Chapter 517: A Technological Creation?

Inside the shattered, pale library, the hollow howls of historical fragments rolled continuously through the collapsed pillars and walls. In the chaotic, boundless dark space, the boundaries of the library were expanding and contracting restlessly.

Then, in an instant, all this turmoil ceased.

As if time were flowing backward, the collapsed and shattered bookshelves and scattered scrolls and stone tablets began to reset rapidly. The vortex formed by historical fragments reversed and returned to its original state. Between the roaring bookshelves that were restoring themselves, Baili Qing's figure wavered and reassembled like a reflection in water, quickly regaining physical form.

Behind her, among those shattered light-and-shadow fragments, there remained the last traces of turmoil, as if countless struggling illusions were trying to squeeze out from that phantom, accompanied by layers of wailing—

“Save us! We're still alive, we're still alive..."

“Everything outside is fake... Everything real is left in this prison. Turn back, turn back quickly..."

“Child, run! Go find someone, save us..."

“Sister! It's me, I'm Xiao Xue—you abandoned me! The one beside you is fake! That one is fake!"

Baili Qing opened her eyes. The things that had been struggling and wailing in the illusions behind her instantly turned back into the hollow howls of historical fragments, then gradually faded away.

Only then did Baili Qing finally look back behind her. After a moment, she let out a gentle sigh.

“Any new findings?" The old voice came from the stone platform, the glow flickering in the eye sockets of the crystal skull.

Baili Qing turned back. Her expression was complex and hesitant, but she quickly composed herself and nodded gently. “...Found some clues that hadn't been discovered before."

“Good," the crystal skull said calmly. “As usual, I won't ask what exactly you found. Since you returned to this world with your sanity intact, that means you are qualified to take away this knowledge. Now, leave with what you've excavated from the library, and do not return here for seven days."

Baili Qing said nothing, just silently nodded. Then she turned and quickly left the stone platform surrounded by massive bookshelves. Following the continuous floating path through the dark space filled with countless floating boulders, she soon returned to the pure white corridor that connected to the Special Services Bureau building.

Only after passing through the entire corridor and returning to the “regular floors" with a normal atmosphere did she let out a soft breath.

A pair of enormous eyes quietly emerged on the wall not far away.

“That ‘Descent’ three thousand seven hundred years ago was even more complicated than we imagined," Baili Xue's voice echoed faintly. “If those ‘echoes’ in the archive haven't been distorted or falsified, and if the relevant records are true, then that ‘Boundary Bridge’ back then... was actually built by a large number of Dim Angels? The goddess of ill omen who descended through the bridge was just one of them..."

“Rational, able to communicate, even capable of coordinated action, and using powerful technology to try to establish contact with this universe... If this news gets out, the whole world will be shaken," Baili Qing said softly. “All of our understanding of the ‘Dim Angels’ will have to be restructured."

The two sisters fell silent at the same time. After a few seconds, Baili Xue suddenly spoke: “Compared to this, I'm more curious about what role that ‘Eileen’ from three thousand seven hundred years ago played in the whole matter."

“None of the historical fragments contain records related to her. Malin couldn't find any information about that blonde puppet in the Garden Network, and there are no corresponding clues in other databases either," Baili Qing frowned slightly. “Looking at it this way, that ‘Eileen’ seems to have appeared out of nowhere, as if she specially ‘emerged’ for that ‘Descent’ three thousand seven hundred years ago... It's too suspicious."

“Maybe we should contact Terra? They have the largest database in the universe, and their historical records are more complete than other civilization spheres. They also know more about the ancient spirit matters—maybe they know about certain ‘special puppets’ in ‘Alice's Cottage.’”

“...That's an idea," Baili Qing thought for a moment and nodded gently. “But before that, let's go to the N floor—I need to find a quiet place to perform purification for you."

“Purification?"

“The illusion in the archive knew your name, and even tried to imitate your voice to seduce me," Baili Qing frowned, looking at the huge eyes on the wall beside her. “Tell me honestly, did you look around again while I was descending?"

“I did not!" Baili Xue said immediately, but then hesitated for two or three seconds before adding, “...But I can't completely ‘close’ my eyes either. When I close my eyes, I still have vision."

Baili Qing sighed.

“Next time I go to the archive, you go keep watch on No. 66 Wutong Road," she said suddenly.

“Why?" The huge eyes seemed to freeze for a moment, then looked thoughtful. “Are you suspecting No. 66 Wutong Road..."

“No, I just want to find a target with high information density that's hard to get rid of to occupy your vision, to keep you from doing something stupid."

