Chapter 360 - 357: A Ray of Sunshine

Chapter 360: Chapter 357: A Ray of Sunshine

The young man left.

He was just a passing traveler to this island.

Si Yang sat quietly by the sea, like a wizened old man in his twilight years, watching the boat drift farther and farther away until it vanished from sight.

The sea gently lapped at the shore, its waves washing over the white sand before slowly receding. Sunlight danced on the sparkling water, and the SPLASHING of the waves was soothing to the soul.

The sunlight was especially beautiful today, but Si Yang’s thoughts drifted far away. Disordered ideas flooded its already unquiet mind.

The Hell Beasts weren’t some world-ending catastrophe.

’Isn’t this a good thing? I can go home,’ Si Yang asked itself.

It didn’t need to bear any responsibility. It wouldn’t matter even if the Hell Beasts escaped; they would just eat and drink a little here and there, posing no real threat.

And this pure white island had nothing worth protecting.

Its comrades were gone, the Guardians were gone, and it was all alone. The island had no buildings, no beautiful scenery—only a vast, empty expanse of white and the boundless sea before it.

Si Yang suddenly felt so tired. It looked up at the sky and lay down, its mycelium spreading evenly across the pure white land.

Sunlight spilled down, bathing it in warmth.

Si Yang allowed itself a lazy day, lying there for the entire day.

It wasn’t until the next day that it picked itself up from the ground.

Just like always, Si Yang followed its route and patrolled the entire island.

Then, it came to the node of the seal, opened the entrance, and jumped down.

It landed on a black hill. The Hell Beasts had, at some point, built a nest here. Afraid of the color white, they buried themselves in black fragments that looked like charcoal.

Si Yang casually plucked one out from underground.

Looking at the cute, wriggling creature that resembled a lump of coal, Si Yang gave a few wry, bitter laughs.

’So this is what you look like.’

It walked across the black hill, occasionally digging a few Hell Beasts out of the charcoal.

These little guys had low intelligence and were extremely timid. Upon seeing Si Yang, they would even jump out from under the surface in fright, then tumble away in escape, rolling farther and farther down the hill.

At the same time, Si Yang noticed that these little creatures were all exhausted. Many were completely still, as if they had run out of energy.

’They’re probably starving.’

Si Yang stopped, slowly lowered its body, and finally lay down on the black hill.

It gazed at the high, white dome, somewhat lost in thought.

’I’ve never seen the island from this angle before.’

Si Yang suddenly realized this was also the first time it had "lived" in a structure it had built with its own hands.

’Feels pretty good.’

Lying on this hill, it finally felt much more at ease.

Seeing the motionless Si Yang, the coal-lump-like Hell Beasts slowly gathered around.

Si Yang let the Hell Beasts crawl onto its body and congregate near its core mycelium.

Si Yang remained perfectly still, gazing at the white dome.

It seemed to see the slaves who had died on the island, and the Guardians who had departed one by one. It saw the sky filled with dark clouds, and all the races huddled closely together.

The white slowly blurred.

The slaves hadn’t died; they had merely fallen into a gentle slumber with the light of the white stones.

The departed Guardians would all return.

The dark clouds would eventually disperse, and the light of victory would shine across the land...

In this place where white and black met, Si Yang felt an unprecedented peace.

But for some reason, a square-shaped hole appeared in the white dome before it. As Si Yang was still wondering about it, it saw sunlight pass through the opening and shine down on its body.

’So warm...’

...

「Inside the Block.」

The black fragments on the lanyard climbed onto the square piece of the dome, devouring it completely, and the lanyard returned to its original state.

Mo Ling clutched the lanyard in one hand and his chest with the other, panting heavily.

This memory, like the others he had read before, left Mo Ling feeling extremely uncomfortable.

Mo Ling discovered that the memories he accessed seemed completely different from those Jin Lou did. The memories he experienced were "deeper" and more specific.

Perhaps this was the source of the "corrosiveness" Jin Lou had mentioned. After filtering out these corrosive memories, Jin Lou only saw useless fragments and couldn’t obtain accurate information.

Si Yang’s memories were frighteningly oppressive and terrifyingly long. Mo Ling had almost failed to break free from them. Fortunately, the white dome was so distinctive that it reminded Mo Ling of his mission, and he jolted awake.

At the last moment, Mo Ling teleported the only object in front of him, which was what created the square hole in the dome within Si Yang’s memory.

’Good, I’ve retrieved the builder’s memory.’

Now, all he had to do was return this memory to it.

Without hesitation, Mo Ling endured the discomfort in his heart and teleported the lanyard out, sending it into the Machine’s hands.

"You succeeded. You have once again broken the predetermined future."

The Machine said with relief, holding the lanyard.

Then, it stood its ground and raised the lanyard.

"Help me out. Let the sunlight in."

Hearing this, Mo Ling slowly floated up toward the sky.

When the white dome came into view, Mo Ling activated his teleportation. In an instant, a familiar-looking gap appeared in the dome.

At the same time, a ray of sunlight shone down, landing squarely on the lanyard.

Dense mycelium suddenly sprouted from the lanyard, spreading in all directions.

The Machine calmly knelt and placed the lanyard on the ground.

The mycelium wrapped around the charcoal. Soon, the charcoal fragments rapidly gathered together, forming a black stone statue, while the mycelium clung to the back of the statue’s head.

The Giant God in the sky also suddenly crumbled and fell to the ground.

The black stone statue stood stunned for a moment, then raised its head and looked at the ray of sunlight.

"How did it break again..."

Its first words were a helpless sigh.

"You’re Si Yang, right?" the Machine asked, walking up to the statue.

Hearing someone call its name, the statue turned its head and stared blankly for a long time.

Having just recovered its memories, it hadn’t seemed to process everything yet.

"You helped me get my memories back?"

"Yes."

"Thank you," Si Yang said politely.

The Machine nodded and asked, "Do you still want to forget them now?"

Si Yang looked down in thought, then cupped its hand to catch the ray of sunlight.

"I stopped wanting to forget them long ago..."

"I was originally in despair. I felt like all my efforts had come to nothing, that everything was meaningless. But before I fell asleep, I saw a ray of sunlight. The moment that ray shone on me, I regretted my decision."

At this, Si Yang seemed a little embarrassed.

"But those little guys seemed to be starving. They ate so fast that before I could even stand up, they had devoured all my memories..."

As if sensing someone was badmouthing it, the Hell Beast in the cage rolled over, curled up, and rammed itself hard against the bars.

But the impact seemed to knock it out. Its whole body went limp, collapsing into a puddle of goo inside the cage.

The Machine shook its head helplessly, opened the cage, and placed it on the ground.

The Hell Beast did a kip-up, instantly coming back to life. It pushed aside the charcoal, wriggled, and burrowed underground.

"This is the terrifying creature that can destroy the world?"

"Yes..."