The wind atop the high mountains disturbed the clouds, blowing past the flags and energy barrier of the Holy Temple at the mountain's peak, yet within the Supreme Temple, the cold of the mountain summits was imperceptible—underneath the solemn and magnificent pillars and light dome, the voice of the Holy calmly echoed in everyone's ears.

"...A new Angel Catalyst will be delivered to the home planet within three days. Once the catalyst arrives and passes testing, it will be immediately placed in the 'Holy Furnace.' It will become the 'key' to the Gate of Eden, allowing us to complete the final step towards the Path of Venerate Saint.

"During the opening process of the Gate of Eden... the border must be sealed; the Saint Realm must not be disturbed.

"We must be wary of complacency brought by arrogance before the final moment arrives—the painstaking pursuit of centuries is just one step away..."

Colander listened attentively to the teachings of the Holy with his head bowed, and then he heard someone speak: "Holy, recently our operations in Boundary Land have been frequently thwarted; they may have become aware of some matters... Should we prepare in advance?"

The voice was somewhat jarring, causing Colander to instinctively grip the wheelchair's armrest but soon relaxing again, appearing indifferent to the question.

But below the knee, there was a faint pain.

The blond man standing on the steps continued to wear his usual warm smile as he looked at the questioning priest, with a hint of approval in his light blue eyes: "We never underestimate our opponents—those heretics have already caused us significant losses, and I can foresee that once again they will bring trouble in unexpected ways. Suspend activities in Boundary Land, and withdraw teams operating in the United Star Zone; we have acquired the Angel Catalyst. The next focus is ensuring the safety of the Gate of Eden."

The priest nodded in agreement, and then another spoke: "'Skeleton,' how should it be handled? Can the new catalyst fully replace it?"

The Holy pondered for a few seconds this time.

"The catalyst still needs testing; the Gate of Eden must temporarily maintain its current state—the 'Energy Absorption Field' continues to operate at low power; if the skeleton has any more anomalies, deploy reserve Spiritual Ability Users... The new world will remember their sacrifice."

"Yes, Holy."

"What arrangements are there for Pasture Star? The last fluctuation of the Gate of Eden created large-scale psionic anomalies on the planet's surface, making the quality of this batch of selected 'seeds' very unstable, possibly affecting the production of Artificial Saintesses and Knights..."

"Then suspend the selection; wait for the planet's environment to stabilize—the seeds already selected should be handled as usual, not worrying about minor fluctuations in production."

"Understood..."

Important matters were discussed and organized one by one, the voice of the Holy carried a convincing and relaxing strength, while Colander lowered his head, contemplating new Angel Catalysts, the Special Service Bureau, and a certain "Cursed Puppet," but at this moment, he suddenly "heard" his thoughts filled with noise, as if unsettling information was directly injected into his cognition, his mind suddenly flashed through horrific illusions—

He saw planets collapsing, mountains in the Saint Realm splitting into pieces, he saw rivers boiling, waters on the planet's surface instantly evaporating into space—the crust tearing before his eyes, a dark entity bursting from the planet's interior, a colossal, pitch-black celestial body engulfing everything...

A vague rumbling sound came from the real world, breaking the illusions in Colander's mind. He hurriedly looked up, and everyone focused on the same direction.

In the depths of towering mountains, amidst the Cloud Sea, a brilliant aurora suddenly appeared in the atmosphere, the sky quickly darkened as if night descended prematurely, and then the aurora slowly swept across the cloud tops, igniting the clouds like a "thermal curtain," and a sea of fire boiled on the cloud edge.

The blond man standing on the steps remained calm, raising his hand to point at the spreading sea of fire, and then a massive spiritual energy illusion suddenly appeared behind him—the illusion towering over the Holy Temple, crowned with a radiant coronet, its eyes blazing like solar rings.

The Holy slowly pressed down his palm, and the spiritual energy sea of fire spreading across the clouds and the aurora "thermal curtain" bursting in the air trembled violently, and then all was crushed and dissipated by a powerful force until peace returned.

The sky regained its brightness again.

The Great Sages exhaled in relief as everything returned to normal, and Colander wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, looking with reverent eyes towards the blond figure on the steps.

"The Gate of Eden has once again urged us, it needs purer energy and a key closer to 'essence,'" the voice of the Holy was gentle, "Our time is limited, comrades—prepare to receive the Angel Catalyst ahead of time, before the 'Dark Star' cruiser returns, everything must be ready."

The priests gathered in the hall promptly obeyed and then exited the council chamber in sequence, with Colander following the crowd, moving "towards" one of the archways in his wheelchair.

But at this moment, a gentle voice came from the steps not far away: "Colander, stay."

Colander was startled and quickly halted before the steps.

Curious glances from nearby priests were withdrawn under the silent gaze of the two Living Saints beside the Holy, hastening their departure.

Once everyone had left, only the Holy, the two Living Saints, and Colander remained.

