The Black Sun Lanqi Saw

Xigelei's face looked tranquil and at ease, no longer as guarded as when she was on duty. Her long eyelashes fluttered faintly until she exhaled a soft breath. Looks like I didn't blow my cover. Side rejoiced inwardly. Fortunately, she hadn't overplayed it; otherwise, she might never have been able to use the identity of Xigelei again. Xigelei's status as a young girl was simply too convenient. Whether hugging Lanqi or clinging close to him, she felt not the slightest embarrassment. If anyone asked, it was just childlike innocence, leaving Lanqi with no choice but to indulge her. On top of that, Xigelei's persona overlapped with her own in certain ways, so revealing her true feelings from time to time felt remarkably fitting when channeled through Xigelei. Most crucially, precisely because Lanqi treated both her and Xigelei with respect and deference, he would never casually associate two different people with each other. In his eyes, he never slapped labels on others; rather, he valued each individual for who they were. "Why are you looking at me like that?" Xigelei asked, taking the initiative. "You reminded me of a friend." Lanqi didn't lie to her, answering truthfully. "A boy or a girl? What kind of person are they?" Xigelei pressed. Her primary strategy was throwing up a smokescreen. "An invincible woman. But perversely, her requirement for a partner is someone even stronger than her, so she probably won't ever manage to get married," Lanqi replied with an amused smile. "..." Xigelei tucked her hands behind her back to hide the twitching veins on her fists, forcing herself to maintain a smile. "Then can't you help her out?" she asked, putting on a show of genuine concern. "How am I supposed to help?" Lanqi picked up his cup and took a sip. He seemed to find Xigelei's suggestion rather absurd. "Just marry her yourself! Wouldn't that solve her problem?" Leaning back against the sofa, Xigelei spoke with complete nonchalance, swinging her legs idly so that the tips of her shoes clicked rhythmically against the base of the coffee table. "Honestly, I'm kind of curious what kind of child you and the strongest woman would have. Just how strong would that kid be?" "??" Lanqi nearly choked on his water. He had never expected such outrageous, scandalous words to come out of Xigelei's mouth. Just as he was about to explain the problem to her— "You're the strongest Pope, aren't you?" Xigelei added matter-of-factly. "Well..." The words Lanqi was about to say caught in his throat. He couldn't explain to Xigelei that this was actually a Shadow World. While people believed the Pope of Saint Polante was ninth tier, in reality, as a performer playing the role, he was only sixth tier himself. Since he couldn't explain it, Xigelei's logic appeared utterly unassailable. "..." "I'll help if I can, all right?" Lanqi finally sighed, intending to bring an end to this topic. Smack! Smack! Suddenly, Xigelei patted her cheeks, trying to jolt herself awake. Her cheeks flushed red from the slaps. "What's the matter?" Lanqi asked. "I felt a bit sleepy again, so I wanted to wake myself up," Xigelei replied, blushing. Her face looked naturally flushed from having slapped herself. Right after, her gaze drifted toward the window. The chill of the Land of Evernight seeped through the cracks in the frame, creating a biting draft inside the room. Lanqi immediately set down his cup and stood up to latch the window shut. He remembered very well that back when he and Xigelei traveled the snowfields, she was often half-asleep. Places where piercing cold met cozy warmth always brought waves of weariness and drowsiness upon her. Back then, Xigelei had been just a child. Waking up in such freezing weather, feeling the lingering chill on her skin, she surely wanted nothing more than to burrow into a warm quilt. Yet she couldn't indulge herself. Her duties demanded that she remain alert at all times, even in a safe environment like this. Over time, she had learned how to forcibly fight off her sleepiness. Standing beside the curtains, Lanqi glanced outside. The wind and snow in Little Night City had only intensified. Gazing out at the expanse of dark snow and feeling the cold at close range, he couldn't help stifling a yawn behind his hand. It seemed ill-advised to travel for now. It would be better to rest and recuperate peacefully in Little Night City for a while. "Do you remember? Back then, you would coax me to sleep in that gentle yet faintly commanding tone. I miss that so much," Xigelei said, watching Lanqi as he closed the window. It was as if only by receiving an order could she truly set her mind at ease and sleep soundly. "What, at your age, you still need someone to tuck you in?" Lanqi turned back, asking with a smile. "Yes!" Xigelei opened her arms wide. That didn't just mean wanting to be coaxed to sleep—it meant wanting a hug. "...Why is it that the older you get, the more like a child you act? You barely even knew how to act spoiled when you were little." Naturally, Lanqi didn't indulge her. He sat down on the other side and looked at Xigelei speechlessly. Ahem! Wearing an apron, Talia stepped out of the kitchen carrying freshly baked gratin rice. The moment she came out, she caught their conversation. "You're not allowed to hug her, or I'll report you," Talia warned Lanqi as she set the dish on the dining table. "Xigelei, at your age, you can't just let men hug you whenever. If you want to take an afternoon nap later, I'll cuddle you," Talia added, turning to Xigelei. "Okay!" Xigelei agreed at once in a childish tone, casting a sly glance at Lanqi. It was as though she had never expected him to hug her in the first place. Swindling a hug from Caliera wasn't a bad deal either. "It'll take less than half an hour for me to finish cooking the rest. You can