Chapter 896 - 895: Data Extraction

Chapter 896: Chapter 895: Data Extraction

At the foot of the Angel Giant Tree, within the wooden space merged with the trunk, a golden throne (on a miniature scale) was emitting a faint buzzing sound, surrounded and connected by countless glowing tubes and vine branches. Erin sat there with her eyes closed, seemingly in a deep sleep.

The little thing closed her eyes within a second after climbing up there, her head drooping limply as if a string had snapped—honestly, when she first lowered her head, even Marin was taken aback. The latter initially thought that the device she personally tuned was malfunctioning, but in the next second, she heard a steady snoring sound coming from the throne.

This made the elegant living doll lady’s expression slightly subtle: "...Erin’s sleep quality is really good?"

"Yeah, she usually falls asleep instantly," Yu Sheng nodded, then promptly asked, "Is this connection status normal now? Is she supposed to be asleep?"

"...Theoretically, the data reading process can indeed accumulate mental fatigue, causing the user to feel drowsy, but to fall asleep so swiftly, this is the first time I’ve seen it..." Marin said as she stepped forward to check the situation of the ’Golden Throne,’ nodded, "Rest assured, there’s no problem, the system status is all normal, and the reading logs have started generating now."

Yu Sheng nodded slightly, and just then, a faint sound of wind suddenly came from nearby. He looked up and saw that the vines hanging like drapes were swaying, and a large area of colorful paper scraps was blown onto the ground by the wind.

Lucrecia’s figure condensed from the paper scraps.

"I’m here to check on Erin," Miss Witch casually said, "And also to confirm the status of the calibrator."

Yu Sheng nodded to her, and Lucrecia immediately noticed the black-dressed doll lady standing aside.

"Are you Marin?"

"Ah, yes...yes! My name is Marin," Marin nodded hastily, her usually graceful and composed demeanor seemed nervous and flustered upon seeing Lucrecia, "I’m a member of the diplomatic sequence of the ’Alice Puppets,’ born three hundred and thirty-five standard Terran years ago, specializing in intelligence gathering, negotiation, and hand-painting chess pieces. Pleased to meet you, Lady Lucrecia..."

"Relax, I’m just here to help Uncle Yu," Lucrecia laughed, then turned to Yu Sheng to explain, "Back in the day, I was slightly involved in the early mass-production Alice Puppets’ mind tuning, so they tend to get a bit nervous when they see me, perhaps it’s embedded in their base code?"

Yu Sheng touched his chin with slight nostalgia, "Actually, if others don’t remind me, I always forget you’re an ’Ancient Saint’..."

"I don’t really like this term, it always makes me seem old," Lucrecia muttered, "Whereas Shirley and Nina are quite proud..."

Yu Sheng had already stepped to the small ’Puppet Throne,’ looking at Erin, who sat on it with her head drooping aside, sleeping soundly and crooked. He couldn’t help but feel a bit nostalgic: "...It’s pretty quiet now, I wonder what she can see in her dreams."

...

Erin felt she had been dreaming for a very, very long time. She didn’t know how long this dream had already lasted, only that it was continuing and seemed to keep continuing.

Who am I? Why am I here? What do I have to do? What happens next?

The puppet’s head was groggy, unable to figure out many things, so she stopped trying to think.

She lay in a very large palace, through the palace windows, she could see very tall mountains outside—the palace itself seemed to be on a high mountain, close to the sky and far from the mortal world.

Her body is now large, so much so that lying down seemed to occupy a third of the hall, and if she stretched out her limbs, her forelegs could even extend out the gate.

Long legs, nice.

A simple and happy thought surfaced in Erin’s mind. She remembered her body was actually small, but now this large body was quite nice too.

Some unnoticeable little people walked in. They wore colorful clothes, lined up and passed through the palace gates, just like a group of colorful little mice.

There was also a little person in a robe standing in the palace, seemingly a director—he was arranging those little ones in colorful clothes to line up in middle of the palace.

Erin curiously lowered her head, watching those little creatures gathering in front of her limbs.

They formed a circle, then a square.

They were dancing around, some instruments started playing nearby, bustling and lively.

The little people were talking to her, Erin listened carefully but found she couldn’t quite understand, yet she still happily nodded, responding to each sound she heard.

Then, the "director little person" in robes waved his hand.

The dancing little people cheerfully walked away, and more new little people came in, bringing her things to eat.

Lots of sweet cakes.

Erin was a bit confused, she remembered she seemed unable to eat, as the structure below her throat was solid.

But she still carefully pinched a piece of dessert with her fingertips, put it into her mouth, chewed, and swallowed.

Oh, right, eating felt like this—it had been long, she’d forgotten.

Erin gently raised her head, looking through the palace window at the sky outside, recollecting her own matters little by little.

Time flowed very slowly, and it seemed she could stay in this place forever, watching small people dance, eating sweets brought by them.

And listening to them speak.

"Alright..."

Erin laughed happily, squinting her eyes slightly, as a day passed under the sunshine.

