The Ineffective Heartbeat and Ineffective Common Sense (Continued and Continued Again)

Thump...

The faint sound, yet heavy as if from the earth's core, struck Ling Ye's heart like the final death knell.

The muscles in his face instantly stiffened, his blood drained, his pupils contracting to pinpricks from extreme terror.

It wasn't an illusion!

That broken pebble... it... it was actually starting to beat?! Like a heart?!

What the hell was going on?! Had a rock become sentient?! Was it going to grow?!

Ling Ye felt a chill surge from his tailbone straight to the crown of his head, colder than the killing intent of Madam! This thing's origin was far more bizarre and terrifying than he had imagined! If it truly "awakened" or its fluctuations went completely out of control, it wouldn't just attract beings like Greedy Wolf, but likely the ultimate horror of the entire multiverse!

It had to be suppressed immediately! No matter the cost!

He no longer cared about "Ling Xiaoye" or "homework." He lunged towards the worn cloth bag, fumbling to open it, intending to reinforce the seal on the Chaos Green Lotus basin again!

However, just as his fingers were about to touch the cloth bag—

Thump... Thump...

Two more, clearer, more powerful beats sounded consecutively from the depths of the cloth bag!

This time, it wasn't just Ling Ye; even Su Wanqing beside him vaguely felt the ground beneath their feet tremble ever so slightly! As if something heavy was pounding the heart of the earth!

"Wah—!!!" Ling Xiaoye, who had just been comfortably attended to by the bellyband, seemed to be startled by this terrifying pulsation originating from the Source, and started crying loudly again!

And the bellyband on his chest reacted even more violently! The red light instantly became dazzling and unstable, conveying immense fear and... a hint of provoked anger! As if its territory was being invaded by something more terrifying!

"Shut up! All of you, shut up!" Ling Ye's mind completely snapped. He growled at the crying infant and the agitated bellyband, his hand already reaching into the cloth bag and grabbing the hot, trembling Chaos Green Lotus basin!

He frantically injected his dwindling Chaos Origin Qi into the basin, attempting to forcibly suppress the beating stone!

But this time, the effect was minimal!

The stone's pulsation seemed to carry some irresistible, primordial law of the universe. With each beat, the light on the surface of the Chaos Green Lotus basin flickered violently, the basin walls groaned under the strain, and the faint crack that had appeared before reappeared, and... showed signs of widening!

"Damn it! I can't suppress it!" Ling Ye's forehead veins bulged, golden blood trickled from the corner of his mouth again, feeling his strength was like a clay ox entering the sea!

If this continued, within ten more beats, this basin would completely shatter! And then...

Ling Ye couldn't even imagine the consequences!

He had to find a way! He had to divert its attention immediately! Or... find it a "pacifier"?!

In his desperation, Ling Ye's gaze swept across the only "special" thing in the room – the bellyband emitting fearful and angry red light!

This bellyband was a Fragment of a Congenital Sacred Spirit, containing the aura of the Origin... perhaps... it could temporarily attract or pacify the broken stone?!

Might as well try anything!

A trace of desperate ruthlessness flashed in Ling Ye's eyes. He didn't care if he damaged the bellyband or angered Madam. He suddenly reached out, not to grab the bellyband, but... to make a fierce grab and pull from a distance towards the bellyband clinging to Ling Xiaoye's chest!

"Come here!"

A powerful suction force instantly enveloped the bellyband!

The bellyband was already struggling against the terrifying pressure of the pulsation and didn't expect Ling Ye to suddenly attack it. With a startled cry (in thought), its red light was instantly pulled away from Ling Xiaoye's chest, turning into a stream of light, and against its will... it was forcibly stuffed into the violently shaking cloth bag by Ling Ye! Placed right next to the Chaos Green Lotus basin!

"Buzz—!!!"

The moment the bellyband entered the cloth bag, it was like a drop of cold water hitting boiling oil!

The space within the cloth bag violently shook!

The vibration of the Chaos Green Lotus basin and the pulsation of the stone instantly paused for a moment!

The beating stone seemed to... have its attention attracted by this sudden appearance of a different, yet related, Origin aura?!

