Boundary City Center.
The Council Tower stood tall and imposing, towering at the center of the vast, almost boundless "Boundary City." Its scale reaching into the clouds, with hard and upward-gathering lines reminiscent of so monuntal structure. Yet, this grand building, no one could clearly say when or by whom it was built.
Every resident of Boundary City seed born accustod to this towering Giant Tower, believing it "naturally" should stand in that suitable position. People had no doubt about its existence, nor curiosity about its creation process, even as centuries passed, even as successive generations of Boundary City inhabitants witnessed the Council Tower's shape transform through the ages, they naturally wove these "changes" into their "normal cognition."
The Boundary City inhabitants' "natural" cognition even extended to the five mbers of the Council—everyone rely knew they governed the city, but it seed no one ever pondered over the origins and "uncommonness" of the five, several of whom never appeared before the public, which also never sparked curiosity.
For hundreds of years, the mbers of the Boundary Affairs never changed, their existence as ancient and "stable" as the Tower at the city's center, a firm "wedge" implanted in Boundary Land. Even among countless ordinary people working within the Council Tower, no one in this city ever harbored doubt about this.
Footsteps broke the peace of the upper areas of the Council Tower, as Baili Qing, looking as emotionless as usual, walked through the connecting area towards the central elevator. Occasionally, ordinary people working here would respectfully greet her, and though her expression remained unchanged, she would nod in response.
Then she passed through the connecting corridor—a small lounge with wide floor-to-ceiling windows lay ahead, from where one could gaze out at the scenery outside the Council Tower. The vast city stretched to the horizon outside the windows, and overhead, a clear and high sky lood.
The lounge was empty—or rather, devoid of ordinary "humans."
In the corner sat an old computer, its yellowed monitor and creaky case looking completely out of place with the surroundings. On the discolored CRT screen, a classical ga from an unknown era was running. When Baili Qing entered the lounge, this old computer slowly turned its "head," and after the ga screen flickered a few tis, it switched to a crude lined face, from which a distorted voice emitted: "Recognizing... Council mber - Ms. Baili Qing. Welco, the current elevator is open."
Baili Qing, expressionless, looked up and down at the "old computer" before her: "...Changed to a new look again? It looks stupid."
The computer's case emitted a series of creaks, then suddenly "puffed" out a thick smoke—in the dispersing smoke, an old-fashioned phonograph appeared in the corner, its vinyl record slowly turning, as a sowhat shrill voice sounded from the speaker: "How about this?"
"...Not as good as the microwave last ti."
Baili Qing casually remarked before stepping into the elevator at the lounge's end.
Behind her, the "classical phonograph" emitted a series of strange noises, then creaked and twisted a few tis, transforming into a purple crystal ball floating on a velvet cushion, from which a muttering voice erged: "Is nostalgia out of fashion these days..."
A potted plant nearby spoke: "She's tired, in a bad mood—the ti for hibernation has co, and there's no ti to sleep."
"...Working 'outside' is really a drag."
"Yeah, working 'outside' is really a drag."
The crystal ball bobbed up and down: "Let's not talk about that, continue, continue, where were we?"
"Talking about the Black Demon King's army pressing on."
"Oh right, the Black Demon King's army pressing on, a dark, overwhelming force causing the heavens to change color and rivers to flow backward, Landon III ran at the ti, and I, as the kingdom's Chief Astrologer, climbed the city wall, pointed below, and shouted..."
"No, you just said you were Landon III—I am the kingdom's Chief Astrologer."
"...Then you be the Chief Astrologer, and I'm the Black Demon King. My army pressed on, a dark, overwhelming force..."
The crystal ball hadn't finished speaking when suddenly a terrifying face appeared on the lounge's ceiling, composed of scorching ashes; it wriggled and emitted a thunderous sound: "Shut up! I am the Black Demon King! I've been here listening to you two idiots discuss these stupid topics for two centuries—can't you talk about sothing else?"
"Alright, I'm the princess of the Fourth Dynasty of the Selin Star, and ceiling head—you're my mom."
"...Enough! What did I do wrong to be trapped in this stupid temporal prison, accompanying two imbeciles like you!"
The potted plant couldn't hold back anymore: "Could you just insult the crystal ball? I'm just a plant, quietly photosynthesizing here every day—it's always the one starting the topics."
...
Baili Qing heard the voices behind her, even as the elevator doors closed, her keen ears could still catch the jumbled conversation.
