Chapter 199
The spinning remnants made it look like a rust-colored ball, and soon after, the rotation began to slow.
At the moment the coin's spin began to wane, Xiar had already risen to grab the carving knife. As she sliced her wrist with the blade, the coin vibrated and hummed before coming to a halt on the table.
The Eye Angel faced the ceiling.
Snap—
Xiar held her arm aloft, letting blood drip from her wrist.
Sensing something was amiss, Xiao Zuo had already retreated to the side, the blood it hadn’t finished licking up now forming crimson threads that surged toward Xiar.
The pendant in her hand was tossed to the ground, landing squarely in the center of the blood array.
Surrounding the "Substitute Saint's Remains" and that powerful spirit, an unfamiliar blood array was gradually taking shape before Xiar. At that moment, she found herself uttering a few words she had never heard before.
Before enhancing her linguistics, incomprehensible vocabulary had been like listening to a book for Xiar, but now, as these words slipped from her lips, she could vaguely grasp the meaning of one of them.
One of the words seemed to relate to memory.
This utterance did not affect her, nor did it impact Xiao Zuo.
However, the sealed spirit at the center of the magical array began to descend into madness upon hearing those words.
Ansu language, ancient Ansu language... along with various other languages Xiar had never encountered, erupted in a cacophony within her mind. They seemed to form a complete sentence, yet the language system was utterly chaotic.
Even scholars well-versed in these languages would need time to translate and comprehend the meaning behind this madness.
Yet amidst the spiraling chaos, Xiar sensed that it had come to know her death was imminent...
The blood array continued to take shape, the crimson threads completely entwining the "Substitute Saint's Remains," countless strands burrowing through the cage to ensnare the spirit within.
The flames of the saint's remains burned wildly, forming a purple bonfire before Xiar.
The specially crafted extraordinary cage began to crack, and a shadow of a raven was released.
But before its phantom could expand, the myriad blood threads wrapped around it, dragging it into the blood-red vortex that was gradually forming in midair.
The raven's shadow was pulled into the vortex with a mournful cry, vanishing without a trace.
The blood-red vortex spun slowly, seemingly digesting this offering.
Finally, the vortex expanded to a height of half a person, and a dark purple, sludge-like "hand" emerged from it, pressing down onto the table.
Then came the head, the torso, the limbs...
A grotesque creature, its body wrapped in dark purple sludge, emerged, exuding a potent, intoxicating fragrance.
Its form resembled that of an extremely hunched old man, with elongated forelimbs supporting the ground, and below its torso, a mass of writhing purple tentacles. Its head bore no eyes, only a dark green brain resembling a tumor, glowing faintly with green light.
Almost the moment it appeared, Xiar found herself uncontrollably engulfed in hallucinations. In her eyes, all the furniture around her twisted and collapsed, reshaping into something entirely unrecognizable.
Only the "Lucky Coin," the "Evil Eye," and the "Touch of Fate's Betrayal," these extraordinary items, retained their original forms in this distorted world.
The summoned spiritual being stood on the table, allowing the purple sludge to drip onto the surface.
It had no mouth or eyes, but the pheromones emanating from it seemed to convey a message to Xiar.
Are you ready?
Xiar could feel that this was the essence of what it wanted to express.
Ready for what? What had she prepared?
The outcome hinged on this moment; if a gamble could be fully prepared for, it wouldn’t be a gamble at all.
I’m ready.
Xiar transmitted this message to the spiritual being.
As her command reached it, the sludge on the table ignited.
A thick, pale purple smoke billowed from the sludge, swirling in the living room, forming a massive smoky raven.
An overwhelming drowsiness surged toward Xiar's mind.
What’s happening...
This hypnotic sensation reminded her of the time she had been brainwashed by Jidi as a "gambler."
Xiar barely had time to clutch all the extraordinary items on the table before she collapsed onto the sofa, her body slowly sinking back as she lost consciousness.
When Xiar regained her awareness and opened her eyes, she found herself in a space shrouded in purple mist.
In this space, countless circular halos of orange, blue, and white light were scattered before her.
Xiar looked down at her hands; she could no longer wield any extraordinary abilities. This sensation felt oddly familiar.
Had she experienced something similar in the system's save archive?
Was this her consciousness in action?
Then what was this space...?
Xiar tentatively called out to the system, and the familiar interface appeared before her, providing a slight sense of reassurance.
Thank goodness, the system still works; that’s a relief.
Did this mean she had won her gamble?
Was this the "reward" for winning?
Xiar stepped forward and reached out to touch the first light orb.
The orb exploded before her, and everything around her transformed.
The purple mist morphed into an endless night sky, free from the haze of factories, where even the stars shone brightly.
She was flying through the night sky.
Xiar attempted to move her "arms," but found she couldn’t control anything.
Moreover, her perspective couldn’t shift freely, as if she were experiencing a first-person animation.
Soon, Xiar saw her viewpoint diving toward a black castle, landing steadily on a large window.
As her perspective lowered, she noticed the black and blue feathers adorning her body.
The blue was rapidly fading, soon turning completely black.
This is...
The raven's perspective?
Is this the memory of that spirit?
As if to confirm Xiar's thoughts, in a lavish castle hosting a grand banquet, a handsome man with wavy blonde hair approached the raven.
He looked at the raven before him, his brow furrowing, and suddenly clenched his fists. Three black iron spikes erupted from his knuckles as he swung his fist toward Xiar.
"Opode, what’s going on?"
"Nothing, just an annoying raven."
"The queen is coming; hurry up! This promotion will determine your fate..."
Xiar's perspective quickly dodged the sudden punch and soared into the air, spiraling a few times before vanishing.
Her view gradually faded, returning to the earlier scene enveloped in purple mist.
This was the spirit's memory... Was this the moment it first locked onto Opode?
Xiar brushed aside the light point before her and moved toward the next one.
This time, her perspective was set in a somewhat gloomy daytime, the sky choked with thick smoke. Flying in the air, Xiar could almost taste the acrid scent of the smoke.
This was even worse than the pollution in the ever-expanding Boren City...
Just as this thought crossed her mind, her viewpoint began to dive, finally stopping at the second-floor windowsill of a corporate high-rise, resting on the stone window ledge, peering through the glass at Lucy, who was tidying up tarot cards.
This was the memory of locking onto Lucy...
Xiar's view returned to the space shrouded in purple smoke.
She wasn’t sure if it was her imagination, but after touching two light orbs, she felt that the once-dense collection of orbs had diminished significantly.
No, it wasn’t an illusion.
With each segment she viewed, the total number of light orbs decreased rapidly...
She needed to find more useful memories.
Were these recollections sorted by time?
Xiar scanned the area, but the end of the light orbs seemed to hold no trace.
She began to analyze the exterior of the light orbs, discerning their differences to assess the quality of the memories within. Soon, she made a new discovery.
The light orbs that locked onto Opode and Lucy had a relatively larger proportion of white light.
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