It wasn't just that.
Lagus discovered that the torch not only turned the 64-meter radius into an uncontrollable zone, but the torch itself was also constantly generating useless information!
For example, seawater evaporation, water pressure squeezing, and other such useless information were being repeatedly submitted to the Authority System.
Although handling this useless information was extremely simple for the Authority System, Lagus realized a problem: What if that man had more than one such torch in his hand?
Or what if he had something other than a torch?
Quantitative changes can trigger qualitative changes.
Lagus secretly made up his mind that contact with Fu Zhu must be put on the agenda; it absolutely could not be delayed any longer.
........
Deep in the ocean.
After Fu Zhu confirmed that the monsters were no longer spawning continuously, he waved at Halicula.
Halicula immediately swam over.
"What's wrong?"
"The matter is resolved. Let's go back."
Halicula nodded, holding her sword to swim in front of Fu Zhu, leading the way.
Although new monsters didn't appear because of the Mega Torch, the Black Tide monsters that had appeared before were still there, and they were all gathered outside the range of the torch, staring at them covetously.
Halicula carried her weapon, forcefully hacking a path through the monster horde, and even found time to turn her head and signal Fu Zhu to keep up.
Fu Zhu followed behind Halicula.
"Shall I do it?"
Fu Zhu saw that she was struggling a bit to handle so many monsters alone, so he planned to make a move himself.
Halicula, however, shook her head and replied earnestly.
"No, you have helped us a lot. Your strength should be saved; use it to protect yourself."
Although she wasn't clear on exactly how strong Fu Zhu was, the Siren race always repaid kindness with kindness. She couldn't let Fu Zhu keep contributing here while she just watched from the side.
Seeing her say this, Fu Zhu didn't insist anymore. Although these Black Tide monsters looked numerous, Halicula seemed capable of handling them, so he would just hold the line from the side.
Not long after, Halicula finally led Fu Zhu out of the Black Tide monsters' encirclement. Just at this moment, the Siren Queen led her troops to arrive in support, helping Halicula kill all the remaining Black Tide monsters.
The Siren Queen swam to the two of them, sized them up carefully, and only breathed a long sigh of relief after confirming that neither Fu Zhu nor Halicula had any injuries.
"It is wonderful that you two are alright."
Seeing the Queen arrive, Halicula immediately welcomed her, impatiently recounting the miraculous method Fu Zhu had just used.
"My Queen, you don't know! Just now, Fu Zhu used only a single torch to suppress the spawning of the Black Tide!"
"Hmm?"
The Siren Queen looked at Fu Zhu with a face full of astonishment, then nodded at him gratefully.
"Many thanks for your help, sir. This place is not suitable for conversation. Please follow us back to Phajina and allow us to properly thank you, alright?"
Fu Zhu had this intention as well. He originally planned to inquire about some matters, so he didn't refuse the Siren Queen's proposal.
"Then I'll be imposing."
The Siren Queen nodded, leaving behind a portion of the Siren warriors to clean up the aftermath, and then brought the remaining people and Fu Zhu back toward the Phajina Kingdom together.
Returning to the initial battle line, Fu Zhu swept a glance around. The seawater here was mixed with traces of various colors; severed limbs and broken arms floated everywhere, among which were the corpses of quite a few Siren warriors.
Halicula also noticed this scene, and her small face turned pale.
She never imagined that even with Fu Zhu's assistance, the Siren race still lost so many. She didn't dare to think how miserable the Siren race would have been without Fu Zhu.
The Siren Queen noticed the expression on her face, sighed softly, and reached out to pat her head.
"Let's go. Go back and use the liveliest banquet and songs to console these departed warriors. Their sacrifice was not in vain; Phajina still stands."
Halicula, with a pale face, pursed her lips and nodded.
Here, Fu Zhu also found Triya, who was being protected by the Sirens and was unharmed. It was just that there wasn't a trace of blood on her face either. Only when she saw Fu Zhu waving at her did she manage to squeeze out a smile and swim over. Then she stretched out her small hand to pinch Fu Zhu's body everywhere, breathing a sigh of relief only after confirming Fu Zhu wasn't injured.
"It's good that you came back safe and sound."
Fu Zhu laughed. "Among the people present, you should be the clearest about my strength, Tribios."
"Call me Triya. We aren't considered Tribios anymore right now."
"Alright."
