Troy, Troy, Wake Up...

"…" Bai Zhou shivered for no apparent reason, as if a chill wind had just brushed past him. Looking ahead, dozens of mutilated undead were piled like a small mountain. Their pitch-black, hollow eye sockets glared up at the sky, their expressions ferocious and chilling. Hovering above their heads were identical characters: [Let me rest!] Their resentment was nearly palpable, black smoke practically hissing out from the crowns of those skulls before his very eyes… Bai Zhou backed far away from them, craning his neck from a safe distance to observe cautiously. "…Is something not right?" Soon, an even more chilling question surfaced in Bai Zhou's mind. Looking across the wasteland, broken swords, shattered sabers, snapped bows, and splintered arrowheads stuck out of the ground like a forest of tombstones. —Yet where were the corresponding corpses? At least within Bai Zhou's line of sight, he saw only the few dozen ancient corpses in that pit. The numbers did not match up at all! It couldn't be that just these few dozen people were dueling out in the wilderness, wholesale-summoning countless divine weapons from the heavens at the flick of a hand and blasting vault against vault like setting off fireworks for New Year's, could it? And in the end, they fought until an entire civilization was wiped out? Bai Zhou muttered inwardly. Still, terrifying as it was, he could only brace himself and keep exploring. Since he was already here, he might as well make the best of it. Just as when he had been abducted from Wancheng to Blue Star, Bai Zhou's adaptability had only grown more resilient. Bai Zhou remembered Crow mentioning that exploring the Reflected Ruin Realm required precise coordinates, and this golden pass had presumably bound the teleportation anchor for this place. Yet as far as the eye could see, there was only ruin and no trace of human presence. On this desolate battlefield, dust-covered ashes blanketed the ground. —Heaven only knew which forgotten corner of the Reflected Ruin Realm this site was. Considering how boundless the Reflected Ruin Realm was, the Special Control Bureau had spent years just searching for Wancheng's coordinates… Bai Zhou even had reason to suspect that no one else had ever set foot here. And if that was true— Bai Zhou's expression tightened, his heart thumping hard. If that was true, he held the exact coordinates of an unknown monumental tomb of a civilization! If the Special Control Bureau found out, how would they react? Even setting aside the giant city in the sky, just digging up a few random items from this wasteland and bringing them back to the Special Control Bureau might turn out to be Black Boxes! —An unowned Black Box, an unowned occult relic—what did that even mean? A heaven-sent windfall! Now, Bai Zhou felt it was necessary to reexamine everything related to "Last Words." The Alpen-despicable lollipop, the golden pass… where were its limits? *Crunch.* Treading cautiously over the loose gravel, Bai Zhou looked around nervously. Everywhere across the battlefield lay masterless armor and snapped blades. No matter how badly damaged, they basically all showed the same pattern and design. Only one style of equipment on a single battlefield… So, an internal rebellion? Glimpsing more information about that ancient civilization through a tiny fragment of this ruined battlefield would make Bai Zhou's future moves easier. A tapestry woven in blood and fire slowly unfolded before him. Ancient images of clash of arms and earth-shattering slaughter seemed to rise right before his eyes. A lost ancient civilization had once built a magnificent floating sky-city in the annals of history, but in a rebellion, the city had been inverted, and everything had been reduced to ruins. In the end, as time passed, all its history and secrets were buried. Everything that died appeared on the far side of Blue Star—the place that recorded all endings and buried all ruins. Appeared here in the Reflected Ruin Realm. …Was that it? Still, Bai Zhou had no desire to spend the rest of his life in this "dead" world, even if it might technically count as his "homeland." By the crimson moonlight, he inspected the golden pass in his hand, his fingertips tracing the uneven patterns embossed upon it. A pass… Since it could bring him here, there was no reason it shouldn't be able to take him back. Perhaps it was just missing a condition, an activator like "spirituality"… But what? Bai Zhou felt that the answer often lay hidden in plain sight. —It was probably right here on this battlefield. Speaking of exploring, across this vast and boundless battlefield, the most obvious starting point was the ancient corpses in the nearby pit. Yet those last words were far too ferocious and ominous, making one's skin crawl and instinctively driving him away. Thus, Bai Zhou decided to explore elsewhere first. Not daring to stray too far, he hovered nearby. Twisted ropes, decayed ancient trees, dried-up wells, crumbling ruined walls; broken blades, battered shields, rusted spears, and fragments of unrecognizable origins. Along with an assortment of miscellaneous pots and jars… Crimson moonlight quietly illuminated the shattered wasteland as a sneaky figure carefully prowled a corner of this lost ancient battlefield. Tiptoeing, crouching, and peering around, he was both on edge and determined to strip the ground bare, his bright black eyes darting in every direction, refusing to overlook a single spot. Snapped bows, rusted swords, broken spears, battered sabers—they looked exquisite, but countless years later, they seemed to possess no special properties beyond being exceptionally hard. "What's this?" *Click—* Bai Zhou picked up a severed black spear and noticed a trigger at the base. When he pulled it, however, nothing happened. Where the spear had broken, several animal