At the same time, Zane, who was busy arranging activities for the Moon-Chasing Festival, suddenly felt his eyelid twitch.
A strange aura rode in on a gust of wind, sweeping the papers off the table before slamming them back down. That abnormal presence quickly spread through the area around Moon Tree House.
Feeling the unusual atmosphere enveloping the surroundings, Zane's brows knitted tightly together.
If he wasn't mistaken… a Sonoro Sphere had appeared nearby.
"Tch. Of all times…"
Over the next few days, more and more tourists would be arriving at Peach Blossom Village. If this Sonoro Sphere were left alone, countless innocent people could end up caught in it.
And of all times, Rover and Stelle had gone off to handle the child king Xiaoman's wish.
At that thought, Zane let out a helpless sigh and sprinted toward the source of the abnormal aura.
Sure enough, he really was born to be a wage slave.
Very soon, he pushed aside the last branch blocking his path, and the silhouettes of a person and a machine entered his view.
"Xiangli Yao? And… Little Robot?!"
At that moment, Xiangli Yao stood with his back toward him. Through his body, Zane could clearly see that the screen on Little Robot's face, which normally displayed expressions, had been replaced by a strange swirling vortex streaked with electric currents.
Without question, Little Robot was the entrance to the abnormal Sonoro Sphere.
"Silent Zone… hatred… Pascal… world…"
Little Robot's intermittent electronic voice drifted out from its speaker like a venomous curse. Just hearing it sent chills down one's spine.
But Zane had no time to care whether he had goosebumps or not.
"Pascal? Wasn't he already…"
Muttering in confusion, Zane quickly crossed the distance to Xiangli Yao's side. After hesitating for a moment, he lightly patted him on the shoulder.
As a friend, Zane naturally knew the name Pascal.
He had once been one of Xiangli Yao's closest friends. The two were inseparable, living and researching together. Until one day, due to an accident, Pascal died during a Sea Erosion phenomenon.
If this Sonoro Sphere was connected to Pascal, then Pascal must have been trying to tell Xiangli Yao something.
Feeling the familiar presence beside him, Xiangli Yao let out a long breath. The gloom on his face eased slightly as well.
"It should be some kind of resonance triggered by the frequency concentration within Little Robot that caused the Sonoro Sphere to form."
"So what are you planning to do?", As Zane spoke, he lightly punched Xiangli Yao in the chest. That one punch seemed to bring some spirit back into him.
"Yeah… If we notify the Midnight Rangers… they might mistake it for another war breaking out… Especially after such a huge battle. Their nerves are still stretched tight…"
"How about you go deal with it, then?"
Hearing that, Xiangli Yao immediately laughed and cursed at him before returning the punch.
"And what about you? Don't tell me you're planning to dump everything on someone else again. Or are you going to call Rover back to handle this dangerous Sonoro Sphere?"
Zane could tell Xiangli Yao had deliberately emphasized the word "dangerous."
It was obviously meant as provocation.
But who was he?
Jinzhou's little overlord. Moon Tree House's second boss. Zane, undefeated across Mount Firmament.
How could he possibly fall for such a basic taunt?
"Fine! For Rover's sake, I'm going in!"
There was no helping it. Xiangli Yao had brought up Rover.
Seeing Zane still acting tough, Xiangli Yao smiled silently and decided not to tease him further. It wasn't exactly news that this guy was soft-hearted beneath all the bluster.
"Alright, alright. For Rover's sake. Later, I'll make sure to tell her…"
Before Xiangli Yao could finish speaking, Zane had already jumped into the Sonoro Sphere.
'As long as I didn't hear it, it doesn't count as being said.'
———
Zane had met Pascal before.
He still remembered that day clearly. Back then, Pascal had been instilling his beliefs into the young Xiangli Yao.
"I suggest you stop playing with those people all the time. The path of the wise is a lonely one.
The ones who can't keep up with us should be cut off sooner rather than later. It's better for both sides."
Perhaps, just as Pascal said, some truths were worth trading everything in life to obtain, and ordinary human relationships were nothing but burdens.
And it was precisely because of those words that Zane abandoned any thought of getting closer to him.
In Zane's impression, Pascal was a genius.
And like many geniuses, he shared the same flaws, obsession and arrogance.
Zane slowly opened his eyes.
What entered his sight was a laboratory that felt both familiar and strange.
The bottles and containers arranged across the experimental table, the inscrutable data displayed on the monitors, the children's toys piled in the corners…
He had known Xiangli Yao since childhood and had often been invited to play in his father's laboratory. And the owner of this laboratory before him was none other than Xiangli Yao's father.
At that moment, a wrinkled magazine lay quietly on the experiment table before Zane. Printed on it was an interview with Xiangli Yao's father.
"You seem like a free-spirited person with a rich imagination, so please allow me to ask this, do you bring that imagination into your Mechanism research?"
"Before answering that question, let's raise our heads slightly. Through the window above us, you can see the starry sky. What's the first thing you notice? And if we continue increasing the distance, what else would we see?"
Following the question posed in the interview, Zane lifted his head and looked upward.
Even though he was inside a Sonoro Sphere, that didn't hinder his thoughts in the slightest.
After all, the sky beyond the sky could never be measured by human eyes alone.
That remained true regardless of whether one was inside a Sonoro Sphere or not.
At first glance, you could see the stars and moon.
Maybe there was a shining planet somewhere, where countless Giants of Light wielding glowing saw blades fought tirelessly to preserve peace throughout the universe.
"So, is that imagination? To return to your earlier question, I've never needed to consciously bring those things into research. They're simply instinct."
"Too many researchers nowadays focus excessively on the results and meaning behind theories. Can they change the world? Will they benefit humanity?"
I've watched those people abandon many things, including imagination itself. I'm not denying their beliefs. After disasters, there's nothing wrong with devoting oneself to meaningful theories and inventions, but…"
"I simply want to remind everyone not to forget the original purpose of science. All that matters is how to achieve it. As for what it means… haha."
Reading the words recorded in the magazine, Zane sincerely envied Xiangli Yao for having a father like that.
Beyond all else, the only thing he expected from his son was for Xiangli Yao to protect the qualities of intellect.
What was intellect?
It was the deep understanding and wise expression of the world's essence formed through the fusion of rational thought, accumulated knowledge, and emotional experience.
A scientist should first and foremost be "human."
Not a machine obsessed solely with final success.
And Xiangli Yao had inherited his father's will. He used science to study people's wishes. Little Robot, this wish-analysis device, was the embodiment of his scientific humanity.
"Though speaking of which… could this be the final abnormal wish data?"
Only now did Zane finally have time to think things through.
The first wish had been about Xiaosheng and the cooperation and friendship between companions, rediscovering the desire to explore research.
The second wish had been about the inheritance of knowledge, passed from Heying to Xiuyuan, then onward through generations of soldiers.
The third wish… perhaps Xiaoman didn't simply want to become a hero. Perhaps what he truly wanted was recognition from others.
And all of these…
Zane looked at the Sonoro Sphere beginning to churn once more before him. He knew he was about to be transported somewhere else.
"These… perhaps they were Pascal's wishes."