The overlord of the gods is interrogating the alien female spy.

　"OK!"

　The unicorn's strong, powerful tail suddenly wrapped around her, and with a lift, she was already clinging to its back.

　"Hold on tight. If you fall, I won't be there to help you."

　"It's okay, it's okay... I'm holding on tight!"

　The Qilin was now naked, only covered in smooth scales. Shu had intended to hold onto its shoulders with his fingers, but the scales were so smooth from the heavy rain that Shu had no choice but to tightly grip the Qilin's large horn with both hands as it took a step.

　Where should we start next?

　Is it the muddy riverbank, or...?

　While Shu was pondering, Chen Lingxu had already taken a step and walked across the water.

　The river, swollen by heavy rain and with its turbulent currents, flowed as smoothly as he walked on flat ground; the waves barely washed away the scales on his legs.

　"Keep an eye on the river."

　Seemingly sensing the approach of the millet, the collapsed bodies that had been drifting with the current beneath the great river gradually rose to the surface, driven by some kind of 'desire'.

　For a moment, the dark river was filled with stars, as if it were the real 'sky'.

　"Little Ruins, there are too many spirits and monsters here."

　Shu felt she should step in. Qilin was focused on traveling and had to carry her, so how could he have time to help?

　"Hmph. A bunch of trash who should have turned into river mud long ago, they can't get in my way. But you, hold on tight, if you fall in, I won't be pulling you out."

　"Don't worry, nothing will happen."

　As soon as he finished responding to him, Shu saw the river water surging and exploding around the Qilin. These collapsed bodies, along with the fish and shrimp in the river, were all crushed into countless clumps of mud by an invisible giant hand.

　"Wow, Xiaoxu, that's amazing! You did a fantastic job."

　With one hand free, Shu ruffled the thick, black hair of the Qilin beneath him.

　"Hmph, this is nothing."

　He had to control the intensity to make it seem like he was putting in a lot of 'effort'.

　"Hmm... I smell it. That smell..."

　In the blink of an eye, he had carried millet for a hundred miles along the river and had long since passed through the torrential rain.

　But the sun overhead was still obscured by dark clouds, and there was more cold wind and ice shards all around. It seemed that the appearance of that thing had changed the weather of Terra.

　"I saw it."

　The source of a great river may be just a small muddy swamp, but in any case, it should have living water flowing out, not living water rushing in.

　This is clearly the 'source' of the great river, not its estuary. Moreover, the river water has been flowing downstream all along the way, but here, when Chen Lingxu arrived here, the river water began to flow backward.

　Looking back, the river continues to flow downstream as always. Looking down, the river beneath my feet, both in its dynamic movement and in the feedback from physical contact, indicates that it is indeed flowing against the current.

　"Little Ruins. There..."

　Looking at the depression that was being swallowed by the river, Shu's face showed doubt and panic. She felt that what she should do now was to turn back immediately, seal off the area, and find the Heavenly Masters of Yan Kingdom to deal with it.

　That's what she should do.

　Do you think I'm afraid of it?

　"No, Xiaoxu, this isn't about being afraid. We should be careful and cautious."

　Shu had seen many collapsed entities corrupted by demons, but whether it was those collapsed entities or the demonic fragments they left behind after their deaths, they could easily corrupt people. The big child carrying her was still young; perhaps he had great talent and would achieve great things in the future, but right now, he was still... too young.

　"Why do you always hesitate when you should be decisive, Shu?"

　The Qilin's words struck her like a thunderclap, nearly knocking her off its back into the river.

　The same thing happened last time. Because of her hesitation and indecision, that person was determined to cross the river, but ultimately suffered greatly from the pollution, returning only as a corpse controlled by instinct.

　Will she refuse again this time?

　"Okay, let's...go and defeat it!"

　"That's more satisfying! I now have..."

　I like you even more now!

　Her answer made the Qilin laugh out loud, then it leaped up and plunged into what appeared to be mud, but which it actually landed in, and found itself in the source of a great river in another space.

　"Gululu..."

　Just a moment ago she was on his back... but suddenly everything went black and her body fell into the water.

　"Shu, what do you think people will call us in the future?"

　A beam of light fell onto the water's surface—was it sunlight or firelight?

　Her memories surged like the flowing water around her.

　That rainy night, the young girl sat by the candlelight and asked her questions. They were about the same age then. She would tell Shu about the Great Wilderness, and Shu would tell her about other places. She would always imagine what other places were like when Shu told stories. She wanted to leave the Great Wilderness and travel to other places all her life.

　"Perhaps no one will remember you."

　Back then, she was still quite mischievous and always liked to contradict others, and this time was no exception. She thought that this person might cry, and that would be quite amusing.

　“Really? That’s not bad either. But I still feel a bit unsatisfied… I don’t ask for too much. I just hope that in the future, when people have enough to eat, they can think, ‘Wow, who grew this delicious food?’ And then others can tell them, ‘This food was grown by the people of the Great Wilderness.’ That would be enough.”

　Her answer bored Shu. She always harbored unrealistic dreams.

　"Shu. I've made up my mind. I want to look again; maybe I'll find something better... uh, what's that called? Variety?"

　"Yes. But you're already so old, you might die on the road."

