Chapter 450 385: Nuwa Awakens! The Essence of Pollution

The scene fell dead silent, the expressions on everyone's faces a mixture of shock and disbelief. It was true... *That one* had been awakened. And despite the state of the world, she hadn't chosen to ignore it like Da Che... She'd actually acknowledged him and performed a miracle?!

Something like this...

Then, the man who had been about to smash his head against the altar dropped to his knees with a thud and began to wail.

"Why! Why!!!"

"What did Daqian... do wrong! Great Goddess Nuwa, oh, Great Goddess!"

Even though Nuwa had made repeated announcements via phone before, many had still clung to a sliver of hope. Some even maliciously speculated: could it be someone backed by a Cult, using some sort of sinister technique? Had they corrupted the Ancient Relics...?

After all, "Heaven" descending to conquer the world was something that had never happened in all of history.

Compared to that, the idea of corrupting Ancient Relics, no matter how difficult, was ultimately easier to accept.

But now... denial was no longer an option, no matter how much they wanted it.

The Grand Ancestral Temple was the most Holy place in the land! This could only prove that this was truly her will...

...

「In the wastelands outside Changshan City.」

The former Heavenly Monarch, having finally found a place to settle, stared at his phone with a dark expression, his fists slowly clenching.

When he saw his rival perform the enthronement ceremony so quickly, he'd assumed his opponent felt the situation was unstable and had lost their composure, and he had been secretly delighted. After all, the worse his enemy's position, the better it was for him. But reality does not bend to one's will. It is simply cold and cruel...

"Damn it! Damn it... The Cult... you've ruined me... You damned bunch of Cult scum..."

Su Po was beside himself with anguish. He had recognized Chu Bamboo... He was now beginning to vaguely understand just why things had turned out this way.

'At this moment, he felt like laughing from sheer anger. To be more precise, he wanted to cry at his own stupidity! Why did I have to be so reckless back then? Why couldn't I control my own damn hand?'

'If heaven gave me another chance, I'd definitely have run the experiment in Guangdong and Guangxi! I refuse to believe there's another monster like that there...'

Su Buqun silently roasted the wild rabbit he had hunted.

...

Chu Bamboo looked around with great interest, taking in the rows of sophisticated machinery—

electromagnetic cannons that, though damaged, still exuded a sense of mechanical power... a nanobot generator that could rapidly repair and produce a mercury-like substance... a combat mech over twenty meters tall...

"...This is my first time here!" Chu Bamboo was filled with emotion. He never thought it would go so smoothly. 'I'd already resigned myself to using up all my attempts this time,' he thought. 'As long as I could successfully awaken Nuwa, it would be a victory.'

After all, in the past, he couldn't even get past the outer perimeter of the Grand Ancestral Temple!

But this time... he had actually landed right inside the courtyard of the Grand Ancestral Temple!

'He even began to wonder if, in the past, it had been the hidden masters of the Grand Ancestral Temple who had stopped him, or if Nuwa herself had detected a problem and struck him down...'

Still, it made sense.

The livestream would have forced the hands of any hidden masters, and as for Nuwa... the enthronement ceremony was perfectly legitimate. Why would she intervene?

"So!" Chu Bamboo finally stopped. He sized up the enormous ball of light in front of him. 'His first thought was of the Main God's Big Light Ball from Infinite Space.' He gathered his thoughts but ultimately only managed to say, "Are you awake?"

The ball of light rapidly contracted at this moment.

It gradually condensed into an immense figure. The figure was half-corporeal, half-ethereal, and even seemed to distort from time to time as she quietly stared at Chu Bamboo.

Countless streams of information from her various sealed-off nodes were reconnected at this moment, flowing into her consciousness.

She understood what had happened.

A thousand words turned into a single, soft sigh.

"You shouldn't have come... *BZZT*... I understand your situation! But I already gave you... *that*. Why must you be so stubborn? Why did you have to awaken me again? So," Nuwa's voice turned cold. "Ask your questions."

A thousand thoughts surged through Chu Bamboo's mind. He glanced at Nuwa in confusion, feeling that something wasn't quite right. He opened his mouth to speak several times but ultimately suppressed his emotions and asked, "Why shouldn't I have awakened you...?"

"?" Nuwa raised an eyebrow. Her face, a perfect copy of Lin Xin Bamboo's, curled into a smile, but it was an ominous one. At the same moment, her pupils slowly turned pitch-black. "What do you think...?"

A blinding black light suddenly swept towards Chu Bamboo.

Chu Bamboo's pupils contracted sharply... Then, just as the black light was inches from him, it stopped dead.

"..." Chu Bamboo's throat went completely dry. "Pollution?"

'So that's why... Nuwa's slumber wasn't because she was seriously injured or anything like that. It was because of pollution.'

'Every time she's awakened, her condition probably gets worse—'

"That's right." The black light retracted. Nuwa's mouth twitched. On her face, identical to Lin Xin Bamboo's, one half was as calm as still water, her pupil normal... but on the other, her entire eye had turned completely black, and her lips were twisted into a bizarre smile.

A god and a demon in a single thought.

"But... even a Divine Being can't escape the pollution?" Chu Bamboo stared straight at Nuwa, his brow furrowing deeper. "What about God? Can't he do anything either?!"

"What do you think... the pollution is?" Nuwa answered with a question.

"...A Curse, imposed by some higher-dimensional civilization, or a higher-dimensional life form?" Chu Bamboo asked tentatively, thinking aloud. "To block the progress of Earth's civilization? Wait a minute..."

Chu Bamboo suddenly realized something was wrong.

"It seems you've figured it out..." Nuwa said noncommittally. "If there really was such an incredibly powerful civilization... they could wipe out Earth completely."

"They could just act and wipe everything out with ease... Why would they bother leaving any hope for civilization to continue?"

"I always thought they were wary of ancient powerhouses who might still be alive... So, it looks like there's more to it?" Chu Bamboo's expression grew grim. "You must know... the story Lin Xin Bamboo told me! What is the Angel Civilization... and the pollution... Tell me everything you can."

Nuwa gave Chu Bamboo a deep look. "In essence, the pollution *is* Extraordinary Power."

"?" Chu Bamboo's expression froze.

"What do you think... is the biggest problem with beings who are polluted?!"

"...Madness?"

"Then why do they go mad?"

"?? Shouldn't I be the one asking you that...?"

"Heh," Nuwa chuckled, her voice laced with a complex tone. "It is because humans possess emotions."

Chu Bamboo was stunned. For some reason, his mind drifted to the cold and emotionless Zhang Hai after his Angelic Transformation. "...So, you're saying that if humans had no emotions, they wouldn't be polluted?"

"Not humans!" Nuwa shook her head, emphasizing again, "It's not just humans!"

"And, it's not that they won't be polluted... the pollution is Extraordinary Power..."

"What I mean is... without emotions, by treading the path of the Extraordinary and constantly getting stronger, one won't go mad!"