When This Is Over, Then...

At this moment, in a barracks within the Holy City, Ren Yi was sprawled across his bed, his limbs splayed out like he’d had every bone and ounce of strength sucked out of him.

Small mountains of energy crystals were piled at the head and foot of the bed, shimmering faintly in the dim light. They were the "fruits of his labor" from the past few days.

"That should be enough..." he muttered. "I'll have someone distribute them."

Not far away, Zhang Qiuqiu—still in the mutated form of "Extinction"—was irritably scratching at her sparse fur, occasionally shaking her head with an expression of utter despair.

Since "Extinction had been subdued by the Son of God," Zhang Qiuqiu had somehow, just like that, become the "Holy City Divine Beast."

At the insistence of the cult's Priests, she had been wrapped in fine silks and gold thread. They called it "maintaining the prestige of the Holy City Divine Beast," making her look like a large pet that had been forced into a costume.

If she had seen those believers kneeling to her before, Zhang Qiuqiu would have just thought they were crazy.

But now that she knew they were simply "not quite healthy," she just felt exhausted. In the end, she strangely didn't even bother to resist.

On Ren Yi's side, ever since clearing the fourth mutant beast nest, he had entered "crystal maker" mode.

He hadn't stopped from the return journey until now. He was so physically and mentally drained that even hearing the word "crystal" made his head throb.

Even though he was currently slacking off on the bed, the energy inside his body was still running at high speed.

He could endure the boredom of making crystals, but what truly wore him down was the loss caused by constantly splitting his body.

The sensation was like tearing flesh from himself. Although there was no pain, every split felt subtly wrong and was accompanied by a slight change in his physical stature.

If anyone from the Alliance who knew him were here, they would definitely notice that Ren Yi was several centimeters shorter than when he first entered the Three Cities World.

It was all because he had split off so many fragments of his body to merge into the illusion crystals.

"Working this hard? Is the Son of God trying to outshine us all?"

Zhang Qiuqiu finally managed to smooth down a few tufts of fur and leaned over, offering some insincere concern.

"But seriously, can you really spread your ability across the entire city? Don't let the cat out of the bag, or we'll have to tuck tail and run again."

"Not at all, it's mainly because my ability is unique and I'm exceptionally gifted," Ren Yi said, lazily opening an eyelid and putting on a show of mock humility.

"You should say, if I work this hard and still can't cover the whole city, wouldn't that make me look too incompetent?"

Stubbornness aside, it was impossible for him to plant an illusion seed in every single person in the Holy City and have them all immersed in a controlled illusionary environment.

If he tried to plant seeds one by one, he'd work himself to death.

Furthermore, at his current stage, his ability was still limited to "affecting the vision of a portion of people." He was far from being able to manipulate reality at will.

However, if it was just "planting the same illusion in everyone," then there was some room for maneuvering.

The most important tools for this were the body fragments he had painfully split off and the illusion crystals he had just learned to make.

The method for using these illusion crystals was simple. Once placed inside his body and activated, they would automatically absorb the positive emotions of those around him.

Once a crystal was fully charged, it could broadcast his preset illusion to the surrounding people, bit by bit, slowly and quietly, like dandelions scattering in the wind.

To put it simply, it was an illusionary source of contagion.

It might not reach the entire city, but covering more than half would definitely be no problem... At the very least, the most "devout" group wouldn't be able to escape it.

This was the extent of what Ren Yi could do.

He was going to play a "cutscene" for everyone in the Holy City.

As for what would happen to them afterward—whether they would collapse or go mad—he couldn't control that, nor did he want to interfere too much.

After all, what followed was an inevitable destruction.

Ren Yi suddenly remembered something and sat up, his tone becoming a bit lighter.

"By the way, I just synced all our information with Old Lu and asked about the situation on his end."

"There's still no movement in Xin City, and the Xin King hasn't bothered him again."

"I guess the matters over there aren't for us Cubs to worry about."

"Once we get back and report this information, that should be enough."

"When this is over," he paused, his voice tinged with an inexplicable wistfulness, "there won't be much left for us to do."

As soon as the words left his mouth, Ren Yi himself froze, a flash of vacancy in his eyes.

Why had he suddenly said that?

His thoughts slowly turned, and the scenes of the past few days flashed through his mind.

Disguising himself as the Son of God, meeting the class monitor, hunting "Extinction," wiping out the mutant beast nests, confronting the Pope, staying up late to make crystals, splitting his body, and so on.

The constant disguises, schemes, and travel had left him exhausted.

He realized, in hindsight, that perhaps he was a little homesick.

"When this is over..."

He murmured softly.

"I can go home..."