Baili Xue: “..."

Baili Qing said nothing more, just turned and walked silently toward the elevator leading to the N floor.

That pair of huge eyes, invisible to ordinary people, floated in the air around her and on various surfaces they passed, following her all the way.

This silence lasted for a long stretch of the path. Only when they stepped into the elevator did Baili Xue suddenly speak: “Sister, did you hesitate just now?"

“Just now?"

“When you were surfacing from the historical fragments of the archive, an illusion imitated my voice... Did you hesitate then?"

“No."

“You never worried about the possibility? What if I really was left behind in the archive, and what if the me who came out with you is fake..."

Baili Qing turned her head, calmly staring at the huge eyes reflected on the elevator car wall.

“You were never the real Baili Xue," she said expressionlessly. “Forgot? You were originally fake."

Those eyes swayed left and right.

“That hurts a bit when you put it that way," she said, her tone actually sounding a bit aggrieved.

“If you really have a heart, next time don't look around everywhere—my energy and time are very limited."

“Okay, sister."

...

Crisscrossing black spider silk covered the entire alley, and the closer they got to the crossroad, the more numerous and dense the tangled webs became, and the harder they were to interfere with using the little puppet's power.

In the densest parts of the webs, those black threads seemed to have their own will and rules. In Eileen's words—those threads seemed to consciously reject her control, very exclusive.

But the good news was that, although the controllable range kept shrinking, at least so far, Eileen's influence over these spider threads was still enough to open a small path for passage.

Yu Sheng raised his head, cautiously observing the surroundings.

Dense black spider silk was everywhere—when they first entered the “Dark Alley," these webs only covered the air, with the lowest at least three or four meters above the ground, but after going more than halfway, large amounts of spider silk began to hang down from the air to the ground, winding around everywhere.

A considerable amount of spider silk came out of the doors and windows of nearby shops, some of which had even been squeezed out of shape. Large amounts of black threads spilled out like unruly hair, covering large areas of walls and ground in a hair-raising manner. Through the gaps in the deformed doors and windows, one could vaguely see the scenes inside the “shops."

Trembling furniture, illogical furnishings, shelves and mannequins exuding an eerie atmosphere... These originally bizarre objects and deadly traps in the “Dark Alley" were now all eroded and covered by the invading spider webs, seemingly transformed from threatening investigators to victims of this “invasion."

All shops were in a “closed" state.

In addition, there were many “cats" caught in the webs in view—these dark shadows struggled slowly in the webs in midair, occasionally making confused whining sounds, adding to the eerie and terrifying atmosphere in the silent alley.

At first, Eileen tried to rescue a few “cats," but those little black cats, once freed, immediately assumed their spinosaurus forms and hissed at everyone. Two of them, after hissing, turned and ran onto the rooftops, only to be caught in the webs again in the blink of an eye... After doing this a few times, she couldn't be bothered to save them anymore.

Even the King suggested that it was best to just leave those “cats" hanging on the spider webs—since they were essentially immortal “entities" anyway, and these spider threads didn't seem to cause them any real harm. Hanging these aggressive black cats up saved them the trouble of causing chaos.

The suggestion was unanimously approved by everyone.

“This is the crossroad ahead," Yu Sheng stopped in front of a tangled web of black spider silk, craning his neck to look across. “The road is heavily blocked... Eileen, can you still manage?"

The little puppet sitting on his shoulder had been so tired she was about to collapse, but now she instantly perked up, patting her chest: “What are you talking about? Who am I? Of course I can..."

Yu Sheng looked at the little thing wobbling on his shoulder and frowned: “Take it easy... If you can't do it, pull another body over to help?"

“Uh, controlling these spider threads relies on consciousness, not the number of bodies," Eileen waved her hand, then propped one hand on Yu Sheng's head, took a deep breath, and adjusted her state slightly. “Alright, I'm going to deal with the obstacle ahead!"

As she spoke, she raised her arm forward again, palm up.

The Ill-Omen Star that had been flying around her head changed its trajectory and flew over, hovering a few centimeters above her palm.

Lines of black thread extended from the little puppet's fingertips, connecting to the surrounding spider webs. Rustling sounds came from all directions, and the spider webs blocking the crossroad began to tremble and recede to both sides—the process was slow, but remarkably effective.

Yu Sheng steadied the puppet on his shoulder with one hand and carefully walked forward along the newly opened passage.

The next second, he suddenly stopped: “...What the heck is that?"

A strange silver-white device appeared in his field of vision, buzzing.

A technological creation!

This was clearly not something that could have originally been in the Dark Alley!