Yu Sheng looked at Baili Qing's operation with a curious expression.
Then he realized that Baili Qing wasn't doing anything.
Because the Dragon Lady Director was just standing beside the big pit, looking blankly in the direction of the courier station gate—which of course was gone now, replaced by a layer of translucent spiritual light that Hu Li had left.
——However, in Baili Qing's eyes, everything was gradually turning into another form.
The rain falling from the sky was slowly decelerating, the dense lines of rain becoming countless droplets frozen in mid-air, the world quieted down, and then everything swiftly reversed.
She saw a fierce white light explode in front of her, something in the white light turned into smoke and dust, which then coalesced into a clumsy entity that staggered around the open ground.
It was a mass of black flesh with numerous discordant deformed limbs, its main body almost unrecognizable, yet compared to the creature previously annihilated by the chairman, its size was clearly much smaller, and its black outer skin seemed to be covered by some sort of scale-like structure.
Time in the illusion began flowing forward again—the misshapen and terrifying creature walked out from the distant rain curtain, appearing on the open ground as if out of nowhere, initially wandering aimlessly, but suddenly attracted to the seemingly ordinary courier station.
It raised several deformed arms, the shadow at the arm's end mimicking some sort of weapon, though only managing that aggressive gesture before a fierce holy light suddenly evaporated the shack's door, blasting the creature to pieces.
"Ah, the eyes, the eyes, another flash…" Baili Xue quickly swayed back and forth in mid-air, "Why is this thing so bright…"
Baili Qing blinked; the rain droplets resumed falling, cold wind wrapped in heavy rain howling and swirling several meters away from her.
She noticed the gaze from beside her, turned her head to see Yu Sheng staring straight at her.
"What's the situation? Did you understand?"
"There was… some malicious wandering entity attempting to approach this building," Baili Qing considered her words carefully, "but before triggering this outpost's security system, it was preemptively annihilated by Freyia."
"Wandering entity?" Erin, perched on Yu Sheng's shoulder, instantly perked up, "How can a wandering entity run rampant in the real world? And where did it come from? There's not even an Exotic Realm entrance around, has the nephew's talent spanned across space-time?"
Baili Qing looked around thoughtfully before speaking: "Let's discuss inside."
The group returned inside, the door blocking out the cold wind, and rain; warm, bright lights dispelled the increasingly dim sky outside as faint wind and rain sounds came through the window like they were from another world, making the living room seem even quieter.
Freyia slowly descended from the ceiling, curiously landing near the coffee table, gazing at the pair of illusory eyes lying flat on the table.
Evidently, another "person" could now observe Baili Xue under normal circumstances.
Baili Xue, feeling awkward under the stare, instinctively spun around to hide, Freyia followed her, and as Baili Xue continued to evade, Freyia kept following—both "persons" ran farther and faster, winding up at the ceiling.
Yet nobody paid attention to the two at this moment.
"Earlier, a 'Knight' lurking in the Exotic Realm emerged, and now there's a 'Wandering Entity' appearing near my home," Yu Sheng spoke, trying to appear serious, "Just be upfront, did something happen again? Is there yet another Cult Group engaging in post-modern 'human engineering', stabbing themselves to summon something?"
"...Indeed, there were incidents, but this time, it's unrelated to the cultists' activities," Baili Qing slowly said, "This occurrence… stems from the Boundary Land itself."
Erin jumped directly onto the coffee table: "What?!"
Baili Qing: "I don't know where to start explaining… have you ever contemplated what lies 'beneath' the Boundary Land?"
"...Then I guess whatever you're about to reveal isn't sewage systems or subways," Yu Sheng, seeing Baili Qing's demeanor, seemingly understands something, his creative thinking as a second-rate novelist quickly swirling in his mind, imagination and clues colliding into sparks of pondering, "Your 'beneath'… are you merely referring to the spatial dimension?"
"...It seems you've deduced," Baili Qing exhaled, "The Boundary Land is a nexus in the Universe, yet this nexus isn't limited to the spatial dimension alone; beneath its stable surface, time and space within the Boundary Land are a series of fragmented yet delicately balanced 'Space-time Bases'..."
Baili Qing paused as a little puppet clapped its hands: "Oh, must we talk further? Subtle balance always implies instability, and throwing in Space-time Bases… just hearing the name implies it's meant to collapse, that's the story norm."
Beside them, the fox girl putting effort into combing her fluffy tail raised her head: "Yes, there's a saying among my hometown fleet, 'Don't call a storm eternal, or call a wall grand,' meaning something that sounds grand will surely collapse spectacularly when it's time."
