Chapter 282: More Secrets, More Hidden
If anyone knew what Xu Zhi was doing at this moment, they would probably let out a shrill scream and curse her for being insane.
Just like why [Gods Heavy Industry] was so obsessed with different talent circuit patterns—because it was absolutely impossible for two identical talent circuits to exist in this world.
Every part of a talent circuit had its own meaning. Absolute duplication? Not even clones could achieve that.
What Xu Zhi was doing was clearly beyond all logic—an experiment even [Gods Heavy Industry] had never succeeded in.
Their obsession with talent circuits had naturally driven them to try to decipher them, even attempting to recreate identical circuits. But without exception, every attempt had failed.
It was as if such a thing was simply not allowed to exist. There was no reason, no possibility, for it to appear in this world.
Worse still, every extraordinary being who had attempted replication had died.
Xu Zhi didn’t know any of this. But she did know that what she was doing was extremely dangerous.
Still, if she didn’t do this, what other choice did she have?
Give up on constructing the [Moth] circuit?
Impossible.
But aside from the circuit she had once possessed, what else could she build?
There was only this one option!
Once she made her decision and acted on it, Xu Zhi could even hear the violent pounding of her own heart from sheer tension. Her breathing grew labored. The pain in her body was still there, yet she ignored it completely, devoting herself entirely to this act that could only be described as defying the heavens.
Amid her rare state of extreme focus, the outline of a new circuit slowly began to take shape—a tiny core forming under her control.
And this time, something mysterious happened.
There was no sudden collapse midway. The pattern no longer dispersed at a critical node. Everything progressed with unbelievable smoothness.
Almost effortlessly, she completed more than half of the core.
As the core neared completion, even the [Lamp] circuit that had been watching like a predator began to restrain its hostility.
It wasn’t that it no longer rejected other attributes—but rather, from this foreign attribute, it gradually sensed a faint trace of something… similar.
The smoother it went, the more tense it became.
Especially at the final stroke of the core, Xu Zhi even held her breath.
The moment the last line of the circuit core was completed—
It was like a moth breaking out of its cocoon. The gray extraordinary energy that had been scattered and nearly dissipated suddenly gathered around the core. But that alone was far from enough. Xu Zhi once again felt that overwhelming hunger—as if it would devour her whole.
Acting on instinct, she picked up [Moth] cores and swallowed them. Only after consuming nearly all of them did that hunger finally subside.
She didn’t rush to celebrate. Instead, she carefully and cautiously observed the newly formed circuit core within her body.
At this moment, it was frantically absorbing the gray energy flooding into her. The flow of energy formed by its devouring resembled a pair of gray wings fluttering beside it.
And now, the [Moth] energy no longer caused her pain.
Everything seemed to indicate one thing—
She had once again succeeded through sheer recklessness.
While Xu Zhi was immersed in the excitement of the [Moth] circuit’s birth, subtle changes were also occurring in the outside world—changes unnoticed by ordinary people, yet sensed by certain powerful beings.
“The stars… have shifted. What happened?”
“No abnormalities detected.”
“No—something must have happened. Investigate immediately!”
“Why have you awakened? Is something about to occur?”
In a certain city, a servant looked at the awakened figure in surprise. This person was a powerful seer. Whenever she awoke, she would uncontrollably witness fragments of the “future.” Thus, she usually chose to remain asleep. Every time she awakened, it signaled either the descent of a calamity star or a world-ending disaster.
“No… I saw nothing. I don’t know why I woke up.”
At this moment, the woman’s face was filled with confusion. For the first time in centuries, she had awakened without any omen—as if something had already happened, something she had to be awake to witness.
“Bring them to me.”
“…You’re not going back to sleep?”
She shook her head. “No. I won’t sleep again.”
“The monitoring instruments showed a brief fluctuation, but no abnormalities were detected.”
“No. Something must have happened. This device, which can subtly observe the laws, has never been wrong. So—has some rule changed?”
“…This is a major matter. Should we inform them?”
“Immediately notify all investors. A fluctuation in the laws must mean some powerful Named One has caused trouble!”
Xu Zhi had no idea what she had done. Or rather, her understanding of it was simply that she had accomplished something everyone believed to be impossible.
As for what consequences it might bring?
Naturally—it made her stronger.
That said, she also knew this was something that absolutely couldn’t be revealed to others.
But then again…
Were there few secrets about her that couldn’t be exposed?
She was already used to carrying secrets. In fact, she even felt that the more secrets she had, the harder it was for others to see through her.
It was as if secrets themselves possessed a kind of “concealment,” and even she was affected by it.
So even knowing she had likely done something extraordinary, her mindset remained largely unchanged.
At most, it was just one more thing that couldn’t be brought into the light.
As if confirming her thoughts, the more hidden something was, the more concealed it became. This [Moth] circuit was built entirely behind [Lamp]. At a glance, even she herself couldn’t see it at all.
It was a perfect one-to-one replication of the [Lamp] circuit, completely hidden behind it—like a shadow.
The [Moth] energy also didn’t flow throughout her body like [Lamp]. Instead, it stayed obediently within the circuit.
As long as she didn’t deliberately activate it, her entire presence remained purely that of [Lamp].
“Perfect!”
However, the newly formed [Moth] circuit was still too weak—only a core, without any extraordinary abilities for now.
“Still need more resources…”
The massive amount of resources she had exchanged with her points had already allowed her to reach the Longevity stage and successfully construct the [Moth] circuit. That was the best possible outcome.
But clearly, it still wasn’t enough.
Looks like… she absolutely had to secure a spot in the Lost Lands.
