Chapter 98: A Xing’s Revenge, Not Too Late After Ten Years
“Ahem.” Meng Huaifeng coughed twice to attract everyone’s attention, then said: “Let me tell you about the information I searched for.”
“According to my search, the surface source of this Mana Ecology outbreak is the birth of the Mana Flower due to human immortality experiments. But in fact, Mana Ecology has erupted multiple times in the history of this world.”
“Although Mana Ecology disguises itself as the planet’s cyclical correction of the natural environment, its multiple eruptions are extremely abrupt and deliberate, more like there’s a mastermind behind the scenes manipulating it in secret.”
“However, the mastermind doesn’t seem to be on this planet, and he’s extremely cautious. There’s no trace of him in the information from this planet; it can only be inferred from multiple suspicious points that such a mastermind exists.”
Nowadays, the scope of Meng Huaifeng’s Art of Heavenly Inquiry can only cover this planet. If someone is exerting influence from outside the planet, he can only search for the anomalies caused by their methods, not the person themselves.
Only when the inquiry scope expands in the future can he search for more and more accurate information.
“Since we can’t find the mastermind for now, let’s ignore him first. Once we resolve Mana Ecology, if he dares to intervene, he’ll naturally reveal himself. So, if we destroy the Mana Flower, will Mana Ecology end?” Himeko asked.
“No, the Mana Flower is only the surface source of Mana Ecology. In reality, there’s a Crimson Vortex Space behind it. I can’t directly search for this space; it shouldn’t be on this planet, and it might even be an independent small space.”
“I can only observe this space from the times it opened entrances on this planet. The true source of Mana Ecology should be in the Crimson Vortex Space.” Meng Huaifeng speculated.
“Ah, it’s so complicated. Even your Art of Heavenly Inquiry can’t fully confirm it. If we had to find it ourselves, who knows how long it would take.” March 7th exclaimed in surprise.
“So how should we enter this Crimson Vortex Space?” Himeko asked.
“You can enter the Crimson Vortex Space through the Crimson Vortex, but the Crimson Vortex has identification functionality. Humans can’t enter; it requires special means, and someone has already tried.” Meng Huaifeng said.
“It seems the people on this planet are also working hard to save themselves.” Himeko sighed.
“The Crimson Vortex only appears when Devouring Beasts have collected enough Life Essence. It absorbs the Life Essence and causes the Devouring Beasts to evolve, then disappears again. As the number of survivors decreases, the collection of Life Essence slows down, and the frequency of Crimson Vortex appearances decreases.” Meng Huaifeng continued.
“In that case, it’s quite troublesome.” Himeko frowned.
“We’re not going to have to wait years for the Crimson Vortex to open before we can resolve it, right?” March 7th widened her eyes.
“No need for that long. The Crimson Vortex Space not revealing its portal doesn’t mean we can’t actively find it; it just takes more effort.” Himeko shook her head.
“The Crimson Vortex Space knows when Devouring Beasts have collected enough Life Essence, and the Devouring Beasts know when the Crimson Vortex Space is about to open and gather in advance. There must be a medium of communication between them, and that medium is undoubtedly the Mana Flower.”
“The Crimson Vortex Space understands this world through the Mana Flower, so we can also reverse-locate the Crimson Vortex Space through the Mana Flower.” Meng Huaifeng said confidently.
“Then shall we go to the nearest Mana Flower first?” March 7th asked.
“Yeah, let’s go.” Meng Huaifeng opened the map in his mind and walked toward the nearest Mana Flower marked on the map.
“Hey, are we just going on foot like this? Uncle Yang?” March 7th’s sparkling eyes looked toward Welt.
Welt waved his hand and constructed eight off-road vehicles, saying: “Those who want to drive get one each. Those who don’t want to drive or can’t drive, sit in the back row.”
Meng Huaifeng, A Xing, March 7th, Himeko, and Welt each took one vehicle. Zhu Zhuqing, who couldn’t drive, and Hong Kou Po Xiao, who was inconvenient to drive wearing the Gravity Body, sat in the back rows of A Xing, March 7th, and Meng Huaifeng’s vehicles respectively.
“Want to have a racing competition?” A Xing suggested.
“Bring it on! Crashing stuff in this world doesn’t require compensation, right?” March 7th said excitedly.
Hong Kou hesitated for a moment, then silently got out of the car and got into Welt’s vehicle, which looked the most stable.
“So what are the stakes and punishment?” Meng Huaifeng asked.
