While it was absorbing the Ashes, the Weird Art Female Teacher returned with the Fanatics along the Covered Bridge connecting Teaching Building B to Building A.
But their party now included several high-ranking Fanatics clad in tattered cloaks.
"Your Excellency, this batch of Ashes... I feel the harvest should be quite good. Both the quality and quantity seem considerably better than before."
The Weird Art Female Teacher earnestly reported on her work as she walked.
Even Fanatics who had supposedly embarked on "Glorious Evolution" had not shed the human tendency to bow and scrape before their superiors.
"Well done, but further effort is required. Once matters here are concluded, I will certainly report your accomplishments accurately to our superiors." The cloaked figure nodded slightly, looking most pleased, and opened with a perfectly practiced bureaucratic line.
The surrounding Fanatics also looked delighted. A good harvest meant good rewards. Although they had lost quite a few companions, those were necessary sacrifices. When they received their rewards, they would certainly thank their companions properly in their hearts, then say, "The fans get to eat first."
After all, those companions had indeed been "scattered into powder and ground into threads."
"Your Excellency, look, right over there." The Weird Art Female Teacher pointed at the Group B Covered Corridor at the end of the Covered Bridge and smiled. "Where that Fire Person is."
"Mm, the Fire Person. I see it too." The high-ranking Fanatic was about to nod when he suddenly paused, his voice turning strange. "No, wait... Fire Person?!"
"..." The Weird Art Female Teacher abruptly caught on too. The humanity Lin Yi had frightened out of her seemed to awaken once again. "Wait, wh-what on earth is that Fire Person?!"
Her eyes widened, and her mouth fell open so far that Li Huiyuan's