Free Web Novel—Mental sea collapse.
At those words, the color in Selet’s eyes dimmed for an instant.
But that flicker of emotion lasted only a moment. The depths of the gaze quickly returned to their usual indifferent cold.
Without even frowning, Selet spoke in a flat tone to the Heimo who had come to report, “Handle it according to standard procedure.”
The Heimo officer wasn’t surprised at all and nodded.
After all, to the Saint Clan, mental sea collapse was something they had long since grown used to seeing.
The Saint Clan possessed powerful physiques and combat ability, and the price of that was that their mental seas were far more frenzied, chaotic, and unstable than those of other races.
Almost every Saint Clan, from birth to death, endured the torment of mental-energy disorder. All of them had, at one time or another, experienced either themselves or a companion suddenly losing control.
Within the Saint Clan, a mature and complete response system had already formed for this.
If not for the little Highness being present—and if not for the fact that the Saint Clan soldier whose mental sea had collapsed happened to be on the candidate list—this matter would never have needed to be reported to Selet at all.
Now that Selet had ordered standard procedure, the Heimo officer who received the command withdrew calmly at once to prepare to “process” the Saint Clan in question.
Wen Yuzhi listened to their conversation. Even though he didn’t know how serious mental sea collapse was, the literal meaning alone told him it wasn’t something optimistic.
Yet seeing the Saint Clan around him all looking calm and detached, Wen Yuzhi suddenly felt confused.
[Is it not serious?]
He held up the board.
After seeing it, Selet soothed the cub softly. “Your Highness need not worry. It’s not serious. It will be over soon.”
Even though Selet said that, when they entered the training base, Wen Yuzhi still saw the collapsed soldier with his own eyes.
The Saint Clan who had lost control lay on the ground in agony. The body had already fully shifted into beast form under the strain.
A massive frame. Spread bone wings. And a pair of vertical pupils flooded with crimson blood-red. Every feature made the figure look like a savage, terrifying monster.
A monster with no reason left—one that only knew how to attack.
Harsh, heavy breathing came with low, guttural growls. Those crimson vertical pupils were open, but the clarity that had once been there was gone. When the creature looked at the comrades and companions around, its gaze held nothing but bloodthirsty madness and killing intent.
Like the most violent, feral beast.
And the surrounding Saint Clan regarded it with equally cold vigilance.
From the moment it completely lost control and took beast form, it was no longer their comrade.
It was a target that could be killed at any time.
By the time Selet arrived with Wen Yuzhi, the chaos was already nearing its end.
Two Heimo officers, acting on orders, fired injections into the creature’s body—something like a sedative.
Immediately, other soldiers rushed forward and bound the out-of-control Saint Clan with iron chains.
The Saint Clan tried to struggle, but the drug took effect quickly inside the body. Strength began draining away bit by bit; the more violently it struggled, the faster the drug worked.
By the time the layers of chains had completely immobilized limbs and wings, all it could do was release hoarse cries of pain and fury from its throat.
At last, the powerless giant beast collapsed, dragged by its former comrades into a special, enormous cage.
One shackle after another fell into place. freeweɓnøvel.com
The out-of-control Saint Clan could struggle no more.
It seemed to realize the ending it was about to face. It grew quiet, even ceased resisting, and closed its eyes in weary resignation.
Cold...
The Saint Clan body was extraordinarily strong. It shouldn’t feel cold.
Yet in that moment, the body felt very cold.
Once the boiling blood began to settle, biting chill spread instantly through the entire frame.
It knew this was the drug.
This sedative, developed specifically for mental-sea riots, could rapidly suppress the frenzy within them, keeping an out-of-control Saint Clan in a permanently weakened state.
The cold it felt was the drug cooling the blood.
It knew all this.
Because it had once used this very method to send off former kin.
It just hadn’t expected it would be its own turn so soon.
Today had been supposed to be an important day. The little Highness was coming to the military headquarters. It had even thought it might have one more chance to see the little Highness...
But now it was all ruined.
How awful. freēwebnovel.com
It thought that sadly.
Perhaps because it felt close to death, it suddenly wanted to see the sky outside once more. And some vague instinct made it open its eyes at that moment.
Just one glance.
It saw a small figure.
Looking at it.
He saw the giant beast crouched inside the cage open its eyes.
