Chapter 163

Ye Zheng brought Bai Muqing into an unremarkable shop and altered their appearances yet again. Bai Muqing let Ye Zheng wrap up her hair and place a pair of glasses on her, masking her most recognizable features.

Wearing glasses felt distinctly uncomfortable. Bai Muqing adjusted them with a slight frown. Even though her 【Divine Domain】 could detect any unusual movements and nearby surveillance, it was still wiser to remain cautious.

The empire’s main station was crowded with a steady stream of people. Relying on Bai Muqing’s ability, the two of them quietly slipped into the station master’s office at the rear. Inside, there was only a single person, hunched over the desk, focused on work, the distant relative from the Bai family that Bai Muqing had mentioned earlier.

Bai Muqing had originally intended to walk in directly and reveal who she was, but Ye Zheng stopped her.

Ye Zheng moved her lips without making a sound. Bai Muqing caught the meaning instantly and responded with a slight motion of her fingers, causing the person inside the office to lose consciousness.

The man’s ability level was very weak. Bai Muqing used 【Divine Domain】 to easily put him to sleep. Even if he woke up later, he would only think that he had accidentally dozed off from exhaustion.

He was merely a member of the Bai family, not one of Bai Muqing’s own people. Ye Zheng glanced at Bai Muqing and saw a thoughtful expression appear on her face. She had likely realized this point as well.

Ye Zheng couldn’t help but sigh inwardly to the system. “What a useful ability.”

Fortunately, its wielder was someone with a strong sense of morality like Bai Muqing. An ability that granted absolute control within a certain range—if it had fallen into the hands of a heretic leader like Sela, there was no telling what kind of chaos would have ensued.

The limitations of 【Stream】 were still too many. It had a high ceiling but a low floor. This was why Ye Zheng often avoided direct confrontations.

The system immediately spoke up to comfort her.

『After all, in the original storyline, you were positioned as a support, not a combat genius. The fact that you’ve managed to develop so many techniques is already nothing short of a miracle.』

It was both a consolation and a sincere sigh of admiration.

Ye Zheng silently replied, “It’s fine. I’ll have a new ability soon.”

The system sensed Ye Zheng’s determination to obtain 【Mother of All Things】. It didn’t doubt that she could acquire this ability, but there was something it had to remind her of.

『Wen Jian is one of the villains in the original plot. If you kill him and seize both his ability and his position, his storyline will very likely… transfer onto you.』

Ye Zheng smiled with calm indifference. She had already become the villain of the story long ago. Since she had taken the villain’s seat, she might as well sit at the most commanding position.

“Found it.”

Bai Muqing, who had been standing quietly beside her, suddenly turned her head toward a corner cabinet in the office.

Ye Zheng ended her exchange with the system and pulled out a detailed layout map from the cabinet Bai Muqing had indicated. The drawing was intricate and precise, clearly depicting the entire structure from the surface level down to the underground sections.

She studied it carefully for a moment, then walked over to the desk where the man lay slumped. With practiced ease, she searched him for a while before taking his identity card and a set of keys.

The ground floor of the empire’s main station was used for ordinary steam trains, while the special express trains operated on the first underground level. According to the layout map, there was also a second underground level, one accessible only to staff.

With the layout map in hand and Bai Muqing’s ability guiding them, Ye Zheng easily made her way down to the second underground level. There were no staff members in sight, only stark white corridors stretching out in every direction. They chose to proceed toward the area labeled “Core Restricted Zone” on the map.

They encountered no trouble along the way. The only sound was the faint echo of their footsteps reverberating through the empty underground level.

However, Bai Muqing’s expression grew increasingly serious. When they arrived before a heavy iron door, Ye Zheng could vaguely hear the distant roar of a speeding train coming from behind it. Just as she was about to push the door open, Bai Muqing suddenly spoke up.

“Be careful. The energy field here is extremely chaotic. My ability’s being disrupted.”

Ye Zheng nodded. Without Bai Muqing’s near-omniscient perception, they would have to proceed with even greater caution and awareness.

