Chapter 107

Within the darkness, a small cluster of light suddenly flared, illuminating Ye Zheng’s face.

Pei Xi reacted at once. He drew a lighter from his bosom, and another small flame flickered to life, pushing back a portion of the darkness.

Sykes never carried such items. He could only rely on the twin lights to examine their surroundings.

The space was exceedingly narrow. After only a few steps, they reached the opposite end. Sykes pressed his palm against the cold, rigid wall. "It’s metal."

"It’s aberrant stone. Our abilities are restricted."

Ye Zheng tapped the wall lightly and added.

Aberrant stone was the material used to construct shelters. It could isolate the power of Aberrant Realms. Yet this place was certainly no shelter. Its structure resembled a prison far more than a refuge.

Using the faint glow of the lighter, Ye Zheng felt along the smooth wall. This space couldn’t be completely sealed. There had to be an exit.

She lifted her head and raised the lighter higher, intending to see the ceiling through which they’d fallen. What she saw instead was impenetrable blackness, like the bottom of a sunless abyss.

No, this place couldn’t be too deep, otherwise she wouldn’t have risen uninjured. Wait, what was Kieran’s ability? It didn’t seem to be recorded in the information.

Ye Zheng turned, intending to ask Sykes, who was also an Aston. Unexpectedly, she collided with another figure. The lighter in her hand nearly slipped.

"Pei Xi?"

The wavering firelight illuminated Pei Xi’s vacant blue eyes. Light and shadow intertwined across his face, rendering his expression distant, as though he were ensnared in faraway memories.

"Are you feeling unwell?"

Ye Zheng asked.

Pei Xi snapped out of his daze and shook his head. Bracing himself against the wall, he said, "No, it’s nothing. I seem to have been locked in a dark room like this by my parents when I was a child because I was naughty."

Ye Zheng frowned slightly. "You’ve told me about your parents. They seemed very gentle. I didn’t expect them to punish a child in this way."

Pei Xi looked momentarily at a loss. In the firelight, he awkwardly turned his face aside and stared into the depths of darkness. "Perhaps I was too mischievous at the time."

His fist pressed unconsciously against the wall. Hearing Ye Zheng mention the past so naturally, recalling the once sincere and heartfelt words he’d spoken, that confusion and bitterness surged within him again, even diluting the inexplicable fear that had crept over him upon entering this place.

"Are you planning to remain here reminiscing forever?"

Sykes’s voice carried a faint edge of sarcasm.

Ye Zheng withdrew her probing gaze. Regarding Pei Xi’s origins, she already had a conjecture in her heart.

She looked at Sykes with a faint smile. "Your Highness the Crown Prince, do you have a method of escape?"

Sykes choked on his retort. Folding his arms, he turned his head aside. "Aren’t you always so resourceful?"

"Your Highness, do you know Kieran’s ability? He is your relative, after all."

Ye Zheng ignored the sarcasm and asked earnestly.

Hearing her serious inquiry, Sykes lowered his golden eyes and considered carefully. After a moment, he offered an uncertain answer. "It seems to be gravity."

Kieran had once been renowned in the upper district and was favored by the emperor. As a prince, even if Sykes hadn’t wished to know, those around him would have spoken of it.

Upon receiving this answer, Ye Zheng spread her hands helplessly. "Very well. We can’t rely on returning the way we came."

This space was likely deep underground. At the instant they’d fallen, Kieran must have used his ability, which was why she’d risen from the ground unscathed.

A flash of anger crossed Sykes’s golden eyes. Kieran had dared to imprison them arbitrarily in this wretched place under the pretext of protecting them.

His expression darkened. He abruptly removed the black glove from his right hand and slammed his fist fiercely into the pitch black wall.

A violent recoil reverberated through the confined space. Flying strands of hair obscured Ye Zheng’s view. She tucked them behind her ear, brought the lighter closer, and examined the result of his strike.

A shallow but visible dent marked the wall. The metal had yielded slightly, yet no cracks or light appeared.

"Under the restriction of abilities, achieving this level is already impressive. If you strike it a few more times, perhaps it’ll give way."

Ye Zheng spoke gently. For a moment, Sykes couldn’t discern whether she was sincere or subtly mocking him.

