Inside the post office, the light was dim.
Shadow Blade Lynn sat casually in a guest chair, her posture relaxed as if she were the owner of the place.
Her long legs were crossed, and her fingertips lightly tapped a rhythm on her knee.
Eve sat beside Lin Gui, her body slightly tense.
Her purple eyes were cast down, landing on their clasped hands.
Even now, Lin Gui had not let go of her hand.
Lin Gui's grip was tight, his knuckles even turning slightly white.
Shadow Blade Lynn's gaze lingered on their hands for a moment, and she suddenly smiled.
“I never would have thought...”
She drew out her words, her tone filled with playful teasing.
“The Holy Saintess of the Holy Church of Light actually falling for someone like...”
Her gaze shifted to Lin Gui, her smile deepening.
“...a little mage who hasn't even reached the Transcendent Rank.”
“You know, the requirements in the Holy Scripture of Light for the Saintess to 'keep herself pure'...”
“...are written very clearly.”
She tilted her head, her tone feigning surprise.
“Of all the past generations of Saintesses, which one wasn't famously pure and chaste?”
“Even we elves might not compare.”
“To let a man hold her hand like this...”
She let out a soft laugh.
“...already says it all, doesn't it?”
Eve did not look up; her fingertips merely curled slightly.
Shadow Blade Lynn suddenly changed the subject, her gaze landing on Eve's chest.
As a spirit, she could clearly see.
There, her soul, which should have been whole, was missing a massive chunk.
“However...”
Her voice softened, carrying a nearly cruel certainty.
“You probably don't have much longer to live, do you?”
“Especially since you used the power of the Hall of Heroic Spirits to fight me.”
“You might have had another ten years or so originally.”
“But now... three years at most.”
As she spoke, she turned to look at Lin Gui with a playful smirk.
She wanted to find shock, pain, or anger on his face.
Any of the reactions she anticipated.
Yet Lin Gui merely looked at her expressionlessly.
His voice was as calm as if he were discussing the weather.
“Can we get to the point now?”
Shadow Blade Lynn raised an eyebrow.
Then, she looked into Lin Gui's gray eyes, which were staring back at her.
Understanding dawned on her.
How could someone who could see the forms of souls...
...not see the abnormality in his girl's chest?
She stretched her body and leaned back against the chair.
“Don't humans usually exchange pleasantries before getting down to business?”
She chuckled.
“It seems our little mage is quite impatient.”
“Fine then.”
She sighed, her tone casual.
“Sigh, do you have any idea how far I traveled just to find you?”
“From Shadowmoon City to Gloomlight Forest, and then to Mirror-Shadow City...”
“I couldn't catch you anywhere.”
“I figured that instead of searching blindly, I might as well go straight to the source of the letters, Blackwater City.”
“As it turned out, I didn't have to wait long before you came back on your own.”
Lin Gui cut in:
“Did you kill Alyia?”
Shadow Blade Lynn was taken aback.
Then, she looked at Lin Gui, her smile widening.
“Yes.”
She answered flatly, even carrying a hint of boastful malice.
“I killed Alyia.”
“I killed all the elven spirits in Shadowmoon City.”
“I killed those elven slaves who bore the mark of shame.”
“I killed every single coward in Gloomlight Forest.”
She paused, her tone laced with mock regret.
“It's a pity time was tight, otherwise those at Deepwood Outpost...”
“...I wouldn't have spared a single one of them either.”
The bloody stench in her words was almost tangible.
But Lin Gui was not intimidated.
Because there was a high probability that all of this was a lie.
Shadow Blade Lynn probably didn't realize it.
Lin Gui and Eve had actually doubled back later.
From the flying vessel, he had personally witnessed the scene of the elves in Gloomlight Forest welcoming their clansmen home.
So Shadow Blade Lynn's claim of slaughtering all the spirits was complete nonsense.
Furthermore, if the old man's account of the Night Elves' plight was true...
...and combined with the rumors, this "Mad Blade" before him...
