Seed of the Ambrosial Arbor

As the woman spoke, a faint light shone in her purple eyes.

For a moment, Chu Mu felt dazed, as though he had truly fallen under her spell.

The person before me was my mother?

The beautiful purple-haired woman simply stood there in silence.

Here I stand before you now. How much do I resemble the person I once was?

Chu Mu had always believed he was a child who had escaped from a spaceship. Perhaps his parents were still alive and would someday return to Jarilo-VI to find him.

But in the fragmented memories Chu Mu saw whenever his illness flared up, he had never once seen this purple-haired woman!

There was no place for you in my palace of memories!

In that instant, Chu Mu's gaze cleared, and he said quietly:

"That's not an appropriate joke, wouldn't you agree, ma'am?"

"Oh, did I give myself away?" The woman smiled alluringly. "Would you mind telling me how?"

"Perhaps you're too young. You lack a certain air," Chu Mu sighed.

"True. Asking a woman who has never given birth to impersonate a mature mother is rather demanding." The woman walked over and casually sat on the pile of books opposite Chu Mu, her long, taut legs breathtakingly beautiful.

She removed her right glove, extended her hand, and smiled.

"A pleasure to meet you. My name is Kafka."

"Chu Mu." He reached out, lightly clasped the fingers of her hand, then let go.

"So you really are a child of the Xianzhou," Kafka remarked upon hearing Chu Mu's name.

"The Xianzhou?" Chu Mu frowned slightly. "What sort of place is that?"

"You don't know?" Kafka glanced at Chu Mu. "It seems you've lost quite a lot of your memories."

As she spoke, the corners of her lips lifted slightly.

What could be more entertaining in this Sea of Stars than a mysterious child with amnesia?

"That's true." Unable to make out Kafka's expression, Chu Mu continued earnestly, "What makes you say I'm from the Xianzhou? Could you tell me about it?"

"You have a distinctive aura that only the people of the Xianzhou possess." Kafka studied Chu Mu with interest. "The Xianzhou is a fascinating place. Its people don't live on any planet, but aboard enormous starships. Each ship is a self-contained ecosystem, with an entire world inside it. There are currently six of these enormous ships, forming the powerful Xianzhou Alliance."

At that, Kafka sighed.

"I'm sorry. I can only tell that you're from the Xianzhou Alliance. I don't know which particular Xianzhou ship you came from."

"Thank you for telling me all this." Chu Mu nodded and murmured, "So the Xianzhou is my home? If I could go back someday..."

"Go back? What are you thinking?" Kafka looked at Chu Mu's left eye in astonishment. "Do you know what kind of seed is in your left eye? The Ambrosial Arbor! A seed of the Ambrosial Arbor!"

"The Ambrosial Arbor? What's that?" Chu Mu had never expected this woman to resolve so many of his questions within mere moments of appearing.

First, she had told him the name of his homeland, and now she had named that strange seed!

"The Ambrosial Arbor is a colossal tree planted on the Xianzhou by Yaoshi, the Aeon of Abundance." Kafka looked positively thrilled. "According to legend, the fruit of this tree grants eternal life. That was how the ancestors of the Xianzhou natives achieved immortality."

"Yaoshi." Chu Mu repeated the name, then asked in puzzlement, "Does that mean the Xianzhou is Yaoshi's territory?"

"For a time, it was." Kafka reached out and removed the black gauze covering Chu Mu's eyes, quietly studying his emerald-green left eye.

Her face was very close to Chu Mu's now, and her warm breath brushed his face as she spoke.

A delicate, pleasant fragrance wafted from her.

Kafka said softly:

"Unfortunately, several thousand years ago, the Xianzhou natives began rebelling against this deity, and the two sides became sworn enemies. These days, they call Yaoshi the Plagues Author. And you are one of the Abominations of Abundance they all seek to destroy-one of the highest order, at that. An Ambrosial Arbor could grow from your body!"

Hearing this, Chu Mu couldn't help asking:

"Why do the Xianzhou natives oppose Abundance?"

"Because so-called immortality isn't an entirely wonderful thing." Kafka shrugged. "That's the Xianzhou's official explanation. But in my opinion, the fundamental reason is that the Xianzhou produced an Aeon: the Hunt."

At that, Kafka scoffed.

"Once they had an Aeon of their own, of course they had to follow their god. Before the Hunt became an Aeon, his opposition to Abundance had never been accepted. The Xianzhou's leaders even froze him and imprisoned him for years for damaging the Ambrosial Arbor. Yet the moment he became an Aeon, they all fell into line and opposed Abundance."

"No wonder the Hunt and Abundance are mortal enemies." Chu Mu felt strangely shaken. "So the Hunt was a Xianzhou native."

"Now you understand." Kafka tapped Chu Mu's forehead. "In your current state, returning to the Xianzhou would mean certain death."

Chu Mu's eyes dimmed at her words.

A homeland he could never return to was harder to accept than not knowing where home was.

Chu Mu spoke bitterly:

"You can't do anything about this seed of the Ambrosial Arbor either, can you?"

"This was an Aeon's doing, a power that reaches straight to the source of a Path." Kafka spread her hands. "Unless you can get the Hunt to shoot an arrow into your eye. But knowing his methods, he would most likely erase you entirely along with it."

As she elegantly slipped her glove back on, she asked softly:

"By the way, how did you get this seed? Do you remember anything about that? And why is your right eye an Artificial Eye?"

"That's a long story..."

In the quiet Library, bathed in the warm yellow glow of the Heating System, Chu Mu slowly recounted the events of the past few days.

Kafka listened silently, her expression utterly serene, never interrupting him.

Only when Chu Mu finally stopped speaking did Kafka say with feeling:

"You really are a good child."

She snapped her fingers, releasing her control.

Only then did Chu Mu realize that he had been under some inexplicable influence the entire time.

He had thought he had broken free earlier, but that had merely been an illusion.

Kafka had skillfully misled him, making him lower his guard and open his heart during their conversation.

That was why Chu Mu had so readily believed everything she said, treating her as someone he could trust and revealing his secrets.

Now that Chu Mu had come to his senses, cold sweat broke out across his back!

Fortunately, he had only told her about what had happened since the Fight Club, without mentioning his earlier, bizarre illness.

The fragments of memory that appeared whenever his illness struck were the reason he had matured so early-and his greatest secret!

Still shaken, Chu Mu looked at Kafka and couldn't help saying:

"You really are dangerous! What you just told me about the Xianzhou and the Ambrosial Arbor-was any of it true? Or was it all made up, just like your claim that you were my mother?"

"Relax, little Chu Mu," Kafka said with a soft laugh. "Of course it was true. Not a single word was a lie. The influence I exerted on you was simply a way to bring us closer quickly-a necessary little measure, nothing more.

"You know, little Chu Mu, needless suspicion not only creates distance between people, but also wastes a great deal of time. And in our dimension, time is very precious."

She paused, then continued:

"As for my earlier claim that I was your mother, that wasn't entirely a lie either. If we scramble the timeline, perhaps I really am your mother."

"What do you mean?" Chu Mu frowned.

"I mean..." Kafka leaned close to Chu Mu's face and whispered in his ear, "I'm going to adopt you, little Chu Mu."