In the shattered pale library, the fragnts of history sent forth hollow howls that continuously swept across the collapsed columns and walls, in the boundless dark chaos where the library's boundaries surged uneasily.
Then, all this turbulence halted in an instant.
As if ti were reversing, the crumbled and shattered shelves and scattered scrolls and stone tablets swiftly reset, with a vortex of history fragnts rewinding to its original state. Amidst the towering, restored bookshelves, Baili Qing's silhouette wavered like a water reflection, reorganizing and swiftly regaining a solid form.
Behind her, within the shattered light and shadow fragnts, there remained a lingering shadow of disturbance, as if countless struggling illusions were trying to squeeze out from that phantom realm, accompanied by layered moans—
"Save us! We are still alive, we are still alive..."
"Everything outside is false... the truth is imprisoned here, turn back, quickly turn back..."
"Child, run quickly! Find soone to rescue us..."
"Sister! It's , I am Little Xue—you left behind! The one beside you is false! It is false!"
Baili Qing opened her eyes, and those struggling and wailing things in the ghost images behind her instantly transford back into hollow howls from history fragnts, gradually dissipating.
Only at this mont did Baili Qing finally glance back, a mont later she breathed a sigh lightly.
"Any new discoveries?" An aged voice ca from the stone platform, as the light in the eye sockets of the crystal skull flickered.
Baili Qing turned back, her expression sowhat complicated and hesitant, but she soon collected it and nodded lightly: "…I found so clues previously unnoticed."
"Good," the crystal skull said faintly, "as per the usual rule, I will not inquire specifically what you have discovered. Since you returned to this world rationally, you are entitled to take this portion of knowledge—now, leave with what you dug out from the library, do not return here within seven days."
Baili Qing said nothing, rely nodded silently, then turned rapidly away from the stone platform surrounded by towering shelves, and along the continuous floating path through the dark space filled with countless floating monoliths, she quickly returned to the pure white corridor connecting the Special Service Bureau Building.
It was only after traversing the entire corridor, back to the normal atmosphere of the 'regular floors', that she gently exhaled a breath.
A pair of gigantic eyes quietly floated on the nearby wall.
"The 'Descent' from three thousand seven hundred years ago turned out to be even more complex than we imagined," Baili Xue's voice resonated, "if the 'echoes' in the archives were not distorted or tampered with, if the related records were genuine, then back in those days, the 'World Bridge'... was actually built by a joint effort of nurous Dark Angels? The On Goddess descending via the World Bridge was just one of them..."
"Rational, able to communicate, even capable of coordinated actions, utilizing formidable techniques attempting to establish contact with this universe... If these ssages were publicized, the whole world would be in upheaval," Baili Qing spoke softly, "our understanding of 'Dark Angels' needs to be reconstructed by all of us."
The sisters fell silent simultaneously, after a few seconds, Baili Xue suddenly spoke: "More than this, I am suddenly more concerned about what role did the 'Erin' figure from three thousand seven hundred years ago truly play in the entire matter."
"None of the historical fragnts contain records related to her, Marin could not find any information about that golden-haired puppet in the garden network, and no corresponding clues in other databases," Baili Qing slightly furrowed her brows, "from this perspective, that 'Erin' seed to have appeared out of thin air, as if she was specifically 'created' for the 'Descent' action from three thousand seven hundred years ago... It's exceedingly suspicious."
"Maybe we should contact Terra over there? They have the largest cosmic database, and their historical records are also more complete than other civilized circles, relatively knowledgeable about Ancient Saints—they might know so situations about certain 'special puppets' in 'Alice's Cottage.'
"…It's a line of thought," Baili Qing pondered briefly and lightly nodded, "but before that, let's visit Layer N—I should find a quiet place to purify you."
"Purification?"
"The illusion in the archives learned your na and tried to mimic your voice to tempt ," Baili Qing furrowed her brow, looking at the massive eyes on the wall next to her, "honestly, during my descent did you idly look around again?"
"I did not!" Baili Xue imdiately exclaid, but then hesitated for two or three seconds, added, "…but I myself cannot completely 'close' my eyes, you know, with closed eyes I still have vision."
Baili Qing sighed.
"Next ti I go to the archives, you go stare at No. 66 Wutong Road," she said suddenly.
"Why?" The huge eyes seed to pause, then with so pondering, "Do you suspect No. 66 Wutong Road..."
"No, purely to find a target with high information density that is hard to shake off to occupy your vision and prevent you from bringing trouble onto yourself."
