Chapter 174: This Time For Sure…
Nanling Yaohua heard Huaiyuan Jun’s call and hurried to the next room. Following the direction indicated by Huaiyuan Jun, she turned to look at Shen Baiwei on the bed and was startled, her pupils trembling slightly.
From Shen Baiwei’s face, black bl**d mixed with fragments of internal organs continuously poured out between her mouth and nose. Once the black bl**d left her body, it instantly vaporized into smoke, spreading around silently, quietly increasing the Nightfall Syndrome levels in the vicinity.
Under the influence of the Nightfall Syndrome, the bed where she lay visibly decayed and deteriorated.
The fabric aged, tore, and fell to the ground, raising pale dust.
The dark green rust crawled like a living entity on the brass decorations at the corners of the bed.
The wooden bed frame gradually deepened in color until it turned black, sprouting numerous tiny holes resembling those caused by pests.
Such a high degree of Nightfall Syndrome would have overwhelmed most low-grade spiritual ability users or urban legends; they would likely fall into a state of uncontrollability alongside Shen Baiwei.
It was almost like being infected with a virulent disease.
At the same time, on Shen Baiwei’s exposed skin, cracks emerged resembling dry fissures, within which a certain writhing darkness seemed to manifest as a concrete nightmare, mingling with her bl**d and infiltrating beneath her skin, gradually outlining an obscure and difficult-to-understand pattern.
This was a common symptom of runaway spirit patterns, where the powers contained within the spirit patterns were decaying, gradually polluting the body and conflicting with the internal spirit energy, similar to the symptoms of certain immune system diseases, characterized by skin redness and ulceration.
However, this was a common symptom that was anything but ordinary for Nanling Yaohua. The moment she saw those patterns, her heart pounded, and she instinctively touched her right hand.
Although she still did not understand what those patterns represented, she immediately recognized that the patterns gradually appearing on Shen Baiwei were similar to the small scars that formed the “membership expiration notification” on her own body.
“…”
Why does she have these patterns too?
Could it be that Luxianbei entering that environment and my glimpse of Luxianbei’s movements in the illusion had something to do with her? Nanling Yaohua pondered.
“Yaohua, Yaohua?” Huaiyuan Jun gently called a few times. Seeing Nanling Yaohua come back to her senses and look at her, she sighed and said, “You also find it very tricky, right?”
“To be honest, in my years working at the Siye Society, this is the first time I’ve seen someone with such a high level of Nightfall Syndrome still untransformed into an urban legend.”
Although she had heard of a disciple named Huasang at Dachunyang Palace who had an extremely high level of Nightfall Syndrome, resembling some humanoid mobile nuclear waste warehouse, she had only heard of it and never seen it herself.
“If you can’t do anything about it, why don’t you leave it to me to handle? It might prevent any trouble if she really does transform into an urban legend.”
“Oh? What do you intend…” Nanling Yaohua looked at Huaiyuan Jun, intending to ask how she planned to deal with Shen Baiwei, only to see Huaiyuan Jun rolling up her sleeves, revealing her muscular forearm, and swinging her fists in the air a couple of times.
Huaiyuan Jun said nothing, yet it seemed to communicate, “Just a couple of punches to smash Shen Baiwei’s head, and end her life.”
Huaiyuan Jun indeed wasn’t skilled at healing, but she excelled at smashing enemies’ heads.
This way of doing things, to some extent, resembled M Country’s method of dealing with Nightfall Syndrome patients and spirit pattern runaway users—just eliminate all the patients, and everyone else will be healthy, right? Of course, they do it very secretly, without letting anyone find out.
However, there was some logic in Huaiyuan Jun’s approach.
It is well known that blackening boosts strength tenfold. If Shen Baiwei transforms into an urban legend and starts moving, it might take dozens, even hundreds of punches to smash her head, causing a commotion that could attract the Shaman Queen, who roams around Yumen Pass.
Looking at Huaiyuan Jun, the corners of Nanling Yaohua’s mouth twitched slightly, and she quietly probed, “Are you planning to…”
As she said this, she raised her hand and made a slitting motion across her throat.
“Hmm! This way could also alleviate some of her pain.” Huaiyuan Jun nodded and said, “You should also know that when spiritual ability users fall into a state of runaway spirit patterns, they endure inhumane pain and torment almost every moment…”
“Absolutely not!” Nanling Yaohua blurted out, realizing she was somewhat out of line, hurriedly explaining, “After all, it’s a human life. Besides, she hasn’t transformed yet, right? I still want to try a bit longer.”
The strange patterns on Shen Baiwei made her realize that Luxianbei falling into that “illusion” might be greatly related to Shen Baiwei’s runaway spirit patterns.
If Shen Baiwei were to d*e at this moment, who knows what would happen to Luxianbei.
On the positive side, Luxianbei might escape the “illusion” with Shen Baiwei’s passing, but on the downside, there was a strong possibility that Luxianbei would become trapped in that “illusion” forever.
How could such a thing be carelessly risked?
“Hmm…” Huaiyuan Jun pinched her chin, pondering for a moment, then nodded to Nanling Yaohua. “You have a point. Then you can try it first? Only resort to my plan as a last resort.”