“Sister Himeko’s coffee!” A Xing said without hesitation.
Himeko gave A Xing a cold glance. A Xing grinned sheepishly, scratched her head, and said: “I mean, the winner gets rewarded with Sister Himeko’s coffee.”
The excitement for the race instantly vanished.
“You don’t need to win; if you want coffee, I’ll give it to you. Let’s change it to train chores instead.” Himeko said.
“Good, last place does all the first place’s chores!” March 7th agreed first.
“Though I don’t want to fool around with you all, I don’t want to do chores either.” Welt sighed, a flash of light gleaming on his glasses.
“Target: Mana Flower, prepare to depart!” Meng Huaifeng sent the map to everyone’s mobile phones.
Welt tapped his fingers lightly, and navigation functions appeared on everyone’s off-road vehicle control screens.
“Big Brother Po Xiao, hold on tight.” Meng Huaifeng glanced at Po Xiao behind him and reminded.
“Don’t worry, we’ve sat in armored vehicles chased by Devouring Beasts plenty of times.” Po Xiao said.
“3!”
“2!”
“1!”
“Boom!”
With the countdown ending, five off-road vehicles emitted a deafening roar and launched forward.
Himeko took the lead, her driving skills unexpectedly wild. Right behind her was Welt, not only fast but also steadily so.
The remaining three were all terrible drivers with big egos, neck and neck!
“A Xing, ditch! Ditch! Ditch!” Zhu Zhuqing screamed from behind A Xing to remind her.
“Oley oley oley!” A Xing replied enthusiastically.
“Boom!”
A Xing drove the off-road vehicle straight into a mountain ditch.
Zhu Zhuqing rolled safely to the ground, cautiously looking at the burning off-road vehicle. Soon, A Xing crawled out from under the car, covered in dirt.
“Oh no! If the car is broken, doesn’t that make me dead last?” A Xing was extremely anxious.
A new off-road vehicle appeared next to A Xing out of thin air. Welt sensed his creation was damaged and reconstructed one for A Xing.
“Uncle Yang, awesome!” A Xing shouted excitedly.
“Get in the car quick!” A Xing urged.
Zhu Zhuqing got in helplessly, and A Xing floored the accelerator.
Because of the rollover, she was already last. If she didn’t speed up, dead last would definitely be hers!
“A Xing, slow down. I’m scared like this.” Zhu Zhuqing gripped the seat tightly.
“Don’t worry, trust my skills!”
“Slow down! Slow down! Turn coming up!”
“Don’t be scared, watch me drift through the turn!”
“Boom!”
“Do you really have skills?” Zhu Zhuqing, who had jumped out early, asked A Xing, whose little face was blackened.
Two hours later, A Xing finally arrived at the destination last.
“A Xing, you’re so lame. Do you know how much time you were slower than this lady?” March 7th asked smugly with hands on hips.
Though she was second to last, she was a full twenty minutes faster than A Xing.
A Xing looked March 7th up and down, her clothes covered in dust, and confirmed: “You flipped the car.”
March 7th was stunned: “So what? You’re still last.”
“You flipped the car.”
“I was faster than you!”
“You flipped the car.”
“You flipped more!!”
“You flipped the car.”
“This lady’s pissed off!!!” March 7th chose to fight.
She hadn’t cared about flipping before, but now she suddenly felt so annoyed!
“Um, I shouldn’t count as last place since I didn’t drive, right?” Zhu Zhuqing asked uncertainly.
“Of course not for those who didn’t drive.” Meng Huaifeng said.
“That’s good.” Zhu Zhuqing patted the panda and relaxed.
“A Xing, don’t forget to do Pamu’s chores on the train.” Himeko smiled, reminding A Xing who was play-fighting with March 7th: “Oh, and as a reward, ten cups of your favorite coffee.”
“Nooo!” A Xing bent forward in dejection, pinned down by March 7th.
……
The play-fighting ended, and everyone began exploring the surrounding environment.
This was a city. Due to intense crustal movements, many buildings had collapsed, but some were still intact and could be tidied up as temporary shelters.
However, strangely, there were many human statues in the city, in various poses, lifelike.
“Why are there so many statues here?” March 7th asked curiously, feeling it was a bit creepy.
“These aren’t statues; they’re all Flesh Soil.” Hong Kou said with a complex expression.
“Flesh Soil? What is that?” March 7th still didn’t understand. Meng Huaifeng seemed to have mentioned the term before but hadn’t explained.
