Chapter 354: The Harvest Moment, Synthesizing Ethereal Realm Particles
The news that Bai Fu had turned into “Silly Fu” could not be concealed in the end, and somehow it had already spread out.
This news caused a huge uproar.
The happiest of all were none other than those from the Apostolic Holy City.
Although Bai Fu had not died, from the looks of it, she would not be able to stir up any trouble again for quite some time.
Without Bai Fu’s support, the combat strength of the Three Universal Civilizations would drop by a large margin.
Of course, that did not mean they could afford to completely relax their vigilance.
What if the Three Universal Civilizations suddenly researched some kind of special weapon? What if that damned Original Pact suddenly appeared to cause chaos? What if Lufas, that sinister schemer who stirred up trouble everywhere, jumped out again to make another move…
Though there were countless “what ifs,” after this incident, the heart of the Supreme God’s disciples—clouded over by the attack on Holy Land Star, the betrayal of the Ten Saints Assembly, and the near disaster with the Fourth Apostle—finally cleared again.
“Lufas, this traitor, not bad!”
He immediately summoned the high-ranking members of the Apostolic Holy City, reopening a strategic assembly and stressing that they must seize this opportunity to establish numerous solid strongholds across the Three Universal Civilizations.
In this way, even if Bai Fu recovered one day, she would no longer be able to reverse the war.
The Supreme God’s disciples’ proposal received unanimous approval.
However, dwelling in high authority and immersed in joy, he failed to notice the undercurrents stirring within the virtual conference hall.
All of this came from the covert links of the Fourth Apostle.
When they first received the secret message from the Fourth Apostle, those dissatisfied with the Supreme God’s disciples within the great cathedrals thought it was merely a trap laid by the Supreme God’s disciples together with the Fourth Apostle to remove them.
But after careful probing, they suddenly realized that the Fourth Apostle had truly fallen out with the Supreme God’s disciples.
They immediately recognized this as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
If they failed to seize it now, they would forever remain trampled beneath the feet of the current Supreme God’s disciples!
The Apostolic Holy City, due to its unique organizational structure, had never been a true iron wall.
A follower who did not aspire to become the Supreme God’s disciple was not a good follower!
In that instant, all the ambitious ones in the Apostolic Holy City reached cooperation with the Fourth Apostle.
Yet they did not rush to openly break with the Supreme God’s disciples.
It was not the time.
The urgent task remained to unite and eliminate the Three Universal Civilizations first.
If they started infighting before destroying the Three Universal Civilizations, they would only hand over an opportunity for the Three Universal Civilizations to counter them.
Letting the current Supreme God’s disciples die at the very peak of glory, amidst the cheers of the masses and showers of flowers—that was the tacit thought shared among all the ambitious ones from the Apostolic Holy City.
……
After the meeting ended, the Apostolic Holy City immediately mobilized troops, dispatching multiple fleets to bypass the “Cosmic Wall” built by the dimensional collapse and launch an assault on the Three Universal Civilizations.
This was destined to be a fierce and long-consuming war.
Both sides—the Apostolic Holy City and the Three Universal Civilizations—were fully prepared mentally.
Yet compared to the Apostolic Holy City, the Three Universal Civilizations were clearly the side lacking confidence.
The situation had already been difficult enough, and now came the sudden news that Bai Fu had turned into Silly Fu. Couldn’t people just play the game in peace anymore?
Damn it, that beast Lufas!
Even Delano, the president of Titan Industries famed for his elegance, cursed Lufas’s ancestors eighteen generations deep in his heart.
Now they were all regretting it.
Why had they not united with the Supernova Warband at the time and gone all out to crush Lufas to death?
If Lufas had died back then, there would not be today’s calamity.
“At this point, saying more is meaningless.”
The Supernova Warband’s chief, Fitz, helplessly shook his head.
After a round of discussion, they finally decided to each send representatives to the Esper Garden to visit Bai Fu and see if there was any way to bring her back.
The representative from the Rebirth Empire was Dmitri.
In truth, Dmitri himself was still a wounded man.
During the previous raid, he had been heavily targeted by the Apostolic Holy City’s Artificial Psionic God.
Luckily, his strength was formidable, and with Bai Fu’s help he had already completed his third divinity metamorphosis early on; otherwise, he would not have survived.
This time, he volunteered to visit Bai Fu. On one hand, he wanted to express his gratitude in person—even if Bai Fu might no longer understand what gratitude was. On the other hand, he wished to bid her farewell face-to-face.
Compared to before, the current situation was somewhat better, yet if no change occurred, the Rebirth Empire would still eventually be devoured by the Apostolic Holy City.
This was something Dmitri could never accept.
