Chapter 1316: Chapter 1316: Fate’s Uncertainty? (Long Chapter, Requesting Monthly Tickets)
“My father’s favorite place?” Liu Nan raised her head and looked at He Ao, as if lost in so kind of mory, “If I was around, he liked to stay in the rooftop garden and bask in the sun.”
She paused when she reached this point, “But if I wasn’t around,”
Her gaze turned to the nearby stairs, “I think he would prefer to be alone in the study on the second floor. Every ti I ca ho, I could find him there.”
“Alright.”
He Ao nodded gently, lifted his steps, and headed towards the second floor.
Liu Nan closely followed behind him.
And the mont he stepped on the stairs, He Ao felt a significant pressure; the ‘symtrical force’ attempting to distort his body and actions was affecting him at a level he could clearly perceive.
He subconsciously wanted to bring his feet together and leap upward.
Such a noticeable impact on him was not sothing a B-level Transcendent could achieve.
Eye of the World Fragnt, huh.
He Ao lowered his head, a streak of orange-grey light flashed in his eyes.
He increased his pace, quickly moving up.
And behind him, after stepping on the first step of the staircase, Liu Nan’s expression changed slightly, but she said nothing, just clenched her teeth and continued to closely follow He Ao.
Her pace noticeably slowed a bit.
He Ao didn’t look back, just let the girl follow him, continuing to move forward.
Soon, the two of them followed the stairs to the second floor.
Upon reaching the top of the stairs, the first thing they saw was a spacious hall, filled with various geotrically designed decorations and furniture.
Of course, these geotric objects had also completely transford into symtrical shapes.
These orderly lines constructed the structural style of the entire second floor, with a level of symtry far exceeding that of the first floor.
If there were traces of the designer’s original thoughts and intentions left on the first floor, the symtrical lines on the second floor had completely turned into a jumble of nonsensical ‘symtry.’
He Ao could feel the force attempting to distort his body and actions was even stronger here.
“The study is over there.”
Behind him, Liu Nan raised her hand and pointed to a door in the corner of the hall.
He Ao lifted his head, looking in the direction Liu Nan pointed towards.
An entrance with a simple, modern design appeared within his field of view.
This door nearly entirely presented a symtrical rectangle, with completely symtrical geotric lines extending to both sides from its surroundings.
Among all the geotrically symtrical lines on the second floor, this door and its surrounding symtrical lines were the most ‘noticeable’ and ‘abstract.’
Noticeable in these lines having a very clear geotric feel, and abstract in that, on closer inspection, this door seed not to have the physical texture normally seen from far away but appeared as if composed of indeterminate lines.
These stacked lines created a tangible effect, making one feel as if there were physical objects there.
This resembled the world bottom layer lines He Ao had seen, except the world bottom layer lines were in a sense a form of higher-dinsional existence, and the entire surface world could be seen as the presentation or reflection of these lines in a lower dinsion.
Whereas these ‘lines’ on the second floor seed more like real tangible objects.
Yet even if this was a conceptual ‘similarity,’ such lines carried an eerie ‘aura,’ undoubtedly greatly enhancing the ‘power’ of these lines, even lending them a touch of high-dinsional presence.
But even taking ‘symbolic aning,’ this was not an effect a B-level’s power could produce, nor a power a B-level could handle.
Behind He Ao, Liu Nan already exhibited a tendency to align her hands and feet together.
He Ao could clearly sense an invisible force affecting the left and right sides of her face, making her entire face tend towards ‘symtry.’
Visually, the left and right sides of a person’s face appear similar, yet many subtle differences exist; entirely symtrical cheeks would not make one more attractive and might instead render them ‘unhuman.’
The ‘exemption’ power protecting Liu Nan here had lost much of its effectiveness.
“You stay here.”
He Ao spoke slowly, stopping Liu Nan from moving forward.
Liu Nan raised her head, looked at He Ao, and after a brief contemplation and hesitation, she spoke slowly, “Alright, you can call if you need anything.”
Saying this, she stopped and remained at the stairway entrance.
And by this ti, He Ao had already taken a step forward, directly approaching the ‘symtrical study door.’
Invisible forces perating the void pulled at his body, twisting his flesh, attempting to reshape his cheeks, skull, arms, legs into orderly ‘symtrical’ forms.
Normally, even a B-level coming here would likely be influenced by this invisible force, yet this level of power was still not strong for He Ao.
A faint orange-grey brilliance erged from the depths of his eyes, illuminating his entire gaze into a brilliant orange-grey.
His body remained unchanged, effortlessly reaching the door, staring at the firmly closed entrance.
He then directly extended his hand to grasp the door handle.
