They say I'm a world-destroying anomaly.

Chapter 29 The Ritual Restart

He's back?

The culprit that caused the extinction of species on Golun Star and the creation of the Anomaly Crystal Tomb has returned to this planet?!

An unexpected situation occurred for Cheng Xu.

According to Nathaniel, the uninvited guest who first arrived on this planet was a human.

Nathaniel had observed humanity on Golun for thirteen hundred years; it was impossible for him to mistake the race of his enemy.

But if that person really was human, how could they have survived for 1,300 years?

Although the medical level of interstellar society has far surpassed that of Earth in Cheng Xu's previous life, it is still impossible to extend a person's life by thousands of years.

Or perhaps, that person was merely wearing a human skin, and was actually another species?

In a moment of panic, Cheng Xu blurted out, "Are you sure? Where is he right now?"

"It was him, of course. I'll never forget his face."

Nathaniel's calm voice was like a taut steel wire.

"He is currently in the very core of the Crystal Tomb, at the bottom of the lava lake."

Seeing Cheng Xu's slightly puzzled look, the last patriarch of the Crystal Rock Clan explained it to him.

Nathaniel initially divided most of his consciousness and transferred it to the core of the crystal rock to lie dormant, waiting for the right opportunity.

However, as long as the core of the crystal rock remains on the planet Golun, it can still sense the situation of the crystal rock tomb through the fragments of consciousness remaining in the lava lake.

Not long ago, Nathaniel noticed that the state of the Crystal Tomb had changed.

As for the timing, it happened around the time of the anomaly on the planet Golun.

When it used its remaining consciousness to look at the lava lake, it saw a face that it would never forget in its lifetime.

It was the owner of this face who despicably deceived it and, through that ritual, destroyed the Crystal Rock Clan and even all life on the planet.

Even after thirteen hundred years, Nathaniel's hatred for him has not diminished in the slightest; on the contrary, it has become even more profound with the passage of time.

It was upon seeing his mortal enemy reappear on Golun that Nathaniel changed his plans.

In its original plan, it intended to hide in the core of the crystal rock and be taken away from Golun Star to find a suitable target to entrust with this history and its long-cherished wish for revenge.

Although no one has been able to discover this special cave for a long time, Nathaniel believes that as long as he waits patiently, he will eventually find it.

But now, it feels it can't wait any longer.

With its enemy right in front of it, it must consider whether this might be its only chance in this lifetime.

As fate would have it, Cheng Xu ended up in the cave by chance and dug a piece of crystal rock from the rock wall.

In that instant, Nathaniel did not hesitate and poured all his consciousness into the crystal rock that Cheng Xu had dug out, making it the core of the crystal rock that carried his consciousness space.

At this point, Cheng Xu finally understood the cause and effect of the matter.

Looking at Nathaniel in front of him, he remained silent for a long time, guessing the other party's next target.

"Are you planning to return to the core of the Crystal Tomb?"

"certainly."

Nathaniel nodded.

"I doubt that person would have expected that my consciousness didn't disappear during that disaster, but instead remained on this planet."

"I will make him pay the price, the price that is thirteen hundred years late."

Nathaniel's tone was resolute. Cheng Xu remained silent.

"I hope that you can relay what you just said to the Bureau of Anomalies after this."

In the space of consciousness, Nathaniel crawled down and made a request to Cheng Xu.

It hopes that many years from now, people will still remember the Crystal Rock Clan, who once had a long history on the planet Golun, even if they only exist in records.

"I will," Cheng Xu agreed, as it was his job.

The next moment, he felt as if his body had broken free from the influence of gravity and began to float lightly into the sky.

Nathaniel's figure slowly faded and disappeared from Cheng Xu's sight, its last sound echoing throughout the consciousness space.

"Thanks."

The surrounding space began to tremble, distort, and expand, and consciousness, like a stream of light, shot straight up from underground, breaking through layers of soil and rock.

Like a shooting star streaking across the sky, Nathaniel's consciousness carried Cheng Xu out of the earth and headed straight for the boundless lava lake.

Cheng Xu understood its intention.

The last chieftain of the Crystal Rock Clan hoped to be an observer in its final battle and bring this valuable information back to the Anomaly Management Bureau.

The terrifyingly high temperature above the lava lake distorted the air, but Cheng Xu, in his conscious form, remained unaffected.