Seeing that Huaiyuan Jun did not insist on killing Shen Baiwei, Nanling Yaohua secretly breathed a sigh of relief. However, following that, she turned to look at the barely alive Shen Baiwei on the bed and started having difficulties again.
While she had to save her for Luxianbei’s safety, how could she possibly save her given the runaway spirit patterns in such a state? Nanling Yaohua thought.
At that moment, Shen Baiwei was like a high-temperature boiler filled with dangerous materials. Although it temporarily maintained a fragile state of stability, any slight misstep could lead to a violent explosion.
Nowhere to start.
————
At the same time, the unconscious Shen Baiwei was completely unaware that she was about to face the might of calamity, to be crushed into meat paste by Huaiyuan Jun’s enormous fists. The moment she shouted the word “calamity,” she fell into a nightmare state, unable to awaken.
A seemingly endless hallway stretched out before her, the floor scattered with yellowish moonlight that appeared to be rotting.
At some point, the world had plunged into utter silence, with only solitary footsteps echoing.
This was Tethys Laboratory of the Solar Eclipse Society; Shen Baiwei couldn’t possibly be mistaken.
Because this cursed place had not only left her with countless painful memories but also, whenever her life was threatened, she would return here, to the vessel of the spiritual ability user and the Snake of Time—where Shen Baiwei was born.
This place was her initial “anchor”!
Then, everything started again.
Just like the mythical creature symbolized by the part of the power in her spirit patterns that drives the operation of the entire Snake of Time—Ouroboros.
In many myths, there is a great serpent that consumes itself, symbolizing that all beings, from the moment of their birth, are constantly devouring their past selves until they are entirely consumed, only to be reborn, and start anew.
Under normal circumstances, the “giant serpent” hidden within Shen Baiwei’s powers could maintain stability by devouring various ancient relics, artifacts, or the “yesterday” contained within the bodies of the elderly.
But once the “yesterday” of those ancient relics and artifacts changed, the “giant serpent” deprived of food would become agitated and angry…
It was like placing a sumptuous feast in front of the “giant serpent,” which, thrilled, devoured it. Yet, once the food entered its belly, it suddenly transformed into dirt, metal, and shattered glass.
How could it not be angry?
Thus, the “giant serpent” began to consume her body until it completely swallowed her, and then everything restarted.
This process always reminded her of the little characters controlled by players in games, reviving fully after their health bars were emptied.
But did anyone ever think, if the little character revived each time, would it be the same character as before?
If it wasn’t, then where did the previously deceased little character go?
Shen Baiwei continued forward.
This Tethys Laboratory seemed to be several times larger than she remembered, with specially crafted metal doors etched with complex incantations lining the corridor. Through small glass windows in the doors, she could see various strange and bizarre objects displayed inside.
Boilers burning with fierce black flames, urban legend corpses quietly lying on the experimental table with tubes sticking out of their bodies, shelves lined with specimen jars containing various organs of Nightfall Syndrome patients…
The entire laboratory was empty, with only her as the living person.
Seeing everything before her, Shen Baiwei realized she was about to become that “previously dead little character” again.
Although when she awoke again, everything would seem as if nothing had happened to her, she always felt uncomfortable and wondered if she still counted as herself.
Like the ship of Theseus, where every part was replaced.
Thus, she wanted to end this “cycle.”
And to end this cycle, a miracle had to occur…
So, she needed the brilliance of the First Generation Miracle Saint, capable of granting all wishes.
Just one wish would suffice…
Just let the “giant serpent” never go “hungry”…
Shen Baiwei numbly thought, moving forward like a goat herded by a shepherd towards migration. After an unknown amount of time, she finally arrived at the door at the end of the corridor.
Pushing open the door, a nauseating stench greeted her.
In the vast space behind the door, bodies were piled up like mountains, each one a “Shen Baiwei.”
Some still bore the appearance of having just died, while others were already unrecognizable, their clothes tattered and yellowed, leaving only pale skeletons, with rotting black sludge silently flowing from their empty eye sockets.
Only at the peak of the mound of bodies lay one “Shen Baiwei,” complete and intact, sleeping peacefully like a newborn baby.
Any ordinary person who witnessed such a scene would likely be driven mad on the spot, but Shen Baiwei had long since become accustomed to such sights.
After all, before she was taken by the Solar Eclipse Society for modification, when she was still a severely ill Nightfall Syndrome patient, she had seen scenes like this countless times, always uncontrollably burying her past.
In a sense, the “dead past” was the core of her spirit pattern powers, while Ouroboros’s powers were merely responsible for driving it.
It was like the relationship between system software and hardware.
Shen Baiwei silently sighed, walked forward, found a relatively comfortable spot, leaned against the mound of bodies, and slowly closed her eyes.
Then, she began to wait.
Like an aging elephant lying down among the remains of its kind in the elephant graveyard, waiting for d*ath to arrive.
“Once I start again, I’ll go stop the calamity… this time for sure…” Shen Baiwei murmured just before her consciousness plunged into silence.
