Alice

What Ye Jian had just said kept echoing in Liu Shiheng's mind. Liu Shiheng desperately wanted to shake off that curiosity, because it could very well get Alice killed, but the harder he tried, the less he could control himself. "What is a Yanxiu?" Unable to hold back any longer, Liu Shiheng finally chose to ask a borderline question. Ne himself had mentioned it to him before, just without specifics, so it should be fine. Holding her fork in her left hand, Alice lifted a bite of steak and looked at him. "So you don't know either, right? Ne never told you about these things," Liu Shiheng added. Alice gave a faint smile. "Young Master, do you know about dinosaurs?" "Nonsense," Liu Shiheng said. "I told you long ago I came from a rich background. I even had motorized dinosaur toys." "Impressive. Since the dawn of humanity, perhaps five to six million years have passed. Over those five-plus million years, humans evolved and grew, becoming intelligent life, until forging today's Azure world." Alice continued, "Does Young Master know how long scientists estimate dinosaurs once ruled this planet?" Liu Shiheng pondered the question for only half a second. "Sorry, I'm uneducated." His unapologetic tone made Alice laugh. "According to current scientists, roughly one hundred and sixty million years," Alice said with a smile. "Why didn't dinosaurs manage what humans accomplished in a few million years? Why didn't such an immense span of time allow dinosaurs to evolve into intelligent life, and why did they ultimately walk toward extinction instead? Has Young Master ever considered that question?" "Why? Because they were too stupid?" Liu Shiheng asked. Naturally, he had never thought about it, nor did he intend to expend much thought on it now. Alice offered a helpless smile. "Because they were actually pastured. Just as humans herd flocks of sheep and eat their meat, the so-called era of dinosaur dominance was in fact just an era where they were livestock being grazed for food. And the ones herding them were Yanxiu." After circling around, Alice finally answered Liu Shiheng's original question. Then she continued explaining: "Young Master should have heard of the Big Bang theory, right? The remnant primordial energy of the Big Bang is what we humans now call source energy. In history, there was once a period relatively abundant in source energy, which I call the source energy era. The various extraordinary creatures of the source energy era were Yanxiu. They traversed the stars, devoured source energy, and possessed peerless might... but in the end, they gradually moved toward demise and faded from our history." As Alice spoke those words, Liu Shiheng suddenly felt that her entire demeanor seemed somewhat different. But the thought only lasted for a fleeting moment, as this was not the first time it had happened. He didn't even notice Alice's phrasing: "which I call the source energy era." "All dead?" Liu Shiheng asked. "Here with us, yes. As for other civilizations, the barrier of the sea of stars places us on different timelines. While the trend is certainly the same—Yanxiu are gradually dying out—that does not mean Yanxiu have definitively gone extinct across the entire universe. Put this way, can Young Master understand?" "They... fine, that's way too complicated, and not fun at all." This was actually an absolute opportunity to follow the thread and ask what Yanxiu leave behind when they die, and where those things went. But Liu Shiheng let it go. He didn't want to get Alice killed. This was Young Master Shiheng's final scrap of dignity and principle as a playboy and wastrel who was ready to defect to the enemy at any given moment. No further meaningful conversation took place during the rest of the meal. Once both had finished eating, Liu Shiheng quietly packed up the food containers to leave. Reaching the entrance of the corridor, he paused. "Alice." He suddenly strode quickly back to the dining table and spoke in a low, rapid whisper. "Mm?" Alice looked up at him, her deep-blue eyes captivating. "If the glacier finally can't hold out and that big fortress up above comes crashing down, or if we're suddenly discovered by Great Spikes, or if the people from Azure come charging in someday... Ne will definitely fight them, right? When that happens, he definitely won't be able to look after you." "Mm, and then?" Alice blinked. "Once something like that happens, find a place to hide. Right around here, find somewhere safe and wait for me. I'll come get you and we'll run... Trust me, I will definitely come." Having finished speaking, Liu Shiheng turned and walked out the door, ready to further cultivate his relationship with his Brother Ye. The air behind him stirred with restlessness. Alice stood up and turned her gaze toward the small chapel, her eyes cold and piercing. The restlessness slowly subsided. ...... "Planning to protect me and take me away? While Ne is fighting... But I *am* Ne, Young Master Shiheng. No, I'm not." Alice did not know whether she truly was Ne or not, either. Twenty-two years ago. Five-year-old Alice had already lived in an orphanage for a year. Because of her beautiful golden hair and even more beautiful eyes, people had offered to adopt her many times, but every single application had been rejected without exception. Until one night, a private plane carried her away from the orphanage. Filled with fear, Alice arrived at a continent of ice and snow, descended beneath the glaciers, and never left again. From age five to ten, Alice was well cared for in every daily need. Everything was fine: the people were kind, life lacked nothing. She was merely a bit lonely, because aside from the most fundamental knowledge and methods, Alice received no further education. She did not continue attending school with other children. Instead, those people left her in a massive library, requiring her to read bookcase by bookcase, in order. Those books had clearly been curated. Someone was using specific books and reading sequences to construct her cognition and consciousness. Little Alice was all alone in the entire library. She was scared, she cried, she pounded hard on the doors pleading, fell asleep when exhausted, and woke up by herself... Finally, the lonely little girl sat on the floor beneath the lights and began to read. Sometimes she would read lying on her stomach, kicking her calves up in the air and letting her long golden hair spill down, until the arm propping up her chin grew sore. Just like that, from the first bookcase to the second, the third... Occasionally, when Alice read about the outside world in the books, she would feel a glimmer of curiosity, but it went no further than that. The year she turned eleven, Alice learned one thing: the place where she lived was actually a damaged super-vessel that had crashed hundreds of years ago, hailing from another civilization in the vast universe. The year she turned thirteen, Alice met the person who had chosen her back then for the first time. His name was Ne. After that, she began to follow him. It was tedious. Aside from reading and organizing, there were endless experiments; practically nothing interesting ever happened. Yet Alice didn't mind, because she gradually came to learn who Ne truly was.