No matter what happens here, it cannot harm his main body, which is still far away. Once Nathaniel's consciousness dissipates, his consciousness will return to his main body in sync.

Countless bubbles rose from the surface of the lava lake. Cheng Xu's consciousness only lingered briefly in the air before Nathaniel swept him up and plunged him into the lake.

The surrounding lava completely obscured his vision. The descent lasted about thirty seconds before Cheng Xu's view suddenly opened up.

At the very bottom of the lava lake, there exists an inverted hemispherical space. Sparkling points of light shimmer within this space, effectively repelling the flowing lava.

Cheng Xu could clearly see that in the very center of the space was a huge, bottomless pit.

He seemed to have a sudden realization—this was probably the location where energy and matter erupted from the Earth's core, and also the core of the ritual.

After the initial ritual, the consciousnesses of the Crystal Rock Clan who perished in the disaster gathered here and carved out a space beneath the lava lake.

He could even faintly hear countless souls whispering, wailing, and roaring within those points of light.

This is the core of the Crystal Rock Tomb, and also the origin of the Crystal Rock Tomb.

The collective consciousness of the entire group, combined with the mutations brought about by the extreme environment, ultimately led to the formation of a completely new anomaly.

Cheng Xu's gaze was fixed on the edge of the enormous void. There, a human-shaped figure stood.

The figure indeed looked exactly like a human. He was wearing a dark gray stand-up collar coat, with the collar turned up to cover the lower half of his face, leaving only his eyes visible.

He had a three-centimeter-long old scar on his left eyebrow, like a stiff earthworm, and an eye patch over his right eye. His short black hair was messy, with two tufts of hair sticking up at the back of his head.

Cheng Xu memorized his characteristics, planning to find the corresponding information in the Administration Bureau's database after meeting with Director Hu and the others.

The surrounding consciousness belonging to Nathaniel fluctuated violently, with negative emotions such as hatred and killing intent erupting simultaneously, and invisible waves rushing towards the bottom of the lake.

The next second, hands extended from the magma, followed by a head, torso, and legs, forming the appearance of a crystalline rock human, which was seven or eight parts similar to Nathaniel that Cheng Xu had seen in his consciousness space.

This crystal rock golem, or more accurately, a lava rock golem, descended from the sky with a furious roar, its entire body glowing with fire. It clasped its fists together and slammed them hard into the gray-clad man's head.

Several streams of lava burst forth behind it, shooting towards the gray-clad man.

Everything happened in the blink of an eye, as if the gray-clad man's head would be crushed in those molten lava fists, brimming with boundless heat, in the next second.

But just then, the man in gray turned around, looked up, and a warm smile appeared on his face.

"I've finally waited for you, my friend."

Cheng Xu was shocked to see that the gray-clad man was holding a black dodecahedron-shaped stone the size of a human head in his hands.

It was the strange stone that Fields brought to Golun Star, but compared to the video footage Cheng Xu had seen, its surface no longer had those fragments attached to it.

The gray-clad man's actions did not slow down the lava rock man's movements; Nathaniel's roar was high-pitched, as if he wanted to vent the hatred that had accumulated for over a thousand years.

But it failed to touch the man in gray.

Nathaniel's figure was eerily suspended in mid-air, stopping half a meter above the gray-clad man's head.

Even the lava flow blooming behind it seemed to have been frozen in time, forming an eerie crimson flower.

"I told you when we first met that you couldn't hurt me. That still holds true now."

The man in gray shrugged, looking relaxed.

Cheng Xu, who was connected to Nathaniel's consciousness, could sense its anxiety and resentment.

The last chieftain of the Crystal Rock Clan tried his best to control the Lava Rock Golem to kill his enemy who was right next to him, but he was unable to do so.

—Nathaniel has lost control of the lava.

The man in gray strolled toward Nathaniel and looked up to meet its gaze.

"Isn't it strange that I'm not surprised to see you? Why have I lost the ability to influence this place?"

"Nathaniel, my friend, you are still as naive as you were back then, naive to the point of being endearing."

The man in gray chuckled softly.

"You might not believe it, including the formation of the Crystal Tomb, your existence, and everything that has happened over the past thirteen hundred years..."

"Everything is exactly as I expected."

He spoke as if he were an artist, proudly introducing his work to others.

"Under the influence of specific rituals, the concentrated extinction of an ethnic group may produce entirely new anomalies. This is the 'knowledge' I found at an ancient site."

