Chapter 372: The Power of Nothingness, Countdown

The video released by the Countermeasures Bureau spread across the world overnight with incredible speed, propelled by the united efforts of global governments.

This time, unlike previous broadcasts, major official media outlets and news channels immediately shared the video upon release, announcing to the world Chu Yuanqing’s identity as a magical girl and her position as Chief of Staff.

The honor was so immense and grand that leaders from various countries all stood together, publicly celebrating the news of this new Chief of Staff. The recognition surpassed the usual limits of the entertainment circle and quickly spread throughout society.

After watching the video, Xu Ling remained lost in thought for a long time. She could not, for the moment, connect the Chief of Staff who subdued the Calamity God with one hand—majestic and domineering like an emperor—with the cute, gentle, shy, and exceptionally pure Honey Qing.

The contrast between the two, though not quite light and shadow, far exceeded the boundaries of imagination, leaving her mind struggling to process it.

Inside the girl’s head, one moment was filled with Honey Qing’s fluttering heartbeats, a displeased expression, and rosy cheeks; the next was the Pure White Witch forging the Mirror Tree, sitting on the throne of the sky, her gaze burning fiercely as she looked down on the world.

So handsome, so cute.

So domineering, so cute.

So cool, so cute.

Wait, no, the more I think about it, the more thrilling it becomes—I almost can’t stop.

Xu Ling shook her head hard, shaking off worldly desires and striving to maintain her lofty respect for the guardian of humanity, the Countermeasures Bureau Chief of Staff, and the first magical girl.

But soon, when her cousin declared, “Honey Qing is so domineering and cool; she must be the top in private!” Xu Ling couldn’t help but join in the great debate about whether the character was zero or one.

Before long, to uphold her viewpoint, she cited examples of Honey Qing blushing during close interactions with other little idols at fan meetings, beginning to distinctly separate the magical girl Godly Qing from the little idol Honey Qing and justifiably insisting on rejecting “deification.”

Pei Xiaotong argued passionately but ultimately lost the debate, angrily looking for allies in the fan support group to try and salvage some ground.

Xu Ling sneered repeatedly, unwilling to back down, showcasing the writing skills and speed of a seasoned blogger. She rallied friends and various fanfiction writers to join the fray.

Strangely, the fans who had previously been mentally overwhelmed inexplicably accepted the concept of Honey Qing as Chief of Staff amidst this battle and casually added it to their luxurious XP packages, making derivative creations bloom wildly.

Of course, there were still earnest fans, such as the most genuine, kind, adorable, and pure Little Yuanxiao, who began to worry whether they could still call their little idol Honey Qing from now on.

On the other hand, some extreme mom fans fell into guilt, feeling, “Why am I not a magical girl? Why must Little Qing, who’s still a minor, bear the burden of being Chief of Staff? I feel so useless,” and they were very sad.

It was just like the saying, “No matter how old you get, you are still a child in your mother’s eyes.”

Although Chu Yuanqing suddenly became super powerful, powerful enough to become the backbone of humanity, it did not stop fans from feeling concerned and heartbroken over her.

Many fans were even more fearful for Chu Yuanqing’s personal safety.

Being an idol wasn’t scary; being a magical girl idol was still acceptable, since if the sky fell, there was someone tall to hold it up. Being a magical girl didn’t necessarily mean fighting in the most dangerous places.

But as the magical girl leader, Chief of Staff, and commander, wouldn’t she obviously have to go to the front lines, the most dangerous places, to confront the most terrifying disaster beasts?

Moreover, Honey Qing was only 17 years old, still a minor! Handing such an important, highly stressful, and dangerous position to her seemed completely unthoughtful.

As the saying goes, dusk witnesses the devoted believers, and the peak births hypocritical supporters.

Chu Yuanqing’s fans were incredibly cohesive, so much so that they didn’t care about her honors or achievements; as long as she could take the stage, perform normally, and live her life peacefully, that was a perfect score.

Therefore, when this world-shaking news broke, for many fans, it was not excitement but shock.

Now, major forums, chat groups, and social media platforms were filled with related discussions. Like a hurricane sweeping across the world, it affected countless households.

…

…

That night.

At 11 PM, on the street by the Sea City waterfront, a virtual projection that spanned across the flowing river, more splendid than the night itself, was synchronously broadcasting this video.

