762 Soaring17 Free Bird

Foreword:

Art exists to celebrate life; where the Death God dwells, there is no art.

—Romain Rolland

[Part ① · The Pecking Order]

"Death God, Death God."

"Don't get cocky."

Fickwood Abby murmured softly, growing a little deranged.

This psychic researcher had devoted most of his life to the study of ultra-deep drilling, but the farther down he dug, the worse his mental state became.

That was also why Good Kitty forbade people from exploring the Original Seed too deeply. Unless humanity advanced to the next stage, gaining stronger wills and more resilient minds, Gaia Mother would only turn these curious little ones into monsters with broken minds.

The Penglai No. 1 and Yingzhou No. 2 drilling rigs had both suffered disastrous failures. Just filling in the holes had consumed most of the Combine's manpower.

It seemed that all the village's hopes rested on the final rig, No. 3, a relatively large machine called Abbot Mountain.

The seismic detectors in the command tower were still sounding alarms, but the waveform spectrum showed that the Original Seed was less active than it had been a few hours earlier. Perhaps they could begin drilling in another twenty minutes.

Pit No. 16 in the burial complex was the best place to drill. Its framework had already been built, and four giant offspring were helping transport materials. The Combine's fuel reserves were running low. For Fickwood, without Judas's support, without money—this might be his last chance.

His subordinates had yet to realize what had changed at the Heavenly Palace. Everything was just as the Celestial Venerable had described it to them: Lingguang Buddha had sent Arhats to help, and the fishmen bewitched by the heavenly demon, those monsters controlled by Earth Mother, had all been defeated by the Arhats and the Great Peng Bird