start eating first," Talia told the two humans and one cat on the sofa. "We'll wait for you," Lanqi replied, stretching. He was beginning to feel both hungry and tired. Talia nodded wordlessly and trotted back into the kitchen with light steps. "The three of you get along so well, meow. You're practically like a family! You definitely have to stay together forever, meow," Boss Cat said, perching on the coffee table. Although it knew deep down that this warmth couldn't last into the real world, it still hoped to cherish these twenty-one days together with them. Lanqi and Xigelei had already reached an unspoken consensus: they would wait until Caliera joined them before starting their meal. A dining table without the chef had no soul. Boss Cat wholeheartedly agreed. The main dish Tata had brought out today was beef short ribs slow-cooked to perfection at low temperature, sprinkled with shaved black truffles unique to the beastfolk city-states, and paired with a mushroom sauce whose rich layers of aroma rolled outward like waves. The staple was a lemon-flavored salt-baked lobster rice combining fresh prawn meat with Little Night City's black rice. The infusion of lemon juice and spices made the dish spicy yet refreshingly vibrant. There was also a caramel roast duck with skin roasted until crispy and golden brown, accompanied by the fruity aroma of roasted pears and the mild kick of a black pepper honey glaze. The remaining dishes were still being prepared. These were all Xigelei's favorite dishes; everyone seemed to cater to her, and Boss Cat had directly ordered them on her behalf. "I had no idea Caliera was such an amazing cook. She's just like a dutiful wife. It almost makes me want to marry her myself," Xigelei remarked as the rich aromas wafted over from the dining table. "Didn't you see her as your mother?" Lanqi asked in surprise. "It's only because she has a gentle temper that she indulges you talking about her like that. She's actually very young, you know!" Xigelei replied with an exasperated laugh. They resumed laughing and chatting. The more they talked, the drowsier Lanqi's eyes became, and the softer Xigelei's voice grew. As noon approached in Little Night City, still no sunlight broke through. Against the scenery outside the window, lunchtime felt more like dinner. "By the way, aren't you sleepy?" Xigelei had noticed him yawning earlier. All throughout their journey, he had looked worn out, as if under the strain of weighted training. Logically speaking, he should have rested. Yet even after arriving at a city-state where they could take a break, she had hardly seen him sleep. Or rather, his nerves had remained taut in the Land of Evernight; the greater the changes he witnessed across the beastfolk city-states, the less inclined he felt to rest. "A little," Lanqi admitted. Chatting with Xigelei for a while and standing by the window catching the cold draft had indeed made him feel rather drowsy. Of course, it was also possible that Xigelei had simply put him at ease. "Rest for a while. You can't go driving exhausted, you know," Xigelei said softly, sitting beside him and stroking his head. "How many times do I have to tell you..." Lanqi muttered, sounding weary of lecturing her. "You can't have so little personal boundary with people..." "You're special." After saying those words, Xigelei fell silent. Her voice, gentle and soothing like a spring breeze, felt like a hypnotic lullaby. "..." Lanqi's head nodded once or twice. The sounds around him seemed to drift away, and he felt as though he were floating amidst clouds, profoundly drowsy. Gradually, the only sounds left in his ears were the howling wind and snow outside the window, the soft breaths, and the rhythmic beating of a pulse. Now, the fatigue accumulated from days of driving surged like a tide, impossible to resist. As his vision flickered between light and shadow, Xigelei's figure grew hazier, until only patches of pale hues and violet remained vividly distinct. With those thoughts drifting away, Lanqi closed his eyes. ... Who knew how much time had passed. Consciousness came in fragmented bursts. He did not know where he was. It was an era and a world he had never seen before. The earth roared; blood stained the land. The sky was shrouded in ashen black and blood-red, thick smoke rolling straight into the clouds. The sun had turned into a disk of dead ash, stripped of both warmth and light. The ground was no longer solid ground, but fractured and collapsed beneath ceaseless tremors. Masses of inhabitants—millions of souls—scurried like panicked ants, only to find nowhere to run. Across the ground lay countless corpses, some crushed beneath tread, others trampled to death in the chaos. Cries of weeping and pleas for help rose one after another, yet sounded utterly insignificant against the thundering march of legions. On the distant horizon, a moving tide of darkness advanced with slow, unstoppable momentum. The black mist creatures marched with heavy, uniform steps, each stride shaking the land for kilometers around. Everywhere they passed, forests were devoured in an instant, rivers were severed and redirected, hills were leveled, and the colossal structures of city-states proved as fragile before them as cardboard. Towering buildings were effortlessly crushed beneath their feet, debris raining down like hail. The air choked with the pungent stench of gunpowder, dust, and blood. A massive city-state was reduced to rubble in mere hours. A man wearing a silver-white mask stood on the high ground, looking down from the pinnacle of existence. His green eyes mirrored the scene of devastation. The expression carved into his mask was stern to the point of numbness, presiding over this warfare like a deity. Things having come to this pass, it was long impossible to tell whether this was the