Chapter 229

Chapter 229

On the desolate, dust-choked wasteland planet, winds swept across the plains, howling through the scattered ruins of gray structures. The scorched, withered scent of desiccated alien flora and fauna permeated the air, their bloated, deformed bodies strewn across the city. From above, one was met with an overwhelming sense of emptiness and desolation.

A crack half a meter wide suddenly tore through the void, and a figure landed lightly and silently atop the tallest building in the city district. She wore a long purple robe, five silver stars shimmering like rippling water at the collar. Beneath the large hood, curly golden hair framed a flawlessly beautiful, almost inhuman face.

Agnes gazed at the lifeless land, her eyes as indifferent as ever.

Her innate, powerful spiritual vision allowed her to clearly perceive the massive shadow lurking beneath her feet, buried deep within the city. Its contours outlined a face resembling that of a beautiful human woman, eyes closed, hands folded over her chest, her expression serene as if lost in a long, pleasant dream.

Yet, looking down from the human-like upper body, one could only shudder at the sight of endless limbs and tentacles emerging from the depths of the darkness, writhing restlessly, eerily mesmerizing to the point of dizziness.

Agnes shouldn't have been the one here to tend to It, but due to an unforeseen incident, the unfortunate Royal Zerg had encountered a royal descendant of the Oath Clan and was tragically slain.

Among the awakened Royal Zerg, the only one capable of tearing through space and time had already entered the next cycle of reincarnation. The other Zerg, barely able to rend space, weren't high-level enough; they would shriek and dissolve into a pool of black, turbid liquid the moment they approached the Queen. Thus, no matter how much Agnes usually ignored her clan's affairs, this troublesome task still fell to her.

She wasn't alone on the rooftop. A disheveled figure was bound to a high-backed wooden chair. Agnes leisurely walked toward Louis, snapped her fingers, and the black mist covering his mouth dissipated.

Without much interest, Agnes glanced at Louis's sweat-drenched blond hair and asked, "Have you thought about the ritual?"

"I... I don't know how to perform the ritual," Louis averted his eyes, not daring to look directly at her. Even among alchemists of the same level, differences akin to a food chain existed. Clearly, on the ladder of Five-Star Alchemists, he was at the very bottom.

It was all because of that damned Vincent Oliver and Luo Yunyi!

Filled with resentment... he then adopted an even more submissive attitude, bowing his head and mumbled to Agnes, "And this will consume causal laws. I'm not sure if I have enough causality."

For every cause, there is an effect; for every effect, there is a cause.

This is the most constant and absolute law in the universe, more universal than physical laws, more tangible than divine power.

Any action by anyone can trigger a chain of consequences. The death of a young person might erase several potential genetic lineages from the fate line; the extinction of a species could lead to the cascading extinction of several races or even the collapse of an ecosystem—the fall of the Old Era began precisely this way.

Normally, a person's causality is sufficient to bear their words and actions, but there are always things that defy ordinary causal laws—such as assassinating an unparalleled emperor or genius, or prematurely awakening the Zerg Queen.

Louis was certain that Agnes had conceived this method to torment him precisely because she was restricted by causality from killing him directly. The moment the Zerg Queen awakened, he would be instantly annihilated by universal causality, leaving not even a trace of consciousness behind.

He wouldn't seek his own death!

Agnes looked at him with a faint, mocking smile, as if seeing right through his thoughts, or perhaps completely indifferent to them. In those noble eyes, like flowing golden fire, Louis suddenly saw only ridicule and disdain.

"If I truly wished to kill you, even causality couldn't limit me. Of course, such things are beyond the imagination of a lowly race such as humans."

She patted Louis's cheek, then flipped her hand open. A crystal-clear stone, vivid as pigeon's blood, appeared in her palm, about the size of a baby's fist. Louis's eyes widened instantly, and he subconsciously held his breath... What a complete, enormous Philosopher's Stone! It was equal to five years of his own alchemical work! As Agnes waved the Philosopher's Stone back and forth, pure quintessence floated through his perceptual sea.

Arrogantly, Agnes said, "No need to think too highly of yourself. The reason I chose you is simply because, in the study of the Zerg, Gu Zhaoxi and Long Quan don't even hold a candle to your knowledge. As for the causality issue, with this Philosopher's Stone, are you still worried about dying?"

The Philosopher's Stone, extracted and refined by a Five-Star Alchemist from conceptual rules, is the only thing that can exist beyond causality.

After a moment of internal struggle, Louis finally couldn't resist the temptation of the Philosopher's Stone. When he spoke again, his voice was even less confident than before: "Then... alright, I can try to help you. But what if it really doesn't work?"

"Useless people can die."

Her tone didn't sound like a joke. As Louis took the Philosopher's Stone, his shoulders trembled, and he couldn't help but shiver.