"As the subject of this practice, your Crystal Rock Clan has indeed not disappointed me. Not only did you give birth to the Crystal Rock Tomb, but you have also been able to exist peacefully under the nose of the Administration Bureau for so many years."

A storm raged in Cheng Xu's heart.

Was the original ritual, in essence, meant to use the extinction of the Crystal Rock Clan to create new anomalies? Was the creation of the Crystal Rock Tomb a result of deliberate manipulation?

The man in gray raised the dodecahedral black stone.

Why don't you guess what this stone in my hand is?

"Okay, my friend, I know you've always had a great deal of curiosity, so I shouldn't keep you in suspense."

"This is a collection of the Crystal Rock Clan remains in the core area after that ceremony."

"I spent a lot of effort collecting these fragments. Shouldn't you, as the clan leader, thank me?"

The lava rock man began to tremble violently, and tongues of fire spewed from his body. Nathaniel's rage had reached an unprecedented level.

"Look at you, always in such a hurry."

The man in gray nimbly dodged the falling flames, his right hand stroking the dodecahedral black stone.

"Nathaniel, you probably don't know that this stone I specially crafted can directly manipulate the collective consciousness of the Crystal Rock Clan, right?"

"I hid inside it, and went through a lot of trouble to bypass the Anomaly Management Bureau's surveillance to get here and visit you. Aren't you touched?"

Having said this, Cheng Xu had roughly guessed the reason for the anomaly in the Crystal Rock Tomb.

As the gray-clad man said, the black stone in his hand was a remnant of the disaster from years ago, and also an item strongly associated with the collective consciousness of the Crystal Rock Clan.

While it is true that Nathaniel is part of the Tomb of Crystal Rock, the black stone in the grey-robed man's hands has a higher level of control.

The anomalies on Golun Star were caused by him. He manipulated the collective consciousness of the Crystal Rock Clan through this black stone, directly leading to the riot at the Crystal Rock Tomb.

That's why Nathaniel's surprise attack came to an abrupt end, completely countered by his opponent.

"Nathaniel, I missed you so much. That's why I waited here for so long, and finally your arrival was finally promised."

"Your people seem to miss you very much. After all, if it weren't for you, the Crystal Rock Clan wouldn't have been wiped out."

As he spoke, a large amount of black mist emerged from the black stone in the gray-clad man's hand, swirling in the lakebed space and merging with the crystalline light spots.

The collective consciousness of the Crystal Rock Clan instantly became frenzied, and their previous babbling turned into a series of shrieks.

"I've always known that your consciousness is on Golun Star, because that's what I deliberately preserved back then."

"Because you are my friend, I have allowed you to live so long in another form, so consciously."

"Now it's your turn to repay me."

"The ceremony from back then isn't actually over yet."

As soon as he finished speaking, the gray mist swirling around the bottom of the lake carried the lava rock golem into the magma above.

The surrounding lava surged violently. Not only the lava, but even the earth at the bottom of the lava lake began to tremble.

The ceremony isn't over yet?

Nathaniel's consciousness dissipated in his perception, and Cheng Xu seemed to understand what the gray-clad man was doing.

If the Crystal Rock Tomb is likened to a bundle of explosives, then the collective consciousness of the Crystal Rock Clan is the gunpowder filling it.

Now, this person is using Nathaniel as a fuse, wanting to restart the original ritual and trigger an even bigger riot in the Tomb of Crystal Rock!

Watching the lava rock golem being swallowed by the magma, the gray-clad man gently shook his head.

"I'm not lying when I say I've always considered you a friend."

"If all my friends were as useful as you, that would be wonderful."

As he spoke, he turned his head to look in the direction where Cheng Xu's consciousness was, and a warm smile returned to his face.

"Young man, are you from the Chengmingxing branch? Please give my regards to your Chief Kober."

"—If you can still leave Golun Star alive."

In an instant, Cheng Xu's vision was turned upside down, his consciousness flew back in the direction he came from, and his vision was plunged into deep darkness.

The next second, he regained control of his senses.

Cheng Xu suddenly opened his eyes, and what he saw was Fields' face and the top of the transport spaceship.

"Director Hu, Brother Cheng is awake!"

Hearing Fields's excited shout, Cheng Xu sat up and saw Hu Zhou hurrying towards him.

"Xiao Cheng..."

Hu Zhou had just opened his mouth when Cheng Xu interrupted him:

"Director Hu, it's an emergency!"