The door before them was tall and worn, its age plainly visible. Beside it hung a rusted iron sign that read “Restricted Zone – No Entry.”

The door was firmly locked. Ye Zheng took out the keys she had temporarily taken from the station office and unlocked it with ease.

With a sharp click, the lock came undone. Yet Ye Zheng showed no trace of relief. Although this place was marked as a “Core Restricted Zone,” the security measures didn’t appear particularly strict.

She pushed the door open. A burst of green fluorescence instantly lit up their faces. This time, Ye Zheng’s expression shifted. She stared at the passage beyond the door in clear surprise.

Behind the door lay a deep corridor. At the far end, faint branching paths could just be made out. Strangely, green crystals covered the ceiling, the surrounding walls, and even the floor.

Describing them as “growing” was entirely accurate. They spread wildly throughout the corridor like overgrown weeds, emitting a fluorescent glow that bathed the darkness in an eerie green light.

Ye Zheng reached out and took hold of Bai Muqing’s hand. With her ability being disrupted, she might not notice the weed-like green crystals scattered across the floor.

“Turn left.”

“Turn right.”

Although Bai Muqing’s perception was being interfered with, she could still faintly sense powerful energy fluctuations emanating from a certain direction.

Ye Zheng hadn’t expected the area beneath the empire’s main station to form such a complicated maze of tunnels. Holding onto Bai Muqing, she took out a piece of paper and a pen at every fork in the path, carefully recording their route on a blank sheet.

At first, her intention had simply been to avoid getting lost. But when she began marking the route at the eighth fork, the hand holding the pen suddenly paused. She lifted her head.

Irregular green crystals densely covered the ceiling above. In the dim and narrow passage, they resembled a writhing swarm of snakes flicking their tongues. From overhead came the faint, mournful whistle of a train, sounding almost like a distant cry.

The deeper they ventured, the more it felt like an endless cavern, inexplicably cold and unsettling. However, Ye Zheng hadn’t raised her head out of fear. Instead, a trace of doubt flickered across her face.

She lowered her gaze again to examine the route she had drawn on the paper. The longer she looked at it, the more it resembled the path from the empire’s main station to the Lower District.

Ye Zheng took out Bai Muqing’s layout map once more. It also included the planned routes for the ordinary trains. After comparing the two, she realized it matched the first half of the standard train route heading toward the Lower District.

Was it just a coincidence? If the route she had recorded truly led to the Lower District, then they should’ve already passed two stations, which meant at least two hours ought to have elapsed.

But from the moment they had entered until now, only five minutes had passed.

Moreover, the sound coming from above wasn’t right. The trains moved far faster than they did, yet the whistle overhead had accompanied them the entire time, as though it were traveling alongside them.

Ye Zheng tightened her grip on Bai Muqing’s hand and asked, “Muqing, has there been a train running above us this whole time?”

“Yes,” Bai Muqing replied.

Then, suddenly, she frowned, as she also realized something was wrong. They were in the underground level of the empire’s main station. What kind of train would take five minutes and still not have left the station?

“Ye Zheng, something’s not right here.”

Bai Muqing released Ye Zheng’s hand, her expression turning serious. She was just about to expand the range of her 【Divine Domain】 when Ye Zheng stopped her.

　　“I already get it, Muqing. This place is the S-class Aberrant Realm 【Spatial Turbulence】.”

Ye Zheng lifted her gaze toward the sharp crystals hanging upside down from the ceiling and spoke slowly, “I’m afraid what’s above our heads isn’t the empire’s main station anymore.”

“It’s the South Wutong District.”

South Wutong was the southernmost area of the Upper District. By ordinary train, it would take two hours to get there from the Royal District where they were, and it was also a necessary passage leading to the Lower District.

Bai Muqing murmured, “So this is the wonder of an S-class spatial Aberrant Realm?”

They’d only walked for five minutes through the narrow passage, yet it was equivalent to an ordinary train traveling for two full hours.

