Cyber Era Witch
Chapter 698 - 584 Great River Goddess

Chapter 698: Chapter 584 Great River Goddess

For Little Farosa, this day was also one to remember.

After finishing their meal and leaving the restaurant to head home, she looked to her left, where Xu Yang held her hand, and to her right, where Rinne held the other.

Out of shyness, she did not call them mom and dad, but she thought that doing so would surely make her even happier.

The care she had once lacked was now truly bestowed upon her.

"Where do you want to go and play?" Rinne tugged at Little Farosa’s hand.

"Thank you, but no need," Little Farosa said shyly.

Rinne felt very happy when she heard such a beautiful little girl thanking her.

"So adorable," Rinne said with a slight smile.

At that moment, Little Farosa felt a strong call; she quickened her pace and her expression subtly changed, allowing that summons to descend upon her.

When they arrived at the entrance of Nestor Headquarters, Little Farosa gripped Xu Yang’s hand tightly.

Sensing something amiss, Xu Yang asked Rinne to leave first, in order to avoid any immediate danger.

Although Little Farosa didn’t say anything, Xu Yang felt that Farosa was using Little Farosa’s form to glimpse at him.

Farosa had awoken, maybe for just a moment, but she had indeed awakened from her slumber.

"Let’s go somewhere secluded to talk," Xu Yang led Little Farosa back to his workspace on a higher floor.

He entered the corridor where Little Fool was playing next door, and Xu Yang quietly shut the door, letting Little Fool entertain herself.

"Did you feel it?" Little Farosa looked up.

"I sensed a greater power, your power," Xu Yang said, knowing he needed to flatter her continually to prevent her from harboring any resentment.

A formidable power spread out all around them; at this moment, Farosa’s consciousness projected onto Little Farosa.

Little Farosa’s gaze at Xu Yang changed, becoming more inscrutable and mysterious.

"You have overexploited Clares the Second; it now lies at the bottom of the sea with grave injuries, on the verge of death. I will need to personally visit and salvage it in the future," murmured Little Farosa. "Luckily, I control the Law of Recovery, and injury and sacrifice are simply parts of their life. But my brief awakening is not for this reason; it is hunger and new temptations calling out to me."

"Do you want to eat something?" Xu Yang asked, curious.

"Take me to the map room."

Xu Yang carried Little Farosa into the map room, where the table provided a comprehensive view of the Eastern Hemisphere’s world map.

"Here, here, and here... what do you see?" Little Farosa knelt over the map, her fingers sliding from the central mountain range of the Eastern Hemisphere downwards to the Southern Region and out to sea near Jialong Slope.

"Several rivers, famous waterways of the Southern Region... the Golden Cicada River," Xu Yang observed closely.

This river was known for its breadth and abundance, nourishing countless acres of rice fields in the Southern Region. Located between Xia and the Taiya Archipelago, with White Elephant Continent to its west, Jialong Slope was its largest city.

"The Great River Goddess lies asleep in the Golden Cicada River, and she is in the process of waking up," Little Farosa scrutinized the map’s rivers. Her voice was very cold as Xu Yang looked around the room and noticed countless rifts suddenly appearing out of nowhere, casting the twinkling light of a thousand stars.

Farosa had grown so powerful that even the mere presence of part of her consciousness could affect reality.

Seeing the starlight shining through the air, Xu Yang realized Farosa had made significant progress in her cultivation. He pulled up a chair to sit and started researching and collecting news related to the Great River Goddess.

"The people in the Southern Region once worshipped the Great River Goddess, but in the year 34 on July 0, a joint operation was launched by the Southern Territory Rubber Company, Yongyi Intercontinental Group, and Taiya Enterprise Alliance... July 0?" Xu Yang browsed through anonymous deep web records about mysticism and suddenly came across an eerie date.

"Yes, the Great River Goddess lives in the 0 days between July and August, those she stole from the entire world," Little Farosa concentrated on the river on the map.

"So July and August were supposed to have a 31st day?" Xu Yang was skeptical.

"Right... in the old calendars, there were 365 days a year, but now we only have 363 days every year."

Upon catching this information, Xu Yang continued to track the events and news around the end of June and beginning of July in the Southern Region.

"On July 0 of the year 34, which is 120 years ago, a joint operation by the three companies deployed a mobile task force of at least 1700 people to purge 50 major river nymph monasteries within the territory of the Southern Region. They burned them down using incendiary bombs. They began their operation at 11:30 on June 30, and by 0:00 on July 1, their operation had already ended. Since then, both the monasteries and the task force vanished without a trace. Nine years later, the Corporate Alliance funded the construction of a dam upstream of the Golden Cicada River, causing the downstream water level to drop by a third, leading to a severe drought that lasted 30 years. The drought gradually weakened and eventually disappeared, but an entire generation starved to death."

"The Southern Region is such a dangerous place, and now it’s July 20," said Little Farosa gravely.

"Twenty days have passed since July 0," Xu Yang noted.

"If the Great River Goddess’s surviving followers still wish to summon her at Jialong Slope, they must have done something 20 days ago. Check it out, quick."

"The situation at Jialong Slope is very chaotic..." Xu Yang searched for news.

This July, small groups of people wandered around the former sites of the river nymph monasteries, as if reminiscing about the ancient stone temples that stood there in ancient times.

A painter surnamed Wu, renowned for spirit channeling, came upon hearing praises and explored the nearby region. After returning home, he produced a series of 20 large paintings featuring sandy pagodas, pools, and ancient temples. Each painting bore the figure of a peacock with colorful plumes, after which the painter drowned himself.

These painting sets, famous for their retro art style, are currently being auctioned off, and many corporations have come to acquire them upon hearing the news. The arrival of related outsiders made Jialong Slope even more chaotic.