sinews wound tightly like springs, but unfortunately they were all snapped. Bai Zhou guessed that under normal circumstances, the upper half of the spear might have been launched forward using this mechanism. He also found several mechanical war sabers equipped with pulley systems and unclear functions, but they were corroded beyond use. Bai Zhou even scavenged two round shields capable of shooting hidden arrows, though both were empty. Pressing a catch opened a dense array of arrow slits across the surface, instantly turning the shield into a hornet's nest… Bai Zhou shuddered. —What an underhanded civilization! Treacherous! Dirty! Did they really fight their wars with this stuff? The fancy yet sinister contraptions sent a chill down Bai Zhou's spine, making his movements even more cautious. For this meant that across this broken battlefield, unrotted traps and mechanisms might still be lying in wait for him! Who knew what this civilization had been thinking? Their technological prowess had clearly been extraordinary, yet they had dumped all their skill points into dirty tricks… After a while, Bai Zhou discovered a few weapons that were visibly remarkable, faintly glowing amid piles of black ash, forged from unknown materials. —Extraordinary weapons? Bai Zhou's eyes lit up. Yet the moment he dug them out, rust rapidly crept over their surfaces, their glow fading into obscurity. Any mystical aura vanished, leaving them merely heavy in his hands. …At best, cultural relics. Time was truly the most terrifying thing. Under the passage of time, history was buried, civilizations entombed, and knowledge reduced to swirling ash. Even Extraordinary blades and exquisitely crafted mechanical weapons turned into heaps of rusted scrap iron. Bai Zhou was certainly unwilling to leave it at that. He checked every single jar and pot with painstaking care. After rummaging through them with a clatter, Bai Zhou found only some semisolid black paste. It looked repulsive, its purpose unknown. Yet after a moment's thought, Bai Zhou collected it anyway. What if it proved useful once brought back to the modern era? *Crunch, crunch…* Treading on shattered pottery shards, Bai Zhou suddenly gained a profound appreciation for Crow's words: A powerful Extraordinary is first and foremost an outstanding archaeologist and a skilled tomb raider. Indeed. Wasn't he conducting archaeology right now—or rather, grave robbing? Though wasn't he a rather pathetic grave robber? He could hardly say he was striking gold; if anything, he had come away with a handful of dust. Sighing, the diligent Bai Zhou held a broken spear in one hand and held up half a battered shield that was still serviceable in the other, puffing as he went back to scraping the ground clean. Unlike the treacherous "hornet's nest" mechanism shield, this dark half of a tower shield was of unknown material, unadorned, and had only one defining trait: Big enough! Tough enough! Rather than a shield, it was more like a door panel. Even half of it allowed Bai Zhou to crouch completely behind it, providing him a thoroughly satisfying sense of security. Beneath the inverted city, the crimson moonlight illuminated Bai Zhou's bent, diligent silhouette as he sorted and scavenged. Sure enough, just as Bai Zhou had expected, there were indeed many untriggered traps here. Bear traps were routine; inconspicuous bushes would unleash volleys of poisoned arrows; roadside weeds would spray corrosive fluids. Even something resembling a bird's nest by the roadside suddenly spewed soporific gas when someone passed by. When he finally spotted a roadside statue and thought it might have some value, stepping closer caused the statue's demonic head to gape wide and belch roaring flames at him. Fortunately, Bai Zhou was cautious enough to stay hunkered behind his massive shield the entire time. —What was this civilization even doing back then? Why is everything from top to bottom so utterly wicked and crooked! Gritting his teeth, Bai Zhou cursed under his breath as he looked at the massive shield, now bristling with arrows and stained in patches of black and green. Thankfully, the moonlight did not betray the earnest traveler. Steadfast in his scavenging, Bai Zhou did not come away empty-handed. In fact, in a sense, he could be said to have returned with a bountiful harvest: A glowing broken saber; a rusted sword that inexplicably dripped blood on its own; a ruined bow that wailed eerily when the wind blew through it; and scattered arrowheads that retained their razor sharpness despite the passage of ages. Half a spear fitted with an ejection mechanism, a broken blade that could loose hidden arrows, a bronze hand crossbow constructed from rotten cords and rusted gears, and a narrow cylindrical canister embedded with clockwork springs of unknown use… Bai Zhou hauled them back trip after trip, piling them together. Even the jars containing the unknown black paste had not escaped Bai Zhou's clutches; he had hauled every last one of them back. Standing before the weapon pile and surveying the fruits of his half-day's labor, Bai Zhou muttered to himself. *Just this?* *What happened to raiding tombs and doing archaeology in the Reflected Ruin Realm?* *Why does it feel more like scavenging for scrap?