CHAPTER 537: CHAPTER D198: THE SKYSCRAPER OF EMOTIONS

"To be honest, I don’t really want to recall that memory now."

The Ancestor, who had mustered a bit of spirit moments ago, now stared blankly again. Her gaze slightly lifted, as if she were looking at the ceiling or gazing into some higher, unreachable place.

"From the outcome, most of our crew died, and when we returned to the sea, the ship was almost half-destroyed. We had to sink it on the spot, relying only on small boats to return to land. As for the treasures collected aboard, naturally less than one-tenth remained.

And I, personally, due to excessive battles and serious injuries, got eroded by Moon Power, losing things that cannot be lost, making lifelong aspirations towards the Palace hopeless."

In the mirror, a petite girl curled up in the chair, let out a long, long sigh.

"Before going to the moon, I was the promising star for tomorrow, the kingdom’s top navigator, a pioneer in renewing humankind’s footprints, a potential adventurer of Gem Rank...

"But after coming back from the moon, I was a Legendary failure, a pauper with exhausted wealth, a shabby noble from a remote countryside, an unnoticed homeless dog..."

A visibly gloomy aura surrounded her.

"Dream or life... Ruined, everything of mine is ruined.

"——But at least, I must leave this intelligence, this information behind, whether for my descendants or unknown others."

Then, the Ancestor raised her head, with a glimmer still in her Emerald Eye.

"Even if it ultimately falls into the hands of the Knowledge Hunter, it doesn’t matter, those Concept Elves understand better how to pass knowledge to those in need."

She lightly jumped off the chair, staring directly at herself in the mirror, yet seemed to be looking at another unfamiliar soul.

"Unknown inheritor——now, I will tell you what the secret of Moon City truly is."

She paused slightly, taking a deep breath as if preparing to face that past anew.

Then the Ancestor calmly spoke:

"The Moon People have long devoured impurity, which due to years of enhancement, has already far surpassed the range that common sense can endure.

"Their abilities and technology have turned Moon City into an unlimited purification incinerator of impure matters, and now that city has fallen into complete rampage.

"Whether it’s intense longing, unnecessary curiosity, excessive sorrow and pain, or even blissful laughter, all are deemed unclean impurity, devoured by the city.

"And because of this excessive purification, the Moon People’s skepticism and fear have long disappeared, even their individuality has become thin, all individuals have become similar, with almost no deviation, so no one questions the current situation.

"As long as it is smeared on white paper, whether it’s a filthy stain or vibrant color, it must be thoroughly erased."

Her voice grew increasingly low, with a trace of barely detectable fear.

"Eventually remaining, and allowed to remain, is only absolute white."

The Ancestor clenched the hem of her dress, crumpling the thin silk into a ball, then released it after a while.

"...If it’s just this, that’s actually not bad.

"The worst outcome is that all Moon People become identical dolls, completely self-destructing after millennia; if later generations want to study them, just study their ruins. Rather, I wish to do the same."

She sighed.

"But the issue is, even though Moon City has devoured those emotions, it doesn’t mean it can completely digest them.

"In my view, its definition of impurity is simply rampage, it’s not surprising that it can’t process it properly, so there will always be some... Although it doesn’t sound good to say — fragments of emotions like excrement remaining, continuously accumulating within the city."

"This isn’t even the worst, what’s more serious is that the Moon People have not only lost the ability to generate emotions, but even the capacity to endure emotions has atrophied and degenerated over long years... really fucking insane——"

The Ancestor cursed in Universal Language.

"Let’s put it this way: if I hear a joke, the happiness value I generate is 10, but my smile threshold is 100, whereas my endurance is infinite, which means I only laugh at very funny jokes, and no matter what joke I hear, I won’t laugh myself to death, normal people wouldn’t, whether I’m Legendary or not doesn’t matter.

"But the Moon People, they hear this joke, maybe the happiness value is a pitiful 0.1, the smile threshold is 10, and the endurance limit could be only 100, or even lower — to ordinary people slightly intense emotional fluctuations are devastating to them."

"Although they usually act very bland, upon receiving emotions exceeding the limit, they would directly collapse, like laughing themselves to death for a funny joke, or sorrowfully ending themselves for a sad story..."

The Ancestor slumped back into the chair, powerless and listless like her soul had been drained.

"In other words, most of the Moon People within that Moon City are already empty containers, fragile as thin paper at the bottom. Just a drop of emotional water can break the container instantly, no matter how patched it is, it’s futile, only taking them and everything into the Abyss of Madness.

"Namely——Hollow Disaster."

The gloomy voice echoed in the room, the Ancestor’s words softly spoken in Moon Language, slightly distorting the light, eerie colorful blurred shadows swayed, causing dizziness.