While Fu Zhu exchanged pleasantries with Triya, the Queen finished leading them away from the front line and back to the Phajina Kingdom.
The Phajina Kingdom was not much different from the city in Fu Zhu's perception. They carved natural giant corals into houses and used scallop shells as beds. Even the street lamps were replaced by Luminous Pearls, giving people a kind of fairy-tale world feeling.
As the grand army returned to the city, quite a few Sirens swam out of their own houses or poked their heads out. Subsequently, one by one, they began to applaud with joyful smiles, welcoming them with the most beautiful singing voices.
"How does it feel?"
Seeing Fu Zhu looking around, Halicula swam to his side.
Fu Zhu took a look at her. Her face didn't look as pale as before, but the smile at the corners of her mouth was a bit forced.
"Pretty good. But you... are you okay?"
Halicula's eyes dimmed for a moment, but she still nodded.
"Mhm. Queen was right; their sacrifice was not in vain. Everyone being able to sing here to welcome our return is the best proof."
Fu Zhu gave a hum of acknowledgment. Seeing the Phajina Palace in his field of view, he didn't continue chatting on this topic.
After entering the palace, Halicula escorted Fu Zhu to a guest room.
"Fu Zhu, you rest here first. We'll go prepare tonight's banquet. I'll come call you later."
"Okay."
Fu Zhu responded, then suddenly froze for a moment.
"Tonight?"
"Yeah, what's wrong?" Halicula looked at Fu Zhu with a strange expression, not understanding why he cared about this.
Fu Zhu was somewhat concerned. When entering the kingdom earlier, he checked his altitude; it wasn't deep below the sea surface. Sunlight should be able to shine in. But before and after entering Phajina, it was pitch black. If he didn't have night vision, it would be hard to see things clearly.
More importantly, according to the time displayed by the minimap's auxiliary function, right now should be afternoon in Amphoreus local time!
"I'm just a little curious. Isn't it afternoon right now? Why can't I see a bit of sunlight?"
Who knew that as soon as Fu Zhu said this, Halicula looked over with a face full of astonishment.
"Fu Zhu, don't you know that the sun has been gone from Amphoreus for a long time?"
Halicula's words made Fu Zhu slightly stunned. Just what had happened in Amphoreus during the thirty-five years he was away?
Halicula didn't explain much more. After leaving a sentence—"I'll go call Miss Messenger over"—she left.
Fu Zhu could only walk into the room and sit down to rest. Not long after, Triya knocked on the door and walked in.
"Fu Zhu."
Triya called out softly. Fu Zhu looked toward her, waved his hand, and signaled her to sit down and talk.
Once Triya sat down, Fu Zhu immediately asked about the matter just now.
"Triya, what exactly happened in the thirty-five years I wasn't here?"
Triya stared at Fu Zhu for two seconds, nodded lightly, and began to slowly recount some of the major events that happened in these thirty-five years.
A few days after Fu Zhu left, an unexpected accident befell the Sky Titan. Amphoreus plunged into Eternal Night. Only the Holy City, illuminated by the Dawn Machine, could still allow people to live normal lives. The rest of the kingdoms and cities fell into darkness.
And those Black Tide monsters also invaded the various kingdoms and cities after the Eternal Night descended.
"And We began to run among the various cities and kingdoms, recruiting and persuading those Chrysos Heirs to join the Journey of Chasing Fire to complete the prophecy's 'Recreating the World' and save Amphoreus."
Hearing this sentence, Fu Zhu instantly became spirited.
Journey of Chasing Fire? Recreating the World?
Isn't this the 'Journey of Chasing Fire where Xing and Dan Heng need to assist' mentioned by Elio?
"What is the Journey of Chasing Fire all about?"
"Um..."
Triya placed her finger on her own lips, thought carefully for a moment, and summarized it with concise vocabulary.
"Roughly speaking, it is to let the Chrysos Heirs accept the Coreflame through the Titan's trial, then return the Coreflame in a special ritual. According to the prophecy, once all Coreflames are returned, the world can be recreated, saving Amphoreus."
"Then how is your progress now?"
Speaking of this, Triya was a bit embarrassed.
"We... have currently returned... one."
The corner of Fu Zhu's mouth twitched. "The Coreflame of the [Gateway] Titan?"
