Awakening the Path of Destruction

Bai Luoming felt his consciousness rise from an endless darkness.

The first thing he noticed was the low-frequency hum of some kind of instrument, followed by the smell of disinfectant.

He felt no pain anywhere in his body. It was as if he had taken an excessively deep afternoon nap, leaving every part of him pleasantly languid.

Bai Luoming opened his eyes.

Before his vision had fully focused, a hushed but still clear exclamation came from his left: "He's awake, he's awake, he's awake!"

He turned his head and saw the scene before him clearly.

He was lying on a standard medical bed. To his left, March 7th and the others stood packed together in a row. To his right, Asta stood quietly at the foot of the bed.

To Bai Luoming's surprise, even now, Old Yang was still playing mysterious and hadn't come to see his fellow Earthling.

Beside Asta, someone he hadn't expected to see stood leaning casually against the wall.

She had long, soft grayish-brown hair and a slender figure, and wore a pointed hat.

It was her—the pointy hat. No, Ms. Herta.

Bai Luoming's brain froze for a full two seconds.

As far as he knew, at this point, this important member of the Genius Society should still have been holed up somewhere. There was no way her real body would have appeared in the medical bay over such a minor matter.

Well, the plot was going further and further off the rails.

But ever since the Doomsday Beast had thoroughly taught Bai Luoming a lesson, he no longer cared what happened to the plot. If things didn't match up, so be it. At least he was still alive.

If he couldn't figure something out, he'd stop thinking about it for now and take it easy.

"Does it hurt? Are you uncomfortable anywhere? Are you dizzy?" March 7th was the first to lean in. Her little hands hovered eagerly beside his cheeks, as if she might slap them against him to check his temperature at any moment.

Dan Heng stood behind her with his arms crossed, saying nothing, though a barely perceptible trace of worry showed in his calm eyes.

Himeko stood at the edge of the group, holding a coffee cup.

Bai Luoming moved his hands and feet, then his neck, and answered honestly, "To tell the truth... nothing hurts. I actually feel pretty energetic."

"How is that possible?" March 7th didn't believe him. As she spoke, she reached for the thin blanket covering him. "Let me see the wound."

Bai Luoming quickly pressed down the corner of the blanket and said at top speed, "I'm really fine. Besides, there are still so many people here."

March 7th's hand stopped, frozen in midair.

She snatched it back, her ears visibly turning red, but she kept up a brave front. "I-I was just checking! I didn't mean anything else by it!"

"Hehehe..."

A burst of barely suppressed laughter came from the neighboring bed.

Bai Luoming turned to see Stelle sitting cross-legged on another medical bed, clutching a brand-new personal terminal and giggling foolishly.

When she noticed everyone looking at her, she glanced up, then lowered her head and continued scrolling through videos, merely waving a hand at them. "Don't mind me. Carry on."

Bai Luoming said, "...You adapted pretty quickly."

Stelle answered matter-of-factly, "Amnesia has its advantages. Without any baggage from the past, it's really easy to accept new things."

"True. It is a new brain, after all."

Bai Luoming paid her no further attention and turned his gaze back to the right.

Asta stood at the foot of the bed with a proper, textbook smile of concern. Behind her, Herta watched Bai Luoming expressionlessly, her face composed and betraying no emotion.

When Bai Luoming looked her way, Herta straightened up from the wall and took a step forward.

She stared straight at Bai Luoming, a hint of warmth in her voice. "As long as you can talk, that means your brain isn't broken yet."

She paused, then continued, "Come to my office in a little while. I'm going to give you a comprehensive scan for residual energy."

With that, she turned and left without waiting for anyone to respond or even giving Bai Luoming another glance.

The automatic door closed silently behind her, and her footsteps gradually faded away at the end of the corridor.

"Ms. Herta... is that kindhearted?" March 7th was the first to ask, her voice full of undisguised confusion. "I thought she was the sort who didn't care whether other people lived or died."

Himeko folded her arms, her tone also carrying a hint of surprise. "I've dealt with Herta for quite some time, and this is the first time I've seen her offer to examine someone."

Asta took the opportunity to explain to everyone, "Although Ms. Herta seems indifferent, she has always been devoted to academic subjects that interest her. Perhaps the data on the Doomsday Beast's residual energy happened to catch her interest?"

Asta remained composed on the surface, maintaining the dignity expected of the acting lead researcher.

But inside, her thoughts were in turmoil.

She knew Herta never wasted a single second on anything unnecessary. Besides, by all logic, Bai Luoming was still just an ordinary person at this point, making it even less likely that he would attract Herta's attention.

There was only one possible explanation: Herta had also returned to the present with memories of the future.

And earlier in the support zone, Herta had appeared at the spot where Bai Luoming fell and caught him, almost as if she had anticipated it...

