"?"
Bai Zhou glanced left and right, his heart rate spiking so sharply that he could hear the violent pounding in his chest.
The officers wore puzzled expressions, their gazes not drifting toward the trench-coated girl in the slightest.
Instead, all of them stared strangely at Bai Zhou, as if looking at a raving lunatic.
This was bizarre.
Bai Zhou would never forget the sight of the trench-coated girl descending like a god, wielding a great blade of flowing fire. No one could possibly ignore someone like that.
—Unless they truly couldn't see her.
Come to think of it, though she had remained within his line of sight the entire time, no one seemed to have interacted with her at all.
She had been talking to herself from the start.
Even the sensors on the entrance gate hadn't reacted to her.
—She was like a ghost.
A ghost wandering this subterranean base, visible to Bai Zhou alone.
"Bai Zhou, right?"
The trench-coated girl stood there, her figure shrouded in a hazy mist. Her cool voice sounded like a frigid, secluded spring.
"Here's a piece of advice: pretend you never saw me."
Folding her arms across her chest, she added, "Otherwise, they'll assume you're heavily contaminated and losing your mind."
Sure enough, an officer spoke up harshly—
"Has the contamination of the Reflected Ruin Realm eroded him to the point of hallucinations? This is no longer mere mental illness. He must be placed under strict control!"
"I trust the judgment of the [Legacy of Bloodthirst]," the Major said, waving a hand with a slight frown. "Whether his mind is intact doesn't matter. I only care about talent!"
Bai Zhou: "..."
It seemed the girl's advice had been spot-on.
"You've successfully piqued my curiosity. Unfortunately, this isn't the place to talk."
The mysterious girl spoke again, turning as if to leave.
"*Caw!*" The crow on her shoulder turned its head, flapping its wings toward Bai Zhou as if waving goodbye.
"I'll come find you again."
Leaving those words behind, she winked at him. "See you tonight."
The moment the words left her lips, she took a step and vanished on the spot.
It was like ripples disturbing the water's surface, shattering the reflected moon into nothingness.
"..."
Bai Zhou stood rooted in place, blinking at the empty air.
She really was a ghost. Appearing and disappearing at will was a privilege reserved for Miss Ghost.
"Someone take him to complete the onboarding procedures."
The Major's voice snapped Bai Zhou back to reality.
Glancing at the military watch on his wrist, the Major frowned.
"Time is running short. Hurry through the remaining tests!"
"—Efficiency!"
"How many times do I have to say it? Wasting one minute of one person's time is wasting hundreds of minutes of everyone's time!"
"Yes, Major!" The synchronized clatter of military boots rang out at once.
...
Unable to watch the rest of the testing, Bai Zhou was led away to complete his onboarding under the envious stares of the crowd.
Passing numerous solemn, grayish-white buildings, he went through the procedures and signed his contract. Then, he pinned a name badge to his chest that read: *Bai Zhou, P1-Rank Specialist*. At the bottom of the badge was a QR code.
With that, Bai Zhou officially became a member of this subterranean base.
The five- or six-story, pale-yellow dormitory building offered one of the few warm colors among the facilities. The guide brought him to a dorm door:
"You're in luck. The six-person rooms are all full. Considering how much the Major thinks of you, you can have this vacant single."
"It even has an en-suite bathroom."
"Thank you for the trouble!"
Taking the key, Bai Zhou finally settled into the dormitory.
With a flick of a switch, the light came on. Its crisp white radiance was worlds apart from the dim, yellowed lamps of Wancheng, resembling the holy light spoken of only in the doctrines preached by the Black Robe Law Enforcement Team.
Stepping into an unfamiliar environment for the first time, Bai Zhou quietly scanned every corner of the room.
The room wasn't large. A desk and chair stood neatly arranged, a fresh set of white bedding lay on the iron-frame bed, and the floor was reasonably clean, save for a thin layer of dust.
In truth, Bai Zhou was a bit of a neat freak. Normally, he would have cleaned the room immediately, taken a shower, and gotten ready for bed.
Not today, though.
With a scrape of chair legs, Bai Zhou pulled the chair over and sat down facing the door.
...He was waiting for someone.
Time ticked by slowly.
Leaning back against the chair, Bai Zhou unconsciously reached up to rub the name badge on his chest. Feeling the matte texture against his fingertips, he let his thoughts wander.
Wancheng, where he had grown up, had vanished like a dream, and he had been told that Blue Star was his true home;
The Black Robe idols he had once looked up to had fallen across pools of blood, leaving behind those blood-written last wishes...
—Before he even had time to mourn the collapse of his Black Robe dream, Specialist Bai Zhou had made his debut!
...Still, was there really any difference between a specialist and a Black Robe?
Bai Zhou remained skeptical.
They claimed Wancheng was an experimental ground for an evil cult, an ignorant place exploited by the Black Robes.
Yet so far, Bai Zhou didn't feel this organization was much more refined or civilized than the Black Robes had been.
That was why he stayed vigilant and observant even after reaching the dorm.
Still, making it to safe harbor beat having no choice at all. What comes, comes; make the best of it.
