Chapter 904: Chapter 904

He Ao absorbed the qi into his body and slowly opened his eyes. It was dawn now, and he looked at the fish-belly white sky outside the window and the rising sun beneath it, faintly feeling that this dawn had given him a bit more energy than usual.

He took a deep breath, left his room, and went to eat breakfast at the sanatorium cafeteria.

Along the way, several seemingly Central Earth workers warmly greeted him, and he responded politely.

While eating, he could also hear some whispers from people who appeared to be from the Research Institute and the World Tree.

The Transcendents working here were only a minority from Central Earth, with some from Ruodan and others being local Transcendents of the Yika Republic.

Thus, He Ao could hear those Central Earth Transcendents using their phones with translation apps, sentence by sentence translating the ’exploits’ He Ao had disseminated on the Research Institute forum to their ’foreign colleagues’.

He Ao even saw someone pulling out some of his earlier photos to show to a ’colleague’, enjoying the words of astonishment from the colleague.

But when He Ao’s gaze swept over, these people quickly hid their phones as if they were middle school students caught by their teacher, looking around nervously.

He Ao shook his head with a somewhat rueful laugh, quickly finished his meal, and left the cafeteria.

This time, he first went to Li Cheng’s room to bid farewell to Li Cheng, then packed up his extraordinary items and headed straight for the sanatorium exit.

His injuries had healed the fastest among everyone, and he could already move freely now. Having rested for a night, he had also regained a lot of energy, so there was no need to stay in the sanatorium any longer.

However, upon reaching the exit, Li Cheng, clad in patient attire, was already waiting for him.

The two passed through a simple promotion status check together, and then Li Cheng took out a black overcoat and presented it to He Ao.

After He Ao had changed into it, Li Cheng accompanied him all the way to the sanatorium entrance.

"I always feel this suit is very expensive."

Standing at the entrance, He Ao looked at Li Cheng, adjusted his collar, and smiled.

"Got it from an old friend, I just estimated your size roughly, didn’t expect it to fit so well," Li Cheng laughed, he looked up and down at He Ao’s attire, and gently patted He Ao’s arm, "Not bad, quite handsome, indeed has the charm of our Research Institute’s heartthrob."

He Ao rubbed his temples, "Handling this excess attention is much more troublesome than solving mysterious incidents."

Li Cheng laughed heartily, "You young man, us old geezers back then couldn’t even manage to get surrounded by young ladies."

Then he glanced outside where a plain black sedan was slowly pulling up at the entrance.

He turned back, nodded gently at He Ao.

He Ao bade him farewell and walked out of the sanatorium’s main gate, opened the rear door of the black sedan, and got inside.

Yan Yue, who was applying lipstick in the vanity mirror, hearing the noise, quickly put away her lipstick and said somewhat panicked, "Minister He, you’re leaving so quickly?"

"It was a smooth process, so I left earlier," He Ao glanced at Yan Yue’s half-applied red lipstick and her simple makeup as well as slightly weary eyes, and softly said, "You’ve been working hard these past few days."

From the previous encounters, Yan Yue was a person who valued appearance greatly, so her simple makeup suggested that she likely had had no time for it in the last few days.

If she weren’t a D-Rank Transcendent with a resilient body, dark circles would have probably formed under her eyes by now.

"This is my job after all."

Hearing He Ao’s words, Yan Yue’s initially fatigued expression eased a bit as she smiled, "I handle logistics, Minister He, you face far more danger and exhaustion in your tasks than I do."

As she spoke, she turned around, back straightened, ready to start the vehicle.

Then he saw someone at the entrance of the sanatorium, and then she froze for a moment, immediately rolled down the window, and greeted Li Cheng who was still standing at the entrance, "Good morning, Director."

Li Cheng smiled and waved his hand, "Thank you for your hard work."

Then he pointed to his own lips.

Yan Yue immediately realized something, panic returned as she glanced at her un-evenly applied lipstick in the makeup mirror, and hastily picked up the lipstick to reapply it.

Watching the flustered Yan Yue, He Ao turned his head and lowered the car window, waving again to Li Cheng.

By then, Yan Yue had finally straightened her appearance, fixed the lock of hair that had slipped from her forehead, started the vehicle, and waved to Li Cheng, "Director, goodbye."

