In the crumbling and collapsing hall, the last spatial structure of the "Kingdom" is rapidly disintegrating.Erin climbed onto Yu Sheng's shoulder again, her little puppet grabbing his hair tightly as she spoke nervously, "Is this going to work... is this reasonable..."
Yu Sheng casually lifted the little creature down, "I don't know if it's reasonable, but if you keep pulling my hair, I won't let you sit on my shoulder anymore."
Erin was dangling by the back of her neck in Yu Sheng's grip, swinging back and forth, but perhaps because she had been held like this often recently, she seemed quite used to it, and looked ahead as she swayed.
Not far in front of them, in the center of the hall, stood a pile of ancient remains of unknown age—this used to be a massive computing host, but now its internal operations had ceased, leaving only a lot of wilted vines covering the host's damaged shell, and beside that pile of debris and vines, quietly leaned a small corpse.
It was a synthetic body that had stopped functioning, its limbs twisted oddly, torso haphazardly pieced together, with vine-like pipelines extending from within its body, connecting to the massive computing host.
This was the true appearance of this place—when the black flames extinguished and the spiritual vision in the state of Dead Communication faded, the original form hidden beneath the curtain was revealed to Yu Sheng and his companions.
Soft rustling and cracking sounds came from the surroundings as Yu Sheng looked around and saw the final walls of the hall disappearing in large sections, through wide rifts he saw the whole "Royal City" disintegrating at an accelerated pace.
The majestic towers and rooftops turned into light dust, gradually merging with the sky, and the dusk that had previously shrouded the entire Kingdom turned into some strange striped intervals, hanging from the sky to the ground, where light couldn't reach floated chaotic darkness, and this darkness was continuously spreading towards them.
Soon, the outer structure of the hall disappeared completely, leaving only a piece of ground beneath their feet in the entire "world."
Erin and Luna had to send their respective "legions" back in advance to prevent them from falling into the already evaporated void space.
"We've got no time, no time," Erin became anxious, flailing her little arms and legs under Yu Sheng's hand while jabbering, "Is the conversion this slow... Yu Sheng, did you get stuck in the process, was the blood you shed earlier not enough, did they get lost... why not just die here?"
Yu Sheng: "..."
The usual wild words of the little puppet, but Yu Sheng was too busy to argue with this little thing, his attention still focused on the weak connection established by blood and the Soul Wilderness.
This was his first conscious, planned attempt to actively perform a "local conversion" on a Dark Angel—not like the previous Illusion Star Body and World Bridge that were muddled into the Soul Wilderness (and there was considerable data damage in the process), this time he aimed to ensure the stability and replicability of the entire process.
If "Rosaline" and "Knight" could successfully reach ↑↓←→, then the problems of Beauty God and Tree Angel could be solved more easily.
Time passed—perhaps only a moment, or it could have been minutes or hours, but before Erin lost patience again, Yu Sheng suddenly sighed softly, a hint of a smile appearing on his face.
"Retreat."
...
"This is the monitoring center, space invasion has been observed to stop, repeating, space invasion has been observed to stop! Readings at all alert points are returning to normal!"
"Deep Dive Dispatch Center reporting back, invading entities observed everywhere are rapidly fading, currently no new invasion points found..."
"Everywhere, Exotic Realms are separating, some crossover remnants found... we'll need to assess the subsequent impact of this fusion later..."
"No 'Tearing Points' found in the real world, field teams are enhancing patrols..."
Reports from the heads of various departments continued to stream in, gradually becoming a distant background sound, as Baili Qing stood in front of the grand floor-to-ceiling window, finally exhaling deeply.
To command the whole situation, after Yu Sheng's team set off, she had returned to the Special Service Bureau, but the conditions of all Exotic Realms in the Boundary Land never left her sight, especially the largest "Tearing Point."
Baili Qing gently waved her hand, and mist floated outside the vast floor-to-ceiling window, and after the fog dispersed, the scene around Jinglin Sanatorium was revealed.
The battlefield was scarred as the forests surrounding the sanatorium were plowed multiple times by artillery, the Deep Dive Team deployed for support built temporary defenses around the collapsed courtyard wall, exterminating countless entities from space-time rifts, a batch of monsters even once breached the sanatorium's gate, but fortunately the goldfish didn't mess up this time, leading the security force, armed caregivers, and various split personalities, delusion disorders, nightmare disorders, and chaotic cognition systems to drive the invaders back.
