115: Chapter 115 New Sprouts Under the Moon

The moonlight was like water, gently flowing over the silent wasteland of the New Era.

This place was once Guixu, the most tragic core of the final decisive battle.

Now, under the almost indifferent purification of the "new heavenly dao's" great power, the distortion and madness left by the Evil God have been completely smoothed over. All that remains is overturned scorched earth and scattered fragments of magic treasures that have lost all spirituality, like giant skeletons silently telling the price of that war.

Skillful Hands Mending stood upon this scorched earth.

She didn't stay in the warm and comfortable council-assigned residence in Newborn City; instead, she chose this place.

In this place that witnessed the most death, she personally built an orphanage.

The yard wasn't large, built with the simplest spirit wood and surrounded by a low fence.

There were no magnificent formations, only tiny runes she had meticulously carved into the wood to soothe the mind.

The orphanage's name was [Sprout].

The night wind carried the biting freshness unique to Guixu, blowing the strands of hair across her forehead.

Behind her, in the rooms of the courtyard, rows of warm night lights powered by low-grade spirit stones were lit.

Under the lamplight, small figures were breathing peacefully in their sleep.

They were the orphans of war, fragments of the old era, and the seeds of the New Era.

“Have you really decided? Right here?”

A cool and gentle voice came from behind her.

Star Dust, the Chief Curator of the "World History Archives," had arrived at her side at some unknown time.

She always carried an aura of ink scrolls and the precipitation of time.

As a surviving first-generation intelligence-type player, Star Dust was healing the world in her own way—by recording and remembering.

“It's quiet here.” Skillful Hands Mending didn't look back, her gaze still fixed on the distance, on the open space marked as "the place where Demon Sovereign Night Radiance finally dissipated." “And, here... is closest to them.”

Star Dust fell silent.

She knew who “them” referred to.

It was the comrades who had turned into flowing light with smiles during the final charge.

Though their heroic spirits had turned into stars, their remains and their traces would forever stay beneath this land.

“Over at the council, Zhang San and the others are a bit worried,” Star Dust said softly. “Although the ley lines here have been purified, this was the center of the Evil God's descent after all. The 'wound' in the laws is the largest; no one knows if there will be any aftereffects.”

“I know.” Skillful Hands Mending finally turned around. Her face showed a hint of exhaustion, but her eyes were exceptionally firm. “But if even we are afraid of this land, then who will tell these children that the world beneath their feet is safe?”

She paused, her tone becoming even lighter, as if afraid of disturbing something.

“Besides, I always feel... that it hasn't completely died here.”

Star Dust followed her gaze.

In that open space, not a single blade of grass grew.

During the day, it was no different from any other piece of scorched earth around it.

But at this moment, under the bright moonlight, a certain transformation was occurring.

A faint, almost imperceptible soft silver light seeped out from deep within the charred soil.

Star Dust's pupils constricted slightly as her system-enhanced perception instantly focused there.

It wasn't spiritual energy, nor was it any known form of energy.

It was pure and gentle, carrying a strange rhythm of life, as if the moonlight itself had gained life and was breathing upon the earth.

In the center of that silver light, a slender plant never seen before was slowly and firmly breaking through the soil.

It was translucent throughout, as if condensed from moonlight. Its leaves unfurled like tiny, exquisite crescents.

It didn't absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, but only bathed in the moonlight falling from the sky. Every tremble of its leaves seemed to be a silent dialogue with the bright moon above.

“This is...” Star Dust's voice carried a hint of shock.

She stepped forward, cautiously squatting down and reaching out a finger, only to stop an inch away from the small plant, not daring to touch it.

She could feel that this strange plant had no aggressiveness, not even the most basic defensive instinct.

It was like a newborn baby, filled with pure, defenseless goodwill toward this world.

And the place where it took root was exactly the coordinate point in the Archives' records where Demon Sovereign Night Radiance had burned his last soul fragments to block the Evil God's killing blow before completely dissipating.

“This world still owes Yue'er a spring.”

That final word of the nemesis, transmitted through the battlefield recording crystal, boomed in Star Dust's mind.

She snapped her head up to look at Skillful Hands Mending, her eyes full of disbelief.

Skillful Hands Mending nodded to her with a smile, though the corners of her eyes were somewhat moist.