The latter adjusted his position in the wheelchair somewhat uneasily, feeling as if the two "Living Saints," whose whole bodies were filled with spiritual brilliance and whose faces were blurred, were always watching him, their faces cast like light with a hint of unsettling coldness.

But the Holy smiled warmly, even taking the initiative to step down from the stairs, coming before Colander.

Colander lowered his head in awe: "Holy, you called me to stay..."

"Can you see things that others cannot?" The voice of the Holy came from above, carrying its usual reassuring power.

Colander paused for a moment, and suddenly looked up at those smiling light blue eyes.

"When the Gate of Eden fluctuated just now, did you see any omens? Could you tell me about them?" The Holy asked again, in a tone so friendly it felt like chatting with a friend.

Colander came to his senses, a look of bewilderment appearing on his face: "I-I did see some illusions, could it be that others..."

"Yes, it seems only you can see them," the Holy nodded lightly, but his gaze fell on the other's broken leg, "You see, the suffering in fate is not meaningless. This phenomenon of a curse from heretics has etched a mark in your soul, enlightening your connection with the Gate of Eden... Colander, can you now tell me what you saw just now?"

Under the gaze of those eyes, Colander was initially dazed for a moment, but joy soon filled his heart.

"Y-yes, Holy! I did see something..."

...

"Ah! I'm dead! Just a sliver of health away!!"

Erin (Lotus) and Erin (Lightweight Clay) suddenly shrieked on the coffee table, and then the two puppets started loudly babbling on the tabletop—something about dung monster mechanics being a pitfall, excessive keyboard delay, bad hand feel today, Yu Sheng's computer configuration being inadequate, screen freezing, hit prompts too dark, the mouse dying from rat poison, Luna standing at the staircase blocking the WiFi signal, fox fur getting into joints causing elbow slippage...

Let's put it this way, when Little Red Riding Hood asks the long-haired princess why she didn't do last week's homework, she wouldn't find so many excuses in one go.

Yu Sheng was sitting on the sofa holding his phone and texting at this moment. Upon hearing the commotion from the small puppets, he looked up and immediately saw the screen displaying an enormous red "Noob".

"...How long have you been battling this one boss? If it's really not working, we can skip it, it's not even a main quest required boss."

"No way!" The small puppet (Clay) immediately said grumpily, then sat down cross-legged, and with both hands picked up the mouse again, "I've almost beaten this, I've memorized its moves already, just lost my concentration for a moment..."

The other small puppet (Lotus) also returned to the keyboard: "Yu Sheng, just watch! This time I'll definitely bring it down..."

Yu Sheng watched as the two Erins leaned over the computer again and started blabbering, he just smiled and shook his head.

Meanwhile, a slight snoring sound came from beside him.

Hu Li was lying on the ground nearby, curled up with her tail in her arms, sleeping soundly—at this moment in the afternoon, the sunlight was perfect, the floor heating was warm, the fox girl had eaten her fill and, as usual, found a warm spot on the floor to lie down and sleep, the sounds of Erin's gaming were like home demolition yet she did not wake, her snoring even and soft.

Yu Sheng looked at the fox girl who had drooled onto her tail, suddenly reached out, and touched the side of her ear with a finger.

Hu Li was deep in her slumber, not waking at all, but her ear reflexively twitched a few times.

Yu Sheng's face showed a joyful smile similar to Erin's state, and he reached out to touch again.

The furry pointed ear twitched more vigorously.

Yu Sheng adjusted his finger position, and the ear began fluttering as if equipped with an electric motor...

Yu Sheng: "Hehe..."

Just as he was halfway through "hehe", footsteps came from the basement direction, and looking up, he saw a pair of wide open vertical pupils gazing over through the railing at the staircase, full of surprise and tension—Momo stared with eyes open wide, the cat ear on her head instinctively folded back.

She looked like an intern rushing to report work to the big boss, only to unexpectedly find the boss lying on the ground using plastic figures to pretend fighting while muttering "pew-pew-pew".

Yu Sheng wasn't the least bit embarrassed, probably due to frequently dealing with a bunch of supernatural entities, his "daily baseline" was quite fluid. His whole thought state was quite free-spirited, seeing the cat head emerge from the basement and he cheerfully greeted her: "Momo? Why are you here? Had lunch yet?"

The fox girl on the ground suddenly opened her eyes: "Is it mealtime again?!" 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

Momo got startled, even the mechanical ear drooped down: "I... Luo... boss... Ah! Sister Luo asked me to find you, she said she approximately calculated the coordinates of the Hidden Monastery's Illegal Star Gate!"

Hu Li drowsily looked around and lay back in place muttering: "No mealtime then..."

Yu Sheng already stood up abruptly: "So soon?"

"Um, um," Momo nodded repeatedly, "Sister Luo said that when the 'Dark Star' cruiser returned it was in a hurry, and the speed ripple leaked by the Hyperlight Core wasn't cleaned up, exposing key data..."