Chapter 164
Just as Shaer was trying to gather her thoughts, unsure of what to say, she walked over to Aivina after hearing her question. Through the rain-soaked glass, she gazed at the sky outside.
A dark red shadow, resembling a strange bird, circled in the sky. Even without a distinct shape, Shaer could recognize it at a glance.
"Yes."
Shaer nodded and then said, "I'm sorry, Aivina, but I have to leave quickly, before the next disaster strikes..."
"Shaer."
Aivina interrupted her, asking directly, "Can you tell me more about the true form of that shadow you saw?"
"Aivina..."
"I hope we can be open with each other, Shaer."
Aivina looked into Shaer's eyes and said, "I want to help you."
After a moment of silence, Shaer gently nodded.
When Aivina mentioned the shadow in the sky, Shaer already knew that Aivina's mind had also been tainted by the forces from the other realm.
The damage was done, but at least she could be grateful that this was just a simulation; the real Aivina would not be affected.
At the same time, Aivina's words brought a flicker of warmth to Shaer.
Even knowing what Shaer was facing, Aivina felt no fear or other negative emotions... Words can deceive, but negative feelings cannot fool the "Judger."
Though Shaer was reluctant to involve Aivina and the others in this matter, she had been searching for a way to handle it alone, yet in doing so, she had fallen into a mental trap.
Shaer didn’t need to carry too much moral or psychological burden.
She could easily use the simulation to employ any trick or violence to achieve her goals, then calculate the process of breaking through alone, rather than constantly increasing the pressure on herself.
After all, Shaer was just one person; it was inevitable that she would sometimes act on emotion, unable to maintain absolute rationality and precision.
If Shaer were to act like a cold-blooded demon in the simulation, she should have abandoned her sister Lichi, who was "wasting time," as soon as she entered the simulation and returned directly to Brolun City.
In that case, perhaps she would have heard the news the next morning that her sister had been stabbed to death in a town inn.
This was something Shaer could never accept, even in a simulation.
It was these entanglements that anchored Shaer, allowing her to remain grounded even after taking so many lives, preventing her from becoming lost or confused.
Perhaps it was time for her to trust and rely more on her friends.
"Alright."
Shaer looked at Aivina, nodded gently, then turned to the vanity, grabbing a pen and a piece of paper, quickly starting to draw.
Though Shaer's drawing skills were poor, she managed to depict the rough shape of the strange crow with precise control of her fingers, filling its body with chaotic lines.
Aivina, who had been watching Shaer draw, furrowed her brow slightly at the bizarre image created with the ink pen.
Wings...
At that moment, after finishing the drawing, Shaer pushed the paper toward Aivina, watching her expression as she asked, "Can you tell what it is?"
Along with the image, Shaer slowly recounted her true feelings and more specific characteristics of the strange crow she had seen, including its featherless wings, which were covered in long, tangled hair-like lines.
As someone who spent nearly all her time in the library, Aivina indeed had a deeper understanding of the extraordinary than the average extraordinary person.
"I can roughly imagine its appearance. Based on your description, we can basically rule out that it’s a monster transformed from an extraordinary being or a mad extraordinary."
Aivina adjusted her delicate gold-rimmed glasses, the fine chain on the frame swaying gently.
She lowered her hand and lightly tapped the monster's wing with her index finger, saying, "You should know that aside from 'Ascetics' and 'Avengers,' which are the only paths where extraordinary beings might develop wings, other paths do not exhibit this feature."
I don’t know.
Shaer nodded again, encouraging Aivina to continue.
"From what you explained earlier, being enveloped by it would bring misfortune... but that’s actually quite unlikely."
Aivina continued, "Extraordinary abilities and sealed objects have distance limitations. If this is an extraordinary ability, it wouldn’t be able to exert its effects after you left the city."
"Even 'Harbingers of Misfortune' or 'Destiny Bearers' cannot achieve such long-range targeting... unless it’s a level four or higher sealed object."
At this point, Aivina shook her head, saying, "But that’s impossible. The known extraordinary sealed objects don’t have such capabilities, unless they are secretly held by certain hidden organizations..."
"But these organizations wouldn’t need to use a high-level sealed object with severe side effects to deal with a few level three individuals like you..."
At this point, Aivina paused slightly, looking at Shaer, and said, "You, or the organization behind you, haven’t really crossed paths with a Transcendent, have you?"
For others, Aivina might not have believed it, but with Shaer, she felt anything was possible.
Hearing Aivina's words, Shaer reflected for a moment.
She had heard about Transcendents from Yulis before; those below the Transcendent were divided into five levels, and only those above level five could be called Transcendents.
In reality, Shaer was cautious; the only high-level extraordinary being she had direct contact with was Nia, and she was an ally.
How could she possibly provoke a Transcendent above level five?
To be honest, even level three abilities were already beyond Shaer's imagination; she didn’t have any capital to confront them directly. How could someone like her catch the attention of a Transcendent?
"Unlikely."
Shaer shook her head.
"According to what you said earlier, misfortune doesn’t strike immediately after breaking the rules; there’s usually a delay."
Aivina looked at Shaer and said, "I suspect that on the train you took when leaving Brolun City, there was an extraordinary being or someone holding a sealed object."
"After creating your misfortune, they went back to create Lucy's misfortune, and then went on to orchestrate Opode's disaster—timing-wise, this is entirely feasible."
"But I don’t understand why someone would go through such trouble just to enforce some ridiculous rules..."
Aivina frowned deeply, the more she thought about it, the more unreasonable it seemed.
To perfectly evade Nia's scrutiny on the train, and possibly have been tracking for a long time without being discovered by several level threes... Someone with such ability was not just a Transcendent; they were close to it, right?
There were a thousand ways to quietly eliminate them, but why choose this method?
Unless...
"Is it possible that it’s not human?"
Shaer’s question interrupted Aivina’s train of thought.
Shaer’s idea aligned with Aivina’s.
However, after careful consideration, Aivina shook her head: "That doesn’t seem right... It’s almost impossible..."
Hearing Aivina's words, Shaer began to realize something.
Since earlier, Aivina had been dismissing her own ideas because they lacked rationality, leading her to exclude them outright.
Even in the investigation of the incident, the word "reasonable" had a significant impact on Aivina's judgment and thought process.
Meanwhile, Shaer excelled at turning the unreasonable into the reasonable.
Shaer glanced at the time; it was 4:30 AM.
It was time to break Aivina's fixed notions of "convention" and "reasonableness."
"Eight hours and fifteen minutes ago, the train exploded."
Shaer looked at Aivina and asked seriously, "If I went back to that time and killed everyone on the train, would it be possible to find that person or 'thing'?"
Upon hearing Shaer’s words, Aivina’s previously rapid thoughts came to a halt. She blinked at Shaer, and after a moment, she said, "It’s possible... but not very likely..."
Shaer’s suggestion left Aivina momentarily speechless, as it was simply too outrageous.
If what Shaer said were true—going back in time to that train and killing everyone—there was indeed a chance to flush out the mastermind, but the very idea of "going back in time" was impossible.
Moreover, setting aside everything else, just the thought of killing everyone on the train was already too brutal—it felt like something a cult like the Holy Ascendancy or other sinister sects would do.
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