And at the mont he touched the door handle, those lines forming the door spiraled like twisting snakes, climbed onto his palm, attempting to burrow into his skin and assimilate his flesh into twisted lines.
A bit presumptuous.
He Ao’s gaze swept over these lines.
The power of the Eye of Truth gathered briefly at his eyes and fingertips.
The twisted lines were instantly deconstructed and torn apart, then restored to the form of a door handle.
This ti, the door handle no longer composed of twisted lines but truly restored to its original door handle shape.
All this happened in an instant.
From Liu Nan’s perspective, He Ao seed only to have grasped the door handle, and the handle brimming with twisted and bizarre features lost all its supernatural elents in that very instant.
He Ao gripped the door handle firmly, then gently applied force, turning it.
Ka—
Accompanied by a crisp sound, the entire door handle was slowly rotated open.
He Ao exerted gentle pressure, pushing open a crevice in the symtrical door.
Flowing symtrical light and shadows spilled out like water through the gap, landing at He Ao’s feet.
In the instant they touched He Ao’s footstep, just like the door handle lines, they attempted to climb up from He Ao’s shoes, to deconstruct He Ao’s body.
Those black leather boots, just for a mont, seed like lting ice and snow ready to be assimilated into the flowing shadow.
Then in the next second, everything that had been absorbed into the shadow was instantly restored, along with the flowing shadow retreating suddenly like an electrified tentacle, retracting back into the room.
Yet He Ao appeared oblivious to it all; he held the door handle and continued exerting pressure, slowly pushing the door open.
The ‘decor’ within the entire study was quite simple.
Strictly speaking, there were no decorations left in the study at this point; items resembling bookshelves surged on either side of the walls, and items similar to chairs and desks surged in the depths of the study.
Except none of these items had any material form, clusters of distorted symtrical black-and-white shadows gathered together, forming everything within the room, including the walls.
Even the transparent window had now beco a rectangular black-and-white shadow.
And at the top of the study, where the ceiling lamp originally was, there hung a black-and-white symtrical sphere.
A white glow radiated from the sphere’s black side, while the white side had no glow.
This faint, ghastly white light illuminated the entire ‘study,’ and deep within the study, behind the desk ford by symtrical dual-colored shadows, a middle-aged man half-sunken in shadows sat steadily.
His eyes were shut tight, holding a fragnted glass container in his arms, as if an unraveling power seeped from that container, passing through He Ao’s body.
At that mont, He Ao felt as if his consciousness was about to be completely stripped away, losing control over his body.
The orange-gray radiance in his eyes suddenly flared up, slicing through the forces spreading around him, stabilizing his form.
By this ti, He Ao had already lifted his steps and stepped into the study constructed of shadows.
With a certain tearing consciousness and chaotic roar flooding his mind, he gazed at Liu Zhengyun, half of whose body had rged with the shadow, falling into a brief silence.
He actually didn’t know what Liu Zhengyun intended to do, but Liu Zhengyun deliberately left clues leading westward, displaying behavior that suggested these clues were a ‘mislead’, giving him the impression that Liu Zhengyun was trying to cover sothing up.
So he asked Ming Guang for information about Liu Zhengyun’s relatives.
Like Ye Yun, Liu Zhengyun was also intentionally protecting his daughter.
In the official records of the Research Institute and various gossip, Liu Zhengyun had no relatives alive, only himself alone.
It’s obvious that this was information Liu Zhengyun himself intentionally released.
Therefore, He Ao initially didn’t know the specifics about Liu Zhengyun’s relatives, but at that ti, there was an elderly mber of the Research Institute, Ming Guang, right beside him, available to ask.
With his current status and position, so things didn’t need to be concealed from him, so Ming Guang straightforwardly told him about Liu Zhengyun’s specific situation.
Then, He Ao actually had a hypothesis that Liu Zhengyun might have gone west to find his relatives.
Although Ming Guang almost imdiately dismissed this hypothesis and told him, ‘If Liu Zhengyun has any plans, he wouldn’t involve his relatives.’
From He Ao’s understanding of Liu Zhengyun, he also believed Liu Zhengyun wouldn’t easily involve his relatives in his plans.
But after discovering the information that Liu Nan was in Xidu, he began to question this ‘judgnt’.
This doubt stems both from the ‘misleading’ setup by Liu Zhengyun and He Ao’s own ‘concerns’ about this incident.
Taking the Eye of the World Fragnt, disappearing silently, it all seed like so kind of ‘conspiracy’ could explain it.
That is, Liu Zhengyun attempting to shed the Golden Cicada Shells to do sothing behind the Research Institute’s back.
