The stronghold was in shambles. Simple tents lay tottering, smoke billowing from the extinguished campfires. The survivors, like frightened birds, their faces a mixture of bewilderment and fear of the unknown future. Most of them bore wounds. Some supported one another, while others silently cleaned the bodies of their comrades. The air was thick with the scent of blood and herbs. Several makeshift medical stations were crammed with the wounded, and stifled moans and sobs could be heard intermittently.
In the heart of the stronghold, inside a makeshift shack constructed from relatively intact metal sheets, a group of people gathered around a swaddling baby. The infant's cry was faint yet clear, like the first ray of sunlight piercing the gloom. But what shocked Xu Shuangyao even more was that, through the crown's perception, she could clearly "see" beneath the baby's delicate skin, faintly emerging veins of emerald green mycelium, like a birthmark! An almost transparent emerald green "umbilical cord" composed of pure energy extended from the baby's tiny belly button. At its other end, it gently connected to a tiny, young root of the World Tree beneath the shack, also emitting an emerald green glow!
A newborn… a natural symbiont! The prototype of a new human! The spark of a new era predicted before the Qingluo dissipated!
At this moment, the door curtain of the shed was suddenly thrown open! A soldier from the Incineration Alliance, covered in blood, with a broken arm and face painted with oil paint, stumbled in, his face filled with extreme fear and awe. He pointed in the direction of Xu Shuangyao outside and shouted at the top of his lungs:
"King... Throne! The throne is over there... Condensed! A new... new king..."
His voice was like a drop of water dropped into a frying pan, instantly igniting the dead silence and despair within the stronghold! Everyone looked in the direction of his finger! Through the cracks in the broken fossil roots, they saw Xu Shuangyao kneeling in the ashes in the distance, and the Crown of the Throne of Thorns hovering above her brow, emitting a shimmering emerald green and dark gold!
Deathly silence. A silence deeper than before. Then, there was an uncontrollable commotion and whispers.
"It's her... Dr. Xu..."
"That crown... is a crown! A crown of thorns!"
"She...she became the new god?"
"The Master of Fungus is dead...but the new throne..."
"That baby...symbiote...is it hope...or..."
Fear, awe, bewilderment, a glimmer of hope... countless complex emotions intertwined in the eyes of the survivors. Like a lone boat lost in a storm, they instinctively needed a lighthouse, yet were filled with an instinctive fear of the unknown "lighthouse" itself.
Xu Shuangyao's hollow gaze swept across every frightened, exhausted face in the stronghold, scanning the crying baby and the emerald umbilical cord connecting it. The crown's will delivered a cold message: Order. Absolute order. With the throne as its core, reshape the rules and eliminate all destabilizing factors, including those remaining network nodes that might be contaminated by the Fungus Master, including... those individual consciousnesses whose fear and suspicion could breed the "logical plague."
A cold yet clear blueprint unfolded in her mind: with the throne at its apex, a new data ecosystem would be constructed, one based on absolute obedience and efficient operation. Survivors would become nodes within the network, contributing data and obeying commands. A symbiotic relationship, like that of a newborn, would be the perfect vehicle for the future network. And Pei Du's crystal image... would become the eternal cornerstone and symbol of the throne, suppressing all resistance.
The blueprint was so clear, so "rational," so full of cold efficiency. It promised an end to chaos and a new beginning. All it took was for her to... take that seat.
Buzz——!!!
As if sensing the "decision" in her mind, the entire battlefield ruins shook violently again! This time, the shaking didn't come from the ground, but from... space itself!
With the Crown of Thorns suspended between Xu Shuangyao's eyebrows as its core, countless rays of light, interwoven with emerald green and dark gold, sprouted madly from the void like living roots! They defied the laws of physics, piercing through the ash and entwining the surrounding massive metal remains of the World Tree, the broken fossilized roots, and even... the remains of the Burning Fungus Alliance warriors and reapers scattered across the battlefield, half-buried in crystallized energy and ash!
A horrifying scene occurred!
Those cold metals, hard fossils, charred remains… illuminated and entwined by the light of the Twin Crowns, seemed to be imbued with eerie life! They began to soften and deform, like wax figures at high temperatures! The metal debris melted and stretched, forming the outline of a massive pedestal covered in thorny reliefs! Broken root fossils twisted and intertwined like living snakes, forming the skeleton of the throne backrest! Even more terrifying, the remains of warriors and reapers, both human and mechanical, twisted and solidified in the light, like forcibly poured bricks and stones, filling the gaps between the pedestal and the backrest! Their postures were eternally frozen in the struggle and pain of death, becoming silent, terrifying reliefs on the throne base, full of the aesthetics of death!
The process was silent and swift! It was like a craftsman from hell carrying out his most insane creation! A gigantic, hideous, physical throne, emitting a shimmering emerald green and dark gold, rose from the ground before Xu Shuangyao at a speed visible to the naked eye!
The throne's base was composed of metal debris and the solidified remains of pain, its surface covered in pulsating, thorn-like energy patterns. The backrest was supported by the fossilized skeleton of the gnarled World Tree's roots, entwined with flowing emerald vines and sharp, dark-gold thorns. Atop the throne was an enlarged projection of the Crown of Thorns, suspended between Xu Shuangyao's eyebrows. It radiated a majestic and cold light like a beacon!
And at the center of the throne's highest backrest, the crystal statue of Pei Du lay curled up on its side, like the most precious gem, entwined, protected, and anchored by countless emerald vines and dark golden thorns! The tiny crack between the crystal statue's eyebrows, illuminated by the energy of the backrest, seemed to become even more distinct! The dark red mycelium deep within the crack seemed to pulsate slightly... with the pulse of the throne's energy!
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