For some reason, Lin Yi had always felt he possessed a strange affinity for shiny things. He seemed to obtain sparkling treasures with suspicious frequency. By now, he was already engaged in battle with Shi and Mana. Inside the headquarters of the Garden of Recollection, Remembrancers were incredibly agile. Being pinned down while fighting on enemy territory was perfectly normal.
After mistakenly concluding that the operation was nearing its end, Lin Yi no longer wanted to prolong the fight. Facing two Envoys as an ordinary person placed immense pressure on him. There was no room for mistakes. Taking advantage of a brief opening, Lin Yi snatched the gleaming crystal and immediately retreated.
This time, he truly left. He escaped Sanjian Heaven. That had been part of the plan from the very beginning. When Lin Yi, Herta, and the others prepared the operation, they had agreed: If either Lin Yi or Screwllum encountered danger and could no longer maintain the distraction, they would withdraw immediately. If one side sensed something had gone wrong with the other, they would retreat as well. Once both disturbances ceased, Herta, Ruan Mei, and the freely acting Stephen would immediately evacuate. Since both Lin Yi and Screwllum specialized in causing enormous chaos, communication failure had never been a concern.
Stop!
Seeing Lin Yi's actions, Shi cried out in alarm. Everything else can be forgiven—but you must not desecrate the Heavenly Father's divine body!
Throughout the entire battle, Shi had remained calm no matter how much damage Lin Yi caused to Sanjian Heaven. This was the first time true anger appeared on her face. The crystal was extremely special. Even the Phase Walker could not store it remotely.
Lin Yi had to teleport over personally, seize the crystal with his own hands, then slash backward to block the incoming attack. After that, he used the Phase Walker again and escaped with the crystal. Just before leaving, he heard Shi's furious shout: Heavenly Father's divine body!
Lin Yi was stunned. The divine body of Fuli? And such a massive fragment? This might be the greatest haul of the entire mission. Hide it. He absolutely had to keep it for himself. Share it? Impossible. Besides, the thing probably could not be divided anyway. According to their prior agreement—First come, first served.
After Lin Yi left, Shi looked at the devastated battlefield with a somewhat wronged expression. Sister Mana... why did Heavenly Father stop me just now?
Mana answered calmly. Little Shi, you were only recently born and are still young. You must learn to be more composed. Your words and actions represent the Pure Land God. In the future, do not reveal such emotions so easily. Others will look down on you. As for why He stopped you, I do not know either. But if a Star God personally intervened, there must be a reason. Just like last time—wasn't I stopped by Him as well? And His divine message was far too obscure. I still haven't deciphered it. Perhaps the Pure Land God will send another oracle soon.
Shi's eyes lit up. We might see Heavenly Father again? They quite literally became starry eyes. Shi had no fixed form. She was a being born from countless minds and perceptions. Her current appearance existed only because the first intelligent lifeform she saw after birth was Mana.
Star Gods were not so easy to meet. Mana had only meant to comfort her. But suddenly—a divine oracle descended.
You who inherit the command shall continue the end. Fate and fortune remain uncertain. Preserve and protect the most difficult new life. Return now. Suppress the insect calamity. Await the moment of the new god.
Mana blinked. ...He actually answered immediately? Shi was overjoyed. Heavenly Father! But Fuli had already vanished. Only the message remained.
To be fair—Fuli's words were so obscure they rivaled the Aeon of Finality in difficulty to interpret. Fortunately, Fuli rarely issued divine oracles. Most of the time, He merely watched and recorded in silence. Otherwise, the Garden of Recollection would spend all its time trying to decipher His messages.
Fuli's appearance marked the end of the operation. While the geniuses had been planning to rob the Garden of Recollection, Aha had been secretly watching for fun. Watching alone was not enough. He had even invited Fuli to enjoy the show with him. Thus, the Aeon of Remembrance observed and recorded everything from beginning to end—from the geniuses discussing their infiltration plan to the actual robbery of Sanjian Heaven.
Strangely, Fuli not only failed to stop them... He even offered a little secret assistance while recording it all.
As for the pot Screwllum salvaged earlier—and the fragments of the Aeon of Propagation, Tayzzyronth—those were leftovers from the time when Akivili and Aha beat Tayzzyronth apart, then decided to cook pieces of him.
The rough story went something like this:
Aha:
Akivili, my dear friend, look what I found.
Akivili:
Tayzzyronth's divine corpse? Why did you pick that up?
Aha:
Propagation is dead anyway. Leaving this here would be wasteful. I secretly collected a few pieces. I want to know what Aeon-level bugs taste like.
Aha grinned.
Want to try it together, my dear Akivili? I always think of you when I find something good.
Akivili did not hesitate in the slightest.
I've never eaten that before. That's very Trailblaze.
Aha laughed.
It sounds fun. That's very Elation.
And so—the Aeon of Trailblaze, who always claimed he could tolerate the unknown but not the unknowable... very easily joined Aha's nonsense.
Not only that—Akivili even stole Pom-Pom's cooking pot from the Astral Express. Because of that, Pom-Pom could not cook and went hungry for several meals. He was forced to eat junk food he normally tried to avoid. As a result—Pom-Pom gained several pounds. A tragedy.
Pom-Pom shouted:
The conductor did NOT get fat! NOT FAT!!!
No one knew what Tayzzyronth's meat tasted like. But Pom-Pom's cooking pot was lost in Sanjian Heaven. It sank into the sea of memory essence and disappeared.
As punishment for stealing the pot and causing Pom-Pom to go hungry, Akivili was sentenced by Pom-Pom to clean the Astral Express for two months. Meanwhile, Aha laughed at him endlessly—while also hiding from Pom-Pom for many years.
As for the remaining fragments of Tayzzyronth's flesh, they too were discarded and sank into the memory sea of Sanjian Heaven. The reason Screwllum had been able to salvage such bizarre items... was because Aha secretly intervened. He stirred the depths of the memory sea, bringing up all sorts of junk discarded over the ages, including the items he and Akivili had abandoned. He intentionally let Screwllum retrieve them.
Otherwise, with Screwllum's slow toilet-like extraction machines, it would have taken years to dredge them up.
And why did Aha secretly help Screwllum recover all this strange garbage?
Because—it was simply too entertaining.