Night of Despair

In an instant, a year passed.

A life without danger gradually numbed everyone inside the spaceship, even Feng Xuezi and Fu Bai slightly relaxed their vigilance and began cultivating, discussing how to build a better new array around the defense belt.

Here, it was peaceful, and everyone gradually developed the idea that perhaps staying here could avoid the Great Annihilation.

Yu Hong maintained a frequency of visiting Yiyi Ku Chan once a week, dedicating all other time to cultivation.

He carved the figure and face of Quan He once again out of metal, but upon finishing, he found the visage felt unfamiliar even to himself.

It seemed that even he was gradually forgetting what Quan He looked like...

He gently erased the expression on the metal statue, lifted his head, and gazed out the window. Although the room maintained a constant temperature, he felt an inexplicable chill in his heart.

Closing his eyes, he gently gathered the Holy Power, writing the characters of Quan He on the ground in front of him.

But when he opened his eyes and looked down, there was nothing there.

It seemed that the Holy Power he had just gathered was merely an illusion, as he felt no change or depletion in the Holy Power within him.

'Can't even leave a trace?' Yu Hong stood up, "It doesn't matter, I definitely won't forget, I can remember!"

Walking to the window, he gazed into the endless darkness outside, motionless for a long time.

In an instant, two years passed.

The Black Black Spirit and the spaceship were still flying through this dark space, with no end in sight, and no Great Annihilation approaching from behind.

Yu Hong's Holy Power had already accumulated to fill his eyes, although slowly, the increase of Holy Power also accelerated the tempering and enhancement of his body.

Essentially, his High-dimensional Snake King bloodline had always been in its initial infant state.

This type of bloodline typically requires development time measured in thousands or even millions of years.

Previously, he couldn't even utilize the strength of the infant state. Now, it was through the cultivation technique provided by the Nine Calculation Heavenly Extreme that he gradually obtained some of the strength of the High-dimensional Snake King's infant state.

At every moment, Yu Hong could feel the flow of Holy Power within him fortifying and transforming his body.

His outer skin remained unchanged, but once he used Inner Vision, he could see that his flesh and bones were all transforming into a semi-transparent golden color.

This was the true manifestation of a high-dimensional being.

The High-dimensional Snake King itself is powerful enough to casually traverse and leap between dimensions. Once Yu Hong fills his entire being with Holy Power, he will truly attain a pseudo-Saint Position, above a Golden Immortal and below a Heavenly Venerate.

However, this process may take a very long time.

Poof.

Colorful Magic Power Fireworks exploded in the spaceship hall's air.

"Cheers!!"

Inside the Aus Spaceship.

All the mages raised their glasses, happily drinking the newly brewed fruit wine.

A self-contained ecological orchard had been newly established inside the spaceship, and using the first harvested batch of fruits, they brewed delicious fruit wine.

This was a great celebration.

During the years, Feng Xuezi and others did not do nothing; instead, they led the reconstruction of various ecological zones.

Such as the grain area, water source area, fruit area, and breeding area.

The circulation of supplies has been maximized, ensuring the most basic survival needs for everyone in this dark space.

After all, no matter how much material is carried, there will always be a time when it runs out.

But with these ecological zones established, even if consumption lasts for thousands of years, there shouldn't be significant issues.

This was undoubtedly great news, so even Yu Hong was invited to join the celebration of the Ecological Festival.

In the spacious rebuilt hall.

People gathered in small groups, holding drinks and chatting as if everything was still in the Floating City.

Various foods were piled on long white tablecloths in silver platters, one after another.

Feng Xuezi and Yu Hong stood in a corner, smiling as they watched this scene.

"As long as we persist, there will always be hope. The Red Sky Fruit can still absorb unknown matter from the surroundings and convert it into Vitality Power. Though it's little, with time, it will accumulate, and one day we can rebuild Qinghe Mountain," Feng Xuezi said softly.

"That's a great thing," Yu Hong nodded, quietly watching the mages in the hall.

These more than a hundred people might become the last seed of humanity.

"By the way, Uncle Master, I recently heard from Ku Chan that there's a strange illness on the ship?" Yu Hong lifted his glass and took a light sip, saying.

"It's not really a strange illness." Speaking of this, Feng Xuezi's expression sank, "It's just that a few mages have developed amnesia."

"Amnesia?" Yu Hong squinted his eyes.

"Yes, do you want to take a look? I'm worried it might be contagious, so I've isolated them separately," Feng Xuezi transmitted his voice.

"Okay." Yu Hong looked at the cheerful scene in the hall and gently nodded.

He understood Feng Xuezi's implications; if it were truly just amnesia, why worry about contagion?

The two quietly left through the spaceship's corridor, going down for two minutes before reaching a circular hall at the bottom.

The hall's walls were lined with identical standard single rooms.

With a sweep of his mana, Feng Xuezi brought the two to a single room door.

Through the viewing window, they could see an elderly mage with white hair standing inside.

He was holding pen and paper, trying hard to calculate something.

"His name is Zhao Yinghe, previously a Level Five Plastic Energy System mage, but a year ago he started showing symptoms of amnesia, often forgetting the most crucial casting materials during work, leading to multiple spell accidents. As a result, Liu Chixuan isolated him alone."

Feng Xuezi paused, continuing.

"Now, he doesn't even remember how to cast spells, only able to circulate mana within himself, but he can't release a single spell."