The car slowly drove away, and Li Cheng also turned and walked deeper into the sanatorium.

Once Li Cheng had completely disappeared from view, He Ao turned back, looked ahead at the road, and asked softly, "Have all the missing persons been settled?"

As they began to discuss work matters, Yan Yue’s previously panicky demeanor quickly dissipated, her gaze became steady and serious as she quickly answered,

"All the missing persons have been moved to the designated temporary hospital. They will receive care there. Director Liu and others visited the temporary hospital last night, trying to cover some of their memories, but there might still be traces of contamination on them, so we need to observe them for a while."

He Ao nodded slightly, "What about the repatriation in the Yika Republic?"

"The repatriation is progressing normally, but since it’s not as urgent as during the Blood Sun incident, after undergoing memory forgetting, it’s mainly self-repatriation by the residents, and we are just arranging transportation, so the pace of repatriation is slower than the previous evacuation,"

Yan Yue rested her hands on the steering wheel, glanced at the streaming crowd outside the window, "Currently, about 80% of Mote City’s residents have returned."

After passing a junction, the car slowly approached the city, He Ao also turned his head to look out of the car window, towards the adjacent buildings.

A massive painted wall came into his view, currently covered in a huge symbol of ’K’ drawn with red paint, the whole paint looked quite fresh as if it had just been applied.

He Ao quietly inquired.

"The symbol of ’K’, a lot of similar murals have been painted around here in the last few days,"

Yan Yue followed He Ao’s gaze outside and explained in a measured voice,

"After the Blood Sun incident, even after the memory of that period, within the entire area covered by the Blood Sun, including places like the Ruodan Kingdom within the previous half-shadow range of the Blood Sun, there emerged various degrees of ’K’ worship.

"At the same time, various legends about ’K’ saving the world have appeared, using poems or novels as mediums, highly popular across the western part of the Western Lands, even spreading through the internet to areas in the eastern part of the Western Lands that weren’t affected by the Blood Sun,

"Due to the outstanding quality of some of these stories, they have also been quite well received in the east of the Western Lands, and now these stories are spreading to the Tia Empire and Central Earth."

"What is the judgement from the Research Institute headquarters?"

"The headquarters believes it is similar to the ’collective traumatic memory’ incident that occurred in the Newland City-State,"

Yan Yue paused before further explaining,

"Although Extraordinary Items like the Forgetfulness Stone can help ordinary people conceal these memories, they cannot truly erase them. These traumatic memories are hidden at the bottom of everyone’s heart.

"This makes them naturally pursue stories where heroes save the world from peril,

"just like the flood myths that have been circulated worldwide. The great floods, supposedly caused by glacial melting and rising sea levels, brought disasters to people in every region of the world,

"These disasters, sung through generations, have turned into mythology and remained in the history of human civilization as a part of the collective traumatic memory, and likewise, the heroes who fought against the floods have been remembered.

"Currently, ’K’ is that hero against ’disaster.’ Indeed, it was ’K’ who truly resolved the Blood Sun event, and his power made everyone ’remember’ him, to the point that even the Forgetfulness Stone cannot conceal his existence,"

Yan Yue turned the steering wheel and took a small side road, continuing,

"The researchers at headquarters believe that because of this collective traumatic memory, the influence of ’K’ and the phenomenon of ’K worship’ will not disappear over time but will rather become integrated into the lifestyle of the Western Lands, eventually becoming a part of its culture and history."

"Closely monitor the extension of this ’K worship’ phenomenon,"

He Ao’s gaze shifted from the walls on the street side, having seen several new murals of ’K’ on this short route. His tone steady, he continued, "Prevent anyone with ulterior motives from exploiting the name of ’K’ in pursuing extreme events."

Then she raised her head, glanced at He Ao’s calm face through the rearview mirror, and hesitated for a moment.

He Ao noticed her gaze.

Yan Yue quickly averted her eyes and continued driving, slowly saying, "Nothing, just felt that Minister He ... seemed to look more ... refined, possessing the aura of those devoted scholars I used to see in the university, engrossed in research."

He Ao lowered his head and glanced at the Personal Attribute Panel in his field of view.

