Alien Hotel.

Chapter 676 Ripples
The wind on the mountain disturbed the clouds, blowing past the banners and energy barriers of the temple atop the mountain, yet the Supreme Temple felt no chill from the mountain peaks—beneath the solemn and magnificent pillars and the light-shrouded dome, the voice of the Holy Throne echoed gently in everyone's ears.

"...The new angel catalyst will be delivered to the home planet within three days. Once the catalyst arrives and completes testing, it will be immediately put into the 'Holy Furnace,' which will become the 'key' to the Gate of Eden, completing the final step on our path to holiness."

"During the opening of the Gates of Eden... the borders should be sealed off, and the Holy Land should not be disturbed."

"We must be wary of complacency and negligence caused by pride. Our compatriots must not relax until the final moment arrives... Hundreds of years of arduous exploration are now only one step away..."

Grendel lowered his head, listening attentively to the Holy See's teachings. Then he heard someone speak: "Holy See, our recent operations in the border region have been repeatedly thwarted. They may have already noticed something... Should we make preparations soon?"

The sound was somewhat jarring, and Grendel instinctively gripped the armrests of his wheelchair, but he quickly relaxed, feigning indifference to the problem.

It's just a dull ache below the knee.

The blond man standing on the steps still wore his usual warm smile. He looked at the priest who had asked the question, his light blue eyes showing approval: "We never underestimate our opponents—those heretics have already caused us considerable losses, and I can foresee that they will cause trouble again in unexpected ways this time. Suspend operations in the border region, and recall the teams operating in the Unified Sector. We have obtained the Angelic Catalyst; the focus now is to ensure the Gate of Eden remains intact."

The priest nodded in agreement, and then another person spoke up: "What should we do with the 'skeleton'? Can the new catalyst completely replace it?"

The Holy See pondered for a few seconds this time.

"The catalyst still needs testing, and the Gate of Eden must remain in its current state for the time being—the 'energy field' will continue to operate at low power. If the skeletons show any further abnormalities, we will deploy prepared psionicists... The New World will remember their sacrifice."

"Yes, Holy See."

"What are the arrangements for Ranch Star? The last fluctuation of the Gate of Eden created a large-scale psionic anomaly on the surface of that planet, causing the quality of this batch of selected 'seeds' to be very unstable, which may affect the production of artificial saintesses and knights..."

"Then let's pause the selection process and wait for the planet's environment to stabilize. The seeds that have already been selected can be processed as usual, and there's no need to worry about slight fluctuations in yield."

"understand……"

Important matters were discussed and sorted out one by one. The Holy See's voice carried a convincing and relaxing power. Grendel, head bowed, pondered the new angelic catalyst, the Secret Service, and a certain "cursed doll." But then, he suddenly "heard" some noise in his thoughts, as if some unsettling information had been injected directly into his cognition. A series of terrifying visions flashed through his mind—

He saw the planet collapse, the mountains of the sacred realm shatter into pieces, he saw rivers boil, and the water on the planet's surface evaporate into space in an instant—the earth's crust tore apart before his eyes, dark entities burst forth from the planet's interior, and a huge, pitch-black celestial body swallowed everything...

A faint rumbling sound came from the real world, shattering the illusion in Grendel's mind. He hurriedly looked up and saw that everyone else was looking in the same direction.

Deep in the mountains, amidst the sea of ​​clouds, a dazzling aurora suddenly appeared in the atmosphere, the sky darkened rapidly, as if night had fallen early, and then the aurora slowly swept across the cloud tops, igniting the clouds like a "heat curtain," and the sea of ​​fire boiled in the clouds.

The blond man standing on the steps remained calm as he pointed to the spreading sea of ​​fire. Then, a massive psionic illusion suddenly appeared behind him—the illusion towered above the temple, wore a radiant crown, and had eyes as bright as the sun.

The Holy See slowly lowered his palm, and the sea of ​​psionic fire spreading in the clouds and the aurora "heat curtain" generated in the air instantly trembled violently. Then, all of this was crushed and eliminated by the powerful force, and finally calmed down.

The sky brightened again.

The great sages were still in shock, and only after everything returned to normal did they all breathe a sigh of relief. Grendel wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and looked at the blond figure on the steps with awe.

“The Gate of Eden is urging us once again. It needs purer energy and a key closer to ‘essence’,” the Holy See said gently. “We don’t have much time left, my fellow citizens—go and prepare in advance to welcome the angelic catalyst. Everything must be ready before the ‘Dark Star’ cruiser returns.”

The priests gathered in the main hall received their orders and then left the council chamber in order. Grendel followed behind them, sitting in his wheelchair and "walking" towards one of the archways.

But just then, a gentle voice came from the steps not far away: "Gorendall, you stay."

Grendel was startled and quickly stopped in front of the steps.

The priests around cast curious glances, but quickly looked away under the silent gaze of the two living saints beside the Holy See and hurriedly left.

After everyone else had left, only the Holy See, the two living saints, and Görendel himself remained.