Hong Kou and Po Xiao exchanged a glance, extremely puzzled in their hearts. How could they not even know what Flesh Soil is?
Connecting it to how they kept saying “this world” and “this planet,” could they be aliens?
Hong Kou and Po Xiao’s minds raced with thoughts as Meng Huaifeng explained: “Flesh Soil is what people turn into after losing their Life Essence.”
“You mean they were once living people?” March 7th’s pupils shrank as she stepped back a few paces.
Turning people into statues—she hadn’t seen it but had heard of it; Dugu Bo could do it.
But one or two was fine; a whole group like this, or even everyone on the planet turning into statues, was still spine-chilling.
“They turn into Flesh Soil after losing Life Essence? How peculiar.” Himeko said. She had previously suspected Life Essence was the soul, but losing a soul wouldn’t turn someone into Flesh Soil.
“It seems the connection between Life Essence and the people of this world is even closer than I imagined.” When Welt had checked the Beacon people, he had already discovered this energy.
Now it seemed, as he thought, Life Essence was so important to them that no matter what cultivation method was taught, as long as they became strong to a certain degree, they would inevitably discover Life Essence.
He only hoped no one would take the evil path that flashed through his mind.
“If Life Essence returned to their bodies, could they revive?” March 7th asked curiously.
“You can figure it’s impossible just by thinking. Living things turning to stone is barely understandable, but stone turning back to living things feels unlikely.” Meng Huaifeng said.
Himeko walked to a broken piece of Flesh Soil, pinched some fragments to observe, and confirmed: “It’s completely turned into real soil and stone; no possibility of reversal.”
“So pitiful.” March 7th said reluctantly.
“If I lost my Life Essence, would I turn into Flesh Soil too?” A Xing asked, pinching her chin.
“We don’t have Life Essence in our bodies.” Welt said. For now, he was the one who understood Life Essence the most.
“Oh.” A Xing felt inexplicably disappointed.
Hong Kou and Po Xiao finally confirmed they really weren’t from this world.
But they had saved them, and it sounded like they planned to resolve the disaster for their world.
So why not follow them? Anyway, they had nowhere else to go.
Hong Kou controlled her Gravity Body to grab Po Xiao’s Gravity Body hand, thinking to herself.
“Right, didn’t you say Devouring Beasts can sense emotions? Even without Life Essence, can we attract Devouring Beasts?” A Xing suddenly came up with another wild idea.
“This world’s Life Essence contains too much, including emotions which should be part of Life Essence. It’s unclear if what attracts Devouring Beasts is pure emotion or Life Essence triggered by emotion. Since we have no Life Essence, it’s hard to say if we can attract them.” Meng Huaifeng grew curious too.
“Come on, let’s try. Sister Himeko just got a Beacon Light and Shadow Detector.” March 7th hurriedly took out the equipment Himeko gave her.
“There should be plenty of Devouring Beasts in the city. If we really attract them, we might be in danger.” Hong Kou reminded.
“Don’t worry, with our strength, mere Devouring Beasts—no matter how many—aren’t a threat.” A Xing said confidently.
Hong Kou stopped persuading; as long as they knew the consequences.
“So who will attract the Devouring Beasts?” March 7th asked, holding the Light and Shadow Detector.
“Who among us has the most fluctuating emotions?” Meng Huaifeng asked.
Everyone looked at March 7th.
“Huh? Me? This lady’s just a bit lively… Fine.” March 7th was dumbfounded, wanting to argue, but realized everyone else on the train had stable emotions—even A Xing was just a bit mischievous.
So March 7th obediently handed the Light and Shadow Detector to Meng Huaifeng.
Meng Huaifeng didn’t turn on the equipment but summoned his Mobile Phone Martial Spirit, opened the virtual screen, and typed rapidly.
“Done, I don’t need it anymore. Here.” Meng Huaifeng handed the equipment back to March 7th.
The software in the equipment wasn’t too complex. Meng Huaifeng didn’t need to fully analyze the principles; he just copied it to his phone, finishing in a short minute.
If he were to fully parse what every segment of code meant and did, it wouldn’t be quick.
He could analyze them slowly later; he would definitely do it. This would all be steps in Meng Huaifeng’s Aether Editing progress.
Meng Huaifeng pointed his phone at March 7th and said: “March, try getting angry now.”
“Get angry?” March 7th scrunched her little face, lips pursed tightly, making a fierce expression.