[Authority Level: Advanced Player]

[Physical Fitness: 6397]

[Skills: Talent Sequence 272: Super Memory (B-level), Basic Firearms Mastery (Soul part), Talent Sequence 144: Miracle Scholar (B-level)]

[Mechanical Modification: None]

[Martial Arts: Qi Refinement and Spirit Transformation (C-level) (partially usable)]

His original physical fitness was a little over twelve hundred, but after digesting the Secret Medicine of the Miracle Scholar and completing the promotion, his physical fitness had increased by about 2400.

Digesting the Martial Arts Infusion left by the aged martial artist, along with He Ao’s own cultivation, his physical fitness had grown by approximately 2700.

Miracle Scholars did not experience as much physical enhancement from Martial Arts because Miracle Scholars inherently did not belong to a strength-oriented Talent Sequence.

After his promotion to B-level, He Ao obtained a new "miracle," "Light of the Firmament."

This "miracle" gave He Ao a feeling akin to the final blow with which he had once killed an Angel, a "diminished version" of sorts, solidifying some aspect of his promotion ritual.

It was a long-range Mage Skill with a type of rule-specific armor-piercing capability, capable of breaking through most defenses, even some bizarre rule-based ones.

This armor-piercing capability seemed to be a tangible manifestation of the "Deconstruction" ability of the Eye of Truth.

Apart from armor-piercing, it also had an effect of "Soul Purification." When its brilliance was released, it purified the souls of those who saw it, reducing contamination to some extent.

It appeared that this purification effect was a tangible manifestation of parts of the Immaculates’ "Light of Purity."

Besides the two effects mentioned above, it also possessed a "Fusion Ability," allowing it to be carried and discharged by high positional grade items, incorporating their grade.

Theoretically, He Ao might be able to use the Maiden Puppet to launch an attack that carries the "Angel Designation."

After numerous confrontations with Angels, He Ao had more or less developed some "understanding."

For true Angels, relying merely on mortal strength was hardly enough to harm them unless one could decipher their power structure and cause a "Backlash," though the damage inflicted thereafter would still be minimal.

However, attacks that carried the Angel Designation or even "Divinity" could deal significant true damage.

The only entities or items that could damage or even entirely kill a being of high positional grade might be another high positional grade entity or item.

Although "Light of the Firmament" was only a B-level "miracle," its combination of effects likely made its lethality far exceed that of a normal B-level; coupled with the Angel Designation, it could even be considered a pseudo-A-level skill.

In a sense, the ability of a Miracle Scholar to solidify the effects displayed in the promotion ritual into their own permanent skill was rather strong.

Combining several Angelic Tier abilities in a ritual could even solidify a powerful skill close to the Angelic Tier at the B-level stage.

The only challenge was how to gather multiple Angelic Tier abilities in the ritual.

After all, this was a C to B promotion ritual. Just adding any Angelic Tier item could easily drive a regular C-level completely mad.

A normal C-level might only think of causing a disaster or some major event to etch their name in history, even so, it was fraught with danger, and one could easily kill oneself by accident.

In that regard, that predecessor who managed to orchestrate a "Mountain Collapse Tsunami" and still promote normally was quite impressive.

Although it seemed to still be slightly lacking compared to He Ao’s pseudo-A-level "Light of the Firmament."

Apart from the "Light of the Firmament," the three C-level "miracles" that He Ao originally possessed were also enhanced.

"Retrieve objects from the air" now covered hundreds of meters and could affect stronger beings, and the cost of using it beyond its limits had also reduced.

"Pawn" could now affect B-level Transcendent items.

"Concealed Being" expanded its "Concealment" range, making it almost impossible for even B-levels to notice him when he used this ability, though the downside was that he was forgotten more quickly.

"Concealed Being" could now be used for up to fifteen days at a time, and its cooldown period was shortened to six hours.

Perhaps because the ritual was performed too well, incorporating the powers of Angels and Divine Beings in the B-level ritual and achieving a kind of perfect promotion, his acquired B-level miracles were very powerful, seemingly promoting the three C-level miracles to B-level strength.

This was after all, since the miracles in the Miracle Wand from before were still at C-level strength.

He Ao withdrew his thoughts and lowered his head to look at the last line of his personal attribute panel. Even though his physical fitness from Martial Arts had increased by 2700, Martial Arts was still C-level.

However, he could clearly feel that he was just on the verge of crossing that threshold.