Diary, Continued

Today's research results were quite interesting. We discovered that the information contained in the Heavenly Dao had become more straightforward. Though some of it was illogical, strange, or downright nonsensical, perhaps the Heavenly Dao was easier to understand now than the elusive, inexpressible "Dao" of the past.

Heh. Liu Yuan and Alice are getting married. Everyone's happy. This may be one of the rare bits of good news in these terrible times.

We decided to take half a day off to celebrate the newlyweds.

--A large amount of meaningless muttering and garbled writing

Zhou Bai frowned as he read this. Suddenly, he remembered the page of the diary Alice had shown him earlier. Comparing its size, style, handwriting, and contents, he thought, That page seems to have been torn from this diary.

He thought it over, some suspicions taking shape in his mind, then continued reading.

That knowledge is very useful. A lot of it can speed up our cultivation. Everyone's excited. At this rate, we may be able to find a way to resist the Polluted Spiritual Machine once and for all.

No, we can do even better. We can decipher the entire Heavenly Dao. Humanity may reach unprecedented heights.

Another piece of good news: Mike came back. I thought he'd been eaten. I must be too tired. Maybe I should find some time to rest?

--Some unsettling, incomprehensible curves and diagrams

Li Zhengdao woke up. Using the information we got from the Heavenly Dao, we cured him.

But something feels wrong. My chest seems to be hurting again. Maybe I should ask Mike and the others to treat me, too.

--Large swaths of vivid red corrections and several horrifying, twisted drawings

It was all wrong. Everything was wrong. It was all a conspiracy. We'd lost from the start, utterly and completely. There was no hope at all.

The information contained in the Heavenly Dao cannot be used directly. It turns people into twisted monsters. Does the Heavenly Court know about this? Li Zhengdao and Mike's group have come into conflict. Whom should I trust?

If human cultivators who comprehend the twisted Heavenly Dao go insane, what about the many gods and immortals in the Heavenly Court? Those closest to the Heavenly Dao—have they already become twisted and mad? If they've all gone insane, who is giving orders in the Heavenly Court?

--Several consecutive pages missing

The fighting broke out too suddenly. I don't know who struck first.

Demonization doesn't just deform the body; it can even infect the primordial spirit, twisting people's thoughts and driving them mad.

Everyone is dead, except me.

I don't seem to have gone completely insane. In fact, I've become more clearheaded. The days of the past feel like a nightmare.

I should find out why.

--Some illegible writing

I've decided to go out and look for other survivors. I need more test subjects. It's all for humanity.

The Heavenly Dao is growing more and more muddled, more obscure. Spiritual Machine contamination is increasing by the day, and every attempt at cultivation feels like walking a tightrope.

I headed north, evading the demons' search. The world is in ruins; things are worse than I imagined.

--Large patches of inexplicable graffiti, seemingly depicting what happened along the way

In a few days, I'll reach the edge of the Eastern Continent. I've searched the entire continent.

I've found fewer than a hundred survivors along the way. I hope they can make it to the base with me.

But the adults have mastered the power of the primordial spirit. They're far more heavily infected than the children. I have to make a choice.

After all, we're all that's left of humanity.

Everything for humanity.

--Several consecutive blank pages

Zhou Bai took a deep breath.

Is this... Dr. Zhuang's diary?

I can't believe he was the one who wrote it. But where are the other missing pages? And who tore them out?

The diary raised a lot of questions, but it also answered many of the ones Zhou Bai had already had.

Clearly, Dr. Zhuang and a group of people had built the base. It seemed they were researching how to cultivate while the Spiritual Machine was polluted and the Heavenly Dao twisted.

The results had been disastrous. For some reason, it seemed Dr. Zhuang was the only one who survived.

Then he went looking for other survivors and brought them back to the base, just as Bandu had said, to see if he could get them to cultivate.

"So that's probably what happened." Zhou Bai nodded to himself, though he still had plenty of questions.

But he knew far too little. He didn't even understand the concepts of the Heavenly Court or gods and immortals in this world. All he could do was hold on to his suspicions and wait until he could sort them out later.

There's still so much I don't understand. What was in the parts that were torn out or covered with graffiti? Who touched my neck in the cafeteria that night? Was it Bandu, or someone else? And what exactly is the purpose of the Demonology Class? How did Bandu manage to awaken the power of the primordial spirit...?

Zhou Bai sighed. Now that everyone was dead, he might never learn the answers to many of these secrets.

He kept flipping through the diary. After the consecutive blank pages, he found a series of coordinates.

The conflict between the Heavenly Demons and the Heavenly Court doesn't seem as simple as we once thought. Maybe... (a large section was crossed out)

I've stored the secrets I know in this place.

Zhou Bai closed his eyes. He wanted to know what Dr. Zhuang had discovered, but this clearly wasn't the time to go looking for that place. He needed to survive, then grow stronger.

After resting a little longer, Zhou Bai tried to stand up, but found that he still couldn't.

At least the power of the primordial spirit seems to recover faster. If I rest a little longer, I can try floating with it.

More than half an hour later, voices and commotion came from above.

"Who's there?" Zhou Bai thought it over, then memorized the coordinates at the end of the diary.

He used what little of his recovered power of the primordial spirit he had to destroy the diary, then closed his eyes and pretended to be dead.

"Captain! There's someone alive here."

"How is he still alive? He's one tough bastard. Get him up."

"Any clues?"

"Anything that might've been a clue burned up. But this base seems to have had a lot of children and experimental equipment."

"A survivors' underground research facility?"

"Captain! We've got a problem. Two survivors can't adapt to the twisted Spiritual Machine. Looks like they're Old Humans, born naturally."

"Damn. Old Humans are still surviving these days? Put them in infection-proof suits. Whether they live or die is up to them."

Zhou Bai's body rocked. Amid the noisy clamor, all kinds of shouts, sounds of people carrying things, and the rumble of machinery reached his ears.

Once everything settled down, his eyelashes quivered and he slowly opened his eyes. His body seemed to be wrapped in some kind of special-material suit.

Beyond the suit was a steel ceiling. He shifted his eyes to look outside and realized he seemed to be aboard some kind of vehicle. The scenery all around them was constantly passing by.

"If I were you, I wouldn't move around." A rough male voice came from beside Zhou Bai. "Your body's a wreck. Looks like you were hit by a truck. What happened to you people?"

Christina quickly explained in Zhou Bai's mind, "I don't know where these people came from. They searched the whole base, inside and out, and rescued you..."

While Zhou Bai had been pretending to be unconscious, Christina had retained all of her senses and carefully observed everything around them.