Yu Sheng's thoughts were instantly led astray by these two lively characters, crossing his arms and clicking his tongue, "Oh my, with what you're saying, why do I feel there's a risk with Valhalla..."
Erin stared wide-eyed, "Does it matter whether the buildings made by that bunch of architectural geniuses under C-type buckle collapse or not? The market district now looks just like a line of toppled dominoes..."
Then the little puppet was immediately snatched by Luna, who strung it onto a clothes rack and hung it on the balcony.
But soon, another Erin emerged from Hu Li's tail, crawling onto the coffee table while saying to Baili Qing, "Don't mind, you continue."
Baili Qing took a deep breath.
"In short, the 'bottom' of Boundary Land... has shown damage. The reason is still unclear, but the result is that some things that should have been sunk into the 'keystones' of old are starting to float to the surface of the real world."
Yu Sheng raised an eyebrow, "Like the previous 'Knight' and the recent 'Wandering Entity'?"
Baili Qing nodded gently, "And the 'Old World Nightmare Syndrome'."
Yu Sheng wore a look of unsurprised understanding, "...Indeed, it's related to this matter too."
"We live in a world reshaped from the apocalypse, although the apocalypse has passed, the fact that all things were once destroyed lurks forever as shadows in the base memory of this world. In some sense, the 'Great Annihilation' itself is one of the foundations on which this world can exist and operate; some extreme scholars even consider the legendary 'Creator's Equation' to have its first parameter as the flash during the Great Annihilation..."
Baili Qing was speaking slowly, yet her gaze involuntarily fell on Baili Xue who was chasing Freyia in the distance— they had already moved from the ceiling to the stairs, running circles up and down there, showing no signs of stopping.
"Under such premise, Boundary Land... this special place naturally presents many special circumstances.
"The high incidence rate of Old World Nightmare Syndrome is just one of the special circumstances; in fact, 'Boundary Land People' themselves, placed among the many intelligent species of the universe, are somewhat special.
"They naturally have a high resistance to Exotic Realm pollution, are insensitive to Spiritual Energy Power but harmonize naturally with Spiritual Ability Users, and a considerable portion of Boundary Land People are born with some 'Old World remnants' on them..."
"Born with some Old World remnants?" Yu Sheng's tone instantly grew more curious.
After all, living in a mystifying place like Boundary Land for a long time, opening his eyes every day to see its various outstanding and favorable landscapes, without normal contact with other 'human worlds,' Yu Sheng couldn't determine what was normal or abnormal in this world. It naturally didn't occur to him at first what Baili Qing meant by 'Old World remnants.'
Baili Qing glanced at Yu Sheng, a subtle look in her eyes, "You have someone by your side, like Xu Jiayi."
Yu Sheng looked puzzled, "... Who is Xu Jiayi?"
"... The one codenamed 'long-haired princess,'" this time Baili Qing's subtle expression couldn't hold any longer, "After all this time, you didn't know her name?!"
Yu Sheng opened his mouth, failing to speak for a moment, but Erin on the coffee table clapped her hands, "Oh wow! I always thought her full name was long-haired princess, and her nickname was Big Golden Hair..."
Hu Li, "Huh? Doesn't sound like a real name!"
Erin, "I know, but isn't everyone used to calling her that by now? Besides, it doesn't affect daily communication..."
Yu Sheng was still somewhat baffled, the impact in his heart akin to the shock when he first learned Little Red Riding Hood was actually named Wang Jiajia; he was stunned for half a minute before speaking, "What were you saying about Old World remnants then..."
"Don't you find her speech accent sometimes odd? Especially when she's in a hurry."
Yu Sheng, "...I've noticed, just never found a chance to ask..."
A pair of eyes fell with a clatter onto the coffee table in front of Yu Sheng, Baili Xue moving quickly across it, speaking as she moved, "If you ask her, she wouldn't know what's going on either. For most uninformed people in this city, 'some people are born a little different from others' is a commonplace thing— after all, Boundary City is a place of outstanding landscapes."
"... So that's it," Yu Sheng rubbed his forehead, for a while uncertain of his feelings, only realizing that the peculiar accent of long-haired princess now had an explanation, and his expression suddenly turned solemn, "Wait, if the damage situation at Boundary Land's 'bottom' continues to worsen in this development..."
Baili Qing nodded seriously, "The impact on the upper-level real world will become more severe— everyone connected to this land cannot escape these influences."
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