553: Chapter 488: The Sect's Demise, Hidden Dangers Completely Eliminated

Ten days after the rewriting of the Guixu program was completed, Iron Face brought an encrypted report from the Inspectorate to find Lin Zhou.

The report was not long, only three pages, but every page was marked with the highest security clearance level.

When Lin Zhou opened the first page, his brows furrowed slightly—after the last stronghold was breached, a forgotten warehouse had been discovered during the interrogation of prisoners.

The warehouse was located in an abandoned Star Domain at the edge of the Old Universe; it was small in scale but contained a batch of unused guixu energy cores and a large amount of research data.

The content of the data consisted of notes and experimental data left behind by the last leader of the Void Sect, covering early design schemes for the Gate of Guixu, prototype blueprints for guixu energy weapons, and the last twelve secret contact points established by the Void Sect in the New Universe.

Iron Face stood before the desk, his voice steady and calm.

"The last leader of the Void Sect is that person whose name we have never known."

"He left behind a batch of backup files before his stronghold in the Withered Star Realm was destroyed."

"The files had an extremely high encryption level, using the Void Sect's internal seven-layer encryption protocol."

"Li Mo is currently analyzing them; he has already cracked four layers, and the remaining three are being processed in parallel."

"About ten days ago, when analyzing the last three layers, it was discovered that a layer of self-destruct logic was nested within them."

"If forcefully cracked, the content would be automatically deleted."

"Li Mo spent an extra three days dealing with this layer of protection, and now he has obtained the complete directory list."

Lin Zhou's gaze fell upon that list.

The twelve contact points were distributed across ten war zones; the smallest had two believers, and the largest had over a dozen.

There was also an early prototype blueprint for a guixu energy weapon—designed during the Early Stage of the Void Sect's founding, it was more primitive than the versions they used later, but the core technical logic was consistent.

"Are there still people in the contact points?"

"They are all empty. The people are either dead, have run away, or have been captured by us. But there is still residual guixu energy in those places; if we don't clean it up, it will sooner or later attract new believers."

Lin Zhou closed the report. "Then clean them up. Purify all the residual guixu energy in every contact point. Send all original documents to the Iron Wall Fortress to be filed uniformly by Li Mo."

Iron Face acknowledged this and turned to leave.

Lin Zhou walked alone toward the Wall of Heroes.

He stood by the wall, looking at the inscription engraved with Vera's name, then glanced at the still-empty inscription space beside it.

That position was reserved for the last leader of the Void Sect, but he still did not know what he was called.

He did not even know what he looked like—none of the prisoners had ever seen his true face.

He had only left a string of codenames in the encrypted files, among which the one that appeared most frequently was "Stargazer."

Lin Zhou stood before the wall for a moment, reaching out to press his fingertips gently against the wall's surface.

The word "Stargazer" flickered within the Fire of Civilization for an instant and then vanished.

This name was not engraved on the wall, nor did he intend to engrave it.

The only things about the Void Sect that needed to be remembered were their mistakes and lessons, not themselves.

The cleanup of those contact points lasted for a month.

Li Mo's team went from one war zone to another, using the Fire of Civilization to purify the residual guixu energy one by one.

Those marked locations no longer had any traces of guixu energy from then on.

The Void Sect's archives were organized into three volumes and stored in the library of the Temple of Civilization—not as a Legacy, but as a warning.

A month later, Iron Face submitted the final report.

"All contact points have been cleaned up, and it is confirmed that there is no residual guixu energy."

"There are no longer any traces of organized activity from the Void Sect; the remaining believers have either abandoned their faith on their own or have been assimilated by the Fire of Civilization."

"Clearance confirmed."

Lin Zhou looked at the report and was silent for a moment.

"Iron Face, do you think the Void Sect is truly gone for good?"

Iron Face thought for a while.

"As an organization, it is certainly gone. As a concept, no.

As long as there are people who fear death and fear the void, the ideology of the Void Sect will be Rebirth in another form.

But next time it appears, there will no longer be guixu energy cores, nor will there be a Gate of Guixu.

It will only be the whispers of some people's fears."

Lin Zhou nodded. "That is enough."

He walked down from the Wall of Heroes, passed through the archway at the base of the city wall, and walked into the inner city of the Iron Wall Fortress.

The plaque reading "Civilization Eternal" above the city gate shone slightly in the midday light, and the newly planted slender-leaved trees on both sides of the gate pillars were stirred by the wind, their leaves billowing with a silvery-white luster—that was the mark left by the Moonlight Elves.

Lin Zhou walked along the streets of the inner city.

The buildings on both sides of the street were being repaired, and the Firewood Sword on the city wall was still slowly rotating.

From the distance came the shouts from the training grounds, and the sound of chanting from Jixia Academy passed through the courtyard, dragging out long echoes across the stone-paved ground.

He stopped at the corner of the city wall and looked back for a while.

The Iron Wall Fortress was transforming from a wartime fortress into an ordinary city.

Five hundred years. He should still be able to see the next eruption of the Guixu with his own eyes.

But the New Universe no longer needed him to protect it alone.

He turned past the city wall and walked down the stone steps.

On the plaza at the end of the stone steps, the tree where the Moonlight Elves resided was still growing.

It was on the east side of the Wall of Heroes, and its canopy had grown from the initial few tender leaves into a shade thick enough for an adult to wrap their arms around.

Su Yueyao was sitting under the tree, and the Moonlight Elves were fluttering around her.

She looked up, saw Lin Zhou, and smiled slightly.

Lin Zhou did not walk over, just stood on the stone steps looking back at her.

That tree was still growing.

Five hundred years later, what it would grow into, he did not know either.

But that tree would watch over this place for him, and would remember what had once happened here.

The Fire of Civilization would never be extinguished again.