Chapter 29: Memory
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Wait... where is this?
Only a moment ago, she had been standing on a street at night.
But now, towering trees surrounded her like silent sentinels, packed so densely together that their interwoven branches and leaves formed an impenetrable green barrier.
Stars scattered across the night sky gave off a dim radiance. Thick mist permeated the forest, veiling the light as though behind a gauze curtain.
Yet the most terrifying sight in the darkness was the pallid night sun. It had never appeared so enormous, occupying the entire firmament and radiating a harsh, unnatural brilliance that was almost suffocating.
The air reeked of smoke for no apparent reason. The smell irritated Xingyu's airways, forcing her to cough.
Before her, a stretch of flat ground had twisted out of shape, as though it were a canvas violently pulled apart.
That was...
Her mind seemed to have been seized. Against her will, she began walking forward.
The earth beneath her feet was no longer solid. It had become semi-fluid, resembling both dark-red blood and metal gleaming like mercury, sending ripples spreading in circles.
At the heart of the distorted reality, a silver-white structure floated in the void.
As she stared at it, a strange sense of familiarity welled within her.
Its entire form was a flowing silver-white, as if it had been cast from solidified sunlight. Its contours shifted slowly and continuously, radiating a soft yet brilliant glow.
Its surface was covered in moving runes. They flickered with a faint, profound silver light, blending into the structure's pure-white body. The entire building seemed alive and breathing, pulsing slowly to some unseen rhythm.
Come closer...
The voice sounded within Xingyu's mind. It seemed to come from the building, yet also from the deepest recesses of her own heart.
Beneath the floating structure, countless twisted figures of varying sizes appeared and vanished in the gloom. They were no longer simple creatures. Something writhed beneath their skin, as if the mysteries of the cosmos were trying to break free from within them.
Voices echoed in waves. They were not merely screams and wails, but also cries of ecstasy and revelation.
The emotions within those sounds lay beyond the limits of human understanding—terrifying, yet mesmerizing.
The scent here was like rotting flowers, and yet also like... new life.
Countless tiny motes of light slowly rose through the air like fireflies. Each one reflected fragments of reality.
The trees began to melt. Their leaves transformed into countless tiny eyes that gazed curiously and tenderly at every living thing that passed by.
The rocks softened like living creatures, complex and ever-changing runes surfacing across them.
Even the air itself began to condense, transforming into some strange substance that could be touched and molded.
What a marvelous sight...
This mysterious and incomprehensible scene filled her with fear, yet also with the urge to marvel, mingled with a faint desire.
She could not help wanting to draw closer, to listen carefully to the language the building was speaking.
Then a tremendous, abrupt explosion rang out.
At some unknown moment, flames had ignited without warning in the night.
The sudden orange-red tongues of fire formed a profane cage, greedily devouring the newborn world.
Deep-blue points of light rose one after another among the towering trees. They shone with an eerie radiance, weaving themselves into a blue network like a river of stars.
She raised her head and stared blankly at the scene.
Then a wrenching pain tore through her.
The flames were destroying something sacred and beautiful—something she had only just begun to understand and cherish.
Looking at those twisted bodies, she felt only pity and sorrow.
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They were clearly... pioneers of a new world, weavers of a magnificent dream.
Life perished in the flames. With every companion that fell, he felt as though a part of himself were vanishing with them.
Sorrow, rage, and despair pierced his heart like sharpened blades.
The cosmic truth that had once been within reach became impossibly distant. The possibility of becoming something greater was reduced to ashes in the fire.
Just as despair was about to consume him, a strange calm suddenly welled up from the depths of his heart.
This was not the end...
It was a new beginning.
As the sole survivor, he bore a unique mission.
The whispers of the Eternal Night grew clearer, its summons ever more urgent.
An unprecedented longing boiled through his blood—
To transcend. To attain eternity. To return to his everlasting home.
The longing was so powerful that he almost forgot the flames and destruction surrounding him.