At least for now, as a newly minted P1-rank specialist, his situation was far better than that of the Wancheng locals sent to the hospital for treatment.
*I wonder how everyone's doing...*
Bai Zhou muttered in his mind until—*tap*.
The faint click of combat boots stepping onto the floor sounded behind him.
A strange yet familiar, roasted fragrance drifted into his nostrils.
Bai Zhou had smelled something similar in Uncle Xiang's corner store. They called it coffee, ridiculously expensive, something usually only the Black Robes bought.
To Bai Zhou, it was nowhere near as satisfying as buying a few more packs of Four Delicacies instant noodles and wolfing them down with two cloves of garlic.
Yet in Bai Zhou's memory, that scent was almost always accompanied by one particular person—
Sure enough.
When Bai Zhou turned around, the slender figure in a black trench coat met his eyes.
The incandescent light rained down, making her look like a hazy goddess cloaked in pure white holy light as she stood dead center beneath the lamp.
Her poised, blade-straight posture was like an unsheathed sword, turning this unremarkable dorm room into something resembling a warrior's residence.
"You're here."
Bai Zhou slowly rose, observing her with cautious scrutiny.
"I guessed you probably wouldn't use the front door, but I still have no idea how you got in."
"We meet again."
The trench-coated girl stepped out of the corner shadows, the crow on her shoulder tilting its head to examine Bai Zhou.
She said, "To be honest, I'm curious."
Her aloof face looked impossible to get along with, devoid of any expression.
Only her eyes, fixed on Bai Zhou, showed a hint of bewilderment.
"From Tinghai City to the Reflected Ruin Realm, from the Supernatural Response Countermeasures Bureau to the Black Box Special Administration, from ordinary mortals to extraordinaries who command thunder and lightning."
"I've visited countless places and seen countless people in this form, including mysterious entities that appear no different from gods to ordinary people."
"Everyone has been blind to me."
"—Except you."
She looked into Bai Zhou's eyes, enunciating every word, "You are the sole exception."
"So, Bai Zhou, who on earth are you?"
Bai Zhou was at a loss for words.
*Shouldn't I be the one asking that question?*
"If I told you I have no idea why I can see you either, would you believe me?"
Though Bai Zhou knew it sounded utterly unconvincing even to himself, it was the truth.
Too much had happened to him, and he hadn't figured out a single bit of it.
For the past eighteen years, "ordinary" had been his defining label. If abandoning fantasies and embracing mediocrity were a school subject, an orphan like Bai Zhou would have scored a perfect hundred eight hundred times over.
Yet all of a sudden, his "ordinariness," along with everything he had firmly believed in for eighteen years, had been shattered to pieces.
The woman before him was the very culprit who had chopped his everyday life to dust. No matter how he looked at it, she shouldn't be the one questioning him, right?
...Still, Bai Zhou didn't expect her to believe his answer, nor did he intend to press her with questions of his own.
After all, she held the blade, which gave her the final say.
Thus, he could only rack his brains in frustration, trying to figure out how to handle her follow-up interrogation.
And yet—
Faced with Bai Zhou's answer, which couldn't even convince himself, the trench-coated girl lowered her head and fell into deep contemplation.
Then, she gave a nod. "I believe you."
*Just like that?*
Bai Zhou looked up, meeting those ruby-like eyes.
"Humanity's exploration of the true Blue Star doesn't even reach five percent. There are always people born with hidden, extraordinary talents."
"Perhaps you're one of them."
Meeting his gaze, she spoke with certainty, "Because I can confirm there are no traces of contact with the extraordinary on you whatsoever, which rules out any influence from the Blood Worship Cult."
"The only explanation for why you can see me is that this is an innate talent of yours, one that even you haven't developed yet."
"—None of that matters, however."
The girl's voice paused, and she drew a soft breath.
"What matters is that I need someone with this talent. I need you."
"...You need me?"
Bai Zhou pointed at himself, feeling even more bizarre inside.
*It's happening!*
The mysterious figure everyone fantasized about as a child had actually appeared.
A trench-coated girl wielding flowing fire had cleaved the moon and descended from the heavens, only to tell him that he possessed a unique gift and that she needed him.
For all he knew, Miss Ghost's next words would be telling him there was a holy sword stuck in a millstone, and only he could draw it to become the destined savior.
Bai Zhou had heard that story before: a brave hero had once pulled a holy sword from the millstone at the village entrance, becoming the ordained master of the mill—
Only to be arrested later by the Black Robe Law Enforcement Team for monopolizing the milling business with his Order of the Millstone Knights.
"More precisely, this is a transaction," the girl added.
"A transaction... What do you want me to do?"
Transactions offered by ghosts rarely boded well.
Yet this mysterious trench-coated ghost didn't seem like some demon tempting people into a pact. Instead, her entire presence felt like a razor-sharp blade.
It was as if she were plainly telling Bai Zhou that once he agreed to her deal, his life would hurtle down an unpredictable path, and his normal life could well be considered over.
...Then again, Bai Zhou's normal life had ended long before this.
"Per protocol, a colleague will take the newcomers to inspect the 'Black Boxes' tomorrow," she said.