Then another day, and many more days.

...

"The reading process is stuck?!" Yu Sheng sharply turned to Marin standing in front of the reading device, "What’s going on?"

"Hold on, identifying the cause." Marin held a data terminal, operating swiftly while speaking.

Beside her, the spring-loaded maid Maris leaned against the ’throne,’ sitting on the ground. A data cable directly connected to the back of her neck, assisting in processing the massive output from the throne.

As time passed, Marin’s brows furrowed deeper: "Can’t find the cause now... All systems are working fine, logs are continuously outputting normally, but the most crucial data block returns an empty loop... Maris has connected, but she’s blocked outside the most significant core data."

Yu Sheng’s brows furrowed deeply, he subconsciously turned around, looking at Erin sitting on the ’throne.’

The tiny puppet was still quietly sitting on that somewhat exaggerated golden chair, head tilted to one side, sleeping sprawled, even seeming to have a smile at the corner of her mouth.

She is having a very good dream.

In the dream, it seems like a long time has passed.

The dancing little person went out, Erin lowered her head, looking at her forelimbs beside her.

A little person wearing a robe stood there.

He seems to be the "commander" of all the little people, directing them to come in and dance, to come in and serve desserts, to come in and sing and play instruments, and sometimes doing other more complex, seemingly meaningless things.

The little people come and go, batch after batch, only this robed one never changes, he stands in the hall as if... the center of everything.

Erin thought for a moment.

"You’re called Kongdaman, right?"

She suddenly asked.

The robed little person finally moved slightly, that dark and tattered hood finally lifted after so long, revealing a dry and aged face, eyes wrapped in ragged bandages, staring at Erin.

"Yes, my Lord."

Erin curiously observed him.

"You are the blind prophet... how exactly did you become blind?"

"Observed the apocalypse with you, my Lord," the blind old man calmly replied, "but even though I lost my eyes, since that day, I can see even farther."

"Oh, I don’t remember that part," Erin scratched her head and continued to ask curiously, "Are you real now? Are you really here?"

"...The me here is just a part of your memory," the blind old man replied honestly, in front of his goddess, he seems incapable of lying, regardless of whether he truly exists, whether this palace will collapse due to his honesty, "I am not here, have not been for a very long time."

The entire palace seemed to shake, the mountains outside trembled, the blue sky turned into a crude sketch canvas, a corner of the sky hung down, revealing the chaotic darkness behind it.

Erin merely stretched languidly, eight long limbs moving around her.

"I’m going to leave now."

She said with a smile.

The blind old man lifted his head, as if still gazing through the ragged bandages wrapped around his eyes.

"...Have you been awake this whole time?"

"Yes," Erin nodded, "I’m very aware in my dreams, and very good at observing other’s dream realms."

"Then why..."

"This dream is very happy," Erin smiled gently, a rarely seen expression on her face, "even if it’s fake, it’s still happy."

She raised her head, the temple’s roof had become nearly transparent, distant mountains turned into melting colors, the sky sagged like a crumpled canvas, like a film studio removing the scenery, revealing the dark stage beyond the curtains.

"I almost forgot, when storing those data back then, such wonderful things were left behind... It’s a pity, the omen is just a corpse, not an ark, leaving only a little."

The figure of the blind prophet Kongdaman still stood quietly in the hall, as part of the thin memory, his figure was gradually fading along with the palace.

Not sure how long passed, the nearly vanished old man suddenly spoke again.

"Lord, are you living well now?"

"Very well," the immense Spider Goddess rose from the palace, moving her long limbs, strolling forward, past the old man, "every day is very interesting."

"That’s good."

"Goodbye, old man, when we meet again in the real world someday, I’ll have Yu Sheng treat you to a meal～"

No response came from behind, the mountains and palace together turned into rapidly dissipating shadows.

Erin walked briskly on the edge of this contracting world.

Threads of black silk emerged around, interweaving in every place she passed.

This was the dream the Tree Angel once had.

This was the data collected by the Heka Star.

This was the record left by the Beauty God.

They were all "Sea of Annihilation" in the eyes of the Dark Angels...

The "world" collapsed into a sphere with a chaotic surface, a coarse oil painting-like sky fell to the ground, the mountains and rivers turned into an abstract two-dimensional picture, then even these two-dimensional images disappeared, leaving only pure data structures, wrapped layer by layer in pitch-black spider silk.

The Spider Goddess walked in circles around this small "planet," again and again... until the entire world became a cocoon.

In the space of Dark Chaos, only the solitary Spider Goddess remained, holding a calibration data cocoon in her arms.

Then roots and vines appeared out of thin air in the darkness, radiating gentle light, extending towards Erin.

Erin happily raised the cocoon in her embrace, shaking it vigorously in front of those roots and vines.

"Here you go, old tree, data packet—I’ve packed it all up!"

A slow voice echoed, "You scared us to death... just after connecting online, you slept soundly..."

Erin thought for a moment, then grinned wide, "Hehe～"