But she was accustod to it.
If the Special Service Bureau Headquarters is a tangled ss of space, with chaotic spatial structures running through every floor, then this giant Council Tower is a deep well of ti, with illusions of the old epochs hidden in its mysterious central structure.
Moreover, these "ti illusions" are not always stable, often tending to spill outward.
This is because the entire Council Tower is built around a special "deformation point," which is an echo left from the last "epoch transition" of the Boundary Land. Similar echoes are not limited to one; the "Pale Library" in the Special Service Bureau Headquarters Building is also one, but in terms of scale, nothing in the Boundary Land, when combined, can compare to the things buried deep within the Council Tower.
Due to the epoch transition, no one can now understand the specific aning of these echoes, but sotis, they seep through the layers of protective protocols and stasis barriers within the Council Tower. Although they are not very harmful, they can cause so bizarre phenona in the real world—sotis mories of the city-state era, sotis phantoms fallen out of unknown ti fragnts, and sotis even... "people."
The Council finds ways to control these things that could potentially have a massive impact on the real world, keeping them isolated within the core area of the Tower using layers upon layers of protective asures. It also relies on the "collective cognition" of hundreds of ordinary people in this building to form an anchor, maintaining balance in the core area.
Baili Qing pressed a few buttons on the control panel of the elevator.
The modern control panel and screen emitted a faint glow, but flickered unstably as she pressed them, turning into a stone slab carved with mysterious runes at tis and a floating magical illusion at others. The walls of the elevator car shimred with a silvery-white light, but as the lights flickered, the silvery alloy walls faintly glowed with a crystal-like radiant beauty.
Text appeared on the control screen, and a slightly distorted chanical voice spoke from the car: "Elevator *platform... activated, ascending *Council *remnant *congress... heading to the next era *safe arrival *Supre Sanctuary... welco *past tense."
Baili Qing was equally accustod to this chaotic "car broadcast."
Suddenly, a pair of eyes erged from the air beside her. Baili Xue floated on the elevator wall, bobbing slightly up and down: "Ah, I don't like this place."
"I understand," Baili Qing nodded calmly, "but now that they've acknowledged your existence, you don't need to be overly anxious."
"But they wanted to kill back then!"
"That's because you almost killed at the ti."
"..."
Baili Xue fell silent, her eyes slightly downcast, showing a sowhat dejected deanor.
At that mont, the elevator door opened.
A long hall appeared before Baili Qing.
This hall had an artistic style completely different from the modern style of the other floors of the Council Tower—it was paved with black marble floors, with tall gray-white stone pillars inlaid with gold patterns on both sides. The stark contrast of black and white colors felt both torn and solemn. The hall had no visible ceiling, only a kind of gray light evenly covering the tops of the stone pillars, illuminating the entire space.
Furthermore, the walls around the hall were adorned with countless neatly arranged windows. These windows were narrow and tall, the style reminiscent of classical architecture from a previous era, and the scene outside was a boundless cloudscape bathed in a twilight-like orange-yellow glow.
Despite the fact that it was currently noon in the Boundary Land.
Baili Qing walked straight towards the center of the long hall.
There was a large round table there—several figures were already standing by it.
One was an old man in a gray robe, hair and beard completely white, face lined with wrinkles, so ancient that it was impossible to judge his age by appearance—he seed on the verge of death at any mont, as if he had been this old for countless years and could continue to age like this indefinitely.
There was also a middle-aged man in a black coat, his appearance noteworthy, yet his face was full of fatigue, with deep weariness evident in his eyes, as if he hadn't rested in a hundred years.
Then there was a black-haired girl with her eyes closed, her long hair almost reaching the floor, her figure thin and fragile, her skin pale like that of a deceased person, exuding a morbid yet slightly eerie... aura of danger.
The last figure was an extraordinarily simple and strange "robot"—constructed from slender steel pipes and simple cranks, gears, and connecting rods, with a multitude of ticking clocks stuffed into its chest cavity as organs, and several crossed but unattached wires as its veins and nerves. Its head was rely a large, fragile-looking old-fashioned bulb.
The bulb flickered with faint, unstable light.
Baili Qing approached and sat among them, next to the black-haired girl and the robot.
"Ah, the Colorless Dragon has arrived," the elderly man with white hair and beard trembled as he raised his head and spoke, "so the eting can begin."
Reviews
All reviews (0)