"Among them is a 'Black Box' containing the Crown of Thorns belonging to Europe's first female emperor, Empress Irene of the Byzantine Empire."
"However, their containment of the crown is incomplete. Before long, it will lose control and riot."
"When that happens," she said calmly, her tone quiet, "a sea of blood will submerge the entire base. No one will survive."
Bai Zhou: "...?"
Hadn't he literally just joined the organization?
What kind of absurd twist was this? What did she mean, no one would survive?
"So, I need you to take something I give you and locate the 'Black Chamber' where the crown is kept."
"As long as you stay near it for a short time, what I give you will react and reinforce the missing containment."
Looking down, the girl said, "The task itself isn't difficult—in fact, it's remarkably simple. But only I know what needs to be done, and only you can see me."
"Wait, why don't you do it yourself?" Bai Zhou asked, confused. "With your abilities..."
"Because others can't see me," she replied plainly. "I can't pass the identity verification, which means I can't even get through the doors of the 'Black Chamber.'"
"Breaching it by force might be possible, but that would disturb the other Black Boxes and invite far more trouble."
"I see..." Bai Zhou mused.
He looked up, meeting her dark-red eyes, which appeared exceptionally profound in the shadows.
"—Of course, you're free to think I'm talking nonsense, or even dismiss me as a hallucination," she added.
"Refusing such an absurd deal is entirely reasonable. Be warned... getting involved with me might prove even more dangerous than the crown itself."
She said, "Behind me lies the flip side of the world, truly bound to the Reflected Ruin Realm. Even a tiny glimpse of the madness leaking through is enough to claim an ordinary person's life."
She was remarkably candid—overly candid, even.
Her almost exaggerated warning sounded as if she were deliberately trying to push Bai Zhou away and make him back down.
Yet Bai Zhou had his own calculus of risks and benefits.
There was an eighty percent chance the crown business was real. If he sat by and did nothing, he might wake up one day to find his soul drifting back to his old home in Wancheng.
Just as she said, as long as he located the crown without drawing attention, the deal didn't seem all that difficult.
...In fact, compared to the danger of the crown, having heard all this, Bai Zhou was far more intrigued by another question.
For a crown that sounded so dangerous, ancient, and illustrious—
Would it also carry a blood-written dying wish?
Just like the [Legacy of Bloodthirst].
"By the way," Bai Zhou asked, "Miss... Ghost? I still haven't asked. What's your name?"
"Not a ghost." The girl shook her head. "Though I don't know what I count as right now either."
"As for a name, you can call me [Crow]."
"Crow." Bai Zhou glanced at the bird perched on her shoulder, finding the codename quite fitting.
In truth, the choice wasn't hard to make.
Stranded alone in the underground base of a mysterious organization, who else could Bai Zhou trust besides this girl?
Someone as powerful and extraordinary as her had no reason to deceive him.
Consider this scenario:
If you were standing on the edge of a desperate cliff with the world collapsing behind you, would you cry out in vain, or just jump?
Bai Zhou wouldn't choose either.
Because he saw a woman riding a mule, trailing sparks and lightning, charging toward him while brandishing kitchen knives at power lines.
In that moment, even if he didn't know her at all, he would leap onto the clip-clopping back of her steed without hesitation and roam the ends of the earth with her.
Even if she were a ghost no one else could see.
"So, what are the terms?" Bai Zhou asked suddenly.
"What?" Crow was perplexed.
"Since it's a transaction, there has to be compensation."
"As a condition, if I agree to the deal, what do I get from you?"
Bai Zhou looked up, locking eyes with the girl named Crow.
"If I place my life on one side of the scale, then on the other side, how much weight are you prepared to offer?"
"..."
The girl fell silent at his words.
Suddenly, she reached into her coat, pulled out several brown coffee beans, tossed them into her mouth, and chewed, her cheeks puffing out.
The beans crunched between her teeth, and the roasted fragrance around her intensified.
Bai Zhou's gaze met those ruby-like eyes.
His vision blurred slightly. In a daze, he saw flowing flames swirling within Crow's pupils, burning with a magnificent, blazing brilliance.
All at once, the crimson fire turned pure white, and countless streaks of radiance emerged like a spectacular firework display, stinging Bai Zhou's eyes.
Yet in the blink of an eye, it all vanished, leaving only the girl's slender figure before him once more.
"Extraordinary Sequences, forbidden tomes and secret arts, mythic legacies, secrets of ancient ruins..."
She finally spoke, her voice slightly raspy, "Things like that, all of them."
With a sharp *caw*, the crow on her shoulder suddenly spread its wings as if to take flight.
Its wings unfurled to blot out the light, casting a massive shadow across the floor.
"If you wager your life on one side of the scale..."
Air currents stirred, stretching the girl's shadow long, like a demon imprisoned by god for a thousand years casting its gaze upon the mortal realm once more.
A pitch-black feather drifted down slowly from the air.
It settled into Bai Zhou's palm.
Her soft whisper drifted over in that moment—
"What lies on the other side... is everything I have."
Chapter 4