Reborn One Week Before the Apocalypse

“How could this be… How could this be…”

After the Sect Leader withdrew his spiritual power, his face was terrifyingly pale.

“What’s wrong? Did you suffer a backlash to your spiritual power?”

Lin Yu asked immediately. He had clearly felt the resistance from the spiritual power inside Tang Mo’s body just now. Seeing the Sect Leader’s frighteningly pale face, he assumed he had been attacked by Tang Mo’s immense spiritual power.

Being attacked by such powerful spiritual power was no small matter. Injuries to one’s spiritual power were different from physical injuries. Even the slightest damage could cause extreme pain and was incredibly difficult to heal.

“No, my spiritual power is fine.”

The Sect Leader still hadn’t fully recovered. He couldn’t even maintain his half-squatting posture and plopped right onto the ground.

“Sect Leader, what’s wrong with Momo? Did she fail to merge with the Space Pearl, or did something else happen?”

The Sect Leader had always been responsible for the protected zone, handling basic necessities like food and drink and various other trivial matters for its residents. Because of Tang Mo, he had always been very close with Lin Yi’s family.

Lin Yi knew the Sect Leader was a reliable and very steady person.

‘If even the Sect Leader is acting like this, I’m afraid something has really happened to Momo.’

Lin Yi knew she had to focus on Momo and that this wasn’t the time to lose control of her emotions, but she couldn’t stop her eyes from turning red. She clutched her chest, feeling as if she couldn’t breathe.

At her side, Xiao Tao quickly noticed Lin Yi’s distress and reached out to support her. But she, too, looked at the Sect Leader with worry, waiting for his answer.

“Tang Mo didn’t fail to merge with the Space Pearl. It was a success, just as the ID Watch broadcast.”

Tang Mo had completely lost consciousness and control over her spiritual power. That was the only reason the Sect Leader, with his healing abilities, could peer into her Sea of Consciousness.

Normally, if Tang Mo had even a shred of self-awareness, the Sect Leader’s spiritual power couldn’t have even gotten close to her Sea of Consciousness.

But it was because of this that the Sect Leader saw the true situation within Tang Mo’s Sea of Consciousness and understood what had happened to her.

Inside Tang Mo’s Sea of Consciousness, five glowing pearls were simultaneously spinning on their axes and orbiting the center of the Sea of Consciousness.

All five pearls emanated the same light. Even the sensation of the energy contained within them felt identical.

The Sect Leader knew that Tang Mo had already merged with several pearls before, so seeing these pearls in the exact same state, he knew there was nothing wrong with the Space Pearl.

The problem wasn’t with the pearls inside the Sea of Consciousness; the problem was with the Sea of Consciousness itself.

If a person’s Sea of Consciousness were compared to a container, then Tang Mo’s was like it had gone through a massive explosion, its outer walls blown to pieces.

Leaving aside the chaotic energy inside, the container itself was now shattered beyond recognition, completely incapable of holding any more spiritual power.

Normally, when a Sea of Consciousness shatters, the energy inside scatters throughout the body. Since the physical body is too fragile and lacks any conscious guidance, the rampaging spiritual power would cause the body to explode.

However, Tang Mo’s situation was a bit special. Because the five pearls in her Sea of Consciousness were orbiting in a regular pattern, most of the energy obediently remained circling around them.

Only a small portion of the energy was unruly and slightly chaotic, but that small amount wouldn’t have any major impact on Tang Mo’s body for the time being.

Thus, a temporary balance was maintained. However, over time, more and more spiritual power would become unruly. Once too much of it accumulated in Tang Mo’s body, she would one day explode and die.

Although Tang Mo’s physical strength was far greater than an average person’s, the sheer scale of her spiritual power was also incomparable. This would, paradoxically, make the danger arrive even faster.

After calming himself, the Sect Leader carefully and thoroughly explained everything he had learned and deduced to the few people present.

The gist of it was this: with a Sea of Consciousness so severely damaged, a normal person would have died the instant it exploded. Even if they survived, they would be left a vegetable. But Tang Mo was incredibly lucky and was still hanging on. As for when, or how, she might wake up… nobody knew.

After the Sect Leader finished speaking, everyone present fell silent.

Even someone who knew nothing about spiritual power could understand how serious an injury to the Sea of Consciousness was, let alone an exploding one. That was something they didn’t even dare to imagine.

“Isn’t there any way to repair her Sea of Consciousness?”

A tear trickled from the corner of Lin Yi’s eye.

When Tang Mo went into the Illusion World to do her mission, she had prayed every single day for her daughter’s safe return.

But she never expected that after returning safely from the Illusion World, she would suffer something like this.

‘It’s all my fault. I’m a useless mother. That’s why my daughter always has to bear such heavy burdens and constantly put herself in danger.’

This time, before the Sect Leader could speak, Lin Yu shook his head.

“Repairing a Sea of Consciousness is impossible. Let’s not even talk about whether it can be done in principle. First off, no one can even get near Tang Mo’s Sea of Consciousness. Even for someone like the Sect Leader who can enter it, to truly repair it, you’d need spiritual power at least ten times stronger than Tang Mo’s.”

Lin Yu’s final sentence completely snuffed out any possibility of repairing Tang Mo’s Sea of Consciousness.

‘Ten times stronger than Tang Mo’s spiritual power?’

Everyone knew Tang Mo was the number one Spirit Attribute Superpower User on the Huaxia rankings. There wasn’t a single Spirit Attribute Superpower User who could even match her, let alone be ten times stronger.

Even if someone started training hard right now, Tang Mo’s body wouldn’t hold out for the eight or ten years it would take for someone to surpass her.

Besides, even if Tang Mo could wait, the increasingly severe Illusion Realms of this apocalypse wouldn’t.

By that time, it was questionable whether humanity would even still exist.

“Then… then is there really no other way? No way at all? Can you take my life in exchange for Momo’s?”

Lin Yi could no longer control her emotions, and large tears streamed down her face.

She reached out and caressed Tang Mo’s cold face, wishing she could bear this pain for her daughter, that she could die in her daughter’s place.

Ever since the apocalypse began, Tang Mo’s personality seemed to have completely changed.

She had always been smart and independent since she was a child, and even more so after the apocalypse.

Although to outsiders, Tang Mo’s journey had seemed smooth, climbing step by step to become a figure everyone looked up to and respected…

…in Lin Yi’s heart, Tang Mo would always be her little girl, the daughter she would willingly give her life to protect.