Now, the scarred "psychiatric hospital" still stood amidst the Exotic Realm, and above the sanatorium, vast rifts in time-space were gradually dissipating, the "Otherworldly structures" that had descended into this world also quickly disappeared like dewdrops under sunlight.
A pair of phantom eyes drifted over from the edge of the window, swaying in front of Baili Qing.
"Sis, sis, Yu Sheng has done it again!" Baili Xue's voice sounded quite cheerful, "Angel Fall… it's Angel Fall, right? I heard the old folks say the invasion this time is still classified as Dark Angel… by the way, what's the situation on Yu Sheng's side now? Have they returned yet?"
"Yes, resolved again, another crisis safely averted," Baili Qing looked somewhat helplessly at the "sister" darting around on the glass, "but I still can't reach Yu Sheng for now... let's wait for him to contact us first, after all, it's always like this."
"Oh... alright, then I'll find a place to rest!"
"Don't even think about it! There's a ton of things here that need wrapping up, and you're working overtime with me."
"But too much overtime makes your eyes dry, sore, and tired..."
Baili Qing said nothing, silently watching the large eyes floating on the window, until the edges of those eyes drooped.
"Oh..."
...
How long had he trekked down this path? How far must one travel after death to reach the end?
The knight felt he could no longer remember the specific time and distance of that journey, only that he had been walking, just walking continuously. At first, he walked until he forgot everything, forgot where he came from and where he was going, but later he remembered bit by bit—not only remembering the kingdom, remembering Rosaline, but even events before that, remembering those steadfast by the array servers, remembering that handful of soil and the sprout peeking through.
Rosaline was always by his side. She seemed a bit different from his memories of her, yet unchanged, holding her most cherished sketchbook and walking as lightly as a bird.
Then, the grand campfire appeared suddenly as if the mist had vanished.
The knight stopped, somewhat astonished at the large campfire burning fiercely in the endless wilderness, surrounded by 12 solemn pillars, the bright flames warm like "hope" itself, with an arch supported by poles above, depicting epic drawings.
A group of knights guarded the campfire, kind and welcoming, they received the weary travelers and pointed them in the direction ahead.
"Just continue walking in this direction," said the tall figure cloaked in brass armor, "there's no need to worry about the path ahead; you've seen the campfire, and the gates of Valhalla will naturally appear before you—that's an incredible city, always open to tired souls."
So the knight and Rosaline bid farewell to the guardians of the grand campfire and continued their journey.
It seemed as though the magical power from the campfire carried them effortlessly along a short stretch of the journey, during which the knight not only felt no fatigue but instead felt the accumulated weariness from the journey gradually dissipate.
Then he saw that unimaginable City of Souls.
It truly was unbelievable—after all, such a magnificent city, yet its gateway consisted of two asymmetrically sized doors.
… Perhaps that is why Valhalla's gates are perpetually open.
"Here it is, Papa, the voice told me here is the place."
Rosaline seemed unconcerned with the City of Souls' slight... creativity in its details, happily clutching the knight's arm, pulling him toward the grand city.
Thus the knight walked through the asymmetrical gates, carrying a mix of amazement and bewilderment, surveying everything before him.
He had not expected there to be so many people here.
Young men and women, seemingly the "immortal souls" dwelling in the city, walked, joked, dined heartily, and honed their skills in training grounds or open spaces throughout the city, ever ready to heed the next call to arms.
The knight also saw a grand church on a distant highland, with an astonishing crystal giant tree unfolding its crown above the church, whose edges scattered fine light, like a shimmering river, flowing into the streets.
He also saw walls and spires, but the walls and spires of this City of Souls were obviously unlike the "Royal City" he knew—the walls did not extend in straight lines but undulated in varied heights, and the spires did not all point skyward; nearly every tower's tip pointed in a different direction.
After careful observation, the knight confirmed that of the dozens of towers he saw, only two were straight—one of which was hanging upside down.
The knight halted at the street of this incredible City of Souls, having always been goal-oriented in life, he now found himself in vast bewilderment after death.
"…What do these walls and towers signify?"
Then, he heard a familiar voice from behind: "They mainly express the author's homesickness—and their sloppy craftsmanship."