The latter adjusted his position in the wheelchair with some unease. He felt that the two "living saints" who were filled with psychic energy and had blurred faces seemed to be staring at him. Their light-cast faces had an unsettling coldness about them.

But the Holy See smiled gently and even stepped down from the steps to stand before Görendel.

Gorrendel lowered his head in trepidation: "Your Holiness, you asked me to stay..."

"Can you see things that others can't?" The voice of the Holy See came from above, carrying the same reassuring power as always.

Grendel paused, then looked up sharply at those smiling, light blue eyes. "When the Gate of Eden fluctuated just now, did you see any signs? Could you tell me about them?" the Holy See asked again, his tone as friendly as if he were just chatting with a friend.

Grendel realized what was happening, a look of astonishment crossing his face: "I... I saw some hallucinations, could it be that someone else..."

“Yes, it seems only you can see it,” the Holy See nodded slightly, but his gaze fell on the other’s severed leg. “You see, the suffering in your destiny is not meaningless. This curse from the heretics has left a mark on your soul, and it has awakened your connection with the Gate of Eden… Gorendall, can you tell me now what you just saw?”

Gorrendel was momentarily stunned by those eyes, but joy quickly filled his heart.

“Yes, yes, Holy See! I did see something…”

……

"Ah! He's dead! He was just one sliver of blood away from dying!!"

Suddenly, Eileen (lotus root) and Eileen (light clay) started screaming on the coffee table. Then the two dolls began banging on the coffee table and loudly babble on and on—about the terrible monster mechanics being a complete disaster, the keyboard lag being too high, their fingers not feeling good today, Yu Sheng's computer specs being too low, the screen lagging, the hit notification being too dim, the mouse eating rat poison and dying, Luna blocking the Wi-Fi signal at the top of the stairs, and the fox fur getting into their joints causing their elbows to slip…

To put it simply, if Little Red Riding Hood asked Rapunzel why she hadn't done her homework last week, Rapunzel wouldn't come up with so many reasons all at once.

Yu Sheng was sitting on the sofa, texting on his phone, when he heard the little doll making noises. He looked up and immediately saw the huge, blood-red character for "vegetable" on the screen.

"...How long have you been fighting this boss? If it's really too much, we can skip it. It's not like it's a mandatory part of the main story."

"No way!" the little clay figure said angrily, then sat down cross-legged and picked up the mouse again. "I've almost mastered this, I've memorized all its moves, but I don't know why I got distracted just now..."

Another little doll (Lotus Root) also returned to the keyboard: "Yu Sheng, just you wait! This time I will definitely cut him down..."

Yu Sheng watched as the two Eileens sat in front of the computer again, making a ruckus, and didn't say anything, just smiled and shook his head.

A soft snoring sound came from beside him.

The fox was lying on the ground nearby, curled up and hugging its tail, fast asleep. It was afternoon, the sun was shining brightly, and the floor heating was very warm. After eating its fill, the fox girl found a warm spot on the ground as usual and started to sleep. She didn't wake up even though Eileen was playing games and making noises that sounded like she was destroying the house. Her snores were even and soft.

Yu Sheng looked at the fox girl who had drooled all over her tail, and suddenly reached out and touched the back of her ear with his finger.

The fox was fast asleep and hadn't woken up at all, but its ears still twitched reflexively a few times.

Yu Sheng smiled happily, much like Eileen, and reached out to touch her again.

The furry, pointed ear twitched even more violently.

Yu Sheng adjusted the position of his fingers, and then the ear started flapping as if it had an electric motor...

Yu Sheng: "Hehe..."

He had only chuckled halfway through when he heard footsteps coming from the basement. Looking up, he saw a pair of wide, vertical pupils staring at him through the railing at the stairwell. Those eyes were full of surprise and tension—Momo stared, and one of the cat ears on its head instinctively folded back.

It's like an intern running off to report to the big boss, only to unexpectedly stumble upon the big boss lying on the ground pretending to fight with plastic figurines while making "biubiubiu" noises.

Yu Sheng didn't feel embarrassed at all. Perhaps because he dealt with a lot of demons and monsters, his "daily baseline" was always in a very relaxed state, and his mind was very free. When he saw the cat head pop out of the basement, he happily greeted people: "Momo? What brings you here? Have you eaten yet?"

The snoring fox on the ground suddenly opened its eyes: "It's mealtime again?!"

Momo was startled, and even her mechanical ear drooped down: "I... Luo... Boss... Ah! Sister Luo asked me to come find you. She said she has roughly calculated the coordinates of the Hidden Cult's illegal Star Gate!"

The leopard looked around groggily, then lay back down and mumbled, "It's not served yet..."

Yu Sheng suddenly stood up: "So fast?"

“Yes, yes,” Momo nodded repeatedly, “Sister Luo said that the ‘Dark Star’ cruiser was in a hurry when it returned, and the light speed ripples leaking from the superluminal core were not cleaned up properly, exposing crucial data…”

(End of this chapter)