“Hmm, just reached fluctuation—way off. Think of something that makes you angry!” Meng Huaifeng suggested, looking at the screen.
March 7th began recalling A Xing flipping the trash can and getting her dirty, secretly eating her favorite small cake, making her embarrassing videos…
Her anger started surging.
“Almost at danger level—keep it up!” Meng Huaifeng encouraged.
And posting photos of her giving Meng Huaifeng artificial respiration to save him in the group chat…
“Strange, why did it suddenly drop?” Meng Huaifeng frowned.
“This lady’s always optimistic and cheerful—how could I get angry so easily!” March 7th puffed her cheeks, her pretty face slightly red, as if from forcing herself to be angry.
“Then how about expressing happy and excited emotions?” Meng Huaifeng said.
“Okay.” March 7th showed a smile, then retracted it after a bit, expressionless: “Acting super happy out of nowhere feels like being a silly girl.”
“What now?” Meng Huaifeng said somewhat helplessly.
Emotions aren’t easy to control, whether suppressing or deliberately expressing them.
“How about an immersive dream experience?” Meng Huaifeng suggested.
“No way! What if it’s uploaded online and I get embarrassed again?” March 7th crossed her arms.
“Not necessarily. Like, it’s clearly A Xing dreaming, but you and Silver Wolf get embarrassed.” Meng Huaifeng persuaded.
“Me! Me!” A Xing eagerly volunteered. After making March 7th embarrassed, A Xing had been banned from playing Meng Huaifeng’s Dream Entering Divine Mechanism virtual world.
“No! Until Huai Feng bypasses Aha’s blessing, you’re not allowed to play!” March 7th excitedly blocked A Xing.
“Let me play a bit. Can’t even connect to Thousand Stars Net now.” A Xing pleaded pitifully.
“No! No net now, but it’ll auto-upload when we get back.” March 7th opposed again.
“I swear, no weird thoughts in the dream!” A Xing promised.
March 7th still shook her head, attitude very firm.
“Huh, A Xing’s emotion level is nearing danger.” Meng Huaifeng pinched his chin, having an idea.
“A Xing, you lost at a game.”
“Your pentakill got stolen!”
“You went super negative—ten losses in a row!”
“A Xing, your account got banned!”
……
“Boom!”
Terrifying Destruction Power erupted from A Xing’s body, the baseball bat appearing in her hand, surrounded by lightning.
“Who? Who dares ban Galaxy Bat Man’s account?!” A Xing’s eyebrows shot up.
“Perfect, light and shadow value degeneracy. We’re on the ground, so Devouring Beasts should be attracted soon, right?” Meng Huaifeng gave A Xing a thumbs up.
A Xing realized Meng Huaifeng was deliberately provoking her, and her anger began to subside.
“Hold it steady, A Xing!” Meng Huaifeng hurriedly said.
“This… I can’t control it at all. Say more?” A Xing scratched her head; the light and shadow value dropped even faster.
“Remember those days in Belobog when you got wrecked at games? Silver Wolf did it!” Meng Huaifeng unhesitatingly sold out Silver Wolf.
A Xing instantly recalled those dark days of gaming, the most terrifying nightmare in her gaming history.
Landing and instant death, headshot on sight, super negative every game, all equipment dropped, all enhancements shattered…
“Ah! Silver Wolf, I’ll fight you!” A Xing finally exploded completely!
“Abyss!”
Three minutes later.
“Why haven’t any Devouring Beasts come yet?” Meng Huaifeng asked puzzled.
A Xing pulled her little face in front of Meng Huaifeng: “Did you know all along it was Silver Wolf?”
Meng Huaifeng smiled awkwardly: “Speculation, all speculation. Think about it: you just embarrassed Silver Wolf, and she was still in Belobog. Wouldn’t she retaliate? As one of the galaxy’s top hackers, she knew what you were playing and deliberately matched against you every game to snipe—very reasonable, right?”
“Well said.” A Xing nodded, raising her baseball bat high to swear: “I swear I’ll make Silver Wolf taste all the pain I suffered!”
“Silver Wolf unwilling, you’ll never make her feel that pain in this lifetime.” Meng Huaifeng wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.
You might win a few games, but win too many, and you’ll face Great Love Wolf Venerable, Wolf King Emperor!
“Good brother, you’ll help me, right?” A Xing tightly grabbed Meng Huaifeng’s arm.
You think who taught me Aether Editing?
“……Give me ten years.” Meng Huaifeng said helplessly.
