Chapter 137: Void Sea

Qin Qing’s fingertips trembled slightly on the doorknob.

Compelled by the voice, she stepped forward without thinking.

The old woman’s words held an inexplicable pull, stirring a deep, instinctive obedience within her.

Qin Qing walked over and sat down beside the elderly woman, who gently took her hand.

Once seated, Qin Qing unconsciously leaned closer to her.

Her mind was in turmoil.

On one hand, she was fully aware that something was off. Her perception of this elderly woman was far too strange. Just seeing her made Qin Qing instinctively want to get closer. That sense of intimacy, rising from the depths of her soul, was something she had never even felt toward her own parents.

On the other hand, her body clung to the woman without hesitation.

In her mind, she screamed, Wake up! This isn’t right!

It was useless.

When the old woman stroked her hair, Qin Qing even leaned into her palm on her own.

The gesture was all too familiar. Like Mumu, like a dog begging for affection.

That’s it, I’m done for today…

“Pfft…” The girl in the red dress and cloak sitting across from her let out a laugh. “Little ones really are the most amusing.”

Qin Qing: ???

You seem to know a lot. Why don’t you explain more?

But the old woman frowned. “Don’t tease her. You’ve frightened her.”

She withdrew her hand from Qin Qing.

Qin Qing finally found her voice again. With great effort, she asked, “Who… are you?”

The girl across from her spoke first.

“Han Xiangzhen. You can call me by name, or ‘big sister’ if you like. I don’t mind.”

She reached a hand across the table.

Qin Qing didn’t respond.

The old woman said gently, “Just call me Elder Po Po. That’s what everyone calls me.”

Qin Qing whispered, “Elder Po Po.”

For no reason at all, an overwhelming sense of grievance welled up in her chest.

Elder Po Po sighed. “Child, you’ve suffered.”

Then she added, “I only knew you were injured, and that your Cradle had gone into hiding.”

Cradle?

She knows about the Cradle?

Qin Qing’s toes curled tightly inside her shoes.

Elder Po Po patted her hand soothingly. “I received the last message sent by Cradle No. 17905. I was delayed elsewhere and only just managed to get away and come here. I’m relieved to see you’ve recovered so quickly, that you managed to pull yourself through all this on your own in such a short time.”

She pointed to the Crystal Ball poster hanging in the reception room. “That thing—very clever. Nicely done.”

“You…” Qin Qing stammered, “How do you…”

“How do I know?” Elder Po Po smiled. “Because I know where the Cradle came from. Where you came from… Because we are your people.”

My people?

Those two words felt foreign, almost archaic, to someone from the modern world.

“Child, listen to the story…”

Elder Po Po’s tale wasn’t particularly complicated, but it was so fantastical that Qin Qing sat in a daze, unable to process it for a long time.

Elder Po Po said their people were called the Void Sea Tribe—at least, that was the phonetic translation.

The Void Sea Tribe was small in number, but their average mental strength far surpassed that of any other intelligent species in the universe.

It was said that the strongest among them could make dreams manifest with a word, shaping reality through sheer will.

Some could even manipulate the fabric of the universe with their bare hands, forming physical matter without relying on any external tools.

In a way, they could be called gods.

Despite their immense power, the Void Sea Tribe was not a warlike people. They lived quietly in a remote corner of their home planet.

But possessing such gifts made them a target.

When others failed to recruit them, they sought to destroy them instead, attempting to wipe the Void Sea Tribe from existence.

It was a brutal war of attrition. One by one, the tribe’s warriors fell.

The battle soon threatened the Primordial Tree at the heart of their land.

The Void Sea Tribe did not reproduce through physical union. Instead, two parents would merge their spiritual seas to form a Spiritual Body, which would then be nurtured on the ancient Primordial Tree passed down through generations.

To preserve their bloodline, the Tribal Chief used the last of their strength to create a number of Cradles. These were implanted into the unborn Spiritual Bodies still maturing on the tree. The final surviving members of the tribe then escorted these children away from their dying world.

The Tribal Chief, along with the gravely wounded, stayed behind to cover their retreat, perishing alongside their home planet and the enemy forces.

From that moment on, the Void Sea Tribe became a nomadic race, wandering the stars.

Every advanced civilization wanted to enslave these high-value refugees.

After years of drifting, the survivors finally found less developed planets where they could safely place their children.

They implanted the Spiritual Bodies into the recently deceased bodies of native children, allowing them to grow and thrive. Even without parents by their side, the children could survive and mature under the protection of their Cradles.

The Cradle would guide the child it protected—teaching them what not to do, what would help them grow.

If the child misbehaved, the Cradle would gently discipline them. When danger arose, it would shield them from harm.

However, since each member of the Void Sea Tribe had different innate talents, the form their Cradles took varied from person to person.

Qin Qing stared blankly at Elder Po Po. “So… my Cradle is the System Panel?”

Elder Po Po shook her head. “Child, you still don’t understand. The Cradle is just a tool, a form you can grasp. Your true power has always been your immense Spiritual Power.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Even among our people, your talent is quite unique. The reason you can see other people’s data isn’t fundamentally because of the Cradle, but because of you. You unconsciously absorb the perceptions and subconscious thoughts of those around you. The Cradle only manifested to assist you once your innate ability became dominant. Still don’t get it? Think about it—your Cradle must have told you that you can’t forcibly read the data of someone with a higher Spiritual Power than yours. Because it would hurt you. If your ability truly came from the Cradle, that kind of limitation wouldn’t exist at all.”

Qin Qing turned her hands over, studying them.

“So… my Cradle?”