Its terrifying fluctuations, like tentacles, cautiously, curiously... wrapped around the nearby bellyband, which was trembling with fear, its red light flickering erratically...

The bellyband transmitted an aura of extreme fear and a screaming thought of "Let me go!", struggling desperately to escape.

But Ling Ye tightly held the opening of the cloth bag, using his last bit of strength to seal the space, a gambler's madness on his face: "Soothe it! Or... be assimilated by it! You choose!"

He was forcing the bellyband to unleash its potential as a "Fragment of a Congenital Sacred Spirit" to quell the stone's agitation!

The bellyband struggled even more violently, its red light flashing wildly, as if cursing the unscrupulous "daddy" Ling Ye.

However, amidst this intense struggle—

An anomaly occurred!

Perhaps it was extreme fear stimulating its potential, or perhaps the attraction of similar origin auras created a wondrous reaction...

In its struggle, the bellyband unintentionally released the faint fluctuations of "care" and "comfort" it had generated while "learning" to prepare milk and change diapers, mixing them with its Origin aura and transmitting them to the stone.

This fluctuation... for the cold, dead, seemingly pure "existence" concept of the stone... seemed to be a... never-before-experienced... novel sensation?

The stone's pulsation... paused again.

Then...

Its terrifying, destructive fluctuations, astonishingly... revealed a trace... an extremely subtle... hint of... "curiosity" and... "comfort"?

Its emitted fluctuations were no longer so aggressive and expansive, but began to become... gentle? Even... attempting to mimic the bellyband's "comforting" rhythm?

Thump... (force slightly reduced)

Thump... (softer)

Thump... (with a strange rhythm?)

Although the throbbing was still heavy, the suffocating sense of destruction was actually... slowly weakening?!

The pressure from the Chaos Green Lotus Basin drastically decreased, and the cracks on its surface stopped expanding.

Ling Ye froze, then his heart surged with joy!

It worked?! This ridiculous method actually worked?! This broken pebble liked to be "soothed"?! Liked the "maternity channel"?!

He immediately struck while the iron was hot, transmitting his thoughts to the bellyband in the cloth bundle: "Continue! Just like you were comforting Ling Xiaoye earlier! Soothe it! Treat it like... treat it like another baby that needs care!"

Bellyband: "???????" (Its thoughts were filled with disbelief and collapse: You want me to treat this world-destroying thing as a baby?! Are you crazy?!)

But sensing the pebble's gradually softening pulsations, which even wrapped around it with a hint of dependence, the bellyband seemed to understand this was its only way to survive.

Extremely reluctantly, it tentatively... emitted even more concentrated soothing waves, carrying a "milky scent" (?) and a "gentle" aura. It even... unconsciously hummed the unmelodonic lullaby it had learned while comforting Ling Xiaoye earlier, its thoughts mimicking the rhythm? (Though silent, the wave's rhythm was similar)

Thump... (The pebble's pulsations became slower and gentler)

Thump... (As if responding to the lullaby's rhythm)

Thump... (Even conveying a hint of... sleepiness?)

It succeeded?!!

Ling Ye was on the verge of tears of joy! This was actually possible?!

He carefully extended a wisp of his divine sense into the cloth bundle.

Deep within the cloth bundle, the Chaos Green Lotus Basin vibrated slightly. Inside the basin lay the grayish-white pebble, its surface flowing with a docile luster. Each pulsation was deep and slow, like a heart about to fall peacefully asleep.

And the bellyband, like a wronged young bride, emitted a grievance-filled red glow. While "humming" its mental lullaby, it very lightly, tentatively... "patted" the pebble's surface with its fabric edge? (Though it might not have even touched it)

This scene... was too surreal, making Ling Ye start to doubt if he had actually gone mad and if everything before him was an illusion.

But regardless, the crisis seemed to have been temporarily averted.

Ling Ye let out a long, careful sigh, slumping to the ground as if drained of all energy. Sweat had already soaked through his robes.

Su Wanqing, holding Ling Xiaoye who had started crying again, huddled in a corner far away. She watched the powerful figure alternately going mad and smiling foolishly at a cloth bundle, completely numb.