The lovely daughter was greatly shocked as she looked at the incredibly handsome father on the screen; her eyes sparkled brightly, but when she glanced down and saw the person sitting in the wheelchair, her admiration wilted, turning into love and tenderness.

Yet, to avoid worrying Chu Yuanqing, she still lifted her tone and praised,

“Dad is amazing; he’s already the Chief of Staff.”

Chu Yuanqing raised her eyes to the sky. She coughed a few times from fatigue, her pink lips curling into a gentle smile. Placing her palms on her legs, she softly said,

“Little Shu is very clever; that day will come for her too.”

Even without being told all about the Son of Mankind, just witnessing Chu Wang Shu’s methods of fighting the disaster beast that day was enough to reveal the child’s extraordinary talent. The Perfection Realm displayed in the video would be one she could reach sooner or later.

I truly hope I can live to see that day.

Hearing this, Chu Wang Shu’s expression turned serious, and she earnestly answered,

“I will work hard!”

Sooner or later, she would become a more powerful magical girl, strong enough to replace her father in suppressing those Calamity Gods, protecting the current life and peace.

Strangely, the urgency and anxiety in her heart deepened with this conversation.

In Chu Wang Shu’s mind, the dream of witnessing her father’s death resurfaced. She didn’t want to be swallowed by fear and anxiety again, so she pursed her lips, a surge of resolve rising within her.

Tomorrow night, she would meet everyone and rehearse the dance again at Ideal State. Taking advantage of the roughly ten days of free time (Ideal State’s time), she must explore the Tower of Mirrors several more times to excavate greater powers from the Son of Mankind.

Chu Wang Shu had a premonition that the Son of Mankind had yet to reveal its true form. The four authorities related to the end, the hero, the stars, and the Disaster group were essentially gifts or blessings.

Her true power should still be hidden deeper within.

The girl thought this partly because their names clearly implied they were gifts.

The hero represented her father’s martial skills, the end represented her mother’s Funeral, the stars represented planetary consciousness, and the Disaster group likely represented the power granted when her father wielded the thirteen Calamity God authorities.

Second, because Liuli, Sister Miyuki, and Sister Xie’s Patronus Magic had not displayed many branches when first awakened.

Therefore, on this trip to Ideal State, she was determined to explore more; otherwise, relying on her parents’ or the Disaster group’s power for protection was like borrowing money from a bank or taking out a high-interest loan for her parents—hardly a true skill.

Charlotte pushed Chu Yuanqing’s wheelchair, strolling through Sea City’s nightscape with the father and daughter.

Pedestrians on the street discussed the overwhelmingly shocking information from the video, worried about the existence of the Calamity Gods while also marveling at Chu Yuanqing’s exhibited strength, regaining hope for the future.

The internet was ablaze, stirring up public opinion comparable to an earthquake. If one opened Weibo and visited Chu Yuanqing’s account at this moment, it would be clear that her fans were skyrocketing every second.

Within five minutes of the video posting, her fans, having just passed one hundred million, had surged by nearly ten million. At this irrational rate, the figure could multiply several times overnight.

Charlotte still maintained a smile on her face but grew increasingly uneasy inside.

The reason Esther openly released part of Chu Yuanqing’s information was largely because she revealed the existence of willpower.

The two hoped to leverage this exposure to amass a huge amount of willpower at once, allowing Chu Yuanqing to pass through her period of weakness as soon as possible.

At this moment, the video played repeatedly over the river, and with Decorate Phantasm activating a higher-dimensional perspective, the entire Sea City was submerged in a radiant, shimmering sea of light.

The immense willpower illuminated the night sky, resembling a suspended galaxy cascading into this steel metropolis, with mist of ever-changing colors everywhere, like a fairyland.

In the sky, invisible cracks suddenly tore open, and the End of Utopia was absorbing massive amounts of willpower in return, forming a giant swirling spectacle.

In theory, as the main axis, the Lantern Gem would only produce even more exaggerated scenes, rapidly devouring willpower, healing its own wounds, forcibly condensing the Light of the Soul, nourishing the battered soul, thus allowing it to quickly escape the period of weakness.

Charlotte was already quite familiar with this.

Initially, she used magic restoration to enable Chu Yuanqing to repeatedly use the Martial God Technique to teach Xie Qing Yu.