Her hesitant, conflicted expression prompted Han Xiangzhen to cut in, unable to hold back. “Relax, it’s still there. As long as you’re alive and your Spiritual Power remains intact, it won’t disappear. The reason you can’t read data right now is simply because you’re too young, not yet fully developed. You need the Cradle as a medium. Once you grow up, all that information will flow through your eyes and into your mind like a data stream. You won’t need any external carrier at all.”

Elder Po Po added, “The reason you can’t sense the Cradle right now is because, during the external attack, it used the last bit of energy the Tribal Chief implanted to protect you. As long as you replenish that energy, you can reawaken it within your spiritual sea.”

“Energy? What kind of energy?”

Elder Po Po smiled gently. “You already know.”

Something clicked in Qin Qing’s mind, and she blurted out, “Merit?”

“That’s right,” Elder Po Po said, clearly pleased. “This planet may be primitive, but it still has the means to expel us. Right now, it’s only tolerating our presence. To gain permanent residency, we have to earn its favor.

The best way is to help the world consciousness—though it has no physical form—organize and guide the development of civilization. Just like you’ve been doing.

Merit isn’t just a permit granted by the world consciousness. It’s also a form of positive energy willingly transferred to us by the natives.”

She raised her hand. “I can help you partially awaken your Cradle. But for it to fully awaken, that will be up to you.”

Her palm hovered in front of Qin Qing’s forehead.

Qin Qing instinctively closed her eyes.

She heard Elder Po Po let out a soft “Hmm?” and opened her eyes again.

Elder Po Po beamed. “Your Cradle is already in a semi-awakened state, and it’s begun absorbing merit energy.”

Qin Qing suddenly remembered the two times her forehead had throbbed painfully.

Han Xiangzhen clicked her tongue. “Tch… so we came all this way for nothing?”

Elder Po Po replied, “I don’t think Qin Qing sees it that way.”

Qin Qing nodded vigorously. She had never felt so shaken—not even on the day the System Panel first appeared.

Qin Qing asked, “So how much merit is needed to fully awaken the Cradle?”

Han Xiangzhen picked up another cookie and munched on it. “Hmm… not much. About a thousand should do it.”

Qin Qing: “…”

Back when she had the System Panel, scraping together a thousand merit points had already been a Herculean task. Now, without its help, how was she supposed to outsmart criminals and support those high-potential individuals?

Han Xiangzhen looked at her sulking face and said, “Why the long face? Worst case, just wait until you come of age. By then, the Cradle will be more or less optional.”

But the “coming of age” she was talking about clearly wasn’t what Qin Qing understood it to be. Just to be sure, Qin Qing asked, “By Earth standards, when do you reach adulthood?”

“Eighty years old. But that’s not set in stone. It depends on the state of your Spiritual Body. If you’ve accumulated enough energy early on, you might reach adulthood by fifty.”

Qin Qing: “…”

By then, everything would be ancient history.

Unwilling to give up, she tried, “You look pretty well-off. Can I borrow some merit?”

Han Xiangzhen gave her a sidelong glance. “Do you think the world consciousness would recognize borrowed merit?”

It had been so hard to meet these two.

Qin Qing had a million questions.

First, she asked if Meng Yuan was also from the Void Sea Tribe.

Elder Po Po nodded. “Yes. But the external stimuli she’s experienced haven’t been enough. Her Cradle is also in a semi-awakened state, so for now, it can only passively manifest as good luck. Once she comes of age or her Cradle awakens, she’ll be able to actively control her fortune.”

Then Qin Qing asked about Han Xiangzhen’s talent and her Cradle.

Han Xiangzhen answered lazily, crunching on her cookie, “I was just unlucky. Back in college, I went out to get some fried skewers near campus and got hit by a car.

It was a critical situation. My Cradle forcibly awakened and used most of its energy to transfer me somewhere else. Didn’t even pick a good spot—just dumped me into a Strange Tales world. Can you believe that? A Strange Tales world! What kind of place is that for a person?

I survived by sheer grit, using the last bit of energy from my Cradle and my cooking skills to carve out a path.”

Qin Qing listened, wide-eyed. “Whoa.”

Han Xiangzhen continued, “But that turned out to be the key to discovering my talent. I opened a restaurant in that Strange Tales world, earned enough energy, and moved on to another world. Then another. Just hopping from one world to the next, opening restaurants wherever I landed…”

She said it lightly, but Qin Qing could imagine the countless dangers just from the tip of her toe.

Still—time travel!

Elder Po Po patted her head. “No need to envy her. Not everyone is born with a talent that can break the Laws of Space and Time. Just like no one else can replicate your ability to access information.”

“Doesn’t Zhen Qiong have that too? She can even jump back and forth along the same timeline.”

Before Qin Qing could ask who the new name referred to, Han Xiangzhen seemed to suddenly remember something and added, “I’ve met your bodyguard. She’s got good instincts, ruthless enough, and she’s leveling up fast… Elder Po Po is the guardian elder. She has to look after several clan members on her own. When something happened to you, she couldn’t make it in time. Your bodyguard was smart enough to come report it. Once I found out, I should’ve come right away, but I had a few things tying me down. I rushed over as fast as I could and ended up arriving at the same time as Elder Po Po.”

Qin Qing had no reason to blame her.

Han Xiangzhen gave her a pat on the shoulder. “Don’t worry. I’ll keep an eye on her for you. If there’s anything I can do to help, I won’t just stand by and watch.”

Aside from saying thank you, Qin Qing didn’t know what else to say.

She gave a bitter smile. “It feels like… there’s nothing I can do to help you.”

Han Xiangzhen stretched lazily. “These days, when I travel between worlds, I keep an eye out for places that might suit our clan. If I ever find one, that’ll be the day we rebuild the Xu Hai(Void Sea) Clan.”