Chapter 216
Xia'er tentatively opened her mouth to speak, but no reply came—at that moment, she couldn't even access the system interface. This was the first time Xia'er had encountered such a situation.
Uncertain how much time had passed, the frames finally stopped multiplying.
Slowly, the system interface that had piled up before Xia'er began to dissipate, piece by piece. After a long while, she finally saw something beyond the system interface.
Before her lay a cluster of tiny gears.
They floated in the expanse of silvery-white space, quietly spinning.
At that moment, Xia'er realized that the system frames hadn’t vanished into thin air; they had been absorbed into the gears.
Once all the frames were drawn in, the gears gradually came to a halt.
A new system interface appeared before Xia'er.
【Is it beautiful?】
For some reason, Xia'er felt a hint of resentment in the system's words.
“Did you malfunction?”
Xia'er asked, curiosity piqued.
【……】
【Sigh……】
After a series of ellipses, the system finally sent a sigh.
“Why are you sighing?”
【Just thinking about having to do all this again makes me feel uneasy.】
“What did you do?”
【I sealed away all the knowledge and will within the 'uniqueness.'】
“Sealing it… means it’s useless, right?”
【So would you prefer I seal it away, or would you rather go mad on your own?】
【Haha, you can even make puns, top-notch^^】
Seeing the familiar, cheeky expression from the system, Xia'er felt a bit more at ease.
It seemed the system hadn’t encountered a bug; it was functioning just fine.
【Next time, you don’t have to swallow it; just stuff it in your pocket watch.】
【Oh no, I can’t hold on much longer! I can’t keep shielding you from the pollution^^_】
As the last communication interface from the system vanished, the silver light before Xia'er quickly faded.
This was definitely intentional on the system's part—
Xia'er barely had time to think this before she tightened her focus, preparing for the potential onslaught of “pollution” or “murmurs.”
But to her surprise, the mental shock she had imagined did not come.
Feeling the control of her body returning, Xia'er slowly opened her eyes.
Upon opening them, she saw her right hand, torn and bloodied.
From her palm to her arm, all the skin had been ripped open; in some places, only thin strips of skin connected a few bits of flesh, and even the muscle itself had begun to turn a shade of purple.
Between the gaps of skin and muscle, some tendrils writhed, as if they had always existed within her hand, now fused with her flesh.
Looking forward from her palm, she saw another pair of delicate white hands, currently gripping her own tightly.
As she raised her gaze, she spotted Aivina kneeling before her, wearing glasses.
At that moment, Aivina was cradling Xia'er’s hands, her eyes tightly shut, a pained expression on her face, her forehead glistening with beads of sweat.
Was Aivina taking on this burden for her?
This was a significant strain on Aivina’s psyche… and Xia'er needed to know just how severe her own mental pollution had become without Aivina's help.
“Aivina…”
Xia'er called out softly.
Hearing Xia'er’s voice, Aivina suddenly opened her eyes wide, her dark purple pupils trembling slightly, as if startled by something she had seen.
Xia'er slowly withdrew her hands from Aivina’s grasp, but Aivina seemed to exert a little more force, reluctant to let go.
However, Aivina's strength was no match for Xia'er’s; with the enhancement of 【Agility】, Xia'er’s physical power was beyond what a non-combatant like Aivina could contend with.
“It’s okay now, Aivina.”
After pulling her hands free, Xia'er looked at the still-shaken Aivina and gently wrapped her left arm around her shoulders, pulling her close. “It’s over.”
Once she was free from Aivina’s influence, Xia'er began to see some double vision and hallucinations; the once-dark factory seemed to be shrouded in mist again.
The warm yellow light emitted from the liquid in the tubes dispelled some of the darkness, but in the faintly misty shadows that the light couldn’t reach, something seemed to whisper softly, luring Xia'er closer.
“Xia… Xia'er… I… I saw…”
Aivina rested her chin on Xia'er’s shoulder, speaking haltingly, “Why are you also…?”
Aivina’s confused mind clearly hadn’t settled yet. Xia'er remained silent, gently stroking Aivina’s back with her left hand.
Under Xia'er’s tender touch, Aivina’s racing heart gradually slowed, and her body stopped trembling.
At that moment, Aivina seemed to realize their position was somewhat ambiguous. After a moment of hesitation, she slowly wrapped her arms around Xia'er’s back.
The liquid in the tubes gradually cooled, and the light began to fade. The two embraced in the dim factory, quietly feeling each other’s warmth.
Neither seemed willing to break the tranquility of the moment.
But after a while, as darkness fully enveloped them, the whispers in the shadows began to throb painfully in Xia'er’s mind. She slowly spoke, “Aivina… could you turn on the lights?”
At that, Aivina gently released Xia'er and walked over to the nearly dark tube, picking up a slender glass rod and pressing it against Xia'er’s forehead.
Soon, the liquid inside melted again, and with Aivina’s gentle shaking, the light returned to dispel the darkness.
“Is it… over?”
Aivina asked softly.
“Yes, the cursed seal has been destroyed, and it’s forever left in the 'Otherworld.'”
Xia'er nodded and replied.
Suddenly, Xia'er seemed to remember something and asked, “You just said ‘you too?’…”
As she spoke, she shifted her position, shaking the light rod while leaning against the wall.
Aivina, disregarding the dirt on the ground and the dust on the wall, sat beside Xia'er, their shoulders pressed tightly together.
“Nia’s situation is very similar to yours.”
Aivina hugged her knees, her face nearly buried in them.
“Otherworld pollution.”
Otherworld pollution, huh?
That was expected.
However, at this level, it wouldn’t have a significant impact on Xia'er—though for a while, she definitely couldn’t use 【Spiritual Summoning】 or enter the Otherworld.
This was something she needed to jot down in her notebook later.
She picked up the notebook and pen beside her with her left hand. As Xia'er raised her right hand, she once again caught sight of her grotesque, terrifying right hand, resembling a twisted form.
Xia'er wanted to ignore the existence of that hand, but as she grasped the pen, its tremors made it nearly impossible for her to write.
When she finally managed to put pen to paper, she found that the words she had written were unrecognizable, as if all the characters in her mind had become a jumbled mess.
Finally, she gave up on writing herself. Holding the notebook and pen in her left hand, she handed them to Aivina, who was sitting to her left, and said, “Could you do me a favor?”
“Hmm?”
Aivina took the notebook with a puzzled expression and asked, “I can’t write this…”
“It’s fine, just write it in Ansu language.”
Xia'er replied, “I’ll say a line, and you write it down.”
And so, Xia'er spoke a line, and Aivina wrote it down, recording everything that had just happened—excluding the 'uniqueness' and the system—into the notebook.
“Who is this for?”
Aivina noticed that the strokes seemed to be written for someone else, not just to deepen her memory.
“For the organization.”
Xia'er answered.
That organization again…
Aivina tightened her grip on the pen slightly.
Allowing Xia'er to suffer like this, no matter how secretive the organization was, it had successfully ignited Aivina’s desire to investigate.
Aivina would track down the person who assigned the task to Xia'er and give them a good lesson.
“Congratulations,”
Xia'er said, looking at Aivina, who seemed lost in thought, “You’ve reached the second tier?”
“Yeah.”
Aivina nodded.
“Didn’t you encounter any danger just now?”
Xia'er continued to inquire.
Table of Contents