So, such a vast and pure willpower, speaking as the Pure White Witch, should only have worked better.

But…

There was no response.

Chu Yuanqing’s Lantern Gem was completely silent, as if stuck at the boundary between life and death, trapped in a state of self-isolation. Even with the feast of willpower before it, it could only temporarily allow the Ideal Homeland to absorb it.

The curse poison named Corrective Force seemed to have strengthened its ability to gnaw and attack due to this grand move, tearing the soul apart, getting stuck inside, hindering the restoration of willpower.

Chu Yuanqing naturally noticed this; she saw further than Charlotte. The wave of willpower was unusually heavy, covering the entire Sea City, and with the tide coming in like a shower of meteors, it would eventually spread to half of Daxia.

This level, without considering purity, had already surpassed all past stages combined.

Unfortunately,

the soul power that was constantly being eaten away, the Light of the Soul, memories, thoughts, and even will, were all bound by the Sea of Truth in some way, like filling the chaos of the universe, flowing into endless emptiness.

Willpower could not change this outcome.

Chu Yuanqing sat in a wheelchair, accompanied by her wife and daughter, moving through the crowd. She felt the warmth of life around her, experiencing the excitement as if she were at a lantern festival, yet it felt as if she were floating in the deep space of the universe, cold and lonely, with even her existence being slowly stripped away.

This was a very strange feeling, an unprecedented weakness, yet also an unprecedented clarity; not to mention emotions, even thoughts and self-awareness slipped away unnoticed.

But she was not afraid.

Chu Yuanqing understood this was the power of the Sea of Truth.

The closer she got to death and darkness, the more she could understand the other, and the clearer the source of this curse became.

This was a kind of quantum interaction, and much of it came from the fragments of information gathered when the Light of the Soul condensed.

The Sea of Truth was a great unifying mechanism woven into the infinite and finite universe, representing the source of existence and nothingness. Such an existence did not care about humans, civilizations, planets, or the Disaster group.

Theoretically, even the abuse of powers like the Blood of Sighs and Farewell, which could interfere with, alter, or destroy a timeline or world line, and change the axis of a single universe dimension, would not attract its attention.

This was a simple truth. Take the Disaster group as an example. How many worlds had they devoured? How many planets had they destroyed? The Slit Worlds and Historical Echoes born from this were too many to count.

It was important to know that miracles like Historical Echoes might only be born from hundreds of destroyed worlds.

If in the first playthrough, the world where Chu Yuanqing existed was destroyed, there might not even be a chance for any Historical Echoes to remain, as the Disaster group consumed the concept of star clusters, leading to the end of all, which was the most likely outcome.

There were too many worlds, so many that if the time of a single world became messed up, it really did not matter.

Therefore, simply traveling through time and space, correcting world lines, going back to the past, hindering a predetermined future, and eliminating the concept of the Disaster group should not attract the attention of the Sea of Truth.

Unless…

Chu Yuanqing not only corrected the concept of the Disaster group in a single world line, but also, with the arrival of the end, used the stars as an anchor point, branching out into infinite possibilities, and together corrected the concept of the Disaster group in countless parallel universes.

Even the tiniest, most insignificant error code, when copied to infinity, could become a noticeable virus, interfering with system operations, leading to a cleanup and elimination, and this was also true for the Sea of Truth.

But was this possible? Could she really achieve something so remarkable?

Chu Yuanqing’s emotions were calm. She couldn’t remember these things clearly, just like she couldn’t recall many moments from before her daughter was born; she also didn’t remember the details of resetting and correcting the world line.

This was merely a somewhat exaggerated guess she came up with as her understanding of the Sea of Truth deepened, using logic to deduce the idea.

The actual reason might be simpler or perhaps more complicated.

But one thing was certain,

Chu Yuanqing’s actions that day made the Sea of Truth, after 17 years, look at her once again.

That glance made her willpower fade away.

The Pure White Witch lowered her long eyelashes. The golden light in her eyes was still and lifeless. Her fingertips gathered to cover most of her palm with her sleeve, hiding her pure, flawless wrists.

On the surface, fine cracks were slowly spreading.

If one looked closely, one would see there was no blood, only pure emptiness inside.

This was a great power coming from the void. Her self, her marks, her existence, her name, her past, and all of her together would collapse infinitely as the cracks expanded endlessly until…

Everything returned to zero.