"Imagine the Earth as a sheet of paper, and a stick of incense touching a certain spot on it. Once the paper is subjected to high temperatures, that spot will begin to blacken and then ignite. This is precisely the predicament faced by Art Building."
"We’ve managed to cool down the area around Art Building and set up sufficient protection to prevent the temperature from spreading to other areas."
"The root cause is that which produces high temperatures. The continuously spreading heat is what you call those fluctuations. Once any living being’s ’ignition point’ is lower than this temperature, it will ignite."
"And to avoid ignition, besides strictly filtering out materials with low ignition points, there’s also the need to control the distance... If the distance is not far enough, no matter how low the ignition point, it will still be affected."
"The range over which the high temperature spreads is termed ’Domain.’"
"The Contamination Domain."
"There exists a kind of rise and fall in strength, much like the lunar tidal cycles, and when such a ’Domain’ reaches its peak strength, it’s the time of the ’Grey Mist Invasion.’"
"Units with Supernatural Traits can possibly form their own Domains, and the ’Root’ Domain is a very complex composite type, more or less touching upon all sorts of traits."
"When the ’Root’ Domain undergoes a regular ebbing similar to the tide, those creatures that have died within the campus and transformed into sculptures will, driven by instinct and the pulling of the tidal flow, head to the ocean near Art Building..."
"That path does not align with any real-world path, in fact, such a path didn’t exist in the world, but as the dead begin to tread it more frequently, the path is then recorded down in an ’observable’ manner."
"This process has been officially deemed the ’Return to Sea Tide.’"
"Only those who have once been ’summoned’ can step onto the ’Return to Sea Tide.’"
Lin Yi thought of Little Genius, and everything completely fit together.
But... if only those who have been ’summoned’ can walk this path, why was he summoned the first time he came here?
He thus asked, "Old Mo... how do you know about this path?"
"Because I have died." Old Mo said nonchalantly, he glanced at Lin Yi, realized he wasn’t surprised by this news at all, and so he knew for certain that Lin Yi was aware of his story, which made him even more composed, "After I died, as I absorbed more and more Contamination, I felt the call growing stronger and stronger..."
Lin Yi’s expression grew somber, thinking to himself that he felt the same...
That summoning call, growing more and more intense the longer he stayed on campus...
"No... could it be that I’ve died?!"
An absurd and bizarre thought bizarrely appeared in Lin Yi’s mind, he was momentarily stunned, then could only helplessly shake his head.
"Tsk... what’s that, have I gone mad? If I were dead, then who am I?"
"At least I arrived at the campus by bus! Liangzi can testify to that!"
He shook his head, casting aside that ludicrous idea, and then pointed at the sculpture in front of him that, despite the fierce sea winds, still stood firm like a rock, continually advancing, and said, "So it’s like... they’re actually ’All Swords Return to the Root’? But after they find the ’Root,’ what can they do?"
Old Mo said, "Like moths to a flame, they are unable to find the Root and will completely perish on this journey..."
"Some will encounter Zealots and be transformed into Pseudo-Human Sculptures."
"Others meet Alien Angels, and become part of the Alien Angels... Alien Angels aren’t picky eaters, as long as it’s within reach, even dung is worth a taste."
"As for those who successfully reach the seaside, there are two possibilities..."
"The first is being influenced by the Root Domain, plunging headfirst into the sea, undergoing some unknown transformation, and returning to the shore in the form of a Purebred Nightwalker."
"The second is being affected by other Units’ Domains, changing the ’Retrospect’ target from the sea to that Unit... then they follow its trail to other places."
"The second is most commonly encountered with ’Angels’; when ’Angels’ move, the Domains they form possess effects nearly similar to the Root, instilling obsession, pursuit, adoration, and unbounded fervor."
Lin Yi murmured, "Pursuing Angels... Returning from the seaside to the campus?"
He was deeply shaken, never expecting that someone could face so many complications after dying on campus.
"Indeed, a restless death..."
"More than a restless death." Old Mo said, "It’s truly maximizing the role of ’Raw materials,’ even more adept at butchery than us chefs."
Lin Yi asked, "You just mentioned... the Angels’ Domain?"
Old Mo said, "Any Polluter, when subjected to a certain threshold of Contamination, will ’unlock’ a Domain. I’ve mentioned before, a Domain is like temperature; you pollute more, it’ll catch fire, and the Domain will uncontrollably unfold."
"Different ’Domains’ that mutate in various directions will have different Supernatural Traits. The officials have recorded and named some based on the expressiveness of various traits, for example, the ’Angel’ Domain trait is ’Purification.’"
"The effect of ’Purification’ initially only acted on the consciousness of intelligent beings, manifesting as a sort of spiritual call and transformation... but in reality, ’Angels’ permeate intelligent beings within their Domain with Contamination through a network of top-down pollution, much like the divergence of river and sea..."