destiny of mortals or their own will. There was only endless slaughter. The atrocities continued. "Spare me! Please don't kill us!" "Save me!!" "Why... why have you fallen this far?!" He was pleaded with, hated, cursed, interrogated. He offered no explanation. He merely watched it all with the eyes beneath the mask. He was crime and punishment, the demon who brought suffering upon all living things, the Black Sun that visited disaster upon the world. All voices of doubt were like smoke passing before his ears. Until he slaughtered them all, or until they came to slay him. He would never stop. "Never forgive. Never seek release." "Our kin have awakened; we shall never sleep!" The man parted his lips almost soundlessly, speaking like the whisper of a vengeful spirit, or the decree of a tyrant. As those notes fell, his figure melted once more into the darkness. Clutching his black-mist skeletal scepter, alone, he strode forward. ... Lanqi jolted awake from his slumber. Glancing at the clock, he realized he had accidentally dozed off for ten or so minutes. "You're awake?" Xigelei leaned lazily against the sofa, her gaze drifting past the windowpane toward the swirling snowflakes outside. Noticing Lanqi stirring, she looked down and met his eyes. Lanqi's eyes widened. He found himself resting with his head on Xigelei's lap, while her hand gently stroked his forehead. "!" Lanqi sat up immediately, putting some distance between them. Everywhere his gaze reached, the sky was no longer the dark, apocalyptic ruin of his dream. Pure white snowflakes danced in the air, light and graceful. Before long, the entire city-state seemed as though it would be illuminated beneath this mantle of pure white. Faint daylight filtered through the window gauze and settled on the wooden table, looking as if a thin layer of white silk had been draped across the surface. The sky had quietly shifted. The briefest daylight of Little Night City had arrived. Only during these few dozen minutes at noon was there a faint trace of sunlight. Lanqi stared out the window in a daze. "What, did you dream of something bad?" Xigelei didn't mind his dodging at all, asking with concern. "Maybe," Lanqi said, holding his forehead, neither clearly shaking nor nodding his head. When recalling dreams, the images often appeared in third person. Yet upon closer thought, in the dream, he should have been seeing it from a first-person perspective. He didn't know whether it was merely a fleeting nightmare or if the negative status effect of this Shadow World had triggered again. "..." Xigelei watched him for a moment without excessive worry. She simply leaned back languidly against the sofa again and murmured with closed eyes, "As the current Pope of Saint Polante, the authority you hold is enough to sway the entire Seville Continent. Every decision you make could determine the fate of millions of lives." It was as if she could read all of Lanqi's thoughts, even guessing a glimpse of his dream. Passing through Little Night City, the final stop in the Land of Evernight, the next destination was their final stop: the Demon Realm. She knew that pressing onward would only deepen Lanqi's comprehension of the Black Sun. Perhaps the Demon Realm was the final land where the secrets of the Black Sun lay buried. If the Demon Realm was no longer the Demon Realm he knew, what kind of expression would he wear on this journey? Just like this Little Night City. When revisiting an old place, discovering it to be either entirely familiar or completely strange was not frightening. What was terrifying was finding it both familiar and strange—so jarring and dissonant that it made one sick, yet one had no choice but to accept this injustice, with nowhere to turn for answers and no one to confide in. Yet go they must. Running away was never an option; pressing forward with determination was the only true answer. "Whatever happens, chin up! Let's head for the Demon Realm!" Xigelei cheered Lanqi on. "Thank you. But this journey might be grueling," Lanqi said, turning his head to look at her as he expressed his gratitude once more. With Xigelei cheering him on by his side, he always felt that nothing on the road ahead was insurmountable. "I'll be with you," Xigelei simply said. In her dreams, she had dreamed of staying in the Demon Realm as Xigelei, and she knew full well how drastically the Demon Realm had been upended. This would inevitably deepen Lanqi's comprehension of the Black Sun even further. But that didn't matter. She would accompany Lanqi to understand it together. Xigelei stood up, walked slowly behind Lanqi's sofa, and gently raised her hands, covering his eyes. "I believe you will definitely think through to an answer, to forge a relatively perfect world that we have longed for so dearly," Xigelei whispered softly. It was as though she wanted to pass a bit of her warmth to him, letting him feel what was truly in her heart. A person who never stopped thinking—one skilled at distinguishing right from wrong, or tracing the dividing line between them. He could always transcend the surface of things, standing in a world only he could see. In the course of looking out upon this world... What was truly reflected in the depths of his eyes? Xigelei slowly drew her hands away and lowered them. Those eyes, like clear green water, remained as limpid as ever, harboring both contemplation and compassion. Xigelei believed he would arrive at his answer in the end. "..." Lanqi gazed straight south. It was as though his sight reached far, far into the distance. Perhaps to the Saint Polante Theocracy, perhaps to the sea dividing the northern and southern continents, perhaps to the Horning Empire on the other side of the ocean. "Across the sea... is it the enemy?" he murmured. He did not know, but he would bear witness with his own eyes.