When the beast looked this way, for a brief instant, something like lucidity seemed to surface in those savage—
And then it was gone again, swallowed by a deeper, more unbearable pain.
Crimson flooded back, as if that flicker of emotion had never existed.
But Wen Yuzhi’s gaze had fallen on the damp mark spreading across the floor.
He recognized it.
It was a tear.
—It was crying.
The giant beast inside the cage was crying. That tear fell from its body, yet no one except Wen Yuzhi noticed.
Or rather—noticed, and there was nothing to be done.
Everyone present knew what mental sea collapse meant. Damage to the mental sea was irreversible. Once fully out of control, they would become beasts with no reason left.
No one could save it. For a Saint Clan who had lost all reason, death was actually the best release.
Scenes like today had already played out countless times within the Saint Clan.
Their hearts had long since grown numb to it.
But Wen Yuzhi felt a surge of aching sorrow.
Seeing the Saint Clan crying, what rose instinctively in his heart was pity.
[Where will he be taken?]
Wen Yuzhi wrote the question on the board.
Selet hadn’t wanted the little Highness to see a scene like this. He had originally planned to take the cub around nearby first and return only after this matter was finished.
He hadn’t expected the cub to see it anyway.
Selet fell silent a moment before answering, “He will be taken to the supervision ward.”
[Not to see a doctor?]
Wen Yuzhi asked, puzzled.
In his view, how could someone in that condition not see a doctor?
Selet looked into Wen Yuzhi’s eyes. The cub’s pale-gold pupils were clear and bright, so clean they held not a trace of shadow.
For a moment, Selet didn’t know how to answer.
Sometimes silence was an answer.
Seeing Selet unwilling to speak, Wen Yuzhi vaguely sensed something—but still wrote tentatively:
[I can call Mu Luo.]
Selet glanced at it and shook the head.
“No need for a doctor. No one can save mental sea collapse.”
Then...
Wen Yuzhi still wanted to ask more, when footsteps sounded behind them.
Mansendis had arrived after finishing his affairs.
The silver-haired sovereign, having come in haste, reached out and lifted the cub from Selet’s shoulder.
Wen Yuzhi immediately hugged Mansendis. In the embrace, he anxiously tried to raise the board for Mansendis to see.
But Mansendis had already sensed the conversation between him and Selet through mental perception.
Mansendis knew what Wen Yuzhi wanted to ask.
He lowered the gaze and said softly, “I have never told you before. Every Saint Clan has mental-energy disorder.”
“It accompanies us from birth to death. It is a fate none of us can escape.”
Like a curse rooted in their blood.
A normal mental sea should be calm and orderly, providing a stable place for mental energy to reside.
But from the moment a Saint Clan is born, the mental sea is chaotic, filled with violent, frenzied power.
It could not be denied—this gave them great strength.
But at the same time, that excessive frenzy tormented them at every moment.
The stronger the individual, the greater the pain.
And under that day-after-day torment, some Saint Clan would be unable to endure and fall completely into uncontrollable frenzy.
Each episode made the mental sea more unstable, until it finally shattered and collapsed.
Before, Mansendis had never told Wen Yuzhi any of this. Mond and the others had also deliberately avoided mentioning such things in front of him.
In their view, the cub was still too young, far from ready to bear this kind of pain.
They had all experienced it themselves. Naturally, they knew how insane an out-of-control Saint Clan could be.
Such Saint Clan would have no reason left. In their minds there remained only the urge to tear prey apart.
Even blood kin. Even their own race.
They could still strike without hesitation.
And Wen Yuzhi?
Mansendis knew best of all.
Back on Kanirila, the cub had once been chased into hiding by even a stray beast.
Soft. Harmless. Not inheriting his strength at all. Like a flower grown in a greenhouse.
Placed before out-of-control Saint Clan, he could be torn apart in less than a second.
That was something Mansendis and Mond would never allow.
It was precisely for that reason that, even though the cub’s innate gift was healing, Mansendis still did not feel safe letting Wen Yuzhi approach out-of-control Saint Clan yet.
He had planned to wait until the cub grew a little older.
But today’s incident was an accident.
He had asked Selet to take Wen Yuzhi out to play because Mansendis knew he could not keep him enclosed in the palace forever.
The cub had to meet the outside world.
And the other Saint Clan had to meet their crown heir.
