The orchard was beautiful in a way that made Qin Yuheng uneasy.

Trees rose beneath a night sky full of enormous stars. Their branches bent under glowing fruits shaped like small constellations. Some fruits were silver, some blue, some gold, some violet. Their light pulsed like breathing.

But many had split open.

Their centers were black.

Sweet rot filled the air.

The mission panel appeared.

[Floor 106: The Orchard of Overripe Stars]

[Duration:

3 Tower days]

[Main Mission]

Save the Star Orchard before the harvest rot spreads to the root constellation.

[Sub-Missions]

1. Identify overripe star fruits.

2. Preserve at least 50% of healthy fruit.

3. Prevent team growth temptation above 30%.

4. Find the cause of premature ripening.

5. Defeat the Rot-Ripening Star Moth.

[Warning]

Fruit that ripens too quickly may rot from the center.]

Qin Mo covered his nose.

"Sweet rot is worse than normal rot."

Qin Lian looked up.

"The stars above are connected to the trees."

Qin Yuchen touched one low-hanging silver fruit but did not pluck it.

"Some are still healthy."

Qin Yuheng activated the False Growth Season Detection Root.

The root pulsed strongly.

Premature growth pressure existed everywhere.

A small old orchard keeper appeared between the trees. His body was made of bark and starlight.

"You came late," he said.

Qin Yuheng answered, "What happened?"

"The fruits wanted to mature before the Star Harvest Festival. The moth whispered that early ripening proved strength."

Qin Mo muttered, "Of course it did."

The orchard keeper explained that star fruits were meant to ripen slowly under seven nights of constellation light. But a strange moth had spread silver dust that accelerated maturity. At first, the orchard seemed blessed: fruits grew bigger, brighter, faster.

Then the centers rotted.

Worse, nearby healthy fruits began copying the accelerated rhythm.

Growth itself became contagious.

Qin Yuheng thought of talent fruits.

Qin Yuze.

Qin Xue’er.

His own sleeping bloodline.

This floor was painfully relevant.

They began work immediately.

Qin Mo designed a sorting formation.

Healthy fruit: stable star rhythm.

Overripe fruit: excessive outer glow, hollow center.

Rot-infected fruit: black core, spreading dust.

Qin Lian moved through the upper branches, cutting infected fruit before they burst.

Qin Yuchen guarded the orchard keeper from star-rot beasts.

Qin Yuheng coordinated and used the Sovereign Dormant Potential Preservation Crystal to stabilize healthy fruits.

The first temptation came when a golden star fruit floated down before Qin Yuheng.

A panel appeared.

[Overripe Star Talent Fruit]

[Effect:

Immediately grants temporary star comprehension surge.] 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

[Warning:

Core unstable.]

The wording was honest enough to be insulting.

Qin Yuheng ignored it.

Another fruit appeared before Qin Yuze’s image—not real, but illusion—showing his brother eating a powerful fruit and becoming unstoppable.

Qin Yuheng cut the illusion.

"Not ready."

Growth temptation remained low.

[Team Growth Temptation: 8%]

On the first night, the Rot-Ripening Star Moth appeared.

It was enormous, wings covered in star patterns, body pale and beautiful. Wherever its dust fell, fruits brightened instantly.

[Rot-Ripening Star Moth]

[Level Equivalent: 64]

[Type:

Premature maturity parasite]

[Abilities:

- Star Dust Acceleration

- Hollow Core Ripening

- Growth Envy Pulse

- Harvest Illusion]

It did not attack directly.

It spread comparison.

This fruit ripened faster.

That branch is stronger.

Why wait?

Why remain small?

Why not become brilliant now?

The orchard trembled.

Healthy fruits began pulsing too fast.

Qin Mo shouted, "It is making fruits envy other fruits!"

Qin Yuheng’s eyes narrowed.

Not only fruits.

People too.

Qin Yuchen saw an illusion of himself lagging behind Qin Yuheng forever.

Qin Lian saw shadows growing without her.

Qin Mo saw Bai Yunshen solving formations faster.

Each temptation tried to accelerate them unnaturally.

The Continue Path Crystal and Patient Growth Insight Crystal helped stabilize Qin Yuheng, and through the team anchors, the others recovered quickly.

Qin Yuheng planted Chosen Road Banner Field.

"Growth is not a race against another branch."

The orchard keeper raised his staff.

The true constellations brightened faintly.

The moth attacked at last.

It released star dust blades. Qin Yuchen blocked. Qin Lian cut wing patterns. Qin Mo used dormancy arrays to slow dust spread. Qin Yuheng struck the moth’s core, but it split into smaller luminous moths.

The boss could not be killed while overripe fruits fed it.

They had to prune.

Not destroy all fruit.

Prune correctly.

For two days, they worked.

They removed rot-infected fruits.

Stabilized borderline fruits.

Protected healthy ones.

Allowed some overripe fruits to fall and become compost.

The orchard keeper wept when they cut beautiful but doomed fruits.

Qin Yuheng said, "Keeping them will kill the tree."

The keeper nodded.

On the third night, the root constellation appeared beneath the orchard: a vast pattern of light connecting all trees.

The Rot-Ripening Star Moth dived toward it.

If it infected the root constellation, the whole orchard would rot.

Qin Mo activated the dormancy formation.

Qin Lian cut the moth’s wing root.

Qin Yuchen pinned its body with a shield strike.

Qin Yuheng used Five Roads Thunder Command Step and pierced the moth’s hollow core.

This time, because the overripe fruit network had been severed, the moth could not split.

It dissolved into harmless silver ash.

[Rot-Ripening Star Moth defeated.]

[Root constellation preserved.]

[Healthy fruit stabilized.]

[Final Evaluation greatly increased.]

The orchard quieted.

Many fruits were gone.

But the remaining ones pulsed steadily.

The orchard keeper bowed.

"Fewer stars," he said. "But real."

Floor 106 was complete.