“See, I told you, it hasn't completely died here,” she said softly. “Some things can't be erased even by the Evil God or the Heavenly Dao. It's called... obsession.”

Or perhaps, it's called love.

The two stood quietly, guarding this miracle of hope quietly born on the breeding ground of despair and death.

Just then, the sound of rolling wheels approached from afar, breaking the silence of the wasteland.

A large cargo carriage drawn by two "Wind-Riding Beasts" and bearing the emblem of the Guardian Council stopped at the entrance of the [Sprout] orphanage.

A second-generation player with a weather-beaten face jumped down from the carriage, still carrying the dust from his patrol mission.

Seeing Skillful Hands Mending and Star Dust, he hurriedly gave a military salute.

“Lord Mending, Lord Star Dust,” he said respectfully. “This is the last batch of... children rescued from the edge of the 'Fallen Zone.' Seven in total, all have been checked; there's no risk of Evil God contamination.”

“Thank you for your hard work.” Skillful Hands Mending walked forward quickly and skillfully opened the rear door of the carriage.

A scent mixed with milk and dust wafted out.

A few older children were huddled in a corner covered with soft hay, looking at the outside world with terrified and numb eyes.

And in the innermost part of the carriage, there were several swaddling clothes wrapped in thick fabric.

Her heart was gently stung.

“Bring them in, the rooms are already prepared.” Her voice became increasingly gentle, as if afraid of scaring these frightened little creatures.

Star Dust also stepped forward to help, taking a sleeping boy into her arms.

The child was very thin; one could feel the bony frame through the fabric. But he slept very deeply, as if only in dreams could he forget the horrors of reality.

Skillful Hands Mending was the last to carry a swaddled bundle out of the carriage.

The infant in this bundle was the smallest of all the children and also the quietest.

She didn't cry or fuss, just slept with even and faint breathing.

The moment Skillful Hands Mending took her into her arms, a wonderful, indescribable sense of closeness instantly enveloped her.

It was as if she were holding not a stranger's life, but a long-lost relative.

She froze for a moment and looked down at the infant in her arms.

It was a baby girl with a tiny face and very fair skin. Her long eyelashes were like two small brushes, hanging quietly.

The moonlight passed through the porch, happening to spill onto her small face.

At that moment, Skillful Hands Mending's breathing stopped.

On the baby girl's smooth forehead, right in the center, there was a faint mark that almost blended in with her skin tone.

The shape of that mark...

Was a shallow, perfect... crescent moon.

Skillful Hands Mending stood there dazed, holding the infant, as if struck by an invisible bolt of lightning.

Her gaze subconsciously went past the yard's fence, looking toward that strange little plant stretching its leaves under the moonlight in the distance.

Crescent-shaped leaves.

Crescent-shaped forehead mark.

And... the sigh that echoed between heaven and earth when that man finally dissipated.

All the coincidences at this moment pointed to an answer that couldn't be explained by logic, yet made the soul tremble.

This wasn't the arrangement of the Heavenly Dao.

The new heavenly dao was almost indifferently just; It repaired the world and established rules, but It wouldn't interfere in such delicate karma.

This was... an echo of destiny produced in the cracks of the world's laws, after a hegemon's ultimate obsession with protection resonated with the world's most primal "vitality."

Night Radiance failed to save his Yueji.

But this world, which he risked his life to protect, finally gave his beloved "Yue'er" a brand new spring where she could bathe in the peaceful moonlight, in the most gentle and merciful way.

“What... is her name?” Star Dust had walked over at some point, her voice carrying a trace of imperceptible trembling.

Skillful Hands Mending snapped back from the immense shock. She lowered her head and gently touched the infant's warm cheek with her finger.

The baby girl in her arms seemed to feel this warmth; her little mouth smacked a bit, and she slept even more sweetly.

A heavy sense of responsibility never felt before, along with indescribable joy, filled Skillful Hands Mending's heart.

It diluted the exhaustion of the past days and the sorrow of losing comrades, making her heart, which had become hard and numb during the war, soft once again.

She looked up at the bright moon in the sky, then at the "Sprout" breaking through the soil in the distance.

She smiled. It was her first heartfelt smile without any shadows since the start of the New Era.

“Her name is...”

“Yue Ya'er.”