To be honest, in Ye Lan's view, releasing the Seed of Light now was definitely a bad idea. Ayin's plan assumed that the people of the City who received the light would eventually manifest their own E.G.O.
But now, with Carmen acting as a cyber-ghost, influenced by some collective subconscious emotion of the City's people, her chattering to those touched by the light would only persuade them to take the easiest shortcut.
For example, what is the greatest desire of a student who is being bullied?
Revenge.
And what is the easiest way to get revenge?
To hit back with overwhelmingly awesome violence.
So, in the eyes of Miss Carmen, who only advises taking shortcuts, what's the fastest way to gain world-beating power?
To become a Distortion, of course.
Everyone in the City was messed up in the head; few didn't crave more power. Just handing them the Seed of Light and letting Carmen chatter away at them—how many could resist the shortcut of Distortion? It was no different from giving a child the button to a nuclear missile. It would only bring about the apocalypse faster.
But all this description was just to cover for Ye Lan's current embarrassing situation.
When he jumped down from the stand, Ye Lan had intended to test out the twinkling, starlit ring. However, this E.G.O. ring, which was supposed to be the light of his heart, produced no effect whatsoever.
And now, having jumped down with only a ring to face the Sephiroth and Angela, Ye Lan was about to pay the price for his overconfidence.
Without the boost from an E.G.O. suit, even with his professional combat training, Ye Lan was no match for box-heads like Malkuth, let alone a former Color Fixer like Geburah.
Just a few minutes later, he was reduced to using office furniture to dodge their attacks. Soon, cornered by the group, he ran out of room to maneuver.
"Uh... how about you let me put on some E.G.O. gear first?"
He barely got the words out before he was kicked to the ground by Malkuth and Tiphereth, and then thoroughly beaten up by Angela and several Sephiroth.
Among them, the ones who hit the hardest were not Geburah, but Hod and Angela.
Getting beaten up by Angela was within Ye Lan's expectations. In fact, he was already prepared to work as a popcorn machine at the entrance of the Library for a few months after it opened. After all, he had pranked Angela and the other box-heads countless times throughout the infinite loops. The boxes couldn't remember, but Angela remembered everything clearly.
But for our little angel Miss Hod to hit so hard that even Netzach and Yesod were taken aback—that was something no one on the scene expected.
But it was understandable. Few people can face their own death calmly, let alone their second death. Hod had been prepared to atone with her life, but Ye Lan's actions had rendered all her preparations meaningless. At that moment, the fear of death and the shame of her own thoughts consumed her mind, naturally leading her to unleash her full strength on Ye Lan, the culprit behind it all.
But at this point, aside from beating up Ye Lan to vent their frustration, there was nothing else to be done. The release of the Seed of Light finally stopped on the fourth day, one day later than in the original story.
Ye Lan didn't know what consequences this would have, but he didn't regret the beating he took, nor the change he had made to the timing of day and night.
For the next three days, the entire City would be plunged into an unbearable darkness. The incompletely released Tree of Light placed weak and fractured seeds into people's hearts, and the power these incomplete seeds could provide would likewise become unstable.
This was what the Sephiroth and Angela could predict. What they didn't know, due to a lack of information, Ye Lan did.
As the Abnormalities and employees entered slumber, waiting to be reawakened by Angela, Ye Lan explained the consequences of a normal release of the Seed of Light to the Sephiroth who were still awake.
"So you believe Carmen, in the light, would guide people to become 'Distortions,' something similar to Abnormalities?" Hokma found this completely unbelievable. But unless Ye Lan was a madman, he had no reason to deceive them with such incredible claims.
"But... Carmen... I still can't believe she would choose to do that." Netzach also couldn't believe it. Although he was the happiest to hear that Carmen was still alive in the light, hearing that she had become someone completely different from the person he knew was deeply saddening.
"Well, I believe that when people die, they're dead. Even if the Carmen in the light is just like the Carmen you describe, she's not the same person. Not to mention, she's not like her at all," Ye Lan said, shaking his head and giving his own opinion. The Sephiroth were no longer the inexperienced researchers they once were; they could naturally regulate their own complex emotions after hearing such news.
In the end, Angela didn't give them much time. Shortly after their conversation, Angela put them into shutdown mode as well.
Ye Lan sat among the deactivated Sephiroth and asked Angela, "What's the plan now?"
"This facility... I will turn it into my paradise," Angela said, sitting opposite him, with the dormant Binah by her side.
She continued, "I want to understand everything about the City. Whatever the future holds, I want to understand them, to analyze them. And finally, to compile the knowledge about them. I remember, it's called a..."
"Book," Ye Lan finished her sentence.
"Yes. Then this place will be a 'Library.' I will build my own library here. This time, you will help me, won't you?"
Ye Lan smiled and stood up. He gave Angela a bow and said, "Of course. This is something I have been looking forward to for a long time."
"Then, you should also fall into slumber..."
After speaking, Angela tried to use the power of the Seed of Light to turn Ye Lan into a book like the other employees. However, the light manifested differently on him. His figure vanished before Angela's eyes in an instant.
Join my patreon For Early access to Chapter : patreon.com/TheWorldGod
Tiamat 140 Chapter
Honkai 100 Chapter
Lobotomy 100 Chapter
MushokuTensei 30 Chapter