-

There was still some distance from the First Empire Academy to the port. Luo Wenqing wasn't as tired as she had claimed; aside from yawning when she sat down, she remained alert, even energetic, throughout the journey.

"First, a disclaimer: this information comes from my family's merchant group in the Alliance. If there are discrepancies with the facts, I take no responsibility," Luo Wenqing said lightly as she sat down, draping an arm over Eve's shoulder. "Though you don't have any other options now anyway."

Eve turned her face and immediately shoved Luo Wenqing's hand away: "Speak properly."

"Hmm... alright," Luo Wenqing wasn't bothered by such small details and quickly perched on the armrest. "Although the Empire and the Alliance have the same definitions and measurement standards for spiritual power, there are some differences in the Spiritual State. You must know a bit about the Alliance's situation, right?"

"Extremely reliant on technology?" Eve ventured.

The two sides had long been cut off from each other, and their understanding of one another was superficial. But with a bit of effort, one could still uncover some details.

For example, the Alliance's system of governance seemed the complete opposite of the Empire's. The Alliance values rationality and democracy; there are no nobles or officials there. Society is primarily coordinated by the mainframes and artificial intelligence. Only matters involving physical entities are handled by the Governance Bureau, which acts according to proposals provided by the mainframes.

They have ten mainframes in total, managing the two major star domains comprising twenty-one star systems, along with ten governors corresponding to the mainframes. All members of the Governance Bureau, including the governors, are elected through democratic decision-making by a two-tier parliament.

As for military affairs, they seem to operate under a separate management system, overseen by one of the ten mainframes. Robots are always more reliable than humans when it comes to secrecy. Without the mainframe's approval, no related information can be transmitted over the star network.

In all fairness, the complete severance between the Empire and the Alliance over the years owes much to the ruthless methods of the mainframes and governors. The success of the recent peace talks was also due to the endorsement of the Alliance's first mainframe, "Nuwa," which, after meticulous calculation, approved the cooperation.

"Yes, they rely heavily on the mainframes there. But perhaps because of excessive technological control or other reasons, the mental state of Alliance citizens is more unstable than that of the Empire," Luo Wenqing said with a light laugh. "The higher the spiritual power level, the more prone they are to rampages. However, after several major social incidents, the Alliance discovered that even unstable spiritual power can manifest in two completely different rampage directions—attack and control."

Eve wasn't startled by this novel topic and calmly followed up: "Human cognition has both inward and outward directions, and spiritual power, in the end, evolves from cognition. The attack and control you mentioned are divided based on this, right?"

"In the Imperial Calendar year 113, the Alliance experienced the major incident *Flame Dragon*, caused by a highly aggressive S-class Spiritual State holder rampaging, burning down a planetary-level mainframe server room. It was ultimately violently suppressed by the third mainframe 'Yggdrasil' deploying the Governance Bureau. In Imperial Calendar year 125, the major incident *New Moon Cult* erupted, originating from a highly controlling S-class Spiritual State holder going insane, controlling over two thousand people to carry out self-destructive actions. It was finally resolved by the ninth mainframe 'White Tower' performing a large-scale regional hypnosis, and the ninth governor personally executing the perpetrator."

Though claiming the information was just casually gathered, Luo Wenqing recounted these events without a single stumble, fluently as if she were an eyewitness: "...Anyway, such major incidents happen about every ten years or so. Though I feel if the frequency increases any further, the mainframes might order the unconditional elimination of S-class Spiritual State holders. The Alliance developed a system to classify Spiritual States into attack and control orientations and provide matching training. I don't know the specifics, but from what I've heard, the strongest control-oriented Spiritual State holder in the Alliance can simultaneously manipulate over a hundred A-grade or above attack-oriented Spiritual States. At their peak, they can even bypass the true owners of the Spiritual States and completely take over their actions."

Given Luo Wenqing's character of not acting without benefit, she wasn't the type to praise others for no reason. A sense of foreboding crept into Eve's heart: "So, among the Alliance students sent for the exchange to the Empire this time, how many have attack-oriented and control-oriented Spiritual States?"

"Good news, there's only one control-oriented. But that's also bad news, meaning they sent a full thirty-four purely attack-oriented talents, and they have great confidence in that one exception. Considering all Alliance decisions are made by intelligent machines, blind overconfidence is unlikely," Luo Wenqing whistled. "I heard that control-oriented Spiritual State student is the eldest daughter of the current strongest holder in the Alliance. You must have already gotten the exchange roster from Qin Mengde last week, right? It's the name at the very top. I don't know what she's called, only that she uses her mother's surname, Lin."

"......"

Eve's mouth twitched, she held back repeatedly, and ultimately didn't tell Luo Wenqing that there was no need to specially find out the other's name—because as early as last week, these two had already toasted to a temporary sisterhood.