To alter this ending, as far as he could see, there were only two possible paths.
The first was that the Rebirth Empire’s research into dark energy and Void suddenly achieved a breakthrough and, with that progress, they dealt a devastating blow to the Apostolic Holy City.
The second was that the Rebirth Empire unexpectedly produced a stabilizing pillar who had completed a fourth divinity metamorphosis. With such a pillar present, no matter how strong the Apostolic Holy City became, the Rebirth Empire’s continuation would still be assured.
Dmitri was not versed in research. He only knew from Bualois that the current achievements of the Three Universal Civilizations were far from enough to grant their united fleets overwhelming advantage against the Apostolic Holy City’s forces.
Moreover, within the foreseeable one or two years, the Rebirth Empire’s research centers would be unable to achieve any breakthroughs.
Therefore, to save the Rebirth Empire, the only feasible route was the second one.
“The Rebirth Empire possesses a unique subspace. It was created during the twenty-six-thousand-year era of the Empire by the Sacred Emperor Rhine together with the top space scholars of the time. The Sacred Emperor left behind countless supreme sacred relics in that subspace. Those relics contain immense power. If I can tame that power, I am certain I can complete the fourth metamorphosis in the shortest time.”
Dmitri sat on a chair, rambling on.
Two meters away by the window, sunlight cut through the frame like a dull blade, falling upon Bai Fu’s face as she shrank into her wicker chair, rendering her porcelain-doll-like delicate cheeks even more blank and silly.
Sigh.
Dmitri sighed inwardly.
“Once I succeed, by then, the Rebirth Empire will have no fear of the Apostolic Holy City’s invasion. Bai Fu, you have helped me much, helped the Empire even more. This time, just rest in peace. Do not weary yourself again. I will shoulder everything alone!”
After saying this, Dmitri stood up.
Bai Fu’s eyelids twitched.
Hey, hey, hey, why did that sound like I was already dead?
Rest in peace? Do you really not know how exhausted I’ve been lately?
During the day Élisée would cling to me, nagging without end. Once Élisée left, Yulia, Anya, and Cecia would take turns coming in, saying that since I didn’t have to go out for the time being, they had to make me catch up on all the lessons I’d missed before. They even managed to write dozens of different versions of the paper 《A New Solution to the Double-slit Interference Experiment》.
Luckily, her body was not made of iron, but far surpassed iron. Otherwise, the one sitting before him right now would not have been “Silly Fu” but “Old White Dry.”
“If it failed, what would happen?”
“Failed? Well, I’d probably die. But I’ve already prepared myself—hmm?”
Dmitry, who had been immersed in the mood of sacrifice, suddenly realized something was wrong.
The one who had just asked him a question… seemed to be Bai Fu?
“You, you, you… you’ve returned to normal?!”
Dmitry, overjoyed, rushed in front of Bai Fu.
Bai Fu rolled her eyes. “Not recovered. To be precise, I was never hurt.”
“Huh?”
“I was pretending. I did this to deceive the Apostolic Holy City.”
Bai Fu began spinning a tale.
She had not intended to reveal the truth, but since Dmitry was about to sacrifice himself, she decided to step forward and dissuade this friend.
“Pretend—pretending?”
Dmitry was dumbfounded.
Damn, were the people of the Quiet Garden all such masters of acting?
“Well, not all of it was acting. To fool the enemy, you must first fool those around you. Except for Yulia and a few others, no one knew I was pretending. Even Élisée didn’t know. So, you must never tell her.”
Bai Fu hurriedly warned Dmitry not to leak her secret.
Dmitry pounded his chest, promising not to say a word.
Bai Fu smiled in relief. “Good. Now that you know I’m fine, stop doing foolish things. Focus on recovering.”
Dmitry shook his head. “Since you were acting, of course I must cooperate, or else outsiders might grow suspicious. I will enter the subspace as planned. But don’t worry, I won’t touch anything inside.”
“That’s up to you. Oh, right, Dmitry, help me with something.”
“What is it?”
“Like this…”
A few minutes later.
Dmitry suddenly burst out of the reception room, his face brimming with excitement. His unusual behavior immediately drew the attention of everyone nearby, including Élisée.
“There was a reaction! There was a reaction!”
Yulia looked confused. “What reaction?”
Dmitry explained, “I was just speaking with Bai Fu. As we talked, she suddenly began manipulating Psionics and Dark Energy. I don’t know what she was doing, only that I heard her shouting something like 【Ethereal Realm Particle】. But that’s not important. What’s important is that I am certain—just now, when she looked at me, her eyes hesitated for a moment. For that instant, she might have recognized me!”