Yu Hong was silent, his eyes, shrouded in black cloth, watched the old mage for a moment before moving to the second room.

The second room contained a tall, muscular man with short red hair.

"He's Andy Aister, a Level Three mage. His situation is somewhat more severe; he hasn't just forgotten his spellcasting abilities, but even how to channel mana within his body. Now he's just a slightly stronger ordinary person," Feng Xuezi explained.

"Has Uncle-Master examined the situation?" Yu Hong asked.

"Yes, clinically there's nothing wrong. It seems to be a simple case of forgetfulness," Feng Xuezi replied.

Yu Hong said no more, just continued to observe one by one.

There are thirty-two people with severe problems. The symptoms are mild at first, but further along, one mage just sits in a chair blankly, motionless, eyes wide open.

Feng Xuezi told him that this person has even forgotten basic spell meditation and cannot perform simpler calculations; it's as though his intelligence has regressed to that of a young child.

"No bacteria, no toxins, no radiation, it's just like the forgetfulness of dementia," Feng Xuezi sighed. "This phenomenon, perhaps, is not coincidental."

"Are you suggesting this is some kind of peculiar disaster?" Yu Hong asked gravely.

"Senior Fu Bai and I speculate the same," Feng Xuezi nodded. "We plan to try medication for amnesia next, coupled with memory exercises."

"I'll also conduct some tests on my side. Let me know if there are any results," Yu Hongdao said.

"Sure," Feng Xuezi agreed.

Yu Hong left the lower level and after a few drinks with Ku Chan and Yiyi, returned to Black Black Spirit.

Then he tried to use Perception Divine Sense to probe the surrounding environment but found nothing.

The surroundings were empty, not just lacking vacuum particles but even the original particles. No radiation, nothing.

Yu Hong set up various detection arrays, yet still found nothing. He could only leave it be and report the results to Uncle-Master.

Over the next few weeks, Feng Xuezi conducted cognitive tests on everyone in the spaceship one by one.

The results left him exceptionally shocked.

"More than ninety percent of the mages exhibited varying degrees of forgetfulness! Only because the extent wasn't significant, most people hadn't noticed."

Feng Xuezi's expression looked grim on the light screen.

"This isn't normal. In just a few short years, it's impossible to forget so much," Yu Hong nodded.

"We've started implementing all our proposed methods, taking the forgetting cycle into account. We should start seeing results in about a year," Fu Bai interjected nearby. "Unexpectedly, this should be the core danger of this area—forgetting."

"Forgetting..." Yu Hong silently chewed on the word.

"You should also constantly observe your own condition and record as much as you can to avoid forgetting," Fu Bai advised.

"Alright," Yu Hong nodded.

After disconnecting the communication, he looked down at the small female Taoist figurine in his hand, its face blurred yet faintly resembling Quan He.

He paused for a moment.

He stood up, turned on the computer, and rapidly typed the key information he needed to record on the keyboard.

He planned to record the essential memories in various ways, though so far his own forgetting symptoms hadn't appeared severe.

But this was just in case.

As the symptoms of forgetting emerged, everyone in the spaceship became tense again.

Everyone started spontaneously searching for things to leave a record.

Time slowly passed, and another year flew by.

The lower level of the Aus Spaceship.

Yu Hong and Feng Xuezi, Fu Bai, walked together to inspect each of the mages previously under surveillance.

"Things are relatively stable now, with eleven mages in total having issues. From last year till now, through memory recovery exercises and medication reinforcement, we've barely managed to maintain the forgetting level," Feng Xuezi communicated.

"Eleven?" Yu Hong furrowed his brows slightly. "Wasn't it thirty-two?"

"Thirty-two? No, it's always been eleven, hasn't changed," Feng Xuezi responded with confusion.

"...." Yu Hong fell silent and looked at Fu Bai.

Fu Bai also furrowed his eyebrows, closed his eyes, and pondered.

"In my memory, it's indeed only eleven, that's right. Is your memory malfunctioning?"

".... Do you remember how many people there were on the spaceship when Aus Academy left Floating City?" Yu Hong suddenly asked.

"Over a hundred," Fu Bai replied.

Feng Xuezi also nodded.

"Precisely, it's one hundred and forty-nine," he provided an exact number.

"It was over a thousand," Yu Hong said solemnly.

Feng Xuezi and Fu Bai's expressions twitched.

"Are you saying our memories are a problem?"

"Yes... Think about it again; the spaceship couldn't have come here unscathed, right? Where are the people who died along the way?" Yu Hong said in a low voice.

Feng Xuezi and Fu Bai became silent, neither speaking for a moment.

It lasted for more than ten seconds.

"Sorry, what did you just say? I zoned out," Feng Xuezi suddenly rubbed his temples and said blankly.

"Nothing, you just drifted off," Fu Bai smiled beside him.

"I said when the spaceship left, there should have been over a thousand!" Yu Hong grabbed their robes and repeated earnestly.

"Over a thousand?" Feng Xuezi furrowed his brow, contemplating.

But ten seconds later, his eyes twitched again, returning to a dazed expression.

"What was I saying? I zoned out, let's continue examining the following cases,"

"Looks like it's been too tiring lately, I also zoned out just now," Fu Bai echoed wearily nearby.

Yu Hong watched them, slowly releasing his grip on their robes.