He slowly turned. There, a silver-white path stood out starkly against the night, like a link leading toward an unknown dimension.
He would never lose his way upon this road.
Dense branches brushed lightly across his forehead and cheeks like whispering spirits.
With every step he took, the earth opened a path for the pioneer.
Broken branches and falling leaves wove themselves into a deep-green curtain, as if forming a gateway from dream back into reality.
...Beyond the wall...
Each of his steps sank into the soft earth, leaving deep footprints. They were soon swallowed by the distorted reality, as though they had never existed.
Beyond the wall.
Complete the mission.
“...!”
His eyes flew open. It was as though he had torn himself free from a long and bizarre dream.
The images from moments before receded like a tide, leaving behind an indescribable emptiness.
He lowered his head and examined his body. The viewpoint felt strange and unsettling, as though he were trapped inside a vessel far too small.
Those hands—
Slender, fragile human fingers. In his eyes, they were so alien and repulsive.
He moved these superfluous limbs. With each motion, his bones gave off the faint, hateful click of joints grinding together. Only something on the left side gave him the slightest sense of familiarity.
This body filled him with a profound sense of weakness, in stark contrast to the firm and powerful control he remembered.
Confusion, fear, and even a measure of disgust for this unfamiliar shell seized him.
Then, suddenly, white text appeared in his field of vision.
The words seemed to materialize from nowhere, yet remained perfectly clear, as though engraved upon reality itself.
[Name: Cang Xingyu]
[Transformation Stage: Preparatory Phase]
[Ability: Information Reading]
The words struck like a heavy hammer, violently dragging his consciousness back to reality.
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Xingyu stood frozen, overwhelmed by an astonishment beyond words.
He—no, was she?—felt a powerful dislocation of identity.
Where had those thoughts come from?
Why had she found everything so wondrous, so familiar, so nostalgic?
The revulsion she felt toward the human body. The longing for a powerful form. Those memories and emotions that seemed to come from another existence.
Who... was she?
The next moment, a burning sensation began in her left arm and gradually spread throughout her body.
Her blood seemed to boil as it coursed through every part of her.
Xingyu could clearly feel the white substance seeping into her skin, invading her muscles, tissues, and even her neural network.
She could hear the sound of her own blood flowing. Buried within it seemed to be some ancient whisper.
Her body was undergoing a wondrous metamorphosis.
Her wounds healed rapidly. Her muscles grew denser. Her bones seemed to have been infused with some mysterious substance, becoming indistinct yet resilient. Beneath her skin, starlight flowed, giving off a strange sheen mingled with unfamiliar colors.
This violent transformation brought no pain. Instead, it filled Xingyu with a joy that instinctively repelled her.
Every cell seemed to be cheering, as though it had finally found its true home.
Her consciousness began to grow hazy, as if she were floating through the boundless cosmos, merging with the world itself.
[Bloodline Resonance: 20%]
“You have adapted to this shell.”
She heard Zero-Two's voice again.
It remained low and hoarse, but its meaning had somehow become clearer, as though it were sounding directly within her mind.
“Yes...” Xingyu answered instinctively.
Her own voice sounded strange and indistinct, as though it came from someone else.
“This body has become an agent?” There was a trace of imperceptible mockery in Zero-Two's voice. “Do not forget your true mission.”
“My mission and objective...?” Xingyu murmured.
A powerful sense of obligation surged suddenly through her, jarringly out of place, as though some invisible force were driving her onward.
Looking at Zero-Two again, Xingyu calmly realized that she no longer felt the intense fear she had before.
Instead, she even felt a strange sense of intimacy.
She could almost sense it... Beneath that icy outer shell, there had to be a heart that was still beating.
“Do not forget the blood feud.”
Zero-Two's voice was cold and resolute.
“Just as we vowed in the void...”
“Slay all the chosen...”
“No. Here, they are called agents.”
“For our eternity, carve open a path.”
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