...might not be as purely bloodthirsty as she appeared on the surface.
Lin Gui nodded, his tone flat.
“Fine. Then why did you go through all that trouble to find me? What is it you actually want?”
Shadow Blade Lynn smiled.
She glanced out the window.
It was packed with "peeping" glass beads.
Swept by her gaze, the soul beads hurriedly shrank back.
But then they realized there was no need to be afraid, and they popped back out one by one.
All of them "stared" at her coldly.
Shadow Blade Lynn withdrew her gaze.
“How do you view...”
She fingertips lightly tapped her knee.
“...these 'half-dead, half-alive' spirits outside?”
“And the soul beads that grant them a 'second life'?”
Lin Gui looked at the soul bead floating in her palm—the one that belonged to her.
“All I know is that these containers capable of maintaining a whole soul...”
“...all came from the Demigod who triggered 'The Silent End'.”
Shadow Blade Lynn's smile deepened.
“Then what do you think...”
She leaned forward slightly, lowering her voice.
“...is the purpose of that demon deity in doing this?”
“What is the goal?”
“There is no purpose,”
Lin Gui replied flatly.
He had actually tried to insert various conspiracy theories into it.
But the very existence of a Demigod overrode all suspicion.
An existence of that level had absolutely no reason...
...to do such a thing to commoners who hadn't even reached the Transcendent Rank.
Beside him, the silent Eve suddenly remembered something.
She recalled the Soul-Devouring Lord in the Wailing Corridor who had faced the enemy to escort them.
She thought of the many inexplicable anomalies within the Wall of Sighs.
The mist had never invaded the city-states, and the spectral demons had never set foot inside either.
She thought of the glass beads silently scattered to every citizen when the Dark Tide descended.
A hypothesis slipped uncontrollably from her lips:
“Could it be... that the Demigod of 'The Silent End'...”
“...actually didn't want to harm the citizens?”
“So...”
Before she could finish, she paused.
A look of confusion appeared in her eyes.
The Dark Tide that had claimed tens of millions of lives across seventeen city-states...
...wasn't it triggered by that very Demigod?
Merciful?
Applying such a word to an existence that brought destruction...
...felt absurd even to her.
Yet Eve's almost ridiculous remark did not meet with the expected refutation.
Because Lin Gui... actually thought the same way.
Meanwhile, Shadow Blade Lynn merely smiled, her expression turning somewhat peculiar.
“The truth... might actually be just that,”
she murmured, her tone carrying an indiscernible mix of mockery and sincerity.
Lin Gui dragged the conversation back on track.
“So, what does this have to do with you tracking us down?”
Shadow Blade Lynn looked up, putting on that smile once more.
“The connection is this.”
She opened her palm, and the pale purple soul bead floated quietly.
“Whether it's me, the spirits outside, or the spectral demons wandering within the Wall...”
“...we are all trapped inside these tiny beads.”
“Once the bead shatters, the soul disperses.”
She paused, her voice softening slightly.
“Even for someone like me, who has cultivated to the Transcendent Rank...”
“...it's the same.”
“And these beads come from a demon Demigod.”
She looked at Lin Gui, a faint shadow passing through the depths of her purple eyes.
“I know nothing about Him. That is the risk.”
“What if one day, as He sleeps in the Voiceless Rift...”
“...He suddenly remembers us 'small fry'...”
She didn't finish, but Lin Gui understood.
“So, you want to break free from your dependence on the bead?”
Shadow Blade Lynn shook her head.
She looked at Lin Gui, her smile gradually fading.
In those eyes that were always filled with sarcasm and cold pride...
...a nearly naked, pure desire surfaced for the first time.
“No.”
she whispered, pronouncing each word with utmost clarity.
“I... want to live.”
“To have a body of flesh and blood like you, with the freedom to control my own destiny.”
“Rather than entrusting my very existence... to a bead whose safety no one can guarantee.”
She leaned forward slightly, her soul light flickering in her eyes.
“I want...”
“...resurrection.”
Rate on N.U.