　"That's alright... If I die, I die. If I can't find them before I die, I'll just feel regret... Shu, do you want to come with me? If I die, can you help me bring those seeds back? Or tell everyone that I died there?"

　"..."

　"You don't want to go... then I'll leave the fields to you."

　Decades pass in the blink of an eye. Centuries pass in the blink of an eye.

　A thousand years have passed, yet it feels like just yesterday.

　"Shu, will you come with me this time?"

　She heard the question again.

　"...Yes. I will go with you."

　She reached out her hand towards the water, but couldn't reach it. Her body became incredibly heavy, and she kept falling towards the dark riverbed.

　"Really. I already told you to hold on tight. It would be such a hassle to pull you out after you fall."

　A hand pierced the water's surface, firmly grasped and squeezed her hand, and then easily pulled her out of the water.

　"Phew... Little Ruins!"

　Water droplets slid down her face, and Shu finally saw the person in front of her clearly.

　The terrifying appearance of the Qilin revealed in the sunlight dissipated, leaving only its majestic and awe-inspiring form.

　"You've been nagging me in my ear the whole time, saying things like 'next time for sure,' it's so annoying."

　"I'm sorry... I didn't mean to let go just now."

　"Hmph. Follow me. That thing is just ahead."

　Shu stood up and looked around.

　She was standing on a shallow riverbank, but just moments before she had been deep in the river, and now she was only standing on mud and sand and the rushing water.

　"This person has good taste. They even have the leisure to tend to a flower garden."

　But with one step forward, the world in Shu's eyes changed instantly.

　The world before her was a magnificent flower field. Countless flowers were planted here, but none of them had any roots; the rootless flowers simply floated in the air.

　This is indeed, as Chen Lingxu said, a flower field painstakingly cultivated by a person with a refined taste. If it could be considered a person at all.

　Shu didn't know where the other party was, but the Qilin in front of her had already looked up at the sky, so she also looked up.

　The night sky should be filled with countless stars, but now there is only one 'star', a star filled with a dazzling array of colors in its pitch-black hue. This star itself is like an eye, watching over the stranger who has intruded into its garden.

　A stranger?

　Does it think?

　No one knows the answer, but it does think, even if that thinking is an instinct as chaotic as chaos.

　It recognized both of them.

　A clod of earth bearing it is like a seed; if buried here, it may grow into a beautiful, heavy stalk of wheat.

　Another one... it seems like I saw it a long, long time ago.

　But it wasn't like this back then.

　Could it be one of my 'companions'? When did they enter the material world? Are they here to vie for ownership of this star, this seed of civilization?

　Its thoughts influenced the flowerbed, and countless rootless flowers floated into the air, like upside-down shooting stars falling to the ground.

　"Let's go."

　"understood!"

　Suddenly, a sound interrupted its thoughts.

　Its flowerbeds vanished into nothingness in the blink of an eye.

　Drawn by gravity, the flowers kept falling into the source of that thing.

　It's a black hole spirit!

　It let out a scream and cry like a fart that had been stepped on.

　But its voice can only be heard by the sentient black hole that is destroying its flower field.

　"It's so noisy and incessant."

　"You heartless scoundrel, get down here!"

　What should she do?

　Looking up at the starry sky, Shu suddenly felt a little lost.

　She was prepared to give it her all, but in the battle before her, her full strength was like a floating duckweed on the water, barely enough to protect herself.

　"..."

　She should do something.

　Shu thought to herself. If she did nothing, how would she face the child later?

　Suddenly, Shu's pocket felt heavier. She snapped out of her daze, slipped her fingertips into the pocket, and pulled out a handful of seeds.

　"This is……"

　Millet, rice, beans... countless seeds kept emerging from her pockets.

　"...Are you here too?"

　Suddenly, Shu thought of something and turned to look at the river.

　Unbeknownst to her, the path she had walked on was now covered with green millet seedlings.

　"I understand what you mean."

　She smiled and tossed the seeds in her hand. The seeds fell to the ground and quickly took root and sprouted, patch after patch of green gradually filling the space. As she moved, the riverbank's flow changed into fine rain, and the seeds continued to grow and mature. Gold and green, maturity and immaturity, death and rebirth constantly played out here.

　For the first time, the millet's power erupted in full force. The 'nothingness' that remained here was gradually replaced by the 'somethingness' that grew.

　It saw it all, and was frantic with worry, but it couldn't stay still for even a moment. Even in the universe, in the subspace, they wouldn't be foolish enough to go against a black hole. Black holes devour all matter in the universe, and the subspace is no exception. After all, in the face of a black hole's gravity, space and time are meaningless.

　If it stops, the black hole behind it, which appears as a pitch-black, cold sun in the subspace, will devour it like a preserved egg.

　Why must we target it?

　It's just a lowly gardener, its job is simply to keep watch. That reed and that piece of amber—they've already caused so much damage on this star, why did it choose to go here instead of looking for them?

　"Run! Run! If I catch you, hmph!"

　The threat of the black hole spirit was right behind it, forcing its thinking to a standstill. It had to work harder to avoid becoming a cold, preserved egg in the black hole's bowl.

　They are all trying their best to live.