Chapter 868: Pale Gray Petal

Su paused briefly, letting the weight of the words settle in the air.

"Usually they're blue. The clear kind. That's a trait known to everyone who's ever contacted Ailixiya. But the one time I saw her, her eyes were pink."

She withdrew her hands, folding them on her knees, her fingertips lightly tapping the back of her own hand.

"I've only seen pink‑eyed Ailixiya in one circumstance: Herrscher transformation. The problem is, I clearly saw that pink then, yet I took no notice. It was like spotting an illogical detail in a dream."

Su's smile finally vanished completely as she spoke.

Her expression grew serious and focused; even with her eyes closed, the alertness rising between her brows was evident.

"Looking back now, I realize that dismissing it was the biggest problem. I'm not bragging, but I'm indeed not easily filled with others' ideas. That feeling then was faint, like a light veil over me. As if someone was coaxing me to think it all was natural."

Her fingertip halted on the back of her hand.

Heimu did not reply immediately.

She stared at the coldness flashing on the face that, even with eyes closed, still exuded alertness, and unconsciously rubbed her chin with two finger strokes.

Then she spoke.

"So Ailixiya's Herrscher transformation can be confirmed. But in Past World Paradise, besides you, who else knows this?"

Su fell silent for a moment.

"…For now, none that I recall, at least not that I remember."

She paused, "There's one thing I can't figure out: why Ailixiya sent me here? If she were in a Herrscher state, her logic would be utterly beyond ordinary reasoning. But if she isn't—"

"If she's not entirely under control, her purpose in sending you here might not be a simple vacation."

Heimu took over, his tone tinged with faint contemplation, "She left you that note, gave you a swimsuit, locked you in this space, limited your abilities—this sounds like protection, yet also like quarantine."

Su's eyes remained closed, but she gave a slight nod.

"I feel the same. Protect what? Quarantine what?"

The air between them fell silent for a few seconds.

Heimu shifted his gaze from Su to the distant sea surface.

The inflatable Big Yellow Duck was still beached at the sand's edge, its round form reflecting sunlight.

Waves lapped the duck's underside in a rhythmic in‑and‑out, producing a soft rustling.

Su seemed to sense the weight of Heimu's silent contemplation.

She turned her face toward Heimu, her eyes still closed, her voice steady yet tinged with added seriousness.

"What's the current situation in Past World Paradise?"

Heimu lowered his hand and leaned back against the chair.

"No need to worry. It's just a game set up by some Fun God, it won't cause major harm."

After saying that, she rolled her eyes inwardly.

"Major harm"—what does 'harm' even mean to Aha?

It doesn't exist.

But this excuse is just enough to soothe Yingjie, whose abilities are largely sealed, trapped on an island in a swimsuit.

Su's eyelashes fluttered slightly, as if processing the words. She slowly raised her hand, palm up, assuming a posture ready to receive something.

Then Heimu's fingers made a vague grasp in the air, and a flower materialized in her palm.

The flower was entirely crystal clear, its petals as thin as cicada wings, shimmering with soft iridescence in the sunlight.

Its core was a tiny cluster of fine light specks, flickering on and off as if the flower itself were breathing.

Three petals had already been lit with color: crimson‑sakura pink, warm orange, icy blue.

Each hue occupied its own petal, spaced evenly, as if awaiting someone to fill the remaining void.

Heimu glanced down at the Crystal Flower, then handed it to Su.

"Take a look at this. Can you discern anything?"

Su took it.

When her fingertip brushed the Crystal Flower's petal, the motion was as light as touching moonlight on water.

She then slightly opened her eyes, a sliver of rose‑red sheen glimmering between the lids, paler than usual and hazy like mist.

She lowered her gaze at the flower in her palm, remaining quiet for several seconds.

Then, at the point where the Crystal Flower touched Su's palm, an originally colorless petal suddenly changed, its transparent base slowly spreading a light gray hue.

"What is this…"

The light‑gray petal quivered faintly in the sunlight, then steadied and glowed.

Four colors—pink, orange, blue, gray—each quietly illuminated one of the Crystal Flower's four petals.

Su lowered her head to stare at the flower, tilting slightly.

She gently tapped the newly lit light‑gray petal with her fingertip; it felt warm and smooth, without any sting or burn.

She rotated the Crystal Flower in her palm, examining the light patterns on the petals from various angles, then discovered a tiny incision at the base of the stalk.

Su furrowed her brows, and the shadow of her eyelashes on her cheek quivered.

"This pattern… the craftsmanship isn't natural."

She brought the Crystal Flower close to her face, eyes closed, and traced the fine scar on the stalk with her fingertip.

"Interesting."

Su spoke, a hint of curiosity in her voice.

"Inside, there are traces of Memory. Not a complete Memory, more like fragments, or highly condensed emotional data imprints. I can sense the after‑image of those who previously touched it: the sharpness of Sakura, the gentleness of Ge Lei Xiu, and, um, some very complex sense of shame from Kesi Mo?"

Heimu's mouth twitched.

Even the Crystal Flower could sense Kesi Mo's shame; that child's armor must already shine emotionally like a lighthouse.

Su placed the flower in her palm, gently rotating it with her fingertip, letting the four colored petals flash sequentially in the sunlight.

The structure of this flower is not that of an ordinary crystal. Its internal architecture resembles a data storage device, each petal corresponding to an independent Memory partition. And the color‑changing mechanism is probably sensing the imprint of the one who touches it.

She lifted the flower to her face again, and her tone shifted from academic analysis to a faint appreciation.

"The color itself also has meaning. Tianhui. It matches my imprint. The orange, pink, and blue you collected earlier should correspond respectively to Kesi Mo's dawn light, Sakura's Shana, and Ge Lei Xiu's myriad stars."

"Also, the Crystal Flower in Letu is considered a token handcrafted by Ailixiya; she once distributed Crystal Flowers to each Fire‑Chasing Heroic Scion, each flower corresponding to a Scion, as a symbol of bond. But I've never seen one that can color itself."

She turned the flower over, observing the back of that light‑gray petal from another angle.

"And this color,"

Su paused briefly and said, "is far more complex than the Crystal Flower I remembered."