response.

She sent another.

Still none.

Heimu lowered his hand and adjusted his forehead.

The child has grown, no longer obeys, doesn't reply to messages.

The thought made her feel both amused and helpless.

A Xing's condition was clearly off; that void could be felt even through the screen.

She shifted her gaze to another feed— a replay of the interior of the Mapo Tofu Shop.

A white‑haired girl lay face‑down in a massive sea‑bowl, unconscious.

Nearby, after finishing his noodles, A Xing was led by Yan Feng Qili, walking straight out through the Backdoor, ignoring the unconscious "colleague."

Heimu's mouth twitched.

"Bai Hang also…"

She rubbed her brow, "Just a bowl of noodles and she's left there."

She knew Yan Feng Qili's Mapo Tofu was extraordinary, but Bai Hang's speed and manner of falling for it were… artistic.

Heimu leaned back into the sofa, closed his eyes, trying to let his thoughts settle.

"It's fine, it's fine,"

She told herself, her voice tinged with self‑comfort, "As long as we find Huo Huo, the matters here can be put on hold for now. This Holy Grail War… we won't have to be deeply involved."

According to the agreement with the Suppression Force, she dispatched personnel into the Xingyue World with the primary goal of locating and contacting Huo Huo.

Once completed, she would have grounds to pull A Xing and Bai Hang out.

As for the Holy Grail War itself?

If it can be avoided, avoid it.

Thinking that way, Heimu felt slightly more at ease.

She even began to scheme: once the Repair Degree improves a bit more, freeing Bai E, perhaps she can more calmly deal with Bolka Kakam's threat, maybe even…

Ding—dong.

A crisp, pleasant‑sounding System Prompt Sound, though unbearably shrill to Heimu, rang out in the train without warning.

Heimu's body tensed, eyes still closed, and her heart gave a sudden thump.

(No way…)

She kept her eyes shut, remained silent for a few seconds, then, in a resigned tone, asked, "…What is it?"

The system responded immediately: "Prompt: Received high‑priority external communication request. Source identifier: Destruction Destiny, Star God Na Nu Ke channel."

Heimu: "……"

A slight twitch flickered at the corner of her mouth.

She sighed and, resignedly, asked, "He… what instructions?"

System: "Communication content analysis complete. Core command: Urge the execution of the Xingyue World Destruction process. Evaluation: Current progress is sluggish, not meeting the granted expected efficiency. Requirement: Accelerate."

Heimu was startled, then felt a wave of headache.

(The Xingyue World Destruction authority… right, there's this one too!)

Na Nu Ke indeed handed her the execution rights of the Xingyue World "Destruction", which counted as a sort of performance assessment.

But she never actually intended to do it!

Even though she bears the title Extinction Great Lord, deep down she's not truly a madman who revels in burning, killing, and looting.

Destroy a world?

What a joke.

She only wants to calmly repair the core, rescue the Golden Descendant, and then…

She rolled her eyes, trying to find an excuse to shirk.

"Um… you restore…"

Heimu weighed her words: "Just say it's not that I'm not trying, it's the objective conditions. There's a troublesome guy after me, the Intellect Destiny emissary, Bolka Kakam, the kind that hunts across the Cross Timeline. My actions here are limited; I must first ensure my own safety, then… um, better carry out the Destruction enterprise."

She tried to shift the blame onto Bolka Kakam, hinting that her circumstances were tough, willing yet powerless.

However, before she could finish speaking—

Ding—dong!

Another System Prompt Sound rang, a bit more urgent than before.

System: "Received supplemental communication. Source: same channel. Content analysis: A complaint regarding interference with execution due to external threats, responding accordingly. Destruction will provide shelter, limited to activation during actions related to the Destruction agreement, which can effectively block most tracking. Note: This shelter cannot be used to evade execution of other unrelated tasks."

Heimu: "……"

Na Nu Ke, your efficiency is a bit too high?!

Ding—dong!

The third prompt sounded immediately, with a cheerful rhythm.

System: "Joyful Star God synchronously adds 'Joyful Shelter'. The two shelters fuse, forming 'Symbiotic Shelter', increasing the evasion rate against Bolka Kakam's probing by 82.37%, its tracking signal will be interfered with, unable to accurately locate the host's movements."

Heimu fell completely silent.