Triya gave a weak 'Mhm'. They had no choice either. Currently, many kingdoms and cities were somewhat hostile toward Chrysos Heirs. Plus, the prophecy sounded too illusory and ethereal to those Chrysos Heirs; they didn't feel Amphoreus was facing an imminent disaster, so very few people were willing to participate.
Just as Triya was feeling somewhat discouraged, Fu Zhu's hand pressed gently on top of her head.
"Don't worry. In the future, two heroes will fall from the sky to help you finish the Journey of Chasing Fire."
Triya raised her head, placing her small hand on the back of Fu Zhu's hand.
"Mhm, then We will wait for that day in the future you spoke of."
Afterward, Fu Zhu and she chatted for a while longer. Fu Zhu also learned from Triya's mouth that Halicula was her target for this trip—one of the chosen Chrysos Heirs.
And he also learned of a characteristic of Chrysos Heirs, which was that blood as golden as gold flowed within their bodies.
........
Evening time. The banquet began.
Fu Zhu and Triya were brought to the venue early by Halicula and arranged in seats flanking the host, demonstrating the Phajina Kingdom's regard for them.
Triya sat in her seat, placing her hands on her lap with extreme restraint. Meanwhile, Fu Zhu, who was leisurely crossing his legs watching this scene, couldn't help but be amused and immediately teased her.
"What's this? The dignified former Saintess, haven't you participated in this kind of banquet before?"
"Of course not!"
Triya glared at Fu Zhu with annoyance, then said with some nervousness, "Before you came, the Siren Queen actually didn't believe what We said, just like the other monarchs. Her attitude toward the Journey of Chasing Fire was also very ambiguous."
"Although they didn't... bully us like those in other kingdoms, their attitude wasn't considered too good either. They just treated us as travelers passing by the Phajina Kingdom by chance."
"Until you appeared..."
Triya's face became increasingly ugly. She couldn't help but recall the things she had encountered in other countries before—painful moments playing out in her body.
"Did something happen?"
Fu Zhu softened his tone, asking gently beside her.
Triya was just about to say it was nothing, but in the next second, an intense pain welled up within her body. Triya's small face turned pale in an instant. Her entire person collapsed powerlessly to the side, fortunately caught by Fu Zhu in time.
"Triya? What's wrong with you?"
Fu Zhu hurriedly pulled a Golden Apple from his backpack and tried to stuff it into Triya's mouth, but Triya reached out to block it. A few teardrops fell from the corners of her eyes, but they quickly merged with the seawater.
"Another 'me' died..."
Another? Died?
Fu Zhu frowned, instantly having some bad conjectures in his heart.
He knew that Tribios had turned into a thousand Triyas (fragments). Then, the 'another me' Triya mentioned dying referred to her Tribios fragments.
"Does this kind of thing happen often?"
Fu Zhu began to feel some pity for the girl in his arms. Clearly, she herself had passed quite well, yet she stubbornly chose to embark on this road of no return to save the common people. Now, she even had to constantly experience the pain of another self dying.
Triya barely squeezed out a trace of a smile in Fu Zhu's embrace, reaching out her small hand to gently pat the back of Fu Zhu's hand to comfort him.
"It's okay. We knew long ago that things like this would happen. But no need to worry. Of the one thousand us, as long as one succeeds, that's good enough!"
Looking at her like this, Fu Zhu sighed and didn't say anything more. Instead, he waved to summon Halicula, who was busy in the distance, and asked her if she had anything that could alleviate someone's pain.
The milk and Golden Apples in his own hands could only play a recovery and debuff-clearing role, but he was afraid they would be useless against Triya.
"Wait a moment."
Halicula swam away quickly and returned a moment later carrying a bottle of something that looked like wine. She poured a full small wine cup and handed it to Triya's lips, feeding her sip by sip.
"This is the fine brew of our Siren race. It should be able to have some effect."
After Triya drank the fine brew in small sips, her eyes began to droop involuntarily. Finally, she fell into a deep sleep directly in Fu Zhu's arms. The willow-leaf eyebrows that were originally furrowed tightly also relaxed at this moment.
"I'll have someone take her down to rest."
"Mhm, sorry to trouble you guys."
Halicula took Triya from Fu Zhu's arms, then called a Siren to carry Triya away from the banquet. She herself sat down smoothly in Triya's original seat, looking sideways at Fu Zhu.
"Fu Zhu, I wanted to ask before. You aren't an Amphorean, are you?"