Mansendis knew he himself might not be able to endure much longer. He was already laying the road for Wen Yuzhi. Coming to the military headquarters had been a decision he had weighed carefully.
He hadn’t expected Wen Yuzhi to encounter a Saint Clan in mental frenzy here...
Now that it had come to this, Mansendis understood there was no point hiding it further. Facing the cub’s confusion, he simply told Wen Yuzhi about the Saint Clan’s mental condition.
All this was the first time Wen Yuzhi had learned it.
Mental disorder. Frenzy. Collapse.
These words gathered into the image of that Saint Clan crying in agony just now.
Wen Yuzhi lowered his head. He didn’t speak. The pen moved unconsciously across the board in his hand, yet not a single word appeared.
Seeing this, Mansendis rubbed the cub’s hair. “After we return, I will have Mond arrange some lessons on mental energy for you. There is no need to worry.”
In truth, beneath the silver-haired sovereign’s words lay the Saint Clan’s long familiarity with such things.
Because they were used to it, they did not think it extraordinary.
Just as when subduing that Saint Clan, the others had all remained cold and detached.
But Wen Yuzhi couldn’t accept it so quickly.
Eyes lowered, he wrote on the board:
[I want to go to the supervision ward.]
This was not the cub’s usual questioning tone. It was a statement.
Wen Yuzhi wanted to go to the supervision ward.
No matter what, he wanted to see that Saint Clan again.
Mansendis looked at him for a moment.
Wen Yuzhi did not retreat. He held up the board firmly.
Mansendis raised a brow. “Are you certain?”
“An out-of-control Saint Clan is far more dangerous than you imagine. They would tear you apart—or bite through your throat.”
He tried to warn his child in a severe tone.
But Wen Yuzhi wrote:
[Dad will protect me.]
Wen Yuzhi knew it was dangerous.
But with Mansendis, with Selet, with Yiluo and Feier, with Merita—so many Saint Clan present—he believed they would not let him be harmed.
It was childish logic.
Yet Mansendis found it impossible to harden his heart and refuse.
And from the beginning, when he had explained all this, Mansendis had already anticipated this outcome.
With the cub’s temperament, he would never be able to grow accustomed to it the way they had.
Mansendis’s question had only been a reminder—
to let Wen Yuzhi understand that approaching out-of-control Saint Clan was dangerous.
But since the cub insisted, Mansendis would not stop him further.
In fact, letting him see with his own eyes would also help him understand what out-of-control Saint Clan were like.
As for any possible danger—
Mansendis would never allow it to occur.
A cub’s curiosity was normal. His role was to provide sufficient safety and protection before the cub grew up, so that he could explore and make mistakes without fear.
That, too, was what a qualified parent should do.
.......
The supervision ward was located on the third underground level of the military headquarters.
It lay far below the surface, divided into countless compartments. Not only Saint Clan whose mental seas had collapsed, but any whose mental energy had problems were brought here and confined temporarily.
Wen Yuzhi saw many Saint Clan here.
Heimo. Ge De. Tas.
Both high-tier and low-tier Saint Clan were present.
They were each arranged in separate cells. The environment inside was not poor—one could even say comfortable—but no matter how comfortable, it could not conceal the truth that this was a prison.
The outermost walls were forged of thick, heavy metal, layer upon layer of tight containment, sealing all these Saint Clan with mental instability inside.
Only when their condition stabilized could they be released.
Those who could not endure—whose mental seas fully collapsed—would be taken to the innermost room.
There they would spend the final three days of their lives.
When the three days ended, they would be executed.
All this was explained aloud to Wen Yuzhi by Selet.
In truth, this manner of death was already considered merciful for the Saint Clan.
On the battlefield, once a comrade lost control, they were to be killed immediately—without even the smallest care.
At least here, someone would collect their remains.
Selet’s voice was hard and cold. That emotionless tone was not suited to explanation.
But Wen Yuzhi listened very carefully. Little by little, he was learning this pain that belonged to the Saint Clan—the side he had never known before.
Listening as they walked, they soon reached the innermost room.
The Saint Clan who had just lost control had already been confined there.
The door of this room looked even heavier than the others. Its defenses had clearly reached the highest level.
Wen Yuzhi saw information displayed on the wall about the Saint Clan inside.
His name was—
Woke.