"The position of the Great River Goddess is ’memory,’ she is an Ancient Mystic who controls memory and forgetfulness. I think, on July 0, someone definitely came to the Southern Region amidst the chaos of the present world, attempting to awaken the Great River Goddess. That peacock is one of the legendary messengers of the Great River Goddess," Little Farosa’s hand lightly pressed on the entirety of the Southern Region.

"Then what about 10 days later, on August 0? Will the Great River Goddess truly awaken then?" Xu Yang scrutinized the underlying threat.

The ancient power of the Southern Region was undoubtedly deeply rooted, this Ancient Mystic wielded the authority over memory and forgetfulness, and if Xu Yang was not mistaken, those who faced her power might either forget everything or be overwhelmed by the vast knowledge and memory.

"We can’t risk allowing an Ancient Mystic who has already been defeated by the Corporate Alliance to return. We have to defeat her messengers and devour part of her power," Little Farosa mused.

"It seems Jialong Slope is becoming even more important."

"All I can say is, if we dispatch forces to Jialong Slope at this time, we either need to withdraw quickly, or..." Little Farosa’s foot slammed down on Jialong Slope on the map, "take advantage of the time before she awakens, and annihilate her."

"Not just us, other corporations and Mystics’ forces will surely send people to intervene. I fear a great battle on the secret front will break out at Jialong Slope," Xu Yang observed carefully.

"Other entities will also send people, trying to erase the traces of the Great River Goddess, because her memory is too rich. She knows all the weaknesses and original injuries of the Mystics, and it was she who reminded Mond how to kill Orcian, and eventually, I performed the task," Little Farosa murmured softly.

"So, if we can defeat or control the Great River Goddess, we would also seize the opportunity to confront all Mystics?"

"She remembers everything, from the era of the Ancients to the era of strife and revolution, to the period of the five Empresses, the Council, and even the Witch Wars and the modern era of corporations. I think it is because she knew too much that her Secret Ritual Group was uprooted," Little Farosa whispered.

"I suppose you are also very interested."

"Naturally, I have grown powerful enough to personally devour the Mystics or their kin, to place them on my dining plate, to conduct rituals, and I will appear to savor them. It takes three members of the Witch Council to complete the ritual of summoning me."

"Your appetite grows ever stronger."

"It’s not just my mouth above that’s insatiable."

"... Back to the matter at hand, 101 and 102 are already there. I’ve asked them to wait for a while, ready to intervene in the Battle of Jialong Slope. But you say it takes three people – shall we send the most powerful witch... Pan Ruiyi?"

"Send Shallow Dream," said Little Farosa. "Besides, you will need to visit the Forest Master, for he has frolicked with the Great River Goddess. Afterwards, from the river emerged 175,000 different species of animals, which must be familiar with one another..."

Subsequently, Farosa returned to her slumber and meditation.

The haunting aura that emanated from Little Farosa disappeared as well.

She rubbed her eyes, stood up from the map, and pinched Xu Yang’s face with both hands.

"Let Xu Cheng let me into the toy room!" Little Farosa clamored.

"You’re too naughty, you can’t play with toys; you need to read your books properly," Xu Yang carried Little Farosa to the library in the workroom.

Seeing the books around her, Little Farosa’s eyes brightened, and for a short while she stopped fussing, sitting down obediently and began to look for a book to read.

Afterward, Xu Yang went to the woods to pay a visit to the Forest Master.

If he wanted to resolve the issue of the Great River Goddess who was causing trouble at Jialong Slope and seeking revival, the support of the Forest Master was indispensable.

The power of the Forest Master manifested in every forest on the Northern Archipelago, where lush woodlands had grown robustly, dispelling the severe pollution brought by excessive industrialization and urbanization.

Without the Forest Master, there would be no cure for the industrial devastation suffered by the Northern Archipelago, and its protection was akin to saving millions of lives. A large number of residents affected by toxic air, polluted water, and corrupted soil were thus freed from threat.

Upon Xu Yang’s arrival, shrubs in the forest naturally parted, butterflies fluttered and birds chirped, and herds of deer roamed on both sides as if intentionally guiding him on his path.

He walked leisurely, venturing deeper into the forest.

Here, ancient trees reached the sky, and one by one, creatures thought to be extinct appeared around him. An enormous pouch rat nested under a tree, its snoring thunderous, as large as a giant truck and its body covered with steel-like fur.

Such colossal creatures should have perished due to climate changes thousands of years ago, yet with the return of the Forest Master, they seemed to have stepped right out of ancient zoological texts.

The air was incredibly fresh, as if the world had been reborn in this place. As Xu Yang walked into the heart of the woods, where the canopy covered the sky like clouds and the foliage was exceptionally lush, he had to continuously reach out to part the plants.

Surrounded by this overgrown wilderness, Xu Yang felt as if he had entered an ancient wasteland. It instilled in him a longing to strip away all modern civilization from himself, retaining only his natural flesh, and return to a primal state.

In this ethereal, natural, and almost savage state, the Forest Master appeared before Xu Yang from within the most ancient tree, not in the form of a deer, but as a hirsute bear that descended upon them, its claws sharp and fur bushy.

Xu Yang saw in its eyes a green flame burning; the light waxed and waned, and at times it was suddenly extinguished as if some force was continually snuffing it out.

"Forest Master..." Xu Yang observed carefully, "have you encountered some trouble?"

"... Pollution is like a maggot biting at the bone, difficult to eliminate... I must use my own body as a container, swallowing the tons of waste produced by humans, causing it to cycle and transform, the dirty settling down and the clean drifting away," the Forest Master said.

Then, it opened its bear mouth and a swarm of rot flies raced out, scattering in the wind, adding a touch of intense malodor to the natural wilderness.