Baili Xue: "..."
Baili Qing said no more, just turned and silently walked towards the elevator leading to Layer N.
The enormous eyes that normal people cannot perceive floated in the air alongside her and on the various surfaces she passed, silently accompanying her.
This silence lasted for a long distance until in the elevator, Baili Xue suddenly spoke: "Sister, did you hesitate earlier?"
"Earlier?"
"When rising from the historical fragnts of the Archives, an illusion mimicked my voice... Did you hesitate at that ti?"
"No."
"You didn't worry about 'what if'? What if I've really been left behind in the Archives, and the one following you out is fake..."
Baili Qing turned her head, calmly watching the large eye that appeared on the elevator cabin wall.
"You're not really Baili Xue," she said expressionlessly, "Have you forgotten? You're originally fake."
The eye moved slightly from side to side.
"It makes a bit sad when you say that." She spoke, her tone seemingly carrying a hint of grievance.
"If you truly care, next ti stop wandering around—my energy and ti are very limited."
"Okay, sister."
...
Intertwining black spider silk covered the entire alley, and as they advanced toward the intersection, the chaotic webs increased in number and density, becoming more difficult to interfere with by the puppet's power.
In the most densely webbed areas, the black threads seed to possess their own will and rules, in Erin's words—they appeared to consciously reject her control, being quite exclusionary.
But the good news is, despite the controllable range steadily shrinking, Erin's influence over these spider silks was still strong enough to create a narrow path for passage.
Yu Sheng looked up, cautiously observing the surroundings.
The dense black spider silk was everywhere—when first entering the "Dark Alley," these webs rely covered the air, with the lowest hanging about three to four ters high, but after progressing deeper, a large amount of silk started stretching from the air to the ground, entangling everything.
Quite a few of the webs protruded from the doors and windows of nearby shops, warping so of them, enormous black threads spilling out like uncontrolled hair, in a chilling manner covering vast expanses of walls and ground, and through the gaps in those deford windows and doors, the interiors of the "shops" could be vaguely seen.
Trembling, writhing furniture, illogical arrangents, and eerie shelves and mannequins—these originally bizarre and deadly traps of the "Dark Alley" were now all eroded and covered by the invasive spider webs, having transford from life-threatening perpetrators to victims of this "intrusion."
All shops were in a "ceased business" state.
Moreover, there were many "cats" caught in the webs visible—these shadows slowly struggled in the mid-air webs, occasionally emitting chaotic whimpering sounds, which made the silent alley even more eerily terrifying.
Initially, Erin attempted to save a few "cats," but those rescued black cats would imdiately adopt a thorny dragon shape upon landing, hissing at people, and two even scrambled back onto the roofs only to be recaptured by the spider webs in an instant... After such hassles a few tis, she lost interest in saving them.
Even the King suggested it would be better to leave these "cats" hanging in the webs—after all, they were "entities" not fearing death, and the threads seed unlikely to harm them substantially. Hanging these dangerous black cats potentially prevented them from causing chaos.
The suggestion was unanimously agreed upon by everyone.
"Ahead is the intersection," Yu Sheng halted in front of a network of crisscrossing black spider silk, peering across, "The road is heavily obstructed... Erin, are you okay?"
The puppet sitting on his shoulder was nearly exhausted, but at this mont, it instantly perked up, patting its chest: "You've said it, who am I! How could I not be okay..."
Yu Sheng looked at the little thing wobbling on his shoulder, frowning slightly: "Take it easy... If you're struggling, why not pull another body over to help?"
"Uh, controlling these silks depends on consciousness, not the number of bodies," Erin waved her hand, then leaning on Yu Sheng's head, she deeply inhaled, slightly adjusting her state, "Alright, I'm going to deal with the obstacles ahead!"
As she spoke, she raised her arm again, palm upward.
The On Wandering Star orbiting her head altered its trajectory, hovering a few centiters above her palm.
Black threads extended from the puppet's fingertips, connecting to the surrounding webs, with rustling sounds coming from all directions, the webs blocking the intersection trembled, slowly receding to the sides—the process was slow, yet undeniably effective.
Yu Sheng supported the puppet on his shoulder with one hand, cautiously proceeding through the newly opened pathway.
The next second, he suddenly halted: "...What's this thing?"
A silvery-white strange device appeared in his view, buzzing.
Technological creation!
This was definitely not sothing originally found in the Dark Alley!
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