552: Chapter 487: Vera's Demise, Her Last Gift of Research Data

Three days after the Gate of Guixu became a monument, a line of inscription appeared on the Wall of Heroes at the Iron Wall Fortress.

It was not carved with a blade, but scorched into existence by the Fire of Civilization. The script seeped out from within the wall, naturally merging with the Marshal's imprints and the patterns of the Hundred Gods, as if it had grown from the wall itself.

The inscription read: "Vera · Researcher of Guixu · Guide of Civilization." Lin Zhou stood before the wall, gazing at the words, and remained silent for a long time.

Su Yueyao walked over, moonlight flowing around her, holding a cup of warm spirit spring water in her hand. She stood beside him for a long while before asking softly, "Has she returned?"

"Not yet." Lin Zhou's voice was somewhat hoarse. "Her consciousness has been sleeping in the river of civilization for three days, never waking. I thought she was just tired. But Li Mo just told me that her consciousness fragments are dissipating—not because they are being destroyed, but because she is voluntarily releasing them."

Moonlight flowed from Su Yueyao's palm toward the wall, seeping into the edges of the inscription. The script grew slightly brighter, but there was no other reaction.

Lin Zhou did not turn around; he reached out and took the cup of water. "She once said, 'Let civilization continue as a spark, not as a specimen.' The last thing she wanted to do was to leave behind her data."

That night, Lin Zhou returned to the Temple of Civilization.

Vera's consciousness fragments floated directly above the river in the Temple, like a maple leaf about to fall. Her form had become extremely faint, almost completely transparent.

Lin Zhou walked to the riverbank, crouched down, and reached his hand into the water. The river rippled in his palm, and from the ripples emerged a dark red speck of light—that was the final, unreleased portion of Vera's consciousness data.

[Vera · Research Data (Final Part)]

- Content: Guixu operational cycle patterns, prediction of the next major eruption

- Data Integrity: 100%

- Core Conclusion: Guixu will not disappear due to program rewriting; its operational Laws are the underlying Law of the Universe. Rewriting the program can only change its "behavioral patterns," not its "existence cycle." In approximately five hundred years, Guixu will face another major eruption.

- Prediction Basis: Historical records of the three major eruptions during the Old Universe era, guixu energy fluctuation data after the establishment of the New Universe, and residual heat signals after the Guixu program was rewritten.

Lin Zhou's pupils contracted slightly. Five hundred years. It was not eternal safety, but a five-hundred-year buffer.

He took the speck of light from the river water and merged it into his palm. Information gushed forth, clear and complete: the eruption cycle of Guixu, the patterns of energy accumulation, the precursor signals three hundred years before an eruption, and a conclusion he had never imagined—the eruption of Guixu was not just a mechanism for the birth of the "New Universe," but also an "archiving" mechanism for the Old Universe.

[Data Analysis · The Essence of Guixu]

- Underlying Logic of Guixu: The Universe's automatic archiving System

- Function: When a civilization reaches its Peak, Guixu compresses and seals all its information, using it as the "initial settings" for the New Universe.

- Cycle: Approximately once every five thousand to ten thousand years

- Prediction for next major eruption: Approximately five hundred years later (margin of error ± 50 years)

Five hundred years. Lin Zhou exhaled. Five hundred years was enough time for the New Universe to prepare.

He raised his head and looked at the phantom floating above the river. Vera's form was now just a faint outline, its edges dissipating. Her eyes were half-closed, but Lin Zhou felt that she was "looking" at him.

"Professor, I have received your data. The next major eruption of Guixu will be in five hundred years. I will be ready."

Vera's phantom lips moved slightly. Her voice was very soft, as if coming from very far away: "Five hundred years... is it enough? ... Back then, I thought I only had three hundred years... but in the end, I still couldn't find a way..."

"You did find a way. Your data allowed me to rewrite the Guixu program. This time, Guixu will no longer harvest civilization, but protect it. The major eruption five hundred years from now will be an archiving, not a devouring."

The corners of Vera's mouth lifted slightly. "Archiving... sounds a bit better than harvesting... Lin Zhou, in my data, there is another part... a manuscript I didn't have time to organize... regarding the resonance frequency between guixu energy and the Fire of Civilization... perhaps it will be useful to you..."

Her phantom became completely transparent, turning into countless tiny specks of light that merged into the river of civilization. The river rippled with cyan-gold rings where she merged. The water level of the river rose from fifteen percent back to sixteen percent, as if it had gained the weight of a drop of water, or perhaps the warmth of a memory.

[Vera · Completely Dissipated]

- Status: Completely merged into the river of civilization at the existential level

- Additional Gift: Manuscript data on the resonance frequency between guixu energy and the Fire of Civilization (approximately thirty pages)

- river of civilization Water Level: 15% → 16%

Lin Zhou stood by the river, silent for a long time. Su Yueyao walked in from outside the Temple; she asked nothing, simply standing beside him and gently placing her hand on his arm. Moonlight pulsed softly within his divinity, quiet and stable.

"She is gone. She left the data for me, and she left herself in the river." Lin Zhou said in a low voice.

"She chose her own resting place."

Lin Zhou nodded. He turned and walked out of the Temple, heading toward the Wall of Heroes. Vera's name was already on the wall. He did not need to add anything else. In the days that followed, Lin Zhou organized the data Vera had left behind one by one and handed them to Li Mo and Wen Yuan to refine the follow-up maintenance plan for the Civilization Principle Defense Line.

After the last stronghold of the Void Sect was destroyed, reports from various war zones indicated no further abnormal fluctuations in guixu energy. The sect had indeed been eradicated, along with their ideology and followers, leaving behind no trace.

The Inspectorate confirmed this, and the report submitted by Iron Face concluded with: "There are no longer any traces of organized activity from the Void Sect; remaining believers have either abandoned their faith or have been assimilated by the Fire of Civilization. Confirmed cleared." Iron Face's report was very brief, but Lin Zhou knew that behind this short sentence lay things that many people had not written down.

Five hundred years from now, Guixu will erupt again. But this time, Guixu will no longer be the terminator of civilization, but its archive. The Fire of Civilization will become the key to archiving. It will let Guixu remember civilization, rather than forget it.