Pei Xi stepped forward and placed his hand over the dent, sensing with his metal ability. After a moment, he shook his head. "The wall is very thick. Current ability can’t penetrate it."

Silence descended once more. The small prison offered them scarcely any room to maneuver. Yet Ye Zheng continued feeling along the wall. In the shadows, a current of water moved sinuously like a serpent.

"Pei Xi, search for any cracks or weak points. Your Highness Sykes, don’t remain idle. Your subjects are still awaiting your rescue outside."

"Kieran cast us here. Danger may already have arrived. Many people are waiting for us to emerge, and Lu Qi."

Ye Zheng turned back. The faint firelight rendered her smooth face gentle and radiant.

"Lu Qi said she wants to invite us all to be guests in her hometown."

"I agreed. I don’t break my promises."

Pei Xi’s heart pounded violently in that instant. Though the darkness was profoundly still, his ears rang with a deafening hum.

So she hadn’t forgotten Lu Qi, hadn’t forgotten her promise as a member of the Cloud Soarers team. Then what of the promises she’d made to him?

Even if you let me bear all the glorious yet unbearable duties for you, it’d be no problem.

Pei Xi suddenly lowered his head and covered it. In that instant, every word and smile from Chao Mei and Ye Zheng overlapped within his mind.

She had truly never deceived him. Her conscience was clear. That was why, upon meeting again, she could speak and cooperate with him so naturally, as though nothing had ever transpired.

His blue eyes flickered with intense emotion. Pei Xi seemed at last to understand what kind of person Ye Zheng was. Kind, noble, intelligent, and terrifying.

"Pei Xi, are you truly alright?"

As though struck by a powerful force, he staggered backward until his back collided with the cold wall. Under Ye Zheng’s concerned gaze, he placed his hand against the wall once more. His fingers tightened, as if he’d finally grasped a drifting plank in open sea.

Suddenly, an unfamiliar sensation brushed against his fingertips. Pei Xi’s expression stilled for a heartbeat. He turned and bent down to inspect it.

“Here. It’s caved in.”

Ye Zheng noticed Pei Xi’s unusual reaction and assumed he had likely triggered another fragment of special memory. Pei Xi was what Zhou Yun had called “the perfect work that truly replicates the God of Hope.” There was no possibility that he was merely the biological child of an ordinary civilian couple from the lower district. He had most likely been adopted.

As for the time before his adoption, perhaps he had once stayed within this very church in the Western District.

Ye Zheng stepped forward to examine the spot Pei Xi indicated. He pressed his fingers against it, then abruptly spread all five. A palm-sized slab of metal was wrenched from the wall by his hand.

The hard black surface instantly split open, allowing a faint bright light to leak through. Even Sykes moved closer at once.

The three exchanged a glance. Without a word, Sykes pushed the other two aside, braced both hands against the breach, and pried with force.

The cold, unyielding wall began to fracture. As Sykes’s 【Destruction】 deepened, the entire structure trembled uncontrollably. In this way, he tore open a vertical fissure tall enough for his body to pass through. Light slanted inward, and he lifted his head before stepping out first.

Ye Zheng followed him out of the narrow, lightless chamber. She didn’t advance immediately but turned back in contemplation. The breach resembled a deliberately carved window. Why leave such an opening?

Her gaze settled on Pei Xi’s retreating figure ahead. Perhaps it was because someone had once remained inside for a very long time.

She walked slowly, surveying the surrounding space, and grew increasingly astonished.

The place resembled a vast laboratory. Dim lights flickered overhead, casting uneven illumination across cluttered worktables piled with instruments of every kind. Most striking were the rows of transparent tanks aligned beneath the towering white wall.

Within the cylindrical tanks floated slightly murky water, as though they had been neglected for years. Ye Zheng moved her gaze from one tank to the next, until it abruptly froze.

Inside the final transparent cylinder drifted a pitch-black object the size of a palm.

More precisely, it was the corpse of an unidentified creature. It floated face-up, its features indistinct, yet it radiated an icy dread that pierced straight through her.

It was absolutely not a normal living organism. The palm-sized black shape bore an eerie resemblance to a human form.

Her intuition told her this location was crucial to the Hope Project. She hurried to a nearby bookshelf and began searching through drawers and compartments, hoping to uncover useful records or documentation.

She had just withdrawn a logbook when her body suddenly swayed. A powerful tremor struck her.