Asta became increasingly convinced that her conclusion was correct.

At the same time, the conclusion made her heart sink.

If her only rivals were those Nameless aboard the train who were fond of Bai Luoming, she had enough patience and resources to fight a protracted battle.

But if her opponent was Herta, who also possessed memories of her previous life and completely outclassed her intellectually...

She would probably have to scrap her plan and start over immediately.

Competing with Herta on her own turf would be like throwing an egg against a rock.

Perhaps... she should let him go to the train.

There were no reincarnators aboard the train. Instead, she could maintain a longer-lasting, more secure connection with him as a "distant harbor" and a "steadfast source of support."

Take a step back, and the sea and sky open wide.

At that thought, Asta felt her future was bright. She could already imagine herself and Bai Luoming walking down the aisle, with her former rivals looking on enviously from below.

Bai Luoming's head was full of questions. He couldn't understand why the true owner of the Herta Space Station had come all the way to the medical bay just to see him.

In this world, he was an undocumented person who had appeared out of nowhere, neither a rare curio nor a Stellaron spirit. What about him was worth her personal attention?

He quietly asked March 7th beside him, "How long was I unconscious?"

March 7th held up two fingers. "About two system hours, I think. You never woke up after the Doomsday Beast was killed."

"Only two system hours? I thought I'd been asleep for a long time."

"Oh, right, here's the terminal I promised you earlier."

Asta took a slim, silver device from her storage compartment, walked to Bai Luoming's bedside, and handed it to him.

"It's already been activated and linked to your biometric information. I've also saved my private contact details on it."

Bai Luoming accepted it with both hands and gave Asta a solemn word of thanks.

The terminal felt light in his hands, its casing cool and metallic to the touch. When the screen lit up, he could see that the space station's basic navigation and communications modules had already been installed.

March 7th immediately leaned over excitedly. "Add me to your contacts! My ID is..."

"Sure. Should I add everyone else too?"

"Sure thing, I'll send you their details in a bit."

There was a knock at the ward door, and a medical worker in a standard uniform entered. She glanced at the people in the room and said loudly, "Everyone, the patient has only just woken up, and his vital signs still need to be monitored and recorded. If possible, it would be best to let him rest some more."

"All right, let's end our visit here and let Bai Luoming get some proper rest."

Himeko was the first to nod, gently ushering everyone out.

Dan Heng followed. He said quietly to Bai Luoming, "Get some rest. We'll come see you again later."

Then he strode out of the ward.

March 7th dawdled her way to the door, then looked back at Bai Luoming. Her lips moved as if she wanted to say something, but in the end she only managed, "...Get some rest. I'll come see you tomorrow!"

Bai Luoming gave her an OK sign.

March 7th had only taken two steps after turning away when she suddenly seemed to remember something. She strode back to the neighboring bed and grabbed Stelle by the wrist. "Let's go. Stop scrolling."

Stelle looked up at March 7th. "I'm a patient too."

Without another word, March 7th pulled her up and dragged her toward the door. "You took the Doomsday Beast's beam cannon head-on without a scratch. What kind of patient are you? Besides, the sound from your videos will disturb Luo Ming's rest."

Stelle slid along as she was dragged out, still muttering, "Can't I just put it on mute...?"

The door closed, though Stelle's reluctant protests and March 7th's unyielding footsteps could still be faintly heard in the corridor.

The ward finally fell completely silent.

Bai Luoming stared at the pure white ceiling, breathing evenly, but his mind kept turning.

There had been too many people around earlier for him to sense it carefully. Now he could finally examine the power that had appeared in his body.

He closed his eyes and turned his awareness inward, recalling the gaze from Nanook in the final moment before he lost consciousness.

That gaze had opened a door for him, then turned and left, paying no heed to the scenery beyond it.

Bai Luoming felt that his body was now full of power, and that it also seemed to have grown much tougher with the help of that power.

The Path of Destruction had awakened.

He clenched his fingers tightly beneath the blanket, then slowly relaxed them and let out a long breath.

This wasn't the place to test it. The medical bay was full of delicate monitoring equipment, and he couldn't afford to pay for anything he broke.

He forcibly suppressed the urge to try out his power immediately and planned to find somewhere to test it later.

Meanwhile, Asta followed the Astral Express Crew out of the medical bay. After chatting a little longer with Himeko and March 7th, she watched them enter the passage leading toward the platform.

Only when their figures had completely disappeared from sight did the smile fade from her face.

She turned around and retraced her steps.

When she returned to the medical bay corridor, the medical worker who had persuaded all the visitors to leave happened to be coming out of the duty room.

The two met halfway down the corridor.

The medical worker gave her a slight nod, and Asta returned it with a nod of the same depth. Without slowing her steps in the slightest, she went straight to Bai Luoming's ward and pushed open the door.