However, considering He Ao’s understanding of Liu Zhengyun and their multiple collaborations, he didn’t think Liu Zhengyun was the type to betray the Research Institute.
If soone does sothing that requires separating from their original organization to accomplish.
Then there’s a high probability that what they’re doing conflicts with the original organization, even if this conflict isn’t hatred, such situations could arise.
And the issue lies here, He Ao couldn’t think of any conflict Liu Zhengyun might have with the Research Institute he helped establish.
And that’s the strange part of the matter, Liu Zhengyun wouldn’t betray the Research Institute, nor does he have any conflict with it.
Every event must have its reason, and if the reason isn’t internal, then it most likely cos from external sources.
So He Ao thought Liu Zhengyun might be subjected to so kind of special ‘pollution’ or ‘influence’.
He doesn’t want to ‘turn against the Research Institute’, but seeks to ‘escape the Research Institute’, to prevent his anomaly from affecting others.
Then, considering Liu Nan being in Xidu, and Liu Zhengyun’s ‘westward’ trajectory.
A not-so-good speculation naturally surfaced in He Ao’s mind.
As soone who values emotional ties, when plotting, he wouldn’t want to involve his family.
But, what if he’s near death?
Would he want to see his family one last ti?
He ca to Xidu, not for so conspiracy, just quietly to see his daughter one last ti.
This speculation was originally baseless, so He Ao initially wanted to directly dismiss it, after all, the day before when he saw Liu Zhengyun, Liu Zhengyun’s state was fine.
But he couldn’t suppress the natural spread of this thought, so he decided to co to Xidu to verify this hypothesis.
Initially knowing that Liu Zhengyun hadn’t co to see Liu Nan gave He Ao so relief, suggesting his speculation might be off.
Yet it turns out his speculation wasn’t off.
The reason Liu Zhengyun hadn’t co to see Liu Nan wasn’t that he was physically okay, but because he couldn’t hold on to see his daughter one last ti.
Upon arriving in Xidu, he may have already been unable to control his body.
From He Ao’s understanding of Liu Zhengyun, likely at the brink of losing control, he gave up seeing Liu Nan, instead prioritizing returning to his vacant villa to prevent his loss of control from causing widespread harm.
As He Ao stepped into the room, the shadows around him surged like tides, then densely rushed toward He Ao.
They surged turbulently, like tides engulfing everything, attempting to erode He Ao’s body.
The orange-gray brilliance instantly spread from He Ao’s body, dispelling the surrounding shadows.
He Ao gazed at the middle-aged man sitting in the center of the room.
Transcendent becoming out of control is quite normal, but it generally occurs due to promotion errors, or the Transcendent themselves having hidden ailnts and unstable ntal states.
But Liu Zhengyun had neither.
At least when they t for a eting the day before yesterday, Liu Zhengyun was stable and ntally normal.
And because of this, Li Cheng felt at ease going to the ruins.
Why did he lose control?
Soone lively just two days ago suddenly died.
He Ao only found this matter bizarre, absurd, abrupt.
Yet the underlying nature of this Extraordinary World is sotis abnormally bizarre and absurd.
He Ao finally reached Liu Zhengyun’s front and gazed at this ‘old teacher’ who had helped him a lot in the early days.
He quietly looked at the face that had turned cold and pale.
Could this be so fate’s arrangent?
Is this the uncertainty of fate?
“Dad!”
And it was then that a startled cry ca from behind He Ao.
The girl who was supposed to stand outside had rushed in.
The surrounding twisted shadows instantly surged forth, rushing towards the girl, about to completely engulf her.
Yet upon reaching the door, they seed to be influenced by so force, halted in place, frozen before the girl.
In the radiance of the shadows, reflected was the girl’s frightened and terrified face.
The diamond-shaped crystal floating within the shattered glass container hovered in the air, emanating a faint gray glow.
The already cold, half-pale body seed to tremble for a mont at this instant, yet as if nothing had happened.
“Don’t worry, I can save him,”
An invisible flow of wind swung the door shut, abruptly sealing the shadow-constructed door, isolating the disoriented girl outside.
“I can save him.”
He Ao gazed at the pale figure before him and slowly spoke, as if speaking to the girl isolated outside the door, as if speaking to this already cold half-body,
And as if speaking to himself.
Everything around fell into silence, silent like a sumr night, like a child standing by a bed spread with white cloth.
The young man reached out, shattering the broken glass container before him with a palm, directly grabbing the World Eye Fragnt inside.
He despised the uncertainty of fate.
The surging radiance instantly illuminated the twisted shadows, like a sharp sword, tearing through the darkness.
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