* *Will bringing these things to the modern world actually be of any use…* Complaints aside, Bai Zhou still sorted and arranged them, treating this spot as his temporary base in the ruins. Decayed antiques though they were, perhaps a little repair might make them usable again. What if among this seemingly useless "junk" lay a hidden gem he hadn't yet identified? Bai Zhou was content with small blessings. At worst, they were valuable antiques—though he wondered how many bags of coffee beans or packets of Four Delicacies instant noodles they could be traded for. …And so, after a few trips back and forth, Bai Zhou had completed an initial sweep of the nearby area, save for the corpse pit. Further ahead lay the winding path leading straight toward the cliff. More ruins lined the path, visibly promising greater spoils, but the terrain was far harder to traverse—everywhere lay fallen colossal trees, heaps of black ash, and shattered architectural complexes. Above the cliff, the inverted city that weighed heavily upon the sky occasionally dropped clusters of flames that silently plunged into the bottomless abyss. —Halting before the path, Bai Zhou looked up at the inverted sky-city. Gazing upon that massive, collapsed gear, he couldn't help recalling a fairy tale he had heard back in Wancheng… It was said that a cowherd boy, while herding cattle, discovered a magnificent castle. Inside the castle was a princess-like Sleeping Beauty who loved to snore. The cowherd boy fell in love at first sight, woke her with a kiss, and was promptly reported to the Black Robe Law Enforcement Team by her on charges of breaking and entering and molestation. —And so, the boy was dragged to the civic square and burned to ash. "…" Staring up at the sky, Bai Zhou let his thoughts wander freely. Maybe in the ruins of this inverted city, there was also a slumbering Sleeping Beauty? Yet his intuition told him now was not the time to explore that path; he couldn't shake the feeling that many new traps awaited. Having suffered enough lessons, Bai Zhou's mindset had begun to align with this treacherous civilization. Along a narrow path like that, if a rolling boulder came tumbling down, there wouldn't even be room to run… Better to thoroughly scout the immediate area first! Thus, he decided to halt before the path and backtrack along his original route. On his way back, broken spear on his shoulder, Bai Zhou remained laser-focused on stripping the ground. —No, this was called the craftsman's spirit of meticulous attention to detail! He had learned that in the Black Robe Training Corps. *Clang! Clang!* Passing a low, broken wall, Bai Zhou swung the half-spear he had picked up earlier, smashing the clay jars hidden in the corner. Broken pottery shards scattered everywhere. Upon the broken base of an earthenware jug, something crouched inside was exposed. "What is that?" The hairs on Bai Zhou's neck stood on end. Clenching his broken spear, he took two steps back and hid behind his shield, peering out cautiously with only his eyes exposed over the rim. —It turned out to be a half-rotted wooden horse painted in bright colors. It had articulated elbow joints and a spirited, oversized head. Its cheeks were meticulously painted with cute pink blush, looking like two ripe apples. Behind its back was a prominent wind-up key mechanism, and its belly was round and plump like a giant pistachio shell covered in colorful lacquer. Over its back draped a dashing, imposing short cape of red velvet. Its round eyes, dotted with the glossiest black paint, were brimming with warmth and curiosity, as if saying: "So happy to meet you!" Perhaps, long, long ago, this wooden horse had been a gift lovingly prepared by parents for their child. It would have had a cute name, like "Polly" or "Kaka," and accompanied a child growing up. Only, before it could ever be taken out of its sealed earthenware jar, a war had suddenly erupted. Not until countless years later, when Bai Zhou arrived here, did it see the light of day once more. Yet these were merely Bai Zhou's conjectures. …In the long river of history, some left behind bold, brilliant strokes that shone with dazzling splendor. Yet far more ordinary people vanished without a whisper. Only countless years later, when descendants set foot here, did someone bear witness to the traces of their existence in this world. Even if these later generations were nothing more than futile souls standing before the threshold of history, peering through the crack of the door at a bustling glimpse of the people who once walked within, trying in vain to retrace those vibrant hues of the past. —Yet perhaps, that was precisely the charm of excavating and exploring ancient ruins. … However, under the erosion of time, the wooden horse no longer possessed its former splendor. The wood had long since decayed, faded, and cracked; rust speckled its clockwork key, and the red velvet cape had deteriorated into tattered, filthy strips of cloth. Under the glow of the crimson moon, against the surrounding desolate ruins, its cuteness and innocence felt bizarrely discordant and out of place. There was even a wisp of black mist faintly curling around it. …Black mist? Bai Zhou froze. Where did black mist come from? Like fine threads, this black mist drifted faintly around the wooden horse's face. Whether it was his imagination or not, Bai Zhou suddenly felt that the wooden horse's features had inexplicably become vivid and lifelike… As if it were alive. "…No offense intended." Feeling unnerved by the wooden horse's unblinking gaze, Bai Zhou turned to leave. Just then, a mechanism clicked sharply, and the winding key at the horse's tail began to rotate on its own. The wooden horse's belly popped open, revealing a gear mechanism resembling a music box, slowly turning. *Clack, clack, clack…* The wooden horse moved. It rocked back and forth, its head lifting, its shiny black eyes staring straight at Bai Zhou. Its mouth slowly stretched open, pulling into a sinister smile. Black mist slowly seeped out from the hollows of its eyes and mouth. An innocent, childish nursery rhyme was sung by the rocking wooden horse as its gears slowly turned. Bai Zhou could not understand the language, but the faint stir of spirituality within him mysteriously allowed him to comprehend its meaning. The distorted voice was somewhat grating, yet the lyrics were full of childlike charm: "Troy, Troy, wake up!" "Troy, Troy, wake up!" "…"