A temporary calm returned to the room.

Only Ling Xiaoye's faint whimpers, and the gradually regular, slow, hypnotic...

Thump...

Thump...

Thump...

from within the cloth bundle.

However, Ling Ye hadn't fully relaxed yet--

The cloth bundle in his arms, the Chaos Green Lotus Basin that had just calmed down, suddenly... vibrated slightly without any warning!

It wasn't the pebble's pulsation!

It was... the basin itself!

As if... receiving some kind of... faint... resonant signal from an extremely distant direction?!

Ling Ye was startled! His vigilance immediately heightened!

Could there be other "pebbles"?! Or... was the "mother" of this pebble calling out?!

He immediately focused his divine sense on the Green Lotus Basin.

On the basin's inner wall, those mysterious Chaos Runes were faintly flickering, like antennas, capturing and amplifying that faint, intermittent resonance wave from afar.

The wave was weak and blurry, seemingly traversing endless distances and countless dimensional barriers, yet it carried a meaning... of the same origin as the pebble in the basin, but older, more damaged, and more... desolate?

Ling Ye carefully "listened" and "analyzed" this resonance.

Gradually...

From the intermittent waves, he captured some fragmented pieces of information...

It seemed to be... another fragment?!

A larger, but more severely damaged... "Origin Core" fragment?!

It seemed to be... sealed deep within some... extremely cold, dark, and dead... cosmic graveyard?

It was emitting... a cry for help? Or rather... a lament of unwilling oblivion?

And this lament happened to produce a faint, time-spanning resonance with the pebble in his basin that had just begun to "throb"!

Ling Ye's heart sank.

One pebble had already nearly driven him to death, and now another larger, seemingly more troublesome fragment had appeared?!

And it was sending out this "come save me" signal?! Was it trying to hasten his death?!

Just as his scalp tingled and he prepared to immediately and forcefully block this damned resonance signal--

The distant lament wave, perhaps sensing the calm state of the pebble in the basin after being "soothed," suddenly... became a little more urgent and... clearer!

And... a more specific, obsession-like... fragmented message was transmitted from within:

[...cold...]

[...so dark...]

[...sister...]

[...take me...home...]

[...coordinates...(an extremely complex and chaotic set of spacetime coordinate fragments)...]

[...be careful...of "them"...they are also looking...]

Sister?!

Home?!

Coordinates?!

"Them"?!

Ling Ye's mind went blank in an instant, overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information!

This stone... has siblings?!

And it sounds like... there's a huge secret about "going home" involved?!

And other forces ("them") are even searching for these fragments?!

This isn't just trouble... this is a vortex big enough to drown the entire multiverse!

Ling Ye felt a splitting headache, wishing he could just throw the cloth bag and everything inside into the Guixu immediately!

However, just as his mind was shaken by this sudden, even bigger problem, and his defenses showed a slight lapse--

Inside the cloth bag, the stone that had just calmed down seemed to sense the cry and call of its "sister"...

Its subsiding pulse...

Suddenly...

Became violent again!!!

Thump!!! (Heavy and anxious)

Thump!!! (Full of response)

Thump!!! (With an urge to break out of the pot!)

"This is bad!" Ling Ye's expression changed drastically, and he immediately tried to suppress it!

But it was too late!

The intense pulsing instantly shattered the comforting atmosphere the bellyband had barely managed to create!

The Chaos Green Lotus basin trembled violently again, and cracks began to spread!

And that faint resonance, due to the violent response from this side, suddenly became much clearer! Like a beacon lit in the darkness!

"Shit!" Ling Ye couldn't help but curse, fumbling to simultaneously suppress the stone in the basin and block the distant resonance!

Just as he was trapped between internal and external pressure, almost losing control--

"Ding dong! Ding dong! Ding dong!"

The doorbell to the room rang again, and again...

This time, from outside the door came a familiar yet terrifying, cold, and emotionless female voice that made both Ling Ye and Su Wanqing freeze instantly!

"Open the door."

"Community..."

"Warmth delivery."