Before Yulia could respond, Élisée suddenly jumped up, staring at Dmitry with wide eyes.
“What did you just say?”
Dmitry: “I said Bai Fu might have remembered who I was for an instant…”
“No, no, no! Not that! I mean the part before—the one you said wasn’t important!”
“Ethereal Realm Particle?”
“Yes, yes, that’s it!”
Élisée’s eyes lit up, as if a candle had been ignited inside them, full of joy.
Ethereal Realm Particles.
Ha.
Her mother must have subconsciously been synthesizing Ethereal Realm Particles just now!
If she helped her mother recall the method of synthesizing Ethereal Realm Particles, then perhaps, just as Yulia’s mother had said, her mother would recover!
She had to try.
“I’m going first! Do as you like!”
With a swoosh, Élisée darted into the reception room.
Dmitry: “?”
All of this had been Bai Fu’s idea, but to be honest, he had no clue what purpose it served.
Yulia, however, understood instantly.
Only, she grew even more worried.
Poor Élisée, she was probably being played to death by Bai Fu.
Who knew if Élisée liked women or not? Otherwise, once she recovered her memories, wouldn’t she chase Bai Fu down from here to the Ethereal Realm, and then back from the Ethereal Realm again?
“Let’s go in and take a look first.”
Yulia called the others to enter the reception room together.
As soon as they entered, they saw Élisée holding Bai Fu’s hand, teaching her step by step how to synthesize Ethereal Realm Particles.
“Yes, yes, yes, just like that. Follow me—one step… too many, too many, just like this, perfect… ah, ah, ah, success, success!”
Looking at the tiny particle floating in the very center of the room, spinning constantly, Élisée was so excited that she hugged Bai Fu tightly, nearly planting a heavy mua on her face.
In her eyes, this was the result of her earnest guidance—successfully allowing Bai Fu to recover a portion of her sealed memories. This proved that Yulia’s theory was indeed valid. As long as she kept working hard, one day, she would surely restore Bai Fu to normal.
But in truth…
【You comprehended a new Talent [Ethereal Realm Particle]】
【You completed the Special Quest [Path of Fusion], receiving 50 billion XP and Analysis Card ×1】
Two pleasant prompts rang in her ears.
Trapped in Élisée’s tight embrace, Bai Fu struggled hard not to burst out laughing.
Be serious. She was still in the act!
To look even sillier, she let her eyes glaze over and focused her mind on reviewing her new gains.
Ethereal Realm Particles were an incredibly powerful Talent. By mastering this, she could use Ethereal Realm Particles to perform most of her skills and to craft the majority of her Prayer Cards.
The power of skills and Prayer Cards enhanced by Ethereal Realm Particles would increase their base damage by 300%–500%. This boosted her output capacity by half out of thin air, and her true combat strength had more than doubled.
Next, if she could also steal Talents like 【Total Form】, 【Tuning】, and 【Superstring】 from Élisée…
If I have the same Talents as the God of the Ethereal Realm, then just say it—am I not the God of the Ethereal Realm myself?!
Just as she was feeling smug, Bai Fu noticed Yulia staring at her with a strange look.
Tch.
As if she were some wicked woman. Everything she had done clearly aligned with “Heaven’s Dao.”
Wasn’t Version 3.0 always promoting the intertwining of light and darkness?
Thanks to her efforts, the game now had a God of the Ethereal Realm of Light, Élisée, and a God of the Ethereal Realm of Darkness, Bai Fu. Tell me, didn’t that fit perfectly with “Heaven’s Dao (Version 3.0 Trailer)”?!
The meeting ended amidst Élisée’s shouts of joy.
After leaving the Esper Garden, Dmitry wasted no time and swiftly returned to the Rebirth Empire.
Because of Bai Fu’s instructions, he didn’t even tell anyone that Bai Fu’s “condition” had improved.
He decided to stay in the subspace for a few days as planned, then come out later and claim that he had failed but survived by sheer luck.
Under everyone’s gaze, Dmitry opened the space gate that had been sealed for decades and stepped inside.
The next second, his whole body froze.
“What is going on?”
Reflected in his shocked eyes was a chaotic scene, as if a raging storm had swept through.
Dmitry was horrified to discover that most of the relics originally stored in the subspace had vanished.
“Who was it?”
Dmitry was completely dumbfounded.
To open the seal and enter the subspace, one must carry royal blood.
Could it have been Emperor Odoacre?
But Odoacre had no reason to do such a thing. The relics in the subspace were useless to him.
The other members of the royal family had even less chance. For them, approaching this place was already extremely difficult.
“Call Radiance immediately! Radiance has been monitoring the subspace entrance all along. Analyzing its data might reveal something!”