Space here had been compressed to an extreme degree.

Bai Muqing felt slightly dazed. The information transmitted to her by 【Divine Domain】 had grown blurred within the chaotic energy. She could only sense which path led toward the core of the energy, but she couldn’t clearly perceive the core’s true form.

Bai Muqing had a premonition. The thing called Green Mirror that she and Ye Zheng had seen in the Royal Academy exhibition room was only the very tip of the iceberg of the real core.

“Ye Zheng, we need to be careful. The closer we get, the more—mmph!”

Bai Muqing’s pale pupils widened, filled with confusion and bewilderment. Ye Zheng, standing behind her, suddenly covered her mouth and pulled her backward, hiding both of them around another corner.

A moment later, Bai Muqing’s expression shifted. She understood what was happening, removed Ye Zheng’s hand, then closed her eyes and focused her perception with full concentration.

Meanwhile, Ye Zheng lifted her gaze toward a particular crystal on the ceiling. In the next instant, a hurried human figure flickered across the mirror-like surface of the crystal.

The green fragments pressed close to her body trembled faintly, as though stirred with excitement by the approach of their own kind.

At first, Ye Zheng had assumed the fragments were reacting because they were nearing the core, but she quickly noticed their response seemed far too intense.

“Who is it?” Bai Muqing spoke in an extremely low voice, almost a whisper, tinged with a barely noticeable trace of annoyance.

Even though her 【Divine Domain】 was being suppressed, she still shouldn’t have failed to detect a living person approaching.

“It’s not your fault. That person’s aura is exactly the same as the crystals around us. How could anyone pick out a single tree following them in a forest?”

Bai Muqing froze, stunned. Ye Zheng’s meaning was unmistakable, that person was Wen Xiaoxing.

The monster boy created by the Pope, using Yin Xing and the core of this Aberrant Realm as a foundation, specifically meant to deal with Ye Zheng.

“He actually came here too…”

Ye Zheng smiled faintly. “Wen Xiaoxing’s simply coming home. We’re the ones trespassing.”

Bai Muqing’s annoyed expression deepened. Ye Zheng patted her shoulder and leaned in closer. “Can you track him?”

“Yes. His aura isn’t completely identical to the crystals.”

“Good. Then let’s follow him.”

The closer they drew to the core, the more perilous it became. If this Aberrant Realm could merely compress space, it wouldn’t have been granted an S-class rating.

The classification of Aberrant Realms had always been determined by the level of threat they posed to human life.

Bai Muqing pushed up the frame of her glasses with a hint of discomfort. Her long brows knit together, then slowly eased apart. Tracking someone in this way felt unnatural, but under these circumstances, they couldn’t afford to dwell on such concerns.

✧✧✧✧✧

Upper District Grand Cathedral.

“Ah, Your Holiness, please be careful!”

The man dressed in white robes suddenly stumbled. Just as he was about to collapse onto the ground, the priest behind him rushed forward and caught him in time.

The priest carefully steadied the Pope and helped him back onto his feet, inadvertently noticing several striking white strands among the hair at the top of the Pope’s head. Shock surged through him. His Holiness wasn’t even forty years old, so how could he already have so much white hair?

As a bishop who regularly attended to the Pope, he had, over the past half month, begun to feel that the Pope seemed to be aging at an unusually rapid pace. He couldn’t tell whether it was real or simply his imagination.

While he was still lost in thought, the Pope shrugged him off and strode forward on his own.

Wen Jian’s expression was dark and foreboding. He had to bring Wen Xiaoxing back as soon as possible. This worthless piece of trash had cost him so much effort, yet he still couldn’t even deal with a single Ye Zheng!

Although he had planned from the very beginning to end Wen Xiaoxing’s troublesome life once the boy completed his mission, he could no longer afford to wait for Wen Xiaoxing to kill Ye Zheng…

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Authors Note  

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Happy New Year’s Day, everyone! I’m posting today’s update a bit early to celebrate!