Ye Zheng lifted her head, her expression darkening.

She glanced down at the logbook in her hand, pressed it firmly against her chest, and moved toward an obvious doorway.

“Let’s go. Both of you. The situation above probably isn’t good.”

She stood at the entrance and called out in warning.

Pei Xi, who had been examining the laboratory, reacted swiftly. He immediately sprinted toward the exit. Roy and Kyle were still outside, and Lu Qi was waiting for them as well. They couldn’t afford further delay.

“Your Highness the Crown Prince?”

The golden-haired prince remained motionless before the towering transparent tank, like a statue encased in frost.

“Sykes?”

Ye Zheng called his name directly.

Only then did he stir. He turned toward her. The moment their eyes met, she was briefly stunned. His ever-proud golden pupils were filled with utter bewilderment, trembling faintly.

Ye Zheng released a soft sigh. She stepped forward quickly and grasped Sykes’s arm. He offered no resistance as she led him away.

Judging from his reaction, it seemed that Pei Xi and Sykes had once been imprisoned here together. As experimental subjects. One confined within a narrow dark chamber, the other sealed inside a transparent tank. Ye Zheng now somewhat understood what the system had meant by a “sense of destiny.”

But this wasn’t the time for the two young men to dwell on fateful entanglements. She adjusted the logbook securely against her chest. She had to return above and see precisely what Kieran was plotting.

✧✧✧✧✧

Kieran stood at the doorway. Through the mist, white-robed knights could faintly be seen encircling a colossal monster. The creature lashed its wings impatiently, sending several men hurtling through the air. One fell from a great height and struck the ground not far away. Blood spread rapidly across the grass.

The white-robed bishop closed his eyes and prayed silently.

Behind him, restless clamor erupted. Children cried in anguish. Adults clutched at priests and nuns, urgently demanding news of the situation outside. The noise churned like water at a furious boil.

After delaying matters for two weeks, they had still crossed over from the far side of the mountain.

Kieran observed the stalemated battle with calm detachment. A single creature was already sufficient to exhaust that group of parasites living off public funds.

If they discovered that dozens more awaited them, would they collapse in despair and abandon the fight altogether?

His fingers rubbed over a photograph already creased with wear. He stared at the image of four figures. He felt no regret. Even if everyone present today, including himself, perished here, he would still harbor no remorse.

To sacrifice oneself for the noblest cause, to lay down one’s life for the future of generations to come, that was the most magnificent conclusion.

As long as the three final fruit of the Hope Project remained safe and intact, he’d already won.

As he imagined his grand finale and watched the distant slaughter unfold, Kieran’s tall frame trembled. Whether from fear or exhilaration, he couldn’t tell.

Without warning, someone shoved him violently. Caught off guard, he fell to the ground. Dazed, he looked up at the figure who had rushed past him.

It was Saintess Ye Zheng.

She didn’t spare him even a glance, pushing him aside as though he were nothing more than an obstacle.

Ye Zheng plunged straight into the mist without hesitation. Her gaze locked onto the vaguely human silhouette perched atop the massive dragon body. After observing carefully, she confirmed it wasn’t Lu Qi.

It differed from the manga spoilers. The hair color was wrong. The build didn’t match either.

She advanced several steps. Her foot suddenly struck something. A corpse. A Church knight clad in white robes. Fresh blood stained the tip of her shoe crimson.

She halted in place. Her eyes fixed on the small human figure astride the dragon not far away. It was shrieking, dark red blood streaming across its black scales.

Was that, too, a product of the Hope Project?

Ye Zheng heard urgent footsteps approaching from behind. As she continued forward, she spoke softly into the swirling fog.

“Zhou Yun. I’m not here to stop you. But please suspend everything for now.”

“I’m not Kieran’s hope. Let’s meet properly, face to face, once again. I believe our objectives align.”

The surrounding mist churned violently.

“Are you asking about my objective? If we speak of the short-term goal.”

“To let Kieran die as a loser. In the most despairing manner possible. As atonement for his sins.”

The fog roiled even more intensely. Ye Zheng smiled.

“It seems you find this short-term objective quite acceptable as well.”

The dense mist surged wildly. In the blink of an eye, her figure vanished.

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Authors Note

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Tomorrow should be the forum?